week. yes, let's get some final thoughts if our all-star panel. who wants to startments start. >> i want you to know i'm staying home with my kids and not doing anything crazy. >> next year the markets, patience and fortitude. >> thank you very much. >> you've got it. >> now time for "varney & company," all yours. ashley: thank you, sandra, i hope the bubbly is still in studio d when this show is over, i'm going to hot foot it up there. i'm ashley webster in for stuart varney. relations with russia, obama saying russia hacked the election and russia responds saying obama is a lame duck, and showing signs of paranoia. putin says he won't retaliate, he's waiting for donald trump to be president. the new normal beefed up security ahead of new year's

eve. times square surrounded by concrete barriers and hundreds of trucks, police taking no chances. what about dow 20k, wa, wa, not happening this year. look how far we've come. let's not be down about it, up almost 2400 points, and this, the trump rally, the dow up 1500 points since donald trump won back on november 8th. this one, your hopes for 2017, go to the "varney & company" facebook, rage and tell us your hopes for america in the next year and we'll hear some of the comments read on air and we want to know what you're thinking. it's the very last "varney & company" show this year and it starts right now. ♪ three words, i really don't care for, happy new year.

here is my new year toast, prosperity, liberty, freedom. ain't no platitudes on this show! >> there you have it, stuart's last i know he's probably watching somewhere and don't want to upset him. no 20k unless there's some remarkable rally. we're up at from money to politics, the white house pointing directly at russia, rye administration publicized that russia took actions intended to interfere with the u.s. election process. those data thefts could only be directed by the highest levels of the russian government, vladimir putin. well, here is russia's response. quoting. >> we talked about it for several years, the people who lived in the white house for

eight years are not an administration, but a group of angry and short-sighted foreign policy losers. ouch! cheryl casone jones us, what's russia doing now? >> we've got breaking news for you, ashley, just a statement from vladimir putin and it's a pretty lengthy statement, but i'm just looking at this for the first time. we regard the recent unfriendly steps taken by the outgoing administration provocative and aimed at further weakening the russian-u.s. relationship contrary to the fundamental interest of the russian and american people. it's a pretty long statement, but he's basically coming back against the obama administration. >> they're not going to retaliate. they will not resort to irresponsible diplomacy, our further steps to restore-- >> the kremlin is not-- >> what's interesting, we're kicking out 35 russian diplomates from the embassy in washington and san francisco consulate.

the russian subordinates told vladimir putin we need to do the same kick out 35 diplomates. putin says, i'm not going to, i'm waiting for donald trump. what makes it interesting, that makes it an awkward situation for donald trump? >> maybe, but it's awkward for obama. it looks petty and pointless exspelling of diplomates. in the past there's been a tit for tat response, putin outfoxed obama. he's not only not kicking out diplomates he's invited the u.s. children to a new years celebration in the kremlin. if that's not a bigger than we are move. >> going to the rest of putin's statement. he says moreover, i invite all children of u.s. diplomates to the new yeears christmas and new

years parties in the kremlin. >> that's funny. ashley: what does trump do? the intelligence community says there's no doubt at that russia hacked and tried to influence the election this year. as a result they took action, now putin says, well, what does donald trump think? donald trump said basically let's move on. >> yeah, and in fact the country is ready to move on from, let's face it, we're still talking about the outcome of the election. the fact is, i think that obama is basically having a temper tantrum and he's flailing around, securing his legacy in improbable ways,s' angry he lost the election and yes, he lost the election because hillary was his choice. however, let's go back to russia. what should trump do? trump should make it very clear that he will not count nance the hacking and interference in our institutions. ashley: got to love -- move on.

>> do you rescind sanctions and let the diplomates come to the u.s. >> no one's going to miss 35 diplomates from the russians. they will bring in other people. it's time to have a conversation about what is per miserable permissible and what is not. >> and they'll have an opening for the new administration. ashley: apparently, russia wanted donald trump as president and helped do that, if you believe that. look at this for an op-ed, trump is handed a great economy. what happens when it goes south? boy, they're a real optimistic bunch, aren't they at "the washington post"? let's bring in economics professor peter morici to join us now. and it's like they're almost willing donald trump to fail. what if the economy does south on donald trump? right now there's so much optimism.

>> well, what we have here is some liberal hacks that jeff bezos' rag painting up an economy being better than it is. i mean, we did have 3.5% growth in the third quarter because of a dead cast bounce off a bad first half. the whole year the economy grows 2%. we're not going to have a great fourth quarter. as a consequence, basically, they're telling a lie. trump is not inheriting a great economy, he's inheriting more of the same. it's tough to improve on initially because it's very difficult for a team that doesn't understand washington that will be out of its element to get tax cuts through and deregulation rolling given the bureaucratic quagmire involved and get an infrastructure program out and things like that. it's going to take time to get up to the running speed. this is going to be very much like the carter administration. there's going to be a long shakedown cruise with these guys.

ashley: peter, 20 days now until president obama leaves office. what exactly is the legaciy he's leaving behind? >> not a terribly good one. a terrible recovery, wage growth 40% of what it was over the last three recoveries. we have 7 million men unemployed and not looking for work, between the ages of 25 and 54, prime working age, just giving up, totally despondent. among them we have an opium addiction, an opioid addiction, going to illegal street drugs, suicide rates e up. life expectancy is falling. this sous like a developing country that just had a commodity tank. ashley: do you blame president obama for the opioid crisis and suicide rates? >> it's happening in reading,

pennsylvania, devastated by the chinese effect and this is not a big city problem it's a moderate city problem and then on the other end, you have a youth problem. middle age men are committing suicide and we have a youth problem, so many young people can't pay their college debt. 40% of our student debt is now in arrears. it's not current or in default. 1.3 trillion dollars. i mean, we don't have hope for the future, it's like italy. we have a declining population, really, in a lot of ways that we have to rely on immigration, this is not a healthy economy. you can't solve your problems if you behave like "the washington post," the wall street journal and new york times. out to get donald trump. you can't believe that way. ashley: i'm a little depressed after all of that. i don't know about you, but-- >> the thing is we have a new team coming in. we have a new team coming in.

ashley: let's look forward, optimism, prosperity, growth. >> right, this is the end of the year. the program going, the economy mr. grow. ashley: we're leaving all of that behind. thank you very much. appreciate it. and this, "star wars" fans honoring carrie fisher with a vigil in anaheim, california, the original disney, holding light sabers in the air. and ahead of new year's eve, times square surrounded by concrete barriers and trucks, concrete trucks, is this the new normal? ♪

>> three, two, one!

♪ if i make it there, i'll make it anywhere ♪ ♪ it's up to you new york, new york ♪ >> frank sinatra. going to be a whole lot more crowded than that tomorrow evening. you're getting a live look at times square one day before the big celebration to bring in the new year, but in the wake, of course, of recent terror attacks in nice and berlin where vehicles were used to slam into large crowds. security is, well, as expected, beefed up. adam, exactly how are they doing that? >> there are 7,000 additional law enforcement officers on patrol and expected to be 2 million people in the city in new york city to enjoy it. >> i don't know what's enjoyable about being in there and rain. and you can't leave the square

for a bathroom break. a warning to the people. >> the new york marathon did the same thing filling trucks with sand. it's quite a sight. ashley: it's the new normal as we say and of course, we understand why. back to politics, continued tension between the obama administration and israel after abstaining at a u.n. security council vote which said israeli settlements were illegal. there was a speech, and benjamin netanyahu said it was based against israel. joining us is zuhdi jasser, thank you for joining us. bottom line here, are we abandoning one of our fewer allies in that part of the worrell. >> it wasn't just the speech, ashley, it's been the entire administration's mantra to do the bidding for the islamist movement, the islamic talking points, if you will, from iran

to the muslim brotherhood of egypt to saudi arabia. that has been the focus, no, forget the fact that israel is a secular democracy our only ally in the middle east. no, we will use the talking points of the islamic republic of iran and hold to their tyranny to their theocracy, that needs to have-- after the holocaust and world war ii, we'd punish these instead of getting those in the house of islam, they ignore that. instead the people whispering into the ears of obama and kerry. ashley: secretary kerry making the statement that you can't be both jewish and democratic, a strange statement. what is your thought on that? >> complete ignorance.

they have 1 million muslims in israel that have she ria courts and more freedom than any of the countries around them and ignoring the theocracies around them and they won't talk about islam and whether it's compatible with democracy and we put our only ally in democracy on notice in a stem winding speech in a passive aggressive fashion before they leave. this pathology of linkage of the palestinian community and inability to reform against hamas with that solution being an anti-israel position of america, is just path logical and will be the legacy of the obama administration. ashley: indeed, it will. zuhdi, i want to get to this before we say goodbye. you've been a target of repeated attacks by frankly internet trolls and other muslims call you a zionist and

anti-palestinian. why are they angry and how you respond? >> the great hijacking othe 20th and 21st century, the pal al issue and make it a muslim collectivist issue, we are their greatest threats, we're about tough love, about saying it's a localized issue, it's not an islamic issue, that the hamas charter needs reform, but, no, when i speak out, i got targeted in my own mosque, it wasn't just the trolls on-line and twitter, social media my own mosque in imam says there's a doctor locally who speaks out against the palestinians, because i said on fox news that hamas needs to be held accountable for their aggression, so they make examples of us and when people say we're the voices of moderate islam, we are pushed and marginalized and threatened and that's why are you see why are muslims more fearful speaking up against the

hijacking of our community. ashley: zuhdi jasser, thank you. >> thank you, ashley. ashley: listen to this, the new immigrant, legal or otherwise is added to the u.s. population every 33 seconds. we'll have more on that in just a moment. meanwhile, a thief in philadelphia breaking into a kohl's store with, well, it's not subtle, a sledgehammer stealing more than $100,000 worth of diamonds and jewelry, can't spend much on the setup. the robbery caught on surveillance. police still looking for the man. a simple approach. >> with a paper bag. >> a paper bag and a sledgehammer. you've heard about a leap year and what about a leap second. we get an extra second and some people are fearing it will wreak havoc on commuter systems around the world. y2k, anyone? ♪ it's the end of the world as

we know it ♪ ♪ and i feel fine ♪ hey nicole. hey! i just wanted to thank your support team for walking me through my first options trade. we only do it for everyone gary. well, i feel pretty smart. well, we're all about educating people on options strategies. well, don't worry, i won't let this accomplishment go to my head. i'm still the same old gary. wait, you forgot your french dictionary. oh, mucho gracias. get help on options trading with thinkorswim, only at td ameritrade.

won't replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car because you'll get the full value back including depreciation. make the switch and find out why 96% of our customers

are satisfied with liberty mutual. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. >> all right. next one for you, new study from the census bureau, the united states adds immigrants, legal or not every 33 seconds

to the population. liz, what do you make of this, a gee-whiz fact or-- . >> it's a gee-whiz fact, the reality one of the issues in the election is the fact that wages have not grown, commensurate with most recoveries and part of the reason is because we have this unending inflow of labor, basically, which has kept particularly low income people from seeing a wage increase. ashley: wages down. >> now we're in the process of artificially boosting that minimum wage to compensate from that, but that's actually, if you wind the clock back, yes, and particularly illegal immigration, it's certainly a safety issue, but in terms of the low income people in this country, it's definitely an economic issue, too, which had to be reckoned with. ashley: and i made the point that this country is built on immigrants. you know, they came through ellis island and it's done in an orderly fashion, not streaming across the border, we don't know who they are, where

they are and what they're doing. >> it's a healthy thing that we have immigration. compared to most the countries in western europe, we have a growing population and encourages a growing economy and it's very important to that growing economy, but it needs to be controlled. and that, i think, is kind of where this whole discussion falls apart because that's not the uniform view. >> see what donald trump does. >> exactly, that's why it's an important issue. ashley: going to build a beautiful wall. michigan firefighters rescuing a dog that fell through thin ice, it happens every year, oh. the dog struggling to climb out and hyperthermia setting in, but firefighters rescuing their lives to pull it to safety. >> just wanted to go for a swim. ashley: went for fun and a happy ending. we're probably not hitting dow 20k, i think you realize that. look how far we've come, the dow up 2400 this year and we are he about to go up more. you can watch it happen next.

>> the opening bell is going to be ringing in 30 seconds from nowment they're already clapping down there on wall street. the last trading day of 2016. no, we haven't managed to hit the 20,000 mark and you, the viewers are sick of us talking about it so we're not going to

talk about it, but i just did. however, it's been a good year for the dow up nearly 2400 points. the s&p, nasdaq, hitting records along the way especially in the wake of donald trump winning the presidential election back on november the 8th. we've seen all sorts of gains, the question, are they going to carry over. ♪ >> i like that dramatic music. here we go, off to the races, futures suggested maybe up 30 points or so in the early going. 15 points up, 19, 838 as we mentioned before, up 2,300 some odd points this year. the beginning of january, it was awful, we were selling off, but we turned it around nicely indeed. you can see the dow 30 there, pretty much mixed. some up, some down, some unchanged in the middle. okay, let's bring in our all-star, i mean, all-star panel, cheryl casone, adam

shapiro, liz peak to my left. and big gains, so much for 20k. let's begin with larry levin. are we making too much of this? >> yes, i think we are making too much of that, especially on fox business, talking about it every day. at least it won't be talked about soon because i think we'll reach 20k thxt couple of weeks and then we'll talk about 21k. ashley: oh, you're right. every time he introduces jeff sica, he calls you a perma-bear. you're a pragmatist. >> that's what i want to be introduced as from now on. ashley: where do the markets go from here, strong dollar, big problem, european banks, big prem and the central bank asset bubble created, big problem. >> right. ashley: you're a party-pooper.

>> i'm going to be just as much of a party-pooper today. i think a lot of what's come out of this, this was a rally that was entirely fueled by this momentum. and now that the momentum has slowed down, you are having investors looking a the some of the clouds on the horizon, that, you know, with the market that's been so-- the theme being ignorance is bliss. when the momentum runs out -- sometimes i do. when the bliss runs out and the momentum fades, you start to look at things that are major concern, name the interconnecttivity of european banks is a main issue. ashley: you're a perma-bear. i'm sorry. you're a perma-bear. let's move on. you know how stuart loves to talk about tech. here is how the big names did this calendar year, amazon up 13%.

google up 3%, modest. facebook? well, that's gained 11% on the year so far with one trading day left. microsoft this brought a smile to stu's face and he owns a slivers as we talk about. all we talk about, not 20k, is tech stocks. they've done well. best performing stocks this year, caterpillar, united health and goldman sachs. nicole, let's start with caterpill caterpillar. nicole: i'm right here. hey. ashley: there you go, it was a dramatic pause. nicole: look at you, right. everybody thought that caterpillar would be a dud. there were worries about it, bucks the trend. there was a write-up in the beginning of the year, caterpillar was likely to be a laggard of 2016. it was a complete miss because in the end it did so well, it

jumped this year for 2016, caterpillar was up over 37%. anybody would be happy with that one. and after losing value prior to that, but it really gave a warning, but don't worry about it, this year was a great one for caterpillar, united health, also, number two winner, up 37% as well. of course, i will note goldman sachs, chevron, j.p. morgan all up over 30%, they had to trade in the dow 20,000 hats. take a look what's going on, instead, you know what they're doing? they're doing these glasses instead. it's got a 20, but it's 2017 glasses and you can see they're wearing them and having fun, there's a great ambiance here today. no doubt dow 20,000, but so what. ashley: appreciate that. i want a wear of those glasses. looking good in them. let's look at the banks and

goldman sachs how much it's contributed to the banks and how they've performed. it's a game with jp morgan up. and the chart is nicely going up and j.p. morgan up 30%. bank of america struggled for a long time and the stock price has gone up nicely as you can see, gone up 30% on the year. goldman sachs, we have been talking about gs up 32% on the year. pretty good. how do the banks look, larry levin? higher interest rates, getting more money back on loans, deregulation, i would imagine for banks it took pretty good, 2017? >> it does look pretty good and that's probably why you're seeing the stocks continue to rise even now, ashley, is that 2017 will be a good year for goldman sachs, for bank of america. bank of america is trading up to $22. i think it was a surprise when i looked the other day, but all of these stocks want to go higher on that nice,

deregulation is going to be a big deal and higher interest rates the same thing. ashley: liz, you've been around the banking community, the change in the white house? >> look, the obama administration has been really hostile to the banking sector because they were channelling america's anger at the presumed cause of the financial crisis. but banks were not alone in causing the crisis. the regulations and rules has really been a problem for the economy. basically banks are not able to lend except to the highest quality standards so a lot of small and mid cap companies are not able to borrow money and invest and expand. it's important to loosen regulations. we're not rolling back dodd-frank, we're redefining, and becoming more generous defining the terms. it's important for everybody that the banks succeed. >> especially the small businesses. >> the small community banks have done well after the

financial crisis because the big banks were under so much pressure. you may see a reverse in the small bank, they may have have problem because you're going to have a lot of business going over to-- >> my guess is that the regulators are going to be favorably disposed towards smaller banks. in terms of mergers and frankly in terms of acquisitions because they have been really negative on big banks buying anybody. that's not been allowed. so, to the extent that maybe some of the companies would be available to buy? >> give me one merger and i've got dow 20k. ashley: oh, you went there. no more dow 20k. talking about stocks, i want to go around and get everybody's stock pick. jeff sica? >> no, i actually like disney. disney has had the worst performance they've had in five years, their box office growth this year has been about 6 billion, which is tremendous,

they've made four of the six top blockbuster films have been disney. ashley: what about espn and the cable? >> that's. ashley: cord cutters. >> i believe that espn and the negativity, as you know, espn owns-- disney owns 80% of espn. espn has been suffering massively. ashley: yes. >> and i believe it's dragged down disney. what i believe is going to happen is there's going to be mandates coming from the top of disney that are going to-- they're going to make espn stay off the politics and focus on the sports. ashley: they have become very political. >> they've become political and i believe that people watch sports and espn in particular to escape reality. ashley: they want sports. >> they want sports and they weren't getting it. i believe a turn around. ashley: very interesting. liz, what about you? >> i would say that the financials are the sector i would be looking at, really, they've been beaten up so long ap valuations are sort of back to more historical levels, but

i think there's room to go and quickly with interest rates going up and upward yield curve, i would look for an etf that has the best financial names it it. ashley: larry levin, mr. tesla, he owns how many? >> two teslas. ashley: and larry, what do you like for the new year? >> i like amazon, quick reasons, one, they own on-line shopping, who they execute exceptionally well and except for microsoft, it's stuart's favorite stock. ashley: very good and diplomatic as well. well done, larry. twitter can't seem to make a buck, they're thinking about adding an edit button. details, adam? >> mr. dorsey says the suggestion, i would say complaint, but the suggestion they get most often from their customers and clients, we want to edit previously posted tweets so he's been tweeting that perhaps an edit function is now--

>> how good that for donald trump? [laughter]. >> i wasn't going to go there, but thank you. oh, that's funny. anyway, moving on to apple, the iphone and ipad apparently were a big hit with holiday shoppers. do you have any numbers? >> what we're getting, you look at activations of devices and how they've been coming through, in particular since christmas day, big surge and really good for apple especially for the iphone. looks like the iphone was a popular gift for the holiday. these are early numbers and we're not getting any numbers from apple themselves, obviously, but analysts are thinking that wait a minute, it's going to be apple. am samsung things. >> how about our tech guru, larry, how many iphones do you own? >> i'm an android guy. but i'll give you an idea why iphone is, no one was buying

the note after they were exploding. ashley: you will have to wait a second longer for the ball to drop on new year's eve in times square, why? because of ocean waves? what the heck. >> as large and monstrous as our world is, the earth, it actually does slow down a little bit because of the waves around the earth. this is very scientific and i'm not a scientist. they're going an add to second to 2017 because time has to stay on track for the next thousands and thousands of years way after we're all gone. ashley: now people are saying there could be y2k implications. we know how that worked. >> how will it affect devices

and computer systems around the world, like y2k. ashley: what are you going to do with your extra second, jeff sica, make another dire predtion. >> i think i'll use my extra second to become a little more optimistic this year. ashley: like the sound of that. a second is all it will take. ms. peek, will you in the crowd around the corner? >> no, thank you, i'm sure i'll be asleep, but that will not be for me. ashley: adam, do you go into the big crowds? >> absolutely not. i see a big crowd, go the other way. you've covered that. ashley: hopefully no riots tomorrow night. thank you, jeffrey, liz, thank you so much as always. let's check with the big board. it down a whooping 8 points. it's been that kind of week and i know that adam shapiro is looking and saying i told you so. 19, 807.

you've been telling your hopes for 2017. this from roger, prosperity under a trump-driven economy, the good economy cures a lot of the country's ills. amen to that. and this is sebastian, our own sebastian, he says trump is about to embark on a huge foreign policy reset. friends will be friends, he says, and enemies will be enemies. we'll hear from him next. ♪

>> governor romney, i'm glad you recognize al qaeda is a threat. because when you were asked what was the biggest threat, you said russia, not al qaeda,

russia and the 1980's are asking for their foreign policy back because the cold war has been over for 20 years. . ashley: then candidate mitt romney said russia was a major foe. he was laughed at by president obama and now mr. obama has just placed more sanctions on the russians not seen since, well, the cold war. let's bring in sebastian, authority of the jihad. great to see you. i find it interesting today that vladimir putin made an interesting strategic move, not expelling u.s. diplomates in retaliation out of russia, saying i'm going to wait for donald trump. what do you make of this whole situation? >> it's quite surprising. we have yet to see any prove that links the kremlin to something that really is hacking in the united states election, we know that the

wikileaks were of e-mails that john podesta wrote, not the u.s. government and nobody has said they are false, therefore it's not hacking if it's a leak. again, is it a case of simply the administration throwing gasoline on a fire? look what they did with israel, could this be simply another petulant way to make donald trump's first days in office more difficult than they have to be? very hard to understand the logic here, ashley. ashley: yeah, it's going to be somewhat of an awkward situation for donald trump. what does he do, pull back on the sanctions and try to wipe the slate clean. of course, we have to put up the shirtless, vladimir putin. what does he do? he doesn't want to seen to be weak and feed the conspiracy theory that russia wanted him as u.s. president and fulfilling the fears of his critics. >> well, if you listen to the statements president-elect trump has made and listen to the words of his national

security advisor designate, lieutenant general mike flynn, there are key watch words that the u.s. administration will be using. number one that we hear again and again and again, that they're not interested in making new enemies, they're not here to destabilize and do rash things as the obama administration did in the middle east and elsewhere. so that's guide point number one. secondly, there's marine corps motto from the first division, and three of our members of the administration are leading the marines from that division and the phrase that the trump administration has kind of embraced is no better friend, no worst enemy. they're not in the business of provoking the hornets nest, but we will see american leadership again. we won't see the vacuum the last eight years of rudderless craft from the white house.

ashley: and you had mentioned israel and of course, we have more diplomatic conflict in that part of the world as wellment you say that trump can turn this around, that he'll do a 180 on that policy? >> yeah, my expectation is to see january the 20th bring a complete sea change in how we do state craft into the united states. the fact is, there is no reason to do what happened with israel in the last few days. president-elect trump has been clear, israel is an important ally, it's our friend and we will be supported. we can't undo the u.n. security council resolution, but there are many things that america, as the largest financier of the united states can do. ashley: the threat of taking away almost 25% funding of the u.n. sebastian, as always, we appreciate it. >> happy new year. ashley: you, too. we've been telling your hopes for 2017. we asked and you delivered.

from jim, put the obama years behind us and become a more unified nation. ashley: amen, sounds good. man made diamonds, grow them in a lab, wear them in a ring. more varney next. ♪ your insurance company

won't replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car because you'll get the full value back including depreciation. and if you have more than one liberty mutual policy, you qualify for a multi-policy discount, saving you money on your car and home coverage. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance.

>> our next guest is in the diamond business, but they don't mine them, oh, no, they make them in a lab. through a special process using high pressure and temperature. the co-owner of ada diamonds is with us. i've got one of these in my little hand here, 60,000 bucks worth. it's not cubic zirconia. >> no, it's not. >> you're going to break the back of debeers. >> we believe it can co-exist with the earth grown diamonds.

they're pure diamonds. stuart: you can make as many as you can. why are you limited? >> two things that limit it. one, it's fairly expensive to match the output from mines you'd have to invest a trillion dollars over ten years and you'd have to basically expand enormously because the machines are expensive to operate and build. diamonds take time to grow and you can't speed up physics. stuart: if i go into a jewelry store and say i want a grown diamond. do i get a discount on the price? >> typically you'll see very small and large man made diamonds 10 to 30% off. and demand outstrips most of the supply and pricing is-- >> i get a discount. it looks, i'm serious now, this looks fabulous. >> thank you. stuart: i obviously cannot tell and i get a discount on the price. , you're going to take over the market, surely.

>>l, like i said, it's limited how much you can produce every year. mined diamonds come out of the earth in the tens of millions and laboratory diamonds come out in the hundreds of of thousands. stuart: is the jeweler or you obligated to tell me this is not from a mine, it's man made? >> we proudly tell our customers. stuart: does the jeweler? >> the jeweler does have an obligation. the entire laboratory grown industry by third party gemological associations. it's complete disclosures. stuart: but it loses its specialty because some guy didn't use a pick ax you grew it in a line. >> it's a pair gone of human achievements over six years of development to get to one of the most amazing technologies of man kind. i am like it and i might get

one. and they're interesting and thank you very much for being with us. >> thanks for having me. stuart: gotcha. we'll be back. . .

ashley: it is 10 a.m. here own the east coast. 7:00 a.m. in california. i'm ashley webster in for stuart. he is back here on tuesday by the way. here are the big stories we're following today. president obama kicking out russian diplomats because of dnc hacking. we'll ask the question what about syria, ukraine, other things russia is involved in? perhaps too little too late. we'll discuss. the new year just ahead in 2017. a look at times square in manhattan. it was huge year for stocks and bigger year for politics. that boy, that is an understatement. which brings me with this. out with the old, in with the new. president trump's inauguration is a few weeks away. president promised a lot.

how much can he get done. congress is back january third. they're ready to bo. so are we. second hour of varney starts right now. ♪ ashley: well we started this week with i said hope in my heart and a dream. we thought we would hit 20-k. well we didn't. we're down on the last trading day of 2016, down 23 points. kind of hanging in there. you can see the dow jones off 22. 19,798. even under the 800 level. good year for the dow. don't get discouraged. it is up 13% over the calendar year. but the question, more gains in the new year. that is the question being debated. is this a natural pause, investors taking a breath or has the trump momentum run out? what do you think? >> i think a good sign we're seeing calm market.

not seeing 20-k, that would be fun we had graphics we spent money on. ashley: blew a whole year's graphics. you get sensitive market. we don't have that now. that is a good sign. people develop fee confident in stocks. ashley: don't want to make big moves right at year's end, do they, adam? >> absolutely not the time to take any risk. time to be risk off. ashley: what happens in the new year with the crystal ball, that is the big question. >> not that really. ashley: you said march. >> march. you need congress to get in line with the administration. they're not walking the same path just yet. mr. trump wants a huge trillion dollar spending infrastructure plan. congress is saying well, let's scale that down. march. ashley: proof of the pudding is in the eating. president obama announcing sanctions in russia following interference in the election he says. tammy bruce joins us now for the hour. great to see you, tammy. does this seem more like sour

grapes on the president? should we do something with regard to russia? where is the proof of the hacking? so many questions. >> sour grapes. timing of course is interesting. what we know russia has been doing this to us at least since 2012, along with china, going into all of our websites. obamacare, white house, senate, office of personnel management. it has been massive yet nothing has been happening. we know about the spice that have been rejected they have been operating. two safe houses, reagan shut down one of them during his term. you kick people out. they come back in. even "the new york times" says this is an attempt to box in trump. ashley: yes. >> so when you're -- must not be so serious if in fact the target is the incoming president and not the tyrant you allege is trying to undermined american democracy? this is barack obama's problem. his style has been to win the news cycle by doing as little as possible. ashley: until the very end where

shows little grace. throws a bunch of hot potatoes in donald trump's lap. >> he is stuck, if he reverses it he is friend of russia. he is a deal maker. i would anticipate russia doing something maybe an apology of some sort or gives back something to that donald trump can say look, i have taught them something. now we can have normal relations again. that is his goal to have a decent relationship with nations around the world and russian situation i think will get better. it is now at cold war status. that is what obama given us. i think mr. trump gives us something better. ashley: stay right there, tammy. have plenty more for year. the house begins session january 3rd. congressman dana rohrabacher is hire. you're hitting the ground early.

trump says the first 100 day is critical. what is very first thing you want to tackle early next week? >> the first thing is give ourselves revolutionary agenda through congress in the first hundred days. we will be swearing ourselves in. we will be organizing committees right off the bat but there are things that can get done this first week but you know, but we have to, it's basically preparing ourselves so when donald trump becomes president we can start the process. we will have already sworn in and organized our committees, et cetera, et cetera. there is a process that you have to go through in order to pass laws. ashley: well there is, and he made a lot of promises on the campaign trail which candidates do but it helped him get elected whether repealing obamacare, taxes on corporate and individual level. you know, deregulation. where would you like to begin?

>> well, first and foremost i would like the president to do away with executive orders that were issued so frivolously and maliciously i might add by the obama administration. the president can do that. we can give orders, the president can give orders the first day to the boarder patrol, for example, to quit letting people come into this country simply because they have one step across across the border. we have a president who claims that he's deport ad certain number of people but we know there have been record numbers of illegals coming into this country, and border patrol of course, they, endorsed president trump because he is going to get serious about this. ashley: right. >>umber one there is ecutive orders. epa, we've got -- we empowered this last president, president

obama has empowered the bureaucracy with the epepa and ira, many powers are totally unjustified. we need this president to to get rid of them and we need to be ready to run, this congress, when this president is inaugurated. the very next day we need to be able to pass legislation. ashley: no doubt, you will be busy. this next one, congressman, i want to get this. you wrote a bill to protect christians from genocide because of this. syrian refugees admitted to the u.s. alone, more than 12,000 were muslim. just 68 are christian, but from what i understand, your bill has been, somewhat caught up in the system. can you get traction on that? >> well that will be one of the first things i do, and what congress will be doing, submitting that legislation, again, so, as, hopefully in the

first month we can put that into committee and through committee and get it to the president's signature. now as i say, the president has the right and authority to give orders already to immigration naturalization but there is no reason in the world why this president, president obama, has discriminated against christians coming into this country who are under attack. my piece of legislation, 4017, basically says that those christians who are targeted for genocide in the middle east should have priority over other people coming from the middle east who are, who basically are not targets necessarily but the christians we know are targeted for again he owe side. give them the priority -- genocide. give them priority for immigration and ref guy status. i have a petition trying to gather signatures for. the bill didn't go through the process. if someone is interested signing

the petition, get hold of us rescue christians now.com. rescuechristiansnow.com. i have collected thousands of these signatures on petitions. i will present that right off the bat in the new congress to get this bill passed so we can have christians who are now being slaughtered give them safe haven in the united states rather than bringing in more muslims from the same area. ashley: we wish you very best on that effort. it is not a issue getting a whole lot of attention. quite shocking indeed. congressman rohrabacher, thanks for joining us. >> my pleasure. god bless. ashley: same to you, sir. twitter ceo jack dorsey says twitter should have edit button for tweets that need editing. adam, explain. >> they asked their customers, people who tweet a lot, what would you like if we could improve? the number one thing on there to edit a tweet once you posted it

as opposed to removing it. he has been tweeting about this. everyone seeing this as a sign they might add a edit function you can edit posts on facebook. perhaps, i don't know, leader of a democratically elected leader after country and say something perhaps you want to change. ashley: i don't know if he ever does want to change anything. talking about donald trump of course. >> that applies to the administration. and to president obama. the administration tweets and changes things. >> that hasn't help twitter's stock. ashley: that is the bottom line, right? sell that puppy. thank you, adam. sell that puppy. quick check of the big board for you. the dow trading slightly lower, down 23 points at 19,795. it has been a great year for the dow. didn't get to the landmark figure we hoped this week. maybe next year.

later this hour, why people on the left, think the government is like santa, that they're entitled to gifts. wait until you hear the sound bite on that one. it is classic. president obama's biggest legacy, obamacare, and how president trump plans to repeal it. the question is, what do you replace it with? more "varney" next. ♪ hey nicole. hey! i just wanted to think your support team for walking me through my first options trade. well, we're all about educating people on options strategies. i won't let this accomplishment go to my head. get help on options trading with thinkorswim, only at td ameritrade. and her new mobile wedding business.tte 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.

ashley: guess what? gas up is cent again overnight, $2.31 is regular around country. states facing gas tax hikes.

>> in general what you will see in the country, because of opec production cut. you don't believe it, i don't either, but that could push oil prices higher, if prices stay at 52, 53 and go up that will after affect gas. folks in pennsylvania will have the biggest jump. nebraska, michigan, georgia, florida, north carolina, all states with tax issue. new jersey though, i was looking at 2.38. that is up 30% last month and 30% over last year. ashley: they changed the structure. >> they have a 23-sent gas tax that went into effect november 1st. the states i showed you for the new year. just a month agnew jersey to the hit. ashley: stuart is sputtering in his coffee. >> new chrysler minivan doesn't get good mileages. ashley: a big van fan. thank you very much, cheryl. a few weeks before president

obama leaves office, we know that. but seems like he is trying to make it very difficult for president-elect trump. fred barnes is here. fred, great to have you here. first the israeli vote and now the sanctions and the spat with the russians. he is not just going out grace fullly, is he. he is leaving a lot on donald trump's plate. >> he is and doing something unprecedented. presidents usually tell president-elect, this is rule of thumb, they tell the president-elect when they're doing something dramatic an important, giving them a heads up. this didn't happen in either of these case u.n. resolion and settlements, and sanctions against russia. trump was noinformed ahead of time. ashley: well, this is another example of the president, perhaps the party as a whole, the democratic party, they just can not accept the result of the election? >> well, that, that is a problem but that is really not the problem here so much, particularly on the question of

the, allowing antiisrael resolution to pass in the u.n. many democrats disagree with what the obama administration did. you have to remember, win of the things trump said over and over again, he wants to be a peacemaker in the middle east. we know he is essentially pro-israel. he still wants to be a peacemaker and bring about an agreement between the israelis and the palestinians. this resolution, i think it is widely agreed, makes things worse. it makes the sides, hardens positions on both sides and makes any, even minor movement toward some sort of an agreement less likely. ashley: getting back to the russian issue it is difficult for donald trump because if he comes in, putin has said i'm not throwing any diplomats out until donald trump becomes president. there are no sanctions.

it is all kind of taken back, if you like, that will feed the conspiracy theorists that russia, donald trump is in russia's bed essentially. >> it sure would. and basically, doing this at this time, these sanctions against russia, which the president obama could have done anytime over the last couple of years, justifiably, actually and white house state department made deference to block congress from passing any sort of requirement for sanctions in this whole cybersecurity case, and so now why, obama does it now. i think he is saying to trump, i dare you to undo these sanctions. and i think it will be hard for trump to do that. ashley: it will. look, russia has carpet bombed aleppo with civilians there. the aggression in ukraine. the taking over of crimea. yet this is the issue that he is suddenly gets tough on as he is

heading out the door. >> i know. these sanctions, there is less to them than meets the eye. there are things done that really matters. trump, rather, putin is playing nice guy. i think putin now is not so much worried about these sanctions but he would like to be the nice guy and get trump to remove the sanctions, because of russian activity in the ukraine. ashley: right. that will be interesting to see how this plays out. fred barnes, thank you so much. appreciate it. >> you're welcome. ashley: here is a quote for you. liberals see the government like kids see santa. why? well, we'll play for you the sound bite and discuss. it is fascinating. the obama administration is imposing sanctions on russia, we know that, over hacking allegations. why not do the same with china? that could be about to change with donald trump in the white house. remember this? >> what china has done to our country is the biggest theft and

the greatest theft in the history of the world. this is one i didn't want to hear. give me china. give me china. china. do you ever see china's tone. china. china, china. china. we don't win anymore. when is the last time we won. we loose to china.

ashley: let's take a look at shares of caterpillar, the biggest dow gainer this year, up almost 40%. down a little bit today as dow is down a little bit at 92.82. it has been a great year for caterpillar. now this. frequent varney guest, grover norquist says liberals see the government the same way kids see santa. watch this. >> as i was talking to my daughters they wanted certain things. i said they're very expensive.

they said, santa will bring them. it is free. and when you hear liberals talking about getting government money, they act as if it was free, as if it wasn't first taken by force from some american and run through the government but the government didn't create that wealth. it didn't treat those dollars. they took them by force. ashley: they took them by force. in other words, forced taxes out of you and me and everyone else but liberals say, thank you, government, that's great. thank you very much. they don't see the connection. would you agree? >> absolutely. they don't see it not because they don't care or thought about it, they have been trained to not see it by liberal leadership. think of campaign, hillary was seeing that horrible school debt you have, you shouldn't have to pay that. ashley: yes. >> first major financial commitment they made to school suddenly too much of a burden. there is a big difference. i like santa. i don't like big government. ashley: who doesn't like santa. >> i don't know.

ashley: stuart. >> santa gets stuff done. santa is efficient. santa delivers on time. have you senor rad videos? ashley: see the territory he has to cover? >> he is not like government at all. i want, people love him. he says he is going to do what he is going to do. if your good or bad. there is no moral relativism. ashley: there are consequence. >> not like government at all. young people, we see to look at it is like liberalism, they have been trained to expect free things, that is all leftist leadership has to offer, indoctrination. >> how will you pay for it. i have a great discussion with my neas that graduated from college, we need family leave for everybody in this country. i'm not going to disagree. how will you pay for it? ashley: that is a question that stumps people in that situation. well, we just need it. like it is some sort of right. >> then they don't understand the connection between why that has to be paid for.

they're thinking, what do you mean? ashley: wait until she grows up. >> it is connected with income. >> she is smart. she gets it. she is working. we'll see how she feels about this in 20 years and paying for it. ashley: exactly. they tend to grow up. russia and turkey agree to a cease-fire in syria. after entire cities have been leveled. so whatever happened to the obama administration's red line? you remember that? we're on it. more on our relationship with china. we're getting more into this as donald trump prepares to take office next month, will his administration go after china for hacking just like obama is doing to russia?

ashley: quick check of the big board. ho-hum, down, 19,785.

forget about dow 20,000. maybe a late-day rally. disney has a big hit with "star wars" and but espn and "monday night football" are giving the company headaches. the nfl is struggling anyway, aren't, they adam. >> they used to have higher ratings. the monday night games. they pay 1.9 billion a year to the nfl. the contract runs through 2021. the question becomes once was a cash cow for disney is losing viewership. art modell created monday night foot bale with the cleveland browns, it is a long story, but the bottom line how does espn continue to make money as advertisers question the drop in viewership and drop in nfl and "monday night football" will warrant a $1.9 billion contract going forward. >> it would have been worst

season ratings ever if it wasn't for one game, lions and cowboys. if it wasn't for that "monday night football" game it would have the worst numbers ever. >> espn is trying to branch out. they bought a streaming video service. the problem with streaming how do you make money? the world is trying to figure out making kind ever money with broadcast with streaming. >> more cowboys games. ashley: thank you, cheryl. you got that in. russia and turkey announcing they have agreed on the cease-fire announced in syria, it began last night. come in walid phares, trump campaign foreign policy advisor. walid, thank you for being with us. i want to know where was the u.s. and president obama in this decision? we are completely out of it. to have russia and turkey coming up with a policy and turkey who themselves were at each other's throat not too long ago we're nowherto bseen. >> it's a very, very strange equation. you have here a nato member, that's turkey, organizing by

itself without the united states, security arrangement in syria where we have a presence as the northeast, with russia, whereby the obama administration is kicking dozens of diplomats and has escalating crisis with president putin. this is one of the strangest equations. as you said, the united states is out of that equation at least until the next administration. ashley: with the russian hacking story, walid, you know it is kind of -- president obama leaving a bit of a bombshell behind. vladmir putin saying i will not deal with this until donald trump gets in office. it does put donald trump in a little bit of an act warred situation. if he backs off on sanctions and tries to become friends again or create a more friendly atmosphere, it just feeds into the conspiracy that he is there because russia wanted him there. >> it is all depends on what the next administration, the trump administration is going to do because there is the projection of many commentators and all of

us but there is the real decision-making process which will begin on january 21st. give you an example, one scenario, if the next summit between the president trump and president putin will which will have to happen to discuss many issues around the world, including problems between our two countries, if that produces solutions and openings in have rate of places would erase all tensions right now. all depethe plan and how it would ppen and how iwould be frame. ashley: real quickly, walid, how would you respond and should we respond to the hacking alleged by the u.s. intelligence community? >> well it is very simple though it is complicated. number one the obama administration has to inform congress and transition leaders have to inform president-elect trump and congress about it. president obama basically should inform the american public. let's suppose there are issues the next president will take it to president putin, we have many issues between us and many

issues we can work together. let's work on, setting up the new relationship. ashley: he is a deal make irthat will be interesting to see how it resolves itself. walid phares, thank you so much. >> thank you. ashley: and there is this. president obama imposing sanctions on russia after they're involved in the election hack. there is another side to this. gordon chang, author of the coming collapse of china. when it comes to the world of hacking they're right up there near the top with russia. you were saying russia and china work in cahoots to hack. >> they certainly do. after that september 15th agreement between president obama and president xi xinping, chinese hacking for commercial purposes declined but russian hacking for commercial purposes increased. that suggests a degree of coordination. russia doesn't need commercial secrets from the u.s. because it doesn't make anything. obvious obviously they were stealing it to give it to the chinese. ashley: fascinating.

we have the trump administration coming in. he made china a big part of the campaign trail. a lot of tough talk from trade to everything else. how is china preparing for donald trump? >> they don't really know what to do. past presidents always campaigned against china but governed very cooperatively with beijing. trump is changing that. the way he did that was that phone call that he took from taiwan's president because what he was doing there, he was saying to the chinese, i'm setting the initiative, i'm going to sort of set the agenda. normally chinese leaders challenge new american presidents like they did with president bush and president obama. trump said, no, no, even before i take the oath of office i will challenge you. ashley: that must put them off kilter to be honest. they don't know how to prepare for him. having said that is it really in the interest much the united states tget in any trade war with china? we need them and and they need us.

>> they need us a lot more than we need them. we had a $3.1 billion deficit with china. we're bigger economy in any trade conflict we'll do better. we've already been in a trade war ash, when you consider what chinese were doing. cyber attacks before the september 15th agreement, they were taking somewhere between 3 and $500 billion u.s. intellectual property every year. i don't know if you call that a trade war but that is certainly something you have to deal with. ashley: gordon, nearly the year of the rooster in china you know that this donald trump rooster popped up at a mall in north china, despite president-elect trump's tough stance on china. the chinese, well they seemed to kind of like it. they got the gestures down with the fingers. they have the big quaff of hair. is donald trump loved in china? >> he is loved by the chinese people, he speaks his mind.

chinese leaders are very scripted and talk in public. trump is out there. because of that he is popular. they may not like list message but they love his style. ashley: that must really irk beijing then? >> certainly. ashley: here is guy they fear and some of their own people i think this guy is great? >> the narrative that this chicken is sort of disrespecting trump, i actually don't think so. i think this was really sense of a message to china's own leaders we want they want something like that. ashley: interesting to find out much about him given the clamp down they have in china on internet. >> a lot of information does get through. beijing's media talks about trump all the time. so the chinese people get a lot of information about the new incoming leader. ashley: the giant rooster, donald trump. thank you so much, gordon chang. great stuff as always. thank you. by the way, apple says they had a good holiday season. we'll take their word for it. cheryl, what was the big seller

but was it the iphone? >> activations is all we go on until we hear from apple after the 1st of the of the year. likely iphone act at activationt could be ipad actitions well. apple was set up alreadyo ve great holiday because the samsung holiday note 7 issues. people pulling them off the shelves. lot had to gin. looks like a lot went to the iphone. ashley: it was a christmas gift for apple, wasn't it? >> it really was. stock is 111 and change. it has been a little bit of bouncing with the year as you see from the chart but the first quarter could be really good for apple if the numbers are to be true. ashley: they rely so much on iphone sales. they are important. president-elect trump even before he takes office is taking credit for bringing jobs back to the united states. can he continue to deliver? that's the question. one of his economic advisors will be here top of the 11:00 a.m. hour. the obama administration's rebuke of israel.

john kerry said israel can not be both jewish and democratic at the same time. guess who has something to say about that? governor mike huckabee on this next. >> 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 can not be both. achoo! (snap) achoo! (sp) achoo! achoo! (snap) (snap) achoo! achoo! feel a cold coming on? zicam cold remedy nasaswabs shorten colds with a snap, and reduce symptom severity by 45%. shorten your cold with a snap, with zicam.

♪ >> remember that "varney & company" starts 9:00 a.m. eastern. here is what you missed last hour, economist peter morici's take on the trump economy. role that tape. >> trump is not inheriting a great economy. he is inheriting more of the same. it will be tough for him to improve on it initially. it will be difficult for a team that doesn't understand washington, that will be out of its elent to get a tax cut through, to really get deregulation rolling, given the bureaucratic quagmire that is involved and get a infrastructure program out and things like that. it will take them time to get up to running speed. this will be very much like the carter administration. there will be a long shakedown

cruise with these guys.

ashley: gold is up 10 cents a very mellow and quiet day. a second longer for the ball to drop in 2016 on new year's eve in times square, because we're told of ocean waves. cheryl case, what the heck? >> the earth is a big beautiful thing that rotates around and but every year because of the waves, the waves of the world actually slow down the earth's rotation. most simplistic way i can think, a very scientific group put this out, saying we'll have to add a second. >> that rolling motion will make you seasick. be careful. >> there will be one extra second. the question what does it mean for devices or iphones, computer systems like y2k. ashley: someone in a lab has figured this out, that is amazing. >> they want to keep time accurate. >> some 17-year-old laughing at all of us. ashley: no kidding but there are those out there that could be another y2k, one second, come on. there were people building

underground shelters for yk. >> we as journalists covered y2k. >> should be another y2k, nothing happened. ashley: thank you, adam. a good way of putting it. get to the u.n., israel vote. that led to the anti-israel resolution. secretary of state john kerry slamming israel while explaining the decision to abstain. let's bring in our good friend, governor mike huckabee. governor, simply put, we're alienating our biggest ally in the middle east. were you surprised at the rhetoric of john kerry's speech? >> it was shocking, ashley. i can't believe he made the comment particular they can be a democracy or jewish but they can't be both. they have been both for 4,000 years. john kerry, there is no su thing as two-state solution if you want to put terroristsn top of people trying to make

peace. this is the most unbelievable and irrational statecraft that i have ever seen and why the obama administration would wait three weeks before they leave to go trash the entire global scene, is beyond me. but let me just be explicit i clear, the israelis made overtures hundreds of times to the palestinians, every time they have, one of two things happen, it is outright rejection, when they give up land, what they get is night peace, they get missiles. i've been to stero on several occasions. there are 4,000 rockets stashed behind the police station. in gaza they fire missiles from the very community the israelis left by force because they thought that if they gave up that land there would beeace. well, there hasn't been. it has been a disaster. so john kerry lecturing israelis on peace and concessions, it is like trying to tell texas that they need to go back to mexico

and give up that land. it is just insane. ashley: look, mr. obama is not exactly leaving the white house as you point out graciously. we have this whole spat with russia, leaving it to the last moment to get into that. today vladmir putin saying look, i will not do the tit-for-tat. i will not throw out u.s. diplomats. i will wait for donald trump. that is kind of a tough thing for donald trump to have to handle right as he gets into the white house, isn't it? >> i think he can handle it a whole lot better than it has been handle by this administration last eight years. they put forth this narrative that putin affected outcome of the election and he didn't and nobody has been able to prove anything like that. did the russians hack us? i'm sure they did if they could. what gets lost in the russians and electiin do we not remember how it happened? partly because hillary put a private server in her bathroom she put there illegally. and the other part was

john podesta stupidly gave his password up to a hacker. should we blame dumb democrats as someone tried -- i had attempted hack this week. i wasn't stupid enough to give them all the information and invite them into my computer. we failed to remember, that is how they got hacked. ashley: what should we do with it. the inigence community says we have proof. what should be the response? should there be sanctions? should we kick out russian diplomats? >> whether we should kick them out i'm not sure that is going to be productive. i think we you ought to build a better firewall. we ought to be working on cybersecurity. and by the way, does anybody listening to us believe that the u.s. isn't attempting to hack the chinese, the russians, iranians or anybody else we're afraid of? we're acting so high and mighty. i think what the russians did if in fact they real really did it is deplorable.

if they did it that is what countries do to each other in this world of cyberspace. i'm sure we're doing everything we can in our own intelligence operations to try to tap into every foreign government that we can find a hole in. ashley: just the passing shot if you like to raise the spector of ruia did indeed affect the outcome of election. there is a little bit of that as well? >> let's just be clear. russia didn't affect this election. if hillary wants to know why she lost, go down to walgreen's, spend $4 a buy a mirror and look in it. you don't have to spend millions blaming the russians. hillary didn't campaign in key states. she didn't campaign and her message absolutely stung up the place. th is whshe lost. ashley: exactly. mike huckabee, governor huckabee, thanks for joining us as always. >> thanks, asialy, happy new year to you. ashley: happy new year to you as well. highlights from

"varney & company" from 2016. there werepecial moments, let's be honest and funny ones as well. we'll play the highlight real. one of our responses to your question, your hopes for america. robin writes more love and understanding. why not? i hope everyone gets past the hate and get behind our new president and help him make this country great again. what a great note. we'll be back. your insurance company

won't replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car because you'll get the full value back including depreciation. and if you have more than one liberty mutual policy, you qualify for a multi-policy discount, saving you money on your car and home coverage. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance.

ashley: if you havehildren in the room, get them out please, our next segment is top secret. i mean that our guest saw the popularity of "elf" on a shelf in christmas and brought the fun to hanukkah with mensch on a bench. neil hoffman. welcome to you. the company founder. you stole it, didn't you, you stole the whole thing. >> i was inspired. elf on a shelf, i'm biggest fan. they put out magical family moments and they didn't target the jewish market. a lot of us felt, there was nothing for us. i saw that opportunity. and over 100,000 menschs later we're sitting here. ashley: really? from day one to now 100,000

menschs on a bench. >> we talked $2.5 million ago. ashley: we did. is it same principle as elf on a shelf? you hide it in a different position? >> so with the elf, kids are not allowed to the touch the elf they don't want to lose magic. the mensch is center point of jewish traditions. more of telling santa if you're good or bad because there are eight or nights of hanukkah, you want the mensch to make late cans, play dreidels and be a center point. he is old jewish guy and gets sore. you have to move him around. he is not infused with hanukkah magic. ashley: not same as elf on a shelf? >> but inspired by. ashley: first night of hanukkah is december 24th, christmas eve. >> yes. ashley: does the mensch have to be hidden and moved into the eight nights of hanukkah? >> he likes to be moved. he doesn't have to be. we try to take pressure off of

parents who may not want to do every night so the kids can move him, the families can move him. ashley: tell me now, did the guys, people who came up with elf on a shelf, did they threaten to sue you if you made him look too much like him? >> no. when we designed this originally i went a direction so far away from theirs, because i didn't want comparison. comparison would be in the name, but the look, logo, colors, all based on judaism. theirs is fun and secular. we went in very different direction. ashley: is this your only business? >> this is. ashley: you are mensch on a bench. >> i'm only employee. ashley: only employee? where do you make them? >> i sew them up. we make them in china. bring them over. what is nice about the business, we're in target, bed bath, michael's, walgreens. they buy them in china and bring them over. the rest go to either amazon or my basement. ashley: brilliant. >> i pack boxes every night. ashley: really cool. you got that right.

neil, thank you very much for joining us. i'm sure we'll see you next year. >> i hope so. ashley: got it. neil hoffman, he have one. mensch on a bench. he is all right. we'll be back.

okay everyone. the last hour of the last bernie and company shall and we have a lot going on. what is in store for 2017. that's the question. obama care one of the biggest legacies. president-elect trump plans to repeal it. the kick out russian diplomats because of hacking. putin responds and said he will not stoop down. we had have a lot of great moments this year. we will be playing clips from

some of our favorite moments throughout the show. our three starts right now. happy new year. a peaceful and prosperous new year. on the last trading day of the year we are still on 20k watch. has stalled out a little bit. were down 29 points. it's been a great year for the dow regardless. let's take a look at oil which is just down slightly. $53.56.

when opec and non- opec countries reportedly are going to cut production. that can have a big impact on oil. but the new administration coming and there is a sense of economic optimism coming in. you know the first question that stuart ask is are we getting 4% economic growth next year. see mac. >> the first guest on the last hour on the last day of 2016. i do think we are looking at a ramp-up in growth we have seen the dow just since the election rise by almost 2000 points look at what has happened to consumer confidence. the greater interest with them into america in anticipation

of lower tax rates later regulation with the lower class and things like health care. it will make america a very attractive place to be. in the next year. i think we can stay there for several years i think it is a good time to be in the stock market because if we are able to pass that tax bill in the tax rates it cuts capital gains rate. as soon as that tax bill is passed and signed into law those lower tax rates are going to be capitalized. and they will go up in value. let's hope it comes true. president-elect trump taking credit for bringing jobs back to the united states. sprint was pledging 5,000 new jobs.

is that appropriate. or was is already in the plan. i don't know the specifics of that particular case. i know there is a dispute on both sides. i will say this i think it's a good thing that donald trump is standing up for the american workers and what he's doing is tugging at the patriotic strings of a lot of these american companies. to say and do not leave because you want to be in america. this is your home country this is a great time to be in america with good things coming. i think it's perfectly appropriate. he has not been integrated. >> i wanted to talk to you about that. they say under the trump tax plan they will pay more in taxes. if you or someone who takes huge amounts of deductions and loopholes and credits

something like elon musk comes to mind. he's made a living off of federal taxes. you will probably pay more taxes. this is exactly what reagan did in 86 where he said were to lower your tax rates but you will lose a lot of the loopholes. it's a much more efficient tax system and the way to do it. i would be remiss talking of which stuart varney would want to know if he's a guy the guy in the top tax bracket. that has not been determined yet but i believe the answer to that is very likely. usually what happens is that these tax laws are retroactive

to the date they are introduced which would be late january. so you want to get ahead of this. you want to buy stock now ahead of the crowd that's how you make money. stuart: thank you very much. after a feeling at the u.s. security count vote they outline the vision for the middle east. in response netanyahu said it was biased against israel. currently i say the only jewish republican member of the house i believe we have another one being sworn in. what was your reaction to what john kerry said and what this administration has said with regard to the israeli settlements?

>> his speech was very long while over an hour you could've easily cut out about 80% of that speech and he could've said the same thing but he built in a whole lot of extra time for a very angry rhetoric he was lecturing americans israelis arrest of the world the world as far as the obama foreign policy. the palestinians have in pushing. to change the narrative. it's a dangerous attempt at shting american foreign-policy and it's a most important reminder of how thankful we all are going into a new year that this is an administration that is on its way out the door. president obama imposing tougher sanctions. throwing out 35 russian diplomats. in october my administration

publicized our assessment that they took actions intended to interfere with the u.s. election process. these activities could only have been directed by the very highest levels of the russian government. the response quoted we talked about it for several years. the people that lived in the white house for eight years for a group of angry and shortsighted foreign-policy losers. was that the appropriate action to take. it's important for us to get tougher against russia i would say this isn't something that should be done in the last few days of president obama's time in office. this is something that should be done working with congress at the start of the new congress and the new administration. yesterday the report that was released with regard to the cyber attacks was very short,

and a whole lot of questions left maybe what is more telling is what the report doesn't say it mentions that there are couple a couple of actors but it doesn't really say what the connections are between those actors into the russian government. if the obama administration has those details of that connection if you get to take such a bold action within acting sanctions or kicking people out of the country if you have more facts now would be the time to provide it to congress. stuart: let's check the health insurance again as we have a possible repeal of obama care. what would it be replaced with. we ask the foremost authority on obama care next.

as promised we will be playing clips throughout the show with our grand finale of our favorite moments just this year alone. here is our first. do you remember when stewart stumbled on the tease and then made front of him for it. >> that means this is a live shot. the way you went into the last break stuart it takes hours of rehearsal to make it look that professional.

stuart: let's take a check of the major health insurance stocks for you.

humana is up just slightly there about half a%. overall it's just slightly lower. president-elect trump in his first hundred days of office pledged to repeal and replace obama care and guess what i think we're almost at that point. welcome betsy. you from the very beginning beat the drone scene it's not going to work. and once the cards started to fall with big insurers pulling out the premiums go up and they have her horrendous deductibles. at the point now although president obama will tell you is still working great, you don't have a folder with you. ignore the fake news you hear.

they will lose coverage. not true. first of all 16 million of them are on medicaid. in the state that expanded medicaid will not do a 180 and trinket again. for the most part you do don't have to worry about the 16 million people. they are planning on block renting the funds in order to ensure that for every dollar spent on medicaid there is more healthcare improvement. so what do we do now. there has been two schools of thought. are there parts that would work. >> there would be protection for people with pre-existing conditions but it won't be by imposing the cost of those for the very high cost patients. instead in and each state there will be a high risk

pool. people with existing conditions or cancer for example will be able to get insurance while subsidized so they can afford it. and that means for the other 5 million people currently in those obama care plans who are young and healthy they will see real improvements. much lower deductibles. right now they're technically covered but they can't cobble together enough cash to see a dr.. they feel like they are young and healthy. improvements for all three groups of people. >> smiling broadly. perhaps a proposal out there to privatize what donald trump and his supporters are

discussing is giving them more choice. they were supports to get that allowing tm to be able to go to a civilian dr. and get uncle sam to pick up the tab but it erected so many hurdles it was so got to use because it was really protecting the unions not the bets. so unfortunately very few got to go to those civilian doctors and actually longer now than in 2014. >> how does the trump administration change it. give them a medicare card that says if you choose to leave the va for your care you can go to any dr. who takes medicare and medicare will pay the tab. don't rely on the veterans administration. they note that dealing with it is a nightmare. and this is the cost them a lot.

47% of that using the va are already on medicare. they are going to be able to go to the civilian dr. it will be a great bargain for the taxpayer and a blessing for vets who need civilian care. happy new year. thank you very much. a nice transition there. 231 -- $2.31 is the average nationally. if we did not share some of our own favorite moments. speemac i will tell you these are two taxes.

now were about to start. they are taking everything around there. were going to get him out of this. be careful. oh man. 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.

stuart: now this. they continue to climb. despite that though. he is live in chicago. that is a awful lot of dough. get this. that is a sound of money right there. apparently not so much in the coming year. if you take a look at where we had been in the last month or so. i think we're up about 15 cents in the last month. it's about 8% in the national average over 230.

i'm not sure if lori can take a look over this. if you read the fine print it's only if you get a car wash. actually to 69 and we talked our buddy earlier today from the folks at gas buddy. there will be an increase by spring. another 20 to 40% which would be the highest we had been. enjoy the savings now. >> the sound of money indeed. great stuff as always. every time we talk about gas. is still about seven bucks per gallon. it's been like that forever.

what we are seen in several states now. the gas taxes th are going on. you will be seen some of seeing some of the highest gas prices ever and the problem with that is if it continues to go a little bit higher that hurts small businesses. it's money that you're not spending on pressures you're spending on gas. all of that has a trickle-down effect. that is the best. but first do you remember when lee greenwood sang god bless the usa for us.

>> there ain't no doubt i love this land, god bless the usa. happy veterans day.

♪ ♪ he has a sharp wit. a winning smile. and no chance of getting an athletic scholarship. and that is why you invest. the best returns aren't just measured in dollars. td ameritrade.

back to politics now. as an elected trump has not even taken office and the democrats are jockeying over the residential bids for the next race. here's what they said about the party's future. it appears we can ve an old folks home. with elizabeth warren. he will be 78. joining us now. i thought he was can be gonna be in studio. but he's in miami. he's partying it up on south beach. doug thank you so much for joining us. he's kind of got a point. where is the new blood in the democratic party. i looked around and i really couldn't locate it.

candidly as i look around the landscape the democrats don't have what you call a deep bench. they have in embarrassment of riches. what is it say about the future of the party. you are all left coast, right coast the liberal -- liberals. the lineup that we just gave where is a difference. where is the new approach. you did make one mistake. we are more potential candidates running. i feel abandoned by my party.

they are not politically distinct. we have tim ryan put in a valiant effort to challenge nancy pelosi and i thought he may have kicked a lot of the boxes. nancy pelosi whether it's a vanity, ego or all of the above she isn't going to give up the reins. i don't think it speaks well for the outlook of the democratic party. and even tim ryan who is a representative he's been there five or six terms i don't think he is presidential timber at this point and you're exactly right the leaders of the democratic party just don't pass power willingly. when you think all of the

defeats that they had had since obama has been president would suggest we need new leaders. we just said hillary clinton. have you got wind that she is considering 2020. speemac i did hear word that she's considering it. i don't think it's serious but you lose a close election and she did win the popular vote by close to 3 million votes. she certainly hasn't taken herself out but i would be very surprised if she goes forward. >> do you have that on good authority. i worked for the clintons for a number of years. frankly and disbelief that she would even mention it. i would not call it good authority but i would say good secondhand sourcing. as a democrat would you like to see her give it another go.

speemac i was very proud to work for bill clinton but your question raises the right issue. we need new leadership. we will let you get back to your south beach. thank you. our next guest is doing all he can to undermine donald trump. and here is a headline. to do everything he can to make things hard for trump. is a still upset barack obama hussein as i have out the back door i will make life difficult for you. there is a touch of narcissism

on everything president obama does. don't blame me, he has john kerry carey give the speech and then you have the russian sanctions for example. obama is still on vacation. if it so important but he can't give up his final vacation i just think there is a sense that these are not serious policy ideas. there simply about him. about things that he wants to do. as well as in the atlantic. about an ideological fixation and i have the right answers. >> he will not accept the fact that there was an election. donald trump won it in with him goes the mandate.

obama's mandate is over. he keeps trying to push the ideology and the done agenda that has been refuted. i really think in the sense of what's good for america they should let go. but really in effect he should let go now. he should stop the idea that he controls the future and he's can end up blocking ideas that trump doesn't agree with him on. >> this president is making some big policy movements while exiting. i don't think he will go quietly into the night. i think he will be sniping from the sideline. >> he's a young man relatively speaking to the democrats you're just talking about he is still the youth of the democratic party i think his agen is very much ou

him. what i mean is when he's on the ballot he can pull that stuff through i think his policies have been refuted even though he personally still remains very popular. he thinks if he can give another speech he can get something through but the country has said no. thank you very much. michael goodman, thank you so much. >> you have to wait one second longer. tomorrow night because we've been talking about this ocean waves. it means we get an extra second. the earth actually on its access closed on for an down for an extra second per year. but for this year they will actually pull back a second.

normally it's a full second. so scientist along with the national oceanic administration has got together this year we have to wait one more second and we did last year. the waves actually slows down. because of the waves. the action around the globe. they didn't do anything. we could be an hour up by now. it could be 1955 right now. >> that's true. to finish that essentially flat on the day. we've kind of put in a request. let's wait for his triumphant

return. this is a live video right now. the mother eagle in her nest sitting on two eggs. one of those is about to hatch. it is always a. there is one little crack in one of the eggs. it's not cat on a vacuum. that is. by the way. this is a downtown disneyland resort.

they're holding them in the air in memory of princess leia. do you remember when they challenge them on the show. they just couldn't contain the laughter. take a look. the cost of healthcare keep going. it is important to ask the question and now republicans are complaining about it. shocking. this is different than what we have before.

this is your foxbusiness brief. right now we are down about seven points. not near the 20,000 mark. we are all seen that. what are we looking at. that's in march of 1990. long time ago. it's been a long time. in 2016 of novembe all green though. there up almost 14% this year.

the names including united health. and chevron have been the most stellar performance. we are up one point folks.

president obama imposing coffee sanctions on russia. bending 35 russian diplomats.

we haven't seen been seen something like that since the cold war. pete, look wide now is the question i guess i head for you. we know they've been they been doing this for some time. is that more of a handle that donald trump. >> this is a petty move by this president. twenty-one days he's going to be out of office. how does he respond. i will not expel 35 americans i will let them enjoy the holidays i'm looking forward to january 20 where we have a new president coming in. what does donald trump do when he comes in to the oval

office. how does hhandle this. he's not forceful. he is in bed with the russians. >> i think what donald trump will do is he will come in and recognize what almost everyone except obama recognize he has not been very effective in containing russia. donald trump and the national security team they will sit down with congress along with turkey they had implement it a cease-fire that appears to be holding in syria. they did it without any u.s. involvement. they facilitated the extraction of some of the rebels from aleppo again without u.s. involvement in clearly the direction in the strategy with russia that

strategy will start to take shape on january 20. should we had sanctions on china as well. cyberspace is the new battlefield we need to be concerned about china we need to be concerned about north korea is not just these four countries that are attacking the united states. as snowden pointed out we are engaged in many of the same activities against these countries. the famed outrage by the united states at look at what these countries are doing to us. according to sources out there this is happening to us.

it is what spine is about. trying to find out the plans and intentions of our enemies. and every time it comes into the public i can't believe people are doing this to us. does hold up. we may be doing some of the stuff ourselves. >> i would say no doubt. the former congressm we think congressman we think you so much for your time. the hip-hop group run dmc do have the picture because they are alleging trademark infringement. so different companies are selling items.

they've been around for a long time. can i just point out. her name is iris. she is the iconic her glasses. >> there just they are just copying her. >> they are saying they have on profitably profited. they had generated they've generated more than a hundred million dollars of revenue. also next up. you're gonna love it. the classic would you demonstrate with me.

we did that. left mac you are an honorary member of the african-american community.

i guess you've never done an interview with a guy with a british accent before. i have to ask you what is the highlight of your career? payment in my right? now, the spirit. it is best known.

see can see the face now. they all have an expiration date. they made us number one. they go all three hours. even i know you played for the cincinnati reds for the first time ever it is the way that he traded that people resented it. he was right on. the race is now on. let's see where america is going. as the first vote i've ever

cast anywhere in the world anytime in my life. markets all over the place. it feels like that. a lot of them have a happy new year. may bring even better moments. he really likes blue ties. i think i'm going to get stuart a purple tie. i think one of the coolest things there is the very first vote. i like to rush things.

johnny bench. he read it on the money. jim brown. and obviously kudos to the radio winnings as well. and all of his viewers should wish him a happy new year. the first thing i see him do. we are not done yet. we will be right back.

. .

ashley: well, proof we're so not interested in dow 20-k. we're over the story, eagle cam, harriet, sitting on a couple of bald eagle eggs. >> should say quicbecae of incubation period of a bald eagles they're expting this

eaglet, there are two, to be born by new year's day at latest. ashley: the tension is palpable. you can watch this, in all the real grower in real time. adam shapiro looking at what the heck. connell mcshane, we hand off the big breaking story. about harriet the eagle. connell: you started your drinking early. the year is a second longer. you guys are all over everything. ashley: we're on it. connell: you're on something. welcome you to "cavuto: coast to coast," i'm connell mcshane, in this week for neil. we have plenty to cover on a friday. you know about the u.s. slapping sanctions on russia for election hackings. russia signaled it will be the next administration that matters more. the russian president, vladmir putin, saying he will hold off any type of retaliation over the sanctions. instead wait to rebuild relations