much. now lou dobbs. [♪] lou: good evening, everybody, president trump unveiled his national security strategy, one that above all puts america first. in a highly anticipated speech in d.c. the president said the united states cannot guard its interests abroad if it doesn't protect prosperity at home. he singled out russia and china as rival nations which seek to diminish u.s. power and security. also president trump and republicans on the verge of a major tax cut victory. rino senators mike lee and susan

col thrins joining with the gop announcing they will support tax reform legislation, boosting the chance of passage this week. tragedy in washington state. an amtrak train making its first run ever along a faster new route hurtled off a bridge while it traveled 80 miles an hour. local officials warned such high speeds were bound to end in disaster. ed the president today outlining a new national security strategy of principled realism and global competition. >> for the first time american strategy recognizes economic security is national security. economic vitality, growth and prosperity at home is absolutely necessary for american power and

influence abroad. any nation that trades away its prosperity for security will ends up losing both. lou: the president's new strategies organized around four pillars, protecting the american people, protecting the homeland, the american way of life, and promoting american prosperity, rejuvenating tour economy through tax reform and new trade deals preserving peace through strength and advancing american influence abroad. president trump: we are reasserting fundamental truths. a nation without borders is not a nation. a nation that does not protect prosperity at home cannot protect its interests abroad. a nation that is not prepared to win a war is a nation not

capable of preventing a war. lou: president trump also confronting the rights of north korea's nukes jar aggression, radical islamic terrorism, and he put russia and china on notice. the strategy document states both countries challenge american power, influence and interests. our next guest says president trump made a critical point today. america cannot have a strong position in the world without a strong economy. joining us john bolton, former u.n. ambassador. you focus on u.s. economic power as the foundation of all other forms of power that flow from it. this was not recognized to any adequate degree by the previous

administration. president trump understands it web is living it. he's driving what now in the fourth quarter is approaching 4% growth after the second and third quarters reached 3% levels. this is quite a demonstration of leadership on the part of this president. >> under the obama administration its as if tour economy was divorced from the rest of the world. but i think the president made in his speech in the national security strategy is strength abroad requires domestic strength and the reverse is true. that's what peace through strengths means. we are free to increase and expand our economic well-being here at home. so that kind of understanding i think has to inform awful our diplomacy and power projection around the world. i think the trump administration has made a good start on that in

the first year. lou: peace through strength is the 1950 ss. peace through strength is is the 1980s. what does it take for america's leadership to learn shared wisdom that will apply in foreign policy year after year constant throughout our history. >> i think it's the done assistant reinfection of liberal viruses that tell us that a peaceful world is a default position. everything will be fine if america doesn't mess things up. we are part of the problem in the world, not part of the solution. we are too strong, too aggressive, too successful. i think that's what informed the obama administration. now president trump is dealing with changed circumstances in many parts of the world which

make it much more difficult. iran fan north korea being two good examples. the way the strategy dealt with terrorism with russia and china was right on target. lou: comeajing russia and china as they are surely challenging our influence and power around the world, that's the first time we have heard that since certainly 2008 from a president or a man about to be president. and it's an extraordinary statement. >> it's critical in understanding the jan we operate in. and dealing with the isis caliphate and the broader

strategic threats are russia and especially china. that's something you did not hear for 8 years in the obama administration. >> this president is also showing that he can, if you will, delight and revel in understatement just as much as does hire bowl from time to time. the 14-1 vote in the flaits in which the united nations security council tried to overwhelming u.s. sovereignty and its support as jerusalem as its capital fit so chooses jerusalem as its capital. it had everyone in the security council beside themselves. then to veto the resolution was a magnificent moment. you can see the president delighting tonight. but at the same time staying

constrained and pressing u.s. power straight ahead. >> i felt envy sauce with respect to nikki haley. i would have loved to have cast that veto. but that's a demonstration of what american leadership is. it does not consist of finds out what europe wants to do and agreeing them. lou: we are a year past that, and that's such a great place to be in. this president is wielding power as a u.s. president should. it's truly paying dividends. >> i think more to come as well. i think the israel embassy decision is symptomatic of a range of other decisions that will be made. it enhances the president's credibility. president trump has been criticized by his opponents for being an isolationist.

it's the furthest thing from the truth. it was the obama administration that withdraw and made it a much more dangerous place. lou: whether those are domestic opponents or international rivals, we finds they are usually the farthest thing from truth, their utterances and declarations. this president is setting a new standard. and it is great to watch happen. ambassador john bolton. good to have you here. we are coming right back. much more straight ahead. stay with us. the president's attorneys claim special counsel robert mueller illegally obtains tens of thousands of trump transition team documents. >> not looking good. there is no collusion. lou: how much longer should

america put up with a corrupt and biased investigation by the special council? disturbing new revelations about the obama administration. new reports that former president obama gave a helping hands to hezbollah to secure a nuclear deal with iran. who was president obama working for?

lou: president trump's attorneys are criticizing mueller's tactics and accuse him of being unethical. he obtained thousands of emails from the trump transition team. the hours claim they violated the 4th amendment provisions

against search and seizure. but the president says he has no i tension of firing robert mueller. reporter: it was a definitive 3-word response. >> no, i am not. reporter: it was a claim made by a california congresswoman. >> the rumor on the hill when i left yesterday was that the president was going to make a significant speech at the ends of next week, and on december 22 when we are out of d.c., he was going to fire robert mueller. reporter: speier's comments echo an oft-used story in the media.

>> you keep bringing that up. we have continued to cooperate in he single possible way in that investigation. reporter: that cooperation has become strained with the revelation that the mueller investigation gained access to montreal transition emails. the gsa and the mueller team were accused of unlawful conduct that undermines the presidential transition act of 1963. he used ptt.gov email addresses as well as confidential attorney-client accounts. >> let me tell what you a lawyer for the gsa said about using

those .governo .gov email addre. he says there is no expectation of privacy when you use one. but there is a debate over the ethical and legal justification for making that move. lou: those folks all hired of course by the obama administration. kevin corke, thanks so much. joining me now, charlie hurt. great to see you. wouldn't you like to hear the interpretation of the law? charlie: they got that wrong

claiming the .gov website has no expectation of privacy. there are tens of thousands of .gov email addresses in the capital in the senate and house and there is a presumption of privacy because congress exempts itself from the freedom of information act that applies to everybody else in the government. any way you look at it, it's bogus. lou: i said tpp, i meant ptt. let's turn to jackie speier. she has the inside track on whether president trump will fire someone. she and adam schiff. i get the feeling they live on the same block in the same

community in california somewhere, don't you? charlie: yes. i think it's so funny when these geniuses who have been wrong about everything about donald trump always come out and claim to be some kind of expert on his thinking, they know what he's going to do and they have the secret sauce for understanding this guy. but they couldn't understand anything, let alone the issues they ran a campaign on. and ended up winning the presidency. i find it amusing when these people come forward and start pretending to be a trump whisperer. lou: i find it a little bit more amusing if adam schiff could avoid looking like an absolutely stark raving scared to death deer in the headlights of an

oncoming locomotive. he gets so excited about all of this and then says nothing, but cnn and the fake news folks dutifully transcribe this every word. charlie: you would be terrified if you launched a boomerang special prosecutor investigation and after donald trump thinking all that was going to come out of it was the collusion with russia and it turns out the only thing they manage to be able to hear about coming out of the thing is the collusion between barack obama and the democrats and the republicans and the kremlin to deny trump the presidency in the first place. lou: it's startling. who would are dreamed at the onset of all of this that the collusion would be between the baltimore administration, the dnc, the clinton campaign and

throw in fusion gps and their smear merchants, and add stir with the kremlin and you have the concoction they went after. charlie: a year and a half ago, two years ago, donald trump was talking about how he wasn't sure he would upset the outcome of the election and he was hooted off the stage out of the public arena saying he was a ridiculous kook for saying such ridiculous things, and they all turn it to be true. lou: i wonder how james clapper and john brennan are doing. they had at the forefront of their minds and concerns has been the united states, not a partisan view of donald trump, president of the united states. charlie: they still have a lot of allies in the federal

bureaucracy. and those people are still we know that to this day those people are working seriously behind the scenes to thwart the president in terms of his agenda and also in terms of trying to opinion something, anything on this guy. i think they will stop at nothing. it's like the night of the living dead with all the zombies. zombie bureaucrats talking around, you cannot kill them. lou: it will be interesting to see what does bring them to a close, to an end, if you will. mike borel, the act acting director. he is the first to say i'm sorry, we overreacted. we took on donald trump when we shouldn't have and treated him

harshly and badly. which means the intelligence community is acknowledging in part in the person of mike morell unfortunate actions. charlie: it's terrifying. lou: be sure to vote in tonight's poll. do you believe finders keepers is the appropriate rule to follow when it comes to constitutional issues on the part of the general counsel? it seems to be the way he's looking at the transitional team emails. finders keepers. we got the talk to the judge and inform the president's attorneys. cast your vote on twitter @loudobbs. like me on facebook, follow me on instagram @loudobbstonight.

the s & p rallying 14. all at new record highs. 3.7 billion shares volume on the big board. mpbell's loong to expand its snk business buying snyders. consumer confidence at its highest level in 19 years. when was the last time you haired the dems give the president any credit for the strength and growth of this economy? up next, shock new revelations about the disastrous iran nuclear deal. how president trump sold out u.s. security and permitted hezbollah to secure one of the worst deals in u.s. history. we'll have a full report straight ahead. stay with us.

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lou: shock new revelations about the obama administration's appeasement of iran. the obama administration according to "politico" backing off an investigation into a hezbollah drug and organized crime ring in order to secure that iranian nuclear deal. >> today the united states, together with our allies and partners, has reached an historic understanding with iran. reporter: at what cost was the nuclear deal with iran reached. a "politico" investigation alleged the obama admin snraition order to reach the agreement drastically curtailed interdiction of drugs into the

u.s. for years it has been known hets bow la was active in the south american drug trade. >> for some unknown reason we seem to have missed out on one opportunity after another. we seem to have forgotten about the importance of disrupting the supply chain. reporter: "politico" reports prosecution, arrests and financial sanctions, officials at the justice and treasury departments delayed, hindered or rejected their requests. >> we pull out of iraq largely because the iranians want us out of there. from 2009, january to the entire 8 years of the obama administration, hands off

anything to do with the iranians and their proxies. reporter: several former obama administration officials did not respond to pour question quest for -- request for comment. the trump administration has taken a different tack in its iran policy. it reflected sobering comments from secretary mattis when he told reporters everywhere you find turmoil, you find iran's hand in it. lou: thank you very much. we are coming right back. much more straight ahead. stay with us. president trump promises to put america first and stand up for our great nation. >> with every decision and every action we are putting america first. we are rebuilding our nation, our confidence and our standing in the world. >> we take up our nation's national security next with

michael goodwin. the thomas fire is set to be the largest wildfire in california's history.

lou: republicans on the verge of making history by passion their tax cut and tax reform legislation. the house expected to vote tomorrow. then it's on to the senate where mike lee and susan collins announced they will vote in support of the legislation that all but insures its passage. vice president pence will also be on hand to preside over any tax mode. he has postponed his trip to the middle east until next month. joining us tonight. ed rollins. chairman of the great america pack, "new york post" columnist, michael goodwin. both fox news contributors. ed: an extraordinary accomplishment. i'm willing to give the majority leader some credit.

but the president got every single republican in the house and senate voting for this bill on thered than mccain who had to go home. 80% of the country will get some benefit from it. michael: that they were able to gets it done this year is a big step. i must say, i thought mitch mcconnell moved a lot of people in the last few weeks. obviously when we see some of the details what the price was for that, it won't be pretty. but as a majority leader that was his job to get it done and he got it done. lou: i can't help but wonder what it would have been like if he moved originally with healthcare to get it done as he has with this. it could have been quite a different tone in washington.

but i'm not any way begaraging the size much this accomplishment. >> he didn't quite want to give the president all his just due. the president played a critical role in this. he earned an enormous amount how to deal with congress. if he would have been able to do that in the beginning and mcconnell had taken him by the hand and said this is what you are going to do. lou: this is a president who performed well at every juncture. i think it was the majority leader who needed to take instruction because he simply didn't understand history. the role of the majority leader versus that of the president. the president came with the agenda, he developed the agenda on the campaign trail. it was the people's agenda and remained so. this is the majority leader and speaker who i believe are ready

to listen to their leader which is the president of the united states. michael: has been gentleman min franklin said in a different context, we either hang together or hang separately. and that's what the republicans were facing after the defeat of the repeal of obamacare. if republicans can't fast tax cuts, what do we need republicans snore fundamentally that's one of their name principles. lou: that appears to be a not question and we can move on to what are they going to accomplish. i have to say, the president today asked if he would fire bob mueller, you could see him to me, he was sort of reveling in being able to say to the assembled press, are you out of your mind? i have no intention whatsoever. it looks like mueller is going

to hang himself. ed: he was one of the most of brilliant leaders in the country, benjamin franklin, an never ran for office. he was one of the great leaders of the day as you are. alabama had no impact whatsoever. one senator doesn't. lou: where is bannon? ed: i think moore was not a good candidate and a good campaign. lou: the president of the united states avoid a problem. you have got to have a little truck in this life. i think not having roy moore there is a major piece of good

luck. ed: we have to win some senate race s from the democrats the next go-rounds. i think we'll. lou: we have the knew her cal advantage. they will have to defend twice as many seats. michael * i would like to see some bipartisan votes for something the white house puts up. lou: joe manchin is an independents in search of his soul. michael: i understand that. but it's better for the country when there are at least some crossover votes. lou: not to test this thing too far. what is the empirical evidence that this would be a great republic for joe manchin to have

a vote with the republicans? >> i think you get more public buy-in. lou: what is the empirical basis for that. is there some historic fact that can guide is? michael: i didn't come -- prepared for this. lou: i didn't brit argument. michael: most of in the public do prefer to have divided government. lou: this public cares about one thing, gnats many getting representation by their party of choice, and right now there is only one man delivering. >> i would like to see some democrats recognize the train is moving and get on it because it's the right thing. >> you want them to jump on the trump train. i'm sorry.

the tax bill should have been changed. i thought shee heitkamp was get. ed: democrats can stands up and applaud the president's speech today. the four pillars he laid out. it would be great place for the democrats to say we'll support you with this policy. lou: they should stand up and say the president is doing the right thing and i'm on board. some this point, not one has done so. not one has given credit to this president for taken economy that is 180 degrees from that delivered by barack obama. not one has given the foreign policies and the positions this president has taken in foreign

policy 180 degrees barack obama. michael: do you think they look at their investment funds and say they are guchg. i should thank donald trump for that. lou: i'm sure they sold their stocks immediately. michael goodwin, ed rollins, thanks so much. we had our bipartisan moment. ed: it would be a nice concept to start that. lou: the inaugural run of an amtrak train in washington state becomes tragedy. we'll have the latest here next. we'll have the latest here next. stay with us.

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or a little internet machine? it makes you wonder: shouldn't we get our phones and internet from the same company? that's why xfinity mobile comes with your internet. you get up to 5 lines of talk and text at no extra cost. so all you pay for is data. see how much you can save. choose by the gig or unlimited. xfinity mobile. a new kind of network designed to save you money. call, visit, or go to xfinitymobile.com. lou: federal investigators are at the scene of an amtrak train wash south of ka tacoma in washington state during the train's nawk inaugural run. reporter: 50 miles south of

seattle an amtrak commuter train jumped the rails and over a freeway, and many of those cars landing on the interstate coming on top of at least five vehicles heading southbound on interstate five. all of the dead, six people at least, were on the train that came crashing down off that trestle. 5 or 6 hospitals received these patients. there is a nearby army base, they along with many other first responders came on to the scene. it was a chaotic scene as they tried to get inside the cars to free the people who were trapped. there were 77 people inside the train along with five crew members and most of did survive.

that train has the capacity of 250 passengers. this was the inaugural trip for this route, a brand-new route linking seattle down to portland it was designed to save 15 minutes off the trip. some people said the speed could be a factor. the top speed for that train is supposed to be 79 miles per hour. at that sharp curve we are told it should be no more than 35 miles per hour. no doubt ntsb will be look at speed as well as all the other factors that could have been part of this accident. lou: in southern california, the firefighters progressing in

their containment of the fires that burned 270,000 acres. 1,000 structures destroyed in the fire. the fires are expected to burn into early next month. president trump shrugging off concerns about robert mueller as the special counsel's office

lou: in our online poll last week we asked, do you think we should work at making the fbi smaller and more transparent rather than leaving it bigger and more corrupt. the special counsel just goes tiptoeing through the gsa tulips and comes up with the presidential transition team emails. gregg: there is a reason americans in a recent poll have no confidence in mueller. they realize what's going on. mueller illegally obtained in my judgment document he wasn't entitled to that are private and he did it without a warrant or subpoena. just by a letter.

lou: the gsa are the friendly government folks here to help, and they helped out the special counsel. gregg: they are only custodians, they are not owners of the records. the owners are the transition team and they are supposed to be private and secured. and they are suppose to be destroyed. lou: the gsa spokesman says if you want this, it's yours. don't worry about president obama and his people. gregg: i think a career service gsa guy didn't know any bert and got bamboozled. if you obtain evidence like that illegally it's automatically suppressed under the exclusionary rule. if there are privileged documents in there and mueller's team looked at them and

apparently they did, they are to be disqualified. lou: they were because their questions on them apparently. gregg: mueller probably could have gotten a subpoena or warrant to get these things. lou: even those things that are privileged? gregg: the law says you set up a team that segregates the privileged material. lou: others would argue the mueller team is one of those. gregg: that's a tainted team. you are missing the e-d on that. if that's true, everybody on the mueller special team saw these documents and arguably they should all be dismissed. lou: will they be dismissed, play fair, or is the fix in.

gregg: the fiction could be in so many different ways because we have seen it over and over. congress needs to get involved. demand answers. what the heck were you doing? lou: shouldn't there be some versu -- some vestige. to say i will assert my own sense of integrity on this? but no he's an opportunist. gregg:rsh it suggests a corrupted political agenda and bias out to get the president. all we have to do is looking at peter strzok's emails. look at andrew weissmann's emails. mueller hired jeanie ray who

represented hillary clinton. lou: this is the taint team is a huge team. and and the justice department leadership, the fbi leadership and the special counsel there will be is no surprise left for any of our viewers. if i say tonight the taint team is the special counsel, the fbi and the justice department, they know that. the on people who don't seem to be concerned about it are those who lead the u.s. congress, the senate and would have some voice. the special counsel is suppose to be a man of integrity. gregg: i think in addition too congress doing something about it. a none profit could go to a federal judge and say dismiss mueller, suppression of

evidence. lou: are you tired of the law? gregg: i have been doing it for 35 years, i'm really tired of the law. lou: thanks the >> preliminary indications are that train was traveling 80 miles per hour in a 30 miles per hour tax. lauren: the train that derailed in washington state leaving three people dead was traveling way over the speed limit. >> susan collins is a definite yes for tax reform. defendant as soon as tonight. tax cuts lighting a fire under the stock market peaked down nasdaq and s&p 500 to new records yesterday marking 70 for the dow this year alone. fe