certainly out of the box. interesting background. thank you for being with us. we will see you back here tomorrow night. ♪ it for us. "special report" right next. good evening, this is a fox news alert. i'm bret baier. live tonight in miami. the house minority leader nancy pelosi is telling reporters tonight that she is now pushing for an independent probe outside of congress to study the allegations of russian involvement in the election. she's also calling for congressional investigations. but an independent commission called for by the president, she says, like the 9/11 commission. meantime, more electors, pelosi's daughter among them, are now calling for an intelligence briefing on what is known about russian hacking before making the electoral vote official on december 19th. more on all of this in just a moment. but first, today was

decision day for president-elect donald trump. and he made official what we told you last night. exxonmobil ceo rex tillerson is his pick to be america's top diplomat. like trump, tillerson has never served in government but has business ties all over the world. but it's the exxon ceo's ties to one particular country that are raising eyebrows in washington. russia. trump's chief of staff calls tillerson a diplomat who happens to be able to drill oil. reaction today from democrats and some republicans is signaling what could be a big fight on capitol hill come confirmation time. senior national correspondent john roberts is live tonight in wisconsin where president-elect trump's thank-you tour resumes in about two hours and more breaking news from the transition, new picks. good evening, john. >> reporter: bret, good evening to you. we learned in just the last hour that donald trump has made another decision. he intends to name montana congressman ryan zinke as

secretary of the interior. one of the things that donald trump really likes about zinke is his military record. he was a member of s.e.a.l. team 6 holding the rank of commander. all in all, it was another busy day at trump tower. another surprise appearance by donald trump in the lobby of trump tower today, after a meeting with his old friend, kanye west. >> he's a good man. >> reporter: later a visit from microsoft founder bill gates ahead of tomorrow's big tech summit but the headline today was trump's outside the box pick for secretary of state, exxonmobil ceo rex tillerson. >> we just couldn't be more grateful that someone of rex tillerson's proven leadership and accomplishments is willing to step forward and serve our nation as our next secretary of state. >> reporter: while some members of congress including republican marco rubio have concerns about tillerson's deep ties to russia, senate majority leader mitch mcconne mcconnell today offered his full support. robert gates who served as

secretary of defense under president bush and obama said a tillerson, "he would bring to the position vast knowledge, experience and success in dealing with doesens of governments and leaders in every corner of the world." condoleezza rice added that tillerson, "will represent the interests and the values of the united states with resolve and commitment." and former vice president dick cheney said tillerson has, "the ability and judgment to deal with the very dangerous world we find confronting us." trump's chief of staff reince priebus today defended tillerson's relationship with vladimir putin. >> the truth is that having relationships with people is not a bad thing. i mean, we have a lot of problems in this world and we're not going solve those problems by making believe that people don't exist. >> reporter: with only four cabinet positions left, fox news learned that trump decided on former texas governor rick perry to be his energy secretary. in the height of irony, energy is one of three departments perry pledged to eliminate when he ran for president last cycle. the one he wouldn't remember in

a debate that torpedoed his candidacy. >> and let's see, i can't. the third one, i can't. sorry. oops. >> reporter: the nation will have to wait a while longer to find out how donald trump will separate himself from his vast business empire. a press conference set for thursday has now been pushed back to early january. transition sources say trump's team bit off more than it could chew filling all the cabinet positions and just couldn't get the business plan in place in time. >> what president-elect trump is doing with a lot of lawyers and a lot of people involved is just making sure that all government ethics are followed, that the is are dotted and the ts are crossed and make sure nothing is compromised. >> reporter: on twitter last night, trump did give some hints of his plans. pledging to leave his businesses by january 20th and turn them over to sons eric and don jr. to manage with the condition that they make no new deals during his presidency. the plan would appear to have trump stay as an owner and free up daughter, ivanka, to possibly take a position in his administration.

by postponing that press conference until january, trump derives two benefits, first of all gives him more time to get his plan in place and second it avoids answering any difficult questions about his finances, his businesses or the cia claim that russian hackers are trying to help him become president before the electors vote, and that will happen on december 19th next tuesday. bret? >> john roberts live in wisconsin. john, thank you. we told you at the top of the program house minority leader nancy pelosi wants an independent probe of alleged russian involvement in last month's election. but not everybody in the spy buzz sees russia's digital fingerprints on the outcome. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge sorts it all out for us tonight. >> reporter: a u.s. government source says the director of national intelligence james clapper who oversees the 17 intelligence agencies is not on the same page as cia director john brennan. the issue comes down to the hackers' intent, and whether there is strong evidence that vladimir putin's government meddled to ensure a trump

victory. the white house spokesman said today mr. obama warrant obama w assessment public. >> something we'll try to do, the president does believe that we should particularly when it relates to something as central to our democracy, as the conduct of a national election. >> reporter: the timing and targets of the cyber attacks varied widely. the hacks exposed via wikileaks, e-mails belonging to the clinton campaign team and the dnc. another wave of attacks hit voter registration data from safeboards of elections. >> we gave considerable thought to timing out russia with that statement. >> reporter: clapper told lawmakers last month that after the u.s. government publicly blamed russia, attacks against the state boards dropped off. >> i was referring to the cyber reconnaissance that we had observed. >> reporter: clapper said the russian link to wikileaks and the clinton campaign e-mails was more tenuous, when pressed by the committee's senior democrat.

>> i want to drill down a little further into your comment that the russian activity curtailed after they issued the statement. the dumping of documents didn't end. >> as far as the wikileaks connection, the evidence there is not strong and we don't have good insight into the sequencing of the releases or when the data may have been provided. >> reporter: in letter monday, the republican chairman of the house committee, devin nunes, asked clapper to reconcile by friday media reports of the cia and fbi have developed conflicting intelligence assessments. a former intelligence officer said discerning russia's motivation would be challenging. >> for e-mail traffic and signals intelligence, you see patterns. what you need to define and find out intent is someone on the inside. >> late today the house minority leader nancy pelosi called for the creation of an independent

probe along the lines of the 1 9/11 that investigated the terrorist attacks. pelosi supports a separate congressional investigation and insisted to reporters tonight that her position would be exactly the same if clinton had won in november, bret. >> more on this with the fanl. ca panel. the alleged interference by russia prompting some of the people who actually elect the president to ask for more information. chief washington correspondent james rosen has that part of the story tonight. >> george w. bush of the state of texas has received for president of the united states 271 votes. >> reporter: and with that, vice president al gore, democratic nominee and winner of the popular vote in 2000, serving as president of the senate, certified that the electoral college had awarded the presidency to republican nominee, george w. bush. now the never-trumpers, remember them? the electoral college which donald trump also won without capturing the popular vote as the final arena for blocking the

president-elect from taking the oath. 30 members of the electoral college including one republican citing the conclusion of the central intelligence agency that russia actively interfered to sway the outcome of the election have written to director of national intelligence general james clapper seeking a briefing on the underlying intelligence before the electors cast their votes december 19th and leading the charge is a california elector who is the daughter of house minority leader nancy pelosi. >> our independent elections ought to be what define us as a country. so if there is evidence that not only was the election tainted but that one of the candidates knew about that and profited from it, then that certainly is something that the electors should know in advance. >> reporter: supporting the request is the chairman of hillary clinton's campaign, john podesta. the very person whose e-mail account posted online by wikileaks is said by cia to have been hacked with russian complici complicity. the white house, however,

stopped short of endorsing the request, indeed, pointed out a big hurdle to granting it. >> look, i know some of the requests was for classified information and it's not clear that all of the electors, and i'm sure most of them don't, don't have security clearances. >> reporter: the president-elect told fox news sunday that democrats are pedalling the account of russian meddling, because, quote, they suffered one of the greatest defeats in the history of american politics. >> it's ridiculous. we ought to get back to making america great again which is what we're going to do and we've already started the process. >> reporter: as the electoral college vote approach, some trump electors have reported being on the receiving end of hate mail and worse. >> unfortunately, i received a couple of death threats, some death wishes and just some angry messages from people who are disappointed in the election results. >> reporter: a source at the republican national committee told me that what concern exists over this play for the electoral college is tied not to defections but toreplacement mechanisms in place.

bret? >> all right, james. thank you. now that the president-elect has selected three more cabinet members, there is one unofficial position to talk about tonight. maybe it can be called ambassador to the left. national security car spoorresp jennifer griffin reports it appears one of the first daughters to be may already have the job. >> reporter: she's the executive vice president of the trump organization, a former model, and mother of three, and she may just be her father's secret weapon, serving as a bridge to the left. a lifestyle guru who's built a business in her own right, ivanka trump has pushed her father on the environment and women's health issues. >> equality, childcare, these are things that are very important for me. >> reporter: she helped soften her father's image in the wake of the "access hollywood" audiotape starring in this campaign ad called "motherhood." >> he will provide tax credits for childcare. >> reporter: helped insert language into her father's platform that would appeal to

your average democrat. in fact, she and her brothers couldn't vote for their father in the new york primary because they were still registered democrats. >> politicians talk about wage equality, but my father has made it a practice at his company throughout his entire career. >> reporter: in recent weeks, ivanka has arranged for her father to meet with former vice president al gore, to hear his views on global warming, a move that took environmentalists by surprise. she's met twice with leonardo dicaprio to talk about the environment. >> it looks a little bit like a head fake when you have her meet with al gore one day and then the next day donald trump turns around and picks for epa someone who has always said that he believes climate change is real. >> reporter: ivanka and husband, jared kushner, traveled to washington, d.c., on sunday and dined at their family hotel with mitch mcconnell and his wife, elaine chao, trump's pick for transportation secretary.

they also may have been house hunting. longtime political producer and washington host, tammy haddad, said democrats would be wise to embrace ivanka. >> i don't know if ivanka trump can change anyone's mind. i don't know if the democrats will listen to him. i don't know if people in washington who were against him will now come into the tent. what i do know is that ivanka trump has the biggest opportunity to bring the most people in. >> reporter: once friends with chelsea clinton, ivanka reportedly was the one her father handed the phone to when house minority leader nancy pelosi called him after the election to talk about women's health care. as first daughter, she may be one of her father's most important ambassadors. bret? >> jennifer, thank you. stocks were up today. the dow gained 115 for another record close. closing just shy of 20,000. the s&p 500 finished ahead 15. the nasdaq surged 51. let's get analysis of the

markets tonight, fox business network's trish reagan is in new york. good evening, trish. 89 points until 20k. we think it happens this week. what is behind all this momentum? >> i think it very well could. i mean, there was a good shot of it happening today. at one point we were within that 50-point range of hitting 20,000. but i think it could happen as soon as tomorrow. certainly sometime this week. certainly before the end of the year. traders are banking on this. there's a lot of momentum right now. and it's hard to stop. there's an expectation that there will be lower taxes, that there will be less regulation and neethose are things that ar just music to businesses' ears and it's one of the reasons you're seeing all this upside right now, bret. >> we often talk, trish, about the fed and the federal reserve announces its decision on interest rates tomorrow. most are expecting a bump in interest rates by a quarter of a point. what else are they watching out for with the fed? >> well, they want to see what exactly the fed says in terms of its tone for the future because

the question is, all right, you may get that quarter point hike, but are you going to get another one at the next fed meeting? does the fed actually think the economy is gaining enough strength that it can move forward with this interest rate rising policy? you know, one after another. are they going to sort of space these out? they'll be looking to find out what the pace of the increase for these interest rate hikes actually will be. there's also some questions about whether or not the market can sustain these kind of levels once interest rates move higher. so that will be very critical to watch the market tomorrow, to see how traders react to this expectation of the quarter point hike, and we'll also be watching very carefully to see if janet yellen, head of the federal reserve, says anything about donald trump and how she thinks the economy might fare under him. she obviously doesn't want to get too political, the fed never does, but these are the things that traders will be looking to hear. >> trish, as always, thank you.

we'll be watching you tomorrow for all that breaking news. pro-immigration forces have come up with a new way to fight donald trump over his stated plans to deport illegal immigrants with criminal records. correspondent claudia callan reports tonight from san francisco. it involves making you pay to fight the feds. claudia? >> reporter: bret, san francisco is doubling down on its so-called sanctuary city status by considering a $5 million plan to hire more lawyers to defend illegal immigrants facing deportation including those who've been arrested for committing other crimes if thn country. former detainees said their lack of access to an immigration lawyer turned their lives upsidedown and they're worried about president-elect donald trump's idea to deport millions of illegal immigrants, a plan trump has since tempered. david campos introduced the legislation arguing everyone deserves the same access to

public resources and he defends his use of tax dollars. >> we're going to invest the resources needed to make sure that the 44,000 undocumented people who live in the city and county of san francisco have at a minimum legal representation if they're taken into immigration court. >> reporter: the move faces opposition even inside city hall. mayor ed lee, staunch supporter of policies friendly to illegal immigrants, says he's concerned about the funding aspects of this, while critics of the whole idea contend moves like this continue to encourage illegal immigration. >> what we need to be sending is a message around the world, a message of discouragement to reduce the flow to our border. that will make securing the border easier. >> reporter: in the wake of the election other cities new york and chicago are also looking to set aside millions of dollars to hire lawyers to help fight deportations. but eventually city officials may also have to consider which city programs will have to go because president-elect trump

also vowed to cut federal funding to these so-called sanctuary citiy ies and here inn francisco that could total more than $1 billion a year. bret? >> claudia, thank you. up next, what will president-elect donald trump do in his first 100 days in office about energy and infrastructure? some big changes could be afoot. stay tuned. back live in miami tonight after this. my heart beats

one hundred thousandndndndnd generosity is its oyou can handle being a mom for half an hour. i'm in all the way. is that understood? i don't know what she's up to, but it's not good. can't the world be my noodles and butter? get your mind out of the gutter. mornings are for coffee and contemplation. that was a really profound observation. you got a mean case of the detox blues. don't start a war you know you're going to lose. finally you can now find all of netflix in the same place as all your other entertainment. on xfinity x1. tonight's installment of our series on the first 100 days of the trump administration focuses on energy and infrastructure. donald trump's election is providing hope to areas of the country that have lost much of their way of life because of changing attitudes about coal

and green energy. national correspondent takestous one of those places tonight. >> fire. >> just the coal, itself, the downstream value to our economy, to our people, to our community. >> reporter: colorado, calls itself the friendliest town around, anything but for the coal industry. this area of western colorado, there were three coal mines, now there's only one. coal isn't the only casualty. you're also killing a community. well, this is empty. >> yeah, this used to be a quilt store. >> this is pastime friendly tavern. it closed just this year. >> reporter: the mayor saw 1,200 jobs disappear in one year. >> for every one job at the m d mine, they estimate there's five to seven jobs down valley. >> reporter: coal provided 50% of u.s. electricity eight years

ago. today, 31% and falling. is it market driven? is it politics? what does donald trump represent in that equation? >> it's probably a little bit of both. the shutdown of a lot of the coal-fired plants and the loss of market is due to regulations that have restricted emissions from coal-fired plants. so it is a combination of that and cheap natural gas. >> we're going to save that coal industry, believe me. we're going to save it. >> reporter: president trump promised to cut coal regulations including the green power plan and the paris agreement which dramatically restrict u.s. carbon emissions. >> tough on the community. it's tough on the people at the mine. you know, you have friends that you worked with for years that are no longer there. >> they don't know what to do. i mean, this is their livelihood. >> think about it, when you're 40, 50 years old, what do you do? do you go back to college and say, okay, what do i want to be when i grow up? >> under my presidency, we'll

accomplish a complete american energy independence. complete. >> reporter: to do that, trump promises to open federal lands to oil and gas drilling and lift the effective ban on offshore drilling outside the gulf of mexico. >> i am excited and i am nervous at the same time because it's not going to be as easy as some people think. >> reporter: why? because congressman rob bishop says opponents can still use the endangered species act and the national environmental protection act to stop energy development. >> the goal is to have abundant, affordable energy. that makes our economy grow. >> reporter: that includes alternative energy. though trump criticized wind and solar in the campaign, renewables now provide more than 30% of the power in ten states. >> the cost of wind has come down 61% in the last 6 years. it's equal to or better than low cost natural gas in the u.s. >> reporter: steve lockhart's company makes wind turbine blades in iowa. >> we contribute $50 million a

year just in payroll and direct benefits to our employees. >> reporter: because 600,000 work in wind and solar, most expect trump won't cut the tax credit. his infrastructure plan also modernizes the power grid while support for the north dakota access and keystone pipelines would move oil more cheaply. >> looking at the president's trillion dollars over ten years from a floor perspective, we think that's, you know, a wonderful thing. >> reporter: business and labor support his infrastructure plan. the challenge is building big projects without producing big deficits. >> it will be deficit neutral. >> reporter: trump would essentially replace federal subsidies with tax breaks to induce private companies to invest their money. >> we had about 1,400 craft work on this job. that translated into another 7,500 jobs. >> reporter: in other projects, say road and rail, government

can reduce its upfront cost by spreading the risks and sharing the reward or revenue stream. in this case, from tolls, ticket sales or fees. >> this is your treasure and you, the american people, are entitled to share in the riches. >> reporter: trump hopes to leverage federal money and tax policy to induce investment. but ultimately projects and industrieies live or doie if th make money. in hotchkiss, colorado, fox news. >> our series continues tomorrow with a look at the fate of the iran nuclear deal. a lot of news on the abortion front tonight. ohio republican governor john kasich has signed a bill imposing a 20-week abortion ban. kasich vetoed a separate measure that would have barred abortions at the first detectable fetal hea heartbeat. the oklahoma supreme court threw

out a law requiring doctors at clinics to have hospital administering privileges. and here in florida a federal judge is being asked to block additional parts of this state's contentious abortion law over constitutional rights issues. the american civil liberties union, the aclu of florida, filed a lawsuit late yesterdays on behalf of several ministers, rabbis and organizations that provide abortion counseling services to women. tonight, we bring you an exclusive first look at shocking information about just how dangerous some abortion clinics are in this country. chief legal correspondent shannon bream tells us the information comes as president-elect donald trump considers his policy on abortion funding. >> reporter: a brand new report by the pro-life legal advocacy group, americans united for life, tracks hundreds of abortion clinics in 32 states, compiling more than 1,400 health and safety violations since 2008. calling it the evidence the

supreme court needs to see, following the justices' decision to strike down texas clinic regulations earlier this year. >> this report is a rebuke to the supreme court's tragic decision in june in the texas abortion case where the court threw out health and safety standards for texas abortion clinics saying we need more proof. >> reporter: the report and accompanying videos titled unsafe come at the same time the pro-choice institute is publishing its own warnings, concerns about access and -- in safeguards, guttmacher focuses on doing away with barriers or delays, not protocols. shared by other pro-choice groups but fear what a trump administration may mean including planned parenthood which receives roughly half a billion dollars in government funding each year. >> should american taxpayers pay $500 billion to that organization? >> no, i didn't say pay. i said i have a lot of respect

for some of the things. they do the cervical cancer on women, that doi ma many, many g things. i know many women -- >> no taxpayer money. >> not while they do abortions. i made that clear. >> reporter: in a fund-raising e-mail today, planned parenthood warned, "we're weeks away from a frightening unprecedented moment" adding trump will bring, "some of the worst threats to reproductive rights and health care we've ever faced." while it would take time and cooperation on capitol hill for president-elect trump to make good on his pledged to defund planned parenthood, it's his upcoming supreme court nomination that has pro-choice groups most worried and pro-life groups who supported him watching very closely. bret? >> shannon, thank you. the u.s. is stopping some sales of military arms to saudi arabia over concerns about the killing of civilians in yemen. the white house ordered a review in october following the bombing of a funeral home in yemen that killed more than 140 people. fox news is told the sale involved so-called smartbombs to

the saudis. the cancelation does not affect last week's sale of ch-47 chinook helicopters valued at nearly $3.5 billion. meantime, however, on sunday, iran signed a $16 billion deal for 80 nonmilitary boeing aircraft. the largest american deal with iran in nearly 40 years. iran, a country that u.s. officials say has killed hundreds of americans and still funds terrorists around the middle east. in fact, today, iran's president met with the head of the palestinian islamic jihad, a group designated by the u.s. state department as a terrorist organization. syrian rebels say an agreement has been reached with russia for a cease-fire in aleppo to evacuate remaining civilians and rebels from besieged districts there. they say the cease-fire went into effect a few hours ago. yesterday, pro-government forces said they controlled 99% of eastern aleppo. there's an amazing new

potential threat to your privacy coming out of russia tonight and it has nothing to do with hacking elections. inste instead, it's all about something intensely personal, your face. senior foreign affairs correspondent amy kellogg explains. >> reporter: it's a face recognition app which has surpassed all others. it even beat out google and a megaface competition in the u.s. it was launched earlier this year by two young russian men. here's how findface works. snap a picture of someone on the street, on a bus and the app will find the person with 70% accuracy if the person has an account on vk, russia's version of facebook. >> translator: it makes us easier to find one if, for instance, we are walking around the streets and see a beautiful man or handsome man, we can easily take a photo of him and find him and write, call him, if you wanted. >> reporter: the lonely hearts hook is just one way to showcase the technology. law enforcement, casinos and

retail are all knocking on the company's doors because its special algorithm provide faster and more user-friendly face recognition than others. >> millions photos, search them, in a second, for most of them is like a spaceship -- >> effort both from police and -- from ordinary people that, for example, in police, they found a lot of criminals from cold cases. >> reporter: others say this is a huge invasion of privacy. >> i don't like someone can find me and find information about me. >> reporter: findface claims it will be able to match photos with those who have twitter accounts any day now, but twitter is pushing back saying it does not have a partnership with the company and considers use of its data a violation of its rules.

bret? >> interesting. amy, thank you. president-elect trump makes it official. exxonmobil ceo rex tillerson will be his nominee for secretary of state. reaction is in in washington. we'll get reaction from our panel to that and other picks tonight when we come back.

much more than a business executive, i mean, he's a world-class player. >> rex tillerson is a really tough guy. >> the good lord didn't put oil in all freedom-loving democracies across the world. >> donald trump has selected somebody who knows the world and can advise him on the world. if you pick somebody like that, somewhere, someplace, they're going to have some issues that you're going to have to deal with. >> obviously there's been some flirting, if you will, with rush s sha that's been a little different than what we're used to. obviously rex tillerson will come to these hearings with that knowledge and i'm sure will, hope will do everything he can

to allay any fears that people have. >> as we reported last night, rex tillerson, the ceo of exxonmobil, is donald trump's pick to be the nominee of secretary of state. he tweeted out, the president-elect did today, "the thing i like best about rex tillerson is he has vast experience in dealing successfully with all types of foreign governments." he's not alone in that. former vice president dick cheney releasing a statement saying "this election of rex tillerson to be secretary of state is an inspired choice. he has the vast experience, ability and judgment to deal with the very dangerous world we find confronting us. his ex-tentensive knowledge of global situation will be an asset in representing our nation." not all republicans feel that way. obviously democrats have weighed in but marco rubio, senator from right here in florida, tweeted out "being a friend of vladimir is not an attribute i am hoping for for a secretary of state." with that, let's bring in our panel, i'm in miami, they're in washington. editor in chief of lifezette,

lauren laura ingraham. and syndicated columnist charles krauthammer. laura, you lusistened to the reaction all day to rex tillerson. your thoughts on where this is coming down and is this going to be a confirmation fight on capitol hill? >> i'm not sure how much of a fight it's going to be. i think it's quite something to hear from senator corker talk about the flirtation between tillerson and putin when, first of all, under the bush administration, i remember those gauzey pictures captured with putin and president bush at the ranch in cowboy duds looking into his soul and seeing deeply into it and of course the failed russian reset on behalf of hillary clinton's efforts with the former soviet union then, of course, barack obama's telling sergei medvedev he'd have more

flexibility after the election cycle. seems to me there were attempts to get closer to russia in the last two administrations but not a lot of success in dealing with russia so i think it's good to have someone from the business community who's actually been successful in dealing with the former soviet union. i think it's refreshing to have someone from his background and it's about time. we've had a lot of intelligence and foreign policy failures with the so-called proses s in char >> the trump transition team is pointing out tillerson is a tough negotiator around the world, said no numerous times to vladimir putin in tough deals and deal making, knows world leaders around the world. clearly the opposition to tillerson is pretty fierce on the left and it seems like they're going to make at least tillerson a target in the confirmation process. >> sure. they're going to try to bloody him up a little bit. i mean, as a practical matter, his being somebody that democrats don't particularly like or wouldn't be their pick, it is not much of a concern for a trump white house as long as

they can hold together at least 50 and probably 51 at least of the republican votes. they can get him through. but i'm really interested in how they are -- the trump team is trying to turn what seems to be tillerson's greatest liability, his time on the world stage in dealing with foreign governments and the kinds of deals he's had to make to get his business deals done into an asset saying that this is a guy who understands how not only -- not only does he understand geopolitics and how the world works, but he understands how these leaders think and even if we as a country don't agree with those leaders, understanding their world view and understanding how they make deals and how they view the united states from a business perspective is actually an asset. that's going to be the chief argument they make on the hill. >> charles, obviously exxonmobil, one of the biggest if not the biggest company in

the world and we've talked many times about the bureaucracy in washington, the state department, is a behemoth when it comes to bureaucracy. to shake that up, you need somebody perhaps that has the experience of shaking up companies. >> i think that's an asset. his knowledge of the world is an asset. to some extent, his relationship with putin is an asset if it gives him insight into how to deal with it, but, look, the issue is going to be what are his feelings about putin right now? what will they be? as a representative not of an oil company but has interest in the oil in the russian arctic, but as secretary of state of the united states. and that's why you have hearings. they're going to ask him what is your sense of putin's motive? is he a potential ally, is he an adversary, is he somebody who as it appears to many of us is intent on diminishing american influence and expanding russian

fear of influence, particularly eastern europe and the middle east? but we shouldn't prejudge him until we hear what he has to say. and the reason is that he comes in as a man who dealt on behalf of the oil company. his oil company. as a fiduciary. reminds me of 1982, alexander hague sticked do estepped down of state. an engineering, construction, around the world, had extensive dealings with the saudis and gulf arabs. it was per spect it turned out not to be the case at all and schultz is one of the great secretaries of state of the second half of the last century. so we will see how the man acts and speaks representing his country and not an oil company.

>> meantime, laura, you have pick for secretary of energy, former texas governor rick perry. and all day long, every cable channel played the infamous 40-second sound bite from that debate where he can't remember the third agency, which happens to be energy that he wants to get rid of in the gop primary. but obviously his career is not judged by a brain freeze in that debate. what about governorer perry for energy? >> i think perry is perfectly acceptable and terrific pick. as former governor of the state of texas, we know the job boom that texas has been experiencing. even with the declining price of oil. and the industry there, of course, energy, health care, that has shown so much incredible improvement and growth where many sectors of the u.s. economy have really been lagging behind. rick perry was a terrific leader

of that state and his brain freeze at the debate notwithstanding, i think he's in line with trump's view we have to real he move forward to deregulate and remove some of the tangle of the bureaucracy in the energy sector while, of course, protecting the environment and doing a good balancing act there that it's absolutely incumbent upon the department of energy and this president to make sure we have good-paying jobs in the united states which in large part are found in the energy sector. so i think it's a terrific pick and i think it's nice to see all these people who didn't have all that many good words for donald trump getting onboard. i think it's good stuff. >> yeah. conservatism to a pick in his cabinet. ann, then charles, i want it play one more sound bite quickly before we go to the next panel. that is different people who showed up at trump tower today. it was quite a mix. >> we had a good conversation about innovation, how it can help in health, education,

impact foreign aid and energy. >> we're not here because of politics. we are here to help the president of the united states help his people that need help. >> forget black or white. black or white is irrelevant. the bottom line is job creation, economic development in these urban neighborhoods. >> i just want to take a picture right now. >> just want to take a picture. kanye west, he twheeeted out afr that moment saying "i feel it's important to have a direct line of communication with our future president. if we truly want change." and then tweeted out, "2024." look out. all right. ann then charles. what about this mix of folks today? >> i don't even know where to start. ridiculous to the sublime and something in between. the idea of both kanye west and bill gates having significant facetime with the president-elect shows at the very least the president-elect has a varied interest. >> charles, some people said

that this was about not talking about extracting himself from his businesses and delaying that press conference. you buy that? >> no, i don't. i mean, there were a lot of wayses to avoid that, but showing up with kanye west is not one you would pick out of a hat. look, this is very trumpian. the man knows how to put on a show and he knows how to write a script. what i liked best about today is that he gives the energy department to a man whose campaign died because he couldn't remember the name of the department that he wanted to abolish of which he's now going to be the head. that's good script writing and i think he ought to remain executive producer of "celebrity apprentice." he's earned the credential. next up, the mixed messages from the intelligence community about russian interference in the election and reaction to all of that.

>> we knew that ahead of the election. but it never got the attention that i think it should and so have that come out now and confirm that they were, in fact, trying to help donald trump. >> it was jim comey's faulted. a recount in three states which ended up embarrassing mess. all we did was gain more votes for donald trump. and then it was russian interference. >> well there you see the campaign managers for the two campaigns talking about all of this talk of russian interference in the election thahacking and what impact it has. now we hear that the house minority leader nancy pelosi wants an independent probe like a 9/11 commission to look into this in addition to congressional hearings on it. of course, there is some debate in intelligence

community. this is the national intelligence director november 17th on this very issue. >> as far as the wikileaks connection, the evidence there is not strong and we don't have good insight into the sequencing of the releases or when that -- when the data may have been provided. >> all right. so where's this going and what's next? we're back with the panel. laura? >> i think that the intraagency squabbling over how much russia affected the election is kind -- at this point it's beside the point. it's clear and i think kellyanne is right about this. the left, they're hopscotching from excuse to excuse. they started with comey. and then let's get rid of the electoral college. then it was russia. and then they will probably move on to something else. we have serious challenges, cyber security challenges in the united states. and i think we have had

intelligence failure after intelligence failure since 9/11. i mean, we obviously messed up benghazi. we didn't really foresee the militarization of space that china is doing. we really didn't see what was coming in north korea. we missed overrun at the border and what could be the implication of that a lot of things we are missing. on top of it, we are not on top of the curve when it comes to hacking into government systems which has been going on for years and years. personnel files. 50 million of them were hacked by the chinese. and i don't recall barack obama or any of the democrats on capitol hill being concerned that china would use the private information, the background checks of millions of government employees including yours truly by the way for any nefarious means. they didn't really make any big deal of that so now this is the big narrative because the electoral college is going to meet next week and we want to try to delegitimize the trump victory. this does not surprise me at

all. i think they should do an investigation with you come on. this is now just, you know, pick your excuse except for your policy failures. >> and what about that? the elock tores, i guess there is 19, 20 of them calling for intelligence briefing. there is now democrats saying that is very important that that happened before december 19th. is there any constituency that believes that somehow this vote is going to change by this whatever happens. >> no, no. i think jennifer palmiery and others from the clinton campaign would say the same. they do not think that a briefing for electors is going to overturn the results. just as they said ahead of the recount that they didn't expect the recounts to overturn the results of the election. that said, they are feeling very bruised because they did argue at the time of the dnc hack in the spring and summer and then again when john podesta. it was clear that john

podesta's email had not only been hacked but being released through wikileaks. they did contend then that this was a foreign government attempt to lity of the election with the clear intent of making any victory that hillary clinton would at that time have achieved seem cheapened. so they can make that argue: they made it to me. they made it to many other reporters they are feeling now they didn't get the kind of hearing for that that it deserved. >> yeah. and charles, obviously, rints priebus and others are saying russia didn't make hillary clinton not stop in wisconsin. they didn't make the economic message not identify with blue collar workers. they are pushing back hard. the overall concern about russia doing anything is real, not only hadn't the democratic side but on the republican side. >> the overall concern is real. the idea that it gave the

election to donald trump is absurd. the intelligence agencies itself is split. no way to discern intent without having a source inside and we don't. but the real issue is. this there is extensive report on how this thing developed over 18 months with the obama administration knowing about. this knowing about all kinds of intrusions by the russians through others and ththe passivity of barack obama in the face of this is simply staggering. it quotes officials as saying in the end people saying we have to do something. some kind of retaliation to prevent or deter the russians and/or others and obama never did. in part because he didn't want to lose influence with russia in syria. we can see how well that influence went when aleppo certainlcertain -- essentially . this is a president who let

it fall when he could have done something. be clear to the russians if they ever try anything like this again they will suffer. >> panel, charles, ann, laura, thank you very much. that's it for the panel. but up next from here in warm miami, an adorable facebook video with northeasterly 25 million views. it's a little chilly. ♪ those new glasses? they are. do i look smarter? yeah, a little. you're making money now, are you investing? well, i've been doing some research. let me introduce you to our broker. how much does he charge? i don't know. okay. uh, do you get your fees back if you're not happy? (dad laughs) wow, you're laughing. that's not the way the world works. test test.

finally tonight to miami to a park in japan spreading holiday cheer by putting some of its cutest residents in santa suits. >> it had 25 million views on facebook. this is a park in japan. they dressed up six of the penguins in santa outfits, let them waddle around. they are hoping that they can get the christmas spirit out and about with their little penguin friends. we thought it was good video. so we will end the show with

that thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. that's it for this "special report" from miami. fair, balanced and unafraid. here comes tucker. well -- welcome to "red eye." andy? >> thanks, tom. coming up on the big show, kanye west visits trump tower for a 15-minute meeting. i hope the president-elect told him to knock it off with the auto tune stuff. and the u.s. erchedz its campaign using wonder woman as an am what bass customer to young girls. slut shame and body shame much? and some people are upset the new "baywatch" movie has too many beach bods. back to you, tom. thank