that donald trump is listening, i hope we get those tax cuts, forbes on fox, saturday at 11 a.m. eastern on fox news channel, the star is here, great show everyone. hope you at home will join me every night this week, 6 p.m. we'll see you next time. tom: tonight, president obama slapping russia with new sanctions over their alleged interference in the election. mr. obama kicking out dozens of suspected spies and imposing banking restriction with just 3 weeks left before he leaves office. >> and president-elect trump promising better relations with israel, under his watch. >> we have to -- it set us back, we'll see what happens after january 20. tom: lieutenantcolonel ralph peters said that president obama has a disastrous approach to the middle east. >> critics slamming president

obama for executing another federal plan grab before he leaves office. we have the details. >> good evening, i am tom sullivan in for lou dobbs, obama administration today, announcing it is retaliating against russia over its alleged effort to interfere in our presidential elections, these sanctions just 21 days before president obama leaves office leaving many critics wondering about mr. obama's motiving as. kevin cork is traveling with the president in hawaii with our report. report: 72 hours, that i how long nearly 3 dozen russian diplomats have to leave the nation, after u.s. economy pehled them in -- expelled them in response to alenned russian cyber hacking activity. president obama saying, these actions follow repeated pirate and public warning that we'veed to russian government and are necessary response.

in violation of established international norms of behave york, president said that these actions are not sum total of our expons t response to russia's aggressive activities. the white house has not been shy of accusing vladimir putin for orchestrating the hacks. >> our bottom line is that russia has been engaged in, is unacceptable. it is outside of the inspectornorms of diplomatic behavior. reporter: they agree that russian need to be punished i timing and method got a luke warm reaction.

paul ryan saying -- >> the russians snapped back ridiculing president obama in a tweet from their uk embassy, writing president obama expelled 35 diplomats and cold war deja vu, as everyone including the american people will be glad to see the last of this hapless administration, lame duck. expert worn that sanctions are easy to spot, but the cyber response could befel could could be felt for years. >> in cyberspace they don't have immediate consequences this is a different type of warfare with different types of way to measure it. >> kremlin weighing in on the u.s. move, stating that

president putin will order an appropriate retaliation for u.s. decisions made here today. a symbolic salvo for a president who will be out of office in just a few weeks. wee. tom: we're counting, thank you. >> donald trump tonight responding to obama administration's retaliation against russia over alleged election interference, releasing a statement reading. >> it is time for our country to move on to bigger and better things, nevertheless, in the interest of our country ands if great people, i will meet with leaders of the intelligence community next week to be updated on the facts of this situation. that statement echos comes made by president-elect last night in mar-a-lago, he also hit obama administration over its betrayal of israel at united nations. >> i think israel has been

streeted very unfairly by a lot of different people. you look at regular resolution in united nations, they are up for 20 reprimands and other nations that are horrible places, horrible places that treat people horribly have not been reprimanded. there is something going on, it is unfair to israel. tom: joining me now, former senior adviser to newt gingrich campaign, randy evans, and cliff may, and cliff, this is described as why now? why with just 3 weeks ago? why, the russians have been hacking for decades, why now? >> this is a very good point. keep in mind we have the russians have hacked pentagon, chinese hacked office of personnel management.

millions of people had their records stolen. navy has been hacked by iran, hollywood ban hacked by north korea. this is very little, and very late, but one thing i do hope, i suspect is to cast the presidency of president trump's ca candidacy in doubt. it should cause the new administration to focus on cyber espionage, we should have very strong policies on that, we should make it clear there will be a cyber arms race. we're going to win it, those who attack us will be punished very serially, not today where we have individual company, agents that do not have asset to u.s., they are being sanctioned this is kind of meaningless. tom: that other part, is that head scratcher is because of the fact that all right, so, we'll boot 35 probably russian

intelligence people that we know about, and probably tomorrow the russians boot 35 of oursous of russia. -- ours out of russia it seems almost petty at this time, why done they do something before? >> you are right, you have to ask yourself, why is it now? and answer is really simple, it is reason why world no one in the world takes u.s. seriously any more. if this presented a national security threat to our democracy, you would have thought that president obama would have done more than say, lean over in a private conversation, and say cut it out. he would have stopped to before the election. if it was not that serious why would it warrant punishment after the election. and why not real punishment instead of expelling diplomats e

on eve of trump administration to kick out u.s. diplomats, it. there is why no one takes this president ser usually. he istation one more step to -- he is taking one more step to display his anger they lost the election. this is a repeuding repeud computer raising -- reputing of his policies byes american people. tom: it appears that president is somehow trying to box in vladimir putin. if you really think about it, is he really boxing in do donald trump more? >> i am afraid that is the case. that is a problem. that not what a president

should do in his last weeks in office. he should be doing, would be looking for places where they agree. and handing things off in a way to be more productive that was not the case, in terms of middle east policy. i think that is president obama has left a huge mess that will be very difficult for president trump to clean up. in terps o terms of relations with russia. what an inconvenient time to loses diplomats, and he is mixing appled and oranges. one thing is cyber espionage, the other is misstream of american diplomats in russia. which has been going on a long time to mix the two, it makes it hard for people to understand what is going on. >> is president-elect trump going to be able to clean this mess up on aisle 6 or are -- is it going to take a long time? >> i think that president-elect trump will

move pretty quickly to bring order to things. one order he will bring is just strength. the strength to stand up, say what he means, mean what he says, and not have it be this empty you know rhetoric that goes on with president obama. but the most difficult thing, i agree you tom and cliff is, he has give give putin a cop a convenient excuse for a retaliation. why would you do that to our successor, unless you want to undermine them, how is that good for the united states. it is not. but we're getting to see the real barack obama here. tom: yeah. >> one more thing, hacking of the pentagon, navy, the office of personnel management, that should have been responded to

in a very robust fashion, instead he is responding to the hacking of john podesta's e-mail account. tom: you don't punishes child a month after they have done it, you have to connection the punishment and the action to get the message across. >> thank you. tom: we're coming right back, much more stay with us. >> president-elect trump said that media, is over blowing concerns about potential conflicts of interests with his businesses. >> it is very routine. a very routine thing, not a big deal. tom: his focus, america first. fred barnes will join us next. >> another failure for obama state department, syria agreeing to a nationwide ceasefire back by russia and turkey. but the obama administration had nothing to do with it. we'll take that up, and much more next. stay with us.

i've spent my life planting a size-six, non-slip shoe into that door. on this side, i want my customers to relax and enjoy themselves. but these days it's phones before forks. they want wifi out here. but behind that door, i need a private connection for my business. wifi pro from comcast business. public wifi for your customers. private wifi for your business. strong and secure. good for a door. and a network. comcast business. built for security. built for business. tom: president-elect trump said that media is over blowing concerns about conflicts of interest with his businesses. >> a much bigger business than anybody thought. it is a great business. but, i am going to have

nothing to do with it, it a very simple situation, it's not a big deal. >> mr. trump added he will hold a news conference in early january to discuss how he will divest from his businesses. joining me now, executive editor for weekly sta standard, fred barnes, he said this is simpler than media makes it out, but his disclosure to federal election commission was pages and pages of businesse it looked complex to me. >> it is. and it -- this is not a simple thing. i think that problem that donald trump has, he is being right at his own expense. why does he want to be badgered and persecuted week after week for his presidency by the mainstream media, and democrats, landing on him about potential conflicts of interest and apparent ones and

many actual 1 ones which is what they will do, it would be easier if he would stop that abuse, against him, and say, okay, i'll put my businesses in a blind trust, there are many things he could do. he can just get that out of the way stai spare himself. tom: i am curious to see how he is going to do this. businesses, he can't do a -- not like you have 3 mutuals and an ibm stock, this is all kinds of different bee businesses in the world, you can't sell them even if you put them for sale today it would take years to sell. >> sure. he could head in a direc

direction to show good faith on his part, and he is getting rid of the foundation, he sold all his stock. there is a way, he is not involved in any conflicts of interest. you could argue, trump may argue, if they are not attacking me on this press will attack me on something else, this true. but i think tha this is something that would be wise for him to dispose of quickly. tom: i can hardly wait to see what he comes up with. let me get your take on, business about russian sanctions in 11th hour. >> mm-hmm. well, i agree that they are apprriate, they would ve been several years ago. a numb of people have said, not just republicans. have said, here is the problem doing, a month less than a month before he leaves office.

it has no deterrent affect, the idea of take something sanctions is, it will prevent the russians from doing it, same thing later, because they won't' to have those sanctions, and any punishment again. but, with obama leaving, we get a new president, they can say well, this is just obama. this doesn't affect us. in any serious way. if the russian conclude that, they will be correct. >> tell me i'm crazy, i have a theory, this is with israel, the united nations and russia, donald trump has full plate with domestic policies, he has a lot to fix in our federal government, is this pay attention over throw the foreign affairs into a mess,

so he won't have time to focus on fixing the u.s.? >> well, there are a lot of people, politicians in america, and media that don't have his best interest at heart, that is for sure. i think that donald trump can keep a number of balls in the air effectively, because he has a good idea what he wants to do in middle east with israel, and russia, the domestic stuff is a lot, there is obamacare attack plan. and all -- tax plan, it will be difficult, but this is why you have a cabinet. they have a 100 day plan, they have a 200 day plan. >> that is a really good point, as a businessman he is a huge delegator. >> a great trait to have in a leader, ronald reagan was a very good delegator. he was accused of he does not know what is going on, of

course, he knew what was going on, he just delegated very effectively. if trump can copy that he will be a very successful president. tom: you reminded me very well. he brought in top notch people. >> you read reagan's diaries. and you realize, he knew everything that was going on. and he was a step or two ahead of his aides. tom: very yo under rated in the beginning, fred barnes thank you. >> i enjoyed it top, happy new year. tom: you too, vote in tonight's poll, has any other president done more to embolden our enemies than president obama? what do you think? cast your vote on twitter, @lou dobbs. and follow lou on lou dobbs, like on twitter. like him on facebook, and instagram. other news, joints funeral is

being reportedly in the works for actress debbie reynolds and her daughter carrie fisher. the 84-year-old reynolds surprised us all, died last night after suffering a stroke while planning her daughter's funeral. sources close to family tell tmz they are considering a duel service for reynolds and fisher who died within a day of each other, everyone is talking about it. on wall street stocks edging slightly lower toward as we approach the new year, the dow is down 14, s&p down 1, nasdaq off 6, and volume still light, 2.2 billion shares traded. and listen to lou's reports, 3 times a day, coast-to-coast on the sale sale radio network. >> up next president obama sparking outrage in his final days in office, making last-ditch legacy play by sealing off 1.5 million acres

of land in the west, we'll have a full report, here next. stay with us. but at t. rowe price, we can help guide your retirement savings. so wherever your retirement journey takes you, we can help you reach your goals call us or your advisor t. rowe price. invest with confidence.

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tom: critics were blasting president obama for a move they say amounts on a federal land grab,,bing a midnight executive order to designate 1.55 million acres in utah and nevada as national mon monuments. >> with the western land masses president obama offer a vast parting gift to environmentalists and a parting shot at political rivals. >> this is devastating this is such an ai arrogant land grab, the size is bigger than the state of delaware. the president just unilaterally came in and grabbed that. reporter: the 1.35 million

acres in utah is now called bears ears national monument and nevada gold butte. white house said it will protect quote sacred sites, spectacular seen scenery. senate leader harry reid said i of overjoyed to hear the news, utah's governor was not. >> how do you look at it in utah na than a punishment to the people of utah because we were so overwhelmingly opposed to it. >> administration claims that many native americans support the move. >> have their have been instances where they were sacred sites desecrated and destroyed. >> we're our own government, we have the right to speak over our ancestral land. >> but support for native americans is disputed. >> i met with president of navajo nation about a year and

a half ago he did not know where beer bear's ears was. >> and they said no either did the president, using a wrong picture. prochinpicture. >> with hundreds of other unilateral moves, the new congress hopes to enlist support of new president to undo this one. tom: a big oops there thank you. >> we're coming right back with much more stay with us. >> president-elect trump is looking to privatize department of veterans affairs, promising better treatment for our great veterans. >> i've been saying we're going to take care of our vets, we're going to take care of our vets. tom: charl hurt and lee carter my guests next. >> and this trio taking their passion for danger to scary heights, thrillseekers rejoice, the hair raising jump

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tom: president-elect trump is reportedly moving towards privatizing the department of veterans affairs. the so-called private-public option would allow vets to opt out of the va and seek private

care. >> i don't want to see vets waiting in line for two weeks. >> joining me now, ask charlie hurt and lee carter. this was a big contentious point, a big difference between hillary clinton and done there are election. hillary said no way, we are not letting these veterans out of the veterans administration. no private care of any kinds. >> the va is not effective. it has 350,000 employees, and we have vets waiting for care who are dying while they are waiting for care. there are great things about the va, and the vets who wants specialized care, they should be able to go if they want. these are our vets, they fought

for tour freedom and we should fight for them. >> on my radio show i talked to veterans around the country. some of them say my va is just fine. i have no problems, i get good service, they are great people. others not so much. it seems to me that option would be valuable to some of them. >> that's the beauty of this. it's an option. it's not forcing anybody to do anything. one of the things i love about donald trump taking this approach to this. he's not coming up with this because he had some sort of ideological opposition to the government being involved with this. he has a problem with the fact that the va has done a terrible job in many cases with many veterans and he wants to shake it up and try something different. to me that's a very appealing thing. i would imagine that even though there are probably a lot of vets who are nervous about this and

saying wait a minute, this sort of conservative idea, the private sector does everything better, i understand they would have reservations about that. but this is not taken ideological thing. he wants to do whatever it takes to fix a badly broken system. >> it seems to me this is like the charter cool versus public school argument is to say competition, what about competition. even if your va does a decent job, lit keep them on their toes to keep the veterans coming back to see them. >> people are afraid of a single payer system in the healthcare system. to say we need options to keep things competitive. one of the things donald trump does so well, he's good at creating big picture policies. it will give everybody attention. he says the va needs to be fixed. now he's going to say i'm going to do something extreme about

it. he might yet still compromise in some ways, but he's throwing out there, this needs to be fixed. i think it's a great beginning. >> we haven't heard a lot of the details about obamace and the fix that's going to be made. there is a lot of work to be done on that. but could this lead to a public option sort of thing for everybody to say you want to be in the government program? okay. or you want to go out and buy your own insurance in the marketplace? >> i think absolutel and i said thifr the beginning. if you are a conservative you are not going to like everything donald trump does. everybody willavto, you know, acce some things they don't like in the compromises he makes. but i think your analogy to the charter skies an excellent one. there is nothing the government hates and bureaucrats hate more than competition.

but the funny thing happens when you have competition. students and patients almost always wind up far better served if the people taking care of them or the people teaching them have to compete and prove that they are providing the best service possible. tom: during the break before we came back on camera, you said something about, oh, my gosh, what a mess. i said the world is already a mess, it just seems messier. >> the last two days, what john kerry did talking about israel and today the russian sanctions, we are getting into a place where things are getting messier and messier. it's leaving donald trump in a difficult situation. with israel it looks like they will be pleads with donald trump coming in and who knows what will happen with russia.

>> it's getting to the point where what's barack obama going to do next? >> lee is right. it's getting worse and worse. but i have to say, i can think of a more fitting end to an 8-year presidency that has been an absolute disaster, a rotting disaster on the global stage over the past 8 years, than to have them having these temper tantrums, screaming fits, and all of it is for naught. none of it amounts to anything. donald trump will be able to reverse just about all of it. er in having their temper tantrums screaming because they are not getting their way. tom: when somebody goes out the door, they are going to remember the last things you did. i think for a long time -- he's creating his own legacy. charlie hurt, lee carter, thank you very much. be sure to vote in tonight's

poll. has any other president done more to embolden our enemy than president obama? cast your vote on twitter @loudobbs. watch this trio of sky divers jump off a nearly 1,400 foot building in dubai, dangerously close to the building before releasing their parachutes. all three made a landing before their stunning ride through the sky. the potential break through in the syrian civil war that ravaged the country for six years. we'll have the details. lieutenant colonel ralph peters will join us as well. your insurance company

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tom: syria reaching a turning point in its 6 year long civil war. a ceasefire is in effect. the truce was reached without any input from the obama state department. gregg palkot has our report. reporter: it could be the first ceasefire in the 6 year long syrian civil war it calls for

the syrian government and many opposition groups to lay down their weapons. >> this is a notable result of our joint work and it's by the defense and foreign ministries. >> syria announced a nationwide halt in fighting which left hureds of thousands dead and millions displaced in syria and around the world. moderate rebels also agreed. >> no part of it remains apart. reporter: excluded from the deal, isis and al qaeda both very active. but principle supporters from both sides have agreed to halt their offensive activities including the fighting in aleppo is significant. >> the people who struck it

makes it significant and interesting. reporter: left out in the cold, the obama administration. even though it had been active back those same moderate rebels. however, when it comes to a future administration -- >> i would like to express the hope that when donald trump's administration comes on duty which they would also be able to join these efforts. reporter: there is even anti-u.s. sniping from nato member and u.s. ally turkey who claims the u.s. has been arming isis and kurdish forces in syria, denied by washington. >> unfortunately the coalition forces do not keep their promises. reporter: a message from the state department called the ceasefire a positive development and hopes through future talks that it will houston implemented and respected.

also admitted the u.s. was not a part of the negotiations. tom: joining me now, fox news strategic analyst lieutenant colonel raffl -- ralph peters. i want to focus on the strategic part. has vladimir putin to use military terms, outextra jieds. out -- outstrategized and outfranked the u.s. foreign policy? >> putin is brilliant. he humiliated two u.s. presidents an looks forward to manipulating a third if he can. all parties and presidents come to office believing they can deal with putin. he's ruthless and he's not an honorable man.

he's a mortal enemy because he has chosen to be. his russian interests as he sees them diverge completely from our own. he would like our air force to do the job against isis so he doesn't have to. tom: tell me about the strategy that vladimir putin and erdogan have gotten together and created a ceasefire in syria. where does that leave us with turkey being a member of nato? >> it's not just turkey and russia. the third player was iran. what we have seen because of the utter neglect and disinterest, the indecisiveness and timidity of the obama administration, the united states has been driven out of the middle east. turkey has turned away from us. perhaps decisively. iran is now the dominant regional power. the new regional hegemony is

russia. the on role left for us which russia is glad to see us play is taking care of isis for them so they don't have to in iraq and syria. when isis is finally beaten into the ground in a few years when ere isot' left on thered than rag tag holdouts. we'll be asked to leave iraq. we won't have a role in syria. and we have lost without even putting up a struggle. it's gotten so bad that even bibi netanyahu has had to mend fence and go repeatedly to moscow. our enemies do not fear us, our allies do not trust us, and we are in retreat around the globe. tom: what happens from here. the sanctions, the last-minute 11th hour small potatoes sanctions, what do they do?

>> it's another one of obama's gestures. he loves rhetorical flourishes and empty gestures. i'm glad for any signs towards russia. but this was strictly tactical stuff. sanctioning individuals. if you want to have a strategic effect, you go after russia's weak point which is the economy. the sanctions russia placed on russia have hurt badly in tandem with lower oil prices. prices. russia needs oil at $8 $ -- ata barrel to make their economy to work. putin wants a big military buildup, but i can't afford it. if we lift sanctions as a gesture of goodwill toward

vladimir putin, he will build up his milita while continuing to use ours cynically. >> you are talking money and it's exactly right. that's what brought down the old soviet union. he needs the money to build his military. >> in the i am mortal words of cyndi lauper, money changes everything. tom: has president-elect trump publicly buried the hatchet with barack obama? >> we are getting along well except for a few statements. nobody is going to know because we won't be going against each other in that way. tom: nice talk, but there is still signs of strain remaining. bloom ...at t. rowe price...

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tom: in our online poll we asked you, are you relieved we'll soon have a president who defense our allies andtands up for working class amicans? 97% of you said you bet. joining me, guy benson and rachael campos duffy. let's start with the trump

derangement syndrome. charlie sheen has put out a tweet saying -- he's talking about all the celebrities that are dying. dear god, trump next, please. >> you can imagine if th w said about barack obama what would have helped. even charlie sheen has said he's surprised that others are commenting or even care about his tweets which i think is kind of funny. he is kinds of a loser so i'm not worried about what he has to say. but there is a hypocrisy about it because fit had been said about barack obama it would have been serious. tom: charlie sheen is losing his relevance. maybe that's what this is about. >> i don't understand the impulse. when someone famous dies people responds to the tragedy and say

let me name some politicians i hate and hope they die next. i strongly dislike our current president. but this man is a far it and husband. i want him out of office, i don't want him off the face of the earth. what's wrong with these people? there is something in your soul that needs fixing. tom: it's wa deeper th what i have. if i don't like someone, it doesn't mean i want them dead. >> the entire sheen family has been unhinged about the trump presidency. >> and it hasn't started yet. hillary clinton alone -- this a photo going around that shows hillary sitting in a restaurant. do we have that photo? there she is. sitting there reading her emails -- how appropriately, on a cell phone.

i don't know which cell phone, but one of her cell phones. is she going away? this was someplace out in the boonies? >> i have state children. i saw that photo and i thought that looks pretty nice. sitting alone by myself. my husband is a politician. when people lose, the first few weeks are tough. but then they discover they have forgot brand-new their other life. i think that's what she'll be doing. she is moving on aa lot more gracefully than barack obama and her husband have. tom: what do you think hillary is going to do? is she overdone or plotting a comeback. >> i hope she runs again. she should run again. the third time is a charm. just leave her alone. she lost.

she'll never be the president. the dream is dead. let her have her salad and tap away at her iphone in peace. tom: your comments on all these 11th hour moves by president obama? >> whether it's seven days he made the last thing or seven years ago, i think donald trump will undo anything barack obama has put forward in front of him. if it's going to come in the way of his agenda. i'm not too worried trump will be stiestled by what obama is doing. these graceless hours of his presidency. tom: i have this theory what obama is trying to do is distract trump from domestic and focus him on foreign. >> i do think what this administration just did to israel is more difficult to unwind because of the dynamics

that shift at the u.n. security council and it's unforgivable. tom: that's it for tonight. join us tomorrow. am balances doer john bolton and steve forbes are our guests. hope you can tune in. kennedy: this word president-elect trump is going to privatize the va. but after the high-profile scandals there, what is the best direction information our vets. we are days away from the ball drop on new year's eve. a counterterrorism expert on how to stay safe. do you ever wonder how much of your charity donations go to the people who need it? grab a bell, time to ring it. last night we learned debbie reynolds died within a day of her daughter carrie fi