mike: a chemical tank ther off

the coast of indian has been fired by a drone fired from iran, there were no injuries on the japanese-owned vessel flying under a liberian flag and now another escalation of regional tensions. >> iran feels emboldened. what we've seen is put two aircraft carrier strike groups into the region, that's a massive show of military force, but we've been highly inconsistent many terms of the way we deal with iran. mike: welcome to this special edition of "fox news live." i'm mike emmanuel with. two more international ships were targeted by houthis on saturday with the u.s. destroyers shooting down four attack drones. alexandria hoff has reaction from our nation's capital. hello, alex. >> reporter: the white house is once again accusing iran of being behind the aggression i don't meaning -- coming out of yemen. president biden did not speak to that, confirming only that he spoke with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu by phone, and during that call he says he did not call for a ceasefire in gaza. but fox news contributor and

former secretary of state mike pompeo today said the administration is putting both the u.s. and israel at risk by not taking more direction action in response to iran. [no audio] >> we respond to them in a defensive fashion, and it allows them to essentially fight without putting themselves at any risk. so it doesn't surprise me that we've had this many attacks on the united states when an administration like the biden administration is as weak as it has been for the three years it has been weak. >> reporter: national security here at a home, republican senator many ron johnson now about white house officials heading to mexico soon to discuss border security. finish. >> you know, the challenge we have in dealing with this administration is they caused the problem. they are the root cause. they want an open border. so i appreciate the fact that they're going down to mexico to maybe try to do something about this, but that's like three years too late. >> reporter: processing backlogs have also put the white

house on defense. here is deputy attorney general he's salmon coe on that. >> -- lisa monaco on that. >> we have been resoing a record number of cases in the last couple of years, but we still have far too few um e gration judges. >> reporter: and on the legal front, former trump has urged a federal appeals court to gran him immunity from criminal prosecution in the 2020 election results case. president biden did offer a comment about that a yesterday. listen. [inaudible] >> i can't think of one. >> reporter: or the u.s. supreme court is expected to weigh in on colorado's decision as well to remove trump from its primary ballot so, mike, a lot to contend with heading into the new year. mike: alexandria hoff starting us off a live. al welcomes, thanks very much. benjamin netanyahu is vowing to fight deeper into gaza as a

his troops suffered one of the worst days of losses of the ground war. trey yingst is live in tel aviv with the very latestest. hello, or trey. >> reporter: hey, mike, good afternoon. israeli forces continue to go after hamas cells inside gaza though they are facing fierce resistance. the idf says this weekend alone 5 is israeli soldiers -- 15 israeli soldiers were killed in battle as the ground operation does continue. much of the fighting taking place around gaza's second largest city where reports indicate not only hamas battalions are. gaging israelis, but also smaller factions with a vast network of tunnels that's making the clearing process extremely difficult. tblt our fighters are fighting in complex areas for fighting, an area like han younis is also a dense area. we locate the terrorist infrastructure especially underground. with we expanded engineering

forces there. this division has a large number of forces that the usual number for division 98. this is what the activity requires. >> reporter: israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, spoke today ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting indicating israel will continue its ground operations against with gaza with full force. netanyahu also pushed back on the idea that the united states is influencing israeli decisions on the battlefield following a phone call yesterday that he had with president biden. biden said after that call he did not ask for a ceasefire, though the administration has publicly and privately pressured's israel to reduce the number of civilian casualties amid the war. all of these developments on the southern front come ea amid renewed attacks from southern lebanon, hezbollah getting more directly involved in the fight, and of course, that regional threat ongoing from the houthis in yemen. mike? mike: trey yingst with live in tel aviv, thanks very much. let's bring in hudson institute senior fellow rebeccah heinrichs. rebecca, welcome. >> thank you.

mike: we have graphics of attacks on commercial vessels in the red sea. obviously, that's been an ongoing problem. you can see the highlights there on the graphic. and now many cargo ships are being rerouted all over the globe to avoid the red sea. why should folks at home be concerned? >> yeah, tens of billions of dollars are now being diverted. that's going to increases the cost of goods as these cargo companies can't insure the safety and security. americans at home should remember that we are safe and secure or or and prosperous because of these free and open international waters that are defended and protected by the u.s. navy and the navies of those of our allies. those are directly being threatened by iran-backed terrorist groups. and it is amazing that these small, you know, much far inferior in terms of their capabilities, powers, iranian approximate cities -- proxies, are able to hold up global supply lanes because the u.s.

navy has not been permitted to go on the offense. mike mike there was also this recent attack in the arabian sea off india, off the coast of india. it's not likely the iranians are going to stop there, right? >> no, they're not going to stop because they're not being made to stop. there is this hesitation on the part of the biden administration to actually push harder, respond with greater retaliation with. but each time these proxy ises attack, they should be immediately eliminated. and that's how you get all of these houthis or the iranian proxies across the middle east to understand that they themselves will be gone if they continue -- as soon as they attack u.s. forces or our allies. that has not been green lit by the white house, that kind of response. and so we should expect the iranians to continue to press the envelope, to increase the number of attacks because they are getting leverage over the global economy, over the united states and our allies. mike: a key republican senate today talked about hitting the iranian regime in the if wallet. let's play it.

>> as soon as joe biden came into office, they stopped enforcing the sanctions, billions of dollars began to flow. according to our estimates, they're enriched themselves by over $100 billion and itment continues. we need to snap back economic sanctions immediately on iran. we need to send a clear diplomatic message. mike: would that be helpful, nap back sanctions, rebeccah? >> certainly. it should be part of an overall approach by the u.s. government to take on the iranian government directly and to squeeze them. unfortunately, this white house is so demed to have a -- determined to have a rapprochement with iran that they're just focus on what can we do to not irritate the iranians to try to convince them to come up with some place that's more stable. it's a fundamental misunderstanding. you have to have sanctions in place. you squeeze them economically. but, again,ing you must also use with american hard power. that is what communicates to our adversaries that they cannot behave this way. and then you leave space for diplomacy and negotiation. but so far those two things,

economically squeezing them and the hard power piece, are absent. mike: a big concern this christmas season for american military families are these attacks on u.s. forces in iraq and syria. they're the really sitting bucks out there -- ducks out there. 102 at least attacks on u.s. forces, there are all the locations that have been hit. what should the commander in chief, president biden, be doing to help those in harm's way? >> well, they should be given the authority to go on the offense. defense is not the best offense, offense is the best offense. the american people should understand what these forces are doing. they are conducting counterterrorism operations. that's why they're there. we lost a already critical ability -- really critical ability to do that when we had the precipitous withdraw from -- withdrawal from afghanistan. and our navy is keeping these sea lanes open so we can be safe, secure and prosperous here at home. president biden must give them the tools and the authorization that they need in order to go on the offense and go right to the

head of the dragon which is the iranian government, the irgc and their proxies across the region. mike: i know from covering the pentagon for years, they have a list of targets they could hit in any given situation if the commander in chief says go. are there targets in iran that could basically send a strong message without starting a broader war? >> absolutely. and one of the things, mike, you know, that i've been trying to con convey is this fear that we've seen, this is in our support for ukraine, in our support for israel. there's this fear that if we support support too much or if we do too much, that will create an escalation on the part of our adversaries. our adversaries are going to make judgment withs on their own. our responsibility is to give our allies and our troops the ability to respond in such a way that we can communicate that we will defend our vital interests, our allies and that our add a very or shares should back down.. -- if we continue to give them space and fear escalation too much, we give, we cede the

escalation control to our adversaries, and that's the paradox of the problem. mike: rebeccah heinrichs, merry christmas to you and your family. >> remember the troops, they're the ones keeping us safe. mike: amen. thank you. now let's bring in israeli government spokes person avi hyman. welcome. >> thanks for having me and merry christmas to all of you and the viewers. mike: thank you, sir, very much. what is the latest on the ground operation in gaza? >> well, we've done a lot of work, as you know, on the north. we're coming close to having taken control of large swaths of the north. we're going south now. you saw as you report reported there's heavy fighting in the heart of han younis which which is a very key stronghold of hamas. if what we're finding is maybe a shock to some of the people in the international world but not to us. what we're finding is schools, in hospitals, in mosques is

unbelievable, just they cleared out a school today, thousands of weapons and grenades and military gear and bulletproof vests some of which hadup insignia on -- u.n. insignia on. we know what we're up against. this is hamas that plowedded through our borders killing children many front of their parents, parents in front of their children, dismembering, raping. we must plow forward until we dee feet them. defeat them. missouri mike the united nations says more than a half million people in gaza are starving. what can be done about that? >> well, we call upon the united nations and the international community to up their game on that front. we don't want a scenario by which hamas is allowed to steal goods that are coming in, aid that is coming in for the people of gaza. our fight is not with the people of gaza, our fight is with hamas. we want the free gaza from hamas and what we've seen time and

again is two things. firstly, the aid a comes in and hamas attacks the aid and steals it and takes it for their own people to hide it underground in those underground tunnels. and the second thing is the international community is, sadly, not doing enough. there is a lot more aid that could go through if they move forward and increased the amounts that they're pushing through. but instead it's easy to point a fingerer at israel when we're trying to do our utmost to win this war, to bring home the hostages and to minimize civilian casual dison both sides. mike: "the washington post" reports that president biden and prime minister netanyahu are not on the same page on a number of key issues. for example, quote, in the days after the deadly october 7 attack by hamas, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu had a request for president biden, could he pressure the egyptian president to open his country's borders and take in a big portion of the more than 2 million palestinians in gaza.

biden told net ab an ya hue the idea was a nonstarter with the egyptian government. so how do you crush hamas if when so many civilians are there with nowhere to go? >> mikes as you know from the beginning of the war, we have implemented a strategy that no army has a done in modern warfare. initially when we came to the north, we said move south, southwest to the safer zones, and now we've actually provided a map that a says, delineates specific neighborhoods. and we say we're coming for that neighborhood, please vacate. i don't know of any army that would lose the element of surprise so as to avoid civilian casualties. so on the key points, we are on the same page as the american administration. and those key points are hamas must be destroyed, totally destroyed politically and militarily, they can no longer lead hamas -- lead gaza. and, secondly, every one of those hostages needs to come

home. and we would pray that they come home right now. they need to be with their families right now. there is no reason to hold babies and the elder orally hostage in -- elderly hostage in gaza. mike: we know it's been a difficult weekend for your ground forces going into gaza, our condolences to you on that front. and i'm grateful for your time today, sir. thank you very much. >> thank you, mike and merry christmas. mike: thank you, sir. one man is dead in a shooting at a central florida maul in what -- mall in what police are calling a targeted attack. authorities say the man was struck multiple times saturday in a common area at the mall and a woman also shot in the leg. the suspect got away leaving behind the gun at the scene. former new york bodega clerk jose jose alba had murder charges against him dropped after defending himself from an attacker. he's now fighting to keep his lawsuit against new york city and manhattan district attorney alvin bragg. c.b. cotton has spoken with alba's attorney and is live with

the latest. hello, c.b.. >> reporter: hi, mike. this new development is going to make people a lot more sip call about politicians -- cynical about politicians. some of our viewers may remember after ex-bottega worker or jose alba was arrested and locked up last summer for fatal ally stabbing a customer, city leaders were quick to check out their surveillance video and say that alba didn't appear to be the initial aggressor but, rather, a man trying to make an honest living. now as alba seeks damages, the city's lawyers are trying to get alba's wrongful arrest lawsuit thrown out, claiming video evidence and witness testimonies including prosecute victim's girlfriend support -- from the victim's girlfriend supported alba's arrest and the initial criminal charges against him. investigators say the fight between alba and austin simon began after a simon's girlfriend tried to pay for a bag of chips, but her card declined. surveillance video of the ordeal ig ignited public outrage with many past and current bodega

workers rallying in alba's defense after he was locked up on second-degree murder charges. the d.a. later drops the charged with his office saying a homicide case against alba with could not be proven at a trial beyond a reasonable doubt. if alba's attorney telling us that this surveillance video bolsters their wrongful arrest lawsuit. >> the video obviously establishes that my client was a hard working man who was defending himself and is innocent. and now his lawyer is filing a motion to dismiss that is the completely different and which misrepresents the facts. >> reporter: but new york city's lawyers doubled down when we reached out saying,s quote, as a detailed in our motion under the circumstances there was sufficient probable cause to arrest and prosecute mr. alba. we're going to be watching

closely. back to you, mike. mike: c.b. cotton live in new york, thanks very much. spacex launching a falcon 9 rocket from california's vandenberg space force base. the rocket is carrying two radar reconnaissance satellites for the german military. the company has launched 94 orbital missions so far this year with another scheduled for decemberth. coming up, the country music world is mourning the death of a founding member of the dixiesy chicks t.na ♪ge isher investments. (other money manager) ok, then you probably sneak in some hidden and layered fees. (fisher investments) no. we structure our fees so we do better when clients do better. that might be why most of our clients come from other money managers. at fisher investments, we're clearly different.

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wireless that works for you. it's not just possible, it's happening. mike: new details surface into the death of dixie chicks' founding member laura lynch as the country music world pays tribute to the star. christina coleman has the details. >> reporter: yes with, a founding member of the six city chicks was killed in a car crash leaving the music world, her family and friends mourning her tragedy thetic loss. authorities tell me a man who was in the hospital recovering from his injuries pet her pickup truck head on. the the texas department of public safety confirm the crash happened around 5:45 friday afternoon in texas about 70 miles east of el paso is. investigators say the driver of a dodge ram heading west tried to pass another vehicle on a who-way, undivided portion of

the highway, crossed into lynch's lane and hit her ford f-150 head on. she was pronounced ted at the scene. the other driver is hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries. texas b --, the ps tells me authorities determine he is at fault. as for lynch, the country music world again dealing and coping with her sudden and devastating loss christmas weekend. lynch cofounded the six city chicks in 1989 -- dixie chicks. at first scheft the bass player for the dixie chicks, then she started singing with the band in 1992. she left the group in 1993 before the band achieved huge commercial success. the group eventually changed its name to the chicks in 2020, and now they're paying tribute to lynch, expressing their sad aness and shock. they wrote in part: we hold a special place in our hearts for the time we spent playing music, laughing and traveling together. laura a was a bright light. her infectious energy and humor

gave a spark to the early days of our band. laura had a gift for design, a love of all things texas and was instrumental in the early successes of the band. her undeniable talents helped propel us beyond street corners to stage the all across texas and the midwest. again, a sad loss for the music world, her family and friends. lynch was 65 years old. mike? mike: christina coleman, thanks very much. coming up, how recent high court rulings are already impacting the 2024 presidential race. that's next. ♪ and doug says, “you can customize and save hundreds on car insurance with liberty mutual.” he hits his mark —center stage— and is crushed by a baby grand piano. are you replacing me? with this guy? customize and save with liberty bibberty. he doesn't even have a mustache! oh, look! a bibu.

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mike: gop presidential candidate vivek ramaswamy reacting to the colorado supreme court's decision this morning on "sunday morning futures." joining me to discuss the political fallout, republican strategist from brownstein hyatt policy director greta -- and former chuck schumer policy director jim kessler. welcome to both of you. >> thank you. >> it's great to be here. mike: so, great -- that, what's the impact of colorado kicking former president trump off the ballot? >> well, i think it helps donald trump raise a lot of money in the interim. i think the ultimate way we're going to see this is donald can trump is going to be on the ballot in colorado in some way, shape or form be it a caucus or on the actual ballot. so this is really just a way for trump to raise some more money and progressive democrats to try and push back on when the supreme court ultimately has to make a decision in this case. mike: i want to play some sound from south carolina senator lindsey graham, and i'll get you to react.

>> this colorado supreme court made a political decision, in my view. there's no constitutional basis for the decision they rendered. i think it will be a slam dunk in the supreme court. donald trump will eventually be on the ballot in colorado. i think he will win the primary. mick mick -- mike: jim, does this controversy only help the former president many. >> it probably does, and i think donald trump will be on the ballot in colorado. look, there are the legal cases against donald trump, some are glimpsier than the others. i think -- glimpsier than others. i think, you know, i agree with, you know, governor newsom, trump will win or lose at the ballot. mike: all right. of so that point, in other places like california there's been talk about removing him from the ballot, but governor newsom's stay, quote, there is no doubt that donald trump is a threat to our liberties and even our dem e crass, but in california we defeat candidates at the polls. everything else is a political distraction.

newsom splitting with his lieutenant governor who wants to be the california governor. she asked the secretary of state to look at what can be done to take former president trump off the ballot. what about that? >> well, i think, you know, there are very few instances where i can say i agree with governor newsom. i think this is certainly one with of those. i don't understand how engaging in a case that ultimately they know they're going to lose at the supreme court is advantageous to democrats going into november of 2024. mike: would your recommendation to other states be to wait and see how the supreme court handles colorado, no point in going forward if it's just going to be are rejected by the supreme court? >> let's realize there's no such thing as the democrats. the democrats are, like, coalition of 90 different groups and ideologies, etc., etc., and they're going to do their own thing. but i would say this, donald trump's defense in the let's say the georgia cases and the jack smith case is that, you know,

he's got presidential immunity, and what he's saying is not that i'm innocent, it's just that i've got immunity as president. that's not a super strong hand to play there. so -- but i think that'll be on the ballot everywhere. mike motor vehicle all right. right after the holidays all eyes shift to iowa. let's take a look at the fox business poll where you have former president trump at 52% support, desantis is distant second at 18 president. nikki haley picking up support at 16% and vivek ramaswamy steady at 7%. how do you assess iowa, greta? >> i think donald trump is going to win iowa. i think it's getting closer. that's certainly going to left a little bit closer as -- get a little bit closer as we get to iowa, new hampshire and super tuesday, but ultimately the numbers are consistent. he has remained at the top, and 18% is not anywhere close to where he is. mike: governor desantis visited all 9 # 9 counties going all in in iowa, invested a lot

on his ground game. what are your expectations there for him? >> it's not going to be enough. he's not going to do well enough there. donald trump's numbers, 52% in iowa, that's not a good number. if joe biden, essentially an incumbent in a democratic party, was polling at 52%, we'd be talking about how vulnerable he is. so i expect donald trump is going to win iowa by a pretty good margin, but that's not a really imfrom press i margin going forward. i think haley will finish second in iowa, first in new hampshire, and the entire world is going to be wondering can trump be beat in this primary. mike: ' -- ooh ooh, that's a hot take. let's mark the tape on that one. we'll be back with you guys in a little bit. coming up, congress didn't accomplish much in 2023, so how will it handle a mounting 20-do -- to-do list in 2024? that's next. ♪

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>> i think we haven't passed a significant immigration bill since reagan's second term, and so this is not easy, but we're working hard to get an outcome because the country needs it and the country needs it soon. >> we need to hold the line. we should not have a single dollar going to ukraine at all until the southern border of the united states is secure. >> the extreme maga republicans are remain on an island trying to break the agreement that they themselves negotiated.

it's a nonstarter, it's not happening. mike: as congress enjoys its holiday recess, the agenda for 2024's already picking up. a bipartisan package to beef up border security was punted to next year. this as speaker mike johnson faces another deadline in january to fund the government. let's bring back our panel of greta and jim. so, jim, you're an old schumer guy. how ugly is january going to be on capitol hill? >> i'm actually optimistic that that it might not be so ugly. i think we're going to get a border deal, i feel good about it e. the right people are in the room on the senate side is, republicans, lankford, independent, sinema, democrat, murphy. mcconnell and schumer are both onboard, biden's there. the big thing for me is whatever border deal is cut, i am confident that donald trump will oppose it, so will it get through the house. mike: interesting. okay, so there are a lot of folks who argued the 2023 congress was a do-nothing congress, punting stuff to

20224, an election year. what are your expectations? >> they're not high, i would say. i am hopeful that cooler heads will prevail under speaker johnson and we'll be able to move past some of the disagreements that we saw last year. but ultimately, there's a lot on congress' plate. and the border deal is certainly one of those. i'm a little concerned that without house republicans in the room with the deal that the senate is negotiating, it's going to be incredibly hard to move that forward. and i think everyone needs to come to the table to, ultimately, get anything done. mike: before they left town, there was a lot of talk about funding for israel, funding for ukraine, and, of course, reflynns -- republicans have been insisting on something meaningful at the border. senator bill hagerty. >> i think we're unanimous that this has to be dealt with. they've encountererred over 150 nationalities crossing our border illegally just since october. we don't know who's in our nation.

mike: so it felt like leader schumer was pushing for a deal before christmas. do they get it done in january with the border and all these other funding aspects? >> i mean, the border deal is going to be very, very complicated, okay in i think there's real good faith effort ors to get it done. in general, when there's chaos at the border, it helps republicans in election year. so i wouldn't be surprised if the goalpost keeps moving. and like i said just earlier with, donald trump is going to come out against whatever border deal is done because it hurts him and hit -- it helps joe biden. that's the biggest hurdle in this deal, in my opinion. mike: so right after october 7th a lot of folks assumed there'd be a check cut to israel like that. it's now slipped to next year. does that surprise you, greta? >> no. i think that israel certainly was better prepared for the inevitability of havings to take out -- having to take out certain terrorist groups that

were attempting to attack israelis especially after october 77th. financially they're in a very different position than the ukrainians were when they were attacked by the russians. i think that it is impossible to move any ukrainian money without bringing in some significant aid to israel, and the u.s. really pushing forward on making sure that the world knows that israel is an ally in the middle east and we'll continue to support them. mike: considering the entire house of representatives is on the ballot in november, how difficult is speaker mike johnson's job going to be? >> it's a difficult job. and when you're speaker, you have a choice. you can be vito or michael corleone are, but you can't be fredo, okay? kevin mccarthy was fredo. he's going to have to get his base in line to protect his moderates, because the moderates will determine whether he is speaker or minority leader or out. mike: true. >> next congress. mike: okay. and what are your expectations in terms of leading the house in

the new year? >> i think that speaker mike johnson has the unique ability to say this was not my fault, this is not my problem, and this is, this is the hand that we've been dealt, and we need to come together as a conference and ultimately find a path forward. that isn't something that kevin mccarthy had the ability to do considering how long he'd been in house leadership. so i do think that the speaker has the will of the conference and the understanding that we have to work together to get out of this. there's certainly going to be outliers within the conference. freedom caucus, the far right of the freedom caucus is certainly a problem. but i do think that republicans want to win in november, and they cannot do that unless they come together. mike: greta, jim, happy holidays to you. thank you both. >> pleasure. >> thank you. mike: a live look now at st. peter's basilica where thousands are are gathered to

witness pope francis' catholic mass. the sistine choir, one of the most-watched christmas masses around the globe being viewed in homes across 722 countries and -- 72 countries and 5 continents. you've got a little sample there. as christmas approaches, many of us are picking up our bibles, heading to church and asking our pastors to help interpret the word of the lord. the tech-savvy crowd, meanwhile, is hitting up a.i. jesus op their cell phones. fox news correspondentcare caroline -- caroline shively looks how artificial intelligence is powering the new text with jesus app and if it's brilliant or blasphemy. >> reporter: the closest many americans get to god these days is texting, omg. but if you want to talk to jesus, there's an app for that. ♪ ♪ >> text with jesus uses

artificial intelligence to answer questions from the points of view of biblical figures. >> we need to understand while god's word and message never changes, the methods to spread that word can change and should change. >> reporter: you can ask jesus, mary, joseph or the apostles anything you want. >> i asked mary, will i go to heaven or hell. >> reporter: i didn't get a direct answer, but a.i. mary said to seek answers from god. >> that's cool, right there. you know what i'm saying? if god is in all of us. god is in you with, me, or him. >> i love that scripture is being, i don't know, shown to minute through a.i. >> reporter: the app is free to ask a few request questions a day, but you have to upgrade to premium to talk to some biblical figures including satan. >> borderline blahs question mitt romney, sure. >> reporter: weekly attendance at u.s. hours of -- houses of worship down 10 # points from 20212 according to gallup, but

text with jesus has thousands of active users and gaining more every week. >> now people are using technology, and i think people who might never enter a church might be interested in an app like this. >> reporter: just in time for christmas, an app that could finally answer the question, what would jesus do? ♪ ♪ >> reporter: in washington, caroline shively, fox news. mike: coming up, how u.s. service members stationed far from home this christmas can still make holiday memories. that's next. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ mike: just in time for the holidays, a north carolina family is finally bringing home ord long today by a premature baby in a chapel hill hospital. madison scarpino has details on how neighbors welcomed the christmas miracle baby home. hi, madison. >> reporter: hi, mike. phillip gains finally went home after spending 17 months in the knee -- neonatal icu at unc health, and that's e the longest time that a premature baby has ever stayed there. phillip's mom says although he spent his entire life in the hospital, he's doing great now, and they can't wait to spend the holidays at home. now, phillip had a full on celebration for his discharge from unc children's. the gains' are from the city of

dunn, and people leaned the streets to -- lined the streets to welcome him home. phillip has chronic lung disease and from being she e dated to paralyzed, his mom tells us those the month in the nic-u were extremely difficult but they always a had help. phillip is a full blown toddler, he's been playing and laughing at home this past week, doing good with pediatrician appointments, and she credits the doctors and nurses who took care of phillip and helped him defy the odds. >> the fact that we are coming home at christmas and we've almost found our light is just incredible. and just being surrounded by family and the comfort of home, we've just become so grateful for the little things. like, you know, letting him hook at the orments on the tree or, you know, rolling around in his christmas jammies. >> reporter: while phillip is still oxygen and ventilator-dependent right now, his progress know sis is

hopeful. -- progress know sis is hopeful. mike? if. mike: god bless phillip and his family. madison is, thanks very much. on this christmas eve, the united service organization, or uso, is focused on serving military families who are far apart this holiday season. joining me now is uso senior vice president for operations, programs and entertainment christopher plant. christopher, welcome. >> thank you very much. glad to be here. mike: so what are you guys doing to comfort our service members and their families this christmas season? >> well, there's a lot that we do to make sure we're comforting the service members. it's always harder during the holidays for the military to be away from home. and over our, you know, and we have about 250 centers throughout the world with, the number one with thing that we do is make sure that they get that normal taste of home, that they get a holiday meal, that they're greeted -- you can see some of the signs, we try to get people to dress up as a santa claus and other things. inside the states we make sure that the kids have something to do, a place to go. even if it's a new place that

they have not been living for long. another thing is we make sure if they're traveling, we know how stressful it is to travel during the holidays, and we have senators at airport as -- centers at airports throughout the united states relieve some of the stress that is involved with holiday travel. lastly, we try to -- especially those that are way far forward, it's been a tough year for the military. they're still been overseas based upon ukraine or the israeli-hamas incident that's going on, and we make sure that they get care packageses. last year with we got over 200,000 to those deploy pd overseas. this year we're aiming to increase that number. mike: one particular program caught my eye. tell me about the uso holidays cookie week. >> cookie week's my favorite. [laughter] cookies worldwide are known, they're easy to work with, and so we make sure that they're able to not only just get cookies, but also a come into a lot of our centers and bake

cookies. so whether it's a reminder that somebody back in the united states is thinking of them by providing cookies or whether that they get to get hands on, something they probably would have done with their families when they were growing up and now they still get to do it with their friends, their new friends in the military no matter where they are in the world. mike: historically, uso's known for bringing entertainment to our troop it's around the globe. what about the holiday tour? >> every year we try to put on a fantastic e holiday tour. this year it was sponsored by the vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. we just finished in europe, as i said, there are still a lot of military deployed in eastern europe based upon ukraine. we had some amazing people go over there and volunteer their time including brett young and the ma discretions penn and teller. -- magicians penn and teller. mike: we had on the screen your web site, uso.org, if people want to help out this christmas season, spread some cheer to or our men and women in uniform and, of course, their wonderful families. christopher plant from the uso,

we are grateful for your time. merry christmas to you and your team. >> thank you so much for having me on and merry christmas. mick mike thank you, sir. today on "fox news sunday," shannon bream has an exclusive interview with republican from tennessee bill ackerty, you -- haggerty, you saw a couple clips on this show, and in the spirit of the holiday season, she will have christian rock artist, best selling female gospel artist of all time si si winans, recording artist michael smith and retired american figure skater and olympic gold medalist scott hamilton. that's all coming up right after the show. stay tuned or set your dvr if you want to watch it later. so that is all for this special edition of "fox news live." "fox news sunday" with shannon is up next if. i'm mike emmanuel. thank you very much for watching. merry christmas to all who celebrate ini colluding our friends in the control room. thank you all for working so

hard over the christmas season and over the holiday season. wishing you all a joyous holiday and a happy and healthy new year. ♪ ♪ finish my a1c was up here; now, it's down with rybelsus®. his a1c? it's down with rybelsus®. my doctor told me rybelsus® lowered a1c better than a leading branded pill and that people taking rybelsus® lost more weight. i got to my a1c goal and lost some weight too. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis.

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