Visiting a combat zone as president , did just that. Boarding a secret overnight flight from maryland to iraq to surprise troops on the ground there and thank them for spending christmas far far from home. The reason im here today is to personally thank you and every Service Member throughout this region for the near elimination of the isis territorial caliphate in iraq and in syria. Two years ago, when i became president , they were a very dominant group. There were very dominant. Today they are not so dominant anymore. [cheers and applause] ed not so dominant. You hear the cheers, the selfies, the handshakes. Lots of smiles at the airbase of the president and First Lady Melania Trump spent three hours on the ground there. The president also use the visit to take the reins back perhaps on Border Security. Just days ago he seemed to be backtracking about the wall. A barrier, a wall, or steel slats, whatever you want to call it, its all the same. Ed but earlier today he appeared to return to Campaign Mode and was talking tough. How long do you think the shutdown will last. Whatever it takes. Were going to have a wall. We are going to have safety. Ed in moments, congressman peter king joins me live with more on this historic trip and more importantly perhaps what comes next in the showdown over the wall. But first, senior Political Correspondent mike emanuel is live in washington with more on the president s secret visit. Good evening. President trumps visit to iraq as a traditional move by a commander in chief during a holiday. Back to thank our troops for their service a long way from home. The president and first ladys visit was full of secrecy with their security obviously a concern. This president has made withdrawing the United States from foreign wars priority. This location in iraq is significant as u. S. And Coalition Forces have been successful in retaking muzzle and liberating significant territory across the border in syria. The president noted the great job american troops have done in taking the fight to isis. I looked at a map and two years ago it was a lot of red all over that map and i have a couple little spots and thats happening very quickly. The president and first lady are due to make a second stop before heading back to the white house before leaving. If the commander in chief told troops there he does not plan to withdraw from iraq. He says he sees using it as a military base to launch operations in syria and against the islamic state. An important part of the commander in chiefs visit to a combat zone was clearly focused on saying thank you to our men and women in uniform. We came to share our eternal gratitude for everything you do to keep america safe, strong and free. This trip also comes of the president s defense secretary jim mattis is on his way out. Mattis announced his resignation last week it was highly critical of the president s foreign policy. The president bumped up the change at the pentagon to new years day about two months early. If the president s critics like Actress Alyssa Milano tweeted this afternoon he becomes first president since 2002 not to visit troops at christmas time. Too soon . The president was on his way. At after calling troops around the world to wish them a Merry Christmas he went to see some in person. Ed mike emanuel, good job but if you, i appreciate it. Peter king who serves on the House Homeland Security committee. Good evening, Merry Christmas. Thank you, you two. Ed as mike said it wasnt just hollywood stars. You had nbc news, his critics again thinking that got the president corner, look at this headline. Nbc news. Trump becomes first president since 2002 not to visit troops at christmas time. Meanwhile, within hours, he is in the air doing just that. I know President Trump gets angry at the media for their biased reporting but in many ways they are his best ally because they always overshoot. They always exaggerate and they always put him in a position where he ends up on top. Again, this does show the rush to judgment the media always has against President Trump. And again, he planned on going anyway but this, outsmarted the media. If that was not his main motive but that certainly the way it worked out. Ed so congressman, on a more important policy decision, something republicans have been upset about as well, which is about pulling troops out of syria as well as half the troops out of afghanistan. I wonder if his critics as well may be jumped to conclusions at the front and thought this is a huge mistake without hearing the details. Listen to what the president said im sorry, this is actually a quote from a story about what he said on the ground in iraq. He says if we see something happening with isis that we dont like we can hit them so fast and so hard they really wont know what the hell happened, weve knocked them silly. The idea being that the troops that are still there, about 5200 are in iraq and could help in syria. Isnt that an idea that perhaps the critics were overshooting at first again . I think it certainly serves to mitigate some of the concern. I will be honest with you. I disagree with his policy to come out of syria the way it was done but i think if he articulates this and continues, our troops in iraq can be used in syria if they have to be, that would go a long way to alleviate and mitigate some of the concerns that people had about iraq. Because isis still is very dangerous and i dont want to create a vacuum that the russians and iranians can fill but the fact that he shows his willingness to use the american troops in iraq to carry out a mission in syria if they have to, if isis develops again, to me did go a considerable way to alleviating the concern. Ed on the other hand when he talks about the fact that i says, when he took the presidency had territory about the size of ohio, he talked about those red dots on the map and now they have about 1 of that. Is this a victory he has not gotten credit for . Definitely. He has done a phenomenal job in going after terrorism, taking some of the restrictions of the military, giving the generals in the military the power and the authority they need. This is been overwhelmingly successful what he has done against isis. My only question was i think there is still a remnant of isis and it could be resurrected. But having said that, this has been really the great untold story of the last two years, the devastating impact that this president has had on isis. Several years ago isis was the unstoppable force. If they had caliphate. They were marching right from the middle east and they are, again, far far less potent force than they were in the president deserves full credit for that. Ed lets bring it back here at home though. As you know the president also had some in his own party concerned about the policy on immigration. Was he faltering a bit, was he softening on the push for a wall. It did he alleviate some doubts today by saying whatever it takes is going to be awol . Let me tell you where im coming from. I strongly support the wall. I was one of the authors of the bill back in 2006 which passed the Congress Calling for 700 miles of security. And it was supported by Many Democrats at the time. If the democrats are being totally hypocritical. I just have a thing against Government Shutdowns. I think they end up being counterproductive. But now that were in it i think its important for the president and the democrats to come to the table, find a way to negotiate and compromise here but to me the wall is essential. I wouldnt have shut down the government over it but it is shut down now. So lets find a way out of it and it should be done by the democrats conceding that there has to be awol. If the president s about that. Ed congressman i got 30 seconds. Whats next . How does the president get out of this, as you say you support his push for the wall. If you are glad he did that but youre not excited about the government being partially shut down. Democrats dont seem to want to negotiate with him. I think the president , i think Mick Mulvaney sorted into that, they can make some concessions as far as the total amount and i would also suggest perhaps republicans could also do something on daca but in return for that the democrats will have to commit to the wall. Otherwise the president i dont see how he gets out of this otherwise. I dont see the end game without that. Ed congressman peter king, we appreciate you coming in. Thank you. Thank you. Ed here now, jason riley, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute in jessica tarlov. It democratic strategist and senior director of research at bustle. Com. Shes also a fox news contributor. Good to see you both. Hi. Ed good to see you, jason. At the president had some concerns among republicans both in syria policy as just mentioned as well as the wall. Has he alleviated some of those concerns in his own party . Demand with the trip overseas does he alleviate those concerns . s view on the trip, may be changing the subject a bit, but also while over there making it clear that he has had a big victory on isis. It when you look at the territory that they had when he took presidency and where they are now, but also making clear to reporters there after seeming to be on the defensive at the end of the week, homing nomadic home alone. He got out of the white house, he goes over to see the troops but says whatever it takes we are going to have the wall. I think that was the right thing to do. Im glad he went. I think it is a morale booster from men and women in uniform. And in the current context i think it was an important trip too. With the mattis resignation. Mattis is someone at some of the other officials that are leaving who was in very high regard by the rankandfile in the military and i think it was important to reinsure our men and women in uniform that he has their back, he has the best interest of the country in mind and also as the previous interview with representative king showed there is some skepticism about how he handled that pullout, or the announcement, the timing of the announcement and who he shared this information with ahead of time. Its not just in the house. If youve got people like tom cotton and the senate, big supporter of trump. Nevertheless very critical of this move. But i do think he did a little bit to reassure them. But i think there is some more work to be done on this front. Ed jessica obviously one positive trip doesnt erase the fact that he has real difficulties perhaps ahead, finding who is the next defense secretary, dealing with the fact that james mattis left in a very messy way. We cant sweep it under the carpet. On the other hand, dont some of his critics look a little silly by saying hes the first one not to visit the troops when they didnt throw this together in three or four hours because of a tweet. This had to be in the works. I will just admit right up front that i fell for it as well. So im putting that out there. I didnt think that he was leaving. I thought he was all alone theyre ruining christmas for 7yearolds all over the countr country. Ed we are going to get to that later in the show, believe me. Good. It was a great thing for the troops. I do see now that newsweek is reporting that because of a video that he posted has revealed identities of members of seal team five for their own covert operations. Thats something im sure we will hear more about that as the evening progresses. But no doubt this was the right thing to do bringing Melania Trump as well. There arent many first ladies that actually go conflict zones. It seemed to be a very meaningful experience for those who are there. But to jasons point i dont think it alleviates concerns over the pullout from syria when he was addressing the troops. He said i said to the generals who are in syria youve got six months and then i give them six months and i said you got six months and now you just got to get out of there. I dont know what kind of policy that is an jim mattis clearly didnt know what kind of policy that is. So thats outstanding. Ed jason and jessica, i want you to hear something that Maxine Waters said on sunday. Im not surprised at anything that the president may do or say. I have warned america from the beginning that this president is not worthy. He should not be there. That he cannot be trusted. He is a liar. He is despicable. We need to get rid of this president. Ed jason, even if the president did not handle the shut down perfectly, how does he negotiate with the Democratic Party has leaders like Maxine Waters saying hes a liar and he needs to get out . Youre not going to negotiate with Maxine Waters. But she can be a thorn in his side. Shes going to be head of one of these committees that will have oversight duties come january. So she someone he is going to have to deal with eventually. But in terms of the shut down i think both sides still think they have something to gain politically from this. The democrats enjoy accusing people who support Border Security of being racist. They think that helps them with their base. And trump thinks that his base wants to see him continue to be engaged on this issue. So i think hes become convinced that if he doesnt get some of this funding for his wall hes jeopardizing his reelection chances, frankly. Ed lets give jessica lets give you a fair chance to get in here. I realize that pelosi and schumer are the leaders who are negotiating on the shutdown. The committees are incredible powerful. Absolutely. But i would say when you look at what president obama had to do when he was dealing with trey gowdy, mark meadows, devin nunes, et cetera. They dont sound all that different may be in tone and Maxine Waters but the content of what they were saying, people who were out there with the locker up stuff and going after democrats in a very politically motivated way whether it was the irs hearing, benghazi or any of the others i dont think its that dissimilar from whats going on with Maxine Waters. Jerry nadler has said hes not going for impeachment and there are real concerns here about what the Trump Administration members of the Trump Administration, cabinet members and his own family have done in terms of taking advantage of the office and they should be investigated. Ed one persons political hearings is another persons oversight i suppose depending on whos in power. Jessica, jason, i appreciate you both coming in. Thanks a lot. He ed up next, new calls for the president to go it alone to get the wall. Cody was executive power to bypass congress and get the money he needs to just go ahead and build it . The president is committed to making sure that one way or another whether its through congress or other measures that we protect our borders when hes looking at a number of different ways in order to do that. The greatest wish of all is one that brings us together. The final days of wish list are here. Sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first months payment. Only at your lincoln dealer. They seem to be the very foundation of your typical bank. Capital one is anything but typical. Thats why we designed capital one cafes. You can get savings and checking accounts with no fees or minimums. And one of americas best savings rates. To top it off, you can open one from anywhere in 5 minutes. This isnt a typical bank. This is banking reimagined. Whats in your wallet . And then, more jobs robegan to appear. What started with one job spread all around. Because each job in energy creates many more in this town. How long do think the shutdown will last mr. President . Whatever it takes. We are going to have a wall, we are going to have safety. We need safety for our country. Ed President Trump they are to finally deliver on a border wall despite that standstill in washington over how to get it funded. And reopen the government. Some now saying the president should exercise his executive power to bypass congress altogether writing he has the Funds Available in the authority to build a wall in his own. The only question as to whether President Trump will finally start taking advice to those who actually support his goals rather than continuing to trust the internal obstructionists. Joining me now is the author of that piece, bret decker. Assistant professor of business at Defiance College and coauthor of the book the conservative case for trump. Good evening, good to have you tonight. Merry christmas, great to be on. Ed Merry Christmas. Lets explain first, what you believe the president can and cannot do with his executive power . Sure. Thats the fundamental question. A couple weeks ago the white house put out a directive to the executive Branch Agencies asking if they could find pots of money they could use to build a wall and theres money all over the executive branch that can be used. The federal budget, 4 trillion and people are claiming they dont have nickels to rub together to come up with 5 billion. There were all these different initiatives and i think the one i find the most interesting, 200 billion in loans that the department of agriculture gives out for rural development. These are basically like bank loans where they give loans out to Rural Communities to build fire stations, walls, retaining walls. So these get paid back. If they have a superlow default rate so they would be very attractive to be part of an investment portfolio. Ed it may be attractive. You know the congress has to authorize issues and pots of money, as you say and then appropriated. So the president s own acting chief of staff at the white house has said that they cant just move money around that quickly. I do believe that they just dont understand the process or as you say, there are people on the inside wh