all-american new year. fun starts at 9:00 p.m. eastern on new year's eve on fox news channel. up next the o'reilly factor. good night. o'reilly factor is on tonight. >> this is an individual who should resign today. today. he cannot run the city. he has lost the control of the police department and their respect. they will never come back, no matter what he says pleasure building on new york city mayor bill de blasio to step down after two new york city police officers executed. can he lead the city without the confidence of the cops. >> move toward victory. >> antipolice crowd vows to keep protesting even before two murdered police officers are laid to rest. is there no decency? >> if critics want to suggest that america is inherently racist then why

bother even working on it? >> is america inherently racist? charles krauthammer has some thoughts. >> caution, you are to internet no spin zone. the factor begins right now. ♪ ♪ >> in for bill o'reilly. right to our top story. should new york city mayor bill de blasio step down after the execution of two new york city police officers, the brutal assassinations of officers rafael ramos and wenjian liu happened on the heels of nypd. staten island decided against indictment in the death of eric garner, de blasio wondered at news conference if his biracial son was safe from the police. yesterday on the factor, bill o'reilly unequivocally

called for de blasio's resignation. >> police officers turned their backs on bill de blasio the mayor of new york city. good for them. good for them. this is an individual who should resign today, today. he cannot run the city. he has lost the control of the police department. and their respect are. they will never come back, no matter what he says. because he sided with the protesters. >> this morning bill o'reilly doubled down. >> his main job in the city is public safety. 8-millimeter people in the city. out of the 8 million, there is maybe 800,000 that will hurt you. badly. so bill de blasio has to resign, is he incompetent. he has demonstrated that but, now it's a public safety issue. >> joining us now to debate the issue monica crowley and from washington kirsten powers, both are fox news

contributors. monica, should de blasio step down? >> mayor de blasio should step down but he won't. nobody resigns in disgrace anymore. unfortunately. look, the most critical relationship that any big city mayor could have is not what the professional race hustlers it's with his police force. this police force and this mayor have had a very thorny relationship from the beginning. now this mayor has lost whatever confidence and whatever trust that he had had in him which was shaky to begin with he has lost that without that corner stone. this mayor cannot govern the city of new york effectively and therefore he should go. >> monica you pointed something out from the very beginning your words, new yorkers knew what they were getting when they voted with this guy. >> some did. he won with 72% of the vote. very low turnout election when he was elected. he took that as a giant mandate to go ahead with leftist ideology and bash the cops which he continued to do until the assassination of these two police officers. so i think a lot of new yorkers understood what they were getting and they went straight up with the leftist

ideology. a lot of new yorkers did not. >> kirsten should de blasio step down? >> no, of course not. it's ridiculous, the idea that he has been in office for a year and that because the police force is unhappy with him that he is supposed to resign, the mayor doesn't do what the nypd tells him to do. that's not -- and i don't agree that that's his primary relationship. his primary relationship is with the people of new york. nypd reports to him. so, you know, he may -- he needs to work on his relationship with them. but i don't think that he -- that they get to decide the mayor -- i mean, this isn't a police state. the police department doesn't just say like we decided a person who can't be mayor. >> when the mayor of a big city loses the trust of his police department, maybe it might be time to step down. >> i disagree. first of all, i don't know why he has lost the trust because they are upset with him? means that he has lost the trust so much so that they can't do their job?

is that what you are suggesting? >> no what i am i'm suggest something what bill bratton said to the today show on monday where he said the deaths of those two officers are a direct i'm quoting here, a direct spinoff of the protest. >> okay. so that's not -- and that's bill de blasio's fault the protests are bill de blasio's fault? the protests are the result of -- hold on. >> al sharp top and some of the other people who have made race a big issue in new york and pointed a financinger. >> race is a big issue. >> bill de blasio said is i talked to my son daunt at a to make sure he is not hustled or harassed bite new york city police officers. >> every parent of a child who looks african-american, okay. i mean, any person who has an african-american child has that conversation with them. >> mayor of a big city with a very large black population is a different thing. >> race is a big major issue in new york city. you talked over me the entire time. race is a huge issue in new york citi' and mayor debladzio did not cause

those presses. those protests were caused by the nypd and their treatment of eric garager. why are you blaming bill de blasio for it. >> wait a minute. first of all, de blasio created an environment here when he brought on al sharpton as one of his top advisors on race. a lot of people in the city which i live new york, they are saying that al sharpton is actually the de facto mayor. that is responsibility right there. secondly, when watergate happened. nixon did not order the break-in. what was argued was that nixon created a context, environment. atmosphere where the break-in was considered acceptable. in this case you have the mayor of new york city who has created this antipolice environment since the day he took office. the atmosphere here. >> out-of-control. >> i'm not saying he pulled the trigger but what i'm saying is the leader of the city of new york he has a responsibility to protect his police force and not attack them. that's what he has been doing from the start. >> you are suggesting basically that those deaths of those police officers are his fault, which is an

outrageous thing to say. >> i'm not saying that, kristin. leader of the city to help create an environment behavior. >> that's ridiculous. >> no one has ever killed a cop before? come on. no police officer has ever been killed under the leadership of other people. >> hold on, we he have the complis commissioner saying literally that the deaths of those two police officers are a direct spinoff of some of the commentary that comes from the likes of al sharpton and mayor bill de blasio. al sharpton was calling for protests. bill de blasio said press. >> there is a big difference between protesting and shooting people. >> i didn't make the leap. >> no. some crazy lunatic did. >> bill bratton is is a crazy lunatic? are you calling him a crazy lunatic. >> shot the police officer. >> i'm trying to tell you bill bratton is the one who deaths of those two officers -- >> -- something is not the end of the conversation. bill bratton is not the one who gets to decide

everything and i'm telling you that i think it is completely outrageous, i don't care who says it to claim that those police officers are dead because of bill de blasio. that's just outrageous. >> monica, when a cop is killed, some -- a big part of the community feels it and maybe even dies long side of them. >> sure, a lot of police officers, not only in the nypd but police divisions across the country are all feeling this because these men have been assassinated for the job of protecting the public. look, again, in a big city like new york, you go back to rudy giuliani, you go back to mayor bloomberg. they understood that the corner stone. >> ed koch was very pro-police. >> absolutely. the corner stone is safe city so the quality of life is decent for the people who live here. if this mayor has no confidence in his police force then those 8 million people who live in new york city are screwed and they know it that's why the mayor should go. >> i have to leave it there, i'm sorry. kirsten. next time, i promise. monica, kirsten thanks very much.

next on the rundown, anti-cop protesters say they are not going away even though two officers have been murdered in cold blood. what will it take for them to stop? moments away. why do i cook for the holidays? to share with family to carry on traditions to come together, even when we're apart in stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and more, swanson® makes holiday dishes delicious!

in the impact segment test, antipolice demonstrations have been taking over the streets across america after grand juries decided not to indict

officers in the death of michael brown and eric garner. after the murders of two new york city police officers even embattled new york city mayor bill de blasio is asking the anti-cop crowd to lay low i'm asking everyone and this is across the spectrum to put aside protests, put aside demonstrations until these funerals are passed. let's focus just on these families and what they have lost. >> his request is be being denied. we are going to encourage folks in new york to do what they feel is necessary to continue to move towards victory. we understand why the mayor is requesting it and i think people need to have their own and make their own decisions on where they stand during this time. >> joining me now are w. reaction the executive director of the accountability project and from nashville, tennessee scottie hughes news director for the tea party news network. scotty, we heard from the

co-founder much the black lives matter movement that group shut down the mall of america. some of those people have also shut down traffic in cities like new york and l.a. do they have a right to continue to disrupt people's lives and businesses like this? my the question i have to ask what is victory. continue until we reach victory. ought of all of these race baiters, insta gaters you don't know what the actual victory means it them. does it mean burning down your own community and shutting down businesses so you don't have economic development? does it mean sitting there and stopping cap tammism and destroying people's christmas holiday spirit or shopping at the mall? or in this case does it mean being absolutelily irrelevant and hurting the people who did everything and basically sacrificed their lives to protect yours. what is victory to the other side? >> well, i'm not sure that's an answerable question. i think it's more about protest, first amendment a.

freedom of speech. >> absolutely. >> freedom of expression. >> there is no moratorium on the search for justice. every new yorker. including the protesters today mourn the loss of these courageous officers. that doesn't mean that the mayor should suspend freedom of speech. freedom of organizing because everybody in new york right now mourns this loss specialsly because they are minorities. >> nikki, i get the freedom of speech. >> i get the first amendment. when does that cross the line? when does that constitutional right cross the line when you start disrupting people's lives dramatically. >> disrupting people's lives? they're shutting down fifth avenue and they have an organized march. it's not a protest. we are not shutting down manhattan. >> there are a lot of people who try to get to work. frankly a lot of the african-americans who couldn't get to work and earn a few bucks to put food on the table because black lives matter. >> that is a policy problem. not shutting down fifth avenue. very easy to shut down. there is irish, there is a parade. this is a traditional thing in new york.

new york woe practice free speech. every single new yorker is hurt by this. >> scottie nell, in new york, you can do that, can you can get a permit to do that i don't think these people are getting permits to shut down these streets and frankly the bridges and tunnels which could be dangerous. >> you are completely correct, eric it is getting dangerous. here is the question. silence in this case is just as convicting as those that are speaking out. you don't hear the people like al sharpton or jesse jackson sitting there saying hey, guys we want these people protest. don't do any acts of violence against police. they are not sitting encouraging their people to not do slanders and chants. remember, tea parties. >> commission bratton himself who is arguably the most successful commissioner of all of time in america. he reformed the police department in los angeles twice after the protest there he reformed the boston police department and now he is reforming the new york police department. he has supported the mayor in calling for organized

peace. protests. >> these are not organized peaceful protests. >> yes they are the aclu is a coalition of organizations national. >> removed from the situation. >> hold on. let me ask you this nomiki. is it okay to yell what do we want dead cops? when dewe want it now. >> that's extremist situation. >> no it's not. jesse jackson and al sharpton speaking out against it. >> jesse jackson and al sharpton don't get along that's very inoperable argument to make. >> you don't have the president speaking out against those kind of comments. have you silence from the president right now who has sat there he should be sitting there showing some leadership and saying guys we have a race problem. let's do it peacefully. >> we have a race problem he said let's do it in a organized way around policy. each the commissioner in new york has said that we are going to deal with it. >> we ran out of sometime, scotty, thank you very much. very very heated debate. coming up, mayor de blasio attacks the media for

misrepresenting the protests and stoking unrest. is he just looking for a scapegoat? that debate coming right'll back. lead to tooth decay and bad breath? well, there is biotene, specially formulated with moisturizers and lubricants... biotene can provide soothing relief and it helps keep your mouth healthy too. biotene, for people who suffer from a dry mouth.

. in the unresolved problem segment tonight, as the factor has been rereporting bill de blasio has been a big supporter of protests in his city and when he was asked yet about the extreme and sometimes criminal behavior of some of the protesters, he attacked the media and blamed them for being divisive. >> the question is what are you guys going to do? what are you guys going to do. are you going to keep dividing us? i don't see reports on the many decent good people. i don't see reports on the every day cops who do the exemplary thing and hold the line and show restraint and discipline no matter what inventriclive is hurled at them. you know what i am telling

you over again. amany telling you again that's how you want to portray the world but we know a different reality. there are some people who do that it's wrong. it's wrong. they shouldn't do that. it's immoral, wrong, nasty, negative they should not do that but they, my friend, are not the majority. stop portraying them as the majority. >> is the mayor making a mistake by scapegoat the media or does he have a point? joining me now from washington, d.c., the host of media buzz right here on fox. howard kurtz and joining me in studio is co-host of outnourished andrea tantaros. howie, talk to me a little bit about this. bill de blasio, does he have a point about the media? >> bill de blasio did a really dumb thing, eric, by trying to shift the blame to the media here is a guy who last lost the support of the police. popularity is plummeting and he blames it on the reporters? we're the problem? and he is wrong about the demonstrators being miss portrayed as the majority of those shouting vial anti-cop slogans. he has half a point when he

talks about media pumping up conflict on these kinds of stories and giferg too much weight extreme voices. he has a point. >> andrea, race is divisive. it just is. we have had two segments already. both segments ended up in yelling and shouting and whatnot. people have very very strong opinions on race. media has a job to cover that, don't they? >> the new york press corps is one of the most vicious and dogged in the entire country. do i disagree with howie though. i have been watching a lot of the local coverage, eric, this is our media market following the coverage on the local stations. they have been covering this very fairly. they really have. and i do think that bill de blasio and this is where howie and i disagree. whose polling is lower than mine right now? i know, the media he decided to literally. >> choose the target. >> you know what eric i found? he didn't accuse thed me afterlying. he didn't say what they were doing was wrong. he just finds what what they

are reporting something politically inconvenient for him. like a true socialist, he wants them to sensor what they report. >> howard, were you surprised that the new york reporters who have a history of being tough, you know, gum shoe reporters hitting the streets hard. were you surprised they let him get away with that. >> new york is a tabloid town. is he not going to get away with it as you take on the press as the mayor did, you get negative columns the next day and on television saying, you know, mr. mayor, the problem is you in the way you have failed to lead this city. this is a guy who had a land election victory less than a year ago a little more than a year ago and now on the defensive. here is why i am ticked off, eric, i don't believe in this whole guilt by association blood on the hands theory. so when i said that it was unfair for some critics to say de blasio blood on his hands just as i said it was unfair for blicials to say sarah palin had any link whatsoever to the gabriel giffords shooting a few years back. here is de blasio who promotes his open alliance

with al-sharpton one mpted most insend area figures around trying to turn back on the process is dumb. >> it seems genuinely surprised at the backlash he is getting in light of the two cops getting shot. >> he is very angry at the press because the press has been really reporting on bill de blasio's inability to wake up in the morning. we know he oversleeps for a the love events. he takes mercedes all around italy and bills them to the taxpayers and the new york media has been reporting on all of this. he has been pretty ticked off at the new york press corps for quite a ill who. here is where i take issue with the new york press corps. bill de blasio ran on anti-cop platform when he ran for mayor. this guy at his core is pretty much a communist. okay. he aided the san da miss thats, he gave them care packages, he honeymooned in cuba. he is is the progressive movement. the movement that president obama is a part of. they are ascending and this is an anti-cop movement within the democratic party and the media in new york did not do did a good enough job covering who bill de

blasio was before he got elected. >> howie, i only have a little bit of time left here. de blasio has lost the cops. he has lost the new york media this doesn't look good for him going forward. i don't think it's overstating it. he would say he ran to reform some of the practices of the bloomberg administration on stop and frisk. the fact is, when you don't have the police and then you alienate journalists unfairly, you know, whether you think the coverage has been all right or not, that's what big city politics is about. a mayor has to be able to work the press. this guy is failing miserably at that. >> leave it right there. andrea and howard, thank you very much. plenty more ahead as the factor moves along this evening. is america inherently racist? we'll show you what the president has to say about that. and later, charles krauthammer weighs in, those reports when the factor comes right back.

if in the factor follow up segment tonight, as the factor has been reporting for several month, most of the polls show americans think race relations are not improving under president obama. before he left for hawaiian vacation, the president addressed the issue. >> if critics want to suggest that america is inherently and irreducibly racist, then why bother even working on it? i have seen change in my own life. so has this country.

and those who would gotten that floor close the possibility of further progress rather than advancing it. >> here with analysis kevin bk nation and los angeles jasmine a political and social commentator. jasmine, is america a racist country? >> you bet it is. and i would say to what the president said especially when he said why work on it because there are people like me and millions of other black people and latinos and other minorities living in this country. that's why we have to continue to work on it we do have a responsibility to recognize that america is still a very racist country. >> before i go to kevin, can you do me a favor? can you define racist? >> >> all right. well i will define it for your viewers. it is, for me, not so much the shackles that we're used to seeing but more or less the injustices around our criminal justice system today, our educational

system today, racism within the way we look. hired it's what keeps the wealth gap so big. it's what keeps so many african-americans and minorities a part of the 99%. that is racism. >> kevin, the wealth gap has increased under president obama. highest, widest point in history. is america racist? >> systemic racism alive and well in this country. no question about it watching this previous segment and seen people going at each other, bring up stuff from all kinds of angles about racism in this country what happened tragically to police officers. all of this speaks to racism in this country. >> president obama said it was america is inherently and irreducibly racist. if that's the case. why are we trying? >> let me correct myself, president obama says critics

say inherently racist. >> i understand what the president is saying that they there has been incremental changes over the years. i'm the first person in my family to go to college. my family grow up in the south has always said to me, you know, i wouldn't even imagine what she experienced so. there has been incremental changes. the reality is racism is not over in this country. this is what many of us are talking about. my only thing is that we have to have hopes. i see pockets of it because i travel around this country extensively and i see people of all different races. some people are cussing on the negative. the positive is you see diverse groups of people coming together how may not have seen coming together before. >> i hear kevin have more optimistic tone than you are taking for reducing racism in america. >> look. i'm not going to sit up here and lie and say we haven't made like kevin said incremental changes. but we haven't made enough changes in this country to where we don't have to sit here and have this conversation. i think the protests alone

show that race is still an issue in america and we have to stop denying that. and we have to stop trying to act like it's all good because we have a black president. no, it's not. we have issues still. >> we have issues, is there hope? >> you know, there is hope as long as people are willing to continue to come to the table and have an honest conversation about race. all of this coming to the table trying to just say oh, you know, we have made so many changes and things are good and look, we have a black man in the white house, that doesn't help. we need to talk about what's going on right now. what's going on right now. >> go ahead, jasyne that's what this show is all about. you are talking ideology. you are not talking specifics. what would make it better in your mind? what are we doing wrong in america that is perpetuating racism? >> first of all. the shows on this very network helper pet united states the racism. >> how though?

don't log a grenade without telling me how but you have to say how. >> you know exactly what i'm saying, eric. >> i really don't. >> second of all we have to have an honest conversation about it. we have to talk about. >> jasyne. we have had people on opposite sides debating it and that's what we do. how is that unfair or unbalanced? >> look, you asked me a question about how do we change it and is there hope? there is hope as long as people want to be honest about it and they want to honestly make the changes that need to be made. those changes include looking at the criminal justice system. looking at our ed carriage system. looking at what are the barriers that keep black and brown people from being hired in this country. we need to have honest discussions about all of that and make policy changes, include all of us so that we can also become a part of the 1%. >> i think that's what is

going on. i think that's exactly what has been going on. no it's not going on. >> the recent activity and race in america is highlighting the fact that it is going on. kevin, am i wrong? >> well, yes, you are, because she is right. there has not -- >> -- thank you. >> a national conversation on race in this country ever. we have had. >> what are we doing here? what have we been doing. >> we have been yelling at each other. we have been arguing with each other. what we are say something that if we are really a civilized society and moving in nation forward people have got to come together to talk about the entire history of the country as well as current recent. >> i'm a baseball player. if i worried about the error i made in the third inning. >> baseball fans. >> time to move on. >> because i'm also a baseball that error is a part of your record. if you don't go back and deal with it. >> talk about my third inning error for the rest of my life. >> we have to have honest conversations about even the fact that we dispute the

fact. >> is there anyone here that thinks we shouldn't have an honest conversation. >> we end up ylg at each other and talking over each other instead of listening to each other that's the problem. >> we have to leave it right there. that third inning error. attorney general eric holder was treated with disrespect. and wishes he would have been more aggressive with his critics. we will analyze his record next. could protect you from cancer?

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thanks for staying with us, i'm eric bolling in for bill o'reilly. in the personal story segment tonight, outrequesting attorney general eric holder has had one of the most controversial tenures the office has ever seen. during the six years that holder led the justice department, he has come under fire for its involvement in things like the monitoring of the press, fast and furious gun running program, and the irs's targeting of conservative groups.

but, according to holder, much of the criticism he faced was out of line. >> i would hope that my successor will not have to endure some of the things that i did. and i say endure only because i think i have shown respect where perhaps i haven't been given any. i'm not necessarily -- i'm not wound that way. there are times when i wanted to just snap back and there are occasions when i have, but there have been frequently more times when i have wanted to be a lot more aggressive in the responses that i have made. >> joining us now from los angeles, dr. john eastman, a law professor at chatman university and from washington, d.c. john flannery an attorney and former federal prosecutor. hi, guys. professor easeston, first of all, is eric holder being unfairly treated? >> not at all. i mean, the level of scandals and number of scandals that he has racked up on his tenure as attorney general i think is incomparable in american history. and, if anything, not enough has been done to challenge

what he has been doing as head of the department of justice on his watch. >> john, you say you are okay in general you are okay with everything eric holder has done over his six year tenure. >> no intelligent person is okay with any public official ever. to ignore john mitchell and some other people and say this is the worst ever and to talk about difficult problems being scandals, i mean, it's not like he approval and authored fast and furious. but he did, when he found out about it, have the u.s. attorney remove and reassign the head of atf and gave congress 64 million pages they couldn't -- 64,000 pages they couldn't make anything of. >> not going after some of the people. not stopping the program. not putting a halt to the program that he could have. let's talk about testimony the irs scandal, targeting -- what would you have him do? conservative groups, the irs is one of the most feared and revered groups in america, agencies in america

and then they went ahead and did that. they pick and chose who they were going to target. >> let's talk about that i mean, the irs you get certain kind of treatment if you are a nonprofit. when you call yourselves a tea party, you have to ask certain questions. group when they scriewt nice them. >> dr. eastman. >> are you saying the attorney general did that? he didn't do that. >> no, he overseas it the attorney general overseas the irs. that's the way the system works. >> the system investigates wrongdoing. >> okay, go ahead let me weigh in with some on both of these. the irs scandal, the one involving the national organization for marriage, for example, tax returns were ill evilly exposed. the department of justice has the authority to investigate and prosecute those who committed those serious felonies under his watch the department of justice not only refused to prosecuted anybody that we know committed federal

crimes but he actually refused to give immunity to one of the key witnesses who could have exposed further conduct within the irs. that's just unconscionable. on the fast and furious, look, it is just a patent false claim that he had nothing to do with it until after the fact. organized crime case and it was approved at the highest levels of the department of justice as all of those kind of cases are early in the process. >> i have 10 seconds left. what about targeting a.p. reporters and fox reporters? that's awful. >> well, i think it was wrong to ever put james refinery in the position that he would be subpoenaed for trial. >> thank you very much. great last minute christmas ideas. tickets to see bill and dennis miller on their don't be a pinhead tour make great gifts. he tickets for shows in dallas, new mexico and west bury, long island, go to bill o'reilly.com and link right over to the box

office. and, if you buy a premium membership, you get the gift instantly and also get killing pattedton and any offer bill's other books free. of course all the money bill gets from the web site goes to charity. straight ahead, charles krauthammer on sony's announcement that it will release the interview after all despite threats from north korea. charles on deck. it's just ordinary fleece but the comfort it provides is immeasurable.

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tonight. sony pictures reversed course today announcing it will release the controversial movie the interview on christmas day after all. the movie about the assassination of kim jong un will now play in a handful of theaters. sony had pulled the film last week after the hacker who's had already launched the cyber attack against sony made ominous threats referencing 9/11. joining me now from washington charles krauthammer the author of the big best seller "things that matter." sony reversed direction now. i was kind of shocked that they pulled the film in the first place. they blamed the movie theaters. they blamed the movie houses themselves and then now they are turning around and changing their mind. >> well, they have a record of getting it right or at least getting everything wrong. and now they have gotten it right almost at random. i think it is the right thing to do. there was -- they should not have pulled it from the theaters. many theaters wouldn't have shown it. but, what they should have done is what they are doing now, which is those theaters willing to show it, they ought to show it but i do

think when this thing is all over, after all, this is a seth rogan comedy, which means it's probably going to be sophomore elk, -- sophomoreic. we had a confrontation with a nuclear country over this? i'm guessing here when the reviews are in, kim jong un will be voted the critic of the year thofer movie. >> wasn't exactly up to snuff. >> they have obviously done the right thing. >> charles, the white house did, they provide cover when president obama said sony shouldn't have pulled the movie. >> something curious about this. the economist irwin stelzner pointed out here is obama in that same speech press conference where he said this isn't a sony security problem. this is a national security problem. well, national security problems are the province of

the president. why did he wait for sony to call him? don't you think he should have called them or he should have acted on behalf of the national security? i think he was right in saying sony had made a mistake but it was a little bit late. i don't think anybody in this affair has covered themselves with glory. it will probably enelsd up okay. and at some point i do think sony, which is going to lose a ton of money over this anyway should release it online so everybody can see it and you therefore poke an finger in the identity theft north koreans by something having the largest audience for anything. >> also this week outgoing attorney general eric holder on msnbc mentioned that he was unfairly treated. he felt the critics were too tough on him. your thoughts? >> well, i'm sure a lot of cabinet members feel that way. at least, i mean, he was asked basically about this in the context of race,

whether race it was a leading question do you think it was on account of your race, and he kind of side stepped it. i thought he was okay. he said i don't really know. whicsaid, i don't really know, which is not the best of answers, but at least he didn't charge it was race. about six months ago it was a pretty strong implication, i think it was in a hearing where he talked about, and he said, has any other attorney general been treated the way i have or that the president had implying that it was because of race. well, the answer is absolutely yes. one attorney general, nixon's attorney general went to jail. i think that's pretty harsh treatment. so i think there's a bit of whining about this, but at least he didn't wander into the race sort of the minefield over this, which i think is a good thing. >> charles, do you think he was unfairly treated? there's a lot of controversy over the things that he saw, the irs targeting conservatives,

fast and furious, among other things? >> not at all. i'm among those whom i'm sure he's referring to whom he believes treated him unfairly. i think not. the attorney general of the united states. you have to uphold certain standard pches and on one issue after another, for instance, you know the irs did some pretty nasty stuff admitted by lois lerner herself when she said we target groups, the president was angered when he fired the head of the irs and it was referred to the just department. have you heard a word about that inquiry? nothing. and this is the same with all the other scandals. so i think he's been sort of the agent of the president rather than the chief law enforcement officer of the country, which is one thing an attorney general ought to be. >> now, you don't think he was unfairly treated even because of his race, is that right? >> i don't think he was unfairly treated at all, and i don't

think race had anything to do with the criticism of him. it was purely on the basis of what he did and the same way that the criticism of the president that i've been involved in that here we have at fox has been entirely about how he -- and what he does and not at all about race. and i think it's a dodge, and it's sort of a disgraceful dodge when people hide behind race when they want to shield themselves from criticism. >> all right. we have to take a break. but charles is going to stick around. when we come back, he'll weigh in on the president's remarks about racism in america. more with charles coming up.

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continuing now with charles krauthammer. you heard the president's remarks about racism in america. what say you? >> i heard in your earlier segment people were saying to you we need to have a conversation about race. and whenever you hear that, you say to them, well, we are having

one right now. what is it that we ought to be talking about that we're not? and they get vague. you know, we have to have a conversation where we listen to each other. i have idea what that means. we've been having one for 50 years in this country. you could argue 150. you could argue the entire history of the republic. if there's been one subject that's been a constant in the national discourse, it's been race. the idea that we haven't discussed it enough is preposterous. what is usually implied is that whites ought to be confessing their racism and that should be the starting point. i refuse to accept that premise. i think if you want to have an honest argument, let's talk about honest discussion, argument, whatever, let's talk about what's going on and what can be done. and for example, let's look at the case that has sparked the new demand for a conversation. the staten island event where a man was killed by the police in apparently what looked like a

choke hold. is there the slightest evidence anywhere that this had anything to do with race? and if the man involved had been hispanic or white or asian this would not have happened? there's no evidence of that at all. indeed, i think his wife has spoken about that and said this wasn't -- and then all of a sudden it becomes -- and i think here's where the demagogues step in. it becomes a racial issue. the policemen who were shot were not white as defined by statistics or by the census department. one was hispanic, the other was asian american. so this idea of imposing a black and white frame around this i think is the work of cynical demagogues who want to inflate this into a racial issue. >> charles, president obama has said regarding trayvon martin, if he had a son he would look like trayvon. eric holder has said, he was followed in a department store.

bill de blasio said he talks to his own son, a son of color, a young man of color about being treated properly by the nypd. al sharpton, you know, the history of al sharpton. race in america, can race in america get better if these leaders continue to talk the way they talk? >> well, look, i don't think there's anything wrong with what -- if someone says here's how i talk with my son of a mixed race. but i do think if you are going to say that, which leaves the impression that there is something inherently racist about the police, you ought to then follow that by saying, i'm not implying that. i'm simply talking about statistical realities. i'm talking about respect. i'm talking about safety. and then you reiterate your support for the police, the vast majority of whom are acting heroically every day going out. you know, after 9/11, they were the heroes of the country, as they should be regarded.

as we said, they're the ones who run into a building on fire when everybody is running out. and if you reiterate that and you balance it, i think that would have made a difference. and i think that's what was missing, the lack of balance, and that's why i think the police in new york city, for example, were so upset. it looked as if the mayor was saying i'm with the demonstrators, i support the grievance, i believe it, and that expressed a lack of confidence and support for his own police department. >> charles, there's no question that al sharpton is a race baiter. he makes a living off more and more racial tension. al sharpton or albert sharpton, whoever that albert might be, has visited the white house 81 times. >> i do think it's a problem. i think al sharpton is not someone the president ought to be sort of consulting at the

highest level in the white house giving him that kind of respect. this is a man who does live off racial conflict, who does inject himself and injects race wherever he can. he's got a terribly checkered history beginning with the tawana brawley case, which was a hoax brought against a totally innocent white man accused of rape who then sued sharpton for libel. he won the case. sharpton to this case has never apologized. in a case where a court found him guilty of libelling a white man. there were two other racial incidents, one in brooklyn, one in harlem where there were actual deaths in which he was one of those stoking the racial tension. he is not a man who ought to be honored. and it goes way back. >> not a guy you want visiting the white house 81 times over the last few years. >> the wrong message from the president of the united states. >> got to leave it right there, charles. thank you very much.

that's it for us tonight. thanks for watching. please remember the spin stops here because we're looking out for you. breaking tonight, calls for unity and remembrance following the assassinations of two of new york city's finest. apparently falling on deaf ears. welcome to "the kelly file." i'm shannon bream in tonight for megyn kelly. as the city mourns the murders of two police officers just days before christmas, some demonstrators are defying a call for no protests until those officers can be laid to rest. staging a die-in at new york's grand central station suggesting authorities are trying to silence them. they're even demanding an apology from police commissioner bill bratton who has worked to try to improve relations between the community and his department. it all comes as we also learn about a new message to the city from commissioner bratton that says in part, quote,