growing pressure to deliver with many people having to wait for hours to get tested during the holiday rush. now after promising to distribute tests the president wishes he had done it two months ago. rich edson starts our coverage live at the white house this morning. good morning, rich. >> good morning, julie. the white house is trying to get those tests out some 500 million of them where americans will ideally be able to go online early next month, order them, get them delivered to their homes. they still have to get the contracts signed and get all those tests out. this was the omicron variant arriving just in time for the holidays. americans have waited hours in line for covid tests, face shortages of at-home kits. president biden said last week his administration should have implemented a more aggressive testing strategy two months ago. the federal government needed to insure enough tests so anyone getting together for the holidays could have tested beforehand. >> unfortunately we have plenty of vaccine supply. thats not a problem. we don't have enough tests. this is something we should have been on top of for months. i'm disappointed this is where we are as a country right now. >> two months ago the biden administration rejected a proposal from several public health experts for free rapid tests for the holidays. based on what many other countries are already doing. the concept the white house press secretary derided earlier this month. according to "vanity fair." the white house argues there wasn't enough production capacity on the market in october. take a look at the american rescue plan, supposed to address all of this. vaccine treatment and development. vaccine distribution, $9 billion. detection, testing and tracing at $47 billion. surveillance and covid supplies come in at the defense production act at another $10 billion. overall that entire package cost about $2 trillion. much of the designed of it was an economic package went to stimulus and unemployment checks, aid to state and local governments. that previous total that we just went through detailing what went specifically to covid $125 billion. back to you. >> julie: rich edson at the white house, thank you. trace. >> surge of covid cases new york city's unprecedented vaccine mandate for private employers takes effect today. workers at over 180,000 city businesses will now have to show proof of vaccination to keep working on site. david lee miller live for us in new york city with more. david lee, good morning. >> good morning, trace. that's right. new yorkers going to work this morning must be at least partially vaccinated or they are going to be turned away from the office or wherever it is they earn their paycheck. a new vaccine mandate goes into effect today and the city says it is going to apply to as you point out roughly 184,000 businesses in new york city. testing is not an option. those seeking a medical or religious exemption can continue to work until it's pending. some businesses say the mandate is too burdensome and requires keep employers keep records and fines are $1,000. 91% of all adults in the city have had at least one shot. as more americans roll up their sleeves an expert says a fourth shot or booster is probably not going to be necessary. >> block every single infection. if that's our goal maybe we need a fourth shot or are we trying to prevent serious illness and death which should be our primary goal. >> other cities are preparing to beef up current indoor vaccine mandates or implement new ones including chicago, boston, washington, d.c., new orleans and newark, new jersey. according to johns hopkins 62% of americans are fully vaccinated. yesterday alone 76 people in the united states died from the virus. trace. >> david lee miller live in new york. thanks. >> we are prepared to move. we need to make sure we have it in our caucus and what we're working on and we'll start next week when we return. >> julie: democrats say they still hope to go ahead with president biden's build back better package even after key senator joe manchin said he cannot support it. they hinted the plan could be revived in the new year but may be broken up into smaller bills and centrist democrats and even republicans can get behind. let's bring in former white house deputy chief of staff karl rove. your reaction about the bill maybe having to be broken up into smaller bills. is that feasible? >> it is feasible but is it going to work? i would say nice try. it is not going to work. you maybe should have thought about that approach at the beginning to make certain that you ran this through regular order through the committee structure so that republicans and democrats tried to work together to find areas of common agreement. after spending a year telling the republicans get lost, we have no interest in talking to you and then after insulting and demeaning the centrist democrats particularly joe manchin, i think there is little chance of getting it done. breaking into the pieces doesn't solve the problems with the bill. namely can we afford it? one of joe manchin's big issues was the democrats used a bunch of gimmicks saying it only cost $1.75 trillion and take 10 years of revenue to fund new programs that last between 1 and 6 years. the senate republicans said to the cbo what's the real cost of this of all these programs are over the 10 year window? the real cost is $5 trillion. $3 trillion more than the democrats claim that it was. second question is, should we be doing some of this stuff in there? for example, this bill picks up 100% of the cost for big companies that are already providing paid family leave. think about that. the government will step in and take these big multi-national companies paying the cost of family leave and say we'll pick up 100% of it. we have electric vehicle subsidies here. $7500 to go out and buy a $70,000, $80,000 electric vehicle but you get a $12,500 subsidy if you buy it and made in a union plant. talk about discrimination. then they want you to spend a huge bunch of money to set up gas stations, refueling stations for these electric vehicles and even musk, the founder of tesla says forget it, we don't need it. >> julie: his environmental policies would be neutral. no singling out electric vehicles for tax credits. seems reasonable. here is more on what the bill may ultimately look like if passed. >> that's a strategy decision that's being negotiated. we are open to a way to reach the finish line. we want to see this comprehensive as possible but we need to make sure we have the votes to pass it. that means it will be different than some of us would like to see. >> julie: are they really open? democrats are on the attack against west virginia senator joe manchin since his announcement last week he would be a no vote on the massive build back better spending plan and the narrative against manchin is he is a callous guy about child poverty. what grounds are they basing that accusation when manchin is calling for child tax credits by imposing a work requirement for the child tax credit? how is that bashing child poverty? i don't understand. >> look, there was a great editorial in the "wall street journal" this weekend on this. we shouldn't call it a child tax credit. we should call it a child allowance. it has turned into a welfare benefit because tax credits go to people who pay taxes. this particular benefit goes to people who owe no taxes, who get money back from the government in various forms of subsidies and credits. they don't any income tax. they pay no income taxes. so first of all, what manchin said was i'm against killing the requirement that people work or have income in order to get the tax credit. i don't want a universal benefit that is discouraging people from working. the university of chicago did an economic study that says 1.5 million people would be likely to leave the workforce because of this child allowance. it is not really means tested. people who make up to $400,000 a year get the credit. you get the full credit of $3600 per kid making $150,000 a year. think about this. again the cost is $185 billion for one year and the cbo says the cost over the entire decade is 1.7 trillion dollars. so these were real fundamental problems on manchin's part. i don't see we're getting away tr them but saying let's all get together and find a way to work this out. >> julie: karl rove, thank you very much. it will be a long week. thank you. trace. >> fox news alert now the travel chaos continues past christmas leaving thousands of frustrated passengers scrambling to find a way home after their flights were canceled. plus vice president harris pushing back at reports that she was, quote, set up to fail. what the v.p. is saying about handling tough jobs. and as the highly contagious omicron strain accounts for the majority of covid cases, will we need another shot to be classified as fully vaccinated? dr. marc siegel on that straight ahead. >> even though we're freed by the evidence from multiple countries that it looks like there is a lesser degree of severity we have to be careful we don't get complacent about that. it might still lead to hospitalizations in the united states. with the newday 100 va loan you can take out up to $60,000 or more. veteran homeowners- with home values at all-time highs and rates at near all-time lows now's the time to do more with your home equity. veterans are calling newday at a record pace to take advantage of the newday 100 va loan. you can borrow up to 100% of your home's value to upgrade the kitchen, add a pool for the grandkids, or have the security of cash in the bank. with an average cash out amount of $60,000, you can do more. i'm so glad we're finally on vacation. yeah, and kayak made it so easy - searching hundreds of travel sites to find us a great flight. my ears still won't pop after the flight but i don't even care.... what? kayak. search one and done. superpowers from a spider bite? 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[cheering] that was awesome. and, the hits won't quit, with peacock premium included at no additional cost. all that entertainment built in. xfinity. a way better way to watch. >> julie: holiday travel was nearing pre-pandemic levels, thousands of flights were canceled over the christmas holiday or delayed. chaos continues today. some airlines blaming staffing shortages due to the highly contagious omicron covid variant. we're live at laguardia airport in new york city. airlines are playing catch-up today, madison. >> they are. put they are also seeing more cancellations today. we've already seen hundreds up to this point today and here at laguardia over 28 flights canceled so far. we're still seeing this issue persist. like you said, over the course of this weekend, thousands of flights canceled. this is one of the busiest travel weekends of the year and it is in part because of the spread of this covid variant. let's take a look at where we stand today when it comes to cancellations. by far sunday saw the most. they had over 1500 flights canceled across the u.s. two airlines that saw the most cancellations delta and united both are pointing to the spread of omicron as part of the reason why they had to cancel these flights. united saying in part the nationwide spike in omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operations. travelers we spoke to had a lot to say. >> had a great time with your family. you aren't here for very long. it's a good time always. you come here and have to deal with a bunch of stress. >> it is frustrating. kind of scary and getting to the airport. >> i just want to get home. i just want to get in my bed. >> when asked on sunday about travel dr. anthony fauci said americans should not expect to drop the masks on planes any time soon and considering a vaccine mandate for planes would be a good way to get more people inoctober rated. it is happening while airlines are struggling to get flights off the ground that led to some calling on the cdc to adjust the quarantine period so people can get back to work sooner. julie. >> julie: thank you very much. >> trace: omicron spreads and keep rising. the number of cases going up. some suggest the classification fully vaccinated be changed to include booster shot and if it makes more or less sense given all the breakthrough cases among those already vaccinated and boosted. let's bring in fox news medical contributor dr. marc siegel. always great to see you. it appears to be only a matter of refully vaccinated means three shots, agreed? >> i agree with that. but trace i would like the discussion to be scientific, not politics. the word booster may not be the right word. it may be first of all that the pfizer vaccine at least was given too close together, the first two shots. moderna could have been longer. i think it might have been better to have six weeks between the first and second dose to give the body a chance to gear up and seal the immunity. yes, then the third shot augments it. we are clearly seeing the effectiveness wanes after four months and oef en earlier with omicron. i think three shots is what it will be called. it can't be a way to coerce and bully people. it is supposed to be a doctor and patient decision. i have this discussion every day with my patients. most if not all are vaccinated. >> trace: you talk about coercion and bullying. the "new york post" says the u.k. health security agency said those who had received three doses of pfizer's vaccine saw their protection against symptomatic illness drop from 70% to 45% within 10 weeks according to a report released thursday. take me, for example. i got the booster of pfizer on november 4 which means i'm getting near that 10-week window where the efficacy drops dramatically. when is shot four coming and shot five and shot six? >> let me be clear on this scientifically. i want to reassure you there are two issues here. one is decreasing spread of the variant and that's where the mandates come in which i have issues with. the other is severity. how do you decrease your risk of going into the hospital? does your body have a memory of the vaccine that it kicks up when it sees the virus. you will have that for several weeks. the severity quotient works with the booster than breakthrough cases. you don't want a mild case, nobody does. i will take a mild case of omicron over a case with hospitalization any day and the booster definitely protects you. >> i have friends tested positive for omicron variant and they had no idea they had it. they did it for travel purposes. covid a small risk to kids. here is the surgeon general what he believes is a significant risk. >> i'm still concerned about our children because there is an epidemic, if you will, mental health challenges they've been facing. it is partly because of the pandemic. >> the pandemic but depression, suicide rates in young people, dr. siegel, all on the rise. >> listen, i interviewed the surgeon general about this last week on the radio and i like him. he has a heart in the right place. let's face it, we're way behind on this. surgeon general report came a lot faster on the opioid epidemic when he was surgeon general the last time. we've known over a year already that remote learning, no socialization or not interacting with your friends in person all of it had a tremendous impact on children. the younger the worse it is. it is not even clear how we will get them to recover, trace. there was a study out of lan set recently that showed oats the decreased mobility among kids. kids like to play. if you take play away from them they get mentally affected. >> trace: i have to go. a lot of talk about the omicron cases. should we forget about the cases and start focusing on the severity of the illness and the number of deaths associated with it? >> you just had rich edson say the president admitted he was way far behind on home testing. i agree. what i think a home rapid test so you know if you have a mild case, you get that pill, the pfizer pill available to you, monoclonal antibodies available. we don't have any of this. if we had the tools we needed, then we could say by the way, cut down on quar an teens from 10 to 5 days across the board and stop destroying the workforce right now. so that's what we need to do. we have the technology for that. rapid testing in every home. pfizer pill available to everyone that needs a doctor to prescribe it. the monoclonal antibodies and decrease the quarantine is where we need to be right now. >> trace: always good to talk to you, sir, thank you. >> thank you, trace. >> julie: new battle lines for next year's mid-terms were drawn in last year's census. a closer look at some of the changes coming up and from crime to inflation to the pandemic. biden administration facing crises and criticism on multiple fronts as we head into new year. we have more on that just ahead. >> the american people would like safe streets, they would like affordable gas and freedom. instead what biden has given them is record crime, record inflation and dr. fauci. i brought in ensure max protein, with thirty grams of protein. those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks! 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(excited yell) woo-hoo! ensure max protein. with thirty grams of protein, one gram of sugar, and nutrients to support immune health. >> trace: the latest census drawing new battle lines for the 2022 mid-term elections. as states work to finalize new congressional maps members of both parties are slamming some of the changes. william la jeunesse live for us in malibu, california. good morning. >> good morning, trace. because the american population keeps moving from one state to another, some states gain seats and some lose them. in a blue state like california or red state like texas the minority or opposing party will complain they are getting cheated. that it is partisan gerrymandering if you will. here in cal, for instance, all the states currently held by democrats will become more blue. those held by republicans will become more competitive. other states that republicans complain about oregon, new mexico, maryland, and illinois. >> democrats took south side of chicago and connected it with central illinois farmland to try to erase as many republican seats as they possibly could. >> in oregon democrats are using liberal voters in metro portland to dilute conservative rural areas to lock down four congressional seats. >> a lot of states you are seeing the party controlling the process really trying to shore up their majorities. >> so that's true in ohio, a swing state yet redistricting there is giving the republican majority 13 out of 15 districts and in texas republicans are adding two more seats, democrats say at minority expense. >> it is telling you not only do you have the sit on the back of the bus but we'll take all the seats out, too. >> maybe the most interesting state is democratically controlled nevada, where the current congresswoman blames her own party for gerrymandering. >> you read the republicans are using gerrymandering to cut ot democratic seats. they didn't have to in this state. we did it to ourselves. the bottom line is, trace, as you get from this both sides will complain that they are getting screwed or cheated, if you will. we'll find out in 2022 to see how it actually works out. it is important and to determine who controls congress, the president's agenda either goes forward on it gets stopped. back to you. >> trace: william la jeunesse live in malibu. thank you. >> we went from literally 11 months safe streets to record crime. we went from a secure border to complete chaos. we went from stable prices to now record inflation. we went from strength and projecting strength around the world to the debacle that was the exit in afghanistan. you name the policy, they've screwed it up. >> julie: ohio republican congressman jim jordan reeling off the crisis that have lots of critics slamming the biden administration after almost one year in office. let's bring in our panel. gopac chairman david avila and crystal neck from priorities usa and executive director of emerge tennessee. david i will start with you. congressman jim jordan never a man of few words and honesty his best policy. he is whipping the biden administration and says they are doing everything wrong. what are the criticisms of this administration and are they legit? >> well, had this administration called me i would have said nero, the fires your administration are causing are not from toasting smors. everyone of the policy decisions have gone against the grain what made america great. you just had a report on the 2022 election democrats are looking to see historic losses. whether it be tax education policy, defense policy, now republicans are favored over democrats in category after category. >> julie: here is more from jordan on the border crisis and then i'll have you react. >> we went from a secure border to complete chaos. stable prices to now record inflation. we went from strength and projecting strength around the world to the debacle that was the exit in afghanistan. >> julie: jordan argues the president gave americans record crime and inflation. blaming the president for everything. do you agree the president is to blame for all of this? >> absolutely not. it has been a tough year, absolutely. who is to blame? i think there are a number of people that we can point to and system we can point to that had crime rising in a number of cities. we cannot blame the president for every thing. the other thing you have to remember who the messenger is. the same jim jordan who sent a text on january 5th encouraging the insurrection. the same jordan who covered up a sexual crime in his state. when we are talking about the criticisms we need to remember who is the messenger that's doing the criticizing. >> julie: david, i want to switch gears to the vice president, kamala harris she doesn't feel like she has been set up to fail in an interview with cbs. she also says democracy is the biggest threat to our national security. watch this question and answer. >> what do you see as the biggest national security challenge. >> one is our democracy and the threat to our nation takes many forms, including the threat of ought october rasy taking over and having outside influence around the world. i go back to our point about the need to fight for the integrity of our democracy. >> julie: democracy the biggest threat to our nation? i don't know, do you agree or what do you think her answer should have been to that question? >> add to that clip that as she went on she talked about how voting laws and simply wanting voters to present an i.d. to vote is a threat to democracy. that our climate policy, we aren't driving enough electric cars is a threat to our democracy. i'm not sure, julie, how you have a national discussion when you believe voter i.d. and climate policy is the biggest threat in the world when you have china on the border of taiwan, you have russia on the move, you truly have thugs and dictators around the world causing threats to their citizens is. where you start that discussion on what the threat to america is, it's hard to have a national discussion at those two extremes. >> julie: crystal, i want to pull up a "wall street journal" editorial board headline. kamala harris surveys the world. when we talk about what the big oeft threats to national security is maybe consider the following. they go on to say in a world of growing risks from china as david just pointed out, russia, iran, cyberattacks and cyber sonic weapons. the vice president has democracy and climate change. maybe she didn't want the make news on the security question so she fell back on her political safe spaces. is democracy the biggest threat to our national security do you believe? >> well listen. i think that there are a number of things. she had mentioned some of the other things foreign policy related like what is happening in ukraine, what the pull-out from afghanistan means, to this country and national security, absolutely. but voting rights is a serious issue in this country. it is under attack. the john lewis voting rights act hasn't been passed and what we're seeing across republican-led state leather the decrease in the amount of access that americans are having to the ballot. that's a valid point to bring up when we're talking about insuring safe and free elections in this country. >> julie: david and crystal, thank you both. thanks for coming on. trace. >> trace: elsewhere in washington tensions boiled over during last night's game between the washington football team and the dallas cowboys. two washington linemen nearly came to blows. 56-14 loss after washington allowed yet another cowboy touchdown. payne and allen appeared to huddle before things got a bit heated. they had to be broken up on the sidelines. julie. >> julie: fox news alert new action in ukraine as the country works to train civilians as combat fighters amid rising tensions with russia. so also coming up plus the crime crisis in chicago not slowing down for the holidays with more than 50 shootings this weekend alone. even hitting some so-called safe neighborhoods. >> people are afraid. it's a death zone. some officers who texted me, okay, said they were scared. 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(swords clashing) thera-had enough? a -no... arthritis. here. aspercreme arthritis. full prescription-strength? reduces inflammation? thank the gods. don't thank them too soon. kick pain in the aspercreme. >> julie: russia's top diplomat says security talks with the u.s. will start immediately after the new year with tensions high over ukraine and fears of a possible invasion while moscow is reportedly withdrawing 10,000 troops from the border. many more remain. ukraine isn't taking any chances. its civilians are getting combat skills training in case ukrainian military gets overwhelmed. alex hogan is following is story for us. >> this is part of the countries defense plan. men and women are signing up with the government to train if needed alongside ukrainian military. these are private citizens spending their weekends in the forest outside kiev learning defense tactics and military skills in the event of a possible invasion. ukraine's general acknowledged in the event of an attack their current forces would stand little changes. the program aims to train 100,000 civilian fighters. the same number of russian troops gathered near the border. satellite images have captured the growing military presence of armed forces and armored vehicles in recent months raising international alarms. vladimir putin rejects claims of an attempt to strike its neighboring country. last week during his annual end of year press conference putin pointed blame at the west for escalating the situation demanding a promise that ukraine will not receive a nato membership. take a listen. >> we must understand how our safety will be insured. that is why there can be no more nato moving eastward. the ball is in their court and they have to give us some answers. >> saturday russia announced it with withdraw 10,000 troops from the border from ukraine citing the drills had ended and the troops will return to their bases. a plot to attack ukraine as early as next year and russia denies that. negotiations and security talks continue between the u.s. and russia in geneva, switzerland at the start of next year, julie. >> julie: alex, thank you very much. trace. >> trace: supply chain issues wound up boosting holiday spending as it sent shoppers to the stores a bit early before omicron took hold. for more on this let's bring in fox business anchor cheryl casone host of american dream home. cheryl, long time, my friend. great to have you on. looks like the holiday shopping season was robust but the santa claus rally thing is starting to fade a little bit. what do you think? >> i was looking at the s&p that just opened at another record today. the stock market looks like it is moving on from the worsey about omicron. the supply chain. the ports off los angeles and long beach are still having issues. worries with regards to the trucking shortage out there, the labor shortage and vaccine mandate they talk about putting on the trucking industry. the head of the trucking association says truckers are alone in their cabs. maybe this isn't the best time to put a mandate in place for those workers. for holiday spending a lot of consumers went out early. mostly they went online. we saw almost a 20% job in e-commerce sales year-over-year but the big push to get things early because americans were worried they wouldn't get the toy, tree or anything else they hoped to buy. now the issue in 2022 can you get the supply chain back up and running? not necessarily that will be the case. if you look at where people were spending money, if they were online buying jewelry and electronics. the shop and work from home trend is still going on. same thing we'll talk about next week and the week after is inflation, supply chain, and labor shortages. obviously omicron is an issue for market but they seem to be moving on because they think it will be a short-term disruption to the economy. a hit to the economy but the short-term hit. >> trace: you talk about inflation and the fed is finally acknowledging inflation will be here for a while and there are some saying that the fed is tightening monetary policy at the wrong time. what do you think about that? >> no, i think it is the right move at this point. part of it is the inflation story. the fed watches inflation. the pce that they watch for november, a 5% jump. from their perspective it is time to take the spigot out and stop the stimulus in the economy and to counteract all the spending we've seen from the biden administration in 2021 and if you get the progressive wish more spending in 2022, that -- the fed is trying to manage frankly what is happening over on the political side and the biden administration spending and spending and spending. they will be buying the at-home tests that they haven't ordered yet nor covid. all these programs are expensive. the fed is doing the right thing. interest rates will go up. will the housing market still be on fire? yes, it will for 2022. >> trace: final trading week of the year, are you optimistic going into 2022? >> based on the numbers i'm seeing on my screen right now, yeah. it could be a volatile week. anything can happen. we always look for the santa claus rally. the week we normally get it. if today's action is any indication we'll get it but we will probably be a little -- airline stocks are really under pressure this morning for obvious reasons because of all the flight cancellations. oil is down. some nugget of holiday cheer oil prices are down. maybe a little reprieve at the gas pumps and they will stabilize in january. for the person trying to driving -- we're driving, not flying again. you can get a little break at the gas pump. >> trace: not here we're not. 5:36 a gallon here. thank you for coming on. >> good to see you, trace. >> julie: fox news alert. jury deliberations resume in the sex trafficking trial of british socialite ghislaine maxwell. we're live on verdict watch outside the courthouse in downtown manhattan. long lines at testing sites and even longer wait times for results as the spread of omicron dampens holiday cheer. is there a light finally at the end of this tunnel? 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(gasps) ♪ did it work? only pay for what you need ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ spider-man no way home in theaters december 17th i'm so glad we're finally on vacation. yeah, and kayak made it so easy - searching hundreds of travel sites to find us a great flight. my ears still won't pop after the flight but i don't even care.... what? kayak. search one and done. >> trace: chicago's crime crisis taking no holiday break for christmas. the violence is spreading into previously peaceful neighborhoods. the senior correspondent mike tobin live in chicago with the latest. mike, good morning. >> good morning, trace. just a little to the northwest of where i am now just before midnight christmas day a guy was shot in the head and killed one of three murders in chicago. chicago police recorded some 19 shootings over the holiday weekend. frankly, sadly that is pretty normal for the city of chicago. what is not normal is that the violence is spread sboong the wealthy neighborhoods and the tourist areas. the most visual manifest of the uptick in crime in chicago are these smash and grab robberies which have plagued the high-end stores in the gold coast and regularly caught on security video. chicago's mayor encouraged stores to invest more in private security. but the mayor objected when the bucktown neighborhood plagued with a rise in carjackings and mugings hired their own private security force. >> i always say that any extra set of eyes in the neighborhood helping out is important. our biggest concerns are the strong arm robberies and the carjackings. >> the "chicago tribune" examined data for the two years of the pandemic city-wide shootings and homicides are up 60%. violence has spilled into the nice neighborhoods, the incidents of violence by total numbers per capita are much worse in the historically troubled neighborhoods of the south and west side. the pandemic is playing a role in carjackings. most of the time boredom seems to be the motivator. the aftermath has shown that most of the vehicles that are hijacked are used to go joy riding. trace. >> boredom is a problem. mike, thank you. >> julie: jurors in the ghislaine maxwell trial return for a fourth day of deliberations today after a long holiday break. maxwell is accused of sex trafficking underage girl for his ex boyfriend jeffrey epstein. she faces up to 70 years behind bars if convicted. alexis is outside the courthouse. >> we're seeing more activity at the courthouse in manhattan asz deliberation rest underway. she spent her 60th birthday and christmas behind bars as she awaits her fate in the child sex trafficking case that so many people are keeping a close eye on. the jury in this case is back in deliberations again this morning. last week they spent about 16 hours in deliberations. they have to review the testimony of four of maxwell's accusers and also an f.b.i. deposition. they are taking a close look at that this morning. she is facing six charges, child sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy charges after prosecutors say she groomed and trafficked underage girls to be sexually abused by her close friend and former boyfriend jeffy epstein. some of the girls were only 14 years old. during the more than two weeks of testimony here in manhattan the court heard from four women who were underage when she coerced them. they said she would sometimes watch the abuse and even take part. if convicted she is facing life in prison. she has pled not guilty to all of the charges. back to you. >> julie: alex, thank you very much. >> trace: omicron driving new cases to record levels creating a major challenge as state and local governments across the u.s. struggle to maintain critical services amid growing staff shortages. welcome to a brand-new hour of "america's newsroom," i'm trace gallagher. bill and dana have the day off. julie, good morning to you. >> julie: good morning, trace. i'm julie banderas. the covid surge couldn't come at a worse time for the holiday travelers. airlines cancelling thousands of flights leaving passengers stranded across the country as u.s. health officials warn we could see as many as a million new cases a day thanks to omicron. >> we've got the technology for that. rapid testing in every home. the pfizer pill available to everyone. monoclonal antibodies is where we need to be right now and decreased quarantine. >> julie: steve harrigan. >> already in the u.s. today 800 flights canceled so far. it crept up since early morning hours and likely to go higher as flight crews and staff coming down with the omicron variant. testing extending lines blocks long in many cities around the country. some people complaining waiting for hours to be tested and also complaining home test kits are hard to find. when it comes to the numbers, 198,000 new cases each day. that's the seven day average over the past week. that number is up 47% over just one week ago and some states, new york, new jersey, massachusetts, they are setting record nullbers for new cases. the one potential bright spot in the bad news is hospitalizations don't appear to be keeping track with the new cases. they aren't keeping the same pace. hospitalizations up just 3%. studies say while omicron is highly transmissible causes less severe illness especially among those vaccinated. a number of cities around the world are canceling or scaling back new year's eve celebrations, here in the u.s. medical officials are advising people to stay at home with their families. >> talking about a new year's eve party, we have 30, 40, 50 people celebrating, you don't know the status of the vaccination. i would recommend strongly stay away from that this year. there will be other years to do that but not this year. >> college football bowl season hit hard by covid. at least two bowl games so far have been canceled. boston college unable to field enough players for a team. despite the fact that all players and staff were fully vaccinated at the start of the season. julie, back to you. >> julie: thank you so much. >> trace: the biden administration's covid testing failure on display over the holidays with massive lines and long delays to get results. and there are reports that it didn't have to happen. that the white house rejected plans back in october to ship out 700 million at-home test kits for the holiday season. dr. anthony fauci now admitting it is a big problem. >> we've got to do better. i think things will improve greatly as we get into january. it doesn't help us today and tomorrow. you're right. it is something that is of concern. >> trace: marc thiessen, former speech writer for george w. bush and fox news contributor. great to see you. forget about the warning in october to buy 100 million of these things. they were warned, health officials warned this administration back in spring they needed to stock up on hundreds of millions of rapid tests. they didn't follow up. they dropped the ball. they spent money, marc, but it wasn't on preparation. >> no, president biden's first act as president. major legislative act was to pass a 1.9 trillion covid relief bill? how could we have a lack of testing and treatment after a 1.9 trillion spending bill? what did they spend it on? only % of that bill was spent on covid. what did they spend it on? stimulus checks, child tax credit. overly generous unemployment benefits, a bridge connecting canada to new york, underground rail project in silicon valley, museums, native american language preservation, bailing out amtrak and funding for planned parenthood. that's what the money spent on. why were we not praepd when omicron arrived? on treatment we were talking about the treatments available. why did we not have an operation warp speed for treatments? there are treatments available now from merck and pfizer, covid pills. monoclonal antibodies from lily and regeneron. a drug in tests showed 91% effectiveness in preventing deaths from covid. why do we not have millions and millions and millions of these treatments available for anybody who gets sick right now? we spent all that money and we don't have them. it is incompetent. >> trace: marc siegel said we should have the stuff. we don't have it. it is not that it couldn't happen but it didn't happen. jen psaki on december 6 when asked about these everybody getting a test at home. watch. >> should we just send one to every american? then what happens if every american has one test? how much does that cost and then what happens after that? >> we get sarcasm but the truth is in the u.k., germany and other countries they're doing that. they are sending dozens of tests per household to keep up on this stuff. >> 100%. they passed this 1.9 trillion bill and what did it give us? inflation, it gave us a supply chain crisis, it gave us a labor shortage but it didn't give us tests or treatment. maybe they did something wrong. maybe their priorities were off. maybe they should have spent the money a different way than they did. the reason is what we know is that they were using covid relief as a pretext for all sorts of liberal social spending for all their groups and their constituents and so here we are now. oh, we weren't ready for omicron. biden said i wish i had thought of ordering 500 million tests. that's your job. you campaigned as the guy who would fix covid and you didn't do it. you spent 1. trillion and we don't have anything to show for it. >> trace: 10 seconds left. is it your sense that we put all of our eggs in the vaccine basket and forgot everything else? >> 100%. look, we developed the vaccines in record time. but we also developed amazing treatments. and what's great about operation warp speed we bought all those vaccines in advance so they were ready as soon as possible. why did we not do the advance orders of the merck and pfizer pills and of the monoclonal antibodies and all these other drugs? we should have stockpiles of these ready to go as soon as the fda approves them and we don't. >> trace: an interesting point. marc thiessen, great to see you. thank you, sir. >> take care, thank you. >> there is unanimity in our caucus we want to get a bill to the president and we are working to see what the bill will contain. president biden is directly involved in these negotiations. >> julie: maryland senator trying to get biden's social spending bill through congress without the support of a crucial vote from west virginia senator joe manchin. democrats will have to come up with creative ways to get pieces of the build back better bill to the president's desk for his signature. aishah hosni is in washington with more on the biden spending bill this morning. >> good morning, julie. progressives are plotting a path alone without the likes of senator joe manchin. on sunday house progressive caucus chair jayapal called on the president to take executive action that the white house and democrats will deliver. so far the president has said he wants to work with senator manchin. others say they are even looking into the idea of piece meelg certain provisions in this bill. >> that's a strategy decision being negotiated. we want to make it as come pro henceive as possible. we need to make sure we have the votes to pass it. >> majority leader chuck schumer wants a vote on bbb early next year even if he doesn't have the yays to pass it. that would force democrats to go on the record, right, and put vulnerable democrats up for reelection in the purple states in an uncomfortable position. looking for a win schumer wants to force a vote to carve out the abused filibuster in order to by pass a gop block on the voting rights bill. this is the same filibuster democrats used when they were in the minority. >> never thought the minority should prevail. but that's what we are dealing with right now. if we want to move this country forward and save our democracy we have to make a change. >> all of this as pressure continues to mount from the left on senator manchin. some calling him out of touch for his no on build back better while others in his home state of west virginia support what he did. julie. >> julie: thank you so much, aishah. >> two new covid treatment pills on the way from pfizer and merck after the fda granted emergency use authorization. will they be game changers? and after millions sign a petition supporting a truck driver convicted in a fatal crash prosecutors now on board with reducing his sentence. >> we've asked that the governor strongly consider giving him a pardon or commuted sentence. the governor was very positive to listen. in addition to the substitute teaching. i honestly feel that that's my calling-- to give back to younger people. i think most adults will start realizing that they don't recall things as quickly as they used to or they don't remember things as vividly as they once did. i've been taking prevagen for about three years now. people say to me periodically, "man, you've got a memory like an elephant." it's really, really helped me tremendously. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. >> trace: two covid treatment pills now authorized for emergency use in the u.s., experts say treatments like these antiviral pills from pfizer and merck could be the key to ending the man -- pandemic. >> that's right. this is a new breakthrough in covid therapeutics. fda authorizing two pills. one from merck, one from pfizer taken by high-risk adults and the pills can be taken at home by someone infected with covid-19. that's the first of their kind. now, this as opposed to intravenously getting the drug at a hospital. it will reduce the burden on already stretched hospitals across the country. as of yesterday the rolling seven day average for hospitalizations is just over 64,000. now the question, of course, will be who gets these pills? the feds are distributing to states based on population, new york, for example, with a population of 8 million will get 3180 courses, wyoming will only get 6100. and demand could be far higher. individual physicians will make the final call on who gets the they -- therapeutics. there will be 10 million treatment courses but only 265,000 will be available by next month. the number won't reach 10 million until six months out. you get the point here there is very little supply. dr. anthony fauci today saying the federal government has to work to ramp up that supply. listen. >> we will do everything we can including the defense production act to try and see if we can actually get this at a higher level. we aren't sure what we can do and how much time we can cut off on that. but certainly it needs to be done because it is a highly, highly effective therapy. >> as cases rise in fully vaccinated contracting the covid-19 virus therapeutics become ever more important in managing the outbreak and protecting those who are the most vulnerable from the risk of this severe illness. once again we find these drug companies solving the problem. back to you. >> trace: game changers. thank you. >> julie: colorado prosecutors say they will seek a reduced sentence for a truck driver facing up to 110 years for a crash that killed four people. this after nearly five million people signed a petition in support of the driver. the d.a. plans to ask for resentencing in a hearing later today saying this sentencing range reflects an appropriate outcome for that conduct which was not an accident given that the victims in this case have more than one view of an appropriate outcome and this trial court heard the evidence presented. we believe that this hearing is the best path to securing justice for everyone involved. let's bring in criminal defense attorney jonna spilbor. always wonderful to see you. good morning. those who signed the change.org petition are urging the colorado governor to grant clemency to the defendant. do you think he will consider it? >> i think he ought to. 110 years based on these facts is excessive. the next question is does reducing it to 20 or 30 years go far enough on this set of facts? this case reminded me of from 2014 remember when tracy morgan's limo was hit by a commercial driver. a deadly crashed and caused lot of injury. that driver did not spend one day in prison. here we are seven years later. what gives? i think we need to look at as a society how much power lies in the prosecution? the prosecution knew when they charged this case there were 41 charges all together. they knew how much exposure and how much time this defendant potentially could get if found guilty on some or all of those charges. here they are trying to maybe speak to what society wants them to do by reducing it somewhat. 20 or 30 years when you are 26 years old is still a lot of time. we really have to start looking at how prosecutors are charging cases like this or, for example. kyle rittenhouse or jussie smollett where prosecutors did the opposite and got rid of charges that should have been brought or kim potter that we talked about on friday. all of this discretion lies in the hands of the prosecutors and we have to take a look at that in my opinion. >> julie: that comparison to tracy morgan's crash when the limo driver crashed and the passenger was killed. excellent comparison. let's talk about the driver in this case. he had no prior driving offenses. that should you would think be taken into account, right? it wasn't reckless driving, drunk driving, it was a horrific accident yet the judge said he was bound by state law that requires mandatory minimum sentences for violent offenses. what do you make of this law first of all and would you consider this a violent offense when it was an accident? >> it sure sounds like everybody involved had to put a square peg in a round hole in order to have this law apply. what the law does, basically enhances potential sentences for violent crimes. look, every single vehicle is a deadly weapon in every state. your car, my car, 18 wheeler are all deadly weapons. part of that sunk this defendant was he failed to maintain it properly. he failed to keep proper records. when you are a commercial driver you need to do that. you are held to a higher standard. thank god because we share the road with these deadly weapons n. that sense was it truly an accident or was it more reckless? and in this case they found it to be violent, which i think is a little odd way to go and why the governor will probably step in and maybe reduce the sentence more than the 20 or 30 years the prosecution is looking for now. >> julie: another big trial we're watching jury deliberations continue in the ghislaine maxwell trial today. she spent her 60th birthday behind bars on saturday. she is scheduled to return to a manhattan courthouse today to await word from a jury entering its third full day of talks after hearing they heard over two dozen witnesses and viewing dozens of exhibits over three weeks. what is your prediction in this case? >> i have followed this case closely from start and i have strong opinions about it. i don't think the prosecution has met its burden of proof and why the jury is struggling. why they haven't met the burden because who they really wanted to try was jeffrey epstein. i read the transcript. if anybody had to chance to read the transcript and hear the testimony this was the government's opportunity to take a bite of jeffrey epstein. it's why it is not working. you also cannot replace one defendant with another. defendants are not interchangeable. they didn't get jeffrey epstein and trying to do the next best thing. not fair to this jury or maxwell. i don't think the government did its job. the fact the jury remains out this long looks good for ghislaine maxwell. >> julie: thank you, we appreciate it. >> trace: russia's putin testing the west and our willing to purn back against his apparent threat to ukraine. canada's prime minister calling for a united front against china next. for the grandkids, 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is he trying to ease tensions or something else at play here, sir? >> thank you, trace. listen, i always prefer having fewer russian troops on ukraine's border ready to invade than more russian troops. having said that i don't think anybody can relax here. first, let's confirm the troops are actually leaving and going to bases inside russia where they don't pose a threat to anybody. but second, let's as you say let's remember this is a fraction of what is a massive force ready to invade ukraine with the sole purpose of intimidating, coerceing and threatening the west into submission. nobody should believe the crisis is over or that putin is suddenly having second thoughts and folding up his tent and going home. my guess is he is only trying to shape the diplomatic playing field for next week m geneva with these talks on european security. and his aim is simply to try and send signals he is being reasonable trying to split and divide the west and increase his leverage in any negotiation. >> trace: vice president kamala harris said russia needs to watch out. the united states is prepared to issue sanctions quoting like you've never seen before. do you buy that? the sanctions so far do not appear to have work. do you think they have something up their sleeves that will compel mr. putin to change direction? >> i do. if they are serious. i think there is still a lot of running room on the financial sanction front. we can essentially cut russia off of the entire international financial system and prevent them from gaining any access to the u.s. dollar as well as impose really crushing sanctions on putin personally and all of his inner circle. the question is, is that threat out there credible to putin and is it enough to actually deter him going forward? my own preference, trace, would be that we start sending a signal to putin now quietly that even before he invades we're prepared to start imposing some of these draconian sanctions on him right now and we are prepared to start reinforcing our own forces in nato countries that neighbor russia. we have to send a message to putin that we aren't going to tolerate him every few months amassing tens of thousands of troops on the border of his smaller neighbors and triggering a major crisis in the heart of europe and getting away scot-free with it. that won't fly anymore. >> trace: quickly 10 seconds left. prime minister trudeau is saying the west needs to stick together against china. in your assessment what's the bigger threat, china or russia to the united states? >> the biggest threat is these two actually getting together in a way that triggers crisis on both ends of eurasia in a way the west won't be able to meet any of those crises whether in ukraine or over taiwan. >> trace: i got notice we have another minute to play with. i want to play the sound bite from trudeau to get your sense on the other side. watch. >> competing in china has been from time to time very clearly playing us off each other in an open market competitive way. we need to do a better job of working together and standing strong so china can't play the angles and divide us one against the other. >> trace: lastly, does he have a fair argument here that china is pitting us against each other? >> there is no question china has to divide and conquer strategy with regard to the west. hoping that it will give us enough economic rope to hang ourselves with. the question is what is the west real strategy? what will we do besides make these kind of regular proclamation that we need a united front? when will we start a strategy to actually begin in a united way opposing and confronting china? >> trace: good insight. thank you, sir. >> thank you, trace. >> julie: democrats have long enjoyed the support of latinos at the voting both. looking at the results there 2020 it appears that may be changing. lydia is here for fox business. >> trace: top issue for latinos is the economy and frustration over pandemic-related job loss and it appears to be helping republicans find growing support among the demographic. hispanic voters see republicans as better able to rein in inflation and cut the deficit. study by catalyst that analyzes data for progressive causes hispanic voters were with trump. another study by democratic research firm found a larger swing toward the g.o.p. in certain regions. 20 points in south florida. 12 points in parts of the rio grande valley of texas. concerns that democrats are embracing socialism and leftist policies are motivating about 40% of latino voters, that's a finding from the study. these were issues that are more conservative leading cuban american population in florida but now a national issue for latinos and increase the likelihood of a vote for donald trump in 2020. the changing tides could have significant consequences for the mid-terms next year and beyond. when asked about the upcoming 2022 congressional elections latino voters were supply evenly. 37% they would support the republican candidate. another 37% support the democrat. 22% still undecided. that's a big change from just last year when latinos supported democratic candidates with more than 60% of the vote. >> the left is getting these voters wrong. nobody gets up in cuba and says i will go to the united states so the child that i have there is a victim. that is not how -- they come here with aspirations and high hopes. >> while it appears that gains toward the g.o.p. may have been made among latino voters it is not a vote republicans can bank on. a recent poll shows latino americans feel both republicans and democrats take them for granted. so what these polls offer is an encouraging sign tore the g.o.p. the hispanic voters are 1 in 8 voters and part of the fastest growing-ups in the electorate. more ground can be made. >> julie: lydia, thank you very much. >> trace: commentary, the number of policemen and women who died in the line of duty hitting a record high this year. more on that. plus san francisco taking steps to crack down on drug use in one of the cities' most troubled neighborhoods. steps away from city hall. ted williams is next with his take on these stories. that's why, in difficult times, we provided one hundred and fifty million meals to feeding america. and now through the subaru share the love event, we're helping even more. by the end of this year, subaru will have donated over two hundred and twenty five million dollars to charity. this is what it means to be more than a car company. this is what it means to be subaru. veteran homeowners. this is what it means to be more than a car company. while some banks and lenders are raising their rates newday is holding the line with their two and a quarter refi. that's 2.25%, with an apr of 2.48. this is their lowest rate in history. the newday two and a quarter refi can cut thousands of dollars off your mortgage payments. there's no money out of pocket and no up front costs. lock in your rate. priceline can help you make the most of your budget, saving up to 40% on your flight. ooh, we have a comment from the airport announcers. (muffled, distorted) ...gate 43. what? (muffled, distorted) ...43... not better. earn about covid-19, (muffled, distorted) ...43... the more questions we have. the biggest question now, what's next? what will covid bring in six months, a year? if you're feeling anxious about the future, you're not alone. calhope offers free covid-19 emotional support. call 833-317-4673, or live chat at calhope.org today. >> julie: police departments across the country recording a record number of on-duty deaths in 2021. 60 officers shot dead in the line of duty. that's a significant spike from the same time last year according to f.b.i. data. let's bring in ted williams. former d.c. homicide detective and fox news contributor. i'm sorry we're talking about this. estimates for the year range between 358 and 477 officers killed in the line of duty. according to the f.b.i. the numbers are staggering. in 2021, 69 were -- what do you attribute the deadly rise in cop killings? >> hi, julie. good to be with you under these unfortunate circumstances. 69 human beings, 69 men and women who put their uniform on to serve and protect us in these various communities were killed over this last past year of 2021. one of the individuals i want to just give a shout-out to right now who made the ultimate sacrifice was a police officer in baltimore most recently officer holly. in the last week or so, she died. she was a mother of four. she was sitting in a patrol car when she was ambushed by some thugs out on bail. that is what i believe is happening unfortunately in this country. that is that these thugs committing crimes all over the country and before the ink is dry on their paperwork, they are back out on the streets. and that is one of the things that has led to the death of so many unfortunate officers. >> julie: i think the push for police reform on behalf of democrats is to, i don't know, thank for this or blame on this. i believe the overall respect over the police community in this country has diminished so much so thanks to politicians. what would you blame for this rise? >> i blame politicians on both sides of the aisle and all over this country. we had had this so-called defunding the police movement where law-abiding citizens in these various communities were crying out for more funding for police officers, the politicians were talking about defunding. a lot of this started clearly with the death of george floyd in minneapolis, minnesota but that's some of the stuff that's going on, unfortunately, in the country right now. >> julie: i want to talk about san francisco. leaders have approved the mayor's emergency plan to combat crime and drugs amid an out of control crime crisis there. the san francisco district attorney denouncing the plan as a news conference and then react. if arrests and prosecutions could solve the drug crisis in this country and city it would have been solved long ago, he says. we have invested offer a trillion dollars in fighting the so-called war on drugs and where has it gotten us? where was it gotten us? more and more arrests need to happen. not only that bail reform is a huge issue in the country as well. you get arrested, no incentive to stop you from doing a crime. you know once you go to jail you'll be right back out on the streets. >> you have said it most eloquently and unfortunately. that is that bail reform in this country has created more crime and more criminals than anything that i can conceivably think of. look, there is a problem with drugs and the various kinds of drugs out here. we need to find a way to eradicate drugs. i don't think unfortunately that is happening enough with many of the politicians around this country. >> julie: all right, ted williams. thank you very much. we appreciate you coming on. great to see you as always. >> trace: former hillary clinton advisor abiden opening up about her marriage to disgraced former congressman anthony wiener. an oregon man says he is getting threats after saying let's go, brandon, during a christmas eve phone call with the president. details on that next. veteran homeowners, newday's rates have dropped again. it's time to refinance. newday's low rate refi offers their lowest rate in history. two and a quarter percent. just 2.48 apr. save thousands every year and there are no upfront costs. not one dollar. the newday low rate refi. take advantage of these record low rates so you and your family can save. new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. when you sponsor a job, you immediately get your shortlist of quality candidates, whose resumes on indeed match your job criteria. visit indeed.com/hire and get started today. >> julie: a 35-year-old oregon man said he has received threats after he said let's go, brandon, to president biden after calling the santa tracker. jared ended the call saying let's go, brandon. a phrase critics have used to mock the president. now he says he is under attack. david spunt is in washington with the details on that, david. >> this was all caught on camera the day before christmas said directly to the president of the united states. listen. >> i hope you guys have a wonderful christmas as well. merry christmas and let's go, brandon. >> let's go, brandon, i agree. >> the let's go brandon, phrase, means the f word combined with the president's name and the person on the other end of that line said to the president after the president spent some time with children on christmas eve to track santa virtually. the caller jared said he was joking and he is under attack for freedom of speech. the phrase originated during an interview with nascar driver brandon brown. fans were chanting f joe biden during the interview but the reporting claimed they were saying let's go, brandon. he served as the inspiration and says he is having a difficult time finding corporate sponsors now the chant has picked up so much attention and become so polarizing. he said he has nothing to do with chant and he wants to stay out of politics. chants of this type have been -- look at these three presidents right here. grover cleveland suspected of fathering a child and thomas jefferson criticized with having an affair with a slave he owned despite promoting slavery. no other comment from the white house on let's go brandon. in the past jen psaki said the president spends no time thinking about that. julie. >> julie: unfortunately i don't think that phrase is going away any time soon. david spunt. thank you very much. >> i just felt a bolt of lightning from the top of my head. i felt the lightning -- i remember everything about the room in that moment. the staircase, and i walked outside was my immediate reaction and it was you have constituents, you are responsible to people. you have to tell everybody the truth. it came about the child i was carrying and it became about his constituents and coming clean. >> trace: huma abiden opening up about her marriage to anthony weiner and the challenges his extramarital sexting posed to their marriage. charlie hurt, good to see you, thank you for coming on. the final straw was when she saw that picture in the "new york post" with their son visible in the background that he had apparently sent to a woman. what's the goal here, charlie? >> it was really -- that particular moment amid all of the appalling stuff that anthony weiner dragged his family and the country through, that was definitely the lowest point of all of it. and -- but it is important to remember and i can only imagine what it was like for her especially when he decided to drag their son into the middle of all of it. and i have to say on a sort of a larger, more grander political standpoint, this is the kind of thing, the guy elected to congress, a guy she was working for hillary clinton at the time. this is a big reason why so many people have such disdain for washington and politics is because degenerates like anthony weiner. >> trace: do you think this is something that needs to be explained that -- it has been a long time. i was kind of wondering why now? >> yeah, it's a good -- of course, also remember after he had been -- after he had left congress, "the new york times" went on sort of a campaign in order to rehabilitate anthony weiner ahead of his failed run for the new york city mayor some years after when we thought the scandal was put to bed the first time. in the course of that campaign his degeneracy reemerged. whether or not this is an effort to launder all of that part of her past or not, with the sort of clinton, you never know. they never stop spinning. >> trace: i just want to get to this next subject. we have a minute left and i want to play this a long sound bite. a texas teacher mocking bigots and evangelicals with a dr. seuss style. watch this. >> like reading a lot but some evangelicals did not. these kooks hated reading, the whole reading season, please don't ask why, no one quite knows the reason. it could be perhaps critical thinking causes fright, it could be their heads aren't screwed on just right. >> trace: i got 30 seconds. your thoughts on that, charlie. >> who do these people think they work for? the pandemic has done so much to expose what so many of these bad teachers are up to. and it is a good thing and of course it is why a guy like -- a republican glenn youngkin won the governorship in a democratic state like virginia by standing up against this kind of nonsense in favor of parents. >> trace: i thought the same thing. when my kid goes to school i should never know his teacher's political opinions at all. >> amen, amen. great to see you, trace. >> julie: so before we go, we've all heard the term, trace, monday morning quarterback. i am inventing a new one. i would like to call it monday morning throwback. >> most people look at this and what do you think? christmas story, right? don't even pretend. >> i never saw the movie. >> julie: the only person in the entire country, i believe, there is a survey, you are the only person never seen the whole movie. >> trace: i'm pop culture. it is christmas appropriate. we were kids back then. come on. >> julie: did you watch it? >> trace: i did. i have seen it many times since then and it is a fantastic movie. one of the christmas greats. great to be with you today, julie. i'm glad you pulled that out for us. >> julie: so great to be with you. i had to. i couldn't resist. >> trace: "the faulkner focus" right now. >> this is a fox news alert now. president biden facing off against an uncomfortable new reality ahead of the new year. the country headed into 2022 with the omicron variant spreading like wildfire and testing shortage is compounding the problem. you are in "the faulkner focus", i'm gillian turner in for harris today. they are talking about what his administration is prepared to do and not do amid