[♪] lou: good evening, everybody, the awful politics of the d.c. swamp get stranger and stranger every day. this morning the radical dimms decided upon two charges to assert against president trump as the house begins to wrap up their now almost 3 month long so-called impeachment inquiry. then this afternoon, those same radical difficulties finally agreed to d cad rall dimms find -- those same radical dimms agreed to approve the mexico

canada trade deal. and then know celebration, just more frustration after senator mcconnell announced there will be no vote on the landmark trade agreement, saying the senate will take it up after the impeachment trial. >> we'll not be doing usmc sarks between now and the end of next week. that will have to come up in all likelihood right after the trial is finished in the senate. lou: what can you say. the house announcing two charges against president trump. one for abuse of power. the other for obstruction of justice. both charges appear to any reasonable person at least as weak, meaningless, a massive waste of time and taxpayer money. president trump provided this reaction on the white house south lawn. >> the democrats couldn't find have much because they put up

two articles that frankly are very weak. also they approved today of all days, we have been waiting a year. they approved the usmca. i call that the silver lining to impeachment. the impeachment is the reason they approved it and the reason is they wanted to muffle down the impeachment because they are embarrassed by the and they couldn't get the votes. lou: while washington is swirling with trade talk and impeachment, attorney general william barr once again ripping into the conclusions of inspector general michael horowitz. barr questioning how horowitz could find no documentary or testimonial evidence of political bias in almost two years of investigation. the fbi probe of the 2016 trump campaign. >> these irregularities, these

statements, these omissions were not satisfactorily explained. that leaves open the possibility to infer bad faith. he said people gave me an explanation and i didn't find anything to contradict it so i don't have a basis for saying there was an improper motive. but he doesn't decide the issue of improper motive. >> have you? >> no. lou: he says he thinks the 2016 strum campaign was spied upon. >> it was clearly spied upon. that's what directtronnic surveillance is. wiring people up to go in and record conversations is spying. our nation was turned on its head forward three years. i think based on a completely bogus narrative that was largely fanned and hyped by an

irresponsible press. the question is, what was the agenda after the election that kept them pressing ahead after their case collapsed? lou: joining us tonight, white house press secretary stephanie grisham with reaction to what has been a busy and strange day in washington, d.c. great to have you with us. first, the president's reaction to these two charges which have already in point of fact been rebutted by just common sense and the evidence. >> he said it as he was walking out to marine one, the democrats have nothing. the two articles of impeachment they put together are just grasping at straws. obstruction of congress means they didn't play nice with us and they are angry. abuse of power, the dems have

been abecausing power for months now. the only evidence they have is the toronto script showing no wrongdoing. the only two articles of impeachment they were able to produce were these two. lou: when you look at it in terms of obstructing congress, all the president was doing was seeking for himself and for the members of his administration their legal rights. where do you find those? in court. and that takes time. it's preposterous what the democrats have put up as these two charges. >> the due process that was afforded this president is less than somebody who had a traffic ticket would be afforded. of course, we were not going to participate. we said that over and over and over again. they were having secret meetings

in the basement. we had absolutely no due process here. they had no intention of giving the president a fair shake. coming up with obstruction of congress is absurd. i think the american people know it's a little bit absurd. there is a new poll showing impeachment is over 50 percent against impeachment. lou: those polls on opposing impeachment have been running against impeachment and for the president. let's turn to usmca which the president referred to as a silver lining. i think he was being partly facetious but there is great truth in what he is saying. to have that usmca delivered today by the democrats has to be satisfying to the white house, the administration, and lays the

basis to move ahead and show something for 2019, led by this president. >> we were so pleads that usmca finally got attention it deserved today. this is a process and something we have been calling on for weeks and weeks. i did find the timing in the announcements to be interesting. she has 6, 7 of her democrat colleagues behind her for the impeachment. and moments later she went out with an entire a swath of democrats who were proud to announce the usmca. there are a number of democrats in trouble with their own communities. so they will try to take credit for usmca. but this is spearheaded by the president. it's a problem he has seen through the end.

lou: let's turn to william bar saying it appears this is a bad you faith investigation begun by the fbi. he's extraordinarily critical, and when not critical, dismissive of these efforts to go after the president. it is pure fraud against the president of the united states. and everybody that is revealed just simply reinforces that reality. >> absolutely. i couldn't agree more with everything attorney general barr said today. when i was briefed on the report i found it to be chilling as an american citizen. not only was the president and his campaign spied upon, but the fact that documents were altered by an fbi attorney. surveillance was used. people kept finding evidence to the contrary that showed the president and the campaign were

doing nothing wrong and that was hidden. we all look forward to the durham report and what will come out there. i think a lot of people will be held accountable at the fbi at that time. >> the other thing i would like to do is go to bar on the baseless investigation that was started by the deep state, the radical dimms. if we can play that with william barr talking about when you analyze what has been the conclusion, that this entire process was baseless from the beginning. here we go. >> i think when you step back here and say, what was this all based on? it's not sufficient. remember, there was and never has been any evidence of collusion, yet this campaign and the president's administration has been dominated by this investigation into what turns out to be completely baseless.

lou: stephanie, you get the last word here. >> i wonder if the media will make the next year, two years to put out the information that the president did nothing wrong. that this is a false narrative. i wonder if they will admit the president did nothing wrong, his tam campaign did doing in wrong and he's doing good things for the country. lou: i would hope they would be eating their words that they have spewed so they have something of a head start on more crow to come. stephanie, thank you so much. at least six people killed today including a police officer following a deadly shootout in a jersey city street. the police officer, 39-year-old detective joseph seals, father of five, walked up to two

possible suspects. seals was then shot and killed before the suspects fled to a nearby kosher supermarket where they reportedly opened fire on civilians and police officers. police are searching for a third suspect. president trump says he is being kept informed on the situation. up next. majority leader, mitch mcconnell. he's putting a camper on the usmca passage saying we are not going to take that up until after we do impeachment. we take it up with amongst others, peter navarro. general michael flynn, one of the four trumped aides wrapped up in the efforts to overthrow donald trump. sidney powell joins us next to talk about that and much more. [ electrical buzzing ]

[ dramatic music ] ahhhh! -ahhhh!

elliott. you came back! some people say that's ridiculous. i dress how i feel. yesterday i felt bold with boundless energy. this morning i woke up calm and unbreakable. tomorrow? who knows. age is just an illusion. how you show up for the world, that's what's real. what's your idea? i put it out there with a godaddy website. make the world you want. lou: markets are funny things. they give us a sense of direction when lots of difficult issues are before the public like usmca, and impeachment, and of course the u.s.-china strayed

deal. not much clarity on all of that. on wall street stocks reacted accordingly. closing slightly lower for a second straight day. the dow down 28 points, the nasdaq down 6. volume on the big board 3.4 billion shares. what are investors waiting for? they are waiting for something to make sense. right now it simply doesn't. crude oil gaining a halfpercent. a remind tore listen to my reports three times a day coast to coast on the salem radio network. president trump condemning fbi director christopher wray to his response to the fisa report from the inspector general. here is the president on twitter. i don't know what report current

director of the fbi christopher wray was reading, but it sure wasn't the one given to me. with that kind of attitude he will never be able to fix the fbi which is badly broken despite having some of the greatest men and women working there, end quote. christopher wray, a little precious and very suspicious. the inspector general's report revealing the fbi spied on former national security advisor general michael flynn. joining to us take that up and much, much more, sidney powell. best-selling author, great american, good to have you with us. christopher wray, the president obviously not pleased, and anyone who pays attention to some of christopher wrays remarks, you wonder what planet he lives on. >> very disappointed.

but i'm not surprised. he was andrew weissmann's supervisor when weissmann was running roughshod on the task force. christopher wray extolled his progress and made sure he got bonuses for excellence. lou: there are a considerable number of cases to sift through. my personal favorite is because i find it so contemptible what was done, 8,000 people loss their jobs because of these damn fools. not a single arthur anderson executive had any accountability at all. but up to 85,000 people did because of the idiotic decisions of the justice department. let's go to more idiotic

decisions. the idea this president would be impeached on these two issues, obstruction of congress and abuse of power. that's the best these radical dimms could do. >> you have to remember that. it takes a lot of creativity to come up with that. it's never been charged in an impeachment before. the new process that's never been applied because they are making it up as they go. >> there is no presumption of innocence whatsoever for this president. no due process. no acceptance of an almost two-year investigation by a special counsel that shouldn't have with been put in place. this is outrageous. you know what really drives me just nuts about this? the national left-wing media doesn't have the integrity to say what this is, which is bull

crap. it's the most unfair process ever against a president of the united states. and every one of these people whether they are in the special counsel, whether they are in the currently in the fbi and have been part of this, they should be held accountable. because this is sheer ignorance and corruption. >> it's worse than that. the media has been complicit in it. they are essentially co-conspirators. some of them were paid by fusion gps and we don't know who those are. lou: why doesn't someone demand accountability for fusion gps responsible for authoring the dossier styled by christopher steele as a report. this is just horrible. and we still don't know the truth behind that report whether it's the role of john mccain and you lindsey graham -- and

lindsey graham. and our allies. the united kingdom or australia. >> there were a lot of fingers in that pie. it's crucial to the rule of law that people be held vigorously accountable for their conduct here. lou: where are we with general flynn? you have represented him aggressively and effectively, and still the judge does not move. the justice department does not move. we know he was spied upon and that spying was outright illegal. where do you go next. >> right now we are waiting for judge sullivan to decide our motion to require the government to produce exculpatory evidence. given what the inspector general found that is damning for the fbi, they withheld exculpatory

evidence from the fisa court and lied to the fisa court. there is a real problem with the doj and fbi making up crimes and falsifying documents. they falsified a 302 interview report and changed that at the last minute. lou: what does judge sullivan say to you? doesn't judge sullivan want to say this looks and smells like a real corrupt mess? let's get to it now? why isn't somebody doing something? i am sick and tired of hearing about judges sitting around waiting for things to wash over them. i am sick and tired of the justice department and its corrupt agency, the fbi playing fast and loose not only with the facts, but with law, and their responsibilities. why doesn't the attorney general barr say this bull is over.

>> i said for a while if the department of justice had any integrity left they would go in themselves and dismiss the case against general flynn. lou: most of me wants something done now. this has dragged on too long. i appreciate it. sidney powell, thanks so much. new details in the deadly shooting at the naval base in pensacola, florida. reports the gunman was quote acting angry and strange after returning from a trip to his home country of saudi arabia. as a result of that shooting. all 852 saudi military aviation students in this country have been ground as part of what is being termed a safety standdown

procedure. there is every reason to think there should be a standdown on every shipment of arms, everything this country is doing with saudi arabia. it should be put on hold. and i mean deep, broad investigations into this right now. both here and in saudi arabia. i would like to hear your thoughts on all of this. follow me on twitter @loudobbs. a programming note, house minority leader kevin mccarthy, china analyst gordon chang. we hope you will, us then and stay with us now as next we take a look at where we standw in the trade talks with china. trade czar peter navararararar

lou: welcome back. we are continuing our discussion about the findings of inspector general michael shore winds' report on fisa abuse previewing his testimony in front of the judiciary committee. we'll be taking that up with mark simone tonight. mexico's top cop has been accused of protecting el chapo's cartel. he oversaw the federales is facing drug trafficking conspiracy charges in the united states. prosecutors say the sinaloa cartel give luna millions of dollars to help get their drugs. corruption, anyone? the white house and radical dimms today reached an agreement

to move ahead with the president's historic trade deal, usmca. speaker pelosi even called the trade agreement much better than nafta. the white house today said the deal could create 350,000 jobs, raise gdp by 3% to 4% annually. it could be a welcome' deal for canada and mexico as well. mexico's economy on track for its worst performance in a decade. and we are talking about the prospect of recession. no significant gdp growth since the third quarter of last year. and when it comes to trade with china, white house economic trade advisor larry kudlow said the december 15 tariffs on $150

billion in chinese goods are still on the table, despite numerous reports from numerous outthreats that the united states and china are preparing to delay those tariffs. it's time of for clarity. to help us with that we turn to peter navarro, director of trade and the director of the white house national strayed council. a great american. >> what a great day today with usmca. lou: it's a beautiful day and i know you are excited. let me turn to something that i -- i love it when you do. i'm going to say hi by saying usmca is a done deal, well done, to the president of the united states and great from you will of north america. but let's turn to the us sh china trade deal. because i keep hearing so much noise out of the white house and how the chinese in particular

that i wonder what's going on. i'll be specific about that noise. when you hear the noise from reuters and bloomberg citing chinese sources, and now.line s. sources. and when they are u.s. sources they seem to be larry kudlow or steve mnuchin, the treasury secretary. i think the chinese are meddling in our futures market. what do you think? >> we had a handshake deal in october. lou: let's start with the first question. do you think they are messing with the futures market? >> yes, i do. i think what china has been doing is -- lou: not everybody heard you that first time. >> they put the news out first thing the morning before the financial shows start and they try to shape the narrative. it usually comes from the "wall street journal" or bloomberg and

people tend to pick it up and run with it as if it's fact. the story this morning came from the chinese, not our side. >> here we are. that strayed deal, the first reports were, and i think the principal sources were all coming from the chinese. but the idea the president would lift those tariffs rather than put them on on the 15th of december. what's the truth? >> it's the president's decision and i have no indication he's going to do anything other than have a great deal to put the tariffs on. he's in a great position. the tariffs are doing great defending america from chinese economic address. our economy has grown strong. the stock market has gone up thousands of points.

clearly the tariffs are helpful to the u.s. economy. sit would be nice to have a great deal with china, one they agreed to in october. it reminds me of that expression, slippery -- more slippery than an eel in a jar of vaseline. you get the idea. but look, bob lighthizer, a great american, did a great job on usmca. he was in mexico today. lou: he gets one $3 trillion deal done and he's going to take a day off? >> i don't know. lou: he can't get motivated. >> it puzzled me. we got a deal, the surks mca where it's five times the exports of the china deal. so you kind of wonder what's

going on there. >> i was talking about that earlier. the market in all fairness is trying to digest a lot. the market knows they are getting played by wall street and the chinese and the futures market. and they know we don't have resolution on thawvment s.-china deal. the same geniuses who said that those tariffs that the trump administration put into place would destroy the market, would destroy the economy, are sitting here looking at great prosperity, record low unemployment, and sky-high markets. but you don't hear a single word from the national left-wing media or steve schwarzman or steve mnuchin, or maybe larry kudlow. how did that happen? the economy is booming here. we have 20 seconds.

stay with me, partner. i have to get in a commercial. you stay there, if you will.

lou: we are back with the trump trade czar, peter navarro. peter, today wilbur ross, the commerce secretary said forced technology and i.p. theft and other things will be waiting for another phase.

not going to be handled in phase one. >> that's not correct, lou. phase one includes both comprehensive i.p. protection and protection from forced technology transfer. the simple answer to your question is it's up to the chinese as to whether we are going to have a deal. if they agree in writing to what they agreed to with a handshake in the oval office. we have a deal. if they don't, then we don't. it's pretty simple. lou: i'm having a hard time understanding. i'm a fairly astute -- i get a good sense of what's going on. it's difficult for me to rationalize the continued i.p. theft and the billions of dollars a year by the chinese as these negotiations have gone on for a year and a half, and we are watching hundreds of billions of dollars flying out

the door. we have enormous trade deficits. and i get to thinking, what in the hell is the point of it all. tell them to go to hell, stop their damn theft. if they want to be mature, responsible members of the community, fine. if not, pursue whatever they do. >> the president loves tariffs, he loves a great deal. we are going to be good with either one of those. but it has to be a great deal according to the president. so as the president says, let's see what happens. but you are absolutely right. lou: i'm not one of those let's see guys. it more patience let's go get it. i think so is the president. i think so is his administration. i wonder if the chinese are misreading this for something called the passivity of the obama administration. we'll wait to see if you are

going to wash over us on these principles of trade or whatever else you want to throw in. >> they misread the president four times in the last three years. when the chinese have failed to negotiate in good you faith he had to raise tariffs. in may the chinese walked away from a comprehensive 350-page deal. lou: i will stipulate they are the sobs in this dale. this -- of this deal. peter, you get the last quick word. >> the president either way we will be in a great place. lou: i love those tariffs. >> the president loves them as well. it will be the president's decision, it will come soon, and this president is the person who has changed the story about

china. we all know in america -- lou: this quick word is getting a little extensive here. >> we are moving here, let's celebrate. we had a strong trade deal and a barn burner tonight in pennsylvania. that's a good day for the trump administration. don't forget the eels. lou: i'm trying to forget the eels. president trump leading the way not just on trade, but in every other area. the united states sending 20,000 troops to germany next spring for the biggest military exercise in a quarter century. the pentagon says this demonstrates entrance atlantic unity and commitment to nato and it's a big deal. joining us, victor davis hanson from the hoover institution.

best-selling author, "national review" contributor. how do you do it? you have got to be one of the busiest men in the country. >> thank you. i think. lou: i'm sure. what do you make -- i like the way peter put it, two-week charges for the impeachment -- two weak charges for the impeachment inquiry. and the usmca trade deal, and it's bringing clarity to the u.s.-china trade relations. >> i think -- i don't know why people thought trump had a bad week. lou: who said that? >> i heard it a lot because of the impeachment. and the fact horowitz didn't recommend criminal referrals for people who deserved them. if you look at the totality, we are making progress with china.

nobody is talking about trump appeasing russia. if anything he has been tougher than any president since reagan on russia. then we have a trade deal in north america. when you look at impeachment, we are not talking about quid pro quo. there was bribery then there was treason. now there are no high crimes or misdemeanors at all. it's obstruction of congress, you can put anything under that rubric that you wish. horowitz' report was not supported on motive by his own evidence. you can see the reaction to it where the democrats are now having slight defections in the impeachment vote maybe. and nancy pelosi's meltdown when she said don't mess with me and joe biden's psycho dramas of the

week. when schiff starts to data mine the phone calls of his own colleagues and nadler falls to sleep during the hearings. there is some kind of reaction to this, and trump is pretty much in the driver's seat. >> we are two days in. as i was reacting, you were talking about a bad week. it looks to me like he's wing on every single front no matter what the national left-wing media wants to brew up and push. but at the same time, this is a president who is it looks to me stronger than ever before in part because he's got michael bloomberg basically cheering him on. mike bloomberg saying all of those candidates in the democratic party for president, 2020, that the president, donald

trump -- >> michael bloomberg looked at that field and the past debates and summarized them as -- they decided no one candidate would be further to the left that any one candidate. and the only thing they had in common was who could out hatred donald trump. they were advocating medicare for all, open borders, the green new deal, savory reparations. joe biden was scampering and running from his past record. it's kind of a chaos. he looked at that and said, there is no there there. i'm going to get in. and that was a de facto admission that donald trump was in the drier's seat. i think the polls are starting to show that. this impeachment will not only discredit the constitutional avenue of impeachment for posterity. but we established when you have a majority in the house and you don't like a first term

presidentle you will impeach him for vague abuse of power. but it will boomerang. they don't have public support. the mueller report exonerated the president. we don't have what we had with the nixon or clinton impeachment. i won't end well for them. lou: it's not ended but it will get worse and worse from here. and it's awful for the democratic party. great to see you, thanks so much. victor davis hanson. stay with us, we are coming right back. [ applause ] thank you. it's an honor to tell you that liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. i love you! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

some people say that's ridiculous. age is just an illusion. how you show up for the world, that's what's real.

what's your idea? i put it out there with a godaddy website.

lou: with us tonight, michael goodwin, and wor radio talk show host, mark simone. good to have you both with us. william barr, he says it looks like they were acting in bad faith. the special counsel and continued the investigation of this president. this is damning stuff. what will be the consequences? >> my favorite exchange in that was when he called it a bogus -- the whole thing was bogus.

you think about what that ebb tails. he's saying the russia investigation was bogus, and it hangs over the white house for three years. that means if he were attorney general, robert mueller never would have been appointed. we would not have had a mueller because barr as attorney general and jeff sessions who was reviewed, barr would never have appointed mueller on the basis of that information. the whole history of the last three years would have been different if donald trump picked a different attorney general. >> rudy giuliani says it's the greatest regret of his life that he didn't take the job when the president offered it as attorney general. except pore jeff sessions, i -- except for jeff sessions, i don't think anyone you appointed could have done a worse job as to be general.

>> we still don't know about rod rose be stein's role in this. he's the one who appointed mueller. he plays a double agent throughout. lou: are we going to get to the bottom of this? >> i hope so. lou: barr is giving us the sense he wants to be the angel of justice. >> i think he's well-suited for the job. he's a serious man. he believes some serious things have gone wrong and he wants to be the person to fix them. >> rosenstein appoints mueller who is close to comey. lou: what about where we are with impeachment, gentlemen? two bogus charges, that's all they have got. they haven't got the guts to get off this tiger they are riding. >> i don't think they are

specific enough to call them bogus. it's obstruction of nadler, not congress. >> the president has a constitutional right to go to the court and contest it. lou: not according to these. >> this one is almost laughable. but because it's obstruction of congress, probably everything congress will vote for it. it's the dumbest article but it may get the most attention. >> they brought these charges and nobody in the country thought it was anything. so they brought the professors with bow ties and credentials. they said this won't work, we'll just make it obstruction.

lou: president trump rall anything hershey, pennsylvania. >> the obama fbi obtained secret warrants to spy on my campaign based on a phoney foreign dossier of debunked smears paid for by crooked hillary clinton and the dnc. >> a pretty straightforward summation. we'll see what happens. thanks for being with us. joining us tomorrow, jordan

chang. house minority leader kevin mccarthy. we hope you will joins. we'll see you then. and for tonight, good night from new cheryl: it is 5:00 a a.m. here are your top stories at this hour. president trump hitting back at democrats after nancy pelosi announced articles of impeachment and a usmca deal within an hour of each other, why her holdup of the trade deal in particular may push passage of it even further out. lauren: the faa taking a new measure to make your next flight safer as a former boeing employee will testify today that he warned the company about safety issues before two deadly crashes of the 737 max. cheryl: the irishman making a play for a gold statue, the new numbers net flex just released -- netflix just released. it is