liz: look at this, phil. up 91 points right now. i think our viewers got excited and jumped into the market here. but guess what? nasdaq makes it up seven days in a row. a fifth all-time record close for the tech-heavy index. not so for the dow but, david and melissa thanks to phil orlando after the bell. david: thank you very much. melissa: the dow ending the day up nearly 100 points, 95 to be exact. but you see a lot of big jumps and dives that roll in step with comments from our next commander-in-chief. that's the message; right? david: pretty much track the market moves with what trump was saying. i'm david asmand. glad you could join us. this is after the bell, we've got you covered on the big market movers but first, here's what else we have for you in this hour. huge day on capitol hill and a very busy hour. it's all happening right now, former exxon ceo rex tillerson is being grilled by the senate foreign relations committee over his qualifications to serve as secretary of state on the right day two jeff

sessions wrapping up this afternoon. cory booker a senator testifying against sessions. the first time a sitting senator has gone after one of his own. and president-elect donald trump using his first press conference since winning the election to denounce reports that russia has compromising information on him. he announced plans to cut all ties with his businesses. but it was this exchange that's getting all the headlines. >> can you give us a question? mr. president-elect, mr. esident-elect, since you were attacking -- >> no, not you. not you. >> you are attacking our news organization. can you give us a chance to ask a question, sir? >> go ahead. quiet. quiet. david: for the president-elect silencing a cnn reporter. we have team coverage bringinguses the very latest details on that and all on today's big events. melissa: first up rex tillerson where he admitted earlier he and the

president-elect have not discussed russian foreign policy in great detail. >> i assume to some degree that you've had some discussion about what it is that that world view is going to be in order to understand whether you're willing to execute that on behalf of the person you're going to work for. >> in a broad construct and in terms of the principles that are going to guide that, yes, sir. >> i would have thought russia would be at the top of that, considering all the actions that have taken place. has that not happened? >> that has not occurred yet, senator. >> pretty amazing. melissa: peter is watching this heated nearing washington d.c. peter peter, what did you make of all of that? >> well, rex tillerson covered a lot of ground including china and its construction of islands for military bases in the south china sea. he took a hard line. listen. >> this is a threat to the entire global economy if china' china's allowed to somehow dictate the terms of passage through these waters. we have to send china the

message that the island building stops and also your access to the sidle also not allowed. >> but the big issue was russia and whether or not his past ties to russia whether or not he was at exxonmobil will have any conflict as secretary of state and working with or against russia, and he said "no." that he made a clean break with his business career and taking this job. he's now moving to a different responsibility and that his love of country and patriotism he said will dictate that he serves only the interest of the american people. melissa. . melissa: all right. peter, thank you for that. david. david: in react, liz, fiscal time columnist, brett barns, and joe trippy, democratic campaign consultant. fred and joe are also fox news contributors. joe, let me start with you. what do you think of rex tillerson as a secretary pick? will go to has been i think he's been doing a good job in the hearing so far. mostly because, look, it doesn't really matter what demoats think.

he's got to lose votes for the republican senators like mco rubio and others, and i don't see that. rubio is very tough. david: he was. >> but he seemed to answer this questions, you know, and i didn't see rubio. i didn't get a sense that rubio's gunning to vote against him. david: no. >> so i didn't really see anything that would concern me. david: no, but he was tough. and, liz, the key criticism a lot of people make about tillerson is sometimes it's in the interest of your shareholders to do something that might not be in the interest of your country. i'm thinking of deals that exxon made with russia, with saudi arabia, maybe even venezuela. it's a different thing. it takes a different mind-set to put your country first before your company. is that a fair criticism? >> well, i actually was somewhat offended by marco rubio. not just tough questioning but hostile questioning. david: it was hostile. >> of rex tillerson today. let's remember the

transgression supposedly here is that rex tillerson has done business in russia. he's the head of the world's largest oil company. russia is the sixth largest reserve holder in the world of oil reserves. it would make a lot of sense that the biggest oil company would work in russia. it was not rex tillerson that allowed putin to come in out of the cold out of a failing economy and basically take over the key role in the middle east. that was president obama. so incas with cory booker what we saw today with these confirmation hearings and with marco rubio with a lot of grandstanding. so we're trying to make a point at the expense of nash sense the goodwill of this cabinet nominee. david: and, fred, the big picture. my wife and i just watched the film 13 hours again last night, which is an incredible film about benghazi. i think they take artistic license but still that really emphasized the fact that the best experts that people schooled and years at the state department and so forth can make some terribly bad

mistakes for the united states interest. and that perhaps as trump says it's time to get somebody from the outside who looks at from a different perspective might be good for this country. >> might be. and i saw that movie on benghazi. 13 hours. great movie. but tillerson is an unusually smooth operator. and, you know, one way you can tell that he is different from your average person coming in? david: how? >> he is terse. he will give you one-word answers. there were no one-word questions by any of the senators. but, no, he was very good. very impressive. he didn't let -- i like the questioning by marco rubio, by the way. but marco rubio was trying to put words in tillerson's mouth. he wanted tillerson to call vladimir putin a war criminal. obviously tillerson wasn't going to do that. david: yeah, and to liz's point, i mean, you don't do that before you start negotiating with somebody. i want to -- you don't want to

tilt your hand towards the way they're going to respond. the panel is sticking around with us. we've got a busy hour, meliss m. melissa: all right. another big event today. president-elect donald trump holding his first press conference in six months during which he slammed reports that russia compiled compromising information on trp d not so subtly pointed fingers who may have been respoible for them. >> i want to thank a lot of the news organizations here today because they looked at that nonsense that was released by maybe the intelligence agencies, who knows. but maybe the intelligence agencies, which would be a tremendous blot on their record. melissa: connell mcshane is standing by at trump tower with what important details came from that press conference. that was a wild one. if that's what we're in for for the next four years, i'm going to have to get a treadmill desk because i'm

never going to leave the television and my office. >> something a little different. donald trump did concede here that it was likely the russians who hacked the democratic national committee. it's the first time we heard him do that publicly. but to your point, play a little bit this earlier. he denied no uncertain terms that these reports out there that russia may have obtained compromising information about him. and he says that wasn't true. and then as he wrapped up this news conference, and he was walking over to the elevators, he told us that there had been no contact between him or surrogates or russian campaign either. now, as with contact with russian business, some others brought up as well. trump says, no, none of that either. here he is. >> we could make deals in russia very easily if we wanted to, i just don't want to because i think that would be a conflict. so i have no loans, no dealings, and no current pending deals. >> now, that does bring up the question as to whether he might release his tax returns

to prove that statement to be true. but mr. trump says he has no plans to do that gathering we the media are the only ones that care about his tax returns that the american people do not. now, there were some other topics that were addressed that even made news on one of them. one that mexico the mexicans will indeed reimburse the united states for the building wall. either doing it through taxes or a direct payment. now, he says taxes are much more likely than any direct payment. and finally on obamacare, the president-elect also made some news saying that the potential to have repeal and replace done simultaneously certainly exists. and, in fact, he says that he would like to see it done and the words he used essentially simultaneously. so like to get those bills done at the same time. a lot going on here in one news conference. melissa: i mean, it was hard to highlight what was the biggest news piece. the obamacare thing was the most surprising to me because we had been told so many times that that cannot happen.

so he's setting the bar very high. >> right. melissa: thank you so much for that. president-elect trump is setting down all rumors conflict of interest between his business and running the country, even though he says he doesn't have to. >> as a president, i could run thumorganization, great, great company, and i could run the country. i would do a very good job. but i don't want to do that. >> the trump organization, comprising hundreds of entities, which if you all take a look the financial disclosure statement, the pages and pages and pages of entities all will be conveyed to a trust prior to january 20th. second, through the trust agreement, his relinquished leadership and management of the trump organization to his sons don and eric and a long time trump executive, allen. melissa: so he has a chief compliance officer, an adviser, he also said any profits that would be coming into the businesses or the hotels from foreign

governments would be donated to the treasury. that was a very nice touch. at the same time, the headlines instantly online out of the new york times, all kinds of places saying critics are upset. he didn't go far enough. it's not even close. liz, what's your take? >> i actually thought it was an incredibly elegant solution to a very difficult problem. i thought his lawyer did a very good job of laying out just how difficult it would be and equally problematic to have him sell his interest. what's the price you get? i actually thought it was handled really very well. it's sort of hard to imagine that as the family gathers for the holidays, he won't hear something about what's going on with the trump organization. but really, i think we all have to roll this back and remember, here is a very, very wealthy man. do we really think serving for a dollar a year that he's doing this because he wants to feather his own business nest? i mean, the same thing has come up with rex tillerson and some of the other people, et cetera. come on. these are very wealthy guys. they're giving up a lot and

most of them to serve in this administration. let's give them the benefit of the doubt. and in this case, there are also all of these different kinds of constraints on what he's going to do. i thought it was pretty good. . melissa: so, veronica, he had his lawyer come out and explain it, and she said very logical things like people want him to put it into a blind trust. but how is that possible? he can't unknow what buildings the trump organization owns, especially when they say trump on the side. at the same time, here is some of the criticism. he's regulating banks who are lenders to the trump group. he's going to do deals with foreign leaders where he has hotels. we've heard that before. even if he gives away the money to the treasury that comes in from foreign governments, he's still going to have possession and the benefit of it for some period of time. what do you think of any of those arguments, veronica? >> it's really difficult because he's in a position that no other president has been in before. there's some comparisons and people are comparing to rockefeller. melissa:eah. >> but i think there's a lot of differences with trump in

that he's holding all over the geography. so it's a difficult situation. we are going to hear more about this from people like senator elizabeth warren. melissa: without question. >> she's not been happy with the way it has been handled. melissa: yeah. >> if you look, though, at the foreign interest, there are still some questions saying if they are holding his debt -- melissa: i'm sorry i have to break -- i hate to interrupt you but rex tillerson right now is talking about nuclear weapons. we want to listen in. >> a commitment to ensuring that the level of nuclear arms and capability that we are going to maintain under treats that those capabilities must be maintained and then from time to time that means we've got to renew them and bring them up to date and ensure that they are capable, otherwise we now have an asymmetric arrangement with people we're negotiating with. >> right. just that's at odds with what he has been quoted publicly as saying. so i think it's important for us to hear you take a position

that, in fact, negotiations towards reducing the nuclear threat, rather than having a nuclear arms race is much better for our country and the global security. if you are confirmed, will you commit to protect the rights of all career employees of the state department, including -- so that they retain their right to speak with congress? >> as pursuant to an open and effective with congress would encourage the issues are put on the table for discussion with congress, yes. >> you -- you just had i think a great conversation with senator isaacson about global health issues. and one of our great achievements over e last couple of decades has been the establishment and investment in u.s. leadership in the global fund -- melissa: all right. we're listening in there to a little bit of the testimony.

liz and veronica are still with us. liz, so what was your biggest take away from the criticism that they're hurling at trump over how he's dealing with his organization of those things that we listed, what do you think sort of sticks? i mean, what's the most dangerous? >> well, again, i think there's a certain amount of double standard here because when we were talking about hillary clinton's foundation, for example, where there really was evidence of pay to play, remember, hillary wasn't even willing to verify that she would no longer take donations from overseas. trump already said in his press conference they were not only not going to do new projects overseas, they had actually ditched 30 projects, which were in the planning process. so i think he has made a pretty big commitment here to playing it fair and square. if you're not taking on any new, yes, of course there are going to be projects out there, hotels that he owns overseas. and, you know, he owns one in scotland. maybe that will impact the way he looks at scotland. i don't know.

maybe at at some point you have to say he's doing what he can, and i give him the benefit of the doubt on it. melissa: one of the great points that the lawyer made at the end said if he sold off the organization then down the road there would be all of these questions about, well, who did you sell it to? >> and price. melissa: and would be badgered by that buyer. then that's a conflict. so it's a no-win. veronica, liz, thank you. david. david: and we have breaking news on the markets. the nasdaq ending at a new record close. but there was a lot of volatility in the markets today. it was trump himself who could have threatened his own market rally. his comments moving key sectors today, pharmaceuticals and others. lori rothman is on the floor of the nyse with details. lori. >> yeah. stocks got bumped around here this morning. we opened strongly. there was a lot of anticipation that finally the pot would boil over, and we would get to dow 20,000. obviously, that didn't happen. the markets bottomed out 20 minutes into trump's discussion this morning. let me lay that out for you starting with health care

stocks. basically the take away is that pharmaceutical industry is getting away with murder, says our president-elect when it comes to what drug companies charge the government for medicine. a company likened ow like like endointernational is down 8%. bristol meyers also big drug makers really coming down today really 4 almost 5%. let's move to defense stocks, l3 down three and a quarter percent. lockheed martin, the most expensive defense project the pentagon has going right now. saying they need to bring the cost way down. so defense stocks came way down today. guys, back to you. david: thanks, lori. >> uh-huh. melissa: so here's a look at where oil ended the day, surging nearly 3% and at 52.25 a barrel fueled by a new report showing opec's first monthly decline in oil output in seven months. uncertainty in the market fueling a rally in gold,

settling at a seven-week high today. near $1,200 an ounce. david: all right. well, as you can see, we're keeping a very close eye on the hearings. rex tillerson is responding to some tough questions, particularly from a republican. senator rubio over his relationship with vladimir putin and russia. melissa: meanwhile president-elect trump denouncing reports that russia had compromising information on him. the call out to news organizations who reported it as fact. the latest on a heated exchange that has mainstream media up on arms. david: i think that was the highlight of the day. plus an unprecedented move aingg against another senator. why cory booker says jeff sessions should not be u.s. attorney general. 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 new car replacement™, we'll replace the full value of your car

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. melissa: an unprecedented move on capitol hill, a democratic senator cory booker testifying against his senate colleague jeff sessions and his nomination for attorney general. >> senator sessions has not demonstrated a commitment to a central requisite of the job to aggressively pursue the congressional mandate of civil rights, equal rights, and justice for all of our citizens. david: here is larry elder to talk about this. larry, the thing that gets me. i've heard all the criticism. they start that sessions is a racist. >> right. david: and then they're asked for specifics. why is he racist? well, because he doesn't believe what i believe should be done with regard to transgender rights or i believe should be done with regard to african-american rights -- whatever it happens to be. it comes down to the point that they can't point to a single thing in which he

actually is seen as being racist or evidence that he's a racist but just that he has different beliefs on how to deal with policy. >> yeah. his crime is that he is a white male conservative christian, heterosexual from the south who the who is the a republican. if you're a democrat, you get a pass. the bottom line is when i listen to cory booker and john luis, they were both primarily angry about so-called mass incarceration. mass incarceration is called by mass criminality. and the fact of the matter is a. usually, by the way, against other young blacks than young whites. and this is what we ought to be talking about here. and the reason for this is the break down of the family. i didn't say this. obama said if you're a race raised without a dad, you're five times more likely to commit crimes and 20 times more likely to end up in jail. david: and also federal overreach. federal government overreach

dictating what people should or shouldn't do in their private lives. for example, the issue of transgender bathrooms. we have this dictate by the federal government in may that even elementary schoolkids had to have the right to go to the bathroom of their choice. a lot of americans think that's going too far for the federal government. in fact, i would suggest that the majority of americans think that. >> i would agree with that. the other concern were the so-called harsh laws that ended up putting a disproportionately number of laws. the problem with arguing that these are racist is that the majority of the black caucus supported both of these laws. david: bottom line is you can be against federal overreach without being a racist. it's that simple. larry, good to see you. melissa. melissa: we'll be right back and the urinary symptoms of bph. tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex.

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>> senator, i don't think anyone advocates for more nuclear weapons on the planet. >> donald trump said it would not be a bad thing. do you agree with that or disagree? >> i do not agree. david: well, you're inclined if it's in your view that your chief is wrong on a issue to say so. and that's exactly what rex tillerson did just moments ago. disagreeing with the president-elect on a question about nuclear weapons and when to use them. we will continue to monitor this and bring you the news when we get it. melissa: the first press conference in six months, the president-elect using harsh words. over reports that russia has compromising information on him. also his relationship with russian president vladimir putin. >> the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false and fake out. i think it's a disgrace. and i say that, and i say that. and that's something that nazi germany would have done.

if putin likes donald trump, i consider that an asset, not a liability. . melissa: all right. let's bring in fox new military analyst lieutenant general thomas to weigh in on this. i mean, a lot to go through here. why don't we start with this that is getting a lot of attention. donald trump called it fake news today what's your take on it? what was your reaction? >> well, preibus said it was garbage. i happen to agree 200% on that, melissa. the fact is it hasn't been verified, it was thrown out, it was attributed to some select british intel people. but none of that has been verified. and i think it is really a counter to what the real problem is, and that was the 340 e-mails that were released by the fbi on the night of the giants packers game. because in this 340 e-mails,

56 were confidential, 200 of them were secret material. so here what you have is hillary clinton has violated the espionage act and nobody wants to come out and say it. the mainstream media -- melissa: do you think that's because the country wants to move on? that the country has voted on this on who they think is in the right and in the wrong on this. and it's kind of in the past and now we're watching these hearings of who is going to be running our country and what they're going to be doing and maybe that's the focus of the american people. >> look, i think the trump administration wants to focus on looking out of the front of the windscreen, not in the rearview mirror. melissa: okay. >> but i think the democrats are bringing a lot of things up, so they obscure the facts of the rearview mirror. this is very serious. if you violate the espionage act, it's a minimum of ten years in jail. melissa: yeah. >> and secretary clinton should be tried for that. we have people that are looking at the former

vice-chairman of the jcs of going to jail for two years for verbally disclosing certain things with iran. melissa: yeah. >> and so i think that's what the mainstream media and the democrats are trying to do by throwing out this buzzfeed stuff. melissa: i don't want to run out of time without asking you about president-elect trump nominating current secretary health for the department of veterans affairs to run the va. what do you think of that choice? >> well, i think he's a good man. my problem is with it is number one, i think trump should just clean house. get rid of everybody that's been there. he's the director right now of the veterans health administration, which runs the hospitals versus the benefits administration. so has been there. he's not a veteran and in my feeling is he is responsible for the conditions that are on going there now for the last two plus years and get some new blood. he's probably a very good man.

look, trump picks good people, so i'm going to have to give him the benefit of the doubt. but me, personally, i would have done something else for those following reasons. melissa: people are going to have challenges probably for that reason. we'll see. general, thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. i wish we had more time, sir. >> thank you. david: it continues to be a big day for president-elect. the rex tillerson hearing is still underway. lawmakers are grilling the president-elect's choice for secretary of state. plus, donald trump taking a stand against what he calls fake news. what all of this means for the president-elect and his relationship with the media. next >> it's all fake news. it's phony stuff. it didn't happen.

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david: passing over the media. president-elect donald trump reducing to take a question from cnn reporter jim during his press conference earlier today. here it is. >> attacking our news organization. >> no. not you. not you. your organization is terrible. >> you're attacking our news organization. can you give us a question to ask a question, sir? >> quiet. quiet. >> mr. president-elect. >> can you state -- mr. president-elect, can you -- >> don't be rude. >> can you give us a question. >> don't be -- i'm not going to give you a question. i'm not going to give you a question. >> can you stay -- >> you are fake news. david: brett barns and joe are back with us. i don't know anybody who wasn't attached to their television dur but, fred, as a journalist, what do you think of the exchange? >> i think trump won. no question about that. you

know, how would you like to be. if some guy had said to me y are fake news, i would have seen my whole career. i had never done anything else in my adult life other than this journalism stuff. i would have felt i was shredded. that's how trump operates. you hit him, he's going to hit you back even harder. david: using your instruments of war against you. the whole fake news phrase was invented by the people over at cnn and those news outlets to describe something who is supposed to be antitrump. he used their definition against them. >> yeah. as well he should. after weeks of hearing president obama and from the liberal news organizations how dangerous to our democracy is fake news to find cnn, buzzfeed, and these other organizations promulgating reports that have been unverified that clearly came from a very questionable source. what your video didn't show was the room burst into applause at the end of that

when he called them fake news. you know what? people are sick of this. they're sick of the one sided unfair treatment that donald trump is getting from the media nationwide media. and i think they're going to demand -- and it's clear he's going to demand more fair treatment. david: joe, i don't want to give this report that trump was reacting to too much credibility, but i'm just curious if you know where it came from. because it came supposedly from trump's political opponents. they hired this company, there's this british intelligence agent that was supposedly in charge of getting the document together. do you know who in the antitrump camp pute put it together? >> no. i don't. you know, i -- no, i would have to rely on just stuff i've seen or heard reported. but i do -- you know, it's important that it made its way to the fbi by several different routes. one of them being john mccain. so i think what's going on here -- look, there's enough -- a lot of hypocrisy on both sides.

a lot of this was -- donald trump had no problem with joining julian, praising him and pushing him and everything that wikileaks leaked. so we can get into what buzzfeed is or isn't about. charles: it's mostly isn't. that's the main thing. but let me just read to you what cnn -- okay. let me read to you what cnn said because they came out after that exchange with the llowg: we made it clear that we were not publishing any of the details of the 35-page document because we have not corroborated the reports' allegations. given the members of the trump team have so criticized our reporting, we encourage them to identify specifically what they believe to be inaccurate. i don't think trump's going to bother with that. the point is it wasn't the details of the story. it was the attention that they were giving to this story. why give attention bogus story? >> yeah. look, it doesn't sound like they're standing by their story exactly and saying it was right. you know, there was another story about

russian propaganda getting in the websites and so on in the u.s. and the washington post ran on the front page. and then they didn't retract that they just said, oh, wait we never knew whether that was true or not. and cnn didn't either. the proper journalistic response is if you don't know it's true, don't run it. david: liz, let's look to the future because this is just the beginning. what we saw today is going to happen in many times to come. there are going to be plenty of instances where the media is going to try to get him to to have a gotcha moment with trump, and i don't think they're going to win. i think they may go down the more they try to do this. >> oh, and i think it's -- as i say, it's been a long time in coming. i think a lot -- look at the standing of the news media in polling in terms of confidence the country has in our news media. it's at an all-time low. it's lower than almost any organization in the country, other than congress. deserve each other, i guess. but i think everyone is really sick and tired of it. and, by the way, the difference between wikileaks

output and this was that was true stuff. those are actually e-mails. this is completely fabricated. david: good point. >> but we never know that. we don't know that. david: if you're going to stick up for this story, that's for another segment. but we can't do it now. we've run out of time. melissa: no one can verify it. i mean, they looked into it. it was fake. david: old, fake story. melissa: trump's choice for secretary of state is promising a clean break from exxonmobil rex tillerson is facing criticism from both sides of the aisle. >> we are the only global superpower with the means and the moral compass capable of shaping the world for good. if we do not lead, we risk plunging the world deeper into confusion and danger. (vo) if you have type 2 diabetes, you may know what it's like to deal with high... and low blood sugar. januvia (sitagliptin) is a once-daily pill that, along with diet and exercise, helps lower blood sugar.

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. melissa: as the rex tillerson hearing is still underway on capitol hill, many of the questions he is getting

involve russia and vladimir putin. >> is vladimir putin a war criminal? >> i would not use that term. >> is it possible for something like this involving the united states elections to have happened without vladimir putin knowing about it and authorizing it? >> i think that's a fair assumption. >> that he would have? >> yes. melissa: joining me now is energy association director, he has worked with rex tillerson for many years. he is a friend of his as well. i assume that you're on because you think he would be very qualified to serve. why do you think that is? >> well, being secretary of state is of the united states first requires managing a bureaucracy. rex has done that for decades now. you know, you're a diplomat in chief. rex and his role of ceo of exxonmobil has had to be very diplomatic in the 50 some countries that he has dealt

with. particularly dealing with the russian and the chinese. in business, you start with understanding each other, getting to know each other, learning to trust each other. if you don't get through those phases, you don't do business. and then the last thing, he has to implement the president's strategy. and rex has been using his strategy all of his life. melissa: a lot of people assume when someone's a big business leader like that, they look at them as almost unethical. and obviously we're a business station, so we don't believe that at all. what do you know about his character? are there any stories you can tell us or any qualities you can talk to us about his character? >> rex tillerson is an eagle scout. that's all about all you need to know about his character. i've known many, many fortune 500 chief executive officers, and i would put rex right at the top of the list for ethics, for proper business manner. you know, they've

operated in all of these countries, often dealing with circumstances that are not all that favorable. melissa: right. >> and he's been incredibly successful. so i think when you look at being secretary of state of the united states of america, he's highly, highly qualified. melissa: bad guys coalesce around oil around the world because it's of value. you get it out, and you can sell it, and it fuels your enterprise. so him as the head of a company, he's had to deal with bad guys all around the world and go head-to-head with them and come out with a deal that's good or his shareholders would fire him. in my mind, that makes him almost uniquely qualified for this job. what's wrong with that reasoning in your mind? >> it's great reasoning. and, you know, keep in mind, as a ceo of exxonmobil, he had to comply with every u.s. law and regulation as well as the laws and the regulations of the country he's doing business in. so i think that he's a great selection. we've had corporate leaders in cabinet positions before.

the ones that i've known have done great. i just can't imagine rex not being a tremendous success and an asset to the country. melissa: and you have to be transparent as a public company. our viewers get that because they know about business, and they know about public companies. but i think a lot of people around the world don't really understand those basic tenants. thank you for joining us. >> thanks for having me. david: particularly the media doesn't seem to get it. if you're successful, there must be something wrong, as far as they're concerned. melissa: yeah, it's stealing it's like. david: well, the plan to replace obamacare right away after january 20th. the president-elect is showing his strategy, and it might happen a lot sooner than you thk just like the people

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underway right now as we speak on capitol hill, we are just getting word the republicans may have the votes as early as friday for the initial step to replace and to replace obamacare. here's how the president-elect is planning to overturn the health care law. take a listen. >> it will be repealed and replaced. it will be essentially simultaneously. it will be various segments, you understand, but will most likely be on the same day or the same week but probably the same day. it could be the same hour. david: well, here now is congressman barry with details on this. congressman, first of all, will you be ready to replace it on day one? january 20th? >> well, i think we're going to be ready to put something new place of obamacare. but we have to realize tt there are aspects of this law we don't want to replace like the mandate on individuals, the mandate on businesses. so it's not a complete replacement because, you know,

the government steps in and took over the insurance business. and if we want to put it back in the market, there's a big aspect that we think repeal and leave it at that. but we are going to be bringing out a plan that is pro market, it empowers the patient, it empowers the doctor, and it gets it back to where it should be. david: you know, i was just reading rand paul's plan. the national view has a good take on it if you want to go to the national view website, you can see it right now. nro. and the bottom line, it gives more power to the individual, less power to either the government or insurance companies, frankly. it gives the cash back to you, the individual patient and allows you to spend it on health care as you want. isn't that the key? >> i think that is the key. and one of the things that i have been advocating for a long time is empowering health savings accounts and allowing people to use cash to pay for the services. you can go to just about any hospital or any doctor's office. if you cash pot service, it's going to be maybe 60% less. i have talked to several doctors who have transitioned

to a cash to service basis. david: congressman, even if it's not one of these specialty doctors offices, you're still paying cash because the deductibles are so high, you're paying out of your pocket the first $12,000 in a bronze plan before the insurance kicks in. so why not allow that money to be tax deductible or some other form of giving it back to the patient? >> or allow you to actually pay under a cash model? because under obamacare, that doctor is prohibited from a accepting from you just the cash payment if you have health care. and like you said, just because you have health insurance under obama, doesn't mean you have access to health care. because many people who are insured cannot afford the high deductible and hospitals are suffering from this. david: they're suffering terribly. i was kind osurpsed to hear sat mit mcconnell say he hadn't talked to rand paul about health care proposal, which seems pretty complete to me. when are you guys going to get together and really discuss this thing and hammer out some specific plan that can be put

in place quickly? >> well, we are discussing one of the new dynamics we have here in the house of representatives under the a bottom up approach. so instead of just the leadership dictating to the members what we're going to do, we have opened up a process. so we are actually compiling different elements of that and going to tut it together in a strong plan that favors the free market, the patient. david: very quickly. this horrible picture that is hanging in the halls of congress depicting police as pigs, which is going down, people take it down, and then it's put up again. what's the latest on that? quickly. >> well, you know, this thing is -- it's offensive. it is a very offensive piece of art. so what we're doing in our offices is i'm going to put up a poster that has the names of 140 law enforcement officers that were killed in the line of duty last year. that's what we should be focused on. let's put that in the hallway. because we have law enforcement officers. we have capitol police that walk by that police every day, and they see this. but yet, we have ignored the

sacrifice that they have made and law enforcement has made to protect the rights of even this individual who painted this piece of trash that's hanging in the capitol. david: thank you very much for being here. appreciate it. >> thank you. melissa: confirming our nation's top diplomat rex tillerson continues to make his case on capitol hill. but is the former ceo winning over lawmakers? achoo! (snap) achoo! (snap) achoo! achoo! (snap) (snap) achoo! achoo! feel a cold coming on? zicam cold remedy nasal swabs shorten colds with a snap, and reduce symptom severity by 45%. shorten your cold with a snap, with zicam.

melissa: rec tillerson hearing is still going on. the hearing was scheduled to end at 5:00, it looks like it is going longer. david: they have had a discussion about climate science, rex teller son is a -- til tillerson is a little skeptic else about climate change.

again, you look at numbers, it is quite clear that president-elect trump is going to get pretty much everybody without question. even when hard press was made against some of the secretaries today. melissa: what a "newsday," "risk & reward" starts now. liz: in his first press conference since winning the election, president-elect trump on the attack calling out media and obama administration intelligence. welcome to "risk & reward," i am liz mack -- macdonald in for deirdre bolton. it was supposed to be highwa how he would disentangle himself from his empire. instead