>> mike, good evening to you. after more than 7 hours of deliberations, 9 jury of six men and six women found kim potter guilty of both first second degree man slaughter. inside the courtroom the former brooklyn center police officer was stoick and showed almost no emotion as the verdict was announced and she learned her fate. >> we, the jury, on the charge of manslaughter in the first degree, while committing a misdemeanor, on or about april 11, 2021, in the hennepin county, state of minnesota find the defendant guilty. [chanting guilty] >> outside the courthouse, a crowd erupted in cheers as the verdict was announced and as word spread that the jury found potter was reckless and culpaably negligent when she shot daunte wright with her gun instead of her taser. wright's mother was sobbing as the verdict was read and described the flood of emotion as she heard the jury's decision. >> the moment we heard guilty on the manslaughter one, emotions, every single emotion that you could imagine just running through your body at that moment. i kind of let out a yelp because it was built up in the anticipation of what was to come. >> minnesota attorney general keith ellison whose office prosecuted the case said while he is pleased with the outcome, it doesn't bring daunte wright back. >> we have a degree of accountability for daunte's death. accountability is not justice. accountability is an important step. a critical, necessary step on the road to justice for us all. >> kim potter's exact sentence will be decided by judge regina chu at a sentencing hearing in february. she is facing up to 15 years in prison for first degree manslaughter. 10 years for second degree. mike? >> garrett tenney live outside the courthouse in minneapolis. garrett, many thanks. let's bring in george washington university law school professor jonathan turley. professor, welcome. >> thank you. >> once convicted kim potter's attorneys tried to argue for her release on bail until sentencing, let's play the clip. >> >> i am going to require that she be taken into custody and held without bail and i recognize your argument, mr. bing and mr. -- gray, but i cannot treat this case any differently than any other case. >> apologies that was obviously the judge regina chu. your thoughts on the way she handled that aspect of the case? >> well, i think she has handled the entire case with great skill. she did a fine job, she was fair and firm. which is what you want from a judge, particularly in a case like this, this is virtually inevitable whether you have a death involved in a crime. your client is going to be put into custody after being found guilty. can't have a standard police officers, it is true that there is going to be an empty chair at the potter house this christmas. but there is an empty chair at the wright house. and i think most judges would have ruled the same way. >> daunte wright family attorney ben crump saying today quote we must turn our attention to ensuring that kim potter receive the strongest and most just sentence possible. what is your experience tell you about sentencing in this case, professor? >> you know, mike, these are go counts going to run concurrently it's really the top count that you clock 15 years. under the sentencing guidelines as a first offender around 7 years. the government is going to try to aggravating factors. one is the most obvious. she is a former police officer, she used her authority to commit this crime the second crime involved putting others in danger and not just push this up towards the 15 year limit. also shown great remorse. >> much was made about the makeup of the jury nine white, two asian women and one african-american woman. was that concern overblown since the police officer with no prior record? >> i think it was overblown. i think that the jury here showed what the juries also showed in the arbery case, the rittenhouse case the smollett case. these jurors have shown more integrity for the legal system than politicians and common these cases or different purposes. but these jurors were really quite focused on the evidence and the standard. look, i don't think you can argue with the jury decision here. i might have voted the other way. but, this is a point that people of good faith can disagree. one lingering question is whether we should have this type of criminalized negligence. these weapons confusion cases have been going on for years they have a lot of lingering questions as to why we treat them as a criminal rather than a civil matter. and that was part of the problem the jury was hung. they came back reach a verdict. they only convicted because the judge gave them this instruction again go back and try again. defense attorneys really hate that because it tends to push them toward a verdict. but then the judge also allowed them to take the guns out in the jury room. i think that probably had the biggest impact. because feeling those guns in the jury room is going to be lot different than what happened at the scene and really a blink of time. >> is this a setback for law enforcement when you consider this officer had a clean record, made one very horrible mistake and appears her life may be over, too? >> i think this is a real chilling moment for a lot of law enforcement because i think the jury, as most people agreed, she didn't intend to shoot mr. wright. her response right after the shooting really showed that and so the jury was left with this very ambiguous standard of, did she consciously disregard the harm in a scene? she didn't intend to shoot him. did she really consciously cause the harm? that's what i think locked this jury to begin with. other cases where there was a case with a transit officer in california the jury rejected the two biggest charges. and ended up on the lowest one and its sentence. but we have to really debate this as a society and whether it should be clarified to make it very clear that you are not just criminalizing simple negligence, you need something more. >> mike: professor jonathan turley thank you for your time and sharing your analysis. >> thank you. thanks, mike. >> mike: as the clock ticks down through the christmas holiday. the new omni strain is threatening to force alterations to the plans of many. all 50 states say they have infections. businesses are closing events and gatherings are being postponed or canceled and governments are implementing new guidelines. correspondent jonathan serrie reports tonight from atlanta. good evening, jonathan. >> good evening to you, mike. the fda approved an anti viral pill today it came just 24 hours, 24 hours, in fact, after the agency approved another antiviral pill america now has two new weapons in the fight against covid-19. >> merck's antiviral pill received emergency use to treat infected adults at risk for developing severe covid-19 it did not perform as well as paxlovid competing drug from pfizer that reduced hospitalizations by nearly 90%. merck's pill should be given to parents who have unable to receive other authorized treatments but agency officials stopped short stating a preference for pfizer. >> it is a question of availability but it's also a question of appropriateness of the patient for the specific drug. >> both prescription drugs, which patients are expected to be effective against the omicron variant. initial supplies will be limited with pfizer expecting just over a quarter million courses in january and merck expecting around 1 million. >>' the libraries corner way end of the street there. >> washington, d.c. residents lined up outside public library distributing free at home rapid covid tests ahead of the holiday weekend. similar scenes unfolded at covid screening sites around the country. in addition to testing before holiday gatherings, the cdc strongly recommends booster shots but is yet to add them to its definition of full vaccination. >> we are looking at the definition right now. and, you know, more to come there. but just to be very clear, our recommendations are to get boosted. >> california has now joined new mexico in making booster shots mandatory for healthcare workers. >> we recognize now that just being vaccinated, fully vaccinated is enough with this new variant and we believe it is important to extend this requirement to getting that third dose. >> and today new york mayor bill de blasio announced that new year's eve celebrations in times square will be scaled back to allow for social distancing. and everyone there will be required to wear a face mask. mike? >> jonathan serrie live in atlanta. jonathan, thanks a lot. the white house is sending mixed messages about the handling of the holiday virus surge. white house correspondent peter doocy has that story tonight. good evening, peter. >> peter: good evening, mike. code cases are on the rise. even here at the white house. but the president is trying to stay on schedule and attend events as americans are trying to figure out how to celebrate the holidays based on conflicting guidance from officials here. >> god willing, have a happy holiday. >> peter: everyone at presidential events gets covid tested first away from the white house campus. americans have having a very hard time finding tests before heading home for the holidays. >> empty shelves, no test kits is that a failure? >> no, i don't think it's a failure. >> despite obvious problems now, the white house is promising half a billion tests next month. but they haven't exactly gotten the ball rolling yet. >> why is it that you guys are promising 500 million tests next month if you haven't even signed a contract to buy. >> well, we have no concerned about the contract being finalized. >> problems planning for those tests before now may start at the top. >> the vice president said in recent days that you didn't see delta coming, you didn't see omicron coming. >> how did you get get it wrong. >> how did we get it wrong? nobody saw it coming. nobody in the whole world? who saw it coming. >> cdc director d we anticipated this. this is what we have been preparing for. >> the press secretary we knew there would be additional variants at some point coming. we didn't know what they would look like. >> requests for those free tests will happen online. >> go on the website and request a test. >> that's the last time the government healthcare website to roll out what historically disastrous. fox news investigated healthcare.gov in 2013. >> an error, the system is unavailable. nothing. nothing is working. >> many obama alum work in the obama white house. their involvement in the new endeavor, unclear? >> is anybody that was involved in the creation of healthcare.gov going to be involved in the creation of this new website? >> well, let me -- i don't know all the staffing particulars about the creation of the website. >> officials here keep insisting this is not like march of 2020 but, kind of feels like christmas of 2020 when joe biden had just been elected on a prom promise to shut down the virus. the difference being that he has been in office almost a year now and still hasn't happened. mike? >> mike: peter, are you ready to investigate another website? >> i'm ready just give me the url. we have a computer inside. peter doocy on the north lawn, thanks very much. the stocks are up. the dow gained 97. the new record close. nasdaq jumped 131. up next, how senator joe manchin's refusal to support the president's aggressive multitrillion dollars tax and social spending plan is sparking plenty of internal bitterness among his party colleagues. first, here's what some of our fox affiliates around the country are covering tonight. fox 26 in houston as large fire at a houston area refinery leaves four people injured. exxon mobil says air quality monitoring has not revealed any issues. no evacuations or shelter in place orders have been issued. the cause has not been announced. wral in raleigh, durham as the man known as the unabomber is transferred to a federal prison medical facility in north carolina. 79-year-old theodore kazakhstanr max in colorado for a series of bombings that targeted scientists. linked to three people being killed and toolgd have injured 23 more over a period of almost two decades. and this is a live look at new york from fox five. the big story there tonight, mayor bill de blasio announces plans for a scaled back times square new year's eve because of the coronavirus surge. attendees must have proof of full vaccination and wear masks, viewing areas will be monitoring -- monitored for social distancing. that's tonight's live look outside the beltway from "special report," we'll be right back. ♪ (burke) with farmers auto multi-policy discount, the more policies you have with us, the more you could save on your auto insurance. 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(carolers) ♪better♪ (kate) because everyone deserves better. tony here from creditrepair.com, taking to the streets to talk about credit. let's go. is credit repair expensive? isn't having bad credit expensive? my man. get started with a free credit evaluation at creditrepair.com. ♪ >> mike: america's crime crisis is hitting lawmakers this week. a state senate leader in illinois and a congresswoman from pennsylvania have been victims of carjackings, correspondent alexis mcadams has details. >> within just 24 hours, two elected democrats carjacked at gunpoint. in philadelphia congresswoman mary gays scanlon held up by two guys who stole her purse, phone and suv. investigators later tracking down the suspects in a neighboring suburb of delaware. this afternoon, police announcing charges against the teen carjacking crew. 151 arrests thus far. four carjacking. individuals ranging in age from 14 to 58. >> on tuesday, illinois state senator kimberly lightford and her husband carjacked in a suburb of chicago. the couple held at gunpoint by three men who fired several gunshots and took off in her mercedes suv. >> it was scary because shots being fired. i was for sure they were going to shoot me down. >> although scanlon and lightford have pushed for police reform the democratic duo thanking the officers who responded. >> i hope they will reconsider it now that they are victims themselves. we need to do more to protect our cities across america. >> no injuries reported in either case but both examples of growing crime trends in major cities. in filly, carjackings are up 10o last year. and there has been at least 545 homicides and counting. as chicago's mayor calls her federal help to curb the crime the biden administration calling for increasing funding in those areas. this is a priority for the president. the president has never supported defunding the police. he has always been an advocate for adequate funding. >> as police across the country deal with crime surge, investigators in philadelphia announcing charges against a 19-year-old for the carjacking of the congresswoman. mike? >> alexis mcadams, thanks very much. the backlash among democratic progressives against west virginia it joe manchin he just announced he will not support the president's social spending plan has made him a target for frustrated liberals. congressional correspondent chad pergram has the latest tonight from capitol hill, hello, chad. >> good evening, mike. it's fess vas the airing of the grievances, democrats are certainly airing their grievances about senator joe manchin. they're irate at manchin for blocking the build back better bill. some progressives have called manchin a liar and a racist. >> it's important to ask the question does him being a white male have anything to do with how he approaches policies like this and how he approaches governing governing overall. bowman believes there is room for manchin in the party but the g.o.p. keeps encouraging democrats to manchin. >> if he came over to our side, we have moderates. we treat them well. we have people like lisa murkowski and susan collins. we don't call them liars. we don't try to run them off. there is a place for moderates in a republican conference in the senate. >> there is no formal talk about manchin ditching democrats pass the social spending bill next year. >> they don't think he is going to change parties. they hope to bludgeon him into compliance. is he not going to agree. he has told them that. >> but manchin is not budging. he can dictate the agenda. >> manchin is the king maker at this point. without his vote democrats cannot pass this legislation. so the fact that he is concerned about inflation and that the inflation numbers actually are up, democrats have to take that very seriously. >> to manchin, manners count. is he displeased with how some democrats have treated him. mike? >> chad pergram live on the hill, thanks very much. will the latest crime virus surge change travel plans. ♪ [upbeat acoustic music throughout] ♪ [laughing and giggling] (woman) hey dad. miss us? 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should i not? and if i should go see my family and covid is really rising a lot. so it's like 50/50 with me. >> some of the busiest airports this time of year are major hubs such as miami international o'hare. storms for the west coast could snarl traffic in that reasoning. travelers leeching g leave the country added frustration covid test many locates such as canada. you had to have a pcr covid test 72 hours of crossing and then they tell us we are not going to get our verification for five days. >> according to aaa 90% of holiday travelers will get to destination by cars. rentals are in short supply and pricey. some good news, the recent spike in fuel prices has started to reglers we are averaging 3.50 per gallon that's two cents in the last week and ten cents in the last month. so prices are coming down. >> in total, about 110 million americans are expected to travel for the holidays. the top 3 destinations, orlando and anaheim both home to theme parks followed by las vegas. mike? >> mike: you might want to bring your parents, right? david lee miller live on the travel beat. thank you very much. take a look how the media are dealing with the omicron surge. here is fox news media analyst and host of fox news media buzz howard kurtz. >> the coronavirus once again dominates the media coverage has been all over the map. >> virus is running rampant psyches of the american public and on the ground in certain places thanks to the incredibly infectious and rapidly proliferating omicron variant. >> everybody is getting this. it's spreading like wildfire. i have yet to really meet anybody freaking out about it. >> especially in the latest epicenter new york city. >> told endlessly by cnn and this country's health authority that if they got vaccinated they wouldn't get covid. now they learn sorry, just kidding. thousands of them just got covid anyway. >> these break through infections are nowhere near as serious or deadly for the vaccinated. if the media reports seem to be constantly change, that reflects shifting advice from medical experts. >> i think that the next two to eight weeks will be as i said to you before a global blizzard of this virus. i her when we were told the vaccine would protect you against infection and it did for a while. and then it didn't. >> really don't know what's going going to happen with omicron. sometimes the coverage can cause whiplash atlantic stories dismissive where i live no one cares about covid. gen z is done with the pandemic. to the ominous. america is not ready for omicron. to the resigned omicron is the beginning of the end. >> mr. president. >> mr. president. >> mr. president. >> the press agrees on one thing that president biden deserves criticism for waiting until now to order more home tests. >> is it a failure that you don't have an adequate amount of tests for everyone to be able to get one if they need one right now. >> no, it's not. because covid is spreading so rapidly. >> are we going to get to the point where we won't have to wear masks on airplane? >> i don't think so. >> the media debate over seemingly endless restrictions has only intensified since the omicron surge and the mixed messages embedded in the nonstop is fueling the covid confusion. mike? >> mike: howard kurtz thanks. up next the supreme court will hear arguments about the president's coronavirus vaccine mandates. i may have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. or psoriatic arthritis. but we are so much more. we're team players and artists. designers and do-it-yourselfers. parents and friends. if joint pain is getting in the way of who you are, it's time to talk to your doctor about enbrel. enbrel helps relieve joint pain, and helps stop permanent joint damage. plus enbrel helps skin get clearer in psoriatic arthritis. ask your doctor about enbrel, so you can get back to your true self. play ball! enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders and allergic reactions have occurred. tell your doctor if you've been someplace where fungal infections are common. or if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if you have persistent fever, bruising, bleeding or paleness. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. visit enbrel.com to see how your joint damage could progress. enbrel. eligible patients may pay as little as $5 per month. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list event. pike mike breaking tonight the u.s. supreme court will soon hear oral arguments challenging president biden's vaccine mandates. kevin corke has update tonight. good evening, kevin. >> with covid-19 cases surging across the country the high court will now fast track a pair of disputes over the administration's efforts to expand mandatory vaccination. the high court will hear arguments on the 7th of january pair of federal policy vaccine mandates in large companies and vaccine mandate for healthcare workers at facilities that receive federal funding. it's the shot companies for 100 employees that mandate that they be fully vaccinated, get tested weekly mask at all times. in the healthcare case, the court will consider the mandate that requires all healthcare workers and facilities that take part in medicare and medicaid be fully vaccinated against covid-19 unless they're eligible for a medical or religious exemption. >> look for relief from what they believe is government overreach. >> the federal government is supposed to be a government of limited powers. and forcing the vaccination of americans isn't one of them. those are big important cases. osha is in charge of imagination sure forklifts beep when they back up monday forced vaccinations. white house, of course, issuing a statement about the high court's move saying, quote: we are confident in the authority for both policies and doj will vigorously defend both at the supreme court. now the expedited attention is becoming less novel by the high court than in previous years. you will recall mike that the justices already twice this year fielded request for emergency relief it abortion law oral arguments in this instance set for the 7th of january, mike. >> mike: something to watch. kevin corke in washington. >> you bet. >> mike: up next all-star panel and how dealing with the coronavirus surge. first beyond our borders tonight. a monument at hong kong university that was best known public remembrance of the tiananmen square china soil has been removed. the university says it asked that the sculpture be put in storage because it could pose legal risks. poland's justice minister asked his nation's constitutional court to decide whether a new european union rule linking funding to respect for rule of law is in line with the polish constitution. poland's government has been taking steps to impose greater control over the country's courts. the eu says that erosion independence. russian president vladimir putin says his nation wants to avoid conflict with ukraine and the west. but it needs an immediate response to its demands for security guarantees. russia is demanding nato not expand eastward and not invite ukraine to be a member. just some of the other stories beyond our borders tonight. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ don't. i use liberty mutual, they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. wooo, yeaa, woooooo and, by switching you could even save 665 dollars. hey tex, can someone else get a turn? yeah, hang on, i'm about to break my own record. yeah. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪ >> pharmacy we hear this over and over again empty shelves no test kits is that a failure. >> no, i don't think it's a failure. you could argue that we should have known a year ago two months ago, a month ago. ordered half a billion of the pills. 500 million bills pills. i'm receiving 500 million test kits that are going to be available to be sent to every home in america if anybody wants them. but, um, the answer is, yeah, i wish i had thought about ordering half a billion pills two months ago before covid hit here. >> in that interview president biden told abc david muir that nobody saw omicron coming. well today jen psaki had to do a little clean up on aisle 2. >> nobody knew exactly how transmissible they would be. we, of course, knew that there would be additional variants at some point coming, we didn't know what they would look like. but we have been preparing for a range of contingencies all along throughout this process. that's why we have had ample vaccine supply. why we had ample mask supply and ramp up our testing the last few months. >> that bring in our panel harold ford jr. and morgan ortagus former state department spokesperson and former white house press secretary ari fleischer. welcome to all of you. ari, i can't imagine cleaning up after the president is a great deal of fun for a press secretary. >> oh, it's never pleasant when one person in the administration says why and the press secretary has to explain it all. jen is right. the government did a good job in procuring sufficient number of vaccines, the private sector has done a good job of procuring sufficient numbers of masks, but here's what they have all done wrong. congress passed the $1.9 trillion covid relief package earlier this year. where did that money go? the federal government stockpile testing kits. why didn't they prepare surge capacities hospitals inevitable variant create what omni has led. to say this is a failure at all levels of government to be prepared at a time when they had the money. interest is no excuse for them not to have taken these steps and we are in the spot where he are now because everybody dropped the ball, federal, state and local. >> mike: morgan to that point two antiviral drugs approved by the fda and doesn't seem to be much celebration at the white house. is that because it's going to take weeks if not a month or more to actually get the pills to the people? >> yeah, i don't know why they wouldn't celebrate it. i think it's a fantastic thing. especially because the vaccine mandates, maybe not the vaccines themselves but the mandates have become so politicized that they are going to the supreme court. so i think we should all rejoice at american ingenuity. we should rejoice at the fact that through operation warp speed we have the vaccines available today. we see what's going on with china where their vaccine is really ill equipped attack ling this virus and mutations. and to the extent that americans next year are able to go to their local pharmacies and get therapeutics and not end up in the hospital and our hospitals aren't overwhelmed that only happens private sector partnering with the government. that's what we need to beat this pandemic and future pandemics. >> harold, in your view where rer. we in the fight against covid at christmas. >> harold: first off, merry christmas and thanks for spleeg on. >> what both ari and morgan have said is largely right. i think our christmas season, the celebratory aspects of it have been notched down a bit in light of all that we are dealing with. i look at some of the positives. 72% of americans, 18 and older are vaccinated a year ago today less than 1% were. 32% of americans are boosted and that pace of boosting has gone up as we unfortunately have faced the omicron battle. ari is right though. the administration should have done a better job with regard to testing and it sounds like they realize they are behind the ball and i give president biden great credit for acknowledging that and saying we have to do better. back now and understand how much our nerves are a little rattled and how the community bond and national bond is a little strained as we head into the season around all of this. i think the real thing i'm excited mostly about is what you asked there last and morgan commented upon. we may have a game changer in pfizer antiviral. we didn't have that a year ago. so i think we should continue to encourage people to be tested. continue to encourage people rather to be vaccinated and as these tests come about, we should encourage people to be tested. i think one of the great challenges we are going to have is figuring out how we do this testing in schools, mike, when we get back from the christmas break and holiday break as people travel to be with loved ones. >> mike: okay, we are up against the clock. i would like to get around the horn really quickly on the vaccine mandates going before the supreme court january 7th. ari, you want to lead us off? >> i just think it's a total mistake to mandate it you are going to get people to get their backs up. it's just the wrong approach. if you want to appeal to conservatives, you do it on the basis not of a mandate but just a quiet, serious, encouragement and it's not just conservatives, there are r.f.k. jr. cool they are opposed to them too. >> morgan 15 seconds. >> the supreme court going to strike it down. this wasn't legislation this was executive regulatory action. >> we have different from the aca in my opinion. so i think it will get struck down. >> mike: all right. harold, bring us home. >> look, they may be right both ari and morgan. in times of national crises and war. and i think we are at war with this virus, the court has always upheld consistently upheld presidential powers. i hope they come down with president biden. >> mike: panelists, thanks. when we come back focus on mid terms, a look at republicans are trying to retake the house. and along the ride, you'll have many questions. challenges. and a few surprises. ♪ but wherever you are on your journey. your dell technologies advisor is here for you - with the right tech solutions. so you can stop at nothing for your customers. 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(muffled, distorted) ...43... not better. . >> mike: time for focus on the midterm elections here is my colleague bret baier. >> bret: thanks, mike. the republicans are obviously optimistic about winning back the majority in the house of representatives in 2022. right now democrats hold a slim majority with 221 seats. that's just 8 more than the republican. retiring democrats could also help tilt the balance of power in the g.o.p. democrats already announced they will not seek re-election in the house. 15 are planning to retire from politics all together. 8 are running for another elective office. joining us tonight to talk about some key midterm races across the country is the national republican congressional committee chairman and minnesota congressman tom elmer. congressman, thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me, bret. >> first of all, 30,000 feet, as you sit today and obviously we are a long way from november of 2022, but where do you put the republicans' position to take back control? >> well, i like our momentum. but bret, we haven't won anything yet. there's a long way to go. you win campaigns with great candidates with a winning message and with another resources, i think republicans are going to have all three. but, again, we have got a long way to go and we are taking nothing for granted. >> you know, you mentioned resources. the fundraising numbers, dnc, rnc, 10.7 million to 9.1 for the democrats. 147.3 million to 146.5. cash on hand, roughly the same. i mean, pretty close when you look at the money right now. >> well, look, we have said from the beginning, we never have as much money as they do. we just got to have enough money. i'm proud of the work we are doing. we are almost $50 million ahead of where we were at this same point just two years ago. we are running almost at parody, which is unheard of with the democrats. again, they always have more money, bret. they burn it in the streets it seems like. we just have enough to make sure that we can support great candidates which we have a record number of candidates already filed for office, republicans even in a redistricting year and get out that winning message which is all about the economy, rising costs, it's about the crime wave that's taken over in this country and it's about the frankly the mess at the border. >> you know, when you see 23 democrats retiring or deciding not to run for re-election. in different races. what does that tell you? >> well, it tells me that they see what's coming, especially it's not just the number 23. keep in mind, when republicans took back the majority 10 years ago, you had a serious number of democrat retirements like you do this time. but there are more this time than there were at this time 10 years ago. plus, it's chairman, i think we have three full committee chairs and one very powerful subcommittee chair from the appropriations committee. those typically don't happen unless they don't see themselves being in the majority. and i suspect that's why they're all announcing they are leaving. >> bret: uj republican candidates. let's go to iowa 3. this is representative cindy the incumbent democrat, there are three republican, the iowa state senator, non-former marianne. as a pick up. cindy ax any does not match the district. she barely got by. in fact, in both races that she has won, she won with less than 50% of the vote. this is a pickup seat for us. plus, the incumbent, we don't play in primaries. we trust the voters to decide hot best voice for them is. but, when it comes to winning this seat next fall, look, it is right for the republicans to pick up not just because it is a republican seat, but because the incumbent, she currently is under investigation for about half a million dollars in trades that she did not disclose. that just doesn't body well. bode well. >> bret: new jersey 7 this is the incumbent tom, a democrat from new jersey and tom king jr., a u.s. congressional candidate. a rematch from before. >> that's right. it is rematch from before. the problem with tom malinowski. he was trading in tech and medical stocks that were covid related during the pandemic, bret, that he failed to disclose. this is a rematch that tom kaine jr. came within one point of winning back in the fall of 2020. he will win it this time. >> bret: last race here, texas 15, this is monica day la cruise a republican congressional candidate and this is a seat where the democrat kind of switched states run in a neighboring district. he switched seats to run like announcing recrirmt hundred thousand dollars and nobody paying attention to her almost won the last cycle. she lost by two counts to the incumbent venison say gonzalez rather than run miss seat again texas 15. which is the seat where mcallen, texas is located. mcallen texas, you might recall, bret. in the last few months elected a republican mayor for the first time in something like 08 years. rather than run for re-election venison at a gonzalez decided in a he thinks is more favorable and might be susceptible to that seat. monica de la cruz is running in texas 15. she is a great candidate i ghap she is going to win that race. >> bret: we will continue to focus on individual races. we will bounce around the country and follow all of these. congressman elmer, we appreciate your time. >> thank you, bret. >> bret: mike, i will send it back to you. >> mike: thanks very much. finally tonight, thousands of troops head home for the holidays. more than 45,000 personnel nationwide will go on holiday block leave. welcome home, thank you for your service and, of course, merry christmas. thank you for watching "special report." i'm mike emanuel in washington. i will see you back here tomorrow night. good night from washington. ♪ ♪ >> brian: let's get started. welcome to freedom. i will be brian kilmeade footer least an hour. with covid cases becoming obvious. the biden administration has no plan to stop the spread. last night the president was asked to clarify whether or not the white house saw the new variant coming despite mixed messaging from the administration about that. watch. >> the vice president said in recent days that you didn't see delta coming. you didn't see omicron coming. how did you get it wrong? [laughter] >> how did we get it wrong? nobody saw it coming.