dagen: my final thought, go watch singin' in the rain, the whole family can watch. >> i'm going to quote henry hollins, my optimism is great and wears heavy boots and take that into the new year. >> and thank you. for us. "varney & company" is next, ashley. ashley: ain't no mountain high enough unless it's dow 20k, you can't mount that. i'm ashley webster in for stuart. the big story. what happened hitting dow 20 k before the new year? ho-hum now 126 points away, we will not jinx it more. president-elect donald trump bringing jobs pack to america and sprint saying it will bring 5,000 jobs. trump taking credit. and one israeli minister says

forget obama, he's history and we now have trump instead. this unveiled, trump first presidential portrait. you thought he would be on twitter in the portrait. buts he's not even in the white house yet. more varney now. ♪ ♪ 24 hours ♪ ♪ and dream and dream of you and you ♪ ♪ good morning, good morning, we danced the whole night through, good morning to you ♪ >> well, hollywood screen ledged debbie reynolds died at age 84 one day after her

daughter carrie fisher. cheryl, you have some contacts, and you spend the day with debbie reynolds. >> it was no cameras. she had the hollywood hotel in the late '90s, it was in financial distress so she took me on a tour, arm in arm to her memorabilia museum and she had those ruby red slippers from the wizard of oz and marilyn monroe's white dress and she was funny and she and carrie fisher, i did not meet, i met todd fisher that day, but they were very similar in that they had this incredible sense of humor and she was so gracious to the people that worked for her, around her, the cabdriver in the cab when we were leaving the airport together, talk, talk, talk. she was so amazing and giving and warm. and had all kinds of stories which i'll never repeat, i swear, but glory days of hollywood and you know, she just-- at the time she was on the outs actually with carrie fisher and heartbroke been.

they eventually made up and carrie fisher was going through the rough times. ashley: i want to hear more, cheryl, thank you very much. the president-elect working to bring more jobs back to america and you say they will do it, roll tape. >> we have a combination of sprint for 5,000 jobs and that's coming from all over the world and coming back into the united states, which is a nice change, and also, one web, 3,000 jobs a new cap. and a terrific guy and we appreciate it. ashley: well, come in, our good friend, former reagan economist art laffer from beautiful nashville. i know it well, and you know that, too, art. let me ask you this, we heard donald trump taking credit, of course, he says he's now created or help to save 9,000 jobs and we still don't have his inauguration until the 20th of january. are you impressed? >> immaterial pressed. i have to say that. and nashville says hello to you, ashley.

this is your home city where you've got your start, i believe. and so we miss you a lot. but we'd love to see you at fox business. but i think trump's doing a great job so far. i'm very impressed and it's the way it should be done. bringing jobs back. he's going to be a really involved person in the economy on a microscale, which is wonderful. i just, it's the way a ceo should be and he's doing it. stuart: what do you think of his cabinet picks so far, art? you know, of course the other side of the aisle are saying this is just a bunch of rich people who are going to have all sorts of problems with conflict of interest, they're not exactly draining the swamp, but what's your opinion? >> i think that conflict of interest is the biggest huey i've heard in my life. i want them to have conflict of interest and i want them to get rich and us to get rich at the same time. you know, when you have people who are involved in the economy, who are involved in business, that's just what you want to have here.

i have no problem with politicians getting rich as long as we get rich, too. and that's just a wonderful way of doing it. now, when i look at the cabinet picks, rick perry, the best governor in u.s. history. that's spectacular. tom price, he is the singlemost knowledgeable congressman, dr. price is, on obamacare. you can't get a better person if you're going to repeal obamacare and replace it. you should just put tom price's plan in there and substituted for obamacare and we're off to the races. if you look at other people as well, i'm really, really impressed by all of them. how can you not be? it's a spectacular group. ashley: you're fired up. i feel better listening to you. >> aren't you fired up, too, ashley, seriously? >> i am, but not too fired up about the market i thought, even though stuart is off this week and he would have been very upset, but we did not hit 20k. why is it fizzling? >> my goodness, it's not fizzling. if you go through the reagan market, day by day, hour by

hour as you people do. why did it fall last minute and rise the minute before? this market is going to do just fine. and when we look at it back again in two or three years, you're going to be really happy. ashley: all right. art. you've got all the money in the world and you should buy stock and push us over 20k. >> i already did, and now i'm broke. [laughter] >> stay there, art, we're not going to let you go yet. >> thank you. ashley: the obama administration is preparing sanctions and retaliation for russia's meddling in the election, joining us now, eboni i believe it's k williams, they left the k out and i'm giving you the k. >> thank you for the holidays. ashley: happy holidays to you. we're expecting to find out more on the sanctions. it's interesting, why are we getting tough with russia now? i understand the issue, but what about crimea and ukraine and syria and so on? >> it seems at this point in

the game, the obama administration is cherry picking where to be aggressive. as someone who generally supported the administration, i was very, very critical and remain critical of the lack of aggression and assertiveness when it comes particularly to these types of things and you know, i think that this big huge speech we heard from john kerry, i just got back from israel, it seems so thee theoretical and rhetorical and in 20-some odd days we're not going to get a peace deal between israel and palestians. >> certainly we know that president-elect trump has had much better relationship with benjamin netanyahu. there are certain things that need to be in place before negotiations can resume. they feel they have an ally in

the u.s. i'm hopeful, but realistic. ashley: stay right there. president-elect trump had his first portrait done. we saw it at the beginning of the show, and a lot of gold. >> this is part of a c-span project, the presidential portrait. he's painted 44 of the portraits. ashley: very good. >> but he looked at photographs of the president-elect. see i knew that would happen. ashley: is that mr. trump now? >> no, i wouldn't mind a call from the president, my stature in life would go up. you notice, can we put the portrait up, look how calm the president-elect looks? have you ever seen him look so calm and contemplative? >> in private, donald trump is a measured individual and i've interviewed him and several people in the interview --

building interviewed him and i've seen him show incredible kindness, who gets elected on tv and who you see in person is a different and i think that's a good thing for him. ashley: we'll see. carolina quarterback cam newton makes a surprise visit to a fan before surgery. watch this. >> what's going on, buddy? how are you doing? are you doing all right? >> oh breaks your heart. that 10-year-old about to go in for a risky heart surgery. his only wish for cam newton to come to his birthday party and ebony, you said that's your quarterback. >> that's my quarterback, grew up in charlotte. disappointing season, but-- >> my condolences.

[laughter]. stuart: hillary clinton spotted eating breakfast at a resort and she was eating alone and some commenting on-line she's looking a little sad. just having a real. colonel ralph peters sharply criticizing president obama's dealings with israel, they can be summed up in six words. we'll have that next. ♪ you can't predict the market. but through good times and bad... ...at t. rowe price... ...we've helped our investors stay confident for over 75 years. call us or your advisor. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. is it keeps the food out. for me before those little pieces would get in between my dentures and my gum and it was uncomfortable. just a few dabs is clinically proven to

seal out more food particles. super poligrip is part of my life now.

>> let's get back to politics. secretary john kerry in his speech laying out the obama administration's vision for the middle east. says that israel cannot be both jewish and democratic. listen to this, roll tape. >> there are a similar number of jews and palestinians living

between the jordan river and the mediterranean sea. they have a choice. they can choose to live together in one state or they can separate into two states. but here is a fundamental reality. if the choice is one state, israel can either be jewish or democratic, it cannot be both. ashley: all right. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu responding. take a listen. >> i must express my deep disappointment with the speech of john kerry, a speech almost as unbalanced as the anti-israel resolution passed at the u.n. last week. in a speech ostensibly about peace between israelis and palestinians, secretary kerry paid lip service to the

unrelenting campaign of terrorism waged by the palestinians against the jewish state for nearly a century. ashley: joining us is colonel ralph peters. how do you describe. >> six words captures it, praise muslims, ignore christians, blame jews. that really is what we've seen. giving obama credit for consistency. since his infamous speech during the beginning of his first administration, through this post-2016 election, barrage of attacks on israel, he's been very consistent. and i think, ashley, to understand the president, you really have to look at his background, which people just refuse to do. he came-- most of his life, from l literally from the cradle up heart left milieu, an article of faith of dogma that israel

is an oppressor and palestinians are freedom fighters and the time with the reverend wright, in the reverend wright's church and that segment of the left is anti-semitic. what you've seen now is the administration's true colors fully unveiled at last with the 2016 election over, obama can say what he really wanted to say all of these years and it is disgrace, it is betrayal, and it is certainly not sound policy. ashley: you also said, ralph, the prospect of peace deal based on a two-state solution was in jeopardy and former u.s. ambassador john bolton, a three-state between israel, and jordan. >> the two state solution is never going to make life better. what i've called for is a three-state solution. give the gaza straits back to egypt and west bank prepared to give up back to jordan, tie the

palestinian people into real economies, give them a chance for their families to enjoy a better life. ashley: it seems sensible, do you agree with that solution? >> i certainly have enormous respect for ambassador bolten. on this issue, we disagree simply because if you put the west bank as part of jordan, palestinians become majority in jordan. jordan is already threatened, primarily threatened by all of the palestinians in quotes, refugees that have been there for a long time. as far as radicals in the gaza strip, israel doesn't want them. a three-state solution on work if jordan and egypt want to play and they don't. the fact is that the palestinians have had one chance for peace after another, 1948, 56, 57, 63, time and again thereafter and it's never been israel that has prevented peace. it's been palestinian intr

intrangents, israel is an island of civilization, surrounded by brutal space and only israel has women's rights, property, civil societies, prosperity and for all the oil money that's poured into the middle east you have a vast wasteland beyond israel's border. stand up on a mountain top in israel you can tell where the arab world begins becausthe green turns brown. israel has earned its keep and the israel haters on the far left are utterly out of touch with humanity and decency. ashley: quickly, 20 seconds, ralph, with benjamin netanyahu in place, is there any chance of peace based on what he is willing to do? it seems there's no common ground now.

>> there's a fundamental difference. benjamin netanyahu realizes his is to defend israel. there's a magic solution only if we can find it. in the middle east the best you can see it muddling through. ashley: which is what we've seen for some time. colonel ralph peters, thank you very much. >> thank you, ashley, happy new year. ashley: same to you. and donald trump roose statue, taking china of all places by storm. and china is preparing for the year of the rooster and it's getting ready for the event by rolling out the statues across the country, complete with, look at the golden coif, gold eyebrows and trump's signature hand gestures. and elizabeth warren talk of her getting ready to run for president in 2020 and joe biden as well.

and some say it's beginning to resemble an old folks home., next. ♪

♪ it's the final countdown ♪ ♪ the final countdown ♪ >> i love that song. anyway, it's the final countdown. president obama has just 22 days left in office. president-elect trump hasn't started and democrats lining up potential 2020 bids. cheryl, one of those and we mention this briefly, elizabeth warren. cheryl: in a lengthy magazine profile in harry reid he says controversial things and she's not going to like it none of them are. he says basically an old folks home in 2020 and that's a direct quote from the story, but he talks about the age. he talks about, depends who is running, appears an old folks home. we've got warren 71, biden 78. bernie 79 in 2020. istic view e democratic party by harry reid.

the article talks about cory booker now, 47, younger people. ashley: a young chicken. cheryl: a little baby, you know? but they've got problems. ashley: you could argue-- >> 47 is young, but it's not the youngest we've seen going into the white house. ashley: that's true, but the democrats need-- >> it doesn't have to look like an old folks home, absolutely not and also someone the people should keep an eye out for, from senator harris. a lifetime prosecutor and somebody the party would be smart to look at. ashley: especially what we've seen the voters tell them in the last election, you're out of touch. >> right. >> the democrats are not listening, they keep saying, no, the popular vote went for hillary clinton so we won't need to listen. >> that's the problem of litigating that portion of the election. ashley: it's all the russians fault. that's what we're getting out of that. new england preparing for a major blizzard, expecting up to two feet of heavy, wet snow, that means power problems,

howling winds as well. thankfully not in the new york area. okay. so, good luck with that and we'll keep an eye on it. meanwhile, the march to 20,000 stalled. we know that. what happened? we're going to get into that as well. the opening bell next. ♪ [vo] quickbooks introduces jeanette. and her new business: i do, to go. jeanette was excellent at marrying people. but had trouble getting paid. not a good time, jeanette. even worse. now i'm uncomfortable. but here's the good news, jeanette got quickbooks. send that invoice, jeanette. looks like they viewed it. and, ta-da! paid twice as fast.

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>> we timed is just about perfectly. five seconds away from the opening bell. this time yesterday, 35 points from 20,000 and then we had the second biggest drop yesterday on the dow since the election, we sobered up a bit. we're off to the races, up 11 points at 19,844. keeping an eye on this. a lot of u.s. pension funds rebalancing their books and maybe that's behind the selling. selling equities getting back more into bonds and plus, not a lot of people trading right now. the volume very light indeed. as you can see, more green than red, up slightly on the dow. look at the s&p for you, quickly. the s&p up just a point at 2251, not bad. how about the tech heavy

nasdaq, which has been setting records as we know recently. essentially flat at 5499 just out of the gate. oil is off 11 cents at 53.95. of course, we're waiting to see whether those opec or nonopec countries actually start cutting production in the new year. i'll believe it when i see it. and 1146, gold. joining us for the exciting day of trading, cheryl casone, adam shapiro, scott martin, larry levin and art laffer, we've almost got a baseball team. we've got to start with 20k. why? because it's on the prompter. art laffer, 20,000, we can't get there, but will we in the new year? >> yes, we will. how is that for a definitive statement. ashley: thank you very much, art. >> anytime, ashley. ashley: let's go to larry levin. what do you say? >> ashley, we certainly will get there in the new year, not today or tomorrow in my

opinion, too many people want to get out and take money for a tax break as far as losses. maybe next week or the week after, certainly the month of january, but not the next few days. ashley: scott, it's not something that there's something concerning investors here, just probably just a natural break. we take the next leg up in the new year, right? >> yeah, i mean, it's a little change though that we didn't get there with the low volume trade. i'm holding out hope that we'll get there by friday. somebody said we'd get there the end of the year and i'm not sure it's on tape. ashley: oh, it is. >> maybe early next year and then see what happens. once we get over that level we'll see if the sellers come in for good, i think there's something to the psychological aspect of this as well. cheryl: it is psychological, but at the same time it's great, good fodder for all of us. but it's a bullish mile marker if we can hit it. headed to that, yes, we'll hit 20,000, today, tomorrow,

probably not. we need some major news to trade on. if we get some-- kate spade opened themselves up for buyers and anything, retail numbers. ashley: a catalyst. cheryl: something is what you need. if you don't get some kind of peace of data, anything, among the market is going to move. ashley: adam shapiro even though we made fun of him, bah humbug, party-pooper. >> i got lucky. we can discuss it after march and the inauguration, but we won't get it until we get tax reform and regulatory reform. ashley: and we'll look at 20,000. president-elect trump looking at jobs back to the u.s. art laffer we talked about it earlier. the guy hasn't taken office yet and taking credit for 9,000 jobs either being created or saved. i've got to say it's pretty impressive. >> it's very impressive. you think about what he's going to do and the deregulation,

getting rid of obamacare, the corporate tax down to 15%, flattening loopholes and all of those policies make america a far more attractive country to locate production and employment in. and that's exactly the trump effect you're seeing is an anticipation of what he's going to do once he becomes president and i think he deserves the credit for it. ashley: i get the feeling that companies are kind of scrambling to get onto his good side anywhere they can create jobs. >> that, too. ashley: it's a very smart thing to do. let's move on to amazon, a couple of stories about amazon today. first one, i don't understand it. fulfillment centers in the sky, cheryl. cheryl: flying warehouses that would dispense deliveries by drone. ashley: what? >> yes, this is what amazon filed a patent for, it would incorporate-- there's the patent, incorporates a blimp above that brings in supplies. they want to put these eventually in major crowded areas or near sporting events

to sell as much as they can. so you would stock the warehouse in the sky, if you will, via the blimp and the drones would go from the platform down to the ground, but, i know it sounds insane, but. >> yes, yes. [laughter] . ashley: high-tech blimp. cheryl: with drone technology we've already had amazon successful delivery by drone. i'm not going to count them out. >> i don't understand the physics that would be involved in this other than to have tens of thousands of items floating above a designated target. how large would the blimp have to be? >> and enough of the blimp. a second, by the way, about amazon, a digital day, what's that about? >> here is something that amazon does well. they're going to be knocking-- on december 30th, offer 1,000 digital items, movies and songs and music that kind of stuff, across the site. it's another way to sell more stuff to people who are

already, you know, gorged on buying stuff. it will encourage post holiday selling. so, it's a different movies, you get a flex pass and annual subscription to get this, all of that. ashley: they're creating buzz to generate more sales, just like another hall mark holiday. >> if it's books and music you're looking to buy, my ipod needs some updating. ashley: scott martin, this is smart for amazon, they could name the day anything, as soon as they have the deal. >> bogly, bogly. >> sit on your butt and hit the button day. they're a killer in the space, we've owned the stock for quite some time. i think it's interesting going forward, guys, how we have the hope for consumers with lower tax rates and hopefully more

hourly wages going up in 2017 with the new administration. i think it benefits companies like amazon in the space. ashley: makes sense. let's cue the organs if we could. we've got back stage, someone sits there and plays it, we've put sears on death watch, the grim reaper although today up 4%. $8 and 51. sears and kmart, are they in the death spiral? >> absolutely, you want to sell the rallies, although i will say the stock rallies when they announce closing stores, that hits their bottom line in a positive way. they need the help they get. i would be selling those stocks. ashley: says it all. had a big pop for kate spade shares. last session reports that the company might be considering selling itself. gave it a pop. where are the shares?

>> they're down a little bit. yesterday, kate spade stores, the stock was up 23%. there are reports, kate spade, that it's working with an investment bank looking at possible buyers. one of those possible buyers could be coach. everybody says that would be a good patch. handbags, accessories, department stores. it all stems from one activist shareholder, caris investor who says they should consider a sale, because their shares have been slipping since 2014 and management lost faith. a strong dollar hurt the company and store sales. let's see who kate spade goes to. ashley: thank you very much. the price of oil as we showed you earlier, right around $54 a barrel. gas at 2.30 a gallon, that's the national average on regular. but by the way, prices are

going to go up in seven states next year. those dreaded taxes, right, cheryl. cheryl: yeah, look it, if you're in several states you'll see your gasoline get more expensive several states including pennsylvania, that's going to be the biggest jump that we should say, pennsylvania, georgia, florida, north carolina, michigan, indiana, nebraska, but drivers in pennsylvania, which are already paying the high eest ga tax, they're going to get hit with another 8 cents per gallon. if we see gasoline prices go up in next few months as oil is above 50 bucks. maybe higher depending what opec does, this is the problem for business, for the economy. ashley: what do you say, art laffer. gas prices going up and we're seeing the price of oil go up and opec talking about production cuts. that could take some of that enthusiasm away from the consumer. >> well, it could, but you know, if they use gas taxes in place of income taxes or

corporate taxes or franchise taxings, i'm all for that 100%. raising the gas tax per se as a stand alone i think is a huge, huge mistake. if you ever want to see something amazing, ashley, is look at tennessee. ashley: yeah. >> we are now running a huge, huge surplus, we have no income tax, we got rid of the death tax, and the haul tax. is your surplus is rising like mad because we've cut some of the worst taxes. we're the winners here in tennessee. ashley: that's why more businesses are moving to tennessee and that does matter because it's attractive from a tax point of view. ashley: larry levin, what are you paying for gas in chicago right now? >> that's a good question, ashley, because i have an electric car. ashley: fantastic! >> ashley, way more than the national average in chicago, that's the way we do things around here.

>> oh, my god, ashley. >> is that a tesla? >> larry is a tech guru. is it a tesla? >> i own actually two teslas. >> of course you do. ashley: we're in the wrong business. from gas prices to housing, the number of investors who flipped a house in the first nine months of this year has reached its highest level since before the financial crisis. flipping is back. cheryl: it's a very good thing for housing. real estate can be an incredible investment if you do it right. you've got to be frankly from experience, you've got to micromanage a home if you're going to buy and flip, i've only done it twice, but investors are making an average profit right now, $60,000 per flip. you've got to pick the right city, the right home, the surrounding homes in the area to make sure you're not going into a really bad neighborhood and the first flipper. ashley: you have to have the cash upfront which helps, you don't have to rely on banks. cheryl: you can actually finance a flip as well.

>> and makes it bad for first time home buyers, they're paying more. but it helps out neighborhoods and brings housing up a notch. and we need that. ashley: president obama-- by the way, everyone, thank you for all of you, our all-star panel. we were laughing about that. but today, it is an all-star panel, thank you all and one. president obama taking a stand against russia and israel just weeks before he leaves office. donald trump tweeting about transition road blocks. more varney next. ♪

>> all right. first this, snap chat

reportedly calling itself the next facebook. that's quite a claim. details, cheryl casone. cheryl: that's what the investment bankers are saying this at the end. day. ipo expected to come maybe february, march of 2017. the valuation off the charts. they could be draining not just investment money, but also users away from facebook. you know, facebook has been trying to really become the next snapcha with messengers and pictures you can do. they can't make it happen. snapchat is a force reckon with. when and if it goes public, from a stock perspective, facebook is going to have a tough competitor. ashley: a lot of people use it. >> i've tried it and got too many apps going on my phone, my brain would explode. i do see the value of snapchat, kids love it. >> i don't use it, it will be successful, i don't know if it

will beat facebook. be careful, everyone said that twitter-- >> producers said the people like the filters, kind of fun. cheryl: i made myself rudolph the red-nose reindeer. ashley: do you still have it? we want to put it on. let's get back to politics, president-elect trump tweeting on the transition process yesterday, quote, doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory president obama statements and road blocks. thought it was going to be a smooth transition, not. but then, here is what he said while taking questions from reporters in front of mar-a-lago yesterday. roll tape. >> he called me, we had a very, very good talk about, generally abo about-- he was in hawaii and it was a very, very nice call and i actually thought we covered a lot of territory, a lot of good territory. ashley: so what is it? charles us now is the washington times political columnist, should we pick apart every sentence, every statement

here, charles? you know, one minute he's saying he's terrible and next minute it's smooth and we're friends again. what's your take on it? >> i think what we're seeing is actually a fairly smooth transition, but that's largely because the picks that donald trump put out there for the various cabinet positions and it's certainly a whole lot smoother than any of the people around here were predicting it would be. but all of that, i think, is despite the best efforts of democrats and in particular, president obama, you know. talking about things like, oh, i would have beat him if i would have run again and to assign reasons for why donald trump won and talking about people turning tribalistic and we need to fight those tendencies, all of this nonsense. all of that stuff, i think it does, really does undermine the transition. i don't think-- of course, it doesn't matter, it's kind of like john kerry running around the middle east trying to screw up things one

last time. it doesn't really matter because in whatever, 25 days it's going to be over with. ashley: of course, we had the big jobs announcement. he's good at this donald trump. he's a showman, and a big part of the campaign, bring jobs back big time. 9,000 jobs created or saved already and he hasn't been sworn into the office. >> let's not forget, a big part of being president is being kind of a show n ma-- showman. you have the bully pulpit and you're the leader of the country and you know, instilling optimism in people is a good thing and that's-- one of the jobs. that's what president obama ran on, hope, change and optimism. of course, he delivered none of those things and as you say, donald trump ran on returning jobs and improving the economy and we're already seeing a lot of benefits in that category.

ashley: almost out of time. charles. he talks about hitting the ground 0 running in the first 100. do you think he can get a lot of meaningful things done? >> i think he can. because he's unafraid to use the media to advance his message every single day. ashley: it's going to be fun to follow. >> yes, it will be. ashley: thank you so much for joining us. the brother of jonbenet ramsey suing cbs over a special that suggested strongly that he may have killed his sister. 's asking for a quarter of a billion dollars. will he get it? we'll talk about that next. donald trump says that veterans are a priority, that he wants to fix the va. one of the solutions he's thinking of, well, we'll tell you about it next.

♪ >> great music on the show today. maybe because i'm old and appreciate the older music. the great music of elvis, king of rock and roll made history by having ten songs on the billboard for the week ending december 19th.

love me tender, don't be cruel, hound dog, that song, heart break hotel. cheryl: wasn't that on ed sullivan? >> and classic elvis. >> wonder of you. ashley: president-elect trump considering privatizing the veterans administration. cheryl, what's he saying? >> he's definitely, publicly saying this is something he is considering and he said yesterday, at mar-a-lago, that vets should not be left to wait for two years, what he's proposing or think he's going to propose, we don't know, is to basically, is a public-private va. vets would have a choice. if you want-- if you like your va hospital, near a hospital go there, but it gives the veterans a choice. you know, my stepfather-- >> anything is better than what we have right now. >> another side of that. my stepfather goes to the va in

phoenix, that va that started the scandal. he had good scare and likes his doctors and doesn't want to leave that filth. other vets aren't close by or don't like their option of a va hospital. ashley: people dying on waiting lists. cheryl: i think it's a very smart, simplistic solution to a huge problem, which is the va. ashley: no doubt. now this one, jonbenet ramsey's brother suing cbs and other networks, by the way over their murder series, including that unsolved case. adam. >> 750 million dollars, that's how much burke ramsey and his lawyers hope to-- >> he's the brother of jonbenet. >> the brother nine years old when she was killed. in the lawsuit they say that cbs and its production team ignored evidence this is a quote, conducted a sham reinvestigation with a preconceived story line and they conspired to defame him for publicity and profit.

ashley: i watched the whole thi thing, with dr. phil and there was a summation pointing toward him and-- >> and 20 years after the fact do people get drawn into that? >> i don't know, there are those fascinated with the case because it's unsatisfying and people want to know-- >> there are more specials coming out and there must be interest. she was a little beauty queen and-- >> and in the 40's and have nothing else to do as well. ashley: and we'll see about the lawsuit. and president obama policy,

..

ashley: ashley webster in for stuart varney. here is the big story we are following. after more than a week waiting for down 20 k it didn't happen. we are still waiting, doesn't look like we will get there anytime soon. we are up 13 points but still 150 i points to go on the dow. to politics the obama administration's rebuke of israel criticized by both republicans and democrats, president obama trying to solidify his legacy, donald trump just wants to reverse it. at some point today the white house expected to put sanctions on russia over so-called meddling with the election, trump says let it go like the frozen movie, get on with our lives. second hour of varney starts now. and i won't sing. there you go. check the big board, we are up

today but the loss doesn't do a lot with regard to hitting 20,000, 19-e 52, thereabouts. check the housing stocks, we just got the latest read on mortgage rates was they have been going up. cheryl: we crossed 20 seconds ago, 4.32% for 30 year fixed-rate mortgage, slight gain from last week, 3.3% so it is small. a year ago 4.01% one year ago, still in the same range from mortgages from last year. that is good and cheap. we will see what the next interest hikes do in the new year but for now we are okay. >> a few days until we ring in 2017. a few polls say they are optimistic with the new year, people saying i'm looking forward to the new year. lee carter, a lot of people say 2016 was the worst year in recent memory.

why? >> you see the world through the lens in which you look at it and a lot of people felt the world is coming to an end because donald trump won and hillary lost and all the celebrity death and people are feeling hopeless on that side. on the other hand that is what a lot of people are talking about what the optimism numbers 55% of americans say i expect 2017 to be better than 2016, 12.increase over last year, even democrats have an increase in optimism about the future. ashley: you can feel it. >> i have been testing donald trump through his thank you tour since the election and seeing independents and democrats coming around even more. the job announcements like he made today about sprint, people are feeling excited, optimistic like things are going to happen that will benefit them right now and i think it is different than a lot of people are talking about about saying this is the

worst -- ashley: a lot of people voted for donald trump. there are still quite a few people even more hopeful. >> that is right. one thing we have to keep in mind is hillary clinton did win the popular vote but to california, new york city, those who had economic growth, silicon valley had so much growth in the last several years, new york city, booming economy, the rest of the country had a hard time and felt left behind a now they feel the president is paying attention and someone in washington dc isighting for them, looking forward. so a lot of folks out there are encouraged and excited what is yet to come. ashley: i am one of those. 2017 brings many new laws in states across the country. we have this with the change of one year to a new year. what are those big changes? cheryl: a lot of those were

election issues for states. let's talk about marijuana because it is back in the news. california, massachusetts, nevada and maine coming up january going to be legal to smoke pot, go for it. we also are looking at a minimum wage hike in several states, colorado, maine, arizona and washington, ranges from $10 to $12, nothing too terrible but the average minimum wage you will see from $10 to $11 and in utah and amazon sales tax which could be a big story. utah voters passed a sales tax on your purchase. if you are in utah on amazon it is a 4.3% immediate sales tax, japan right there versus pay it later when you file for your taxes which nobody does. that is -- amazon is going to fight this.

voters want it. ashley: it is a slippery slope. connell: some do this, tax internet purchases. this argument hasn't been settled yet. amazon is number one but it is called the amazon tax. ashley: president obama trying to preserve his legacy before he leaves office, 20 days now. lieutenant colonel allen west, national center for policy analysis, executive director. his legacy includes the rise of isis, syria's civil war and the united states standing in the world a lot more diminished than when he came into office in 2009. >> good to be with you, happy new year. you think about president obama's legacy when it comes to fighting the global islamic

jihad four words come to mind, first is obfuscation, the second is denial, enabling and emboldening. when you go back to 2009, the fort hood attack which was my last duty assignment that is still classified by the obama administration is workplace violence. think about san bernardino and orlando, the obama administration, president obama came out and talked about arms control. when you look what happened with withdrawing troops from iraq, you created a vacuum, the vacuum was filled with isis and look how isis has spread not just in the middle east but all over europe into influencing actions in the united states of america and billions of dollars have been given to iran which is the number one state sponsor of islamic terrorism, only sought to embolden those such as hamas and other groups out there to continue their fight against not just the united states of america but all freedom loving country so that is the legacy president obama is going to have to live up to. ashley: what does donald trump have to live up to? what should he be doing?

how can we turn things around? the ever elusive peace in the middle east is just not happening but what can donald trump not only do in the middle east the generally on the global scale in your minds to put america back in the forefront? >> that is the tough thing. we know what you have to do as far as restoring the economic strength and growth of the united states but how do you rebuild and reconstitute our military capability and capacity when you have enemies that have had the opportunity to achieve the high ground? when you look at the nonstate nonuniform belligerents we call islamic terrorism and the rise of russia, china, iran and north korea, we are going to have to once again move away from nationbuilding to more of a power projection military, strike operations to deny sanctuary to islamic terrorist groups, find ways to cut off their funding and economic support and the means by which they can promulgate and

proliferate their ideological agenda all across the world including in the united states of america. it is so important president-elect trump has the right people on his national security and until team to make those goals come to fruition. ashley: when it comes to foreign policy and getting into spats with foreign countries the biggest critics of donald trump tell you they are very concerned he doesn't have any experience, prone to flying off the handle, what are your thoughts on that? has he surrounded himself with enough experience that he won't be making any rash moves that could threaten global peace if you like? >> when you look at the people he has put in his secretary of defense nominee was former commanding general of us central command, homeland security secretary is the former commanding general of us southern command, national security adviser is former defense intelligence agency director so you have the right people there but let's go back. what type of experience did president obama have and he did

not this and to the generals on the ground that recommended a residual force in iraq. for whatever reason he thought the campaign promises were more important. barack obama was handed a more peaceful global situations and donald trump will be handed over to come january, 22 more days but if donald trump has the right type of team, listens to them, people that are practitioners, who have been on the ground from the tactical level to the strategic level, you will see success. ashley: optimistic outlook for 2017 and beyond, we appreciate it. another check of the markets. we are not excited over 20 cable we are in the neighborhood, 27 points, 19,00860 so second to last trading day in the santa claus rally period, last five trading days of the year, next year maybe santa is stuck in the chimney but keep an eye on that.

the final tally, how much taxpayers spent on the first family vacations, hawaii, martha's vineyard, pricey places, quite a number, how much you are paying for that round of golf. hey gary, what'd you got here? this bad boy is a mobile trading desk so that i can take my trading platform wherever i go. you know that thinkorswim seamlessly syncs across all your devices, right? oh, so my custom studies will go with me? anywhere you want to go! the market's hot! sync your platform on any device with thinkorswim. only at td ameritrade

ashley: secretary of state john kerry explaining why the us abstained on a vote involving us - israeli settlements on occupied land. >> there are a similar number of jews and palestinians living between the jordan river and the mediterranean sea. they have a choice. they can choose to live together in one state or they can separate into two states but here is a fundamental reality. if the choice is one state,

israel can either be jewish or democratic. it cannot be both. ashley: the israeli government slams john kerry for his speech, president-elect trump siding with the israelis saying they are being treated unfairly. >> very strong position, israel has been treated unfairly by a lot of people. you look at resolutions in the united nations, take a look at what happened, other nations that are horrible places the treat people horribly haven't even been reprimanded. there is something going wrong that is unfair to israel. ashley: guess who just joined us in studio. congressman louis gohmert, republican from texas, congressional district. >> number one. ashley: great to have you here. >> great to be had.

ashley: thank you very much. you watched john kerry and saw his speech. what was your impression? >> it took me back to the seinfeld where george costanza figures out that if he will just do everything opposite, he will be right on everything. this administration never figured out what judge costanza did that they are exactly wrong on everything, they are doing what might be called gas lighting. you think israel is our friend? they are our enemy. you think we should worry about iran? we are going to give the money, we are going to help them. whatever they do they try to get you to think you are crazy, that the opposite is true. for heaven's sake, with all of the damage that this administration has done in the middle east, saying that the muslim brotherhood president in egypt was the right person? the opposite is true. you don't want a muslim

brotherhood president, saying we have to take out qaddafi, to create chaos there, the opposite is true. this administration has been the opposite of right on every issue and turning on israel at this point is unfortunately icing on an explosive cake. ashley: trump is coming and in 20 odd days and it can be turned around. >> not just hopeful with my staff and i are working on a couple bills, one to holdback any payments to the un until they rescind the vote that obama apparently pushed because the us put in 25%, we are not there and looking -- looked at the situation in the un, it is prime real estate but the rockefellers had owned that and it went to

the un only for so long as it remained major headquarters so if we canceled thesis for all the format it can't remain the headquarters and it goes back to the rockefellers. ashley: you won't introduce the bill for that. >> we are looking at it because it is so outrageous. who would have dreamed that this quickly, 75 years after the end of world war ii that we would be moving in the same direction of going after the jews? thank god donald trump is coming in, we don't have to go there. the other thing, the other thing is to basically take the language democrats used in 74 to say it would be a crime if you use any federal money from any source to continue to help in vietnam. it would be a crime if you use federal money from any source to

treat palestine as an independent state. we need to stop this guy from going the next step and trying to create world war iii as he is going out. the only president we ever had would be a promotion to be un general secretary, we can't let him -- we had others do this, they set the fire and it is the tiniest and then show up to be the hero. he wants to go in as you in general secretary, put out the fire he started. great stuff. ashley: i will let you go. the obama family is known for their vacations, mister obama loves his golf but how much is this costing the taxpayer? we ask this a lot. ashley: connell: judicial watch tabulated what it costs since

president obama and family first moved to washington. the figure is $85 million but it is expected to rise if you fly southwest, $90 million at the end of the administration, more expensive than george bush's two terms in office. part of it is the bush family had their vacation home in crawford and would go there and the secret service, perhaps donald trump could be convinced to do those upgrades and that is the only place to go, don't put your money on it but it is $90 million for the obama family. ashley: is that money well spent? >> the money we spend getting obama away from secret power is -- >> less vacation time than bush. ashley: could have been more money. >> went to crawford. doesn't cost anything to go to

crawford. ashley: a quick check of the markets. we have been bubbling along, 29 points, over 100 yesterday and a lot more green than red which means more stocks going up then down. the second last trading day of the year. george soros, financier of the left predicting what a trump presidency will look like. next. your insurance company

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$1147 a troy ounce. billionaire and staunch democrats george soros, donald trump will destroy democracy. and retired generals, trump will have greater affinity with dictators. and making deals to defend principles was that will be popular with his core constituents. even though donald trump won, he won get over it. been all this money, don't even give the guy a chance. >> what sources said you just

heard. ashley: what if -- >> george costanza, this is the administration, the opposite is true. this administration is the best friend, dictators have ever had in a us president, the best and trump will be just the opposite. trying to gaslight, and trump is the best friend democratic republic around the world ever had. and it does include israel. look at this president, and the best friend of the worst dictators. whether it is castro, venezuela, wanted to be there. the mullahs in iran, the could never have prayed to allah. ashley: the country thinking now.

>> country that used to be our friends over the last two years, we can't wait for this guy to be out, we are hoping we survive with this guy until your next president and hoping it would not be hillary clinton. >> on the campaign trail, for not holding a news conference. why a long wait. more varney next.

ashley: we have big tech names we follow every day a sea of red right now. nothing too dramatic. facebook, amazon, microsoft, alphabet/google down, a third of a cent my eyes are not great. netflix also down half a percent in ted's market even though dow itself up 28 points. during the election, president-elect trump slamming hillary clinton for her lack of news conferences. hiding he said she's not wanting to get out there. she's well napping at one point he said but now several months since donald trump himself was held a press conference. or style i get it wrong every time. how are you? [inaudible] >> communications director, so you are trying put all of the big party together. listen, donald trump say he's going to hold a news conference

in january, he has been a bit shy. he know he doesn't like media you know what in many case it is turns out as wic with leaks reveals, but he hasn't really taken question withs from roarts in a proper news conference. why is that? >> i just did a press gag a few i das ago connecting with american people constantly. so continue to do that throwts the transition and then, of course, once he becomes president on january 20th which we're planning for here and in the committee. >> so how is about planning going hearing all of the negative headlines and a-list if you like -- entertainers were performers, don't want anything to do with inauguration. how would you respond? >> well, you know it's not a party and not wood stock or bernie, it's inauguration, and we're planning an event that is solemn that, of course, is exciting and a celebration. but alling the people and not about any one celebrity or performer and you know those people out there trying to

respond with negative news that's their prerogative by doing so honoring the peaceful transsuggestion of power which is a bed rock of american democracy. >> good point not going to see bruce springsteen we know that but we're going to see -- we are going to see cardinal dolan from right here in new york. >> cardinal dolan rabbi, and then we have other religious lead percent from aired the country from diverse background, we have paul wright and wonderful folks coming to celebrate america, the religious leaders coming to take part in swearing and ceremony and from detroit who was part of that visit to detroit. visit to the inner city. but at that point, the candidate donald j. trump back in september. so we have again a diverse representation of religious leaders and then also national player. the next day with a -- representation of a religious leader from all backgrounds, all walks of life, all faith. >> you know, you're in the inner

circle if that's what you thought to call it. how's the transition going mr. trump said it first well it's not going that smoothly but then yesterday said well i spoke with president obama on the phone from he was in hawaii, and you know, what he was he's a good guy everything is fine. hao you describe it? >> i think going fine. transition is a complicated process. right floft is a big place. administration is about 4,000 jobs if not more. so it is going fine there's a lot of mutual respect between barack obama and president-elect donald trump, of course, this agreement is on big number of policies. but nevertheless mutual respect. >> talking back when donald trump first got into this whole thing, must be exciting time for you too. how is it in d.c.? >> it is great. i remember a day in march i think when stewart said you're a brave guy to me for supporting donald trump. i'm proud to have done so for a long time to work for a man and working to put on a uniting inaugural and that's really

representative of the thought and message coming from the president-elect, and the vice president elect. >> i remember when stuart said that more power to you and look where you are now as they say. the rest is history. as far as that i'll get it right one day. thank you so much for joining us. appreciate it. ashley: to the inauguration in the mail. with us, congress back in session january 3rd i believe isn't it a bit earlier than normal. >> why is that? >> we have our president coming in and we're able to work with -- and he's going to work with us, and i do remember one of my democratic friends yes i have them -- [laughter] came back and she's more liberal. but she's very honest individual. and angry bs i couldn't believe it we've been carrying this president's water for months and we go to sit down and have a meeting with him in the east room, an it comes out and he read to us from a tell prompghter i couldn't believe it.

obama read to the democrats from a teleprompter that's not going to be happening we're going to have good audience with the president and we're going get good stuff assed and bad stuff repealed, and so i'm really looking forward to it. but i was just thinking while -- he was talking -- while we were talking in january of 2001, i had a bill in maryland said thank god bush has won election let's go to inaugural and she said you go with your brother so my brother and i are out there, we remember too far away to see, and it was butting right before the start, it was a d.c. cop. and he, ladies and gentlemen, i thought oh, no he'll tell us we have to move again, and he said if you will look over here to the north, and there was a black atlanta black limousine he said you will see and he put his hands over his head had said the last clinton motorcade! [laughter]

and everybody went nuts. but i was so amazed this is a union line cop when thank god he was right. we came very close to that not being the last clinton cake, so it's a good day for washington, d.c. and it's going to be better than 20th. >> ultimate nonpolitician what do you think about that? donald trump has no political experience and yet he wins all of the weight to the white house. >> obama will learn from him, that when you're not president, don't have press conferences that's a really good idea, and hopefully obama will learn something from that. >> to the night -- isn't he? >> this is one place we wish he would, please, please -- [laughter] go quietly into that good night. rage, rage against the power to think you're right. >> poet egg. love it, very good stuff. president-elect trump reportedly considering prioritizing veterans affairs department. we talked a little bit about

this earlier, but you know, we've got to fix it, right? >> got to fix it, and we have an obligation to men and women who have served or country but who is opposed to this earlier in the month vietnam veteran of paralyzed veteran of america held a press conference an they said they would oppose attempt to prioritize veteran affair department. but member of the trump transition team has actually said to reporters that this is under consideration to prioritize portions if not all a of the veteran affairs department and give the men and women who are covered by this health care choices, in that conch because we know cheryl was talking about her stepfather had a good experience in phoenix which is epicenter of this scandal, of the men and women who died on waiting list, but when you look you know administration brought in people to fix this problem, and you have phoenix and other hospital it is that in the v.a. own rating system get one which is worst rating you can get they get a rating of a one.

>> congressman louie what do you think about that proposal? >> i think it would be good, i'm hearing more and more members of congress that are just saying you know were for herch sake this is so broken. our veterans deserve better let them go anywhere that they want to go. whatever is -- do right for them and i hate to keep coming back to it ashley but it is true. what does president say is the opposite. he said he was fixing the v.a., he's made it much worse. he was going to end the long lines things have the gone worse i'm not hearing anybody seeing this president help things at the v.a. hopefully that will improve. >> it can get worse. >> exactly. now this, looking tore a great year for u.s. retailers thanks to what is turning out to be a bump holiday season, lauren. >> in the beginning we were a little lukewarm on how strong this holiday season would be in the final week or so -- retail analyst are changing their expectations for the

holiday shopping season. and final numbers and they're saying it could be best season in about a decade. here's why. two reasons procrastinator amazon letting you stop at 1945 at night. the day before -- they have procrastinator, ease online shopping and this we've been speaking about this, this festive spirit things are getting better paychecks are growing. there's optimism out there. food cost, gas prices are down. you disagree? >> throw rain on this parade? come on -- come on -- consumer debt people are using their credit cards again to funds this. that's not a good thing. >> worry about that in january. >> other thing that surprised me as popular as amazon is there are 22 million u.s. households who did not buy a single thing on amazon all year. with that said are you one of those? >> on amazon congressman? >> i did -- you did. [inaudible] you're not -- 99,000. [laughter] >> for the brick-and-mortar so --

>> looking for online places to buy but -- ended up become at amazon. one minute and christmas eve, yeah. [laughter] no. actually it's not a bad way to shop online. and you get to it look for other things besides amazon. >> but the deal not -- but the deals are pretty good and if you've got that, you could get that for free for 30 days which a lot of people did get their christmas gifts shipped free and then they canceled pme but se to help brick-and-mortar you know, to sponsor the little league team. girl scouts, you know tough go for them. a kind heart. >> i forgot that's sponsors, i believe the team. >> check for them. and check the big board now. dow trading well -- up 10 points. of course we have that big loss yesterday down 100 points so you know, look dow 20,000 now 156 points away not going to happen at least it doesn't appear to

adam says i was right again, an gun violence in chicago, we know running rampant donald trump said he will restore law and order remember this? >> law and order, we have to obey the laws or we don't have a country. >> we will restore law, order, and justice in america. justice. ♪

♪

>> good thursday morning to you israel is lee government slamming the obama administration for testifieding its position on those guest israel out of touch. >> israel is island of civilization of our civilization surrounded by brutal states and barbarous society. israel has women right, rule of law property right, serious education, prosperity and for all of the oil money poured into the middle east you have a vast waste land. still up on a hill top, mountaintop in northern israel you can count where it begins because green turns brown. and so israel has earned its keep and the hate israel haters on the far left are utterly out of touch. [vo] quickbooks introduces jeanette

and her new mobile wedding business. at first, getting paid was tough... until she got quickbooks. now she sends invoices, sees when they've been viewed and ta-da, paid twice as fast! see how at quickbooks-dot-com. >> 12 people dead, more than 50 hurt in gun violence in chicago this past weekend. this uptick in violence hurting police. this year 62 officers have been killed in gun-related violence that, by the way, almost double last year's number. let's go now to detective steve loomis frequent guest of the show. disturbing numbers, what do you put that down to? >> the ferguson effect. plain and simple lack of support of the obama administration for

law enforcement across this country has absolutely handcuffed police officers. we're no longer proactively policing the neighborhoods that really need us the most. and that's heartbreaking to the cops out there. i know these guys want to go out and do that job. but we're willing to take the risk that inherent to the job, the life when risk. the physical injuries. but we with can't go out there and risk civil lawsuits and -- politically charged prosecution premature prosecution we're just not going to do if. >> chicago police chief said that the criminals and those behind the shootings have been emboldened and powered if you like by a public perception that the police are always in the wrong. and it's kind of that the public sentiment is on the criminal side. would you agree with that? >> l yeah. absolutely. chief mccarthy is -- able to sigh things he can say now because he's moved on in his

career, and he is not saying anything that any police chief wouldn't tell you if they could. certainly every police union president would tell you the same thing. resources we've been treated as a necessary evil in this country for the last eight years. our resources have been diminished. we don't have bots on the street that we need to have to do the job. the right way and the perfect example serves as the success we have with in the rnc we prove without doubt that what you have enough police officers to do the job and do the job the right way great things happen and that's exactly what we saw at the rnc and i hope that's what mr. trump will bring back to us. >> that was my next question can donald trump put in effective strait ji to address this problem? >> absolutely. you know, he's going to be able to start with the department of justice with the attorney general. attorney general's office right now, they're treating us as criminals.

and the bad guys out here. hopefully you know, in january 20th, that's going to change. certainly resources, federal resources we're sending trillions of dollars everywhere else in the world and send moneys to the the cities that need -- the resources the bodies on the street, the cars, the equipment. we all want to buy into community empowered policing we want to get back out into the communities we can't do that especially here in cleveland we're going from run to run to run. we want to be able to spend time in the neighborhood and get to know people in the neighborhood and we can't do that right now and if that cant change nothing will change. >> hopefully that will change cleveland department as always thanks for joining us appreciate it. >> have a good year. ashley: you too. bring in it shall chicago is an absolute mess, the president hometown, and just can't seem to get a handle on to it and detective's point the police

don't have the support the not only from those in charge to give them the help but often public perception. and the public is known in especially had it reenforced after 9/11 that first responders, police about are law enforcement they are our friends, and having been a prosecutor and a felony judge you know i saw firsthand, yes, police are made of human beings so they're bad apple. but percentage of bad apples is smaller than general population so what is obama do? if he says that police acted stupidly, then the opposite is true they did exactly the right thing, and if he says to bring down gun violence it got worse. he was, you know, we're going to end gun violence first thing they do is get 2,000 guns to the drug cartels so it is going it be refreshing. i was on the the plane and i ended up asking a guy next to me

in the middle seat what he did. so like i was embarrassing him, a policeman i'm looking forward to the day when president and somebody will be proud again and we won't have the federal government -- look this president has done for law enforcement what carter did for education. just bright near destroyed it. >> leave it on that point. thank you for being here on fox newsradio show this afternoon. >> hannity -- yeah substitute for shawn. >> a great fill-in i know that thank you congressman. out to illinois one of the many places across the country facing a minimum ge hike in 2017. but one town says it is opting out of that law because it lie on the county borders interesting situation. jeff flock, explain. >> this is the problem when you pass a law in one town and not in another. and right on the county line, we are right here this is main

street in a called barrington, illinois across the street in lake county illinois right now, wait a minute no, i'm in cook county. that was -- i was $8.25 the hour over there. now if i work on this side of town, i could get $13 an hour in the year 2020. obviously, unleveled playing field, and so the folks here in barrington i tell you i have one of the town trustees with me, todd you decided, listen, it's not like you've got anything against folks making extra money but this is unsustainable. >> this was fair to both sides of the community since we're in lake and cook county. >> so if the guy runs starbucks over here he has to pay $13 an hour but opens coffee shop there eight and a quarter. >> illinois minimum wage. >> that was right illinois minimum wage that's what we have now. so -- >> democracy development, obviously, doesn't get help when

you jack up the minimum wage. and don't make it fair -- >> that's true. i mean that was our reason for passing the ortd ordinance in the village it wasn't fair to both sides of our community, and being on the edge of cooke county. >> i appreciate you coming out here in the freezing cold weather. [laughter] here you go if you lived in barrington you would want to work across the street with charles or the hair design boutique over here, supposed to be -- [laughter] supposed to be starbucks over here. [laughter] my hair doesn't work in any boutique. hey, listen, what a difference across the world makes as always great stuff. jeff is flock in cooke county, illinois, more varney next.

♪ snots ♪ ♪ good morning ♪ hollywood screen legend debbie renolds died at the age of 84

one day after her daughter carrie fisher third hour of "varney & company" is coming up. ..

ashley: it is 11:00 in new york, 8:00 in california, we headed the wrong way around. i am ashley webster in for stuart. this is new at this hour, the dow fell the most in two month, trombone please. what happened to hitting dow 20 k? there you go. we are up 7 points, 19 a 24. the price of oil basically flat. we had less than two trading days left in the year, we are going to limp into 2017, we are not going to hit 20 k yet. we are a day away from the new year's eve celebration in times square. how have the police ramped up security in the wake of the

berlin christmas market attack? we have former new york city police talking to us about that. president obama has 22 days left in office and is doing his best to solidify his legacy. donald trump says he will try to undo it. our 3 of "varney and company" start right now. ashley: oil inventories, we like to keep track of things, up 1714,000 barrels, what is that mean? more in store? does it mean the price of oil goes down? we have opec, non-opec countries saying they are going to cut production at the beginning of the new year. oil has been moving higher. >> we expected a decline. you get a surprise increase, the price of oil comes down a tad,

54. it is up 45%, you got to remember gas prices moving up too, you had that point around $3, economic growth climb too much. phil flynn thinks opec speaking of production cost following through this time around. ashley: stuart varney is in a tizzy. let's go to john wayfield who just got off the beach, sat down in the studio, in bermuda, we are very jealous, thanks for joining us. we asked everybody, we thought 20 k would happen this week, hats were ordered, confetti, doesn't seem like it is going to happen. >> reporter: i don't think it is was the market has gotten ahead of itself. we had this incredible run up when president-elect trump got elected.

the market needs to catch up. the question is the fed, easy money is stopping, whoever was going to be 45th president would have a hard time with the markets, rising interest rate. those mister trump's structural reforms especially to the regulations take effect quick enough to compensate for the fact we are losing easy money for the fed? we are going forward in 2017. ashley: what are you telling your clients? what should they look at with buying opportunities in 2017? >> you got to look at what the trends will be. with president-elect trump taking the income tax rate somewhere between 20% to 22%, he said 15% but has to negotiate that. that is an extra $.15 to $.20 of every dollar of us earnings that go back to bottom line of companies that make a majority of the money in the us. by us-based companies, i love verizon, at&t and 3 of those mainly because of the corporate tax play. ashley: what about forward?

the auto companies were booming at one point but they were a pullback in recent months? >> reporter: i own it. it is not a very good stock except the dividend has 4.9% yield, they make the best trucks out there and essentially the ock will catch up. 5.7 multiple, thehave 5% yield, that is almost unheard of for a profitable company. ashley: what about the banks? my theory is interest rates are going up, not by much. very positive for banks in general. >> banks have gotten a huge boost because of president-elect trump. and dodd-frank being repealed or rolled back. dodd-frank did nothing to address the crisis, just penalized the bank. when you have a repeal going

forward a restructuring of dodd-frank it will help the bank significantly and that is why you are seeing the run-up now. ashley: what are you avoiding in the short term? >> reporter: they had an incredible run up. these tech companies are global right now because one thing i worry about trump is trade policies, that is the one big unknown. ashley: thank you for joining us. he is going to run straight back to the beach and i wouldn't blame him. planning to impose new sanctions on russia for allegedly tampering in our election. obama has 22 days left in the white house. and and now he gets tough.

and now he is all about the election. >> not clear if the sanctions directed against the russians. or donald trump. donald trump disagrees with this and most likely, and he will do a deal with vladimir putin. is it really forcing trump to do something that would embarrass him by taking off these sanctions, the problem of the hacking itself. ashley: a parting last chance to smear the donald trump victory. >> there is part of that but the problem is the hacking not only

to the dnc, what is the united states going to do about that? sanctions, don't know the people being -- the hackers are in russia, more likely what we see is the united states to do a very public exposure via its own hacking of russian officials exposing public, private and financial assets. that is the issue, not clear the united states does that. ashley: under the title bring back packs americana. explain. >> one of the motifs of the election, the united states is in an isolationist, polls suggest they don't want to get involved in the problems of the world and how can you blame them after eight years of barack obama's foreign-policy where he is half in and half out of the middle east and people say rightly we don't want to be involved if that is our policy.

islamic state, thousands of american churches in the united states, on christmas eve. they have targeted churches in iraq, egypt, nigeria, every christmas. we cannot isolate ourselves from the world. we are now and explicit target of islamic state for the simple act of going to church, the jewish synagogues have been protected and targeted for over 30 years. >> this is what we get with obama foreign-policy, we see a bunch of police outside churches across the country. >> we don't want to live that way, we don't them to live in a world where the cops on the curb are going to protect us from suicide bombers who get hit before we get hit. trump has been attached with this isolationist mood banning muslims, pulling back from nato. i focus more on the fact that in his speeches he said what he would like to do is reestablish stability in the world and that

is what i mean by packs americana. that american-led stability is the way the world works by and large in the entire period, eu strength. ashley: the threat of strength. >> you have to use political, diplomatic and military strength in the world, whether in europe or asia and that is what we need in terms of 21st-century packs americana. ashley: let's hope he is listening, great stuff as always. we are one day from one of the biggest celebrations of the year, new year's eve. in times square. after the recent terror attack on soft targets like the one in berlin's christmas market we are looking closer at new york city security, talking to the former new york city police commissioner about that plus so much more straightahead.

ashley: you are getting alive look at times square, two days before the big celebration for the new year but in the wake of recent terror attacks in nice and berlin where vehicles were used to slam into large crowds, taking a closer look at security for these eventss right here at home and to do that we bring in bernard carrot, former new york city police commissioner, thanks as always for being here. this is one of those eventss which as we would say is a very high value target for terrorists out there. how do you go about that? >> first of all new york city has more resources than any police department in the united states and in conjunction with

partners in the fbi the federal service, the us marshall justice department, they do a better job at something like this than you can imagine. keep in mind when i had the police department that detail ran about 3000 cops for new year's e. day it is probably doubled. in addition to all the technology that is put in place to look for nuclear, biological attacks, the barricades to stop the possibility of somebody slamming into the crowd, a bunch of stuff is coming to play today that we didn't even think about in 2001. ashley: surveillances picked up too. >> surveillance in new york city today is quite substantial whether it is time square, all the hubs, the transportation

hubs, there are a couple of them. don't want to get into but surveillance is pretty substantial. ashley: we mention the vehicles being high profile in france and germany. we say this whenever we talk about this but it is hard, you can't be 100% safe. >> you can't be 100% safe. we have seen it in france and germany but those vehicle attacks go on every single day in iraq and afghanistan in the homes of terror if you will around the globe. france and germany picked up on that type of activity as a result of the others. isis, that is their playbook, al qaeda, that is their playbook, that is what they teach. ashley: i want to get to the subject too, 62 police officers killed in the line of duty this year, almost double what we saw in 2015. what do you put that down to? >> there is a disrespect for

this public rhetoric, anti-cop rhetoric that really has come from the white house, governors, senators over the last year or two, this major anti-cop rhetoric out there that has given the people, emboldens people to go out and do things that normally they wouldn't do and that number is substantial but the number of cops that have been executed, assassinated, sitting in a car someone walks up to them and blows their brains out, that number is between 200% and 300% increase. ashley: speaks to that. >> complete disrespect for law and order and authority. ashley: that was part of donald trump's campaign message we are you confident he can do that? >> i think he will. he understands it. he lived in new york city in the 90s when we were the crime hub of the nation and rudy giuliani

turned around and donald trump witnessed that. that is what he is focused on, that is what he will do over the next four to eight years. ashley: chicago, a situation that is completely out of control, 763 homicides. >> chicago almost has more homicides than the entire state of florida. kind of ridiculous. i think that has to be addressed in the coming year. it can be done, new york city, rudy giuliani has proved it works, it can be done, it can be changed. but you need the right leadership to do that. >> how do you characterize the last eight years under mister obama? >> look at the crime numbers. that is his hometown. if i was his former chief of staff and i was the mayor there i could promise you the crime numbers would not be what they are today. ashley: we have to leave it there. former new york city police commissioner. now this.

president-elect donald trump bringing jobs back to america, sprint says it has another 5000 jobs in the us, trump taking credit for that and we are on it. stay with us.

ashley: now this, snapchat calling itself the next facebook. quite a claim. adam: the investment bankers have the ipo, they are talking it up but there is a lot to talk up. they acknowledge 150 million daily active users. they don't share the metrics over actual time of engagement. that will come, details. they are going to raise billions of dollars, they affect facebook and some results to siphon off potential advertising dollars but facebook has 1.1 billion daily active users and tried to buy snapchat. >> $25 billion ipo expected, that is a lot of money, do i use snapchat? no. if you are and read 24 you use

snapchat. i am 25. people are using it. it is getting popular. what is interesting is facebook started solving -- self-destruct messages and getting on the snapchat bandwagon and they decided to find ways to preserve these messages. seems like they are doing this to compete. >> technology dumbing down the pike is revolutionary. it is a little black device with a dial on it and you can talk to people, there is no record of the conversation. they call it a telephone. ashley: that is ridiculous. i don't believe it. ashley: now to president-elect trump working to bring more jobs back to america. >> we have a combination of sprint for 5000 jobs, a little over the world coming back into the united states which is a nice change and one where 3000

jobs done through a terrific guy and we appreciate it. ashley: a total of 9000 jobs, donald trump says it created or saved because he saved those jobs with carrier and now this. he is delivering on the campaign trail. >> 9000 jobs is correct and he is talking to lockheed martin and boeing ceos on how to bring down costs for air force one in the f 35 program. he met with the ceo earlier in the month, softbank owned 80% of sprint, now you have something happening in those negotiations. ashley: yesterday was part of the bigger announcements about whatever it was. >> go online and you will find why i am wrong but sprint, t-mobile and a potential merger although sprint is -- the trump

administration might not stand in the way. softbank has a huge holding in this and sprint, bringing back 5000 jobs so -- ashley: you think companies are falling over each other to make an announcement how many jobs they are going to create to get favor in trump dc? ashley: it could be, donald trump is open to making a deal. adam: feel the little banana republic. i don't like the president involved in the running of companies. ashley: we heard that before but people are going to work. ashley: hillary clinton spotted eating breakfast at a resort in upstate new york, alone it the table commenting she looked a little on said. stay with us. a lot more ahead.

ashley: secretary john kerry in his speech laying out the obama administration's vision for the middle east saying israel cannot be just jewish and democratic. listen to this. >> there are a similar number of

jews into palestinians living between the jordan river and the penetrating -- mediterranean sea. they have a choice. they can choose to live together in one state or they can separate into two states. here is a fundamental reality. if the choice is one state, israel can either be jewish or democratic. it cannot be both. ashley: israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu responding immediately, listen to what he had to say. >> my deep disappointment with the speech of john kerry, a speech that was almost as unbalanced as the anti-israel resolution passed at the un last week. in a speech ostensibly about peace, secretary john kerry paid

lip service to the unremitting campaign of terrorism by the palestinians against the jewish state for nearly a century. ashley: joining us to talk about this and more, nationally syndicated talkshow host leslie marshall. thanks for being with us. president obama trying to solidify his legacy. a lot of people saying why can't he just go quietly into the night? >> first of all he is not going to be able to solidify any legacy, whether it is with israel or healthcare because president-elect trump and republicans have said they are going to dismantle it. this is not an 11th hour hail mary pass to democrats or palestinians. this is in line with not only agenda from the obama administration but from the majority of our allies throughout the world which is there cannot be peace in the

middle east without a two state solution, it is inevitable and stopping the building and settlements, that is not going to take place. not just a belief held by the president or democrats, in the united states. ashley: he is going on to say if i could run for a third term i could have beaten donald trump, switching gears a little bit. speaking to the arrogance of the man, a slap at hillary clinton but also she blue it but i could have beaten him. why did he bother doing that? >> it is interesting because when i first heard it i thought why is he doing that to hillary? why can't he leave her alone? as a democrat more people thought it was a slap to hillary than president-elect trump but if we talk about egos the president-elect has one himself although president obama may statistically not be that far off the mark. if you look at the reason hillary clinton lost, everyone said it would the candidate, it goes deeper than that. african americans did not come out in the numbers president obama had, the youth did not come out in the number that

obama had, bernie or post people supported president obama, did not like hillary as their choice and they liked bernie. of those people had come out, he would numerically have beaten donald trump. that would have been an accurate assessment. ashley: harry reid making some interesting comments about looking towards 2020. elizabeth warren inking about jumping in. joe biden. there is a 70, close to 80, harry reid said it is like an old folk song. would you agree the democrats desperately need some fresh youngblood? >> i would agree with that because i was looking is a democrat, who do we have to come around in four years? our president-elect is 70 and this is happening on both sides of the isle. is a democrat, joe biden, bernie sanders, look at the age, i am not running again. absolutely. then look at people who are not

inside establishment, people talked about michelle obama, has a lot of appeal, she is a she, an african-american, but her husband served in the white house and i look around out there thinking we need that new person. remember, years before, a guy named bill clinton and years before guy of names barack obama came about, a lot of people had never heard of them. i remember when they said governor of arkansas bill clinton is running for president. i have to admit prior to the 92 election i chuckled at that at one time. ashley: when we went to the break we showed a picture of hillary clinton sitting by herself at some resort in upstate new york, thought it was a bit mean. i didn't feel good when we went to it, we had a song playing, all by myself. listen. is that unfair to point that out? a lot of people saying this hillary come all by herself, all sad, we shouldn't feel that sorry for her, should we?

>> this is a woman who was the first female nominee in a major party to be president, she was secretary of state, senator, first lady. whether you like her or not, she has accomplished much. i would imagine if you took the camera that took that picture a little to the left or right you would see secret service agents standing there. i don't think she is ever alone and as someone who enjoys alone time i would like to have alone time. ashley: gives them time to reflect on how she lost the election to donald trump. >> no, no, no. ashley: she lost, she won the popular vote but she is not going to the white house. great stuff, thanks so much. now back to a check of the big board, we are on 20 k watch, not much chance here, 19,833. let's bring in ed gutowski, check with investments, we start

out and plugged it to death to be honest but doesn't mean the trump rally is over, right? >> why did the trump rally occurred to begin with? had to do with the regulation on financial services and that helps a lot of stock like goldman, morgan and others move to the idea that we will get to those unnecessary regulations and the other reason we saw it had to do with healthcare and dismantling hopefully of obamacare. stocks moved up 10% but here is the key. we are 20% overvalued. everyone has to know that. if you went in and bought this market you are buying on expectation we will see 20% earnings growth. that is not going to happen. there is no scenario that anyone can put out there to show the we will see earnings growth in the s&p 500 companies of 20% over the next year.

way ahead of ourselves. >> what stocks are you telling your clients about you >> not telling them a lot. if you buy stocks today you are ignoring the basic elementary knowledge you should have about the stock market but if you are going to to buy them, we are buying a few here or there, looking at facebook, it is immune to the world economy, almost an industry in itself and it has real earnings, has real earnings growth even though it missed in the last quarter and i am buying this etf, if we do see some tariff wars between countries, we will see a lot more exports from the united states in the agriculture business, freer trade, 1/2% dividend and you will start to see a big move in that sector. ashley: last one, you were one of the first to bring this to

our attention, the city of dallas pension crisis, what exactly is going on. is the city on the verge of bankruptcy? >> not at all but this is a story, you will see in other cities over the next two or three years, major story that impacts almost everybody. that is a pension plan, defining and if it plan. a 401(k) plan is a defined contribution people make. and a defined benefit plan, to take care of the liabilities and promises being made to the employees to when they retire. the pension plans do not fund their promises and the city of dallas, the pension plan is separate from the city of dallas. the pension plan, the city of dallas does poorly. a separate entity, the mayor of

dallas not functioning as the mayor but as a private citizen sued and said please no more lump-sum distributions, it is out of the pool when they way these monthly payments. this is a disaster. and 20% -- that is how underfunded, most pension plans get to where they need to be to be properly funded. big disaster on the horizon. ashley: thank you so much for joining us. now this, president-elect trump, and the president-elect, mister trump is not in office yet, the presidential portrait, north

carolina patron painted him. a lot of gold in that, 44 prior presidents.

nicole: i am nicole pedallides, it is over by 7 moving much further away from dow 20,000, sitting at 19,827 points. the last minute santa claus rally today or tomorrow, we are up 14% for the year. the s&p 500 losing on the day, a real winner, 30% this year. the stock is overvalued to the downside. you can see chipotle and best buy. coproducers something to take a look at over the last we precisions, it was up by $10 togaining $16, this is helping the gold names, we are seeing some of these goals doing very well. keep it here on foxbusiness.

ashley: the obama administration announcing they will face more sanctions in retaliation of reports of russians tampering with the election. the former us ambassador to belgium. thank you for being with us. that is what we here. 22 days left in office. we had the russians taking over crimea, actions in syria but it seems 22 days left in his administration, could you argue he gets tough with russia. >> to be fair we had sanctions

on russia escalating over time. we sanctioned most of what is holding vladimir putin's money but it seems obama was late in getting upset about this. this is worse than watergate, it is watergate plus espionage. i can't believe all our political leaders were not up in arms about it. republicans had a choice between trump and being up in arms to democrats, this was an easy call. ashley: you mentioned sanctions. the belief that the hacks would become personal toward vladimir putin and go after him. is that an effective deterrent? >> it has been personal for a long time. when we sanctioned oligarchs around vladimir putin, that is for them to put pressure on vladimir putin and second, the theory by fortune and forbes is most of his wealth in the hands of his friends, officially, $500,000 and yet listed as the third richest man in the world.

the sanctions go after him, the only way to deal with russia, it is a democracy of one. ashley: that is true. we are told those things, those steps, sanctions will be taking place. there will be other covert things the us can do. how disruptive can we be to russia in retaliation? >> it is a political nightmare for everybody, for obama, for trump and 4 republicans. obama, if he had a long leash to go ahead, could take serious cybercounterattacks but he can't do anything trump might undo because that will emasculate obama. on the other hand, if trump tries to undo things, it would be a can to summoning gerald ford after watergate coming and saying the election is over, let bygones be bygones. we can't put up with that

either. so obama has to do what he thinks republicans will have his back on that will keep trump from reversing it. ashley: let's change subject. is real. john kerry making that speech yesterday, the obama administration for the middle east, israel cannot be both democratic and jewish. benjamin netanyahu saying john kerry's speech was biased against israel. what do you say? >> i have known john kerry for a long time and talked to barack obama about his real. if this was political or about legacy, they were committing harry carey politically but this was about substance. these two men have been dedicated for eight years to achieving peace and security through a two state solution, benjamin netanyahu and abbas have never been able to figure

out how to get reelected and that has been the fundamental problem and barack obama wasn't going to leave office without doing something substantively. ashley: we are back where we started in that part of the world. it will be difficult to find common ground. >> there was risk for obama. benjamin netanyahu risks making israel chris christie, put all their friends behind and put their eggs with donald trump. that hasn't worked out for chris christie. i hope it works better for netanyahu. ashley: thank you so much, we appreciate it as always. now this, president-elect trump considering privatizing the va. what is he saying? >> sometimes you wait so long to see a doctor with the va and

your minor issue becomes a major issue in the wait time. this is where you have to travel far distances and the like. he is talking to, among many contenders, the cleveland cummings ceo and he is in favor of expanding the options to go outside the system. the argument for non-privatization would be specific doctors for the va, they understand the injuries and repercussions, better suited to deal with it but when the times are a big problem. ashley: either privatized or combination. >> i covered the va story is have you, local news. this is not a new story though it does rear its head from time to time. the waitlist was the headline but 20 plus years the different administrations tried to fix the va and whatever is being done or not being done is not working. ashley: they have to do something, maybe this is it.

this too to remind you, new england, if you are up there, buckle up or hunker down, preparing for a major blizzard, expecting two feet of heavy, wet snow upstate into new england, the heavy wet snow brings down power lines, not good. cook county in illinois, one of many places across the country facing a minimum wage hike in 2017 but one town says it is opting out of the law because it lies on the county board of. jeff flock is there are giving us the details. your insurance company

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ashley: now this. and the towns that suggest, jeff flock is there. no cook county taxes. if we walk across the street, i am now in cook county. taxes are different and trying to change minimum wage.

that is the jewelry store. they would have to pay $8 for -- 825 across the street and 13 at this when here. a lot of these communities like this, on the edge, said this is a problem. if you pay this minimum wage law in cook county some of these communities are bailing out and saying we are not going to allow that was the only problem is they are legally able to opt out. they have some concern because cook county could say if you don't adhere to our minimum wage you won't get as much money to maintain the county roads the run through your town. there could be some backlash. we will see if that turns out. a number of community say we can't do this, we can't compete. imagine having different labor costs on one side than the other? ashley: absolutely right. you said living on the edge,

interesting story. thank you so much. it was sunny earlier, doesn't look too good. we remember hollywood screen legend debbie reynolds, she died at the age of 84 just one day after her daughter carrie fisher. >> you have to have the proper setting. can you say it? >> i will try. ♪ >> i don't know about loving. i figure i can learn. >> you always have to be the star. >> god cast me in the role.

♪ ♪ red solo cup, i fill you up -- ashley: red solo cup for the

creator of that very said cup, robert leo holzeman, he started working at the factory back when he was 18 years old, worked his way all the way up until he succeeded his father as ceo in 1980. remember that toby keith song gave the red solo cup another boost. [laughter] you're looking at me -- >> i'm thinking why at the end of the year is it everyone seems to pass away? especially this year. >> debbie reynolds was 84, he was 84. no? ashley: it's -- he lived a long life, you know? let's say that. a happy life. >> yeah. it's been a tough year. ashley: it has been a tough year. >> it really has. so many deaths. ashley: well, thank you for that. let's segway into -- well, it's true, but i'm just trying to finish on an up note. let's go to the market, that will cheer us up. [laughter] no, it won't, it's down 16 points, we're not going to get to 20,000, are we, unless connell mcshane can kick it

into high gear, but i wouldn't hold my breath. [laughter] we lost about 100 points yesterday. connell, i've got to get some shots in, you've been merciless with me -- connell: knowing your personal history, ashley, there's no better man to pay tribe to the red solo cup in my view. [laughter] ashley: i've had many an orange juice -- [laughter] connell: i'm connell mcshane in for neil, and you know donald trump has been pushing forward with these mans for thousands of what he describes -- plans for thousands of what he describes new jobs over here. and it does appear as if companies are jumping onboard, right. >> we have a combination of sprint for 5,000 jobs, and that's coming from all over the world, and they're coming back into the united states, which is a nice change. and also one web, 3,000 jobs. that's a new company. and it was done through -- [inaudible]