dow jones industrials. a gain of 90 points. [closing bell rings] you can not deny when you look at numbers, since election day, record after record, it is trump effect in play. that will do it for the claman countdown. i will see you tomorrow. please be there. melissa: four in a row, the dow smashing records for the fourth straight day though it had been up 160 points at high. s&p 500 printing negative. all major averages in positive territory for the month. we'll take it. i'm melissa francis. david: we will. we'll take tax cuts if we can get them too. i'm david asman. we're glad you're here with us. this is "after the bell." we have a very busy hour. a lot going on. first stocks getting boost on high hopes for tax reform, now entering final stretch on capitol hill. congressional leaders agree to key details on the plan. we heard from the president speaking at white house giving his closing arguments. >> we want to give you the

american people, a giant tax cut for christmas. and when i say giant i mean giant. [applause] david: connell mcshane, with us now. connell, this was the president's final sales pitch to america an capitol hill. the house and senate will vote on a bill next week, right? reporter: that is still the plan, david. interesting to hear what the president was on all of this, although updates we've been getting past couple days are focusing on tax rates for upper income people and also for businesses, the president this afternoon kept his focus where he has been in many speeches we heard him deliver, that is on the middle class. invited up a number of families, middle class what they hope to save what they hope to do with the savings. he delivered what he described as breaking news. >> if congress sends me a bill before christmas, the irs, this

is just out this, is breaking news, has just confirmed that americans will see lower taxes and bigger paychecks beginning in february. reporter: this speech just came after the president hosted a lunch with some of the conference committee members working on combining this house and senate bills into one bill. there is no final bill yet by any means. they have been going back and forth in the conference committee. these are details likely to be in one. 21% originally from the 20 talked about. individual rates set to come down from 39.6 to 37%. that would be the new top rate. the so-called pass through rate, where businesses book profits for their own income, 20% reduction. mortgage value interest deduction up to 750 grand from 500,000 from the house version. according to where we are, and according to the president,

david and melissa, this could be reality by february if passes by christmas. david: i don't want to sandbag you here, we hadn't heard much about it, obamacare mandate, is that in or out? reporter: that is good adam shapiro question. i don't want to say for sure because i don't know. amt, no repeal on corporate or individual rate. david: interesting. reporter: should point out a number of fireworks this afternoon even in this conference committee, as much as we talk about they're to the finish line they're going back and forth, democrats and republicans. democrats think it is charade. it has all been decided behind closed doors. that is their point of view. david: connell mcshane, good stuff. melissa. melissa: here is republican congressman rod blum, house freedom caucus member. where what do i of where we seem to be on the tax bill? >> thanks for having me on, first of all, melissa. we come down to the last few

days. we waited 30 years. i believe at '86 since the last reagan tax bill. it is tense, and back and forth. that is the way government should be. i'm confident that the president will sign a tax reform bill on christmas eve, melissa. melissa: does it put pressure on everyone after the alabama loss knowing you have one less vote? >> that is the senate of course. i mainly worry about the house that could put pressure getting it done soon in the senate. but i just think overall everyone in our party for sure realizes the impact, melissa, this is going to have, positive impact on our economy and on working families wages and take-home pay. everyone realizes that. it is long overdue. melissa: what do you think of this last iteration we're hearing today, the idea that the corporate tax rate taking that to 21%, give a little bit of room to bump down the top rate to ease for the folks who will

get hit with the change in the "salt"? i mean now it seems like maybe there is something for everyone in this bill? >> i'm personally fine with the corporate tax rate going from 20 to 20 1%. it will put us in the lowest 25% of developed countries worldwide, the corporate tax rate. it brings the top tax rate down a couple points to help compensate for the "salt" deduction. if it stayed at 39.6% i would also be happy with that. give more tax relief to the middle class. i know stuart varney wouldn't want to hear that, i think that would be all right. melissa: this does seem like it has real potential to spur some major economic growth. ironically the knock from the other side, from some other folks i heard, oh, no, now the economy will move too fast and overheat? i know. that is the knock. >> for the last 10 years we've grown 50% of the average post-world war ii growth rate,

melissa. i'm sure you're well aware of that. melissa: oh, yeah. >> for us to grow 3 1/2% is not overheated. that is going back to the average rate since world war ii. if we grow 2.5% next 10 years, this tax cut will pay for itself. melissa: yeah. >> this will not increase the deficit. i'm a firm believer it will reduce the deficit. melissa: what did you think about the president sold it today, bringing families out there seeing real benefit trying to illustrate that for people who might be hearing oh, this is middle class people will have their taxes go up? >> that is absolutely a fabrication. middle class families on average will see a tax cut. more importantly, melissa for middle class families they will see their wages go up because the economy is doing better. melissa: yeah. >> i've seen estimates, melissa, $2500 a year to $6,000 a year in additional pay because this tax reform package. that combined with the tax cuts, are working families, middle class families are finally will see prosperities after 20 years

of falling behind. melissa: i do believe that to be mathematically true. i hope the numbers bear out. i don't see why they wouldn't. thank you for coming on. we appreciate it. >> now we need to get after spending thank you. >> you will owe me a slurpee. melissa: i will. i love it. thank you for reminding me. >> you're welcome. melissa: david. david: also driving the markets the federal reserve raising key interest rates a quarter point this afternoon. nicole petallides on floor of new york stock exchange. nicole, markets don't like the interest hikes but they were expecting this one, right? >> that's right. they don't love it. they want cheap money, as cheap as possible but they know that the fed was likely to raise rates. in fact they were betting 100% they would do so. they got the quarter point. had it been half a point you might see markets react differently. we clocked in records for the dow jones industrial average, and s&p during the day though at the close you saw s&p pull back slightly weighed down by some financials overall. quarter point rate hike. likely to see three more next

year and year following. so that is what we saw on the fed. interestingly enough, financials, which have done so well for the month of december, but have pulled back today, you could see names such as bank of america and citigroup, jpmorgan,down over 1%. wells fargo would go into that category as well. so that group did come under pressure, but again a quick look at oil as well. that is down about 45 cents at 56.69. back to you guys. david: thank you very much let's bring in today's panel. john layfield, layfield reports ceo and fox news contributor. danielle dimartino booth, former advisor to the federal reserve, and steve cortes, spokesman for hispanic 100, former advisor to the trump campaign and also fox news contributor. steve, let me start with you. steve, kill this idea of a overheated economy. i will check out with my producers, they will scream at me, i ask for something, i

always ask for it, gdp figures in the 1980s after ronald reagan tax cuts. we saw them go to 4%. next year was 7%. every year after that, after the reagan tax cuts it was no less than 3 1/2%. inflation came down. so much for an overheated economy, right? >> no, exactly. listen that is just not believing in american potential. and you're right, weren't those great days in the 1980s, leg warmers, the 3% was the floor, not ceiling. david: hold on, there was a recession you can see in the second year went down 1.9%, because the tax cuts didn't actually kick in. they delayed them until 1983. that is when the economy began to take off. 4.6%, 7.3%, every year hence over 3 1/2. >> david here, i think is the major difference. what we saw in those days, frankly through the 90s, massive productivity gains, that is something we haven't seen yet in this century frankly.

we need to. thankfully last couple quarters we have. i think to me all the good economic news of the new trump presidency the best to me actually is feigns in productivity. last two quarters, 3% plus, languishing 1% most of the obama presidency. if we continue to invest in cap ex, get our workers more productive we see high wages as we saw in the 1980s. david: high productivity is not a concern but some people think it will be. one thing happened to, president trump big footed janet yellen, he started his tax speech when she was talking. frankly no contest. no offense to janet yellen, i'm sure a nice woman, has a good family, 99 out of 100 people would rather listen to president trump talking about taxes. isn't it nice to move markets not what the fed might do with interest rates but what the president and other elected officials might do with tax rates? >> look it is about time we shifted the focus away from the

fed being responsible for fiscal and monetary policy. i'm happy to see our politicians begin to be a little more adult adult-like to take the reins from federal reserve. as far as janet yellen's final press conference, the markets knew everything she said represented last generation. we have jay powell coming in. first non-phd in economics to run the fed over 30 years. he understands business a lot more than others will. i'm hoping together, with the congress and white house they're able to continue spurring economic growth. david: john layfield, my friend in that tax haven of bermuda, as you look from afar what is happening here what do you think of the tax plan that you see so far? >> i really like the tax plan. the main thing to me was repatriation of money and lowering of corporate tax rate. understand, the large profitable companies payee effect average tax rate of 18%. effective tax rate is mid 20s. what that tells you is, small

and medium-sized businesses who have not had any political favors giving them lower tax rates over the years, they're the ones paying high rate. this is going to small and medium-sized businesses, going to middle class. that is exactly where it needs to go. david: i will stick with you, john, how much do you think the economy could grow as a result of all that? president said as much as $3.5 trillion could come back from this idea of repatriating capital. do you think that is possible? >> i certainly do think it is possible. hard to put a number on it. look at ge stock which i own. we have $30 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. they have $83 billion in cash, cash equivalents overseas. that company changes dramatically. even if you're not using it for more cap-ex, the balance sheet making company here in america much better. don't forget in 1960s, overheating, 64 tax cut carried by lbj, it went from 6.5 and

6.6% next two years and treasury revenue went up. david: democrats, republicans, doesn't matter, non-partisan, you cut taxes you get growth. three guests, 20 seconds each one i want to ask if the tax bill will pass by christmas. first with you, steve. >> yes, it will. david: what do you think, danielle? >> i think absolutely will. republicans sure do need it. they will make it happen. david: john? >> republicans finally do something right and get it done. david: from your lips, everybody to god's ears. we'll see what happens, danielle, john, steve, good stuff. melissa: i like that answer. finally will do something right. a lot of people feel that way. thousands of firefighters working it put outraging wildfires in southern california. are they making any progress? we're live on the ground with an update. david: political upset in the deep south, doug jones defeating roy moore in last night's special election to become the first democrat senator from alabama in 25 years. what this means for the republican agenda going forward. melissa: and deputy attorney general rod rosenstein on the

hot seat getting grilled over perceived political bias in the justice department and the fbi. this as we're getting details of those anti-trump texts sent between fbi officials during the 2016 campaign. >> this guy thought he was super agent james bond at the fbi. this is unbelievable. i'm here tell you, mr. rosenstein, i think the public trust in this whole thing is gone. a type of irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. but whatever trail i take, i go for my best. so if there's something better than warfarin, i'll go for that too. eliquis. eliquis reduced the risk of stroke better than warfarin, plus had less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis had both. don't stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve

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melissa: fbi bombshell. newly-revealed texts showing an anti-trump bias of an fbi agent tasked with investigating hillary clinton as well as president trump. deputy attorney general rod rosenstein grilled before lawmakers over the salacious texts.

here now is gerri willis. quite a story, gerri. >> melissa this unbelievable. senior fbi officials who helped investigate donald trump's presidential campaign last year exposed not only their disdain of trump but also support of hillary clinton in a series of text messages. the following texts were sent by top counterintelligence agent peter strzok, to his mistress and senior fbi lawyer lisa page. strzok went on to become one of the top investigators in robert mueller's probe of russian influence in the election. on march 4th, 2016, strzok texted this to page. strzok, god, hillary should win 100 million to zero. page says, i know. page says, also, did you hear him make a comment about the size of his, i'm not going to say the word body part earlier? this man she said can not be president. and then, there was this text. i want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in andy's office, that there is no

way he gets elected but i'm afraid we can't take that risk. he says it is like an insurance policy. in unlikely event you die before you're 40. okay important to know that we don't know whether andy in this case is deputy fbi director and drew mccabe or andrew wise man, page's boss at the fbi. in today's hearing, you should heard this, with deputy attorney general rod rosenstein the conversation was nice city, angry. at times republicans posed tough questions about the impartiality of fbi investigators. listen. >> reports on the political predisposition and potential bias of certain career agents and department lawyers on special counsel mueller's team are deeply troubling to all citizens who expect a system of blind and equal justice. >> any opinion on lack of fruit from poisonous tree provided by peter strzok? >> as legal matter, congressman, i can tell you if evidence is

tainted, then that would raise a concern for me. >> this is peter strzok, head of counterintelligence at fbi. this is peter strzok who i think had a hand in the dossier and dressed up taken to the fisa court. he is saying we can't take the risk. we have to do something about it. >> i can assure that i consider it very important to make sure a ture thorough review is done and our inspector general is doing further review. that is how the inspector general found those texts. >> you have given that answer 15 times. >> it went on and on. rosenstein said people have political views, and those views may not interfere with their actions. melissa, back to you. melissa: gerri, when they were texting back and forth, and she said to him, maybe you were meant to stay where you are to protect our country from this menace. that the substance of those texts were it sounded like they wanted to take action from where they were, you know, to have influence over what was going on in the country politically, or

to go after the president. i mean that was really where this took a dark turn. >> we don't know. a dark turn, was it, what were they planning? melissa: right. >> was there some kind of a plan? this raises more questions than it answers. >> it really does. there was that other passage where they talked about hopefully this will play out in a way that hillary clinton will win. but this will be insurance policy just in case. what is it they're talking about there? really raised a lot of very scary questions, gerri, thank you. >> frightening. >> david. david: here to react a little more, fox news senior judicial analyst who we caught on the fly, judge andrew napolitano. all right, here specifically, verbatim is the quote that my coanchor melissa francis was referring to. this is peter strzok, key fbi the one that interviewed hillary, all sorts of stuff, there is no way he, referring to donald trump, gets elected but we can't take that risk. i mean this is more than, i hate

trump, judge napolitano. this is let's use our power to subvert an election. shouldn't somebody be going to jail for that. >> i disagree with that, i'll tell you why. if you read entire thing he is talking about an insurance policy for a job with a republican attorney general. he is not talking about subverting the election. this is the danger of taking one piece of a jigsaw puzzle that has 10,000 pieces trying to figure out what it means. david: hold on. we saw the whole, we quoted entire thing. we put it in context. >> yes. david: to me it looks very much like this guy based on everything that he has said in this, these exchanges with his mistress, lisa page, who was also working at justice, they're saying how terrible it is if he ever becomes president. he should never become president. we have to do anything we can to prevent that from happening. he says then, we can't take that risk. that seems as plain as day.

>> well, why are we taking one of thousands of texts and trying to figure out what the author of the text meant, when the inspector general of the justice department, and we just learned this a few hours ago, is about to interrogate him as to what it meant? why are we saying that fbi agents who are protected by the same first amendment that rest of us are, have strong political opinions can't express those opinions when the statute says they can. david: you have to put it in context who this guy is, what he was doing, including interviewing hillary clinton, including telling his chief, the fbi head comey, that in fact we should not indict hillary because we need to change the language to make it unindebtable what she did with her emails. this is guy who seemed to be doing everything in his power to prevent donald trump from getting elected and to get hillary clinton elected. >> i think you're trying to read into this in a way that is probably not fair. and i'll tell you why.

here is the law. when you have a statement and you're trying to say is it actionable or isn't it actionable, you have to include all innocent interpretations of it. so if friends are saying in the justice department, look, we're about to get a republican attorney general appointed by donald trump. we're liberal democrats. we need an insurance policy we want to know we'll have our jobs unthis republican -- david: he is talking here specifically about the president. he said there is no way he, meaning trump, can get elected. >> millions of people subscribe to that. david: millions of people don't have the power of one of the chief fbi investigators in the country. he had the power to turn the election on couple of key issues, including hillary's emails. >> david, he had no power. fbi agents operate in pairs of two, whatever two do, five more have to approve it. david: he had the ear of james comey who is the one who presented to the nation the evidence of what hillary clinton did wrong which a lot of people

say she should have been indicted for but this guy, peter strzok changed the language so she couldn't be indicted. >> jim comey is responsible for what he says. whether peter strzok advises him or not. on hillary thing i could not agree with you more. comey was wrong on the facts. david: it was strzok who changed the language to make her unindictable. >> drafts men. comey is responsible for what he said. david: in light of what he said we can't take that risk. he said this back in august when she was, when trump and hillary were still neck-and-neck, looked like hillary had a good chance to win. look, i read the all of the transcripts that came out. there are about 25 pages of details. time and time, it wasn't just one or two instances. this guy and his mistress were talking back and forth time and again how we can't allow this guy to become president. >> one thing you didn't read his explanation of this because that hasn't come out. david: i'm not a judge. i am not a jury.

but i am an investigative journalists and looks at details, hard to come to any other conclusion except they were going to try to use their power as justice department officials to prevent this guy from coming president. >> they obviously failed since he became president. was it worth getting me down here? >> it was. it was. we love it. >> i love you too, david. david: melissa. melissa: we'll be right back. with the capital one venture card, you get double miles on everything you buy, not just airline purchases. seriously, think of all the things you buy. great...is this why you asked me to coffee? well yeah... but also to catch-up. what's in your wallet?

melissa: fighting fake news. a new study by the media research center found in the past three months, 91% of the mainstream media coverage of president trump has been negative. president trump chiming in on this argument, tweeting this morning, wow, more than 90% of fake news media coverage of me is negative. with numerous, forced retractions of untrue stories, hence my use of social media, the only way to get the truth out. much of mainstream media has become a joke. i like the shorter tweets better. where was the sad exclamation

point? joining me to weigh in, howard kurtz, "mediabuzz" host, fox news media analyst. sad, exclamation point. what do you think about this? what do you think of the polling and source and does it reflect what is really going on? what is your take, howard? >> there was very similar study by harvard of first 100 days, which found over 90% negative coverage of president trump looking at network evening newscasts and cable. by the way fox was the most fair and balanced by far in that particular study. i think it is much deeper than that, the bias against this president. donald trump hit it on the head in the tweet when he talked about string of embarrassing mistakes and retractions and apologies just happened over the last 10 days. i think that in a way is more important than how many sound bites are put into which category, melissa. melissa: people used to say things to me like, oh, you know, middle class people are not going to get a tax cut, whatever is the issue of the day. i said you can't believe

everything you hear on the news and they would gasp in horror. that was inconceivable to them. people pick statistics that support the bias they're coming from a lot of time when they are reporting. if i said that today, you can't believe the news, a lot of people would say, yeah, i know. >> duh, that is obvious. melissa: this issue of credibility that happened. >> there is huge credibility crisis for the media. it has been building for decade really but particularly come to a head during the polarized era of president trump. if you look at abc's brian ross suspended for a story that turned out to be wrong about mike flynn. cnn turned out to be wrong about donald trump supposedly incriminating email about wikileaks. "washington post" reporter dave weigle half empty florida arena. wrong picture at wrong time. when you put all those together, trump likes to say fake news. he wants his supporters to believe it is intentionally deceptive. i don't believe that most of the

time. i think these are mistakes, but there are mistakes it seems a lower bar when it comes to president trump. little rush to judgment, get it on the air, get it online and we'll worry about details later. that is where the media are losing credibility. melissa: easy for them to believe a negative story so they don't check it out quite as closely. i think the other danger too, when i talk to people outside of the media, you can tell what channel they're watching by what they say. everybody is sort of in an echo chamber. somebody will stop me on the street, wow, i think president trump will probably be impeached by christmas. you know is president pence going to be any better? i think i can tell what channel you're watching based on -- everybody is in an echo chamber where you're only watching news that reinforces your opinion. that is really dangerous. >> following that kind of news on facebook and twitter. there are too many echo chambers about. this is partly the fault of people who like to have their own views reinforced. >> we all do. >> they won't listen to the other side. i wrote a column for foxnews.com

the other day. the headline was pretty close to series of media blunders undermine credibility and fuel trump attacks. i got attacked by all these pro-trump supporters you would think you like the story. what do you mean blunders? they're not blunders. they're intentionally peddling fact news. i part with the president on that. more mistakes made and more studies that show overwhelming tilt in the analysis of the coverage, all of which convincing many people who like this president that the media, much of the media don't like this president. it is showing in the coverage. melissa: howard, thank you. >> great to see you. david: judge napolitano and i are not echo chambers at all. melissa: no, that is true. that's true. that was very spicy segment there. i liked it. david: we have other people here at fox that have different opinions. melissa: there you go, meanwhile, president trump making his final push today to make sure americans getting tax cut for christmas. can they follow through on that promise? fed barnes coming up on that. melissa: doug jones joining

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david: we have to assume sometimes senator al franken will be leaving his post after saying he would resign because of sexual harrassment allegations. now lieutenant above tina smith has been appointed to fill his

seat for one-year term. the question when he actually leaves. adam shapiro will break it all down for us. adam, at least now he has successor, right? reporter: she will fill out the term and run for the seat he is vacating. we don't know when he is vacating it but al franken put out a statement, david, here is what he said about tina smith. lengthy history in politics, all know not native minnesotan. he said, franken did, she will be effective senator who knows how to work across party lines to get things done for minnesota. i look forward to working with her on insuring a speedy and seamless transition. as long as we're talking about transitions there will be another one here in washington on capitol hill. of course doug jones, the winner of the alabama special election to replace senator sessions, then luther strange. now it will be doug jones. and of course roy moore still has not conceded the election but president trump called doug jones today to congratulate him. and then the president said this about going forward.

>> as leader of the party i would have liked to have had the seat. i want to endorse people that are running. we have to get more senators and more congressman that are republicans elected in '18. then you will see a lot more of what we're doing right now. reporter: of course the president is talking about is his agenda and tax reform that is coming. we expect that vote by the way next week. but doug jones in response to doing what the president would like to do, here is what doug jones had to say. >> i will leave that to him. i think that as most people including the president believe that the people of alabama spoke, and after elections it is time for healing. reporter: back to you, david. david: adam shapiro, thank you very much. melissa. melissa: here now to react former minnesota governor tim pawlenty. what do you think that this election means? a lot of people are saying it is the death knell for steve bannon. >> well, i think it really means is that roy moore was a very bad

candidate. it was plainly obvious somebody with his baggage, somebody with that kind of record should have withdrawn from the race. he didn't. he cost the seat. so he can point a lot of other fingers to other people, but at core of it, roy moore was bad candidate. melissa: does it say anything that steve bannon pushed so hard for him? you know what does it say about the direction of the country, if anything? >> whether it is steve bannon or anyone else, the people who are involved as gatekeepers or people who select these candidates have to have good judgment and use discernment not only whether they will be good on the issues that is the important thing, but also whether they can win. whether they have any really bad disqualifying baggage. obvious obviously there was a big miss on a number of fronts. melissa: the president chiming in saying i told you so. i told you this guy couldn't win a general election. that is why i wasn't behind him in the first place. he did endorse him though in the end, at least wanting the vote. does that come back to the bite

the president, do you think? >> i don't think so in the end. i think this fast forwards, with news cycles and everything going on, i think the president wanted to probably endorse somebody else. i think he reluctantly endorsed roy moore. now he says he wish he hadn't, wasn't list candidate of choice. i don't think it sticks unnecessarily too much to the president. melissa: what do you think about what is going on in minnesota? some people said you should run again. what do you think about that? >> i'm politically retired. if that changes you will be among the first to know. there are two seats open in 2018. there is governors's race and vacated franken seat. melissa: that sounds like a definite maybe. >> i told people i am retired. i'm trying to think about the country and challenges facing, how i might help, but that doesn't mean a return to public service. melissa: what are some of the challenges that you see right now? does seem like the agenda is of inning forward.

when we look at tax reform, truly, mathematically it will be good for everyone seems like right now. >> tax reform particularly companies facing some of the highest tax rates in the developed world. we also need more economic growth. gdp rate with couple of exceptions has been anemic in recent years. getting that growth will grow more jobs. hopefully will increase wages. the bill will directly help middle income people as well. there are a lot of benefits for the bill. for example, nobody is interested in debt and deficit. that will come back to bite us pretty soon. melissa: they have to get on the spending. governor, thanks for coming on. hope to see you soon. >> thank you. david: the thomas fire still mostly out of control in southern california. we have encouraging news for you. that is coming next. technology, and open standards. the ibm cloud. the cloud for business.

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melissa: fire officials say they cone takenned 25% of the thomas wildfire in southern california but people in santa barbara are

still being evacuated today. that is where we find robert gray. he is live in montecito, california. robert. reporter: melissa we're seeing firefighters break out all resources they have. choppers are back in the air. they were off yesterday. it was too smokey to get in there. they're dropping water and fire he retardant. you may not see it but a pinkish, reddish hue in the treetops. that is line to keep the fire from advancing closer to the hopes. you see how bald that hillside is. it really burned up overnight but the firefighters were there. they have been dropping the retardant. they had trucks spraying homes yesterday. of course, after the fighting that raging blaze all night long, fire officials are cautiously optimistic. here is what they had to say, if the winds stay calm they have a better chance getting this contained. >> all the homes in montecito were safe last night.

the firefighters worked all night long. the fire burned around them. with a lot of hard work, they saved these homes. reporter: you've got 6,000 firefighters just in this area battling the thomas fire. as you mentioned 25% contained. it stretches for some 27 miles. it is already the fifth largest in california history. fire officials tell me a little while ago, it is on track to become the fourth largest fire as it continues to burn over the hills and goes into the national forest there and begins to burn more. good news there, guys, there are larger fires more recently. so they think that won't burn as quite as much as it did on this side. back to you. melissa: robert, thank you. david: an update on the terror suspect in the new york city attack. he appeared before a judge over a video stream today. akayed ullah is still recovering in a hospital bed. his pipe bomb of course exploded in subway tunnel monday injuring several people. he is facing federal terrorism

chargeses that could lock him up for life. ullah will be held without bail until the next court date, set for january 13th. melissa: a giant tax cut for christmas. president trump wrapped up his closing arguments for tax reform but will congress get the job done by the end of the year? they bert. next fred barnes is here from the "weekly standard" to respond. building a website in under an hour is easy with gocentral... ...from godaddy! in fact, 68% of people who have built their... ...website using gocentral, did it in under an hour, and you can too. build a better website - in under an hour.

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melissa: we have breaking news surrounding senator john mccain. his office just releasing this statement. senator mccain is currently receiving treatment at walter reed medical center for normal side-effects from his ongoing cancer therapy. as ever, he remains grateful to his physicians for their excellent care and his friends and supporters for their encouragement and good wishes.

senator mccain looks forward to returning to work as soon as possible. >> if congress sends me a bill before christmas, the irs, this is just out, this is breaking news, has just confirmed that americans will see lower taxes and bigger paychecks beginning in february. david: president trump promising the american people a tax cut that could cut in as early as this february, if, congress passes a bill by christmas. so can congress do it? here is fred barnes, "the weekly standard" executive editor. so, fred, the president throwing some chum out there for the politicians to kind of hurry them along. do you think it will work? >> i thought his whole production today, and i say that because it was not an orthodox speech, making an argument for a tax cut or something was very

effective. he brought on six families, showed how much of a tax break they would get and specific numbers. they are very attractive families and middle class families. it reminded me of an old show on television called, strike it rich. people would come on. you remember that one? david: sure, yeah. >> would be given exists and prizes and money and so on. david: question, fred, why wasn't it in prime time? >> i just assume that the networks would not give the president time. david: that is very interesting. >> i don't know why else they wouldn't do that. 3:00 is not prime time. david: well it shows you also the way things have changed because back in 1985 they gave prime time to president reagan was selling part two of his tax cut plan. let's play a little sound bite from that and get your reaction. >> okay. >> the present tax system has 14

different brackets of tax rates ranging from 11 to 50%. we would take a giant step toward an ideal system by replacing all that with a simple three bracket system. david: now the problem with trying that out, that particular line, it wouldn't work because the senate plan doesn't reduce the number of brackets. do you think that whole simplification argument, that the president's men came out with in the beginning in april, when they rolled this thing out, have they got get rid of that was put in by senators and really reduce the brackets? >> i think it is too late now. i wish they had. i think you make a good point. if you simplify the tax code that has seven brackets and you wind up with your new tax code and it has seven brackets, you obviously, you obviously haven't done what you were trying to do. i think that is a mistake. david: yeah. but two positive things. i want to look on the bright side before we to. >> okay. david: one they did bring doesn't top rate. as historian of tax cuts you

know when you bring down the top marginal rate it leads to a lot of economic activity. >> it does. david: and, also apparently those wanted to delay the tax cut as it was back in 1982 and '83, they failed, the new verse apparently has it enacted immediately. americans will see the effect immediately. >> if you get any bang for your buck you might as well get it, start it right away. that was a big mistake with the reagan tax cut in 1981, to drag it out. that meant recession lasted longer. you can get, trump wants four or 5% growth. you have a better chance of getting there when you start early, with the effective date of this tax cut and tax reform. that makes a lot of sense. it was worth announcing too but, you know, david, i chuckled when i watched this show that trump put on. i mean it is, the famous book, presidential power. david: written by a harvard

professor, presidential power is the power to persuade. i don't think he had anything like what trump did today in mind, but it did work! david: certainly in the background with all the christmas trees and everything, it was magnificent. free barnes, good stuff. thank you very much, fred. good to see you. appreciate it. melissa: love fred. david: the best. the best. melissa: they know what you've been searching for. google is keeping its eye on you, and your neighbors. ♪ ...

>> melissa: google knows what you're searching for and now the best of the world can get a look at the most popular search terms of the year. the rest of the world. google released its most searched terms, how to number three is to buy bitcoin. >> david: i imagine that now, number two how to make solar eclipse glasses and number one,

more important than bitcoin, yes , look at the slime. how to make it. they've got the details of it. >> melissa: you do not want to make slime. it is a mess. >> david: most of the people in the world want to find out how. >> melissa: here is risk & reward. >> president trump: we're very close to getting it done. people are up 30%, 40%, 50%. we think we're going to grow that a lot more and wages are starting to go up first time in many years, something that i think will really be the capper is going to be the massive tax cuts that we're planning it will be bigger than anything ever done in this country, bigger than the reagan cuts, bigger than any cuts, it's going to be something very very special. >> liz: president trump with the hard sell on tax cuts in his speech today it is a full core press this as house and senate republicans reach a sweeping tax cut deal, though it's tentative bure