i want to thank sean and his team for a strong week of shows in a very busy news cycle. we hope you have a very customery christmas. good night, america. ♪ >> hi, i'm jesse watters in this evening for bill o'reilly. thanks for watching us tonight. let's get right to our top story. will there be a new nuclear arms race under president trump. the president-elect raised the possibility yesterday with this tweet. the united states must greatly strengthen and expand nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes. this morning he apparently doubled down even further during a phone call to a reporter. >> mica asked the president-elect while we had the opportunity what his position was on try trying to clarify the tweet

yesterday regarding the nuclear arsenal and the president-elect told you, what? >> let it be an arms race. we will outmatch them at every pass. >> and outlast them all? >> and outlast them all. >> that report sparked a frenzy with the media jumping on members of the trump team to explain. >> what does let it be an arms race mean? >> i think it goes back to what i just said with respect to the tweet he just put out. is he going to do what it takes to protect this country. if another country or countries want to threaten our safety or sovereignty is he going to do what it takes. >> sure. he is not waiting until another country threatens us. is he making these proclamations before. >> right. is he making it very clear that other countries and other companies, have you seen with carrier and others. he is going to make it clear that he will be an active president that will get things done. >> that said, spicer also admitted that the arms race comment was a private conversation that he wasn't really privy to. joining us now to clarify

further anthony scarmucci, a member of the executive committee for president-elect trump's transition team. it looks what happened he sends out this tweet. he establishes a powerful nuclear position. and it's something he said during the campaign. and then all of a sudden he gets in some conversation with people of another exanel in pa januaries who know how he teamed them up. he didn't sea he wants an arms race he says let them have it because we will win it is this slopness on the trump team or one of these manufactured controversies? >> it's probably a little manufactured. i'm super pumped we are not in pajamas right now. i know yours are better. >> mine are platinum and very comfortable. >> i have the ugly sweater going on. what i would say to you about the situation the president-elect understands something peace through strength. he has studied the reagan policies and the reagan doctrine and he has a team of advisors around him that understand that a muscular america, an america that is

bold in the global community or use a bill o'reilly phrase bold and fresh to use an example is very good for the world. i think the signals that the president-elect is sending out are reassuring to our allies. there is enough trepidation with our add advisor added a inr sears onto say wait a minute. obama retraction loading from behind. i think the message that the president-elect was trying to get out to mica or to others is that we are going to be tough. we are going to be strong. we are going to be proactive and listen, we're not going to back down in a nuclear situation or any other situation. he is the last person, however, that would put us in a nuclear kun -- mica's face body language bad. nothing is going to happen. this guy is going to protect you and your family. >> yes, mica will be safe and so will her pajamas. >> yes. >> we also have a nuclear arms race going on right now. i don't think people want to admit it korean peninsula.

china nuking up. we gave the iranians $150 billion to do god knows what. we have pakistan and india going at each other. i think the russians want to modernize their warheads. it's already happening. i think the phrase arms race has a psychological effect. and that's why everybody goes crazy. >> look, reminds people of the cold war, the anxiety that we all felt in the cold war. it's not the best of phrases for peace but i think what the president-elect was trying to say is that i'm going to get us to a place of peace through strength. he spent a lot of time with dr. kissinger. you and i know that dr. kissinger's protege -- and in those principles remember for your viewers vaughn was the isaac newton of foreign policy. what did he say? we need a strong hegemonic power to suppress the conflict in the world. and that's what the president understands and he is going to protect that on january 20th. >> and also one of trump's principles is take a very

firm strong, powerful first position. >> exactly. >> and negotiate from a position of strength after your adversaries react to you. he did that with the taiwan call. did he that with the wall along the mexican border. he did that with the muslim ban and i think it's been effective. >> he wants mica safe, drinking her coffee in the morning. where she doesn't have to worry about things. having a leader like that is going to make her more safe, not less safe. >> that's true. a lot of people don't know this but president obama has already signed off on a $1 trillion nuclear modernization program. >> um. >>um that's a lot of dough. president obama doesn't like to spend a lot of money on the military. is he already upping the an an ante to a thrill. he has already reduced our nuclear war head capabilities than a president in the lacy three or four terms. so when donald trump comes out and says he wants to modernize, everybody goes crazy, but, obama already

trying to do it and it's already on the table. >> you remember that 60 minutes piece maybe a year and a half ago where we have got 1960's reporter phones in missile silos. we have got to fix this problem. so both presidents. you have to give them both credit for that they both understand that modernization is very necessary. listen, the russians and the chinese are modernizing. they may, nnkts, be ahead of us on some technology and we don't want to be in that position. we want to be in a forward thinking position, aggressive position. but a peaceful position, jesse. and that's the goal. >> the democrats are all for modernizing the roads and bridges and all of the internet capacity but they don't want to do anything with the -- i think that's a safe thing to do. the communication strategy. let's talk about that for a second. before you had some traditional commander-in-chief like president obama. six cooks in the kitchen. everyone is pouring over every word, every phrase, academics in everything trying to boil up the correct line. then deliver at the rose garden. now it looks like you are

going to have commander-in-chief donald trump. >> communicator in chief. >> he is going to send out a tweet and people are going to have to work backwards from there. do you see any advantages and disadvantages to that new communications dynamic. >> issue with the working backwards. people know his personality really well at this point. so when i read those tweets, i have my own lexicon of understanding where is he going. the four people he named on the communication teams do as well. i think that the gist of what happened during the election season is going to be slightly modified now. i think the candidate as president is going to be way more presidential and way more precise than people think. that's my prediction. >> all right. so you are now on the executive committee for this transition team. >> yep. >> what's going on behind the scenes here. >> you must like your job because i didn't see your resume up there. >> you know what? i was thinking about taking a trip over to the towers and doing the revolving door just to kind of help my negotiating wig position

here at fox. i thought it was a bad idea. i didn't want to take the pay cut. >> i'm not your agent but i think that was good for you. >> i would agree. >> what's going on behind the scenes with the transition now. in the beginning the transition was -- everyone was saying it was a knife fight and very dramatic. now looks like you only have two more cabinet positions to name. agriculture and veterans affairs. where are we now in the transition? are we in a good place or what? >> i came out with eric bolling on this very show and said that was unfair. i'm working inside the system. i didn't see that knife fight. and if you see the process, you are well ahead of where people thought we would be. we have two picks left. va and agriculture. both of which the president-elect will announce shortly probably after the holidays. at the end of the day, you have a world class cabinet. i talked to the president-elect yesterday. and he said he is super charged up about this cabinet. he has some of the best, most talented people in the country that are going to help prosecute his agenda. what could be better than that. >> is president-elect trump going to name tiger woods to any of the cabinet positions

because is he out there golfing today. did you see that? >> five hours on the golf course. we know that's great. we know that the president-elect gets his exercise by playing golf. do we want him to play golf and stay healthy. >> so tiger is not going to be the new v.a. secretary. >> i don't know. you have to ask the president-elect. >> you are open to the possibility. >> i'm not thunder clap stealer. when it claps it's going to be for donald trump. >> merry christmas. >> merry christmas. >> up next reaction to all possible arms race. plus vladimir putin sends a letter to for the with advil, you'll ask what bad knee? what throbbing head? advil makes pain a distant memory nothing works faster stronger or longer what pain? advil.

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1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere. 'tis the season for simple. what's in your wallet? received from russian president putin. in it putin extends warm greetings for christmas in the new year. also says he hopes mr. trump will act in, quote, constructive and pragmatic manner to take real steps to restore the framework of bilateral cooperation. and in an early morning press conference today, putin down played mr. trump's comments about nukes. >> there is nothing new. he was saying in his campaign about the importance of strengthening the nuclear aspect of the united states. that b. strengthening the military forces. there is nothing unusual.

>> joining us now from palm springs, former u.s. spokesman at the united nations ric grenell and from washington david that fury, former state department official. so putin and trump are pen pals now. it's very cute. i love to see that probably be retweeting each other one of these days. it seems like putin kind of poured cold water on this arms race controversial. you know what? what i can't understand, rick is, the left will say that trump and putin are best friends and they will be riding on horseback naked with each other and then on the other hand, they are saying trump and putin are on this nuclear coalition course. i just can't get it straight. which one is it? >> well, clearly this letter was a signal that both sides want to reset the relationship. it hasn't been working and, look, we're dealing with a situation where the current president, president obama has been mocking those who thought that russia was some sort of a threat. and also president-elect

trump is having to deal with the fact that president obama has rolled back missile defense throughout eastern europe. so we're dealing with the deficit. so i think that the pronouncements coming out saying that we want peace through strength, we really don't want an arm's race and then having president putin agree that they really can't have an arm's race. it was an admission that their economy is not that great, they have tried to modernize already. but they are going to have to end that because they just don't have the money. so, it was an admission, i think, on president putin's part that if there was some sort of a u.s. commitment to modernize our nuclear weaponry, that we would win it. that the united states would win it because the russians can't compete because of their economy. >> they are broke because one of the reasons that we slapped sanctions on them after the ukraine invasion. but, david, let me ask you this, there is two schools

of thought here. one school of thought is that this exkgv putin guy is just playing mind games with in 24 naive businessman, donald trump, and he is bending him in to doing whatever russia wants and is he going to take full advantage. there is the other school of thought that says you have this businessman and pragmatist donald trump coming. in he is a very keen negotiator. and he just wants to warm relationships a little bit better because the last 8 years have been pretty frigid between president obama and vladimir putin and there is really not a lot wrong with. that is that how you see it? >> well, you know, all of this is a little bit stupefying, trump is rattling the saber saying he wants to have an arm's race which is a really silly thing to do. trump is right we should strengthen our military. >> i don't think he said he wants an arms race he said if there is an arm's race let's have at it because we're going to win it. >> why is he even talking about an arm's race. when you want to strengthen your military forces do you so quietly, wisely and

effectively. you don't brag about it you don't try to provoke other countries. >> it's funny that you say that because when he was asked about his strategy to defeat isis he says he wasn't going to share it because he wants to remain unpredictable and that's not what general patton would do and then he was mocked by the liberal foreign policy establishment. so which one is it? do you want us to tell what he wants to do or not tell? i can't figure it out. >> look, i just got back from iraq last week. the strategy against isis is actually going pretty well. i think the reason reason people criticize trump is because he had no strategy on isis. he said he was keeping it secret as a way to hide the fact that he didn't have one. he doesn't understand the situation over there. >> obama said he doesn't have a strategy to defeat isis either. rick, tell me about this. the arms race phrase, i mean it, says off a lot of alarm bells with people. they think they are ducking under their desks in the cold war in the 19 autos. was that a bad phrase to use, especially on a phone with some host in pajamas on

msnbc? >> i don't think so at all and president putin didn't take offense to it. i think that it does conjure up thoughts of the past. but, look, i think that we are dealing with the reality right now where the russians have talked president obama out of having a missile defense shield. so we have got to modernize. we have got to catch up. we are going to be playing catch up for a while. trying to signal to not only the russians but to the american people and to congress and to everybody else that we are going to modernize and you can criticize him for that but peace through strength is obviously worked and that's the policy that president-elect trump is going to pursue. >> putin also said some other things, david, about some democrats, hillary clinton said she was a sore loser and that president obama was a divider and not a uniter. what do you think is going on with putin? there is a lot of bad blood

here. is this a personal thing? it seems pretty personal, doesn't it? >> this is very interesting. all of our intelligence services believe that putin and russia interfered in our election. it's odd now that criticizing the democrats and talking about them being sore losers when he and his country attempted and probably did interfere in our election. so they tried to make what he wanted to happen come true. i don't know why is he talking about our internal politics but all know is russia should have nothing to do with internal politics. >> very easy to not be a sore louiseer when you can basically imprison your political opponents in russia. cops killed a berlin terrorist during a shootout outside a berlin station. we will have the latest. how open borders in walked around the shelter,

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unresolved problem segment tonight, germany is still on alert even the tunisia man suspected in the deadly attack in berlin has been called. anis amry was taken out by italian police during a shootout in iran. italian official says he almost certainly passed through france to get there in fact, amri was easily able to travel through europe before the attack. o'reilly recently talked to senator ted cruz about the danger of europe's open borders. >> as you know, the eu has open borders. anybody goes where anybody refugees flooding in. nobody knows who is coming and who is going. hours after amri was killed video of him pledging alien jans to isis. former navy seal special agent for the fbi. so jonathan looks like fbi come over in life boat across the mediterranean to north africa, tunisia, landed in italy and in the

continent for a long time even being watched, wasn't he? >> he even tried to burn a school down or did burn a school down in italy. this is the individual who took full advantage of this migration to come in. and as you can see. he does not mold well with the free society. >> he certainly does not. >> that's going to be the case with these my grants. >> he was coming across multiple borders, france, germany, italy, how does someone go undefect texted like that. i remember when i was traveling throughout those countries and i was just a young lad, it was tough getting across on the train. these guys with the big boots and aks come by and it's a serious deal. how did the guy slip through the cracks? i don't know if it's quite that serious now. reality is these have become where we have sanctuary cities in new york. these are sanctuary countries. and i really think that these socialistic ultra liberal leaders believe it's like the fresh prince of blair where you take somebody out of the inner

city and bring them to beverly hills and there is not going to be any problems. you can't take somebody or large groups of people out of the middle east and expect them just to migrate and coexist. so they have created, basically a terrorist dream to where they don't even have to work hard to get through the countries which used to be the hardest part of the process, of planning one of these operations is getting people logistically in. >> gaming the system, too. because once he was here, he had about six or seven different types of i.d. they were trying to get rid of him or something like that. but he had all of this fake paperwork and that's why they couldn't get him. doesn't this drive home the point you cannot vet these guys well if they are just going to lie to your face like that? >> one, you can't get people who live in a third world country. practically impossible. secondly, the way the technology is that they have. these are not dumb people. they have whole organizations that work together to get these trenels for them. they get these things openly through these countries to a point where the hardest part is now getting the

credentials not getting logistically into a place to do an operation. >> do you believe europe is waking up to this because this is -- what is this? a dozen attacks on the continent? europe spilled a lot of blood the last century, now it's these attacks on civilians you are seeing almost every couple of months now you see it in belgium and france and germany, are they going to wake up and say enough is enough and institute some sort of crackdown on the border? what can they do, do you think? because i mean, they can get tough if they want to. >> sure. look, trump has set the example. you put warriors in place where warriors think about what needs to be done. if you only have academics and elitists telling people how to fight terrorism, you are never going to be able to win the fight. that's the case you have to have a strategic plan how to defeat the enemy. you they don't have that to begin with they don't name the enemy. they don't have a strategic plan. academics have really tried to maneuver their special interests into this. it's just not working.

>> i mean france, vicious and in to china, back in the day. vicious. germans were pretty rough and tumble in south africa, you know, the italians just a few years ago were setting up black sites for president bush to do some harsh interrogation on some of these al qaeda guys they have it in the past. how much blood has to be spilled? >> unfortunately i think more blood is going to have to be spilled. the german people i talk to in germany and italy, they see it but i can't understand, there is an easy solution to this. get with the middle eastern countries. force them to put up safe hanks, help them do and it don't bring any more of these people out of the middle east. they don't need to exist outside of their culture unless they want to. >> okay. so you are saying keep them in the middle east? >> sure. >> it's not a muslim ban but set up safe zones in those communities so they don't come to the homeland. >> why do we have to take people out of their homes and give them another home when we could literally give them places to live over there. what's happening in west virginia is a perfect

example. bringing refugees to west virginia. they will give them housing. meanwhile there is still people living in tents in west virginia because the flood happened. and there is people homeless there. >> right now recipe for nobody has anything. and people are coming over willy-nilly and getting handouts. one of the people reasons trump won. i think islam has a problem here. the people that are obeying the laws, the wealthy people in these muslim communities that want to go to europe. they want to travel to america, and they want to work hard, they're going to get screwed over because these radicals are making it so difficult for people in their countries to do business internationally and travel internationally, they have to fix their own house, get their own house in order or else they are going to start paying the price. they're not going to be able to go anywhere. >> jesse, i have been saying sag this since i left the bureau a little over three and a half years ago. islam is the biggest solution for the problems in islam. if they don't fix their problems, then they're going to be part of the problem.

muslims need to realize that they need to look at the fact that there is muslims that can coexist. there is islamists that are fundamentalists that do not want to coexist. and then out of those islamists come jihadists. they have the problem. they need to fix it. if they're not going to, then they need to step out of the way and let warriors fix it that's what's going going to end up happening. >> thank you very much. >> you got it. >> as the factor moves along this evening. one of the greatest basketball coaches of our time john calipery steps into the political spin zone. how to discipline athletes. also, get out the violins. sounds like president obama may be feeling a bit sorry for himself as he gets ready to leave office. we hope you stay credit karma? why are you checking your credit score? you don't want to drive old blue forever, do you? [brakes squeak] credit karma, huh? yep, it's free. credit karma. give yourself some credit.

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live from america's news headquarters i'm patricia stark. the brother. carrie fisher says the actress is receiving treatment in a los angeles hospital. fisher was flying from london to los angeles when she suffered what is called a medical emergency. akerding to tmz, she'd suffered a heart attack. the 60-year-old is best known for her role as princess leia in the "star wars" films. air force one says it needs another 30,000 air men in 5 to 6 years. continuing to conduct most of

the missions against isis and says it needs more personnel for intelligence jobs. there are 17,000 airmen in the air force. now back to the "o'reilly factor". ♪ >> the factor follow-up segment tonight, protests during the national anthem at sporting events has made their way from professional playing fields to college campuses. bill recently spoke with john calipari head coach of the university of kentucky men's basketball team about how he is handling his players in the middle of all of this p.c. madness. mr. calipari is the author of the brand new best seller "success is the only option." >> so, coach, here's what i want to know. has the chaos on college campuses filtered down to your team the political correct madness, black lives matter, trump/clinton election. has that filtered into your squad? >> it's not being crazy on our campus right now. but i will tell you we talk

as a team, as a group. i bring up the stuff. when things happen in our country, i want to talk about it with these guys because sometimes they're in to their phones and their i.d. pads and they are not paying attention to some of these things and i think they need to be. >> when a guy like kaepernick kneels down for the national anthem every athlete knows that in a minute. has that come up in your discussions. >> before our first game i talked about it for two or three days. if anybody has an issue, i need to you talk to me about it let's talk about this. see, it's different. nba, nfl, is different than an 18, 19-year-old who is not -- they don't know who they are as a person let alone a basketball player. my job is to educate them. and their job is to understand that unless you agree with the entire cause, you're not moving in that direction. it's like my own son retweeting something and i'm like why did you do that? well, i just retweeted it.

no, you are saying you agree. you need to know the full thing. that's the first part of this. >> so nobody, the university of ten ken basketball team said listen, i wanted it not stand up during the national anthem or i want to give the black power salute or you haven't had that? >> no. but i also went through there's a consequence to some of this stuff. >> would you allow it, coach? if somebody sat down during the national anthem, would you allow it? >> i would know it was going to happen before it happened. >> and i would say look, i'm going to support you, but you're going to have consequences now. >> what am i going to do? if i'm standing hand on my heart and guy ends up kneeling i have got to deal with it i'm dealing with someone's son who my job is today indicate. my job is to make sure they know the consequence to what they are doing. >> kaepernick knows. you ask me what can i do? here is what i would do if i were a coach. if i were doing this, i

think i would be a coach probably football, i would say to my college kids, look, you're representing the school, not just yourself. and if you want to protest something, but not during the game. and that includes the national anthem. so, if you don't want to stand up, stay in the locker room, come out after the national anthem. that's what i would do. fair? >> probably fair. but, again, i would tell you that educating these kids on what this is about, i have talked to them about if you believe in something, you can make a stand without offending the whole world. you can do things. >> yeah, there are ways to do it, sure. >> and so i think you and i are peek -- speaking the same language. >> you don't see a lot of discipline anymore. just in general. kids run wild, do whatever they want. burn the american flag. jump up and down. they need safe rooms. come on, when you and i were

in college totally ridiculous. do you have a line that you draw and do you threaten these kids if they do certain things they are out of here? do you do that? >> well, again i have got to protect them against themselves sometimes. so we have curfew, i'm telling you kentucky is not for everybody. there is 11:0:00 curfew. if you are out, you are not playing. i have to do stuff to protect these kids because, again, you have parents giving their child and extremely talented and i talk about that in the book. i'm not afraid to coach them. i'm challenging them. but, in the same sense, wow, they got this thing going and i have got to protect them against themselves and sometimes against others. >> how many kids do you lose you? recruit. they come in. how many kids won't play it your way? >> very few because the recruiting process weeds that out. >> okay. >> if i walk in a home and a young man is disrespectful to his mother or his grandmother, i'm out.

you are not going to be respectful to me. >> what about the father? most of them mom or grandma homes, right? >> yes. but i will say. this some of the best kids i coached were raised by their mother or grandmother. even better because sometimes fathers trying to live through. >> it's not a loss lowered it's interesting you said that. >> the book is success. only option. certainly coach calipari has tremendous success and it's great to have you in here. thank you. >> directly ahead. is president obama feeling sorry for himself as he wraps up his time in office? we'll let you hear what he said. and you can decide my heart beats one hundred thousand times a day, sending oxygen to my muscles. again! so i can lift even the most demanding weight. take care of all your most important parts with centrum. now verified non gmo and gluten free.

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>> thanks for staying with us, i'm jesse watters in for bill o'reilly. and in the personal story segment tonight is president

obama playing the victim card as he gets ready to lee office? here is what he said in a recent interview npr. >> i had to live through controversies like the notion that i was trying to kill christmas. right? well, where did that come from? well, you know, well, he said happy holidays instead of merry christmas. so that, you know, that must be evidence of him either not being a christian or not carrying about christmas. it sounds funny now but you'll have entire debates in conservative circles around that. >> joining me now with reaction, democratic pollster jessica tarlov and booth who also writes for "the washington times." li through controversy, whoa is me. as a matter of fact, the war on christmas is probably the only war president obama has ever won, jessica. >> how long have you been waiting to say that one? >> is this a real story?

i don't remember anybody saying that he was initiating a war on christmas. do you? >> yes, i remember many people saying that. i see all the time in my twitter feed when i say happy holidays just because i want to be inclusive i have no christmas problem. i love my red cup. i like it all. >> you can name one person who said that obama's is waging a war on christmas? >> i have heard many people on these airwaves talking about it. >> who? >> is this really happening? >> i mean, i haven't said it. i don't remember anybody is waging a war on christmas. >> talked about it on "cashin' in" for sure. talked about how there was a guy in texas who owns a diner put up unapologetic sign merry christmas because he was sick of people defending other religions over christianity. >> i do recall people saying this or that about the christian stuff. but this guy is so sensitive. is he the most thin-skinned person i have ever seen besides me. of course, why is this guy doing all these exit

interviews and whining do you think? >> i honestly thinkenned he has blamed fox news. he has blamed rush limbaugh for vilifying his policies and that's the reason why some of them haven't been popular. i think the president is having incredibly difficult time along with the bulk of the democratic party with reeling loss of the election. i think that hillary clinton and president obama completely thought that she was ultimately going to win. they are very surprised. >> they were not alone in thinking that. >> i also think that they realized that the election was also rejection of president obama's policies. look, is he blaming all these different things for the rejection of his policies but look no further than the fact that insurance premiums have increased by 30% in states like pennsylvania and arizona and places some policies incrossed 116%. is he trying to disseminate entire industries and workers like the coal industry. these are the things that drove the election. it was jobs, the economy, the rejection of president obama's policy. >> i understand that and you know he has a very high approval rating is he a personal guy that people actually do like.

i know people get a bump on their way out. we know overall healthcare costs not in the 10 years before obamacare. a bit of sympathy for this moment. this man is being succeeded by a birther who said that he founded isis. that is not. >> you want to feel sorry for president obama? the most powerful man in the world who has been there for two terms who did everything he wanted. we are supposed to feel sorry for him. >> he wanted the job. >> he did. he history is going to be kindler to him than these conversations right now. >> i'm not so sure about that. because i think the president's legacy the only place you will see that is his library because obamacare is going to be gone. >> obamacare is not going to be gone. >> there is not allot left after eight years once trump gets into office. >> shear thing too there is a notion that has been proven wrong this election cycle. because republicans won back the majorities in the house and senate in 2010 and 2014.

what we found out from the election is that the democratic party has actually been propped up by the personal likability of president obama. his policies and the party as a whole have been rejected by massive margins. you look at just the losses at the state legislature. yes, democrats hold fewer state legislators. number on the actual majority of governorships across the country, the house and the senate and now the white house. the democratic party has seen his foxbusiness.com losses under president obama. >> i don't remember bush or clinton complaining this much when they left during these exit interviews. i think they are designed to cement a legacy. see kind of looking back what i did and kind of coast into the sun set. what i see from this president, president obama seems angry. seems a little upset. a little emotional. a little hurt. is that the kind of way you expect him to go out? >> same kind of candidate. donald trump ran one of the nasaest -- >> -- he is responsible for being followed by a

candidate like donald trump. president obama paved the way for a guy like trump. he has a little responsibility here. >> in that interview he also talked about how important it is for democratic candidates to get out there and to go into the diners and talk to real americans. did he support hillary clinton. and we heard joe biden criticize her recently saying she didn't have a message and didn't get out there and talk to black voters. democrats we have a lot of work to do. the democratic party refuses to face that reality. >> really? because i'm sitting right here facing it. >> you weren't democratic leaders. they reelected nancy pelosi responsible for historic. >> tim ryan was not the right choice. >> the democratic party seeks to elect someone like keith ellison who has made blatantly racist comments fly in the face of what a lot of voters. >> let's get back to christmas before we wrap this up. here is what i want to say. just going around because i go to diners and i'm in and out of the mall, people are

now saying merry interior ministry dr. i believe it has something to do with donald trump. ee would you said to say happy holidays a lot under president obama. is he still complaining about it. it's nothing personal. people are saying merry christmas again. you can see it on the streets. you have guys not picked up on that? >> i mean, i have always said i don't know why is that so exciting? >> we are so excited about it. we get to say merry christmas again. >> i don't know. you can pick the stock market. >> you can say happy kwanzaa too. >> you were excited about christmas. i like to unpack that further. there are people of all religions in this country and happy holidays brings them all in. >> we can say that, too. we are going to say merry christmas. >> member dr. christmas and happy holidays. jesse and lisa. >> thank you very much. i appreciate it up next, one of the biggest stars of his time sit down for fascinating interview with bill o'reilly. you don't want to miss this the holidays should bring joy. so why are you still putting up with complicated cash back cards? some cards limit where you earn bonus cash back

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in the back of the book segment tonight, the actor and singer bobby rydell is one of the biggest teen idols in history with a career that spanned 60 years. after addiction nearly caused his life bobby was saved and back in action on stage. bill recently spoke with bill and fame, fortune and his newest biography, "teen idol on the rocks". >> you would not be sitting here talking to me if not for a 21-year-old girl who was killed in an automobile situation is that correct?? >> that is correct, from redding, pennsylvania. her name is julia. not only did she save my life, she saved six other people. >> she donated her organs. >> correct. >> killed by a hit and run driver. >> yes. >> and you got a liver and kidney.

>> yeah. >> you look healthy and vibrant. you're still on stage. ♪ >> let's go back to elvis presley. you were a kid, right? >> vaguely. >> so he comes on and he rocks the world, pardon the pun. ♪ >> and then his success leads to the other teen ie kols. >> i guess sure. >> paul anka, frankie avalo and you. >> yeah. ♪ ♪ >> this whole phenomenon occurs when you're what? >> 17. >> 17. >> 17 years old. i had my first hit record the summer of 1959. ♪ >> and how could a 17-year-old process this? >> i guess it was all because of

my dad, bill. you know at an early age my dad used to take me to clubs in philadelphia, 7, 8 years old, would ask the club owners if it was okay if i get up and sang a song. that's all i remember. >> the adulation, the girl screaming. >> it was nice. >> did you appreciate it? >> absolutely. of course. >> now you didn't get involved with drugs and alcohol as many of the teen idols did as a younger man, right? >> correct, yes. >> how? >> i guess basically because of family. the upbringing with the family, you know. my dad was very very instrume instrumental in my career. a lot of love and respect in my family. >> and you were living at home as a teen idols. >> yeah, i lived in south philadelphia. ♪ >> then when you got older you got into booze. >> yeah. >> heavy. >> extremely.

>> and that's what led to the failure of the kidneys and the liver intrusion. >> that all started in 2003. my first wife, camille, we were married for 36 years and she passed away in 2003 via breast cancer and it was really hard to take, bill. i mean there was nobody to lay with anybody, nobody to joke with, nobody to laugh with, nobody to cry with, nobody to tell your stories to. and it hit me pretty hard and i turned to the bottle. >> you were an alcoholic, drinking heavily, almost every day and it destroyed your health. >> correct. >> and this 21-year-old girl who died saved your life. you were as close to justin bieber as any of the teen idols. if you had advice for that kid, he's in exactly the same spot you were in. >> i guess you're right, bill. i would venture to say that, you know, first of all, you know, he was just about as young as i

was. >> yeah. >> he was 15 years old. but like the social media back then, we didn't have all that much. i think we had dick clark, american bandstand and that's it. now his mother puts him on you tube and he's all over the site. he becomes a millionaire. i don't know how a 15-year-old can handle that. >> you and frankie avalon are still on the road. you're geezers but you're good. ♪ >> final question. >> yes, sir. >> i'm jealous of you. >> why? >> because you were with anne margaret in her prime and you guys have stayed friends. >> anne has a blurb in the book. he read the book and she called me saying bobby, i can't believe all of the stuff you went

through. i thanked her. i said at the end of the conversation, i said anne, back in 1963 i was 20, you were 21. why the hell didn't we get married? >> such a nice woman. >> she is superb. >> right. >> well look, the book is very compelling for those of us who grew up with you and no what you've been there and i'm grlad you're feeling well and looking good. thanks for coming? >

if you till don't have you christmas and hanukkah gifts bought, here are some ideas. bill's massive best seller "killing the risen sun" makes an excellent presents. bill's kids' book "give please a chance" number one in its category. a great lesson to the urchins. if you go to billoreilly.com and become a premium member you can get one of these books for free. there's some new contributes factor podcasts out this week including one features yours truly about the controversy count in florida. you can download the contributing factor podcasts on billoreilly.com and itunes.

that is it for us tonight. i'm jesse watters in for bill o'reilly. merry christmas and happy hanukkah, everybody. please remember, i'm watters and that is my world. breaking tonight, two huge stories potentially impacting america's stand in the world. and setting the agenda for president-elect donald trump's administration. welcome to "the kelly file." i'm sandra smith in for megyn kelly. hours ago in a surprise move, president obama deals a parting shot to the israeli government and prime minister benjamin netanyahu by abstaining from a vote at the united nations to pass and an unprecedendd resolution to dae clair the state to be in violation of international law. president-elect trump is raising concerns that he may shatter decades of u.s. policy when it comes to nuclear