coverage at 8:00 p.m. that's all of the time we have left this evening. we will see you right back here tomorrow night on "hannity." ♪ go t. ♪ ♪ >> good evening. i'm ed henry in tonight, again, for tucker carlson and sometimes you just have to give president obama credit where credit is due. bear with me on this. today president's aides say he took bold aggressive action against russia. ordering sanctions and retaliation against alleged russian interference in the 2016 race. sure there are skeptics wondering whether the president who along with his one-time secretary of state hillary clinton, of course, pushed that button on the russian reset and trying to look tough and salvage some kind of legacy on the way out the door. this is where the credit comes. in i mean, i also covered the previous presidential race in 2012 and the president was way, way ahead of the curve in calling out russia as a major national security threat, right? right?

wait, it was the other guy? but, hang on. there was like a presidential debate. so the white house must know we have it on tape. >> russia, i indicated, is a geopolitical foe. >> excuse me. >> it's a geopolitical foe and i said in the same paragraph i said and iran is the greatest national security threat we face. >> oh, right, okay. it was mitt romney, the republican who was ahead of the curve. but this was a debate as i said both guys got to talk obviously. so when the president got called on, he clearly had his 30 or 60 seconds to chime in and agree with romney, right? i mean, we probably have that on tape, too. >> in the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know, the cold war has been over for 20 years. >> ouch. that's got to hurt. the president said burn on them while it took four years. now it looks like russia may be getting the last laugh. not only is russian president vladimir putin

vowing to retaliate diplomats are open mocking mr. obama. president obama expelled 35 russian dips in cold war deja vu american people will be glad to see the last of this hapless administration. they drew a picture for mr. obama a pretty picture of a lame duck. ouch. in a moment we will dig deeper on the substance of these sanctions and whether they are as tough as the white house claims. plus go live to palm beach to see what the next president donald trump has to say about all of this. he just spoke out a few minutes ago. chew over the political stakes with daniel halper. bessie woodruff politics reporter at the daily beast. daniel, start with you, the president has only 22 days in office. he dropped this stink bomb at the u.n. over israel. now. this how much of this is muddying the waters at least a little bit for president-elect trump. >> it puts president trump into a bind. he have to make immediate decision whether to continue this israel policy that

president obama has put in place. we already know he has made that decision. we presume, based on his statements that he will not continue and that on the russia issue he has to make a decision whether or not to keep these sanctions and these actions in place or whether or not to roll them back. that, i think, is a little bit more up in the air and we don't know how he will act. >> betsy, today, the speaker of the house, republican paul ryan was blistering in saying, quote while today's actions are overdue way to end'5" eight years of failed policy with russia. serves as a prime example of this administration's ineffective foreign policy that has left america weaker in the eyes of the world. that's his say. donald trump though, also will have some explaining to do because if he comes in to office and rips away these sanctions and looks like he is favoring russia, that puts him in a pickle as well. >> exactly, yeah. of course, trump has made clear over the course of his campaign his time in public life that he is much more sympathetic to russia and

particularly vladimir putin and all influential republican leaders are. you know that statement from paul ryan, he also suggested that russia was acting to counter screen with the united states national interest that what it's trying to do is going against the good of our country, of course, that sounded very much like a direct echo of the tape you just played of rom my back in 2012. paul ryan and mitt romney are on the same page about this while donald trump is taking a different view. he has made that clear. the big question that we can expect him to get asked until he answers it over the next couple of weeks is what's he going to do about these sanctions? he is going to make a major break from obama's view and the view of republican leaders or is he going to try to ease into the thaw of our relations with russia. >> daniel, there's another big question for barack obama as well. is he going to go quietly off into the sun set or is he going to continue this even beyond his time in office? carl rove had a peac piece todan the "wall street journal." president obama signaled how is he likely to conduct himself once out of office. is he referring to

interviews he has done, whining, self-justifying and bursting with excuses. mr. obama will be the first expresident since woodrow wilson to remain in washington. he could become a carping persistence presence in our nation's capital. george w. bush had the sense to say i'm done and walk off the stage. it appears in this case barack obama is not going away quietly. >> look, obviously we can't predict his future actions but his present actions do suggest he will be here for a while. what's interesting about these actions on the israel issue and both on the russian issue, they seem like the repudiations of the obama foreign policy, the lead from behind type of foreign policy that he so famously, you know, i guess lived by for while he was president of the united states. he is not doing that now, it seems. he is taking the lead on israel, changing policy toward israel and on rush he is obviously doing these actions, but, of course, even on israel he still

abstained on the vote so the analogy doesn't work out. he on stained on the vote. on this issue on russia it's retaliatory issue. it's retaliatory action and it's based on actions that he alleges that russia has done and not based on perceived threats, per se. >> betsy, complicated legacy for barack obama to say the least, i ran through some of it with the russian reset that certainly appears to have failed. but who can also forget that moment before the 2012 election where he told dmitry medvedev tell valentine'vladimir, after the 22 election i have a lot more flexibility to work with vlad. >> it also sounds like spoken on a different planet given how radle radically things have changed. kind of the opposite of the way it was initially intended. that's a huge shift. one thing that i think is sort of interesting and curious about the way that

owe bomb maps next approach to russia of course is playing out he has actually drawn some criticism or push back from members of his own party. adam schiff the top democrat on the house intel committee involved in these issues he said the initiatives he announced today do not go far enough. the president needs to make them much more serious. they think these actions are much more symbolic than anything else and don't have the teeth necessary to actually change russia's behavior or deter them. >> good point you make since others hitting the president secretary of state john kerry over the israel situation. so a lot of intraparty fighting right there. betsy, daniel, thank you. >> thanks, ed. >> here now to fill in on the rest of the details kevin corke live in honolulu. and, kevin, critics are already saying as you heard wait, there are not each any hard hitting economic sanctions here. what is the white house case for why they do have teeth? >> well, you hit the nail on

the head. i talked to eric schultz white house press secretary about that very notion he said listen, kevin, we have to do something to give the russians a very strong message. what that something looks like to a lot of people is not terriblely much. keep this in mind, ed, this is relevant to you and the viewers. public pronouncement and sanctions that you can put your arms around. that's one half of this. there is also the cyber angle that a lot of people won't be talking about. but as far as the things we have heard about today, 72 hours, that's the amount of time that nearly 3 dozen russian operatives have to get out of the country. they have been expelled by the obama administration in retaliation as you know for alleged russian cyber activity in the run-up to the 2016 election. president obama making a number of points in his statement today. i want to share just part of what he was talking about with your viewers here tonight. the president saying, and i'm quoting now. "these actions follow repeated private and public warnings that we have issued

to the russian government and are unnecessary and response to efforts to harm u.s. interests in established international norms of behavior. he went on to add this. these actions are not the sum total. there it is, of our response to russia's aggressive activities. we will continue to take a variety of actions at a time and place of our choosing, some of which will not be publicized. >> our bottom line is that what russia has been engaged in the last few months and years is unacceptable. outside the normings of diplomatic behavior. the president is sending a message today to tell them to cut it out. that's why he ordered aggressive actions. >> meanwhile, the white house has not been shy about accusing russian president vladimir putin of orchestrating all the hacks which, of course, were revealed by the website wikileaks that exposed allegations of democratic party infighting and a concerted effort, ed, by senior party officials to boost the candidacy of eventual party nominee hillary clinton. for their part the russians

snapping back immediately today ridiculing the russians in a tweet. it was actually pretty interesting. president obama expelled 35 diplomats on a cold war deja vu they went on to call him a lame duck. this is much more important, my friend. experts tell us yes can you get your hands around. so things that you see in person but it's the cyber power that america will exercise that should have the russians worried for quite some time to come. >> kevin, happy new year a couple days early to you and the entire fox crew out there in thaw law. the president -- one day after the current secretary of state john kerry doubled down on those attacks against israel we mentioned which will make achieving middle east peace even harder for president-elect donald trump. expert on russia says these new sanctions are not really aimed at russia. this move, too is actually meant to muddy the water some more for mr. trump. steven cohen is professor of russian studies at nyu and

princeton university. you say this is the president trying to cripple mr. trump a bit? >> it's one of things i have said. i'm not sure. look, we have got a really strange situation i would say exceedingly dangerous. >> why? >> well, our relationship withussia is worse than it's been since cuban missile crisis in 1962. and we're taking steps that are going to escalate it, make it worse. on the other hand, they haven't given us any facts on what the russians actually did. so between this, i would say, semihysterical reaction by the american political class and the absence of facts, we don't ask what's the impact of this going to be on rushing shah itself? what kind of decisions is going to produce in moscow? >> so what went wrong? we talked through some of the history, it appears that barack obama, to say least in the 2012 campaign down played the idea that russia was a big political foe. >> you don't want to ask me that question. you really don't. first of all we need a lot of time. secondly i will commit an act of heresy. i wrote a book about

american russian relations 25 years this month, by the way. congratulations. the soviet union, did i a good job. i conclude that we got where we are today in a new and more dangerous cold war primarily because of american policy, not primarily because of a russian policy. that does not make me an apologist for the kremlin. what it makes me is a defender of american national security. so here's the question. some of your people asked it. >> sure. >> to what exexextent to what obama did today by the way the sanctions are not dangerous. it's the covert actions he says are coming next. right? >> you think that could blow back against us? >> what does he mean covert actions? cyber actions against banks, against nuclear control and command facilities? against the radar you? don't want to make russians in a state of high anxiety. >> he is doing this on the eve of a transfer of power here in the united states and add to the mix these reports tonight about russia brokering a cease-fire on

syria. and president obama on the sidelines not part of that but the russians are saying to donald trump when you take office, you can join the talks. >> yeah. and that was very interesting and basically said we are not talking to obama anymore. we will talk to trump. he can come into this. by the way we should be talking about this syrian arrangement because it is extremely important. we are distracted about this. here's the question. >> but are we distracted on purpose because the administration doesn't want to talk about syria because they haven't been able to deal with that crisis. >> you know, i don't know if it's possible but i think it's likely that an element of this -- these measures taken against russia, particularly the sanctions, are meant to block any trump-putin cooperation or detente. mccain and the others virtually say that but you have got to ask, are the russians going to retaliate now? we call what we did retaliation. >> they say they will. >> yeah but we don't know until we produce the facts. obama says he will produce the facts in a few days what the russians actually did.

>> your bottom line point is? you have got 30 seconds. in 30 seconds we are in an exceedingly dangerous relationship with russia. there three places fraught with actual war, ukraine, syria and, of course, the baltic region where nato is building up. escalating now with everybody talking about nuclear weapons as trump did last week, in my lifetime, i don't recall anything as dangerous as what we are going to with a layer of hysteria in the media, everybody demanding that obama do more. >> welcome to office, mr. trump. we appreciate it. professor, cohen, thanks for that. you are probably not surprised to learn the mainstream media is already crafting a narrative saying all of this will end up undermining this as well. the sanctions were meant in part to quote box in president-elect donald trump who has suggested, quote: the hacking could have been the work of a 400-pound guy lying in his bed as a way of challenging the cia's claims that this was all about

russia. our man at mar-a-lago correspondent peter doocy live tonight again in palm beach, florida. good evening, peter. >> good evening, ed, about an hour ago we got the first reaction from the president elect to president obama's decision to punish the russian government and expel those didn'ts. it came in a written statement that says this: it's time for our country to move on to bigger and better things. nevertheless, in the interest of our country and its great people, i will meet with people of the intelligence comi community next week in order to be updated on the facts of this situation. so we still don't know, based on that statement, what the next president plans to do about these sanctions, whether he wants to leave them in place or get rid of them. but, that statement about saying it's time to move on is completely consistent with what the president-elect said last night on this issue. >> i think we ought to get on with our lives. i think the computers have

complicated lives very greatly. the whole, you know, age of computer has made it where nobody knows exactly what's going on. we have speed, we have a loot of other things. >> something else transition officials said this morning that they have not backed away from is that putting a lot of focus on hacking is just an attempt to delegitimize mr. trump's election day victory that comment, of course,.ed at people on the left. these officials also urging obama administration officials to release whatever evidence that they were basing claims of russian interference off of. we do now expect that in the next few days. however, there has not been a change of position yet. the president-elect though, keep in mind, does want to keep updated with the classified intel in the next few days as well. as far as today at mar-a-lago it was relatively quiet one. the president-elect huddled with senior staff it really shouldn't be too quiet for long transition officials say there is going to be a flurry of activity here and in new york in the next couple of days as the

president-elect appoints the remaining -- or fills the remaining spots in his cabinet and deputies and names ambassadors. we also found out some more today about that phone call that president obama had with the president-elect yesterday. we're told that they mostly talked about inauguration day activities. until then though, ed, and we want to just give you a quick shot. >> go for it. >> the president-elect is going to be here at mar-a-lago and this is one of the big ballrooms here. it is really a sight to see and you get a much better sense being inside why it is that the next president likes spending so much time here when he can. >> no doubt about it and you are lucky to do that as well. we appreciate you giving us that little behind the scenes tour. ♪ >> now it is time for twitter storm. our nightly forecast of social media's most powerful weather patterns. tonight, a tornado of tastelessness is sweeping up the evercontroversial charlie sheen. remember this?

>> i'm by winning, win here and there, dew. winning. i'm sorry, winning. starting to get the concept now? alley oops. winning. >> winning? sound familiar. sheen is taking aim at president-elect trump. little miffed that mr. trump has taken that winning line and run with it. >> we're going to win so much you're going to get sick and tired of it. you're going to say, mr. president, we can't take it anymore. you're winning too much. please, we don't want to win that much anymore. please, mr. president, we can't take it. and i'm going to say, i don't care, we're going to keep winning. >> please, mr. president. that gets me every time. that's funny. well, it appears sheen may be more than a little peeved and this is not funny about trump winning the election. following the deaths of actresses carrie fisher and debra reynolds sheen had the poor taste to tweet this "dear god, trump next, please. he wrote "trump next,

please" several times. clever, dude. many in the twitter verse not. that is not winning that's a sick mind that goes for the thousands who like this post seek help. janet tweeted how disgusting and low can the hollywood ignorant people act? well, you may be surprised just a navy wife said relax charlie sheen donald trump is going to be next, next president of the united states of america. finally sheen's tweet was gary andrew's pick for today in pomposity. most pompous thing charlie sheen invoking the name of god while asking to take the life of donald trump. ironic much? good one, gary, chill out a little. we don't get to day of pomposity until later in the show. trust me, we have good ones. keep them coming to @ ed henry now. that is tonight's twitter storm. tonight u.s. led delivering air strikes against targets

in mostly. have we seen it before? will it really make a difference? lieutenant colonel oliver north is here. actress debbie reynolds passed away a day after carrie fisher died. larry king

take one. directv now. stream all your entertainment! anywhere! anytime!

can we lose the 'all'. there's no cbs and we don't have a ton of sports. anywhere, any... let's lose the 'anywhere, anytime' too. you can't download on-the-go, there's no dvr, yada yada yada. stream some stuff! somewhere! sometimes! you totally nailed that buddy. simple. don't let directv now limit your entertainment. only xfinity gives you more to stream to any screen. >> tonight, the u.s. led coalition is launching a new offensive in the city of mosul. the last major strong hold for isis in iraq. haven't we heard this song before? will it really make a difference at a time when a top u.s. general is warning it's likely to take at least two more years to defeat the terror group? who better to call on for the real story than

lieutenant colonel oliver north? good to see you lieutenant colonel? what is new today? do you think this offensive is going to be different and more productive than the ones we have seen before? >> well, look, we are now in the third month of this fight for the city of mosul. the second largest city in all mess b.we were there last md finish up the special air the after the new year. only the kurds have successfully beaten isis. isis will eventually and i want to emphasize that word eventually will be defeated in mosul. isis isn't going to go away any time soon. the problem is that the obama administration's propaganda. in fact, no offense to you, because i have seen the press release, the propaganda about a u.s. led coalition is fiction. i mean, if it's actually being led it's being done by remote control and we were there. you cannot find a u.s. special operator operating forward with the iraqi special operations forces.

there is a handful of allies, a french and german folks working with peshmerga but there is darn few americans anywhere near the front and that's the only place you can lead from. u.s. led is a fiction. >> you bring in a important dose of reality tonight. you can add in kimberly dozier who has reputation for the daily beast wrote that steven townsend predicts it will take two years of hard work to clear the so-called islamic state from employee as you will and rocca and burn out the remnant that will likely flee to the fast empty did desert between syria and iraq. look, we have to give our military the time that it takes to do this properly and effectively it doesn't happen overnight. i get that, but, remember, this starterred with president obama saying isis was the jv squad. >> it got worse from there. we did absolutely nothing of any real substance to help the only people who were beating isis and that's, of course, the peshmerga. the whole problem with this

and general townsend spot on and there will be criticism about why can't we go faster? you can't go faster with the limited number of u.s. forces on the ground and without some kind of sunni backup all the problem actually focuses on syria. how did we get to syria? we got there with the civil war that began right after the famous speeches about this administration, ed, has created a firestorm in that part of the world. i think the general, quiet frankly is being optimistic saying two years. what you are going to see a s. a long-term progress on this thing that's only going to be happening as long as you got people on the ground like, perhaps, the egyptians or the jordanians, both of whom would have gone there as peace keepers. they are not going to be peacemakers, they can't be. >> last question, i have got 30 seconds. >> sure. >> we have heard the criticism and we have discussed it of president obama. moving forward, president-elect donald trump has made promises about being able to defeat isis. can he actually follow through on that? >> well, he has got the

right chairman of the joint chiefs in dunford and right secretary of defense in jim mattis. and my hope is what we're going to end up with is a consensus in congress to increase the number of troops out there to put ourselves behind the idea of an allied force that's going to go in to syria and keep the peace. you cannot fight this war and expect isis to go away any time soon. there is going to be more attacked like we saw in germany just before christmas. russians and iranians calling the shots. ally turkey up in arms with the southern nato at risk because this administration failed so miserably at their foreign policy. >> some big challenges for president-elect trump ahead. we appreciate you bringing a relates check tonight lieutenant colonel oliver north. happy new year be sure to tune in for war stories with ollie north this sunday night january 1st 8 p.m.

on fox business. >> legendary debbie reynolds and carrie fisher who died within 24 hours of each other. he interviewed thehehehehe ♪ this holiday, the real gift isn't what's inside the box... it's what's inside the person who opens it. give your loved ones ancestrydna, the simple dna test that can tell them where they came from -by revealing their ethnic mix. it's a gift as original as they are. order now at ancestrydna.com.

♪ good morning, good morning ♪ it's great to stay up late ♪ good morning, good morning ♪ to you ♪ >> yes, singing in the rain, the legendary actress debbie reynolds passed away last night after apparent stroke

one day after her daughter actress carrie fisher also passed. final words to her son were i miss her so much. i want to with carey. stars and fans from around the world remembering the iconic actress whose career spanned six decades. debbie reynolds was pure class. she was loving, talented beautiful, unsinkable. i feel sorry for anyone who never got a chance to meet her. larry hosted the larry king now and politicking with larry king on oratv. you did have that real wonderful opportunity to meet and interview both of them. talk about this relationship. >> well, it wa they were very, very close. debbie was close with her children. she was -- by the way, she was sensational entertainer. if you saw her films, you know how well she could sing and act. but if you never saw her nightclub act, you missed one of the best nightclub

shows ever. she did it for an hour and a half. she was great impressionist. she was hysterically funny. she was wonderful to be around. speaking of her and her daughter, she denied that postcards from the edge that carrie wrote and that meryl streep supposedly played carrie and shirley mcclain played debbie. she said that was not about her and didn't want to see the movie at all. she had a great relationship with carrie. they were very close. carrie was a chip off the old block in her sense of humor. she was a little naughtier than her mother. she used language that debbie never used. but debbie was that old school show business person. but i had some wonderful times with her off the air and on. >> when you talk about how close they were, there is a still photo i saw today madonna sent out this tweet and it was such a moving photo of carrie just as a little girl looking back stage at her mom on stage and you can relate to it any

parent child relationship not just celebrity, beyond that because this was a complicated relationship. debbie reynolds had three different husbands who left her. a lot of struggles and in 2010, carrie fisher told the "new york times" if anything my mother taught my how to surf thrive that's my word for it go through these difficult things and the message was clear. doing the impossible was possible it's not fun. she broke her ankle during performance and went back on stage and sang tammy with her foot in a bucket of ice, larry. >> i will tell you some other things. she had that great sense of humor carry her through. she had two great tragedies. eddie fisher left her for elizabeth taylor. later she and elizabeth became very friendly. i interviewed elizabeth and talked about it. elizabeth had a nickname for evidence did i fisher, she called him harry hunter. she would never say his name. she would call him harry

hunter. she and elizabeth put all that aside and years later they became friends and, in fact, were in a movie together. another thing about debbie, she could -- she married harry carl who was a shoe magnet. and he burned up all her money. left them pennyless. lost it all in las vegas. declared bankruptcy and she paid everyone back. she worked. it was his bankruptcy. she paid everyone back. >> wow. >> another funny story about debbie. she and bob hope, she did many bob hope christmas specials, 2r568d with him when he visited troops in europe, but she first met bob hope when she was a little girl. she lived in the valley near bob hope and sold him girl scout cookies. and later in life she would continue to come to his house and sell him girl scout cookies. she also would write out jokes. she would write out jokes, attached it to a rock and throw it on the lawn.

giving him free jokes to use. she was the best. >> yeah. wonderful stories. i have got a minute. and you were spotted here in new york recently at trump tower. and larger than life character out there right now is donald trump. you sat down with a lot of presidents of both parties. i don't know if you actually met with him, got a chance to talk to him. you were at trump tower spotted on elevator cam. did you talk to him, whether you did or didn't, what do you expect from him in the first 100 days and beyond? >> i interviewed trump over 30 times. i know him over 30 years. i was walking through the trump lobby to go get my hair cut. [ laughter ] >> i was just walking through. it was freezing and raining. it was a shortcut. so i stopped and asked if he was in. he wasn't in the office yet. then i got all these press around and they are yelling at me what are you here for? i said i want to be secretary of the interior. [ laughter ] i don't know what to expect from donald. he will surprise you. this is guaranteed. donald trump is not conventional. i have known eight presidents. i have known him -- he is

the president i know the best. i never knew a president closely before they went into office. i would call him a friend as to what to expect, don't -- anything goes with donald trump. >> that has to be the larry kingest larry king story ever. you're going through trump tower just to get a hair cut and people think you are going up to be nominated secretary of defense or something. the press is chasing you. i love it, larry. >> happy new year to you and your family. thanks for coming on. >> you too, thanks. >> and 2 million people will head to new york's times square for new year's eve. be here saturday to watch the ball drop. with terror scares what are officials doing to keep us safe? not just in new york but around the nation? that's next.

>> terror attacks around the globe, especially isis inspired attacks public gatherings like niche and berlin have law enforcement on high alert especially in

new york city's famed times square almost 2 million people will be expected to watch the ball drop there. that's where we find our own rick leventhal. how is it looking, rick? >> it looks good tonight, ed, there may be no more secure place in the world than right here saturday night according to the nypd commissioner who says this will be the most policed, best protected event and one of the safest venues on the planet thanks to awful assets that will be deployed including for the first time ever on new year's eve 65 sand and sanitation trucks they will be blocking cross streets to create a perimeter against any possible vehicle attack. the nypd says there will be more checkpoints and stricter controls in place this year with 7,000 uniformed officers deployed here and at other events across the city along with plained clothe cops, critical response teams with heavy weapons. snipers on rooftops. police headquarters and boats. explosive detecting canines and more. of course, for america's largest police department

securing large events is almost routine. but the boss of the nypd says that they're fired up and the officers will not be letting their guard down. >> how do you guard against -- >> you know what? it's new york city. police officers this is something that we do every day. they know a few times during the year, fourth of july, new year's eve, the tree lighting, this is where everybody has got to be on their toes. i know it's complacency can set in at times but certainly not an event like this. >> and add a reminder to the one to two million revelers expected to show up here on saturday night, no alcohol, no big bags or backpacks no, umbrellas and once you enter one the pens they are going to set up here on broadway or seventh avenue, you can't leave and get back in. so no bathroom breaks and some people show up here starting at 8:00 in the morning to get the best views. of the entertainment in store. it will be a great night for sure. >> rick, always covering it all for us.

have a safe and healthy new new year's eve yourself as well. celebrities who largely backed hillary clinton are not lining up to perform at donald trump's inauguration. and bristol palin, sarah palin's daughter is blasting those so-called a listers in a blog post. isn't it amazing how not cool it is to be a conservative in the public eye. either hollywood is that far off or so many sissies in the spotlight too scared to stand for what they believe. in one group lining up for mr. trump is the rockettes. not all the dancers are happy with the gig. some on the left say they should not be forced to perform. doesn't this show hypocrisy? here now tammy bruce. she wrote a column about this. >> i did. >> and you say this is hypocrisy? >> yeah. look. it was pretty obvious when it started. i mean, the trump election, i think, has highlighted the hypocrisy in general but also brought americans together in a great deal. we have watched for years how as an example christian bakers have been attacked by the gay left. pizza makers who didn't want to cater a wedding as being,

you know, discriminatory or should be ruined if you don't conform. and, yet, suddenly, when the rockettes say well, it's against our conscience or one of them did, we're going to have our feelings hurt and we don't want to do it. and suddenly the left found their conscience and said, yes, this person shouldn't have to do something that offends them. and so this is one of the arguments, that the american dynamic of live and let live that we're all going to be able to deal with ourselves in the marketplace, that we should be able to live our lives as we see fit and have some sympathy for people as opposed to try to ruin them if they say they don't want to participate. >> i didn't hear the same sympathy when i, say the religious conscience came up for the little sisters for the poor in the obama fight. >> we have seen this just when it comes to individuals and weddings but little sisters of the poor when it comes to obama care. hobby lobby a company that employs a lot of people this is you have got to do it because the government says so. and no room for you to live your life as you see fit. but i think that for

performers especially it's disturbing because it's not the donald trump inauguration. it's the inauguration of the next president of the united states. and performers, especially and hollywood, all of america is their audience. entertainment transcends politics in all honesty that the real things that matter that singers and performers, whether they are rock stars and some of them are my friends and i have heard from them. they get it that this is really about entertaining all people. but i think i would argue, ed, it's this culture of snowflakes, of safe spaces, of political correctness that no. >> get me a blanky. >> and for madonna, by the way, her twitter profile shows her sucking her thumb. so that's more than appropriate. but this is where people coming out of the university are not well suited for what life is going to hand them which is sometimes disappointments and you must balance that. >> you don't always get a trophy. >> that's right. >> liberals on social media and your answer is, you mentioned the baker issue for example. you are saying as a

conservative the rockettes should perform. but when there was a conservative baker in indiana a couple years ago who didn't want to bake the cake for a gay couple wedding you are saying whoa, they don't have to bake. you shouldn't force them to do it. where is the hypocrisy there? >> i think that the rockettes, if there are some that don't want to perform shouldn't have to. as a matter of fact, that's how the radio city rockette dynamic works. this has always been voluntary. this is some fake news that they were going to be forced to do it. you can opt into a project like that which is prepared appropriate. one young woman complained she was going to cry if she had to do it. she doesn't have to. some say the rockettes will be traumatized if they're forced. >> i think some of that is projection. no one is going to be traumatized. rockettes and other performers perform for all kinds of people all the time. as a matter of fact the tourists in this city, some of you see. >> lined up behind us. >> come from states who both voted for donald trump and hillary clinton. they get into the radio city music hall and rockettes are fine with that they have been.

the bottom line is if you want to be consistent my message to conservatives and liberals is to have it both be for people of faith and performers and we will be in good shape. >> positive message for a happy new year. >> same to you. >> appreciate you coming. in most everyone has some kind of new year's resolution but somehow shannon bream once got tricked into a big resolution, a major one. the inside scoop on our buddy shannon bream when she steps into the friend zone next. ♪

>> it's time now for the friend zone where we invite one of our friends from within the building here in fox in new york or in d.c. for example. tonight we are joined by the great shannon bream. shannon, since you are about the skinniest person i know. we know unlike the rest of us losing a few pounds is never your resolution but your husband tricked you into a big resolution. didn't he? >> well, here's the thing.

mr. bream does not believe in resolutions. there he is. you can see, too, he has got a hollow. he eats everything he wants to and works out. he decided one year in december, going into the next year, he would have the goal of running a marathon. and i thought that is awesome. he was a college athlete. i had no doubt that he would be able to do this. and so i am thinking about my plan having a little posters and signs along the way. >> cheer him on. >> t-shirt. i'm coming up with like the logo and color scheme in my head he said oh no we are going to run this together. i'm thinking i can't even run down the block. this is crazy. so somehow i got roped into his non-resolution goal for the new year and five months later we ran the pittsburgh marathon. >> together? >> oh, yeah. and listen, the deal was i will only do this if you stay at my pace. i had all kinds of sneak. >> plans to back out you a along the way. idiots guide to run a marathon i promise you it

might have been that title. pick a race, sign up for it and send in your money. so i felt bad about sending in the $35 because i'm like i'm definitely quitting this at some point. then it said you have to tell everybody you know. so we would be in the grocery store like in the checkout counter at the line and my husband would be like by the way we are running the pittsburgh marathon this year. and so we got totally roped into doing it and i never sort of backed out. i lost my toe nails. i lost my temper a few times but somehow we got across that line. >> i would have loved to have seen the secret plans for shannon to get away from the marathon. that would have been a scandal shannon sneaking away from the marathon. >> i tried. here's the thing, too. toward the end of your running you are doing long runs 18 miles, 20 miles which literally i couldn't run a mile when we started this thing. shear will power and lots of prayers. i was also under the misconception that after those long runs you could sit in a tub for the rest of the day and just sort of eat sleeves of oreos. so i end up being the only

idiot you will ever know who actually gained weight while training for a marathon. so there is one picture of me crossing the finish line and i was like the marshmallow man i will not show anybody. i did finish the marathon. i have a medal to prove it. >> i love it congratulations on that. >> thank you. >> quick change of topic here you have one of those christmas birthdays. >> i do. >> is that pleasing or a curse? because the presents are combined and all of that. >> i loved it i'm born on the 23rd. i think my parents took me only on christmas day. my middle name is noel. we hey holiday theme going on. i never thought differently. i loved it everybody does make effort for separate wrapping paper for birthday and christmas. still such exciting federal reserve time. i have a brother who is the day after christmas. hi, pete. i always felt like that is tougher. everybody is in food coma and presents are over. the build-up is over but he has the birthday after

christmas, too. so we have a lot of celebrating in december. >> last question, the big question for shannon bream, will you ever run another marathon? >> i'm one and done. listen, that was on my husband's bucket list. we are now over to my bucket list which doesn't involve any more running of marathons. i still do run but i don't think 26.2 again. retired. >> congratulations on doing it happy new year to you. >> you too. >> mr. bream has a name sheldon. >> it is sheldon bream. >> happy new year. >> you too, ed. >> i appreciate it coming up, we want to know what the most pompous thing you heard lately was. your answers are pouring in to @ ed henry and "tucker carlson tonight" @foxnews.com. we will read some of the best next. i have a sneaking suspicion secretary of state john kerry ain't going to like this.

>> now we bring you today in pomposity. we asked what is the most

pompous thing you've heard lately. mary johnson tweeted pick a phrase from john kerry's phrase, any phrase. can't really add anything to that. amanda simpson said quinn netanyahu paltrow saying she and chris martin something positive to the culture of divorce. j.r. two said anything from or "the view." so anti-america, sad and so smug. finally michael said that obama would have beaten donald trump. it's more likely that rex swine will get another head coaching job than obama beating trump. let me add ryan fired by the jets and buffalo bills sad. and tomorrow you choose the news is bat. tweet an important story to me @ ed henry or email us at "tucker carlson tonight" @foxnews.com. tune in each night 7:00 p.m. eastern. lying smugness and group think. don't forget to dvr the show if you haven't set that up. bill o'reilly is up next. ryan priebus is going to step into the no spin zone. tucker is back soon.

i promise ♪ ♪ welcome to "red eye." hello, everyone, i'm tom shillue. let's check in with tv's andy levey at the "red eye" tease deck. >> thanks, tom. coming up on the big show a man is thrown off a jetblue flight after harassing ivanka trump. we will find out what ivanka trump was doing on jetblue. and will trump keep his promise to drain the swamp or sell it to gullible investors looking to build in florida. and did ambassador bolton's mustache disqualify him for being secretary of state? we will have an interview with the stache. >> let's welcome our guest. she can turn the world on with a smile.