Crackdown on russia. Reporter you are right. Yesterday was the kremlin and the white house going back and forth about those accusations of cyber intrusions, trying to influence the u. S. Election. Today it was the russians pulling punches. It was a scene that unfolded from coast to coast. From washington to san francisco. Nearly three dozen russian operatives working to leave the United States ahead of a deadline imposed by president obama in retaliation for what the white house called russian cyber intrusion during the runup to the 2016 election. Its all together 11 people, including three kids. They have to pack and leave within hours. Reporter even as the Administration Closed russian facilities in new york and maryland, russian president Vladimir Putin fired off what could best be described as his own when they go low, we go high statement. Saying although we have the right to retaliate, we will not resort to irresponsible kitchen diplomacy but will plan further steps to restore relations based on the policies of the Trump Administration. The kremlins decision comes a day after the fbi and department of Homeland Security released a joint report detailing how federal investigators linked the russians to hacking involving the democratic party. The 13 page report describing tools used by the russians to, quote, compromise and exploit networks and end Points Associated with the u. S. Election as well as a range of u. S. Government, political and private sector entities. While the document provided little in the way of proof to confirm the governments attribution, it did lay the oba. They worry it could have ramifications on americas standing in the world sg. The world looks at our country to have a peaceful and smooth transfer of power. This type of nonsense is what i would expect from a dictatorship that just became a democracy and cant make the democratic system work. America demands better. Its clear it cannot be business as usual. This was a serious attack against our country. Against our democratic system. I think the president has taken steps. Were still trying to evaluate it to see exactly what impact it will have on russia. We could do more. Reporter how the Trump Administration handles the russians and sanctions imposed by the whut housite house remaie seen. Officials are warning against straying too far from convention. If the next administration wants to lift sanctions against senior russian Intelligence Units to make it easier for them to interfere in our election, he can do that. We dont think that makes much sense. Reporter the pr battle continues into tonight. Vladimir putin saying it was regrettable that the Obama Administration would end in this manner. But he nevertheless sends his new years greetings to the obama and trump families. Kevin, we heard a bit of news on the domestic front. The president it seems has a meeting planned with House Democrats next week. Whats that about . Reporter theres a number of reasons that the House Democrats want to get together with the president. Most notably, they want to continue the conversation about sanctions. In addition to that, keep in mind you have heard a great deal about obamacare. The socalled repeal and replacement. House democrats are not going to let that go without a bit of a fight. So theyre going to get together with the president and discuss not just those two issues but a number of other major issues as they look forward to life without the democrat in the white house. Big changes coming. Kevin cork in hiawaii thank you. Today, donald trump showed there could be a major shift in policy towards russia. Just three week fws from now wh he takes the oath of office. Peter doocy reports from florida about what could be a reset with russia in the new year. Reporter the current president is punishing putin. The next president is praising him. Tweeting about the russian leaders pledge not to retaliate against the u. S. Until he sees how the Trump Administration treats him. That public message to putin came hours after transition officials said the two had no plans to speak privately until the president received an intelligence briefing. A briefing scheduled for next week. As to the question about whether or not the sanctions levied by the Obama Administration will be here to stay once mr. Trump takes over, the Incoming White House chief of staff said, nothing is set in stone. Its going to be up to him and he is going to sit down and talk to his leadership and the Defense Department and state and in the white house and make those decisions. Reporter the transition teams wait and seed at attitud different but it fits with talk from mr. Trump. I would treat Vladimir Putin firmly but theres nothing i can think of that i would rather do than have russia friendly. Reporter prom nenlt republic republicans are pleased the russian government is facing some sort of consequence for cyber meddling. Even though they think its long overdue. That sets up a potential party split. The head of the party, the soon to be sworn in 45th president said last night about the talk of hacking, quote, its time for our country to move ton bon to r and better things. We need to get on with our lives without having elections being affected by outside influence, especially Vladimir Putin. Reporter despite the past statements about putin, experts expect him to keep an open mind. This is going to be a part of the a conversation that the president elect sets with the congressional leadership. I think they will give him the opportunity to establish the priority when it comes to creating a ustronger relationshp between the u. S. And russia. They will make their case for stronger sanctions. Reporter the incoming counselor to the president said it would be unfortunate if the Obama White House is punishing russia to make it harder for the next president to shape his Foreign Policy as some reports have suggested, because she said that its not the way peaceful transitions of power are supposed to work. We will talk about the panel about that potential theory. Peter, what does the president elect have planned for new years eve . Reporter from russia today to rocky tomorrow. Sylvester stalone will be a guest. So is quincy jones and fabio who met with the president elect this afternoon and stopped by our live shot location to say hello. Said he had a nice meeting. Did you say fabio . Maybe its a hair summit. Thank you very much. Its nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall. In 2014, it was the launch deck for the first air strikes against isis. Soon the uss george h. W. Bush will head out to sea to face the enemy again. Lucas thompsomlinson went on thp to see how they are preparing for the fight. Reporter on august 8, 2014, a pair of f18s launched the first air strikes against isis in northern iraq. Now nearly 2 1 2 years later, that same Aircraft Carrier is gearing up for a return to the fight after being delayed in the shipyard leaving america without an Aircraft Carrier until early next year. This is a military equivalent of spring training. Once we complete this at the end of december, then we will go forward and it will be real forces that will be going tli ig with and against. Reporter much has changed. Russia has deployed dozens of fighter jets and thousands of troops to syria, joining syrian and iranian backed forced. China has moved missiled to the south china sea. The ships Commanding Officer said his crew will be ready to deal with china or russia if necessary. While we dont have any emergent or pending conflicts with them, its fair to say that we have diverge enter interests in many cases. We need to be prepared to understand how we will react to that if necessary. Reporter here aboard uss george h. W. Bush they are taking part in the final exam before taking off and future strikes against isis. The u. S. And its allies have conducted over 17,000 air strikes against isis but will do without the services of an Aircraft Carrier for now after the uss eisenhower returned home. While the focus of the u. S. Military is on isis that doesnt mean three months or six months from now that that will be the priority for our country. We have to be ready to execute anywhere, any time, any mission. Reporter aboard the ship, 18 to 22yearold men and women are working 14 hours a day with very little rest. All this is training before deploying in the coming weeks. Thanks to them and their families. Thank you so much. A country wide ceasefire that went into affect in syria seems to be holding despite minor violations. Kitty logan looks at what this could mean for a possible peace deal. Reporter on the front lines, opposition fighters watch and wait. These Free Syria Army rebels welcomed the ceasefire. The reality for them is that this war isnt likely to be over yet. Translator we are committed to this the ceasefire to keep civilian people safe. But we are here on the front line ready in case the regime tries to break the ceasefire. Reporter the ceasefire is largely holding. Observers report a few minor violations. Clashes just north of damascus. Its reported the government carried out limited air strikes in response there. Agencies are hoping a pause in the violence will mean a chance to move badly needed supplies. We hope that this ceasefire will finally allow unrestricted access to the civilians in the cross fire in the be a seenl be areas. Reporter isis isnt included in the deal. In areas it controls, the fighting goes on. The political passion which stoked this conflict for so many years is still strong. People again protested against president assad just as they have been doing since 2011. A peace plan involving russia, turkey and iran will most likely allow assad to stay in power, at least in the short term. Its something his opponents are unlikely to accept. I would be personally rather skeptical if assad will survive the way through into the period when theres a united syrian government. Reporter the first test is to see if the new ceasefire holds. If it does, there is set to be further talks involving all key players in kazakhstan. Russia is asking the u. N. Security council to adopt the resolution to formally recognize the ceasefire. That could happen on saturday. Kitty logan, thank you so much. A North Carolina judge is temporarily blocking a republican backed law that limits the powers of the Incoming Democratic governor. The judge ruled that the free election warranted the block on the law that stripped the governor elect over control of election boards. Cooper called it unconstitutional. The markets fell on the final day of trading in 2016. The dow drops 57. The s p was down 10. Nasdaq lost 49. Despite the last few days, the markets had a big year. The dow rose more than 13 . S p jumped 9. 5 . Nasdaq was up 7. 5 . If you filled up your car lately, you noticed higher gas prices. It isnt just because of the Holiday Travel season. Fox Business Correspondent jeff flock is in chicago tonight with whats driving up prices and whether the new year will bring us some relief. Good evening, jeff. Reporter good evening to you. That mobile station back there behind me and americans across the country saved 27 billion last year on gasoline comb compe previous year. The good type times seem to be. In the last month, gas prices on average, u. S. , up almost 8 . If you look this time compared to this time last year, were up about 16 . We were at 2 for the National Average last year at this time. Were about 2. 32 today. Its a new reality. A new reali drivers seemed resigned to. Theres nothing we can do about it. We can complain. Its not going to make no difference. This is something that we need regardless. Reporter not so good if you are pumping gas. If you are pumping oil, maybe better news. Those who have invested in the oil patch or who work there, good news. Take a look at a couple of companies that do business in the dakotas. Where do we go from here . We talked to our friends at gasbuddy. Com who tell us 20 to 40 or 40 cents more in the coming year in terms of a rise in gas prices. Not a dramatic increase, but a little bit of the dividend we got this year, maybe not so much next year. Jeff flock, thank you for updating us. The head of an agency supports say is designed to protect syou is under scrutiny. They are looking into the leadership as they look for openings to push him out of the Consumer Financial protection bureau. As carl cameron reports, removing him isnt going to be easy. Reporter donald trump and republicans are planning big changes for the Consumer Financial protection bureau. Created after the 2008 financial collapse to protect borrowers, arguing it has stifled growth with overzealous government relation. This is an agency that is taking a very wide stance on its power. Really trying to expand its authority. You have this one person at the head of it who is running all of it. Reporter president obama named richard cordre. Republicans want to dump him. A possible replacement is a staunch critic. Some republicans want to replace the director position with a fairer bipartisan governing commission. In more than 60 appearances before congress, he argued lending is growing, not slowing. Consumers are better off because of it. The Mortgage Market has been expanding briskly for two years now since our major rules took affect. The credit card market is improved with strong consumer protection, better industry performance and increasing customer satisfaction. Reporter republicans have an opposing view. Theres a concern that despite the bureaus mission, its rules abnd regulations restrict access to credit, increase costs and deny Financial Products to the consumers who need them. Reporter the gop chairman of the House Finances Committee has drafted legislation to restructure the cfpb. They accuse them of trying to court wall street by lifting regulations. Lisa gilbert works for public citizens. I expect attacks, a huge part of that is the huge power of wall street and the money they pour into the political system. Theres a reason why they dont want to be regulated. They want free reign. Its not a reason thats good for main street americans. Its good for the bottom line. Reporter as part of the plan to make America Great again, the president elect promised to improve everyones bottom line. Doing it simultaneously for lenders and borrowers is a big part of next years reform battles. Thank you very much. Up next, horrific 2016 statistics for chicago. Here is what some of our affiliates are covering tonight. In phoenix, residents had to steer clear forwhile. Three bulls got loose in a neighborhood. One of them you can see there tried to tussle with a truck. The bulls were free for an hour until the owner was able to wrangle them. In cleveland, a plane disappeared over lake erie thursday night. The three adults and three children on board the plane had just attended a Cleveland Cavaliers game. No word on what might have led to the disappearance. This is a live look at new york. All of the big apple is preparing for the Biggest Party in the nation. The ball is up. The countdown is set. Extra security will be on hand as they expect 2 million revellers to ring in 2017 in times square. Fox news will also be there. Our all american new year airs saturday night starting at 11 00 p. M. Thats tonights live look outside the beltway from special report. We will be right back. Chicago had more murders this year than new york and los angeles combined. The city has some of its worst violence in nearly 20 years. While murders are up, arrests are down. Mike tobin reports tonight. Reporter with bloodshed not seen in decades, they anticipate violence will increase in weekend when booze is poured over the cycle of gang land vendettas. This follows a bloody christmas in which a dozen people were murdered. We know the majority of these shootings and homicides were targeted attacks by gangs against potential rival gang members and groups who were at holiday gatherings. Reporter 756 people were killed in the city, up 56 from last year. 3,525 were shot, up 47 from 2,400 last year. Shooters and victims are prodominantly black, most targets are gang members. They shoot each our because they are on other teams. Probably 20 to 30 of our shootings, we can tie to narcotics. Reporter with the heads of the big gangs in prison, the street gangs have splintered. One section will battle another. The dispute is often petty. Social media puts gas on the fire. Garry mccarthy says following the outrage over Police Involved shootings, policing has become politicized. Cops are backing off. Proactive policing is the problem. Across the country, it has come under fire. The antipolice political environment that were in has it that were emboldening criminals and were hamstringing police. Reporter demonstrators intend to take to the streets against gun violence this year. 756 crosses, each with the name of a 2016 murder victim will be carried through chicagos downtown shopping district. Im hoping that we will be shamed by it and say, this cant happen anymore. Then we will be shaken to do something. Reporter for causes people point from everything from Family Structure to economic opportunity. One thing in the shortterm is clear, police are making fewer stops and they are less likely to get involved when something looks suspicious. Mike, thank you. Ambushes on Police Officers fuelle