their behavior. >> may have sabotaged his own government investigator's effort. the politico story, they quote a couple of low level ideological sources. >> to say that the people i quoted were low level people is sort of ridiculous. >> president believe in the existence of ufos? >> somehow that question hasn't come up in our back and forth in the last couple of days. ♪ christmas ♪ steve: u2 are watching "fox & friends" on this wednesday before christmas, ho ho ho. hold everything. where did brian go? pete: i don't know; good morning, great to be here. ainsley: enjoy this time when christmas arrives you wake up the next day and it's like it's over. just enjoy this week as we are building up. pete: can't you extend christmas all the way to new year's? i feel like 26th, 27th, 28th. just enjoy like christmas. ainsley: i know, that's a bad attitude isn't it. after christmas i have got to wait another year. steve: we are delighted you would join us today. we are celebrating the week and cryption is on monday and pete is in for brian. and. pete: thanks for having me. steve: take a look at this right here. it's a wrap, straight to a fox news alert. the senate making history overnight. ainsley: first major rewrite of the u.s. tax code in 31 years clearing a major hurdle. we could just a few hours away for a from a major win for the republican party. pete: griff jenkins live in washington, d.c. still work to be done before the president can sign the bill. >> a little bit more work to be done but it is definitely on its way to the president's desk. the senate had to make minor changes to fit arcane budget rules. three provisions one of which included the actual title of the bill itself. the house will vote again sometime around noon today on this modified version and make no mistake, we are witnessing history and five hours ago it began when the senate passed this straight down party lines 51-48. all republicans for it all democrats against it. senator mccain absent. vice president pence presiding over it. at times it was very passionate. even protesters had to be removed. in the end, majority leader mitch mcconnell saying that this will strength the country. >> if you look at the last 8 years america has consistently under performed. not one year 3% growth. not one. that's not the best america can do. we're confident this will work and we are prepared to take that argument to the american people. >> senator schumer saying it's messing the country up. >> 83% of the middle class will either pay more in taxes or get little but crumbs. is that what you intended? is that this great bill that's helping the middle class? absolutely not. this is serious stuff. we believe you're mes messing up america. >> the house will vote hours from now roughly around noon and goes to the president's desk. you know, ainsley, you mentioned what's to look forward to after december 25th and according to chairman kevin brady of the ways and means committee it is fatter paychecks in february. ainsley: you can pay for those christmas gifts. that's a good thing. thanks so much, griff. steve: do you know who is really excited about this? the president of the united states. he just got a win. remember shortly after he was elected president of the united states, there were so many media pundits and stuff like that who warned republicans do not work with this new president. if you want, you know, if you want a career in politics, stay away from him. but he was tenacious and he kept pushing the whole congress toward tax reform. angtsd he was so excited. he tweeted this at 2:00 this morning. pete: that's right. he tweeted saying the united states senate just passed the biggest in history tax cut and reform bill. terrible individual mandate of obamacare repealed. goes to the house tomorrow morning for final vote. if approved, there will be a news conference at the white house at approximately 1:00 p.m. today. ainsley: the president ran on several things. there was the wall. steve: yep. ainsley: repealing and replacing obamacare, tax reform, infrastructure. pete: crushing isis. ainsley: that's done. steve: the economy. ainsley: that's check. he is getting tax reform. repealing the mandate. if you don't pay into it you are not penalized. good for the people who like obamacare. good for the people who don't like obamacare. not forced to do so. pete: massive vindication coming out today a lot of folks in the mainstream media are having to reckon with their rhetoric. this is a do nothing white house they don't get anything done. but, wait, they have gotten a lot done and this bill is front and center. ainsley: for a change, wasn't it nice, no matter if you are a republican or not, to see the republican party unified like the democrats have done? all the republicans in the house voted for it. steve: there were some republicans in the house that voted against it. ainsley: the ones in the big states. ainsley: they got 51 votes. pete: mitch mcconnell finally did something. steve: congratulations. the republicans delivered against long odds and ultimately the swamp. pete, you have lived down there. you know what it's like. there are lobbyists and there are large forces that try to get congress to do certain things because they have a financial and political interest. pete: you are exactly right. the other part of this is the democrats who we played that sound clip of chuck schumer. it was about jfk's era 1963-64 that he passed a massive tax cut, took down 9 this is the democratic party so removed from jfk that every single democrat voted against this bill. are you saying that americans don't want their money back? they don't want larger paychecks? they want more in the government? that's what they're doubling down on that they want higher taxes for the american people. steve: we just heard chuck schumer saying in griff's report you are messing up america, republicans. ainsley: need to think about who put them in office than how they can destroy this administration. it's a referendum against trump. steve: it will be easier for republicans to get reelected next year if they have to explain why they didn't get anything else done. now they have a major win under their belts as far as they fix that little parliamentarian snafu. two things. they named the bill the wrong thing. pete: how did they name the bill the wrong thing after all this time. steve: the numbers didn't match up in the house and the senate. we will talk to speaker paul ryan live at 7:20 and senator ted cruz live at 8:20 this morning. a big day on capitol hill. a big day here on "fox & friends." ainsley: andrew mccabe was grilled for seven and a half hours, close to 8 hours about bias in the fbi. they had a lot of questions for him. that's why it too so long. pete: you bring the deputy director of the fbi. there is video of him. he looked like a guy who wanted to get as quickly as he could from a to b and answer questions behind closed doors. grilled, as you said, eight hours in front of the house intelligence committee. and, you know, a lot of questions right now about what kind of bias may have existed inside the investigation. steve: sure. in fact, he was supposed to testify last week but then that news about bruce ohr who had been a top guy at the department of justice. then it was revealed bruce ohr's wife nellie apparently worked for fusion g.p.s. there she is right there and there he is. ainsley: strzok's emails were released. i mean the text messages. pete: don't call them andrew mccabe call him andy because that's what the text called him. steve: that meeting was very, very serious. trey gowdy before he testified said i would be surprised if deputy director mccabe was in his job in a week and he walked it back and said, you know what, i probably should have waited until i heard what he had to say. pete: so he did. we will find out ultimately. ainsley: we don't know what was said because it was closed door. steve: i will tell you what, last night on the channel a former deputy independent counsel joined the host and talked a little bit about why he was in there so long. here is what he told laura. >> very angry at him. you are talking about the person who wouldn't understand a conflict of interest if it jumped up and bit him on the butt. they have probably been waiting to talk to him for a long time. my god, you are talking about a lawyer whose wife took $700,000 from a clinton crony and he refused to recuse himself from the clinton investigations until there was a "wall street journal" story about it and by then it was too late. they were closed. steve: you know what's really interesting about all the testimony yesterday is the fact that there he was on capitol hill behind closed doors and it's 6:10 in the morning. still no leaks. twitter was ablaze with the fact that, wait a minute, don jr. was behind closed doors and suddenly there are all these leaks on other channels and they suggested a certain member of congress from california might have been to blame for that we don't know anything about that. pete: what he said was convenient to the narrative, steve. steve: could be. never know. no leaks so far. we will keep you posted. ainsley: hand it over to jillian who has headlines for us? jillian: at least seven 11 americans are dead and seven hurt. flipped over bringing cruise ship passengers to the mighty ruins. up clear what caused that crash but witnesses say there were swerve marks on the road. we do know child is among the dead. we will keep you updated on the latest. man hunts across several states for two escaped inmates including an accused killer. david allen anderson and another man broke out of cell florida panhandle by slipping through a wall with a shower curtain rod and squeezing under a gate. they dumped their original get away car in south carolina and stole another one. both inmates drugged for drug charges but pardo was also accused of murder. new questions whether brand new route where the plane was off tracks was rushed open. technology designed to slow trains down was not yet active on those tracks. investigators also looking into whether the engineer was distracted by an employee in training when the train plunged off an overpass killing three people. among the dead jim henry and jack. both men were railroad advocates. the actress both known as the voice of daphne on scooby-doo has died. >> where are you? jillian: heather north voiced the character on the cartoon series for over 30 years. north also made her way in front of the camera on the daytime soap opera days of our lives in the 1970s. she passed away last month. a family friend just speaking out saying she has been battling some sort of illness. north was 71 years old. that's a look at your headlines, guys. ainsley: that takes us back. i watched that show all the time. steve: could by do or the soap? ainsley: could by do. i don't like scary movies. i liked scooby-doo. steve: cartoon. ainsley: it was always old man smithers. coming up this baby right there. that baby should be 24 years old. you heard it right. you will meet the miracle newborn that everyone is talking about this morning. we will explain that. pete: forget russia, was the real collusion between president trump and iran? lieutenant colonel michael waltz is here to break it down for us next. steve: have you seen what my house looked like on christmas morning. that's that kid going down to see what he got. now we want to see what your house looks like on christmas morning. he got an air hockey table. steve: what is the best gift you ever received? email us your pictures at friends@foxnews.com. that is where they got the dog. after a dvt blood clot... i sure had a lot on my mind. my 30-year marriage... ...my 3-month old business... plus...what if this happened again? i was given warfarin in the hospital, but wondered, was this the best treatment for me? so i made a point to talk to my doctor. he told me about eliquis. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. not only does eliquis treat dvt and pe blood clots. eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. eliquis had both... ...and that turned around my thinking. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. if you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily... and it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. plus had less major bleeding. both made eliquis right for me. ask your doctor if switching to eliquis is right for you. we're on a mission to show the new keurig k select brewer is the strong way to start your day. pop that in there. hit strong. press brew. that's it. strong. bold. rich. i feel like you're toying with me. show me how strong you are. 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(screams) ♪ it's the most wonderful time of the year ♪ ♪ ding dong, ding dong $50 gift card for them, $10 bonus card for you. only at applebee's. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. i was wondering if an electric toothbrusthan a manual.s better and my hygienist says it does but they're not all the same. who knew? i had no idea. so she said, look for one that's shaped like a dental tool with a round brush head. go pro with oral-b. oral-b's rounded brush head surrounds each tooth to gently remove more plaque. and unlike sonicare, oral-b is the only electric toothbrush brand accepted by the american dental association for its effectiveness and safety. my mouth feels so clean. i'll only use an oral-b. oral-b. brush like a pro. nothing smells greater than the great outdoors. especially when you're in accounts receivable. only one detergent can give you a sniff like this. the irresistable scent of new gain botanicals laundry detergent. bring the smell of nature wherever you are. when heartburn hits fight back fast with tums chewy bites. fast relief in every bite. crunchy outside. chewy inside. tum tum tum tum tums chewy bites. >> incredible allegation that any administration would ignore one terrorist group because you were trying to curry favor with another terrorist group. it is incendiary. it is worthy of investigation across several different committees of congress. pete: demanding answers as the bombshell report accuses the will obama administration d.e.a. effort to take down hezbollah's drug ring letting the terror network off the hook to secure the infamous iran deal. fox news contributor lieutenant colonel michael waltz is retired green beret and author of the great book warrior diplomat and he joins us now in the studio to weigh in. thanks for being here. >> thanks. pete: the allegation is that the obama administration directed the d.e.a. to look the other way on a drug ring they knew about iranian backed in order to secure the iran deal. what do you know about this. >> well sourced well funded d.e.a. led but multi-agency, intel agencies, international partners efforts to shut down hezbollah's operations around the world these guys may be a terrorist organization but operate like the math math i can't. an antiquities dealing. cocaine. car smuggling. you name it they are international illicit finance ring. dea was leading the effort to shut this down and every time they teed something up for prosecution or arrest, including iranian backed hezbollah operatives in the united states. they ran into a wall. we found out -- we are finding out through this story. everyone suspected at the time we knew why the iranian deal. pete: this report coming out revealing it to all of us. as someone who knows folks involved in these communities does it surprise you at all it? >> doesn't surprise me at all. i knew a number of dea agents that were literally pulling their hair out because they had the goods on these guys and they just couldn't get it done when it came to doj and when it came to treasury to approve. you know, one of the things that a lot of folks are hitting at the sourcing of the story. but, buried in the story is actually testimony from an obama-era treasury official who said it in writing that vehd down to redidn't rock the iran deal. pete: what does it say to you about priorities of the government we want this controversial deal and meantime not go after international terrorists? >> i am convinced and i think we are seeing now the obama administration put everything secondary. whether it was you remember the poor syrian rebels that were trying to fight the assad regime aligned with iran. paltry. these guys were slaughtered because we didn't support them. whether it's the efforts in yemen. whether it was those or whether it was this effort to hut down hezbollah. you have name it everything was put as secondary to get this deal done because we didn't want to rile the americans because the obama administration was so desperate to do this deal. pete: when you read a report like that, you almost wish it isn't true but colonel you are here to validate that unfortunately it looked like it was. good stuff. all right. coming up, the senate just passed historic tax reform and sent rosie o'donnell off the rails. she is trying to bribe some people. violent protesters have been trying to silence conservative speakers on campus nationwide. that could soon be a thing of the past. the proof we have next. ♪ i was born free ♪ has been great. they're affordable and fast... maybe "too affordable and fast." what if... 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steve: thank you, ainsley. this year was filled with violent protests at campuses across the country. we have shown you pictures. mostly protests to protest conservative speakers. there is some news this morning. a new survey shows speech is actually ground on campus. free speech that is. according to the foundation for individual rights and education. or fire. in the past year there has been a 10% drop in the schools with policies prohibiting or restricting free speech. here to react is harvard student she is a senior now emily hall. >> thank you so much for having me. steve: it's a good news, bad news things. good news is less restrictive bad news is there are still a lot that clamp down on free speech. >> absolutely. i think it's important to note that although this fire study does show important progress that progress has been really hard fought. we have seen students, part of college republicans and other groups at berkeley, at columbia, at middle burry, at numerous schools who have not backed down in the violence and restricted speech codes and all kinds of restrictions on their first amendment rights. steve: fire found that roughly one in three schools still maintain policies that drastically limit freemp on campus. you know, i think if parents and students knew before a kid was going to sign up to go to a college that the school they were going to was restrictive in their free speech ability, a lot of them wouldn't go. >> absolutely. i think that's actually making things worse for students is that you have all these expectations that the schools are going to be so liberal. and it scares conservative students into not using their voices. i think it's really important the work that students are doing on their own campuses that groups like the leadership institute and campus reform.org are doing to train these students and then finally we have seen attorney general jeff sessions has recently committed the justice department to investigating violations of free speech. and a number of state have made provisions that have protected free speech in their own states and more introducing them. steve: do you know what? let's go ahead and take a look at that graphic. good segue way there those states that have passed free speech legislation, include utah, colorado, tennessee, virginia, and arizona. it is being proposed in california, texas are louisiana, georgia, north carolina, kentucky, illinois and wisconsin. when it comes to restricting free speech, does that campus then tilt so far one side politically and is it almost always to the political left? >> yes. i think that these schools are reacting to both their student bodies and their professors, which lean overwhelmingly left. and when conservative voices are spreaded, it's really robbing students of their education. because the best thing that a college education can do is teach students how to defend their own beliefs, argue with people. and come out with a better answer. >> my wife and i were shocked that one of our kids went to a school that was aligned with religious institution, the catholic church. we were shocked how far to the left it tilted. it was not just the students for the most part, but it was the administrators, the teachers, it was across the board. we didn't know about it going in. >> yeah. it's incredible to see how many schools across the country just shift so far to the left and suppress student voices. and then you have a refusal by many administrations to even, you know, punish groups like antifa that come on campus and evoke violence against professors, against students, against speakers. and there is nothing done about it. steve: i think most families would just like to be able to send their kids to a school where you get both sides. so that's not all just one. if you would like -- apparently the list of the schools, it's broken down, go to the foundation for individual rights and education and they will have lists right there. emily thank you very much for joining us live. >> thank you so much for having me. >> good luck at harvard by the way. >> thank you. steve: still ahead on wednesday hillary clinton's book tour finally over and now she is coming home to a brand new clinton cash scandal. you are going want to hear about that. is your new year's resolution to find financial freedom? 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[ mouse clicks, keyboard clacking ] [ mouse clicking ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ mouse clicking ] [ keyboard clacking ] ♪ good questions lead to good answers. our advisors can help you find both. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. yours. ♪ talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. as soon as i became a parent i changed as a person, drastically. ♪ i tried hard to quit smoking. ♪ but when we brought our daughter home that was it. ♪ now i have nicoderm cq. the nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release technology helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. it's the best thing that ever happened to me. can you say thanks nicoderm cq? every great why needs a great how. ♪ i won't ask for much this christmas ♪ i won't even wish for snow ♪ i just want to keep on. steve: those are the doocy kids. we saw mary doocy open her american girl doll. that's the best gift she ever got. can you see by her expression. and peter when he got his air hockey table. ainsley: look at sally. steve: this is when santa left a hurt in the christmas tree when the kids were told they could get a dog. pete: none of us can compete with it. the key folks take movies of your kids. they grow up so fast. looking at the best gifts they ever got. ainsley: that was me, of course, with the baby doll. i always had one in my hand. and my sister on the left. that is the best gift i ever got was my daughter. she was born around christmas time two years ago. that was day two of her life. pete: beautiful. i didn't have any photos of belief opening gifts. so instead i submitted two of my little boys whole army combat. i made them a battlefield. hell mats and camouflage. why not? ainsley: mine was baby alive. apparently still popular now. ainsley: where they cry and change their diaper. janice: there is my baby grand. ainsley: i love it. janice: the 70s, everywhere. jillian: one of my favorite gifts was a pound puppy. one of the stuffed puppies. i still have it to this day i'm not kidding. janice: you have got to bring it in. jillian: yeah, can i do that. ainsley: is it in your apartment? jillian: no, it's at home. pete: send us your pictures friends@foxnews.com. what are the best gifts you ever received. if you have video, even better. janice: you can't top the doocy clan. ainsley: mary was unwrapping the gifts to the music. janice: do you like these warm temperatures here in the north? steve: unbelievable. janice: step over the weather map and talk about the fact it is very warm. i am wearing these shoes that look good on tv. they are uncomfortable and i could trip at any moment. 46 here in new york city. it's going to remain warm for the next couple of days and then we do have an artic plunge that's going to move n time for christmas. past 24 hours across the northwest. a lot of snow, feet of snow in fact, frontal boundary bring the potential for heavy rain across the southeast. the mississippi river valley, tennessee river valley that's going to be the case as we get into the weekend. big travel plans for friday and saturday. that's going to be the ongoing threat. let's look at these temperatures drop shall we as we go into saturday and sunday. 50 in boston. and then it goes down to 40. then it goes down to 39. tuesday we get that artic plunge. things will be cold enough for some snow when we actually could see some snow on christmas day here in the new york city area. so we will keep you posted, of course, busiest travel days of the year coming up back to you. steve: of course, the coldest days will be the days when people are taking things back to the store. ainsley: that's the way it always works. jillian has headlines for us. jillian: good morning to you guys. let's begin with this story, the hillary clinton campaign along with the democratic national committee accused of a corrupt money scheme. a complaint filed with the federal election commission alleges that $84 million were illegally funneled from the dnc through state party chapters and back to the clinton campaign. the group behind the complaint claims they broke fec contribution rules. they have not returned our request for comment. we will keep you posted on that. very vocal president trump critic rosie o'donnell going off the rails trying to stop the tax bill. the actress offering legislators $2 million to vote against it tweeting in part quote how about this i promise to give $2 million to senator susan collins and 2 million to senator jeff flake if they vote no. many on twitter quick to point out those bribes would be illegal. she also told her followers to call 911. okay. so, a mom is sounding the alarm on a popular toy right before christmas claiming it gave her daughter chemical burns. she posted this photo on facebook after she says her daughter got in the bath with a hatch mall and was burning within seconds. i'm not up to date on these whole toy things. the toy company says they follow fda guidelines but are investigating what happened here. so it's a record breaking christmas miracle a 26-year-old tennessee woman gives baby to a 24-year-old frozen embryo. tina gibson and her husband didn't think they would be able to have kids until visiting an embryo donation center. >> just so you know this is going to be a world record. i was like what? they are like yeah, been frozen for 24 and a half years. we could have been best friends. jillian: she was conceived in 1992. the same year tina was born. isn't that crazy, guys? steve: that is something. who knew? all right. jillian, thank you. ainsley: best gift for them i'm sure. holiday shopping season can add to financial whoas if you don't plan ahead. recent study shows 62% of americans feel stressed about money. i'm surprised not more about than that. steve: can you reach that and financial goals for the new year? pete: best selling author of "retired inspired" financial expert chris hogan joins us with his tips. moving into a new year and want a fresh start. >> first thing you have to do is understand most people when they set resolutions they don't follow through. studies have shown 85% of people follow off within 35 to 40 days. you have to understand uphill climb immediately. you have to make a decision. i tell people to follow my aaa process guys. follow me here. first thing you want to do is assess where you. be brutally honest. are you doing well in some areas? are you struggling in some areas, right? once you make that assessment, what i wants you to do is acknowledge, is better available? can you start to do better at saving can you do better at starting to attack debt. once you acknowledge what can improve i want you to activate a plan of action. activate steps that are going to put nut rights direction. start small. most people have this large goal but they never have small incremental stepping they can take to be able to judge and gauge if they are making progress. ainsley: is that why you say focus on one thing at a time. >> we are distracted in our culture. we have things buzzing and binging all over the place. zero in and understand if i'm going to attack debt i'm going to get serious about the debt. now once i do that or focus on savings, then do that doing things one at a time, you are going to increase your probability of reaching that goal. steve: i know from your boss, dave ramsey, he has said many times that the number one reason people have marital problems or get divorced is over money. so you really have got to be on the same page. >> you really do. that's one of those where you start to put down kind of the disagreements and start to pick up where are you going to be together? where are you in common? where are you in sync if you start to work on those goals together you will faster and you point have money fights. steven steven oftentimes she is a spender or a savior. and/or she is. they are never on the same page. >> don't focus on how you are different. focus on what you have in common. meaning you want what's best for your family. if you can sit down and work on the budget one night a week together or game agreement on hey we are going to save and not spend, i guarantee you will start to move in that direction and you will feel better. ainsley: those talks are almost so much fun. >> i note sarcasm here. ainsley: how can you do that without getting in a fight? steve: i have the visa bill here i have some questions. >> have a dollar amount that you each can spend without anybody getting upset. steve: how do you figure that amount? pete: yeah. >> sit down and look at your budget. if it makes sense for you to have 400 a month each. get that out in cash so there is no disagreement. if you want to spend it going to the spa or spend it at the sporting goods store, we have already gained agreement on it so there can't be a fight. pete: you consider extreme money moves. what if i want to spent mine on bit coin? >> i'm going it tell now. if you want to waste it, you can. it's not a problem. listen, i'm joking. steve: he bit about bit coin. >> we talked at the break. we will talk later. extreme money moves are these. if you are working outside of the home you will agree to live on one income while we use the other to save or attack debt. now you you are starting to gain agreement. multiple cars. families have three and four cars these days. sell one of the cars, use that money toward attacking debt. biggest extreme move down size your home. down size where you are living if you have too much square footage and have cheaper expenses overall. now redirect that money toward financial progress. ains ages if you want to figure out how much to put away for 401(k) he has a great website. he tells you how much you need to be putting aside so you can live comfortably. >> retire. chris hogan 360.com. if you want to set goals this year and get serious podcast called new year, new you. ainsley: thank you,. steve: merry christmas. >> merry christmas. steve: coming up on this wednesday, the senate just passed historic tax reform now it's up to the house to get it on the president's desk. two key players represent paul ryan and ted cruz will be with us next hour. pete: anthem kneeling quarterback looking to get back in the game as an owner. former super bowl champ burgess owns has a few ideas where he can invest. does collin kaepernick have enough money to be an owner? i don't know. ♪ being confident ♪ it's time to get the pete: collin kaepernick cannot get hired as a quarterback because he throws too many interceptions but is he trying to get back in the game as an owner. after owner jerry richmondson announced the team was for sale after sexual harassment claims. jill. ainsley: kaepernick is banging the move saying he does want in. steve: liberalism or how to turn good men into wineries, wienies and wimps burgess owens. >> good morning. good to see you again. steve: what do you think about this idea that these guys mint combine forces and buy a team. >> first thing that came to mind is where have they been the last year or so? this is freerkt. they can get together to solve or buy a corporation. how about getting together to solve the issues we are dealing with in the black community? there is a lot of issues happening that help out by example. the idea if i can do it you can do it. we are missing that with the social justice game. ainsley: there was not an nfl team in the carolinas. he has the right to say no, right, if he doesn't agree with their -- maybe the money is going to talk and he is going to want to sell no matter who it is. >> there is a couple things here, first of all, there is a lot difference between running an nfl team. i understand the guy is making a lot of money. they get very confident. but, this is a business. the way they are approaching their lives right now, and the way they have actually hurt the nfl. i don't think it will be a good business decision at all. pete: would it be a good business decision for puff dadddad daddy to work with collin kaepernick. does that not create controversial out the gate. >> we are dealing with the talk because what's happened in the last year and a half. how about puff diddy kaepernick, michael jordan, all these guys get together and say you know what? we have some things we can do for our community. we are making billions of dollars together. let's make arches did. go out and tell our kids if i can do it, can you do it. get away from this social stuff i can do it but you can't. steve: there is' a possibility if they bought the team they wouldn't inject their politics into it. he just wants a place to throw the ball? >> well, unfortunately, that's not proven true so far. is he actually where he is today because he couldn't keep his politics out of the game. these guys are very into what they are doing. they are social justice warriors. unfortunately that doesn't fit with the community we have now. ainsley: carolinas, that's the bible belt. do you think people would still go to the game. >> i don't. i don't. those are the decisions that the nfl has to make. it is a business decision at the end of the day. they don't want to lose their numbers because of somebody's divisive. pete: week 15 of the nfl. what's your take away so far about what this year has done to the brand. >> this has been a sea change. i felt it's so difficult to mess up the nfl brand and figure out a way to get it done. i don't know if they will get it back. steve: are you heart broken when you see images in the first quarter and a third of the seats are empty. >> because i have left the game so long i'm heart breaking when i see all the misery going on in the black community and nobody is doing anything about it 75% of black kids black boys in california this year cannot read and write. nobody is talking about it. talking about a billion-dollar investment in a team. we have to change that narrative. steve: burgess owens thank you very much. pete: on the stuff that matters. a brand new threat isis as security ramps up across the country, what we know coming up. ainsley: plus, an inspiring new book tells the story of an unexpected christmas gift. a chance to rewrite the past and learn lessons of forgiveness. the best selling author, the noel diary joins us next. he wrote the christmas box. he has another one. it's going to be a hit. ♪ this christmas ♪ a very special christmas ♪ for me ♪ "what headache?" nothing works faster to make pain a distant memory. advil liqui-gels and advil liqui-gels minis. what pain? ♪ ainsley: sweet story just in time for the holidays, a new book shares an unexpected christmas gift. a chance to reconcile with the past. and learn lessons of grace and forgiveness and a chance at love. with his own inspiring story, our next guest has over two decades of writing books that he hopes help people -- will help people find their own power within themselves. joining us now is best-selling author of new book it's called "the noel diary" richard evans. have you written a lot of books christmas box, the walk. your wife read the book and said it was her favorite book. why was that? >> she did. after she said that she said does it hurt to write. auto by graphic call. she knew how much was true from my childhood. ainsley: give me an example of a story. >> a "u.s.a. today" reporter is interviewing best selling author jacob churcher. it's obviously auto buying graphic calauto bygraphic call. christmas mother got mad and beat him and packed a suitcase and walked him out and said go find some place else to live. he stood by the side of the road with a suitcase. that's true. that was me. ainsley: your mom did that to you? >> yeah. she suffered from mental illness. ainsley: that breaks my heart. we were just watching videos of steve doocy's kids coming down the stairs and getting presents. and your mom kicks you out. how old were you? >> i was 11. ainsley: i'm so sorry. >> i love my mother she has passed away now. she needed help. she didn't have it. it was difficult. so that was my childhood. ainsley: going home. >> peeling back the layers of what was there and exposing it to light. and at first it was like it was really great for me to like just kind of come out. say this is me. i look like a best selling author but the truth is i have a lot of pain inside and maybe that's where the books come from. but then i didn't think it would do well because of that. but then all of a sudden people all around the country start pouring in with their stories. ainsley: being real. i have realized in my career too just being real and genuine, people can relate to that. i also wanted to ask you about your tourette's. you have talked about having tourette's and living with that how do you overcome that or how do you live with that? >> i'm grateful for my tourette's. it was hard, some twitches and things. but, i wrote a book series called michael i have a about a boy with tourette's, a number one best-seller i get to meet kids with tourette's all around the country. i'm meeting one from london tomorrow. that gives them hope. what a great thing. ainsley: god has blessed you. he redeems everyone all the time. richard paul evans, highest rated book out of all of his books this is the highest one on amazon. have you had some best sellers. thank you so much. 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absolutely. ask your doctor about jardiance. and get to the heart of what matters. ainsley: the first major rewrite in 31 years clearing a major hurdle. >> the yeas are 51, the nays are 548. steve: do you know who is excited? the president he tweeted at 2:00 this morning. pete: passed the biggest in history tax cut. >> fbi director andrew mccabe was grilled nor more than seven hours. >> you are talking about a lawyer whose wife took $700,000 from a clinton crony and he refused to recuse himself. >> at least a dozen people are dead and seven americans are hurt following a tragic bus crash in mexico. >> a alleging the obama administration may have sabotaged own government's efforts to stop the hezbollah terror group. >> hezbollah terror group put everything secondary so we didn't rock the boat with the iranians because of the iran deal. steve: right here, this is what santa left a letter in the christmas tree where the kids were told that they could get a dog. ♪ ♪ ♪ steve: we are sitting in midtown manhattan, there goes santa and the train and stuff like that. so many snowflakes falling on the big train. i keep looking outside saying wait a second, i thought it was snowing. just a picture to remind you we're in the wednesday before christmas. ainsley: this political season has been crazy. the last two years let's say. every time i hear the word snowflake i used to think of christmas. enough to i think college campuses. pete: the real snowflakes. talked about gifts under the tree. send us your favorite gift have you ever gotten under the tree. friends@foxnews.com. we shared ours. we want to know yours. steve: indeed. meantime president trump got his big gift last night. ainsley: he did. steve: this is a fox news alert. cutting your taxes, the senate making history passing sweeping tax reform for the american people. ainsley: this the first major rewrite of the tax code in 31 years. and we could be just hours away from a huge win for the republican party. pete: and for america. griff jenkins is live in washington, d.c. where there is still a little bit of work left to be done before the president can sign the bill. good morning. pete: good morning, guys. this is indeed headed to the president's desk within hours many expect. there is a little bit more work to be done. what happened was the senate had to strike some provisions from the house bill so it would fit their budget rules. one of which included changing the title of the bill itself. but now the house is expected to vote again some time around noon today. on the new version. and it is expected to pass without issue. history was when the senate passed and straight down party lines 51 to 48 shortly before 1:00 a.m. all republicans for it. all democrats against it afterwards, majority leader mitch mcconnell saying this strengthens america. >> if you look at the last 8 years america has consistently under performed. not one year at 3% growth. not one. that's not the best america can do. we're confident this will work. and we are prepared to take that argument to the american people. >> democrats slammed it minority leader schumer saying it's actually messing the country up. >> 83% of the middle class will either pay more in taxes or get little but crumbs. is that what you intended? is that this great bill that's helping the middle class? absolutely not. this is serious stuff. we believe you're messing up america. >> there is a quick look at what this means. 80% of americans will receive a tax cut according to the tax policy center. it cuts that corporate rate as we heard from 35% to 21%. it drops the top individual rate to 37%. and it repeals obamacare's individual mandate. and, if the house ways and means committee chairman kevin brady is right, guys, it means fatter paychecks in february. democrats by the way intend to use this against republicans in next year's elections. we will see how that goes. steve: we will indeed. all right, griff. thank you very much from his perch over at the capital. the house has got to vote on it later today there was a snafu. they have a bunch of crazy rules in the senate. pete: you think this? steve: this particular bill that the house passed didn't sync up with the senate version under the bird rules and reconciliation. ainsley: back to the house. pete: likely be the same. the president pointing out late last night i think 1 or 2:00 in the morning. steve: he did. pete: united states senate just passed the biggest in history tax cut and reform bill. terrible individual mandate from obamacare repealed goes to the house tomorrow morning for final vote. if approved, there will be a news conference at the white house at approximately 1:00 p.m. which, of course, you can see here on the fox news channel. ainsley: one fell swoop he got the tax bill and mandate. if you don't want to pay into obamacare you don't have to pay into it. you are not penalized. steve: it is a bigger corporate tax cut than either of the bushes got during their presidencies. he did it without losing a single republican senator which was key because over the last month or two, people have been going okay, i don't know about jeff flake. i don't know about john mccain. i don't know about susan collins. in the end they were all there the lone expectation is john mccain who is out in arizona for the christmas holiday. he, of course, recovering from brain cancer surgery. ainsley: he said he would go back to d.c. if he had to to be the tie breaker. pete: president trump dealing with resistance from every corner of this country fake news media, to never trumpers to democrats. as we have learned out more and more own intelligence services the fbi and don. everyone has been out to get this guy. you imagine democrats may have voted for this if it was a president jeb bush a moderate guy. maybe they would have come on board. they would have been against him no matter. what still got the votes in the senate and house. our economy and our country. and american taxpayers will benefit from the fact of one simple principle. president trump believes you should keep your money. steve: right. >> more should not be held at the federal government to be told ho how to spend it basic principle that conservatives have stood for. ainsley: can he tell lawmakers that in high tax states we need more money in our pockets and our taxes are not going to go down because our local taxes are so expensive in new york and new jersey and connecticut. steve: i was watching one of the other news channels yesterday and that bill scared me hearing what they said about how it was going to completely hurt the middle class and things like that. but i have read the bill. and, you know what? i think it's a little disinformation. pete: one more point to make the party of john f. kennedy is dead. john f. kennedy cut taxes 91 to 60% individuals. cut the corporate tax rate for lowest income being bracket as well. not a single democrat voted for this bill. this is a party invested in tax and spend and invested in the resistance. what they see what it could do for this economy there may be regrets especially senators in states that trump won overwhelmingly up for reelections. ainsley: can you still expect for more companies to open up here, more jobs, more money that goes back in our economy. the deficit goes down hopefully. people are spending more. steve: i mentioned at the top of this hour, president trump got his christmas wish. somebody who was really happy you saw him with a big gavel speaker paul ryan. ainsley: i noticed that too. it was huge. steve: he is going to be joining us in about 10 minutes and we'll talk to senator ted cruz he will be live in the next hour. ainsley: we will get video of that gavel. oh, it fell off. pete: indicative of this bill help the american people. ainsley: there it is. steve: hammer time. pete: there you go. steve: if you were watching bret baier's show last night. he had a great view with mitch mcconnell. it was news breaking because he revealed that the government would not shut down over, you know, come the deadline at a minute after midnight on saturday. pete: government is going to run out of money. steve: he said no to a government shut down. and he said no, there will not be any daca legislation done this year. now, we're starting to put the pieces together. that makes sense. because it turns out yesterday there was over the last week, actually, chief of staff for the white house, john kelly has been meeting secretly with lawmakers. ainsley: he has been meeting behind closed doors to talk to senators about this -- the border security bills. and he is saying what do we need to do? we need more fencing. let's talk about all of this. threat's talk about daca. try to work together to come up with a package for a legislative fix for the deferred action for childhood arrival. pete: senator jeff flake tweeted this yesterday who has been a fierce opponent of this president. he tweeted bipartisan daca bill will be on the senate floor by january. for those who believe in the trump agenda there is no one you want in the room more than john kelly. someone who is a believer in the wall. who is a believer of the rule of law doesn't want to give away to illegals. recognizes the complex environment of the dreamer situation but not going to give away the farm without making stliewr is real border investment as a change. steve: that's good. behind the scenes there is some negotiating going on. you have have the administration saying okay, we want a wall. and this is what we want. big, bing, bing. meanwhile across the table have you the democrats and some republicans saying this is what we want. ainsley: bing, bing, bing. pete: we should play that sound. steve: i think most americans no matter which side of the aisle you are on daca kids should be allowed to stay. pete: don't do that without making protocols that doesn't happen again. dreamers should stay shouldn't be able to bring the next 25 people with them. ainsley: dreamers should be vetted. pete: and they have been. at the same time some of the terror attacks we have seen recently have come through chain my grasmghts how do would he be smart about this. there are great chips this administration has on the table to make a common sense deal. ainsley: there is a commercial that airs on fox news i don't know if it's in the new york area. this guy brought this guy on chain migration and he brought this guy and that guy brought this guy and that guy. it's like a tree that has branchesd you a look and it zooms out and all these hundreds of people came in because of that one personal. steve: president made it clear in the last couple of weeks he would like to seat end of chain migration. behind the scenes, stuff is going on regarding that. meanwhile, it is 7:11 in new york city. jillian halls the headlines. jillian: that's right. following breaking news, guys. let's get you caught up. starting with a fox news alert. at least a dozen people are dead and seven americans hurt following a tragic bus crash in mexico. the tour bus flipping over bringing cruise ship passengers to the my an ruins. it's unclear what caused that crash. but a witness says there were swerve marks on the road. we do know a child is among the dead. 18 people are injured. also breaking right now, isis threatening to launch buddy attacks on new year's eve. the brutal terror group circulating this disturbing propaganda poster with the message that says quote wait for us on your year parties. along with two heavily armed jihads. similar threat showing santa claus next to a box of dynamite in new york's times square. new overnight the capital of south carolina becoming the first u.s. city to ban gun bump stocks. making it illegal to use that device that can make guns fire more rounds in faster succession. last month, mass malice became the first state to ban the devices. bump stocks have been under much scrutiny since october when a gunman used that device to murder 58 people on the las vegas strip. that's a look at your headlines, guys, i'm sure that's not the first we will be hearing of that. ainsley: that's my home town. that's the first city to do this. steve: jillian, thank you. meanwhile the deputy director of the fbi grilled on the hill over those anti-trump texts sent from some high ranking officials at the fbi. what went on behind closed doors and why should president trump keep robert mueller in plates? alan dershowitz is live next. ainsley: sarah huckabee sanders is used to taking tough questions but not usually like. this i actually wanted to ask about ufos. several media reports have disclosed [inaudible] >> i was going to say. ainsley: her response is the best thing you are going to hear. steve: out of this world. when it comes to heartburn trust the brand doctors trust for themselves. nexium 24hr is the number one choice of doctors and pharmacists for their own frequent heartburn. and all day all night protection. when it comes to frequent heartburn, trust nexium 24hr. on a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. your insurance company raises your rates. maybe you should've done more research on them. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ it's the most wonderful time of the year ♪ ♪ ding dong, ding dong $50 gift card for them, $10 bonus card for you. only at applebee's. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. do you need the most trusted batmaybe not.holiday? (screaming) maybe you could trust the world would be just as happy without them. maybe you could trust you wouldn't be replaced. have your sleigh repossessed. and end up living in the middle of nowhere with the only friend you have left in the entire world. no! or you could just trust duracell. ♪ ♪ house intel committee grilled fbi director andrew mccabe right there in the center of the screen for nearly 8 hours yesterday behind closed doors ahead concerns of political bias within the fbi. this as our next guest makes a case for why president trump does not need to fire special counsel robert mueller over those collusion concerns. here with more is long-time democrat harvard law professor emeritus and the author of that book "trumped up" alan dershowitz joins us today from south florida. al al lap, good morning to you. >> good morning. steve: there are a lot of people on the political right have said robert mueller has overstepped his boundaries. he has got to go. you say absolutely not, right? >> i don't think so. i think that the -- if i were the trump administration's advisor, i'm not, i want to be clear. i'm an analyst here but i'm giving you my 50 years of experience. i would play the refs: he has been accused of conflict of interest. not getting warrants of using improper source for a warrants. they have him where they want him. he will probably want to lean over backwards now to make any close calls to in favor of trump, i think it would be now foolish to try to fire him which would create a political scandal. probably a move toward impeachment. although there would be no justification to for that they should leave it be if they want to keep the pressure on, keep the pressure on. steve: alan, dopghts you think the trump team, the people who are able to speak out on television and elsewhere are playing the refs at this point saying this guy, that's the problem. he hasn't done his team any favors by having a bunch of people who appear to be partisan on his team. >> and he's playing right into their hands. i have to tell you, i had an enormous amount of respect for mueller having seen him up close when he was in boston and in the government. he is not playing this effectively. he is being sloppy. when you're going after the president of the united states, you make sure your personnel are not overtly biased against the targets. you call them all in. and you say are there any emails? are there any messages that are going to be embarrassing? show me everything. and then the fbi agent. he should have come in and volunteered when he was appointed and said, let me show you these messages. you may not want me. and then, not getting a warrant for thousands and thousands of emails from the transition team, they may eventually win, but it is not a black and white issue. it's a close question. you wear belt and suspenders when you are going after the president. you get a warrant. steve: that's a good way to put it. meanwhile, you told our producer you were really outraged this morning over this story from, i believe, politico that the obama administration deliberately undercut efforts to take down a drug cartel linked to hezbollah to keep the iran deal alive. right? quickly. >> if this is true. number one it, shows that presidents do interfere with justice department decisions about who to go after. number two, it shows how far obama was willing to go to get this terrible deal that was so one-sided. that congress imoppose. the american people oppose is he willing to make a deal with the devil to get it shame on him. steve: you are right if the story is true. >> it is true. steve: thank you for joining us from miami. enjoy the weather down there. >> thank you. steve: you bet. meanwhile the u.s. senate just passed tax reform. now it's up to the house to get it to the president's desk. a little tweaking to do this morning. speaker of the house paul ryan joins us live next. we will ask you about that gavel moment going viral ♪ it's hammer time ♪ ♪ my wish was a clubhouse, but we call it "the wish house." people visit national parks from all over the world. food tastes better when you don't have to cook it. he was just supposed to be my dog. i don't know why. 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[laughter] ainsley: we love that -- ugd. >> there are these bizarre senate rules. i won't go into the details other than there are these bizarre senate rules and a couple of small tiny provisions dropped out because of these senate rules. we didn't think they should have dropped out but they didn't. doesn't materially effect the bill very much. we will revote and pass it out again today. pete: mr. speaker, you were the chair of the budget committee. you have been passionate about tax reform for your entire time in the house. what did it feel like to hold that gavel and you slammed it -- we all saw it so hard it dropped. ainsley: fell over. pete: what did that moment feel like for you? >> i got a little carried away. you can see that i was very excited. it was a very emotional time. jack kempf was my mentor. i have been working on this issue pretty much my adult life. i just feel so passionately that this is going to help get people from welfare to work. it's going to get people higher wages, better jobs. put the american economy in the lead in the global economy again. i feel very passionate about it i scared the heck out of the parliamentarian sitting next to me. i almost broke the thing i got a little excited. ainsley: what is your message for the people who live in the high tax state? listen as americans it's going to be great for our country if you look at the numbers and read the bill. for the folks watching us that do live in the high tax states. how can you promise them -- we were told the president was running. he said everyone's taxes were going to gown down. people voted for him for that reason. because of the local and state tax, that's not necessarily the case. a lot of those folks are middle class individuals. >> well, actually, if you actually run the numbers, ainsley, and we run a lot of numbers. ainsley: okay. >> the average taxpayer in every income group including people in these high tax states still get a tax cut. ainsley: really? >> very high income people, perhaps, if they have a very clever account tant and using lots of deductions maybe they will see it differently. but the average taxpayer in every income group gets a tax cut everywhere. i would just tell people go to fair and simple.gop that's the web side that web sit explains how this works. we did make try accommodate people in high tax states. top rate and every rate in between are lowered. lower rates across the board. nuclear two, we double the standard deduction. you can see our postcard. i like to bring this thing up. still nearly nine out of ten people in america will be able to do their taxes on the size of a postcard because they will take that standard deduction. but, also, we maintain a $10,000 tax deduction not just for property taxes, which was the house bill, but also for state and local income taxes. so you get to use that if you choose to do that. and the mortgage interest deduction is still largely maintained. so those things in combination with doubling the child tax credit, lowering rates across the board, make just about every taxpayer whole, the vast, vast, vast majority of taxpayers. is there somebody really wealthy with a good accountant that uses lots of deductions and when we close loopholes they may not see it that way, sure. on average, everybody is going to benefit. average tax cuts for families for your viewers the median family in america is going to get $205 tax cut. that's rea205 -- $2,005 tax cut. that's real money. steve: some of those individuals with deductions with stuff might get a tax hike, but they would be few and far between according to what you've said. however, do you think ultimately the result of this tax cut bill is people in those high tax states, their state legislatures are going to have to do something about the high tax rate. >> that's the argument, steve. look, these numbers may not be exactly accurate, but what members of congress or conservatives see is basically 46 state are paying higher federal stacks to subsidize higher state taxes. it's really a fairness argument. should states -- people in states that have balanced budgets and limited governments and lean governments be paying higher federal taxes for those state governments that keep increasing taxes, keep increasing spending and that's really the argument that's also at play here. that's a fair point. pete: mr. speaker, 50 years ago a democratic president cut income taxes from 91% to 65 in jfk. >> yeah. steve: 65 is still very high. pete: not a single democrat voted for this yesterday. what does that say about the state of the democratic party and also will republicans benefit in 2018 from this? >> it's a really good question, pete. i'm a students of these things. i have studied these for years. jack kennedy, we don't have jack kennedy democrats anymore. jack kennedy was saying rising tide lifts all boats. cut taxes across the board and it will help the economy. you don't have democrats saying that anymore. the progressive left have gripped their party. i honestly thought at the end of the day we might get maybe a joe manchin or some of these democrats in the senate from these red states that donald trump won. they all stuck with the progressive hard left against tax relief and tax reform. so i do think this is not in their interest. not only politically but economically speaking. when people see their withholdings go down in february, when they see their tax cut, that's going to change the view of this because it's going to give us better jobs, higher wages, bigger paychecks and simplified system and people are going to get their taxes cut. that's good for everybody. i think they are going, to you know reerks get not having supported at least some of them, i believe. steve: he is going to have the gavel in his hand later on today. >> i will try to be a little tempered. steve: mr. speaker, thank you. ainsley: thank you so much. congratulations i know that had to feel good. >> merry christmas. ainsley: merry christmas to you. house members didn't go home for christmas breaks because they have to come back. pete: eric holder calling it a red line if the president fires bob mueller. maybe a red line they would enforce. just one problem the president says he is not going to fire him. should holder be talking about red lines? steve: well, he is. you have seen what by house used to look like christmas morning. oh, that kid. all grown up now. we want to see your house. what else the best gift you've ever received? we'll be right back and we will show some of your pictures. ainsley: friends@foxnews.com. ♪ zero percent financing for seventy-two months, plus an extra one-thousand cash back across a full lineup of ford cars, trucks and suvs. so hurry and save big on america's best-selling brand. it's the final days of the ford year end sales event with zero percent financing for seventy-two months plus an extra one-thousand cash back! see your ford dealer before jan 2nd and save. ♪ as soon as i became a parent i changed as a person, drastically. ♪ i tried hard to quit smoking. ♪ but when we brought our daughter home that was it. ♪ now i have nicoderm cq. the nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release technology helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. it's the best thing that ever happened to me. can you say thanks nicoderm cq? every great why needs a great how. ♪ by the fire ♪ the plans that we made ♪ walking in the winter wonderland ♪ wonderland ♪ steve: there we are yesterday. by the way this is the interesting things. do you know who works across the street? the roc rockettes. ainsley: we didn't make the team. don't go look at the list. we are not on it. janice: thank goodness because before that you guys put me out there singing with him the whole song. i had to sing the whole song with him by myself. for the grand finale they came out. pete: they did the spotlight tell end you did all the hard work. steve: that's what she is saying. holy cow. january japan thank you for saving me. steve: steve emerson is the greatest christmas singer. he has two albums out. check it out on itunes or wherever you buy music. ainsley: she said ainsley it brought tears to my eyes. we were fighting back the tears. he held that note forever. pete: my goodness. janice: what about the note that i held for so long, too. ainsley: did you great, too. can you buy janice's album on -- janice: you speak the truth. maybe that's my new year's resolution. steve: this morning on this wednesday before christmas you have been askinwe have beeno send pictures of the greatest gift you have gotten we got a lot. ainsley: the barbie town house. steve: i remember that. pete: that is a winner. steve: my sister cathy got that. pete: 1971. ainsley: look at the lamp and shag carpet. jillian: this is glen in tennessee in 1958 when he received his favorite president army outfit. pete: i don't know they had cameras in 1958. steve: stop it rurel favorite gift from 1965 twin baby dolls and a baby carriage. >> do they make tinsel anymore? steve: no, they say it's dangerous. dogs can choke on it. pete: everything is a safety hazard these days. keep them coming friends @foxnews.com. great gifts. we want to see. they the further back the better. can we get a photo before 1968. ainsley: shag carpet. janice: i like the 70's. ainsley: what color was the wall color or paint color or your dishwasher or your washer and dryer. steve: dishwasher was avocado. and one other thing, rockettes, we're still waiting. we will be waiting as jillian does the news. jillian: that's right. let me get you guys caught up right now. starting with this. israeli politicians want former president obama to give up his nobel peace prize. this after a bombshell report reveals his administration undermined hezbollah terrorists. according to politico, the administration held up federal investigations into drug trafficking and money laundering to ensure the iran nuclear deal remained on track. some politicians tells the post obama made the middle east more hostile. in 2009 he received the peace prize for middle eastern diplomacy. a man jumps outs of truck to save grandmother. he watched the train fly into traffic on his way into work on n. washington state. he immediately grabbed a tourniquet and cpr mask to save the woman's life. >> her daughter kind of pulled her out backwards. i just reached under her and just kind of got to pint where i could pick her up and kind of put her down on some form ever semi fixed structure. >> at least three people are dead and 10 seriously hurt following the crash. dramatic body cam video showing the moment an officer is dragged half a mile by a speeding car. >> whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. jillian: jeesh, the officer clinging to the side of the car as the dryer peels out of a florida retirement community. it all started when the cops were called to check on a couple passed thought a car with drugs. authorities say the man woke up, saw the officers and tried to escape but the cop was caught in the door frame. he suffered minor injuries. the driver is charged with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer. and how about this? white house press secretary sarah sanders taking tough questions, right? nothing quite like this. >> i actually want to ask about ufos. [laughter] several media reports. [sisiri. >> i was going to say i feel like i already want to pass on this question given that you have aliens sitting among you. jillian: question coming after reports pentagon has been investigating reports of ufos since 2007. as for the president sanders says she will check in to get his take on extra terrestrials. steve: the truth is out there somewhere. ainsley: i have no interested in aliens. jillian: i do so much. pete: wait until they arrive. steve: video showing the other day fighter pilots chasing something out there. a little weird. we're just saying. thank you. pete: former attorney general eric holder calling red line fires bob mueller. the president says he is not going to do that. should holderren talking about red lines after the obama administration experience? steve: great last minute gifts including a heated jacket. ainsley: that one on the right. alexa? amazing. steve: you are coming up. ainsley: bring it ♪ i have no gifts to bring ♪ trust for themselves. nexium 24hr is the number one choice of doctors and pharmacists for their own frequent heartburn. and all day all night protection. when it comes to frequent heartburn, trust nexium 24hr. what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. ♪ everybody two seconds! ♪ "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program, every day mcdonald's helps more people go to college. it's part of our commitment to being america's best first job. ♪ >> steve: all right. quick headlines for you. first up a store owner now a hero after shooting two men who tried to steal his gun. the burk county georgia sheriff naming henry daniels an hand honorary deputy after would be robber. daniels needing 30 stitches over one of his eyes. and the abominable snowman is behind bars. oregon cops arresting the christmas character for drunk driving. officer clauses the snowman drank too much peppermint schnapps at a christmas party. police hopes this discourages others from getting behind the wheel after drinking way too much holiday cheer during of the christmas season. that's some of the news. anxiously and pete now over to you. pete: thanks, pete. ainsley: thank you. pete: this week democrats calling for mass protests in wake of a fake rumor about the president firing bob mueller. the former obama white house ethics czar even tweeting this that he was stocking up on gear to, quote, take back the streets as former attorney general eric holder drew what he called an absolute red line. ainsley: op-ed our next guest writes the president crushed their hopes of being able to shut down the country in protest with just three words. >> no, i'm not. no. ainsley: no, i'm not. no. here with more is writer and commentator and u.s. army officer jeremy hunt. good morning to you, jeremy. >> good morning. good to be with you. ainsley: good to see you again. thank you for serving our country. tell folks at home that didn't get a chance to read your op-ed. sum it up for us. really the point of the article is to send a message senate and cultural leaders four country we need them to dial down the rhetoric. keep conversation balanced. to kind of reign in some of the hysteria. instead we are getting tweets on like stocking up on gear and we're going to take the streets. other folks we are going to shut down the country that type of rhetoric is unhelpful. and quite frankly, it's irresponsible. pete: jeremy, so the democrats say the resisters say don't fire bob mueller. but wouldn't you argue at this point all they really want is for the president to fire bob mueller because that would be their only source of real controversy here? >> well, not to get into the specifics of that particular case, but i think in general what a lot of folks in this country are looking for are any kind of hot button issue to have folks come to the streets and basically create chaos. so, i don't even know if it's really specifically about this case as it is just anything that they can find that would stoke fear in the populist and have people come and join the resistance. ainsley: jeremy, do you feel like it's going to back fire. you hear the hysterics. you hear russia, russia, russia. they are screaming and howling at the moon, whatever. they are resisting. their bubbles and their coloring books. come on. after a while it's like enough already. can we just focus on uniting our country? is it going to back fire on them? >> exactly. the bottom line, it's our country as a whole, we cannot move forward if reremain engulfed in hysteria. the bottom line is that we have to find common ground as a country. we have to look forward to the issues that matter. and we have to look to what is actually strength us as a people and not just leaving ourselves in these kind of hot button issues that don't lead us to better outcomes. pete: talk about moving forward. 51 people in this country did so yesterday when they voted yea on a tax bill in the u.s. senate for something that will actually improve people's lives there are people trying to do work. will there be a point at which maybe the so-called mainstream media recognizes someone is trying to move it forward. >> mainstream media, probably not. just being honest. a lot of times whenever we see a lot of progress, and wherever you see, you know, different things that we have been doing in the country, for some reason it just never gets recognized. i do think that's problematic. but the bottom line is that we as a country, the level headed folks and there are some level headed folks on both sides of the aisle, we should be the ones working together to lead to better outcomes for all americans. that should be what we look forward to as we move forward. pete: there might be level headed folks on both sides of the aisle but none of them were willing to vote for tax bill ultimately. lieutenant jeremy hunt thank you for your service. >> thank you, appreciate it. pete: senator ted cruz has a passionate challenge for democrats. >> let me ask my friends on the democratic side of the aisle. are you prepared to look in the eyes of a kid with disability and explain why you said you are cut out? pete: senator cruz left his mark on the tax plan. in minutes he will join us live to talk about the historic vote. ainsley: tools to tech, we have some of the greatest last minute gift ideas including that heated jacket that skip is wearing. it's heated, skip? wow. i need that in the studio ♪ ♪ i am totally blind. and non-24 can throw my days and nights out of sync, keeping me from the things i love to do. talk to your doctor, and call 844-214-2424. when i was too busy with the kids to get a repair estimate. liberty did what? yeah, with liberty mutual all i needed to do to get an estimate was snap a photo of the damage and voila! voila! i wish my insurance company had that... wait! hold it... hold it boys... there's supposed to be three of you... where's your brother? where's your brother? hey, where's charlie? charlie?! you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you. liberty stands with you™ liberty mutual insurance. ♪ steve: this is a fox news shopping alert. there are only four shopping days left until christmas. but our next guest you still have plenty of time. pete: fox news shopping alert. i got that wrong. >> four days, guys. super deal.com. links to some of the best deals. steve: i love these. >> heated jacks are ultimate. toughest tools out there but a bunch of great products pretty much for everything. like thee heated jackets. great work boots, gloves, glasses. this is stuff you can take on the camp site. the worksite. steve: this is the gold standard. >> not gist tools. they are making all the great stuff. janice: get us women excited because i'm not excited yet. >> i have something for you. battery charger. four batteries. take it with you on the road. you have a full generator. can you plug in all your electronics. janice: a generator. >> nice. pete: actual outlet on the side. >> i know that's not very exciting. we got all this. >> don't buy the generator for your wife unless she wants you to. >> affordable grade stuff. take it anywhere you want for the tool guys we know dewalt. a laser measure. you point it. >> there is a ring in there, too? >> like a tape measure but it's a laser, right? janice: laser measure compressor for the tech people though. amazon echo, and echo two. better speakers. steve: that's when you ask alexa -- >> exactly. teenagers all have the smart phone, music. blue tooth speakers from bose. sound like micro. waterproof. take it with them for 100 bucks. fully waterproof. water resistant. ainsley: let me tell you what is great about this. take it to the beach. take it on your boat. if the water gets it. janice: get this and tickets to the beach. >> these are great. from home depot ring video doodoorbell. these are great. home video doorbell. blue tooth, 20 bucks. not all the cars have blue tooth hookup. but the this your car. blew blue tooth's to your phone. play any video through your car stereo. this is the pet cube bites. work anywhere, be on vacation. hook up to smart phone. talk your pet. ac camera two way intercom. hit a button and spits out treats to the dog. >> no. steve: hold on. >> you can be on vacation, talk to your dog. see them. ac cam. hit a. >> called the pet cube. it holds 100 treats. hi def camera. steve: i want that. >> locate your pets anywhere. if they get out. find out exactly where they're. g.p.s. locater. for the ladies i know you are going to like this. my wife says perfect gift to give it to a lady. this is the che motorized curling iron. i like it because it has a motor on it. janice: what does it do. >> clip your hair and press a button and does all the work for you. it's motor rised with aer is r578 mick barrel. janice: give me a massage as well? >> i'm not at liberty to talk about that. ainsley: am automatically can you recalls your hair. steve: i love this the pet cube. treats come flying out of there. >> all the tech stuff. find the links to all these products at skipbedell.com. check it out. get them in time for christmas. hit the button. steve: thank you, sir. coming up, ted cruz, corey lewandowski, david bossie. the final hour for "fox & friends" for a wednesday before christmas ♪ ♪ it all starts with a wish. the final days of wish list are here. hurry in and sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down and a complementary first months payment. 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(avo) victoza® is not for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. do not take victoza® if you have a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to victoza® or any of its ingredients. stop taking victoza® and get medical help right away if you get symptoms of a serious allergic reaction such as rash, swelling, difficulty breathing or swallowing. serious side effects may happen, including pancreatitis. so, stop taking victoza® and call your doctor right away if you have severe pain in your stomach area. tell your doctor your medical history. gallbladder problems have happened in some people. tell your doctor right away if you get symptoms. taking victoza® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. common side effects are nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite, indigestion, and constipation. side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. ask your doctor about victoza®. >> the ayes are 51, the nays are 48. >> it's going to get us bigger checks, higher wages. >> the fbi director andrew mccabe on mid-concerns of political bias within the fbi. >> mueller is very concerned about his reputation. he's been accused of conflict of interest, of not getting warranties. >> at least a dozen people are dead and seven americans are hurt following a tragic bus crash in mexico. >> a major publication alleging the obama administration may have sabotaged its own government investigators' efforts to stop the hezbollah terror group. >> the obama administration put everything secondary so that we didn't rock the boat with the iranians because of the iran deal. >> it's laid upon the table. . >> i scared the heck out of the parliamentarian next to me. i almost broke the thing. ♪ ♪ steve: in a couple of days. ainsley: he sees you when you're sleeping. he knows when you're awake. he knows when you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake. you can't hear that song without singing. steve: thank you very much for joining us. it's the wednesday before christmas. pete is in for brian. pete: thank you for having me. i don't know that we can start a singing group, though. steve: i don't think so. ainsley: no, we definitely cannot. steve: we just demonstrated you don't work for the rockettes across the street. ainsley: today's wednesday. that means you have thursday, friday, saturday, sunday, and then that's christmas. pete: it's true. under a week. i got my shopping done yesterday. ainsley: you're finished? i'm almost finished. steve: i have to leave the building in an hour to finish up shopping. in the meantime it's a wrap. wrap master donald trump and a fox news alert. can you get your taxes. the u.s. senate passing sweeping tax reform for the american people. ainsley: this is the major first rewrite of the tax code in 31 years, and we could be just hours away from a huge win for the american people, the republican party. pete: that's right. but there's still a little bit of work to be done before the president can sign the bill. griff jenkins in washington, d.c. with the news. >> yes. this is indeed headed to the president's desk probably in a matter of a few hours. and there's a little bit more work to do. here's why. the senate has arcane parliamentary rules. so they had to strike some to fit their budget rules, one of them is changing the title of the bill itself. so the house will vote. we think some time around noon today on this new version. it will pass without issue. the senate passes around 1:00 a.m. straight down party lines. 51-48. all republicans for it. all democrats against it. afterwards mitch mcconnell saying this strengthens america. >> after eight straight years of slow growth and underperformance, america is ready to take off. stock market is up, optimism is high, coupled with tax reform america is ready to start performing as it should have for a number of years. >> but democrats tend to use this against republicans and next year slammed it. here's minority leader schumer. >> 83% of the middle class will either pay more in taxes or get little but crumbs. is that what you intended? is that this great bill that's they knew middle class? absolutely not. this is serious stuff. we believe you're messing up america. >> well, here's a quick look at what this means for you. 80% of americans will receive a tax cut according to the tax coastal center. this cuts the corporate rate from 35% to 21%. drops the top individual rate to 37% and repeals the obamacare individual mandate. no word, guys, on exactly when the president will sign this into law. but once speaker ryan gavels it one more time, its final stop, 1600 pennsylvania avenue. steve: looks like hammer time a little bit later today. we do know the president of the united states has scheduled a press conference in the 1:00 hour. you'll see it right here on the fox news channel. pete: and he told us that because he tweeted about 2:00 a.m. last night when this all happened. he said this. the united states senate just passed the biggest in history tax and did you tell reform bill. terrible individual mandate obamacare repeal goes to the house tomorrow morning for a final vote. if approved, there will be a news conference at the white house at approximately 1:00 p.m. ainsley: got to win. steve: remember, the republicans were saying we couldn't dismantle obamacare completely. but what we were a little bit because we didn't get any help from democrats, we were able to get rid of the individual mandate. so we cut taxes and got rid of that thing. pete: we shouldn't tell you if you have to buy health insurance or not, and you get to keep your money. and as a result they're making a big bet that the economy will surge, jobs will stay because of the corporate tax rate cut and that the rhetoric of the left that this is an evil bill is just that. just rhetoric and ultimately it will improve the economy and improve lives. ainsley: the only republicans that didn't vote for this are the ones in the high tax states. pete: in the house. ainsley: there are a lot of people that we work with that do live in these high state tax brackets or regions and they don't make a lot of money and their taxes they're hearing are going to go up because they're taxed locally, they're taxed state, and these are expensive states to live in. and we asked paul ryan about that because it does affect a lot of our viewers, and here's what he had to say. >> i've been working on this issue pretty much my adult life because i feel so partiality that this is going to help people from with of to work. it's going to give higher wages, better jobs with it's going to put the economy in the lead. and we did make changes in this bill in the final version to accommodate. the highest taxpayer in every income group gets a tax cut everywhere. steve: there were a number of congressional republicans who have been circulating over the last month, and they have this spreadsheet showing if you're a husband and wife making $80,000 a year in new york, you will wind up getting a tax cut. ainsley: sorry to interrupt. if you live in one of the other states, which most of our other viewers live in the other states because that's the majority of the country, you're definitely going to see, listen, shop for christmas because you can spend a little bit more. >> the speaker also affirmed what this sho veto shows, any sense moderates democratic party is gone. not a single democratic vote. the party of jfk is dead. they don't believe in tax cuts to get your money back. they want to tax and spend and it's going to on them why they want to keep raising taxes as opposed to cutting them. steve: but most of the money is going to go to corporate tax cuts, which is great for american business and wherewe gone through about a decade of slow growth. and that is really what the republicans are counting on. they're counting on businesses to go ahead and reinvest more and then those companies that have a lot of dough overseas, they're looking at them bringing back 3- 4- $5 trillion. when they pay a tax on that. it will be smaller than it was before. but when they pay a tax on that, man, the coughers in washington, d.c. they're going to do okay. pete: counterintuitive to washington but revenue goes up because growth in the economy and we'll probably see that again. ainsley: i can't wait to see what companies will come here again. because a lot of companies will stay in the u.s. because we're competing with china. china has the lowest tax rate and theirs is 20%. pete: ireland has 12%. ainsley: then why did crystal water move out of ireland? because of the czech republic. pete: it wasn't the only thing happening on capitol hill yesterday, this tax cut. also, there was a behind the closed door testimony from andy mccabe whose name has been in the news. he testified for over sevens hours now, of course this comes amid revelations that text messages were in exchange and others. bruce and his wife nellie betray not more than an impression, evidence that there was an effort to undermine this president before the election and after. steve: but let's go back a year to the campaign. his wife previously had run for congress in the great state of virginia. she wound up getting $700,000 in that neighborhood from terry's political action committee. doesn't that look like she could be politically aligned, that family, with the democrats? i'm sure there are a number of republicans behind closed doors who asked them "hey, why did you recuse yourself when it came to the hillary clinton e-mails?" ainsley: his wife worked for fusion gps, and he is investigating russia collusion? pete: russia for fusion gps. ainsley: she did. pete: andrew weissmann went to the so-called victory party, defeat party for hillary clinton. steve: if he is behind a closed door, we still haven't heard any leaks yet about what he discussed. ainsley: you would if he were republican; right? is that what you were saying? steve: if he was behind closed doors for eight hours, man, they must have really had tough questions. the fella who was a former deputy independent counsel joined laura last night and said this about that. >> it they're very angry with him. i mean, you're tug the person who wouldn't understand the conflict of interest if it jumped up and bit him on the butt. and they probably have been waiting to talk to him for a long time. i mean, my god, you're talking about a lawyer whose wife took $700,000 from a clinton crony, and he refused to recuse himself from the clinton investigation until there was a wall street journal story about it. and by then, it was too late. they were closed. steve: all right. let's find out if today some of the details are leaked out because we have a lot of questions that we need -- pete: there's a lot more to be answered and more folks to be interviewed both behind closed doors and publicly. this is only the beginning. ainsley: no telling what tomorrow will bring. jillian has some headlines for you. >> that's right. good morning to you guys. we continue to follow this breaking news. the victims in the deadly bus crash in mexico may not have been wearing seat belts. at least 12 people are dead. seven americans are hurt after the bus flipped over on its way from a cruise ship port to mayan ruins. the seat belts were actually tied below the seats, and they weren't told to put them on. another witness claims there were swerve marks on the road. no word yet on what caused that crash. also breaking right now, a manhunt expanding across several states for two escaped inmates, including an accused killer. ronnie and david allen anderson broke out of their cell in the florida panhandle by chipping through the wall with the shower curtain wall. police say they dumped their original get away car in north carolina and then stole another one. both inmates were in jail for drug charges but pardo is also accused of murder. an amtrak train ran off the track was now rushed to open. technology now designed to slow trains down was not yet active on those tracks. also investigators are looking whether the engineer was distracted by an employee in training when the train plunged off the pass. among the dead both men railroad advocates. a 20-year-old woman gave birth to a 24-year-old frozen embryo. didn't think they would be able to have kids until visiting a station in tennessee. they were blown away how this is. >> just so you know, this is going to be a world record. and i was, like, what? and they're, like, yeah, it has been frozen for 24 money 5 years. you know, we could have been best friends. >> baby was conceived in 1992, a year and a half after mom tina was born. isn't that incredible, guys? 24-year-old frozen embryo. ainsley: and the mom said we would have been best friends. that's incredible. science is so wonderful. it allows families to happen. pete: it brings lives. ainsley: what a blessing. steve: all right. coming up on this wednesday, a bombshell new report accuses the obama administration of giving the terror group hezbollah a pass in order to get the iranian deal done. one of the lawmakers now calling for an investigation. congressman robert joins us live next. pete: plus, the senate just passed historic tax reform and tax cuts, and it sent rote roasty o'donald off the rails in a trail of bribery. we're going to give you the details. [laughter] when it comes to heartburn trust the brand doctors trust for themselves. nexium 24hr is the number one choice of doctors and pharmacists for their own frequent heartburn. and all day all night protection. when it comes to frequent heartburn, trust nexium 24hr. >> it's an incredible allegation that any administration would ignore one terrorist group because you were trying to curry favor with another terrorist group. it is incendiary, it is worthy of investigation across several different committees of congress. pete: calls now mounting for an investigation into a report that the obama white house undermined an antihezbollah -- radical islamic terrorist organization, a task for yourself to help push through the iran nuclear deal. one lawmaker spearheading the push. north carolina republican congressman. congressman, thank you for joining us this morning. so for our viewers who are new to this allegation, to this situation, tell us what you believe has unfolded here. >> well, two senior officials from the treasury and department of defense have come forward to say that their efforts to pursue hezbollah were impeded, blocked, prevented by the administration at the time the iran deal was beginning to consummate. hezbollah is one of the most foremost terrorist groups that we're confronted with. they traffic about a billion dollars worth of arms and drugs throughout the world. and as such, this project called kassandra had mounting evidence that would allow them to pursue prosecution, arrests, and frankly financial sanctions and lebanese bank. so it's very disconcerning that the president said step forward and took the initiative to have this prevented. so this very misguided iran deal could be completed. pete: congressman, former president obama received a lot of criticism then and now for never being able to call out radical islamic terrorism for what it is. do you think something like this is part of that? he was sort of hedging words so that he could cut deals with really shady folks? >> absolutely. our young men and women were on the front lines dying fighting for our freedom against isis and wouldn't even call out terrorists. and at the same time he would go even further talking about prosecution for individuals. would work for ten years, 30 agencies in the federal government, law enforcement tells the agencies to join together to work on this project, and they're prevented from prosecuting them. pete: we have lieutenant colonel michael waltz on the program earlier. he affirmed everything you said. a month dea agents and others, a massive frustration that they had all of this evidence. we knew it was a islamic organization, but it never happened. and to think it was traded for a deal to undermine not just our interest but israel who is also threatened by hezbollah. >> absolutely. israel's threat is there. it has been continual. hezbollah has been active in south america for a couple of decades with funding capabilities. i just had a forum last month where we had 220 members of parliament. and individuals from 15 governments who came together to address this issue of elicit finance. pete: congressman robert, stay on this, and we would love to have you back as more information develops. >> good to be with you. pete: all right. well, senator ted cruz has a passionate challenge for democrats. >> let me ask my friends on the democratic side of the aisle. are you prepared to look in the eyes of a kid with disabilities and explain why you said you are cut out? pete: the senator live here next. the best simple salad ever? heart-healthy california walnuts. the best simple veggie dish ever? california walnuts. the best simple dinner ever? great tasting, heart-healthy california walnuts. so simple, so good. get the recipes at walnuts.org. you feel better. introducing tommie copper's all new shoulder centric posture shirt. they're biggest breakthrough yet. advanced engineering promotes healthy posture and relief for achy shoulders and back. visit tommiecopper.com to see the entire line of wearable wellness compression. they have you covered from head to toe. go to tommiecopper.com right now and find out how you can save 25% on your first purchase, plus first shipping. life hurts, feel better. ainsley: time for some headlines this morning. north korea wants to arm their intercontinental missiles with anthrax. can you believe that? the rogue nation reportedly testing whether the chemical weapons can survive traveling through the earth's atmosphere. let's hope not. earlier this week in its national security strategy, the white house warned that north korea's stockpiling tons of chemical weapons to deliver biomissiles. and u.s. and south korean marines are preparing for potential conflict with the north. new video showing the troops carrying out drills in below freezing temperatures, even practicing shooting and skiing at the same time. that is awesome. good for them. both sides wrestling a team-building exercise in these cold conditions. and the drills come two months before the winter olympics in. brian: and shooting while you're skiing? ainsley: no in you thank you. they don't have a shirt on, and it's below freezing. pete: that's why you become a fighter. ainsley: you fought for our country. pete: the house scheduled to revote after stripping some of the proposed provision to fit their budget rules and move some lawmakers they're pretty upset about. >> let me ask friends on the democratic side of the aisle. are you prepared to look in the eyes of a kid with disabilities and explain why you said you are cut out. you're really standing up raising that objection? that ought to be 100 to nothing. all of us should agree on that. steve: texas senator ted cruz's provision for private and homeschool deductions were among those removed by the parliamentarian. joins us now from our nation's capitol. senator, good to have you this morning. >> thank you. good to be with you. steve: tell us why your provision to allow the 529 money for homeschooling was viewed by the senate parliamentarian as breaking the bird rule? >> well, it's great to be with you. most of the provision is in there. it's one of the major elements of this legislation. what the democrats did was carve out one group. just homeschoolers and cut homeschoolers out. it was really shameful. but the heart of the provision is still in there. and what it does is it takes college 525 saving plans used across the country where you can save in a tax-advantaged way for college, and it expands them to k-12 education. it expands them so that you can use them for private school, public school, religious school, every grandparent up to $10,000 per child per year. it's the most far-reaching federal school choice legislation ever passed, and it's in the bill, passed 50-50 with the vice president breaking the tie. what you just aired was last night the democrats raised an exception. there was a provision in the bill that also covered the 1.8 million homeschoolers in this country and the democrats objected to letting homeschoolers parents spend their own money on providing their schooling. i think it was shameful, and it's unfortunate that homeschoolers got cut out by the democrats. pete: senator, why would they? why would they say our home line is homeschoolers? >> to be honest, democrats have a enormous antipathy against homeschoolers. i think the parliamentarian was wrong. but the main argument the staff made against this was gosh, 529 plans are really, really popular. people like them a lot and if you extend them to homeschoolers, people are going to be really happy. that's going to make a difference in their lives and we the democrats don't want to see that happen on this bill, so it needs to be cut out and, unfortunately, the parliamentarian bought that pretty bogus argument. ainsley: can you explain, though, what is the cost associated with homeschooling? you want it to cover all their school supplies and trips that the moms might take their kids on? >> so the entire provision, including the homeschooling provision was scored at $500 million over ten years, which in the scheme of tax reform is a relatively modest cost but the impact is enormous because it's up to parents. there are 50 million schoolkids in america all across this country and every single school kid potentially benefits. steve: senator, are you suggesting democrats were against that part because that would go against the teachers union? >> undoubtedly and the democrats view is they want control. they want control over everything, whether it is control over regulating an industry, control over the internet, or in this instance control in how you educate your students. and the reason the democrats don't like homeschoolers is if you're spending the time, investing the time at home teaching your kids, they can't mandate what you're teaching them, and they believe in centralized control. you know, republicans, we believe in freedom. we believe parents know best what's for their kids and the beauty of this amendment that is now part of tax reform is it lets you the parent to decide what schooling is best for your child, you can decide, and you can save to provide for your child. it's an enormous and i think very impactful report. ainsley: and gave people a tax break. because what i hear complaints from kids in private schools, they're paying their local taxes, so they're paying for the schools even though the kids aren't going there. so this allows them to pay for their private schools without paying the taxes; correct? >> that's exactly right. and you have got, for example, a lot of inner city kids. you have hispanic children and african-american children and families that are struggling economically but are nonetheless going to parochial schools. they're scraping their pennies together to go to parochial schools to try to get a better education to get hope and opportunity. this now provides a vehicle to make it easier for those parents who are struggling to afford that. steve: overall, regarding the tax cut bill, got to ask you this. not a single democrat senator voted for it. you're friends with a lot of people on the other side of the aisle did any of them tell you, you know, i would like to vote for it? but chuck schumer won't let me? >> you know, they didn't say that. i think senate democrats right now, they have gone so extreme and so far to the left that they're listening to their radical left wing base. they're listening to their base that hates president trump with a white hot passion. and the left base is demanding resist, oppose, filibuster, obstruct and every senate democrat is doing that. you know, tax reform has always been bipartisan. when ronald reagan passed tax reform in '81 and '86, you had chip o'neal a democrat speaker of the house, then conservative democrat bill graham, and bill bradley in the senate helping lead support for the bill. pete: did you say conservative democrat? >> in the senate we had zero democrats. you ask, no, there are no conservative democrats left. even the senators who pretend to be conservative democrats, they are voting identically to chuck schumer and elizabeth warren. ainsley: sir, thank you very much. steve: merry christmas, sir. >> merry christmas. steve: meanwhile, they helped put donald trump in the white house. david bossie. come on, guys. we're going to talk about the tax win for republicans and the new book that will fit in your christmas stocking. [ click ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ clacking continues ] good questions lead to good answers. our advisors can help you find both. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. yours. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. ♪ it's the most wonderful time of the year ♪ ♪ ding dong, ding dong $50 gift card for them, $10 bonus card for you. only at applebee's. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. ♪ as soon as i became a parent i changed as a person, drastically. ♪ i tried hard to quit smoking. ♪ but when we brought our daughter home that was it. ♪ now i have nicoderm cq. the nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release technology helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. it's the best thing that ever happened to me. can you say thanks nicoderm cq? every great why needs a great how. the great emperor trekking a hundred miles inland to their breeding grounds. except for these two fellows. this time next year, we're gonna be sitting on an egg. i think we're getting close! make a u-turn... u-turn? recalculating... man, we are never gonna breed. just give it a second. you will arrive in 92 days. nah, nuh-uh. nope, nope, nope. you know who i'm gonna follow? my instincts. as long as gps can still get you lost, you can count on geico saving folks money. i'm breeding, man. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. ♪ ♪ ainsley: look at that. you ever wonder what a day in the life of jillian is like? no? now you can find out. steve: jillian was just interviewed by her hometown newspaper, the philadelphia inquire titled. >> yes, i willy millie, the fox news host. and it reveals what time you get up. >> it reveals what time i get up, how much coffee i drink, you can learn how i run from one studio ten floors up to this studio to get here in time. ainsley: and how you do the headlines. the reporter was here working with you last week or the week before. he was so nice. >> very nice. ainsley: i know your hometown is so proud of you, jillian. we're proud of you too. pete: one nice reporter. >> thank you. okay. so time for the headlines? steve: yep. time. let's start here. hillary clinton campaign along with the democratic national committee accused of a corrupt money scheme. a complaint filed with the federal election commission alleges that $84 million were illegally funneled from the dnc through state party chapters and back to the clinton campaign. the group behind the claim says they broke rules. dnc officials have not yet returned our request for comment. very vocal president trump critic rosie o'donnell going off the rails trying to stop the tax bill. the actress offering lawmakers $2 million to vote against it. rosy tweeting in part quote so how about this? i promise to give $2 million to senator susan collins and 2 million to senator jeff blake if they vote "no." also many people on twitter pointing out those bribes would be illegal so she called them to call 9-1-1. an officer is dragged half a mile by a speeding car. >> whoa, whoa, whoa. whoa. >> the officer clinging to the side of the car as the driver peels out of the florida retirement community. this all started when the cops were called to check on a couple that was passed out in a car with drugs. authorities say the man woke up, saw the officer, and tried to escape, but the cop was caught in the door frame. he suffered minor injuries. the driver is charged with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer. that's a look at your headlines, guys. back to you. steve: scary stuff. ainsley: you can't do that. steve: thank you, jillian. >> thank you. steve: all right. they've got a big new york times washington post wall street journal hit. it's called let trump be trump. it's a new book. cory lewandowski, david bossie, we thank you very much for joining. >> thank you for letting us be here. ainsley: did you give number one on fox and friends? >> and the president's tweet always helps. 45million people get that. steve: well, the president has been tweeting already talking about the big wins for the house and the senate yesterday. explain this to me. yesterday the democrats were talking about how the republicans were all going to lose next year because this is terrible for the republicans. i think it's terrible for the democrats who didn't vote for it. >> it clearly is. the democrats have no economic plan. they've not had an economic plan for the american people or for the american worker for years. it's one of the reasons donald trump won last year; right? he talked to the rust belt workers. talked to the blue-collar men and women across america, and he understood what they wanted, and that's what he's been delivering, whether it's through deregulation, or any other shear force of his pen, he has been getting this economy going 3.3% growth. we're going to be up towards 4 with this tax plan i think it's off to the races. pete: so where do the democrats go, cory? because there's been a lot of this whipped up establishment hype that looking at alabama, there's all of this hope maybe we take back the house and impeach the president. you see something pass like this and if the economy keeps going the way it is, what is their path? >> well, you know, pete, the president has created 2.2 million jobs already since inauguration day. dave's mention of 3.3% growth. probably 4 if we didn't have the natural disasters that hit our country. people's 401(k)s open every month when they get their mail is going upward; right? real jobs -- unemployment in the african-american community is the lowest it has ever been. unemployment in the hispanic community, lowest it has ever been. home ownership is the highest it has been in two generations. real wages moving up. what that means is more opportunity. more opportunity to invest. and this tax cut that they passed yesterday, the president's going to sign, he's going to take that corporate rate and allow them to have more money to reinvest in the communities and higher more people. the democrats have no plan. and what we saw in states like wisconsin and michigan and ohio, places that have been devastated, those jobs are coming back because of what donald trump is doing. ainsley: we hear so much negativity. this is from cnbc yesterday. the optimism has gone up. the president's approval ratings have gone up. melania's approval ratings have gone up. we just heard ted cruz say you can now invest in 529. the economy's soaring. so we need to focus more on this; right? do you think the democrat's narrative of just howling at the moon and the bubbles and the coloring books and the complaining and the anger. are we going to get -- i'm just so tired of it. >> it is hard. but this president has carried this economy on his back. if barack obama had 4% growth or 3% growth, they would have given him the nobel prize for economics. this president deserves that type of credit. the mainstream media, they make up lies every single day to attack them. the liberals on capitol hill and across the country have to fan their leftist base. that's all they have at this point. and they have to do it through fear mongering, and you can see it through the senate conversation yesterday. steve: and i think people are -- you know, if you believe the people who are on television talking about with the withholding and stuff like that, cory, as soon as february, people are actually going to start feeling some extra money in their pockets. >> well, sarah huckabee sanders talked about this. she talked about a family of four making $45,000, people in middle america. they're going to see an instant savings in february of $2,000. that's real money. steve: over the course of the year. >> over the course of the year. $2,000 is a lot of money. that puts more food on the table, buys a new car, puts kids in private school if they need to. it gives them the extras that they deserve because the government doesn't create the jobs. let's let them make decisions of what they should do with it. that that is what the philosophy has always been. pete: some of the conservatives who are never trumpers, seeing the agenda that this president has passed, what are they never trumping at this point? >> i see that less and less now. pete: yeah. >> i see the conservatives like myself understanding what this president has done. i saw it early. i know this man, and he is a conservative. he's a realist, though. he wants to get things done. so he doesn't sit so some issue if it's not perfect. he is a deal maker, but he is a conservative leader who's a change agent, and he understands washington. he came to washington, was broken, that status quo has not worked for the american people. it's why he got elected. so i think people are more and more getting on the bandwagon. he's going to have a great 2018. steve: david and cory, thank you very much. check out of their book if you would like a lot of details of what happened in the bus and the plane, it's in there. >> no bus. we had a plane. ainsley: i wonder where they got that title. there's their book. let trump be trump. steve: you came up with that; right? ainsley: yep. steve: very good. meanwhile, coming up another tragedy. americans hurt in a deadly crash overseas and now we're learning that the victims may not have been wearing seat belts. live update on the investigation coming up. ainsley: plus, he won season 7 of the voice and now he's going to perform for us. craig wayne body joins ussh live. there he is. welcome to fox postal service delivers more of those purchases to homes than anyone else in the country. because we know, even the smallest things are sometimes the biggest. even the smallest things i want ycome on mom!t easy. go slow. ♪ let's go! ♪ mom! slow down! for the ones who keep pushing. always unstoppable. pete: we are back with a fox news alert. several americans are hurt after a bus that was carrying them from their cruise ships crashed. steve: phil is live in miami where one of those cruces originated, and he's down at the port. hey, phil. >> good morning. reportedly five americans among the dead, including a south florida grandmother and her grandson all of whom were enjoying a rich prewhat is western caribbean cruise. there are 18 people that have been injured in this crash and he really reports are that possibly no one was wearing seat belts on that mexican charter bus. departed from south florida. cell phone video taken from the scene shows the two-lane highway, the bus lying on its side. the tourists were on their way to see mayan ruins. they had come from two cruise ships. the celebrity equinox which left port miami two days ago and royal caribbean out of ft. lauderdale port everglades. the crash happened in the extremely popular mexican state which contains can coon as well as known for its gorgeous beaches. each ship holds nearly 3,000 passengers at full capacity and every time a cruise ship visits a port, the ship passengers have these options for day trips before heading back to the ships for the night. in a statement royal caribbean states quote the news about a bus accident involving celebrity equinox and serenade of the seas is just heartbreaking. our hearts go out to all those who are involved. we do all we can to help our guests including medical care and transportation. others who pulled up on the scene afterward said it appeared that the bus had clearly lost control. said there were swerve marks all over the road. mexican authorities are still investigating what led to this crash. but based on the high percentage of fatalities and injuries out of 27 people total on that bus, it does look likely, at least at face value, that most were not wearing seat belts. all under investigation. steve: indeed. all right. phil live at the port of miami. thank you, phil. up next, changing gears. he won season 7 of the voice. annoy he's going to perform for us live. craig wayne boyd. good morning to you. you're next. i accept i don't conquer the mountain like i used to. i even accept i have a higher risk of stroke due to afib, a type of irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. but whatever trail i take, i go for my best. so if there's something better than warfarin, i'll go for that too. eliquis. eliquis reduced the risk of stroke better than warfarin, plus had less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis had both. don't stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily... ...and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. i'm still going for my best. and for eliquis ask your doctor about eliquis. ♪ >> the winner of the voice is. pete: a new winner. you'll know why. crowned last night on the voice. steve: and joining us right now with his reaction is the season 7 winner craig wayne boyd just released his first studio album called top shelf. >> that just made me really nervous. ainsley: i know. steve: you remember that moment during season 7 when they named you. >> i do. yes, last night i was watching that, and i was, like, man, i'm feeling that same intense feeling at that moment watching her go through that. ainsley: did you have any idea when you were 4 years old and started singing you were going to be on the voice singing at the national level? >> never a clue but you know what? life prepares you for things like that. so it has been a huge blessing to have that part of my life and then now finally being able to put out new music. pete: how does it change your life? >> a lot more seats, if you will. a lot more people show up. getting what i want to say out there. steve: and while you're from mesquite, texas and from midtown, manhattan and looks like it's going to snow right now. you have a song for us. >> yes, i do. i'm going to take you guys through the holidays. i have chris over here playing guitar with us. pete: and the album is called top shelf; right? >> that's right. steve: and you know what? he's going to be home for christmas. pete: take it away. >> thank you. ♪ ♪ ♪ i'll be home for christmas. ♪ you can count on me. please have snow and mistletoe and presents under the tree. christmas eve will find me. ♪ where the look i need. ♪ and i'll be home for christmas. ♪ if wanted in my dream. ♪ and i'll be home for christmas. ♪ you can count on me. ♪ please have snow and mistletoe. ♪ and presents under the tree. ♪ where the love i need. ♪ and i'll be home for christmas. ♪ if only in my dream. ♪ and i'll be home for christmas if only in my dream. merry christmas. 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