that first time you take a step back. i made that. with your very own online store. i sold that. and you can manage it all in one place. i built this. and it was easy, with a partner that puts you first. godaddy. david: well, thank you all for watching this special edition of "kudlow" happy birthday to delaware ifly pay, my son, and be sure to tune in tomorrow, we've got mike huckabee and michael faulkender, and now we have brian brenberg, and, brian, i've gone over my time.

i'm sorry, i took 6 seconds of my time. brian: hey, no problem. happy birthday, question lie pa. philippe. president biden escaping multiple crises from the middle east to the broken southern border and possible um peach ifment inquiry. biden has close to 400 days of vacation in his term, that far surpasses trump in his entire first term and surpasses obama in both of his terms. maybe if you take a vacation, you should make sure the house isn't burning before you leave. a former msnbc host is going after maga republicans straight out of the hillary clinton playbook. i'm brian brenberg in for elizabeth macdonald, "the evening edit" starts right now. ♪ brian: well, first up, it's a win for trump. the michigan supreme court rejecting an attempt to bar trump from that state's primary ballot. let's welcome former acting u.s.

attorney general matthew whitaker and former congressional investigator sam dewey. sam, let me start with you. all right, you got michigan saying trump stays on the ballot, you got colorado saying trump off the ballot. please explain to us what's the legal difference here, and if it's not legal difference, what's the political difference here? >> so the legal difference is the michigan court said under the particular state statute governing eligibility the secretary of state was just required to put him on the ballot. you don't even consider the 14th amendment disqualification question. and that was for the primaries. so it is possible in theory that the challenge could come back were trump the nominee. brian: so, maft knew, it obviously comes down to the 14th amendment. we've heard a lot of talk about this. help the viewers understand here, what rights, if any, does the 4th amendment -- 14th

amendment give to states to remove candidates from their primary ballots or their general election ballots? >> yeah, brian, it's good to be with you tonight. it's a novel legal theory, and i think many people that have looked at this actually realize, including myself, that this was put in place following the u.s. civil war which about 600,000 american citizens lost their lives and, obviously, they knew what an insurrectionist was. in this con text and in the history of the. >>th -- 14th amendment, i don't think this was ever intended by the framers of that amendment. but that being said, this is obviously -- with michigan doing what they're doing, it e even demonstrates how more out on the ledge this colorado supreme court was when it did this the opinion. and remember, there was no due process, no ability to subpoena witnesses or even have discovery. so to me, the colorado case is going to become more and more of an outlier but, unfortunately, the u.s. supreme court's going to have to weigh in because now we have split state supreme

courts. brian: sam, you've got about a dozen other states that are looking at barring trump from the ballot. in maine, interestingly, it's not the supreme court there, it's the secretary of state that would decide if trump gets to stay on the ballot or not to. but they're looking at what's happening in michigan, they're looking at what's happening in colorado. how do you think those 12 states, those remaining states, sam, will play out? >> i think you're going to see a varying degree of decisions, some procedural, some -- you may get someone following the colorado supreme court, you may get someone saying on the merits no. i think at this point the supreme court is going to have to step in and just put an end to it all because you have to have a uniform national rule on this issue. you can't have, well, you're disqualified under standard a in colorado, but you're not disqualified under standard b in maine or in michigan if the case comes back.

there is no way the supreme court can avoid this case. a uniform national rule is necessary. brian: so, matt, let me ask you this because, you know, for a hong time now the progressives, i think, have wanted to discredit this supreme court. they don't like the way it's put together, they don't like the way it's ruling on a lot of issues. and so they want to find the issue that can continue to discredit. i think that's what's going on here. colorado runs this up the supreme court, supreme court is going to say you can't do this, colorado, and progressives are going to say you see what's going on here? this supreme court wants trump in office. it's politicized. we've got to pack it, we've got to change it. do you think that's where this leads, matt? >> yeah. well, i mean, that's a scary world you just painted there, brian. ultimately, i think what happens is the supreme court is a coequal branch, has to do their job. and, remember e, the supreme court is the one that ghei themselves this ultimate power -- gave themselveses this

ultimate power of review. our founding fathers set it up to be a determiner of what's constitutional along with the other two branches. and so i think the liberals would love to continue to discredit this supreme court, but in my experience they're finally getting the law right. you know, we had 50 years where the supreme court was sort of all over the board, and now we're following the rule of law, we're following the obvious interpretation of these statutes in the constitution. so i think this supreme court is giving itself more cd about with each one of these -- credibility with eve one of these opinions they issue. brian: yeah, because it's taking the constitution seriously. and when you take the constitution seriously, progressives who want to bend it every which way hate that. matthew whitaker, sam dewey, good to sew you. >> good to see you, brian, thanks. brian: the white house announce an agreement to purchase3 million barrels of oil in an effort to republican ifish the country's strategic patrol lumbar reserve after, of course, the largest sale in history last year as our stockpile is now at

the lowest level since the 1980s. jeff flock is live in chicago with all the latest. hey, jeff. >> reporter: brian, hello to you. yeah, it's all in the ground, you know, along the gulf of mexico and the strategic petroleum reserve, but there's less there than there has been in a long time, as you point out. i think the best way to look at it is maybe graphically. the doe put a graphic out that kind of shows just how much it's been depleted. you know, the president was trying to stave off high gas prices, so he told more than 200 million barrels out of there, and now he's trying to put it back. but i'll tell you, it's going slow. the latest e sale, as you point out, 3 million barrels at a price of $77.31 a barrel. yeah, if you're just trying to -- [laughter] trying to make some money, well, i guess it was a fairly good deal. the government pointing out it is well below the $9555 a barrel9 that the cruise -- 95 a barrel that the crude was sold for when the president made the sale, and they call that a good deal for taxpayers. well, if that's what you're trying to do with the spr, make

money, yeah, i guess so. but is that really the right thing to do for the nation's security? take a look at the raw numbers on this. in december of 2009, just to refresh, we were at the high point ever in the spr are, 726 million barrels. by january of '21 when president trump left office, we were at 638 million, still a pretty good number. but now we're down to 352, and in the midst of all the chaos right now in the middle east, a lot of people think that's not such a hot idea. listen. >> they've got to replenish because you -- the middle east has become a quagmire, and it could be really awful globally. we have the luxury of being energy independent. that is one of the major, major underpinnings for our economy. finish. >> reporter: and fortunately, we still are somewhat energy if independent. brian, as you reported earlier on the fox business network, we produced in the last month for which information is available

13.2 million barrels a day. all-time record. no country, much less the u.s., has ever produced as much oil. and even assuming weaker oil prices, say the analysts, and a slowdown in new drilling there is sufficient momentum to see nearly another million barrels a day of growth in 2024. so the oil keeps coming, just not into the spr right now. a lot of people, brian, think the president ought to shirt and put more in there to stave off whatever may be happening in the middle east. sir? brian: yeah. accelerate production, accelerate putting it in the spr, shirt everything. jeff flock, great report. thanks, man. joining us now, price futures group senior analyst phil flynn. so, phil, i think this is so interesting because they're putting 3 million barrels back in, which is basically nothing, okay, in the grand scheme of the spr are. but they're making this case that that, hey, great deal for the taxpayers because we sold it at 95, bought it at 77.

to me, phil, the great deal for the taxpayers is to know that they have a sufficient reserve available when problems strike and we're clearly not there. what do you make of what's going on with the president trying to refill this thing? >> yeah, you know, i the you're absolutely -- i think you're absolutely right. it's not there to make money and speculate, it's there for in case of an emergency. and look around the globe, brian. we have emergencies to supply all over the place. unlike anything we've probably ever seen in history. and so far we haven't seen a major disruption but, you know, we're just one missile or bomb strike away, and that's one of the things you have to keep in mind. and you want to talk about a great deal, these same people that are taking credit for making money on their strategic petroleum trade are the same ones that blocked donald trump from buying oil at $24 a barrel. so i think donald trump had a better trade if they would have let him buy it. brian: you know, jeff, you've got all of these purchases now by biden, and you've got the

highest levels of production jeff just reported in the history of our country. that's great. i wish this president would celebrate that a little bit, and i'd like to know in your opinion how much more could we be doing if we had an administration that really actually felt good with about hitting record levels of production? >> i honestly have looked at studies of different people that say we could be producing anywhere from 4-6 million barrels a day more oil. brian: wow. >> and why is that? most of the oil that's been produced has been on private lands, itment hasn't been on federal lands, you know? and i'm sure president biden and his team's going to take credit and say, hey, what a great job we've done. looked at what they've done just recent wily, brian. when you look at the offshore leases that they basically shut down in the gulf of mexico, they're going to try to say, hey, we're getting it on fossil fuels -- getting off fossil fuels, but that's the cleanest way to produce oil in the world.

they're not helping the environment, because we need fossil fuels for a long time. if you don't produce if it offshore, it's going to be produced in a dirtier way. brian: phil, 2024 gas prices, what are you looking at? what's kind of your base case for where you think they're going to go this coming year? >> you know, i think we bottomed out on gasoline prices. i think they're going up, you know? just take a trip to california, you'll get an idea of what's happening. they've had refinery issues out there. you know, the california governor's stopping investment there, so they're going back up. now, there are some concerns about demand in the global economy. there's been a lot of talk today about the debt story, and that that's been a concern as well. brian: that's right. if the global economy softens, that's going the bring down oil prices, but that is a whole other set of issues. phil flynn, great to see you. thanks very much. enter thanks, brian. brian: still ahead, congresswoman claudia tenny, economist thomas full lipson, charlie hurt, former dhs adviser charles marino, and we have gop

strategist ford o'connell on democrat hypocrisy, biden going on vacation facing an impeachment inquiry and now a powderer keg in the middle east with ap attack leaving one american in critical condition. plus, vice president kamala harris in the kitchen standing by the same gas stove first seen on thanksgiving as the administration wages a war on home appliances. all of that next on "the evening edit." >> i have been fortunate and blessed during the course of being vice president to have many situations where it becomes clear to me that there are, you know, people of every age and gender, by the way, who see something about being the first that lets them know they don't need to be limited if by other people's limited understanding of who can do what. liberty mutual customized my car insurance

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brian: gotta love this one, kamala harris slammed for posting a photo of herself next to, ooh, a gas stove, saying she was making -- oh, no -- beef wellington after the biden administration considered a ban on that heinous appliance and the left warning everyone to stop eating red meat so we can save the environment. now bind many st. croix as he

sends blinken and mayorkas to meet with mexican president obrador to discuss the migrant crisis that his e policies created. just the latest on the left 's hi pockily e city. joining me now, republican strategist ford o'connell. ford, i can't believe this, gas stove, beef wellington. i mean, is the vice president trying to send us into, like, climate economic tailspin here? if what's going on? >> well, what else do you expect from the lowest rated vice president in polling history? it's rules for middle class america and main street but not for, you know, liberal elites and kamala harris. look, they don't care about the struggles of the middle class, and that's why biden and harris are going to lose in 2024. brian brian i mean, you bring up the polls, you bring up their popularity. look, the president says you guys should feel better with about the economy, but with i think a lot of consumers say they look at the administration, and they see this crusade is, right? they're targeting dishwashers, air conditioners, washing

machines, furnaces. so even if inflation's coming down a little bit, you know higher prices are on the way, ford, because this administration wants to ban just about everything you and i use on a daily basis. >> that's exactly right. look, bidenomics is a failure, and they're putting the green energy agenda ahead of consumers. they want to give you dishwashers that don't clean, airers that don't cool and furnaces that don't heat. i promise you, i actually hope they actually regulate this stuff, brian with, because essentially at that point there's no way donald trump can't win the electoral college because between the furnaces that don't heat in the northeast and the air conditioners that don't work in the southeast and southwest, you're going to win hands down because americans are going to be mad. if you think they were mad about the gas stoves, these are not luxury items, brian. they're the essentials. brian: that's the point, they're not luxury items. regular americans need to use this stuff. a lot of regular americans are not going to the caribbean for

their christmas vacation. the president is. but, you know, he's leaving behind this growing list of crises whether it's the border, whether it's overseas, and it's not the first time he's done it. he's been out of the country on vacation last year when you had a winter storm that killed dozens of americans. ford, some people call this tone deaf, but i think to a lot of voters actually it's a much bigger leadership failure. what's your thought? >> oh, yeah, absolutely, it is a leadership failure. remember, he was supposed to be the adult that was going to put us back on the right course. but unfortunately, america under biden has descended into chaos, and he's jetting off to the caribbean. i'll be honest with you, brian, this is the on point for the biden administration. and when it comes to the border, let's remember he didn't inherent meter a broken border, joe biden created the chaos, and he alone without congress can fix it but but he decides not to because democrats by and large believe no one is illegal and,

therefore, average americans must suffer. brian: you know, when i add all this up, ford, i think about the policies facing america, and i think about some of the threats that you and i just talked about. i get the sense that there's kind of a sea change happening, that people -- even people who are willing to give joe biden a chance, who thought he was middle class joe, are saying that's not who he is, that's not who he's -- how he's governed, and we've got to look someplace ls. for a lot of them, i think they're looking pre-2020, and they're saying who was in office and what were those policies. are we seeing that kind of sea change, ford? are things changing in a significant way heading into 2024? >> they are because people are now concerned about a policies versus words with. remember, democrats, by and large, like the words you say where republicans and independents are much more concerned about a actions. when you look at the economy under joe biden, bidenomics is a failure. biden inflation is real.

they're looking at who had the best with economy in recent memory, and the answer's donald trump. when was the border sane? under donald trump. when was crime down? under donald trump. on and on and on to the most important issues that are kitchen table issues for the middle class and main street. brian: you're assuming your kitchen table is still going to be legal. [laughter] ford, we've got to leave it there. thanks for being with us. >> happy new year, brian. brian: you too. economist thomas tom philipson here on biden struggling in the polls by over 2 points. and, by the way, this time in 2020 biden was a ahead of trump by4.5 points. and former msnbc host chris matthews taking a swing at maga republicans going after angry rural trump vote sheers, says dealing with them is like combating actual terrorists. >> donald trump and the maga

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brian: tension growing in the white house. frustration reportedly building around biden as his poll numbers keep sinking. even cnn analysts are concerned now. watch. >> he's tried to use bidenomics because the economy is always the number one issue. the polls are suggesting that's not necessarily going over very well with people in part because of inflation, maybe misperceptions about some other things, maybe just an unfortunate lag, you know? sure, the economy might be going better, but if voters done perceive it in time, then he'll lose. brian: joining me now is former white house council of economic advisers chairman tomas philipson. great to see you. so i'm interested in that last

bit from cnn because on the one hand they seem to be saying, yeah, the economy might be a big issue for the president. on the other, he mentioned that idea of the unfortunate rag are -- lag, like people haven't woken up yet to the economy getting better. how do you read what a he saidsome. >> well, i think the problem with the white house ship on this, i call bidenomics, i call it spinonomics, you can't pay your bills with white house ship. if you could, we'd be very, very rich. but the lag issue, i think, is that the white house essentially wants to claim like a football team that's down 30 points at halftime and then scored a field goal that they're winning. they're not winning. it's improving the last few months, but the disaster that took place the first two years and a half has base ifically swamped -- basically swamped what's going on the last half year, and that's the issue that's taking place, i think. brian: yeah. prices haven't come down. inflation if rate might be

come -- declining, but prices are still high. you're still paying that whenever -- wherever you go to buy things. instead of democrats hooking at their e own policy failures, they're again blaming maga republicans. watch this. >> people that didn't go to college have a pretty good rage on their hands. they had -- that's what you really want in an election is rage. it can be black rage, white rage or rural wrage. in this place, it's rural rage. they are so angry at the coastal elite, they look at a people on television, they say, oh, those people on "saturday night live," those snarling rich kids, i know who they are. they're -- they're trust funders. and the regular guy goes there they are snarling and making fun of us, and every time we make fun of trump, we're making fun of them. it's a weird thing, but in a way it's like budding terror the i. we think we just put the army in, they're going to solve the problem. it never solves the problem because you enrage people. and we did it with afghanistan, and we did it with iraq are.

we enrage ad the enemy to the point where they're more fiery than ever, and they hate us more than ever. armies don't make peace. brian: rural rage and terrorism, tomas. what do you make of that? >> i don't think voters are stupid. i think it's very, very simple why the poll numbers are down, essentially. the economy is the number one issue typically in an election, and the economy is the number one issue where the trump policies are favored over the biden policies. this is not rocket science why voters are kind of down on biden. in particular, this continuing claim by the white house the labor markets are great even though people are paid less in real terms under his administration, essentially, i think kind of just goes against common sense. and it goes against the white house rhetoric, it also goes against what a lot of economists say that the labor markets are great. they're not great for workers. they might be great for

companies in terms of real wages being down. brian: so you've got two trading days left this year. stocks have been flying lately. some would say that's a sign that the economy in 2024 could strengthen quite a bit. what's your view as an economist on that? >> well, all eyes are on inflation, essentially. and the white house wanted to claim that that the supply chain issues, that is to say the white house is not responsible but covid is, but if it was a supply chain issue, here's the problem. when supply got cut back, obviously, prices go up, but they don't go up universally across the whole economy. the second issue is once supply is back, which is now, we should have a deflation in price as a reduction to normal levels, not a continued increase at a lower rate, essentially. so the supply if chain issue doesn't really add up with the data, i think. and i think people -- that's the real issue going forward, how much inflation is going to be

sticky into 20 this. brian: okay -- 2024. the message is we've beat inflation, but you're saying it could be stickier than we think in 2024. we'll leave it there. thanks for being with us. >> thank you, brian. brian: well, the economy isn't the only hurdle for president biden's 2024 race. house republicans are moving forward on their impeachment inquiry when they return to d.c. the second week of jalapeno. let's bring in washington times opinion editor charlie hurt. o.k.. so, charlie, let's walk through the impeachmentish kauai -- issue just a little bit because it's been on the table a long time. you follow it closely, i've been following it. but, you know, the question is, like, what difference is it going to make in 2024? how sticky does that issue become as the election gets closer? what's your read as we head into the new year? >> well, that's a great question, brian, and i'm glad you asked it because actuallies it is sort of a problem for me because, you know, when you have

the fourth year of a president in office, i would much rather let voters decide whether or not joe biden should continue as president. that said is, there is so much evidence piled up no matter what democrats will try to tell you, no matter what some of the talking heads at msnbc try to tell you, there is massive amounts of evidence that the press has worked very hard to shield going back to even before the 2020 election that there is real corruption within the biden family, real corruption within this biden administration, an effort to use with american policy around the globe to enrich foreign adversaries and then enrich the biden family. there's massive amount as of evidence. you can't ignore if it. i don't like the timing either. i would rather just have an election and let, you know, whoever beat donald -- beat joe biden in the polls. but you can't ignore this kind

of mounting evidence. brian: yeah. you talk about the pile-up. house oversight chair james comer had this to say about what might come next in terms of this impeachment inquiry. listen to this. >> i think most americans realize that something is stinks here. most americans realize that we've provided bank state. s as hard evidence, statements that show the bidens have received well over $20 million from if our enemies around the world, and they can't answer a simple question, what did you do to receive the money. they also know that joe biden stated during the campaign he never met with any of these people who sent his family money, and then he had a wall between the government and his family's shady business schemes. we know that he communicated with every single person that he said he never met with that sent his family millions and millions of dollars around the world. so the american people know something stinks here, and that's going to be a problem for joe biden moving forward. not only are his policies a disaster, but the american people think he's a crook.

broin all right. it definitely stinks. but i do think you have to get well beyond the smell test to really move the needle with people in terms of what you see. >> sure. brian: what are you looking for comer and his committee and others to find or produce now that they've gone to the impeachment inquiry? what are you hoping they find that can provide some closure or really advance ball here? >> well, the most important thing is, obviously, that by declaring an impeachment process it gives them a broad array of new powers to collect more information. and, only, you do need to collect more information. but when you look at the examples that comer has already brought forward where you have actual payments going to the biden family, going to, apparently, joe biden himself where in exchanging for very curious action as on the part of the president or the vice president vis-a-vis our foreign adversaries while hunter biden

is getting paid millions of dollars from these adversaries, it raises lots of questions. and the fact that you had hunter biden flying around a on air force two when joe biden was vice president, all over the world going to china, going to ukraine with him is prima facie evidence that something weird was going on especially when they can't answer that simple question, what was hunter biden's expertise in china, what was his expertise in ukraine, in mexico, in moscow and all these places he was collecting all this money? what was his expertise other than his connection to his father? and that right the there is actually -- bribery is the word in the constitution when it comes to impeachment. and so it's kind of funny to sit here now after four years of listening to these goons talk about how trump made some phone call and this and that expect other -- brian: right. >> and then sudden hi when you have actual evidence of a word

that's in the constitution, they're like, yeah, that's not -- that caulk isn't baked yet. [laughter] -- cake isn't baked yet. brian: you've got msnbc, we're talking about impeachment here, and this msnbc op-ed begging republicans to impeach president biden because i guess the infriends here is it'll give -- ine friend here is it'll give him a boost, it'll rally his base. charlie, what do you think? could that be the case for briden finish biden? >> i'm sort of doubtful because nobody voted for joe biden, everybody voted against donald trump if they didn't vote for donald trump. and so nobody, you know, the difference here when every time donald trump gets indicted, he gets, like, goes up 10 is points in the polls because he has a huge base of people who really love him. nobody really loves joe bide biden, they just don't like donald trump. i don't think this works. heck, brian, if it did work, i think that you would have seen

in the last election a huge go if discuss against democrats -- exodus against democrats who pursued these two ridiculous impeachment9 against donald trump. i would love to live in a world where we didn't use impeachment as a political hatchet against our enemies but with, you know, i don't think people get punished for it. brian: charlie hurt, your just old-fashioned. -- you're just old fashionedded. you like voting. >> that's right. ryan wroin call the man democrat, but that's where he stands. >> happy new year, buddy can. pipe broip all right, you too. iran nuclear weapons, the rogue nation just tripling, oh, my, its production of nearly weapons-grade uranium. they're at 60% purity right now. 90% weapons grade. to put that in perspective, the 2015 is iran nuclear deal, that really effective thing capped offrhine yum end run. -- can enrichment at 3.67%. but first, let's check in with our friends kelly o'grady

and sean, let's see what they have coming up on "the bottom line" next hour. hey, guys. sean: hey, brian. yeah, we have blinken and mayorkas going to mexico to stop the flow of illegal immigration into the country. and if you believe that, i have a bridge to tell -- to sell you. we have congressman pat fallon on that to unpack it all. kelly: we're phone to have john burnett, also alex a lace, he's a host of the podcast first class fatherhood. sean, we're going to talk to him about whether taylor swift could save biden because she certainly can do everything else this year. but first, we're going to have more "evening edit."es that's es next.less ♪ npolitics into the boardroom, then into our living rooms. that's why i use spotlight reports from 1792 exchange. here, i can search more than 2,000 companies, to see if they care more about divisive social issues than about running a sound business. isn't it time we got back to the business of business?

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brian: the situation in the red sea escalating as a u.s. navy ship is shoots down ballistic missiles launched by iran-backs houthis. nearly a hundred houthi-operated drones have been hot down since october 17th. the houthis have attacked more than 21 international vessels in the region. knowning -- joining me now, congresswoman claudia tenney. tell me what you make of these recent escalations. it looks bad to me, and i hate the response, but tell me what you think. >> well, first of all, the biden administration allowed this to happen in so many ways. first of all, one of the very

first acts of president biden was to de-designate, to not decembering ig nate the houthis as a foreign terrorist organization which they had been under the trump administration. not sure why they ea did that. this only empowers iran. there are no houthis without the iranians giving them money and weapons to torment the saudis, to torment the sea, the arabian sea in that region where we have a lot of oil and a lot of natural -- lng going through based on these countries over there. so it's a power struggle right now, and the biden administration has been very weak in handling that. and they continue to per perpetuate in this the type of attacks op americans. it's just unforgivablement not sure why the biden administration is not acting more aggressively than they have. they have finally reacted but not in a way that i think is going to deter the houthis as long as we continue to allow the iranians to have sanctions relief to the tune of almost $80 billion in oil sanctions relief which gives them cash to continue to fund proxies in the middle east including hamas,

hezbollah, islamic jihad and the houthis. brian that's what i mean, i just don't see any deterrence there. senator lindsey graham says the u.s. needs to aim at bigger targets. watch this. >> aye been saying for -- i've been saying for six months now hit iran. they have oil fields out in the open, they have the revolutionary guard headquarters you can see from space. blow it off the a map. if you really want to protect american soldiers, make it real to the ayatollah. brian: i mean, he's talking big escalation here. is that where you stand on this? >> well, first of all, we had a great policy that was closing in on the iranians under president trump and secretary pom pom-pom pay owe. we had -- pompei i owe. we had hard sanctions on them, we killed al-baghdadi, soleimani, the head of the irgc, with we cut out the iran nuclear deal, we cracked down on them. we missed an opportunity will this year where i was urging the

administration with letters and everything that i could to try to get them to enforce our chance to have snap-back sanctions on iran through the u.n. that could have happened this october, but the biden administration allowed them to expire. there's a lot of withdraws we can pressure iran and put them in a corner to prevent them from having the cash that they're getting. not to mention these people are truck thugs. they're in the hostage-taking business, they're e in the terrorism business. they take hostages. their own foreign economic minister said we'll take a thousand hostages if it means we're going to continue to fund our economy through american money. so the more host afghanistans they take, the more money we give them, the more we relent, this more they continue to do that. that's, unfortunately, the policy of the administration. it's very back. brian: they're using the money to end enrich uranium at weapons-grade levels, way beyond anything in the iran nuclear deal. sounds -- that sounds, i mean, it doesn't surprise me, it sounds really, really dangerous,

congresswoman. what's your reaction to that? if this was bipartisan, i joined up with congress congressman josh gottheimer on exactly this -- we wrote a letter saying do not allow the end richment to get to the level that it is, the 90% but the biden administration continues to allow it to happen. secretary of state blinken, john kerry, all these people are just appeasing iran instead of cracking down on them and holding them accountability. the whole reason we have a war in israel, this tragic situation where hamas is brutally murdering people and, by the way, hurting palestinian citizens within gaza strip, all of this is happening because of the weakness being projected and the lack of action on the biden administration. there is so much we could have done, and we still need to do that. we knead to give 100% -- we need to give so -- 1100% support to israel. we're not getting the support support from our european allies as well. look what just happened in the u.n. there was a ceasefire

resolution, only 10 countries in the world voted with the united states while the u.n. continues on our soil with our taxpayer dollars. it's time to end this. brian: what a joke, the u.n. is on that. that's why american leadership matters, and our leaderser -- leader's going to st. croix this week. congressman, we've got to leave it there. thanks so much. >> happy new year. brian relationship you too. former homeland security adviser charles marine know, the border's in the worst shape it's ever been, the largest group heading to our southern border in over a year. it could grow, they're saying to 15,000 people. will secretary of state blinken rain mayorkas meeting with mexico's president today help? >> you used a phrase, fool's errand, a little earlier. and that's exactly what this is going to be. we're setting ourselves up for failure because we're expecting another country to fix our problems, and they're never going to do it. it all a comes down to incentive. does the mexican government have incentive to stop this illegal

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>> to discuss surge in

illegal migrants at u.s. southern border, joining us charles moreno, cards on the table, tell me i'm wrong. >> this was all for optics, you have trade impacted right now, that is mexico's main concern they don't like to see ports of entry overrun, shut down, that is what this meeting was about, how to give this a more orderly appearance whiley continue -- we continue to process people in u.s., president biden and president be obrador are for open borders. the administration should have been having these types of meetings the first year. you don't have these types of meetings during a crisis,

ultimately we own the policies in the united states, those that are pulling migrants to make the journey, we're the ones allowing them into the country illegally, and we own it, this is our problem to solve. >> this is right, if we did something about our border, which we can, it would force mexico's hand on their border. it seems like biden is losing favor among blue state mayor, you have netwnew york city mayor adams saying he is baffled he can't get a meeting with the president about the asylum seekers. he brought this thing on himself with the sanctuary city and all he is asking for is money, which is motte go -- not going to solve the problem. >> you are right, this is a perfect storm of bad policies from federal to

state and local level. i am a firm believer we should not be rewarding sanctuary cities with federal public safety and terrorism grants from federal government, they have not put public safety first. when you are not turning people who are entering illegally and committing further crimes and not reporting them to i.c.e. to deport them, i have a problem with that, i believe most americans do. the mayors in big cities realizing that the president does not care about them either. as much as he does not care about governor abbott and republican governors, he does not care about democrats, he dumped this is everyone's lap equally. >> i am sick of hearing blue state mayors complaint about not getting money, if you could convince some here is what you need to do guys to get change, what do they

need to do with regard to president to get things moving. >> it would be nice if they pointed the finger as governor abbott has done and others, at the biden administration instead of just asking for money. we have wasted to knows -- tons of tax taxpayer dollars. including the fuel for the jet that flew the secretaries down to mexico, we own this. we are causing the problem, this is the only administration that i have seen that has no strategy at all, when it came to office other than stand down policies that were working effectively from the previous administration. >> charles, great last stop, appreciate you. >> i am brian brenberg in for elizabeth macdonald, now time for "the bottom

line