francisco warriors. the then san francisco warriors. thanks for watching us tonight and inviting us into your home. that's it for "special report," fair, balanced and unafraid. "tucker carlson tonight" with ed henry guest hosting up next. ♪ ♪ >> good evening and welcome to "tucker carlson tonight." i'm ed henry in for tucker. tonight, president obama just will not stop talking. he only has 24 more days in office. that's when president-elect donald trump will be inaugurated. yet, the outgoing president is still giving interviews with and seemingly insulting voters who elected mr. trump. last night it was his claim that he would have beaten mr. trump if only he could have one more term. slamming the president-elect and hillary clinton in one fell swoop suggesting he would have been a much better candidate that hadn't her. that's not all. now the president is taking aim not at trump or clinton but you. especially if you are white and watching tonight in the south. in a podcast with his former senior advisor david axelrod

mr. obama suggested democrats could not win over white rural voters well because of his race. democrats are so principled they won't give any ground he said on civil rights so that we can fairly quote him. here is exactly what the president said. >> part of the challenge for democrats and progressives generally is that if we cannot compete in rural areas, in rural states, if we can't find some way to break through what is a complicated history in the south and start winning races there and winning back southern white voters without betraying our commitment to civil rights, and diversity, if we can't do those things, then we can win elections. >> democratic eric guster joins us live right now. good to see you, eric. i want to stipulate up front

the president is right about one point we have a complicated history in the south and we have to be honest and straightforward about that. however, in explaining why donald trump won. why does he have to inject race? >> well, race was an issue in this election. donald trump was supported by the alt right which is the white supremacist group which thoroughly supported group. many of them came out and said today that if they -- they will rebel against trump if he does not hold to his values according to them. >> some voters felt that way but what president obama was saying, eric, was basically all southern white voters that we can't win them over, he says. as democrats. unless we compromise on diversity and civil rights. it sounds to me like he is saying they're racist. we can't win unless we give in on civil rights. >> ed, he did not say that you know he didn't say that. president obama said we have to talk to the southern white voters which i'm in

birmingham alabama today so i know about southern voters. this state has been red for so long that in order for the democrats to win the south, they have to come into the south, talk about the issues that many voters, especially white voters want them to discuss, and then try to infiltrate their loyalties to the g.o.p. the president did not state that all white voters are racist. he did not state that all white voters were voting just because donald trump believed in certain things. so that's not actually true. >> but he said we can't win over these southern white voters without compromising on civil rights and diversity. how else you can read that? >> no, the president said that we have to win them over but we have to compromise on civil rights and diversity. >> that's what i said. >> because that is a divisive issue with some people where they don't want you to talk about affirmative action issue. they don't want to talk about diversity in the workplace, but they still want their vote. so that's a very complicated issue the president actually addressed i wish that donald trump would come out and

address those issues which he refuses to do. >> we didn't hear from donald trump today but we did hear from another republican, mike huckabee. weighs on "fox & friends" with me and brian kilmeade. abby huntsman today. here is what he said about the president's comments. >> the rejection of barack obama in the south had nothing to too with race. it had to do with policy. it had to do with his pushing aggressive abortion position upon people that think that life is precious and sacred it had pushing an idea that we could redefine marriage from a biblical standard. it had to do with wrecking and destroying the economy and seeing people whose jobs provided them less money after years than it did before. it had nothing to do with color. it had to do with the content of the policy. and the disaster that it wrought. >> what about that point, eric, there. is he a republican. but can't you admit this was about the actual policies that were on the ballot. it was not about race. >> there are several issues. and race is one of them. and we can't ignore that race is issue in election.

especially this last election was donald trump and clinton. but in this particular instance, what mike huckabee just stated was wrong. race was a factor. you look at the rally that it did in huntsville, alabama. the one he did in birmingham, alabama, in which a black man was attacked in birmingham, alabama. right here next to where i'm actually too long this segment. >> but donald trump did not attack that african-american man. >> his supporters did. his supporters were attacking them. and you look at the rhetoric right now with so many people doing racially motivated attacks. racially motivated things in the name of trump, that clearly shows that race was an issue. policy, that's another conversation. there are policy issues in which the south is very conservative whether you are black or white. it's very conservative so the democratic party would have a little bit of trouble with infiltrating the south. >> let me play you another soundbite from not a republican but a democrat who i think disagrees with what you are saying. bill clinton. here is what he said in the campaign about white working class voters. >> there is a lot of road rage out there because after

the financial crash, it took a long time before income started going up again. there are still some families that if you adjust for inflation, their incomes are about what they were the last day i was president more than 15 years ago, and costs are going up, right? and that's really tough. >> now, isn't bill clinton saying there that the reason why white working class voters were angry was about losing jobs not about race? >> again, for the third time, race is one of the factors. we can't just put all of it in one bowl. okay, race is one bowl of things which is a problem. and impacted the election. then there is another one dealing with policy. there is another one dealing with economics. but race is one of those factors. we can't stop ignoring that. >> eric, why did president obama -- i'm sorry to interrupt. but president obama didn't say we lost white working

class voters because woe didn't have a good jobs message. he said we can't win them over without compromising on civil rights. >> why didn't he talk about that whole bowl like you are? >> he was -- well, he should have called me and consulted with me. but the fact is that president obama was -- has stated several times about some of the policy issues that the democrats have. he is talking about a flawed candidate which i will tell you hillary clinton was not a perfect candidate. and we have to remember that she did win the popular vote. she just won the votes in the wrong place. >> okay. let's get something i know you also want to talk about this. maxine watters is a member of the black caucus. in terms of whether or not she will work with this incoming president, here is what she told msnbc. >> i have no intention of pretending everything's all right. that we're going to work together. for me, as the ranking member of the financial services committee. where he said he is going to bring down dodd frank and he is going to get rid of the

consumer financial protection bureau. i'm going to fight him every inch of the way. and i would hope. >> if i could just interrupt here one second. >> yes. >> excuse me. i just want to get this straight. are you saying then that you would not sit down with president-elect trump if he invited you to the white house to meet on common ground? >> oh, no. i won't go. i'm not going to sit down with him. i'm not gonna go. >> eric, members of congress, democratic members of congress, senior ones will not even sit down with donald trump? really? >> that's a very complicated issue, ed. but i love maxine waters. i love her digging her heels in. >> i'm all for fighting but not sit down with the man. >> he was the most divisive candidate we have seen in decades. i understand her position. i do believe people should sit down and talk to him about the issues. he will be the president in 20 some odd days. he is the president-elect. is the one going to be in office. we need to sit down with

him. even if we disagree with him. >> my question to follow up for maxine waters and for you is what happened to michelle obama in the campaign saying they go low, we go high? >> sometimes you have to go low to defeat people like donald trump. he was down in the pigs. he was down in the slop. if you are going to kill a hog, you have to jump down in the mud sometimes to get him. >> what the democrats had to do. democrats talking about go high. sometimes you have to go a little low to beat him. >> all right, eric, you always go high. we appreciate you coming on the show. >> we do. >> thanks, buddy. after two more days president obama just said coming up for excuses why democrats lost and even claiming he could have won if he ran. as you can imagine, president-elect donald trump is not taking all of that lightly. as you can also imagine, he has been tweeting about it. from his mar-a-lago club in palm beach, florida. that's where we find the man on the scene fox news correspondent peter doocy joins us live now from the sunshine state. good to see you, peter. >> good to see you too, ed.

there was quite a seen up closer where you are in midtown manhattan today. a suspicious package at trump tower. the package sent tourists frantically running to safety turned out to be a bag of children's toys. trump tower is, of course, where the president-elect lives and works at least for the next few weeks. but this is the most dramatic evacuation that we have seen at trump tower since it became the center of the political universe a few months ago. but the place is always packed with very visible law enforcement presence. they responded quickly and determined there was no threat in just a few minutes. right around the same time, the nypd was trying to give tourists and residents and employees an all clear, the president-elect offered his latest response to the president obama comment that if he was allowed to run for a third term in 16, he would have beaten mr. trump. the president-elect has now tweeted another reason he doesn't think that would have happened and he is directing a jab at a president that he has said that he enjoyed talking to on the phone lately with this quote. president obama campaigned hard and personally in the

very important swing states. and lost. the voters wanted to make america great again. as for staffing moves today during the transition, the president-elect made george w. bush white house alum tom bosser the new assistant to the president on homeland security and terrorism. is he going to work alongside michael flynn and says is he looking forward to doing that this afternoon the president-elect also gave the trump organization chief legal officer who was also one of the campaign's top advisors on the american and israeli relationship a white house job. his name is jason greenblatt. and he now has the title of special representative for international negotiations. and his appointment shows that the president-elect is not wasting any time trying to repair the bond between the u.s. and the u.s.' closest ally in the middle east, israel. the president-elect did hold some high level staff meetings but we never saw him. tomorrow though we are told is he going to ramp things back up the way he was at the end of last week with a full schedule from down here in florida.

ed? >> peter, thank you. just days after the united states refused to block a u.n. resolution impacting israel, the jewish state is lashing out at president obama again. earlier this afternoon, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu expressed his disgust on twitter. writing, quote: the nations of the world respect strong countries that stand up for themselves and do not respect weak countries that bow their heads. the u.s. decision to abstain from the vote is leading some prominent journalists to reevaluate the president's approach to israel and their reaction to it eli lake caught our attention when he tweeted, quote: i apologize for the times i defended obama to my pro-israel friends. i was wrong. it got me wondering why eli lake is expressing this regret now and whether jewish voters have largely supported democrats in the last three elections may be reevaluating their own decisions to defend the president o recent years. so the man himself eli lake kind enough to join us lif

life -- live. >> thanks for having me. >> what are you concerned about. >> i would not be the number one obama fan. i have written how obama has increased military aid to israel. there have been times where i say he take as nuanced approach. he protected israel in the past from sort of resolutions signaled out in in the united nations. to do this in the final weeks and to do it in the cocontext of the middle east entirely on fire and impetus to do anything about syria. libya, all these hot spots where you are seeing a complete collapse of the state system itself. and then to basically come up with a resolution which is the first time in 36 years the u.n. security council has been on the record with regards to the status of jerusalem. when you have had several u.s. presidents in that interim period basically say until barack obama, that, you know, any final status

agreement would recognize that there are jewish population centers in and around jerusalem and part of the state of israel to. basically pull that out and to reverse all of that and then to make it a matter of international law that will endure after obama's presidency is extraordinary to me. i don't think it helps the peace process. i certainly don't think it helps his legacy. >> let's break this down into a few points. you are schroll right, i checked the record. you north considered a fan boy of president obama as you put it. >> no? you challenged his narrative on benghazi for example and you were brave to do that. >> yeah. >> why are you now saying i shouldn't have defended him. journalists are not usually in a position to defend a president democrat or republican. and you are right, i checked some of what you wrote, september of 2015, you wrote about helping israel on this defense spending, quote: obama has done more than his predecessors financing the development of israel's iron dome rocket defense system on top of the annual 3 billion-dollar u.s. subsidy

to the country. my question being that was a white house talking point for so long. so why did you use that in your column and basically say yeah. he has been great to israel? >> well, i have also been critical of him. i would say because it's factually correct. that is true. you don't have to take the entire legacy. my point on this is to say that i, for a period, would -- gave the obama white house the benefit of the doubt on this. i thought that certainly obama had his views. i think he really crossed the lion here. and that's really why i tweeted it it's gotten several hundred retweets at this point, i think. >> yeah. >> my point on that is to say,. >> sure. >> when we are covering these stories, have you got to take the upon information and the negative information. that was a talking point. you are right. it's also true? let's get to the substance of the policy then. >> absolutely. >> john bolton was on this program. >> the former ambassador last night. here is what he said. >> i think he was stabbing israel in the front. i think this was clearly intended to do much more than affect the issue of

israeli settlements. i think when you read the text of the resolution carefully, it's an implicit repeal of the iconic resolution 242 adopted by the security council after the 1967 war. >> so let's wrap it up by asking two fold. one, secretary of state john kerry, we're told, is going to speak to the nation tomorrow, 11 o'clock a.m. eastern time from the state department. what do we expect there? moving forward, and, secondly, i raised this at the top. do you think as you are now second guessing, support, you know, or defense, i should say of the administration. do you think american jews who have largely voted for democrats in the last few elections might say wait a second, maybe they are not defending israel? >> i'm not going to hold my breath on that last point. as a jewish american myself. but in terms of what kerry would say. let me ask a deeper question on that. this is somebody who basically gave away a whole lot more than what obama campaigned on in the iran deal. somebody who completely

failed in the diplomacy on the peace process. this is somebody who has been humiliated time and again by the russian foreign minister. it's the end of this administration. we know there is going to be a major change. the question is why is john kerry wasting his breath at this point unless the intention here is to lay out a set of parameters for what they would like to see, the final two state solution look like. and then present that, again and have another u.n. security council resolution. that is what a lot of israeli sources are telling me in the last couple days they fear will happen. >> that is a big question looming over john kerry's remarks tomorrow. eli lake you always take these seriously. we appreciate you coming on fox and hash out your own personal views on it. >> thank you. ♪ ♪ >> and now it's time for twitter storm. our nightly forecast of social media's most powerful weather patterns. tonight, a twister of political controversy has returned, yes, to broadway here in new york. when we last left the cast

of hamilton, they were lecturing vice president mike pence of the hit performance of the hit musical. the hamilton creator is doubling down on the post election trump bashing. telling the daily beast that mr. trump's victory gave him a pronounced case of moral clarity. he says he will, quote, keep fighting for the things he believes. in that the president-elect does not. of course, the twitter verse had some thoughts on that. tommy tweeted i can see better now. yet another super rich hollywood person didn't like the election result. #yawn: what's that a return to an agenda that has brought america to her knees? the real hamilton would rise up against you. america has. what is the correlation between performing and understanding complex public issues? what's next? john kerry on broadway? eli freidman said musical theater may not be enough to convince the rust belt to vote blue. give it a shot though. try anything.

finally john tweeted if he cares so much about poor people, can he fight high ticket prices to see hamilton? that's interesting. i want to see the show. it's kind of expensive. that's tonight's twitter storm. president-elect donald trump's plan to shut down personal foundation has hit yet another major road block and is he not happy about it that story up next. also, democrats still playing the blame game over last month's shocked election upset. you won't believe what they are saying now about fbi director jim comey. still pointing the finger at the fbi chief. that story. take dayquil severe: the... ...non-drowsy, coughing, aching, fever, sore throat, stuffy... ...head, no sick days medicine.

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tonight, president-elect donald trump is firing back at new york's attorney general and the media over

the controversy about his personal foundation. democrat eric sneiderman says president-elect trump can't shut down his personal foundation while it's being probed by his investigators. in response, mr. trump took to, of course, twitter. writing, quote: i gave millions of dollars to djt foundation. raise receive millions more all of which has given to charity and media won't report. he later followed up the d.j.t. foundation, unlike most foundations never paid fees, rents, salaries or any expenses. 100 percent of the money goes to wonderful charities. the political panel joins us now. shelby holiday and "the washington examiner" susan ferrechio, good to see you poet. i want to start with you, shelby. it seems like donald trump leaves that the media and new york attorney general who is democrat are not gfg to give a fair shot here. >> no. he wants people to know did he raise and donate millions of dollars. that is true. he also said though that 100 percent of his money has gone to charities and he received a great deal of media scrutiny bus he has made or there are

allegations that he has made illegal donations. you could look at attorney general pam bondi in florida. that he has engaged in self-dealing. he didn't properly register his foundation in new york new york. no matter what good his foundation has done. donald trump will be attacked for these missteps there are a lot of legal issues surrounding his foundation. >> there are legal issues but that seems like that's a big part of the frustration for donald trump. mr. sneiderman democratic attorney general here in new york last i checked hadn't been investigating the clinton foundation for example. >> no, that's true. and as shelby said, there are a lot of questions surrounding trump's foundation about the self-dealing, what he spent the money on. did any of it go to his campaign? did any of it go on buying portraits of himself? i think there are some real questions about the foundation and its expenditures. but on the whole he is right when he says that he has raised millions of dollars for charity. that is true. and i think if you look at overall, ed, who has the last word on this? he has got 18 million

twitter followers and the media who are contesting him on twitter. don't have a fraction of that in their following. so he -- and in a sense twitter allows him to circumvent the media thought on this and just speak directly to his followers, many followers and make big declaration whether or not it's 100 percent true. >> susan makes a point about donald trump's meg ga phone. someone else who has a mega phone is barack obama, outgoing president there hasn't a recent tradition of former outgoing presidents who is not former yet. kind of leaving the stage. but as we saw with these comments in the podcast with david axelrod, shelby, it seems like, you know, barack obama is not going away quietly number one and number two said, look, let me in, coach. if i had gone head-to-head with donald trump i would have beaten him. >> right. i can't help but be reminded when i played basketball in high school and we would say we would boat the boys. we never played the game. you can't make comments like that. both of them are guilty of

making these comments. >> it's unprovable. why did he bring it up. >> unprovable. one hand we had angry electorate that wanted change. they were anxious about the economy. on the other hand, president obama had really high approval ratings. it's impossible to know. just something we shouldn't even be talking about here we are. thank you, twitter. >> susan, it's almost like a double bank shot because it wasn't just barack obama going after donald trump i could have beaten him. he was making it clear he would have been a better candidate than his fellow democrat hillary clinton. >> i think this is all a precursor of the post presidency obama. and i have said this before. i think he will be the most politically active expresident in modern history. what he is basically saying is he is creating us versus them people if i run again and the country would have voted for me, meaning everybody else out there son the wrong side of the argue. i think we are going to be hearing a lot more from the

president own twitter feed about what he thinks of donald trump. is he not going to go quietly. is he moving a mile away from white house. and i think he will be an absolutely powerful force for the democrats. and for donald trump to reckon with. >> i think that's something we can all agree on and there is a vacuum at the top of the democratic party right now to hillary clinton getting off the stage with uncertainty about who is running the dnc. aging leaders on capitol hill. he may very well twhal vacuum. shelby, susan, than. >> thank you. >> jim comey how he handled the investigation into hillary clinton's private email server is it time to move on? did he really do anything wrong? outraged democrats think so is here next.

>> many disappointed democrats are blasting jim comey for handling the investigation of hillary clinton's private email use is comey really to blame for her shocking loss last month. matt miller seems to think he was a big part of it. he was kind enough to come in and explain his outrage. good to see you recommendation matthew. >> good to see you. >> after all this time what's your beef. >> it goes all the way back to july. the first press conference that director comey held where he departed from department of justice rules and passed judgment on hillary clinton's conduct something the fbi is not supposed to do when they are bringing charges. extends to the letter he sent 11 days out from the

election. which, you know, he sent it at a time when the fbi didn't know if they had any information grenade into the middle of the election. at the time hillary clinton had donald trump on the map. the race was essentially over. and it changed the direction of the race and i think eventually changed the outcome of the race. that is an appalling thing for an fbi director to do. >> sure. how do we know that the race was over? i mean, on a separate point, don't we now know for sure that the polling was off in a lot of states and some of the national polls so for you now to say the race was over and hillary clinton was going to win and this is the reason, with all due respect, that part is flawed. >> well, i don't think it is. lock, two things can be true at once. you can look to other reasons why hillary clinton lost if she had had a different message. if she had not had the email problems in the first place, can you come up with those things and say if those had gone differently she would have won. that would be true. it can also be true that she was going to win despite some of those problems. i think if you look, you know, one of the best

analyses i have seen is one that nate silver reported on last week that showed a 4 point swing to trump's in trump's direction after the comey letter came out in those last, you know, 10 or 11 days of the election. without a doubt, there were problems with her campaign. >> sure. >> she would have won anyway if it hadn't been for his intervention. >> whether nate silver is right or not though. james comey was the fbi director he was selected and nominated by a democratic president. and isn't this what we are supposed to have with fbi directors? like it or not, he is supposed to be independent. he decided in july, i'm not going to move forward with charges and then he decided it was painful of the democrats but late in the election cycle said i got to take another look at this. i'm independent. and so whether you like it, i like it, or republicans like it, because it's gonna change in different election cycles, he is supposed to be independent and you as someone who used to work in the justice department, why interfere with that. >> you are right. someone that worked in the justice department.

one of the things i learned is yes, the fbi director is independent, as is the attorney general. but he is also supposed to follow the rules. the fbi director is not exempt from the rules that say if you're not going to charge someone, tonight pass judgment on their conduct. is he not exempt from the rules that say you do not do anything publicly that could tip the scales of an election within 60 days of the election, let alone 11 days out. yes, is he independent, but there are rules that have been put in place because the fbi and the department of justice has so much power to unfairly tarnish people's reputation they are supposed to follow rules and that's exactly what he didn't do in this case. >> i mentioned the justice department in part because john podesta, we both though know him well the former campaign chairman for hillary clinton. he has been vocal on sunday shows and op-ed recently suggesting the fbi is in disarray. he charged james comey spent far more time on the email server than the russian hack of the dnc. loretta lynch was asked about that very claim on cnn and this is what she said.

>> i can't comment on mr. podesta's sources or where he gets his information or why he has that view. but what can i say is that he is not involved in the ongoing investigation. so he wouldn't be privy to everything that would have been done or said to that. as i said, you any, is he entitled to his opinion. >> so heres a democratic attorney general saying is he entitled to his opinion. doesn't sound like she agrees with him on the facts. >> yeah. she may not. i think she is wrong. is he certainly not privy to all the facts. we know enough now about the fbi director's conduct both in the investigation into hacking where he refused to join a statement that other members of the intelligence community put out and in his handling of the clinton investigation to know that he has behaved certainly inappropriately with respect to the clinton investigation. i think carelessly with respect to the russian investigation. so, yeah. she can make that claim. i happen to disagree with her. >> you disagree as a democrat. last question here, which is moving forward, there has been some speculation that james comey, who we haven't heard from besides those letters back and forth right

before the election might make some sort of comments after the inauguration of donald trump. if he were to do that, is there something for you, as a former justice department official in the democratic administration, is there anything he could say that might fix any of this? >> yeah. well, look, there is nothing that he could say that will fix it he changed the outcome of the election. there is. >> what do you want him to say, i guess? >> what i would like him admit he has made a mistake and learned from it and won't do it again. show some growth as an individual. someone who highly values his integrity. i think that's led him to make mistakes to try to protect his reputation for independence. i would like to see that he understands that, you know, this was a mistake. i should have listened to the advice i got from others not to do this and going forward i'm going to follow the rules and not violate those rules when it suits my purposes. >> i suspect a debate over james comey still just beginning. i appreciate you coming in and explaining your views, matthew. >> thanks, ed. >> it's been a tough year and week when it comes to

deaths of icons 70's and 80's. today it was carrie fishy. she passed away at the age of 60. fisher of course became international super star playing princess leah. she suffered a massive heart attack flying from los angeles to london friday night. our friend frank luntz noted today our passing brings to mind a line from yoda who said, quote, death is a natural part of life. rejoice for those around you who transform into the force. here is maybe the only positive part we can take from this awful news today. lucas said her final film will not be compromised by her death. she had actually already wrapped up her appearances for the yet unnamed eighth episode "star wars" series which we are told you will be able to see on december 15th, 2017. meanwhile, have you heard about president-elect trump's plan for the supreme court. but did you know he has a chance to completely transform the federal judiciary? that story up next.

must, mean tweets. some of are you slamming tucker for taking a vacation. i thought great, it's not about me then. i was so, so wrong. some of you think i'm a terrible substitute. keep them coming, i guess. you can reach me on twitter @ ed henry. coolest tweets come up. come on, show some mercy.

>> campaign trail president-elect trump spent a lot of time discussing his vision for the united states supreme court. one topic that didn't come up what he might do with the rest of the federal judiciary. he will have the opportunity to nominate nearly 100 judges to federal courts all over the country. just how big are the steaks? chief council conservative group joins us now. carrie? good to see you. >> good to see you. >> we hear a lot about the supreme court. we will get to that in a moment. but with this, you know, more than 100 nominations coming up throughout the federal judiciary he has a chance the president-elect to put his stamp on the courts.

>> yeah. assume egg he takes this as a top priority coming out of the gate, which i think he will, we saw when obama came in he actually spent a lot of time revving up his process. it wasn't until almost two years into his presidency that he even had half of his vacancies with nominees let alone passing them. i'm optimistic because trump has placed such a ohio priority with his judges on the campaign and supreme court nomination, et cetera, i think he will have the same priority on this and really get out of the geat strong. >> let's break it counsel in a way that our viewers can understand way to impacts them and my sense is that on a lot of these actual courts you don't hear about them as much as the supreme court, of course. but a lot of these big issues on immigration and social issues as well think are decided at the supreme court reports. >> municipal court takes less than 1% of the cases that are appealed to it every year. that means upwards of 99% are decided at the lower courts, the federal appeals

court and the trial courts. it's hugely important. and in many cases these are the courts that are going to be the front edge that the judicial court will decide. they can't be just giving short -- this has to be given the same level of scrutiny that's given to these candidates that the team will be giving to who they decide to appoint to the supreme court. >> my understanding is back in the bush administration a lot of these appeals courts and whatnot were tilting right and now they are more in a center and that there is not a clear sense whether they are left or right. and that this is a chance for donald trump to move these courts to the right. is that your sense as well. >> i would call them the center now. when obama started, they were -- bush had done his job. every two term president can effect about a third of the judiciary. he had done that one of the 13 appellate courts had democratic majority the rest

were republican. obama went more than half now controlled by democratic majority. so i think this is an opportunity for trump to push back on that to a certain extent. but obama, like many other presidents he actually had more nominees, i believe that were confirmed than bush. they all get a huge stamp on these federal courts. it's incredibly important role the president has. >> let's focus on the role of the supreme courts. maker, democrats upset he never got a hearing let alone a vote. now president-elect trump when he takes office is expected pretty quickly we're told to come up with nominee there. what's your sense, i'm hearing from some conservatives they want to see him, donald trump, pick a fight rather than come up with compromise candidate pick someone in the middle and start this new congress, this new presidency off on sort of a more positive friendly note there are conservatives saying no from the beginning he has to send a signal he is going conservative. what say you?

>> well, i think we -- trump has put out his list. i think that list is part of the reason he won the election because people were so encouraged by seeing this is the kind of person who will succeed justice scalia on the court. someone with similar principles nip on that list because they share the prince principles of justice scalia is someone they will make a fuss about. cabinet their explodes every day as these people are announced. they are not going to say this is a nice compromise person. they are not going to be happy unless you appointed make garland. who knows even then they might fight it he needs to go and finds someone who is principled who has the courage of their conviction and someone who is worthy of justice scalia's legacy. >> last question. i have got 15 seconds. i'm hearing from a trump insider, they are planning for maybe not just one, three, four, maybe more supreme court nochingses because of health issues and age of the justices is that a stretch. >> i think four might be a

stretch. you could easily see two or three. a lot of justices getting into their 80's and at normal retirement age. i think we should expect this is not going to be trump's only opportunity to appoint to the supreme court. >> carey, we really appreciate you coming in tonight. >> thanks. >> still to come, my colleague in washington. doug mckelway is on deck. is he the subject of tonight's subject we call the friend zone. you probably didn't know he likes to play the banjo. what else didn't we know about doug? that's straight ahead. ♪ ♪ a post using the hashtag "#justrobbedthesafe" so, what are we supposed to think? switching to geico could save you a bunch of money on car insurance. excellent point. case dismissed. geico. because saving fifteen percent or more on car insurance woo! because saving fifteen percent or more on car insurance is always a great answer.

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>> time now for the friend zone. with us tonight, one of our washington based correspond correspondents. doug mckelway. doug, great to have you on tonight. let's start with how covering the bow obama administration compares to racing around as you have

been doing and doing some anchoring for bret and also trying to keep up with emerging donald trump trump administration you have been in d.c. and outside of new york trump power. how this one stars up? my progressive is they were always very fair to us. fox news reporters. maybe with a couple exceptions. can i remember very accommodating to me. always responsive with emails. you know, always willing to accept questions during ernest's press briefings. i would say it's slightly different though when it came to presidential press conferences. i had the privilege of being at a couple of them and loaded forebear with tough questions and never called upon when the president was there himself. >> because the power center it seems to me has gone a bit from washington to here in new york in terms of fact that this incoming president

may make trump power. >> moved from new york to washington. i think it's moving back to the financial -- not just because of trump and trump towers. looking at people across the spectrum in the cabinet who made their money on wall street or in finance in large part and so we're looking at that power center shift back to new york. and to get the economy going, perhaps that's not a bad thing. >> now, let's talk a little bit about you and your distinguished career. a lot of people probably don't know that the news business. >> did you say distinguished or extinguished. >> i said extinguished -- no i said distinguished and i meant it sort of a family business for new a way. >> there is only one business can you get into in my family and that's journalism. but i took a bit of a detar departure. that's my grandfather with president kennedy. he started out as a copy boy at the evening star newspaper in washington after world war 21 and rose

to become the managing editor there. the editor in chief. the editorial chairman eventually before he retired during the kennedy administration but he was really one of the gate keepers, a key figure in journalism in the united states in the 1940s. he was the first to interview after japanese surrender. concentration camps. one of the editorials he wrote in the star was largely credited with giving the district of columbia voting rights. his younger brother st. clair mckelway was a high school dropout. he left western high school. he dropped out in tenth grade. went on to become the managing editor of the new yorker magazine during his hay day. one of the great, great writers for the new yorker during the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. up until the 1960s. my grandmother was the first female editor of the george washington student newspaper the daily hatchet. there she is in 1917 and

1918. with that family legacy on my shoulders, i didn't want anything to do with print reporting. so my mother said doug, why don't you try tv reporting. here i am. >> and here you are. and there you are as a young reporter. not that you are not young now but younger reporter. a little darker hair. and. >> that's right. >> and it's really awesome. your office is right next to mine in washington. i did not know that about your family. i'm glad you came on tonight. we're honored that you are here carrying that family tradition on at fox. >> likewise. great to work with. >comingup. it's time to hear from you. you won't believe the mean tweets that tucker got today. to be honest, i got somegh too. stay tuned. but then i realized there was. so, i finally broke the silence with my doctor about what i was experiencing. he said humira is for people like me

who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. if you're still just managing your symptoms, talk with your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible.

>> yeah, this is a special double-barreled edition of mean tweets. some viewers are taking aim at me, the fill-in while others are going after the big guy who is normally here. starting with deplorable ed

steel who writes tucker carlson has been on one month and has vacation? i want that gig. >> others wrote in tucker has only had this show for a month but he has been working hard at fox for years and deserves family time. i agree. then the tweets took a turn around started at me. henry is good but is he no "tucker carlsotuckerrer carlson. >> my 9-year-old hearing tucker carlson is out this week that's sad i like tucker. sorry ed henry. i lost a 9-year-old. i mean, come on. then i got a back handed compliment as a viewer paid me home image about asking hillary clinton question email server that infamous wipe it with a cloth moment. i was waiting for tuckerrer carlson can i get a cloth to wipe you off my tv with? >> then it took a horrible

turn. i think i speak for everyone when i say i miss tucker. you should play reruns or something. at least tucker would be in them. ouch. you would rather watch reruns of tucker than new episodes of me. as we get ready to start a new year laura nelson schnapps is giving me a glimmer of hope. dog named after tucker tc, maybe my next one will be ed. down to the dogs. tomorrow it's your turn to be king for a day. if you had absolute power and could do one thing to improve america what would it be? tweet me at foxnews.com. tune in 7:00 p.m. lying pomposity group think. also, don't forget to dvr the show. "the o'reilly factor" is up next. former u.s. ambassador to the u.n., john bolton on whether the administration sold out a close ally. the factor. also dug into the vault and found one of bill's past

interviews with carrie fisher. i will be here tomorrow night for tucker no rerun. ♪ ♪ >> i'm eric bolling in for bill o'reilly. thanks for watching us tonight. let's get straight to our top story. obama vs. trump. president obama campaigned campn vigorously for hillary clinton in the 2016 election telling supporters, quote, my name may not be on the ballot but our progress is on the ballot, unquote. despite clinton's defeat he thinks he would have beaten donald trump in a head-to-head matchup as he told his former advisor david axelrod in a podcast yesterday. >> i'm confident that if i had run again, and are a articulated it i think