hello and welcome to "justice." i'm katie pavlich in for judge jeanine pirro. from budget grid lack to the obamacare key bait to white house scandals, 2013 was quite a year for the beltway and the obama administration. we take a look at 2014. >> reporter: in president obama's second inaugural address, he laid out his agenda for a second term but tackled a

speech -- >> we all are created equal. >> reporter: several monies later as protesters from both sides flooded the steps of the supreme court, two 5-4 rulings from the justices granted greater rights to gay couples, while also ruling california's voter approved ban on same-sex marriages as unconstitutional. >> and to the justices of the supreme court, thank you for affirming the principle of equal justice under the war. >> reporter: same-sex marriage is still up to individual states. >> the message is very clear. if you do not pro actively act to protect marriage, activist politicians and judges will redefine it from under you. >> reporter: meanwhile a freshman congress was sworn in

in january, republicans making budget kits their priority. in march $85 billion in automatic federal spending cuts passed by the previous congress went into effect. ats were highly kr-- democrats critical of the cuts but originally agreed to go along with the deal. >> this is senseless to go on with these cuts. >> reporter: but partisan battles ensued and as in recent years, the government was funded through a series of short-term spending bills, paving the way for the first government shutdown in 16 years when house republicans refused to fund the government until key provisions in the president's health care law were stripped. >> it tries to masquerade as something positive. >> reporter: just weeks later after the country nearly defaulted on its loan obligation

for the first time in history was a compromise reached. republicans felt somewhat vindicated after the botched rollout of obamacare. at first it was technical glitches but as more people signed up for the plan, they discovered higher prices, less coverage and despite the president's promise, consumer choice when it comes to doctors, it was limited. >> we knew it was a promise he could not keep and now it is a promise that broken. >> reporter: president obama's credibility had taken a hit earlier in the year when it was found the nsa spied on americans. the 30 yield edward snowden hid out in china before ultimately finding asylum in russia. the reporter who interviewed

snowden said he claims to have more information that he has yet to reveal. >> there are vast programs of domestic and international spying the world will be shocked to learn about. >> reporter: as 2013 draws to a close, there will be plenty left over for lawmakers next year, but perhaps the most politically divided issue could be iran and whether the administration's efforts at curbing their nuclear ambitions will be successful. in washington, fox news. >> and with me now, democratic strategist richard fowler and republican strategist. was it a good year for the liberals on the whole given what we just saw? >> well, the president had a touch year, no questions or equivocations about it. if you were to ask him, it was probably the toughest year of his administration. the good news is there's nowhere to go from here but up. as we go into the next year and

we'll see in the state of the union address the president will talk about how do we solve income and equality, how do we solve immigration reform and i think we'll see the president go back on message and go up from here. >> noelle, how do you think republicans can benefit from the obama administration? >> we so many things to choose from. i think one of the things that we need to do is not only continue letting the liberal democrats be the bus stop profits with their rant trying to turn everything and blaming the gop, i think this is the opportunity for the gop to seize the moment and capture new people within our brand and reach out to people by saying that we have solutions to this bad government. we have areas where we can fix

things and show them how we can do this and attract more people to our party and eventually in 2014 make it a gop senate. >> it seems like based on 2013 and all the problems, it's going to be really difficult for democrats to run on president obama's first year of his second term. so responding to that, gop has a lot in their play book, they have a lot to go after democrats with. are democrats really going to keep running on obama care and all of these things you just mentioned? >> i think democrats are going to run on beyond the benefits of the obamacare act. 3 million back on their parents health care insurance, beyond that point the democrat party is also going to run on fixing our immigration system, run on why we need to raise the minimum wage. there seems to be this fever pitch happening both in washington and across the country on both the right and the left about raising minimum wage and making sure everyone

has a shot at the american dream. democrats are also talking to the emerging majority, talking to latino and african-american voters, to women, to young people and the republican party has not figured out exactly how to do it. they had an opportunity to do it during marco rubio and immigration reform. >> just because washington has been bickering all year republicans and democrats doesn't mean we haven't come to some agreement and you, richard, say paul ryan is actually one of the big winners of 2013. and why is that? >> i think paul ryan is a big winner in 2013 because he actually got something through the republican caucus that was passable by the united states senate. i think it sets up paul ryan to truly be a leader in his party going into 2014 and possibly 2016. people count him out because he's not your ted cruz, he's not your marco rubio or your chris christie but his ability to

manage and maneuver the house and the united states capital will give him big plusses as he goes into 2014 and 2016. >> i don't remember hearing any of that when paul ryan passed his first budget and when he was selected as mitt romney's vice presidential candidate but we'll get back there when you guys are praising him in 2014 and 2016. you can't talk about the biggest winners without talking about the biggest losers. who do you think was the biggest losers of 2014? >> of course if you're looking at something on a broad spectrum, you've got to say the obamacare web site. that's such a huge loser. it's very obvious. but i can't forget about more of america's big loss and that's got to be benghazi, where our beloved american ambassador was murdered. we can't forget about something like that. as far as looking at the biggest loser, it's got to be the obamacare web site and rollout.

it hurt everybody it was supposed to benefit and hurt everybody -- the president said we're not going to be affected by that. so i think there are several things to choose from, irs, solyndra. if you're going to narrow it, even the liberal democrats admit it was a fail. >> right. one of those things was the nsa scandal. the big news coming out this week was a judicial ruling the nsa collecting information on americans is constitutional, which goes against something another judge said right before christmas. richard, do you think this serves as a setback for the american people being that the administration has the courts on their side and don't have an incentive to do much on reform? >> we'll have too wait to see on that. the president has what huge pact of recommendations on his desk and will speak about that in january. that issue that i think is bipartisan. you see folks on the far right

and on the far left who have issues with nsa spying. we'll see what happens there. but i got to tell you -- >> got to go soon. wrap it up. >> i don't see benghazi being the biggest loser. i think the biggest loser is the fact that we shut the government down because of political gain is sad. >> noelle, you get the last word. >> i hate to say this but i see benghazi as absolutely shameful and i want to, you know, just remark on that because i think the shutdown compared to benghazi, a life lost -- >> $24 million in the american economy. >> so what, it's a life. >>

the obamacare fallout continues to affect millions of americans and may end up costing you a bundle in 2014. with me is steve moore. thanks for being with you. >> thanks, katie. >> we've seen a whole slew of obamacare taxes but seems that we're just getting started. what is coming down the hike? >> there's about 15 separate tax increases in obamacare, i'll bet a lot of people didn't know that, about three or four of them are going to hit on january 1st this coming week. including get this one, katie, there is a tax on health insurance plans. the whole concept is to help people get health insurance so why would you impose a tax on people when they have a plan? that could cost the average family at the start about $100 or $200. more bad news, that tax goes up every year. so over time by the end of the decade it, could cost about $500

more per family. the second big tax increase is the medical device tacx. as an economist, this never made any sense to me. now there's a enough tax on companies which will slow development of enough life saving devices and drugs. >> just like we're going to have a doctor short and, we're also going to have a shortage of engineering and biomedical devices and all that kind of thing that help people live long person. that being said, end of 2013, soon we'll be at the 2014, where will obamacare be and where will the millions without insurance be a year from now? >> i hope we'll have repealed the law and put in something

that makes more sense that couldn't cause people to lose their doctors and hospital and health care coverage. i do think given how the wheels are continuing to come off, there's more bad news about obamacare every year, i still think there's a good chance a lot of this law will be delayed after the election. the democrats are running as fas as they can away from this law. >> what does that mean for the economy as a whole? it seems like delay is great, you are don't have to pay all of the fines, you have less fees to pay in 2014 but doesn't that uncertainty not help businesses to eventually have to comply with this law or not knowing whether they're eventually going to have to comply also have a bad impact on the economy? >> katie, it's a great question. i'm bullish on the american economy next year. a lot looks good but you put your finger on the big problem,

obamacare. employers tell me they don't understand the law, they don't know when it's going to take effect. it's a very uncertainty issue that you mentioned. it's really hindered the economy for the last four years. it's a question of what's better for employers now, if we delay this whole thing for a year or two or whether we let it go into motion. both options are not very good. i think delaying it is probably the lesser twoft evils. >> speaking of hindering the economy, as you know, extended unemployment benefits run out for more than a million people today. it's a good thing or bad thing for the economy? >> well, look, i think everyone wants to help people who have been laid off during this terrible recession and this lousy recovery that we've had. if somebody loses their job, we as americans want to provide a kind of safety net for those people. by the way, the normal amount of time that we give someone to find a new job is about six months to a year. i want to be clear about this,

ka katie. we are not talking about taking away normal unemployment benefits for people who lose their job. what we're saying is in the fifth year of economic recovery, we shouldn't be providing people with two years of benefits. that's what's at stake here. it's whether we're going to continue to provide up to 99 weeks of benefits. most americans say that's way too much and what the economic evidence shows very clearly, kalt katie, the longer you extend these benefits, the longer people stay unemployed because you're basically paying them not to work. >> exactly. thank you for all of your expertise. >> coming up, she always tells it how it is and this year is no exception. the best of judge jeanine's opening statements is next. and vote on our justice insta poll. we want to know what do you think was the worst political scandal of 2013? send your facebook and twitter responses to us @judgejeanine.

stick around, we'll be right back.

2013 was a year filled with scandals and blockbuster stories. every week judge jeanine gave her one of a kind take on the news. here's a look back at the highlights of the judge's opening statements of 2013. the tsarnaev family was granted political acsylum in 2002. we opd our arms -- opened our a them and look at how they

repaid. okay mother of jihads. maybe that watch list you're on will stop you, but i imagine they'll let you in. and if they do, i can only pray they'll activate that outstanding bench warrant against you for larceny. and what's that? you can't afford an attorney? too damn bad! i have an idea. you and your son should be stripped of your citizenship, tried in a military tribunal in guantanamo. we should not be required to breathe the same air as you and suffer the indignity of your presence. >> i don't know how she did it but my mom knew everything. she knew when i was down the street arguing with my sister lulu about whose turn it was to walk the new dog or ride the new bike. when i listen to the obama white

house, i give her even more credit. no one in this administration knows anything. now, the president didn't know that the inspector general was investigating his irs for targeting political enemies. the president didn't know anything about his justice department's seizure of associated press phone records. the attorney general didn't know anything about his department's subpoena of a.p. records, but then again, holder's the one who didn't know anything about fast and furious either. and of course hillary didn't know anything about the request for help in benghazi. and joe biden, well, he just doesn't know anything about anything. so who's running the joint? i'm convinced my mom could do a better job. you wa >> you want us to trust you but you're not credible, clear or

concise. why should americans take it on faith that what you're saying is even true? there's no nend game and we cant afford, nor do we want a world war iii. and speaking of that, mr. president, didn't you win the nobel peace prize? yeah, you were the one. give it back! >> so here we are, a day late and a dollar short with millions literally without health care and, believe me, it's only going to get worse. so don't try to sell us your bi bill of goods and we can't keep our doctors. stop telling us what's good for us. the truth, you've lost all credibility. no one believes you anymore. >> maybe hill was right. what difference does it make?

none of this affects you. coming up, all the celebrity and entertainment news and controversy of 2013, including the latest on the duck diynasty family. and what do you think was the worst political scandal of 2013? send your responses to the justice facebook and twitter pages. stick around. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪embassy.

no one was hurt in this. now back to "justice with judge jeanine." welcome back. from a royal baby to myly cyrus, 2013 brought us highs and lows in the world of entertainment. fox's adam hausle is ready to take you down a red carpet trip down memory lane.

>> reporter: there's another reason to hold a royal celebration in the u.k., prince william and kate middleton and prince george. and "jeopardy" host alex trebek plans to say good-bye. but the money in the banana stand pulls through as "arrested development" ends its hiatus. >> candace glover backs the becomes the first woman to win "american idol" since twern. >> jennifer lopez is back at the table on american idle. and also welcoming harry

connick, jr. audiences line up to see another installment of "the hunger games" trilogy. jennifer lawrence took home her first oscar for her work in "sill "silver linings playbook." and the best picture this year goes to "argo", the movie based on the 1979 iranian hostage crisis. the film snatched up three who is cars and the golden globe for best oscar. >> and for a more personal award, babies are always a joy for hollywood couples, too. singer turned fashionista jessica simpson welcoming her second baby, kim kardashian giving birth to a baby girl

northwest with rapper kanye west and hillary hewitt gives birth to a baby. and we had to say good-bye to lou reed, paul walker and james began -- gandolfini. and "fifthy shades of grey" is heading to the big screen. but not everyone felt the love from the rapper as he continues to go at the paparazzi, slapping

the hands of cameramen and alec baldwin got in a fight with a fox reporter who he accused of assaulting his wife. >> do you want to apologize on camera? >> and then there's justin bieber who did all sorts of stuff this year. he got into an all-out swearing war during a tour across the pond. more public displays of celebrity anger. the rage within chris brown continues. he allegedly had a henchman beat down singer frank ocean in august. actress reese witherspoon in hot water. a police dash cam picks up an angry rant after her husband was arrested for driving under the influence but she was mostly ticked off because the police didn't know who she was. >> i want to apologize to everybody. >> and they don't call them

hollyweird for nothing. celebrity chef paula deen under scrutiny after making racial remarks to her staff. lindsay lohan still can't catch a break, headed to rehab for the umpteenth time and amanda bynes having a mental breakdown resulting inm a mental hold. so another year is in the books, another year of tinsel town is over, and more to expect at the movies, including a "fifty shades" experience. >> here is editor in chief of

"life & style". dan, thank you for being here. the biggest news today is that a & e has reinstated phil robinson of "duck dynasty," which raises the question what were they thinking by suspending him in the first place? >> well, it's all about money. the viewers wanted the show back, and they wanted phil back on the show and so it was never going to be cancelled anyway. >> don't you think it's a little hypocritical that they made the decision to robinson and as he's suspended with no end in sight to have this mega marathon on christmas. seems like they had no problem making money off of him. >> their direction has been a little bit clouded here and it's been a very swift turn around. you could be right, it does seem hypocritical. >> why do you think they changed

their mind? >> all about money. >> do you think anything else came into play? >> all about money. they obviously checked with advertisers whether the homophobic remark was putting off advertisers. phil did apologize for the remark saying he didn't mean there to be any hate behind them and he apologized that his wording was very poor. >> and a & e will move forward with a new tolerance campaign. we'll see where they go from there. skipping across the pond real quickly. it's been a big year for the royal family. what's next for next year? >> royal insiders do say that kate and william could have a baby any minute. they're not holding back. it's royal tradition not to hang around to have babies very quickly but more exciting to me next year is we may have another royal wedding on our cards. prince harry has a new girl

friend, who he has fallen totally in love with and the queen is actually meeting her over the holidays. that will be the first signal of whether harry will be allowed to propose to her. >> coming back to the united states, the kardashians, who some consider the united states' royal family. are the kardashians splitting up? we've seen bruce jenner and kris part ways, khloe having problems in her marriage. what's happening with their clan? do you think they'll stick together this year? >> there's always been drama with the kardashians. you're right, kim has moved away. she's got a new money maker on the cards being married to kanye and kanye doesn't like the control that kim's mother does put over here and thinks it's cooler for her to do her own thing separate from the family. kim has always been the central

figure in this family. so losing her could be a threat to them but unfortunately for the haters, i don't think they're going anywhere. americans still want all the details on these girls. >> my hope is that kim doesn't let kanye dress her anymore and we'll get through 2014 just fine. jennifer lawrence seems to be poking some holes at the hollywood establishment. will it turn in her favor or is she not doing the right thing or doesn't it matter because joan is always poking fun at everyone else? >> jennifer's shtick is i'm a regular girl, i'm going to be straight forward. she doesn't care if she's offending hollywood royalty. so she's gone guns blazing and i

think they'll duke it out over the awards ceremonies in the next few months. >> that's why people love her. thank you very much, dan. >> coming up, political humorist will

as 2013 comes to a close, we

wanted to take a look back at the top stories. will durst joins me and let's start with the president becoming a lame duck in the second term. why? >> not just a lame duck, miss katie, but a quadripleg pleerip platypus. the joke is barack obama leadership skills. it's like saying paula deen at the apollo. >> oh, yikes. all right, steve. your guy, your guy. >> listen, the criticism coming from the republicans now is the president is overstepping his executive authority by making changes to the health care law. you can't be a lame duck and overreach your authority at the same time. the congress, if you want to look at a lame duck, they're the

worst congress in the history of this republican. >> why? because they won't do what republicans want? >> they're having the least work done -- >> the last i checked they tried to repeal obamacare the same way the president is doing himself. >> the president says i will not rest until whatever controversy is fixed, except he goes to the vineyard with tiger woods and goes to vacation in hawaii but he's not going to rest. the second term presidents go too big too fast. clinton played small ball and the president should probably have done this as well. >> we of course cannot leave 2013 without revisiting anthony weiner's attempted come back. what else is there to say about this, will? we've been there, what else is there to say?

>> for us comedians, we were so hoping he was going to be mayor. tony weiner! it sounds like a food truck or something. weiner failed. spitzer failed. warner made it. a couple comebacks made it, a couple not so much. >> phillip? >> makes a good point of throwing the former attorney general in there as well. you've heard of "girls gone wild." thank god for the people of new york who did not vote for him. >> i don't understand the kind of guy that sends pictures of his manhood to women he barely knows on the internet. first of all, anybody who has more than a theoretical knowledge of women knows that women doesn't appreciate that. that's not going to get you anywhere. and the other thing is knowing that additional instances of this were out there, running for

mayor, doing that to yourself and your family is positively masochistic. he has a lot to offer, that's the sad thing, no pun intended. >> i don't know about that. i hope 2014 is anthony free and always. >> toronto mayor rob ford admitting he used crack after denying he used crack in one of his drunken stupors. did anybody get a rob ford bobblehead for christmas? >> yeah, it's got an empty head and you smoke right through it. the rob ford incident was so wonderful. the fact he admitted he might have done crack during one of his dunken stupors and i love the fact that he said stupors plural! and then he saw his approval ratings shoot up five points. go canada. you wonder if barack is looking

for a rock right now. >> chris farley had he lived could have had the role of a lifetime, academy winning role had he lived. rob ford does have another job now. he's appearing once a week in washington, d.c. on "the sports junkies." >> one word. >> i'd love to pile on this guy but i really feel sorry for him. i hope they get the treatment. >> this is your last chance to vote in tonight's instapoll. what do you think was the worst political scandal of 2013? we'll read your answers after the break. ♪ ♪

>> we are back to finish the countdown of top news stories of 2013. still with me my guests. edward snowden, some call him a traitor, some people call him a whistle blower, he made not only national but international news. i think it is probably a little weird he went to russia and china after being fed up with the united states, what do you have to say? >> yes, i totally agre wi agree you. that's like joining the army because you are tired of people telling you what to do. >> yes, that's true. >> you know, supporters say he started the discussion. discussion has been ongoing since 2005. "the new york times" came up with the article in 2005.

ever since then, congressional hearings. alterations, president bush and president obama. putting more oversight into effect. there have been court cases. this is going to be a 25 to 50 year process. the congress and president everybody is trying to balance privacy with national security. because nobody wants to be the person that lets the next 9/11 happen. >> seems to be an issue. republicans, democrats can come to an agreement on. >> in government. they do a couple of things well. they collect information. they collect taxes and they really are good at issuing parking tickets. what they're not good at is distribution of distributing health care and other government services. >> absolutely. speaking of rogue regimes. well, dennis rodman seems to be the only american who can get close to the korean regime. you think he will, or want to go back really with the recent executions that are happening in north korea? >> yeah, god forbid, kim

jung-unrefers to him as his favorite uncle. just the fact that dennis rodman has become our good will ambassador, frightening. not just a loose cannon, a loose aircraft carrier. >> you know more about dennis rodman than other people. >> defend dennis rodman. i met him on fox. a segment on huckabee. he is not what the media paints him. thoughtful and smart. i want to remind folks when nixon started a dialogue with china, he started with sports, ping-pong. and if he can duo good with norh korea. more power. off awe >> i disagree. >> rodman, the cia spy. >> i saw "homeland." >> yes, very popular show. next year,obamacare, ongoing disaster. gift keeps on giving. we laugh to keep from weeping. how is this ever going to get better, will it ever change or

will well have a solution for this? >> i think what americans are going to do are just give up and say let the nsa fill out my obamacare website form. because they have all right information. probably hit a button and do it with auto fill. you know, give me the silver plan. and give the guys next to you the platinum plan. we'll all be happy. >> what do you say? >> right now, looks bad for democrats in terms of what is happening with obamacare. 15%, 20% swing in who americans prefer for congress ch. there is danger here for republicans. there are issues with obamacare. discover more. where are republican solutions to the problems. are they willing to work with democrats. obama care is not repealed. even if, republicans win the election big in 2014, they're not going to get 67 seats in the senate. are they going to work with democrats or not? if they are not going to, why should we give them seats? >> you get the last word. >> same in line with what president bush was at his term in the presidency.

59% in fox news poll, disapprove of the president's handling of health care. 43% of democrats say he is a typical politician. ooh, not good. >> big problem too, galup poll from november showed 80% of uninsured aren't interested in obamacare. of a big problem. thank you, guys, so much for coming in. will, steve, phillip. thank you for being here. and now it's time for the results of tonight's inst-poll, you sent in, facebook, twitter, what was the worst political scandal of 2013. of course, you all had a lot to say. the lies about obamacare to swing an election. jerry posts, honestly i'm still not over fast and furious. >> me either. >> alberto, the irs being used as a political arm of the obama administration. worst scandal. most of you said the worst scandal was the benghazi cover-up. robbie -- benghazi is the worst scandal. four people are dead, no one has been held accountable. >> that's it for tonight.

thank you for joining us. tune in monday night at 10:00 p.m. when i will guest host for hannity. good night from new york.

i am harris faulkner. huckabee is next. >> tonight on huckabee. a failed obama care roll out and a broken promise that you can keep your doctor. and lowest approval ratings of his president so. but the bad news for the president means good nows for the republicans in scott brown on the political landscape tonight. >> last-minute changes are making insurance companies to accommodate the president and his law. what surprises lies a head. >> the catholic church