1:00 a.m., or whichever comes first. it will be fun from the heart of times square. we hope you ring in 2017 with fox news, the number one in news, if ul stop. have a great weekend, everybody. see you all tonight. all right. happy new year's. this is in sydney harbor. that was four hours ago. we'll go live to new york times square for a preview of tonight's big ball drop. >> fall skrout from president obama's sanctions against vladimir putin's russia for hacking the 2016 election. what is it going to mean for president-elect trump in 2017. and russia is just one of many sticking points between president obama and president-elect donald trump. the executive orders and

appointments. digital politics editor, chris, joins us. and we'll talk to him. and happy new year to you at home. thank you for spending your saturday with us. i'm elizabeth prann. >> a great year, another great year to come. i'm leland vittert. no caviar and champagne. this new year's eve diplomats from russia are packing their bags and heading home after president obama slapped russia with sanctions for interfering with the u.s. elections. 35 russian diplomats the united states said are actually spies have been declared having to leave. this video from the russians leaving one of the two diplomatic compounds closed by

the state department. the russian president said he'll wait to negotiate with incoming president donald trump. mr. trump weighing in on twitter calling putin's decision a great move. adding, quote, i always knew he was very smart. it's the second time in two weeks we've seen trump and obama's ideology clash in tone, as well as in substance. talking to white house correspondent kevin cork in honolulu, hawaii, as the president vacations there. certainly making major foreign policy decisions. hi, kevin. >> reporter: you're right about that, my friend. listen, for most people this was a bit of a surprise. you figured the russians would retaliate immediately, but they didn't do that. if you talk to the administration officials, leland, they will say this was not novel in any way. they will say it was a little nuanced but still predictable if you believe their position on this. although they would say, listen,

they've been watching his steps all along the way. that's why the president made the decision that he did, to expel those nearly three dozen russian operatives. you showed some of the pictures of a great many of them leaving our country. they have just 72 hours to get out of the usa. and that is the deal. the president also shut down a pair of russian facilities in maryland and new york. those moves as you pointed out in retaliation for cyber attacks in the run-up to the election and continued harassment of u.s. diplomats in russia. while putin is waging a bit of a pr offensive by refusing to expel americans from russia, mr. obama's decision, some are wondering if it wasn't just a bit about bad policy. >> as someone who is soon leaving office as president, mr. obama has a responsibility to assure a smooth transfer of power. that's not what this represents. i think the world sees this as a petty slap against putin, and probably against mr. trump. >> reporter: as for the incoming trump administration, still

remains to be seen how they want to play this. but white house officials are still warning the incoming administration not to stray too far from convention. here's eric schul. >> he's leaving office in a couple of weeks. but he's the president from now until then. he vowed to keep us safe from now until then and that's what he's doing. if the next administration wants to lift sanctions against senior russian intelligence units to make them easier to interfere in our elections, he can go ahead and do that. >> reporter: now, clearly russia will get the big headline. don't forget the president has a very, very busy week ahead in which he's expected to meet with democratic leaders from capitol hill. part of the big conversation will be talking about the russians obviously moving forward. but i think the about ig headline will be what to do about the affordable care act, obamacare, especially in the whole new world of a republican president and gop controlled

congress. >> perhaps what he might do in the past few weeks, that he will run through the tape. i heard that from eric schultz as well. thanks, kevin. >> yep. >> the white house parting shots against russia and israel are a sharp contrast from the early days of what was initially dubbed the drama-free administration. the president's actions stunned critics and supporters alike, and there are still three weeks to go before he closes up shops. chris is here to help put it all in perspective, perhaps make it a little bit more easy for us to understand. first and foremost, i want to start with russia. if i may. what type of landscape does this present for president-elect donald trump going forward and were you surprised when you saw the move by president obama? >> i was surprised at the goldilocks approach that he tried to take. but maybe i shouldn't have. because that's sort of been the style he's used on the international stage. he didn't go hard, he didn't go heavy against russia, but

neither did he let it pass. he tried to thread the needle with his mostly symbolic action. putin reinforced what he thought as obama as weak on the world stage. putin choosing to ignore it gets to baghand obama on the way out. >> they say it's not what vladimir putin said, but what he didn't say. is there room for manipulation going forward? >> donald trump is going to find when he gets in that it's much harder to be -- russia -- americans tend to think of russia as a weak power, as sort of a backward country and it does have all these problems. russians think of themselves as major players on the world stage. i think that you will see as he and donald trump start sparring as what putin thinks as equals, the two nuclear superpowers,

that's the way putin sees it, it will be hard to maintain this chummy relationship that trump and putin have had. because sometimes the united states and russia have co-interests, oftentimes they do not. >> we may see another reset button. >> correct. >> but the same red button. i want to move on to israel. we saw a cryptic tweet, donald trump writing in part, president-elect, rather, that things will be different come january 20th. what will things look like come january 20th and how will he change the relationship if it needs to be changed? >> talking about the misunderstandings of obama and domestic policy and foreign policy, part of the reason that donald trump won the republican nomination and won the presidency is because barack obama didn't understand really what american voters were saying. and was not able to accommodate. he said the economy is doing slightly better, you should be happy, why aren't you taking hillary clinton. he didn't understand the frustrations underneath. he has time and again

misapprehended israeli politics. he wanted benjamin netanyahu out. he wanted to defeat him. his allies, political allies worked to try to defeat netanyahu. that was obviously their hope. in the end to allow the u.n. resolution to go through, number one, and allow his secretary of state to stand on the world stage and up-end netanyahu. what does that do? that strengthens netanyahu's hand. that makes netanyahu and his likud party stronger. so president obama leaves the stage with an empowered netanyahu, and donald trump coming in with, if anything, almost a mandates to take netanyahu's side and be more aggressive when it comes to settlements and all those things. >> you've probably gotten this question a lot. we've seen the same abstention if hillary clinton won the presidential -- >> i bet not. i think one of the things that hillary clinton failed to do, it was a tough spot, was to

articulate why her foreign policy was more hawkish. barack obama had a plan. and that was to increase the role of iran, increase the role of moscow, in balancing out the middle east. u.s. had a foreign policy that was predicated on the saudis in the gulf states, and the israels. that's how we did the middle east in the bush era, and prior to that. obama wanted a rebalancing. well, he got it. but i don't think people are very happy with it. and i don't think he's happy with the way it turned out. hillary clinton could hardly come in having served as secretary of state, this guy was all wet t wouldn't work. >> i want to bring it back home to wrap up our conversation and i want to play a sound byte for you. so much of president obama's presidency was based on executive actions, and some, not necessarily laws, but regulations with the stroke of a pen. i want to get your reaction. take a listen. >> whenever i can take steps without legislation, to expand

opportunity for more american families, i will. i've got a pen, and i've got a phone. a pen to take executive action. >> we talk about regulations, executive actions. president obama signed 3,853 new rules and regulations, the highest one during one year. according to a survey by the competitive enterprise institute, that amounts to 18 rules and regulations for every law passed by congress, taking up more than 97,000 pages to publish the fine print. that's a lot of paperwork and a lot of actions and regulations passed without congress. >> we should remember that we live and have lived in the united states, an administrative state for the last at least 40 years, but probably more like 80 years, in which congress has del dpatd a lot of the responsibilities to the executive branch. a lot of that is normal in the course of business here. what's funny, not ha ha, but

what's interesting about the moment politically, democrats urge and encourage the president to expand executive authority again and again and again. and that even includes what would have shocked the sensibilities of many democrats before, like kill lists or drone strikes, arguing that americans could be killed without trial under suspicion of terrorism. vast expansion of presidential powers. they did not mang they would be handing that-to donald trump. they are handing it over to a person they're terrified of. >> and the house and senate, too. >> happy new year. >> thank you for breaking it down. love having you on the show. appreciate it. for more insight, check out his daily fox news halftime report. you can sign up for the address on your screen. >> we're not laughing at the halftime report. >> go to foxnews.com. tune in tomorrow, 11:00 a.m.

eastern, to see how the media has been covering the latest trump-obama feud on "mediab shannon will be sitting down with tom cotton about the growing tensions between u.s. and israel. check your local listings for time and channels. a fox news alert as with ego back to the russia-u.s. tiff. the soviet union resolved 25 years ago this month, but the echoes of cold war and espionage are still very much alive. 35 russian nationals are getting the boot. president obama ordering their expulsion as payback for alleged russian hacking during the election. caroline shifly is here with more. hi, caroline. >> the russian diplomats and their families have one day left in this country before they get the boot. vladimir putin is sending this plane over to take them home.

russia's news agency said 96 people will be on that plane. 35 diplomats and their dependents. as of noon yesterday, the diplomats were kicked out of two compounds. this one in long island, new york, and another in maryland. they look like beautiful vacation homes with tennis courts and sailing. but the obama administration says they were used for much more than that. including intelligence gathering against the u.s. diplomats in san francisco are also getting kicked out of the consulate where u.s. officials say the russians had a robust spy network. the russian consul general there said their chef was named as an intelligence operative and the employees had to cook their own new year's eve party food for themselves. >> this position is not normal. we have to do much better. we have many things it to do. we have to take care of many things, like fighting terrorists, like taking care of climate change. >> a vermont electric company

said it detected mal wear on a company laptop. one not connected to the power grid system. the department of homeland security shared the code with utility financial and transportation companies on thursday. leland? >> caroline shiveely, thanks. all the russian hacking unfolding against the back drop of the presidential transition. donald trump now just three weeks away from taking the oath of office. how he handles russia and mr. putin will be an early test after obama's critics say mr. putin played the u.s. for the past eight years. >> he really has played this brilliantly. and he's, frankly, outmaneuvered obama time and again. this is one of those moves where he's basically said to obama, okay, fine, you're irrelevant, you're here three weeks, we're not worried about it. good-bye, have a nice life. >> let's bring in the director of russian studies at the

american enterprise interinstitute. good to see you, sir. in this stage craft we have the russians essentially declaring victory, this doesn't mean anything. we have mr. obama saying, all right, i'm proving to the russians they can't hack. i'm declaring victory as we saw from eric schultz earlier. and we have mr. trump here saying, wait until january 20th, everything's going to be great. i have this one down. who's actually winning between those three players right now? >> i think it depends on what perspective you take. putin is taking a very long-range perspective. this is just a tiny episode. like all of us in russia, he grew up playing chess, and there's a tactic in chess called sacrificing material for quality. sacrifice a couple of pawns -- >> eat a little humble pie? >> i would say a couple of pawns to get closer to the king. >> he's trying to cozy up to trump.

>> definitely. the goal here, of course, is to soften up trump for the summit that trump is itching to have with him. and then putin is going to present his agenda there, which is diluting on weakening the sanctions, for the annexation of crimea, ukraine, the bombing of syria, so on and so forth. >> one thing that donald trump does not suffer well is fools. he says so. he nef wants to feel like he's played. when hillary clinton said he was a puppet, he hit back hard. are trump and putin on this sort of unget offable collision course and at that summit you're talking about? >> things are going to happen afterwards. i think putin's plan is to have a summit of the celebration of the donald-vladimir friendship and a lot of back slapping. then he's going to hit trump with an agenda of his own. putin, like i said, he unlike the western leaders, democratic

leaders, he could be out in four years. putin has been there for 16 years, he could be there for another 16, as far as i'm concerned. so his long-term goal is to make steps towards his final agenda, which is to restore russia to the lost glory of the soviet union which he believes was trane from it unjustly by foreign enemies, and domestic traitors. >> so does president-elect trump, becomes president trump, allow a resurrection of soviet greatness, or is he forced at some point to keep that at bay? what's the cost to the united states, better yet? >> exactly. well, he at some point, donald trump will wake up and realize, as you said, that he's been played by putin. >> president bush woke up and realized that. president obama woke up and realized that. >> they're all waking up eventually. let's hope that going in, he

knows that, yes, for the public, it's all going to be dear vladimir, dear donald. but when you confront putin in private, please tell him that i know what you're after. certain things he can have, certain things are absolutely unacceptable to the united states, and you no longer are going to have the soft touch of the obama administration. i'm going to be tougher with you. >> mr. trump said he's the greatest negotiator in the world. let's see if they can make a deal. >> putin is not a dealmaker. he has a long strategic agenda. >> that's an important thing to keep in mind. appreciate it. we'll have you back in the new year to talk about it. >> thank you. >> coming up after the break, brand-new developments in the shooting deaths of pennsylvania state trooper landon weaver. what police say the manhunt for his killer may be over. plus, a new year brings an avalanche of new laws, including eight new laws on gubs in america's most populated states. that's gotten many gun owners

there worried and angry. >> laws that have come down this time are pretty egregious, pretty deep. and so people are, for lack of a better term, are in a panic. about 3,000 miles away in the big apple, times square is getting ready for the crystal ball drop, amid very tight security. brian is on the scene. hi, brian. >> reporter: hi, elizabeth. we're less than 12 hours away from 2017. 2 million people expected to pack times square. the heart of america's new year's eve party to watch the ball drop. we'll have more on the security and experience live from times square.

here in washington, we're just under 12 hours from saying so long to 2016. but as you can tell, it's already new year for many cities across the globe. in new zealand, revelers rang in 2017 with a final countdown. scores of japanese partygoers released balloons from tokyo tower. in australia, the middle of summer down under, people brought in the new year in their tank tops and flip-flops. that sounds nice right about now. celebrations all across the world, throughout the show. we might even get in one live celebration here coming up when the new year gets rung in on the other side of the world. as we get ready for new year's celebrations in the u.s., lawsuit and security forces are preparing for a very long and busy night. our own bryan llenas is in times square where at midnight the ball will drop tonight. hi, bryan. >> reporter: hi, elizabeth. that's right. this is america's biggest new

year's eve party, times square, the heart of new york city, some 2 million people expected to pack this place. authorities have been saying people as early as 8:00 a.m. looking for a spot to see the 60-second world famous ball drop. of course, security is a big concern especially with what's been going on in the world in 2016, as we welcome in 2017. particularly this year, the nypd saying they're doing things they've never done before. like the sanitation trucks. that's right, 65 sanitation trucks being put at intersections in and around times square, to stop possible vehicle terrorism, like what we saw in nice, france, over the summer, and in berlin, germany. take a listen. >> we always have to react to what's happening in the world. adding additional layers, you know, reacting to what happened in nice, what happened in berlin. so now we're concerned about that vehicle threat. no vehicular traffic can get in. the sidewalks will be blocked by

big cement blocks, and we'll have the sand trucks out. >> reporter: these trucks are also filled with 15 tons of sand. the point is, they're meant to be unmovable to protect this crowd. in terms of security, we're talking about 7,000 police officers, plain clothes as well, counterterrorism units, the crc teams, the critical response command units that were created in the wake of the paris attacks. they are on the ready 24 hours a day to respond to any situation. police dogs, boats, helicopters, you name it, that's all here to protect the 2 million-plus people that will be watching the paul drop in the heart of new york city. and again, i've got to tell you, it's about 30-something degrees here, and people will be standing for about 12 hours, no alcohol, no big bags, no umbrellas allowed. all of these people will be checked at least twice by police officers as they sit and watch 60 seconds of wonder. by the way, no bathrooms. no bathrooms.

once in place, you're stuck there. but again, this is an experience many people say you do once in your life. i'm sure all of them are excited to be here. >> when i got up this morning there were already people gathering. the sun wasn't up yet. that was pretty early. there are some pretty loyal fans there tonight. bryan, stay warm. and have fun. happy new year. thanks for joining us. new york isn't the only city on high alert tonight. in berlin, 1,800 police officers will be deployed at the brandenburg gate where thousands are expected to ring in the new year. security has been beefed up in berlin after a terror attack earlier this month when a truck plowed through a christmas market killing nine people. hence, those barriers in new york. and in paris, 2,000 officers will be out in force as hundreds of thousands are expected to gather in that city to kick off 2017. france has extended its state of emergency for about two weeks. security has been a

collaborative effort with the military and police. a time of high alert all across the globe. in two separate instances, a night on the town turned tragic for people out for a good time. in connecticut, two people were shot to death outside a theater where a rapper was performing. the cause of the confrontation and identities of those involved as well as the victims is not known. at last word, no one was in custody. the singer whose real name is robert williams was recently under house arrest for repeated parole violations. in australia, dozens were injured friday at a music festival as the crowd tried to leave the concert. none of the injuries were life-threatening in the stampede. witnesses say several people at the front of the crowd fell down causing a chain reaction. >> just really push and shove. not much you can do. >> terrifying. i was lying there. i couldn't breathe.

i could slowly feel my breath leaving me and i couldn't breathe anymore. >> with the new year, eight new gun laws will take effect in california, one of with i classifies some semiautomatic rifles as assault weapons. according to the california department of justice, sales of semiautomatic rifles have more than doubled since last year as a result of this law. people trying to buy them before the law takes place. authorities view this as a way to prevent gun related crime, but some gun owners see these new regulations as a threat to their rights rather than safety. >> first of all, making it more difficult for me to reload my gun when i'm out shooting isn't going to help you when you're mugged in the alleyway. most of the gun crime in california is not done with these type of weapons anyway. >> any tools we can get to keep the public safe is obviously, you know, we're for. >> the restrictions go in place

in july. but i'm curious how authorities will enforce it. you have to sell your magazines to a licensed dealer or to police. how do they do that? >> it's not normally the bad guys who decide to abide by the gun laws. we have a really tragic statistic that we've reached now in chicago, some of the strongest, toughest gun laws in america. they've had more homicides in chicago this year than new york and los angeles combined. we'll see if it works in california. >> right. a lot of pushback. >> right. coming up after the break, simmering tensions between the current and future presidents-global hot spots. is foreign policy in for a ride. the princess who brought down an empire. how one city is paying tribute to a beloved actress. i thought i married an italian.

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a fox news alert, the pennsylvania state police say the suspect in the shooting death of a trooper is dead. this is the suspect here. a tweet from the verified police confirm the 32-year-old suspect jason robson is dead, but said more details will be released later. robson is accused of shooting and killing trooper brandon weaver responding to a domestic di put. he joined the state police in 2015. back to politics. 2016. on a rather tense note, between president barack obama and donald trump. the president and president-elect find themselves with differing opinions on sanctions against russia.

let's bring in kelly, of the "weekly standard," and someone we love to talk to. thank you so much for joining us. >> happy new year. >> happy new year to you as well. first and foremost, i want to talk about russia. president-elect trump has been critical about president obama setting road blocks as he enters office. my question to you going forward, how does the president-elect transition his team, move forward and improve or how does he deal with relations with russia? the reason i ask you that is because when we talk about these sanctions, he also has to remember members of his own party sanctioned those saying they didn't go far enough. how does he make everybody happy? a lot of moving parts. >> you ask me that question, if you said in 2012 this was going to be happening four years later, i don't think anyone would have believed you. you remember mitt romney in that election said russia's our greatest geopolitical foe. obama made fun of him and said the 1980s called, they want their foreign policy back.

the cold war has been over for 20 years. it's a bit of a reversal in a way. i find it interesting, democrating didn't seem to sour on russia much until russia hacked the democratic national committee's compute es. that seems to be the biggest thing that upset obama and the democrats about russia. that's what led to the sanctions. they're quite unprecedented. we've had much worse cyber attacks from other countries and president obama did not respond in such a strong manner. 35 members told to leave the country. >> putin said he's not going to expel the diplomats. did you think he was going to take a harder stance? what message is he sending to both the outgoing team and incoming team with that particular message? >> this was a very wide move by putin. michelle obama said when they go low, we stay high. putin's response was almost like that. it was obama's going to give us

all this retaliation, the hacking, he's going to expel -- not let us use two properties that the russians own. >> don't you think we should be wary? it seems every administration for god knows how long start off on this sort of a positive note, let's reset. we all remember the reset button with hillary clinton. you know, isn't this how it all begins? >> i think, you're right in that this -- putin would not be acting in such a magnanimous manner if it were not for the fact that donald trump is taking office in three weeks. this ehave -- they to seem to have started out with a friendlier relationship than most. it is interesting, people wonder how much of it is donald trump just sort of being a contrarian in a way. because as you say, a lot of republicans for years have been warning about russia, little nervous about russia. so yes, when trump comes into office, there is going to be a

little bit of, you know, tension there. but i think the fact that when russia invaded crimea, not -- a few sanctions, not much. russia went into syria and actually aided in hurting his own people, using chemical weapons. america didn't really do anything. russians hack apparently the dnc computers and all of a sudden we see this huge thing. i think part of it, this looks petty and a bit obama at the end of his term trying to get back at enemies, real or perceived. and i think that that is actually going to make some republicans maybe pause. almost the enemy of my enmy is my friend. maybe republicans will have a mover warm view towards russia just because. >> we'll see. a lot to talk about. we hope to have you back. we'll have more in 2017. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> appreciate it. leland? a fox news alert as the united nations security council

is meeting right now. they're expected to vote on a ceasefire and peace plan for syria. you can see video from the devastation inside syria. the vote will be on a resolution to endorse the plan that so far has held a shaky truce upon that war-torn nation. john is live in jerusalem with the latest on the current situation inside syria and the efforts to try to make the ceasefire permanent. any reason to think this one will actually stick? >> reporter: well, it comes after, as we know, the fight in aleppo. so both sides may be more receptive to a ceasefire and longer term truce after that -- you know, the carnage in aleppo. as far as the resolution vote there's been no vote yet. about you we're hearing some of the member countries want changes in the draft resolution, some clarity on some issues. so we're awaiting more on that at this point. as you mentioned, how this is a

shaky truce, yet again we're hearing more for continued fighting between pro-government forces and opposition groups, rebel groups, and a rebel-held area, which is about ten miles northwest of damascus. as that continues overall, the ceasefire seems to be holding in other parts of the country, such as war-ravaged aleppo, where people as we saw were out at the markets today shopping. and the roads were pretty busy. russia and turkey brokered this latest truce. it took effect midnight thursday. this security council resolution not only endorses it, but also calls for rapid, safe and unhindered access for humanitarian aid throughout the country. the resolution also endorses talks between syria's government and opposition groups in kazakhstan next month. now, while other ceasefires have failed in the past, the difference this time around, this goes back to what i was

just saying, is that it comes after the fighting in aleppo. and that city has really abouting a symbol of the inhumanity and brutality of the nearly six years of civil war. after that fight, as i said, both sides may be more receptive to a longer term truce. particularly since turkey, russia, and iran have all been involved in the peace talks and negotiations. so again, we're waiting for more word from the u.n. security council on that vote. leland? >> missing from the negotiations, the united states. john huddy in jerusalem, pack to you as news warrants. thanks, john. this is a sad milestone. for the first time since world war ii, the u.s. navy currently has no aircraft carriers deployed anywhere in the world. the uss eisenhower returned to norfolk friday after a middle east deployment. but its replacement, the uss

george w. bush isn't due to sail until early next year. navy officials cite budget cuts and other factors for the gap and say assault ship is currently patrolling the middle east. coming up, a devastating fire ripped through one neighborhood turning local businesses to ash. how firefighters come battled the blaze. the days may be numbered if president obama sticks to his agenda. what to expect with trump and congress after january 20th. >> we have to be a rich nation if we're going to rebuild our military. if we're going to build the wall. we have to be a rich nation. if we're going to -- if we're going to repeal and replace obamacare. what's the best way to get

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we're getting dramatic images from the geens boro of

new york as a four-alarm fire destroys an entire block of businesses. 175 firefighters took on this blaze. three were injured. one seriously. investigators say the fire began at a pizzeria last night, quickly spreading and gutting stores and buckling roofs. luckily there were no fatalities. president obama's staff said they will run through the tape in finishing out his presidency. we have already seen major policy shifts towards israel, a host of new regulations, and possibilities of a lot more changes. in three weeks, president-elect donald trump will begin trying to dismastle a lot of president obama's legacy. joining us to talk about how both of those things might happen, jessie burns, associate editor at the hill. jessie, nice to see you. we heard about president obama's scorched earth policy, whether it be israel or monuments out in

the west, whether it be new regulations. you might call it legacy cementing or attempt to do that. is there anything congress can do when it comes back into session on tuesday to try and prevent any of that stuff from happening? >> well, we saw it with the arctic drilling announcement in the last two weeks, obama and miss administration trying to paste these as issues where they're trying to box in, saying he can't undo them. we'll see if they can, or try exploring them. congress is looking at some legislation trying to on the regulatory side of things -- >> the ryan's acts, those kind of things? >> in the final days of the administration they're rushing to finalize dozens of new regulations and rules. some of them controversial, the epa, and regulation of mining, and other issues like that. so that's something that republicans will try to push back. >> so the president makes all these rules between now and january 20th. on january 20th at 12:15, can

president trump before he walks down for the inaugural parade go nope, nope, nope, nope? >> i this think he said on day one he wants to repeal it. he made it a big focus of his campaign. and for every regulation they'll trying to take two out. >> 12:15 on january 20th, he can eliminate anything president obama has done in the last two weeks? >> it might be a little bit more hairy with some of the federal agencies because the rule, finalizing those rules takes months. there's public input. there might be pushback, especially from democrats, even some republicans on specific rules. >> what is the sense that you get from republicans on the hill? obviously they're kind of like kids in the candy store now pausz they've got the house, they've got the senate and the white house. at the same time it's unusual because the president-elect's policies, especially when it comes to foreign policy, and sometimes when it comes to trade, isn't really eye to eye with his own party, and certainly the majority of his

own party on capitol hill. >> that's right. even we saw it with israel, chuck schumer, a critical statement of obama. i think in the opening days we'll see the democrats and republicans coming together on those issues. russia might be another example of where they come together to try to do something that there's a bipartisan support for either condemning what obama has done or maybe breaking even with what trump wants to do, in terms of russia. >> and how much political capital president trump will be confirmation hearings for rex tillerson or others. >> the regulatory side of things, trump has put a major emphasis on that. creating a new white house role for white house regulations. whether he tries to take out a lot of obama's legacy, that remains to be seen. on the procedural side of things with regulations, and specific

rules at the technical level, we could see some repealing. >> jessie, happy new year to you and yours. >> thanks. great interview. coming up after the break, new monuments created in the last day of the obama administration are not exactly getting a warm reception out west. one senator leading the fight against the president's plan, what he has to say. one iconic american city is mourning carrie fisher in their own way. how they're saying good-bye to an iconic star. many people clean their dentures with toothpaste or plain water. and even though their dentures look clean, in reality they're not. if a denture were to be put under a microscope, we can see all the bacteria that still exists on the denture, and that bacteria multiplies very rapidly. that's why dentists recommend cleaning with polident everyday. polident's unique micro clean formula works in just 3 minutes, killing 99.99% of odor causing bacteria. for a cleaner, fresher,

brighter denture every day.

start celebrating 2017, at least

according to the scottish. in scotland's capital of edinburg, new year's celebrated starting with a parade and culminates with huge bonfires and fireworks across the cities. >> don't they give gifts, too? >> i've spent a lot of time in scotland. considering the amount of alcohol that's consumed, i'm not sure bonfires, fireworks, drinking and hagus all go together. you never know. >> it's a new year. you have to start off on the right foot, bring it all together. domestically new orleans said good buy to actress carrie fisher in a way only the crescent city could. a carnival crew of princess le h leahs took to the streets in their force finest. the parade even had a jazz band to celebrate the life of the

actress and the author who passed away this week at the age of 60. she'll be very missed. >> she'll be missed. her mother will be missed, too. you have to imagine a lot of the grief that is occurring is for both of them together. we heard that from fans as well. >> beautiful careers, both of them, trailblazers. >> beautiful careers. a lot of people will tell you debbie reynolds was one of the first feminists, after her husband left her for elizabeth taylor, reen vented her. >> she wanted to be with her daughter carrie. >> emotional week. still ahead. that's our tease. a shirtless vladimir putin as diplomats getting the boot. vladimir putin refusing to take the bait. how the russian president is responding or not to u.s. sanctions. >> you know that this

principle tit for tat. zero will be expelled from russia. why a gift to native americans sparked there outburst from a home state senator. >> you should be worried about the fact that we put this much power in the hands of one person, the president of the united states. this is not the american way. card from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on all of my purchasing. and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business... which adds fuel to my bottom line. what's in your wallet?

the last saturday of 2016, it went by fast. >> it sure did. >> i'm leland vittert. happy new year's eve. second hour of america's news headquarters. >> here is what's making news right now, russians on the move. will it backfire in the new year? a power struggle in the desert. native americans are calling it long overdue, but utah senator

mike lee calls it an arrogant act by a lame duck president. we'll ask him why. as new york prepares to ring in the new year, it's already 2017 in new zealand and they're partying like it. a fox news alert. as russian diplomats kicked out of the united states are packing their bags ahead of a tomorrow deadline to leave the country. at the same time president-elect donald trump is taking a friendly tone with moscow after president obama slapped them with sanctions for interfering in the election. peter doocy in palm beach where donald trump will ring in 2017. >> reporter: the president-elect is ending 2016, the way he started it, calling out the haters. he tweeted a few hours ago this, happy new year to all including

many en knees. it followed a tweet that seemed to suggest the russian policy could be completely different than the current administration. the president-elect likes that russian president putin publicly promised not to retaliate against the u.s. so @realdonaldtrump has a public message, great move. it went live just a few hours after transition officials insisted mr. trump had no plans to privately reach out to putin about the new sanctions until after receiving an intelligence briefing next week about the alleged hacking. now trump allies in congress are explaining that people on the left are upset about warm attitude toward putin are missing the point. >> we understand from mr. trump,

whether it's his business or his campaign or now america first. so when we have the left saying, oh, my gosh, this rip is going to be a partnership between america and russirussia, i don' think that's going to be the case. i think mr. trump doesn't want to be boxed in by these lame sayings coming from barack obama. he wants to start a fresh relationship with mr. putin. >> reporter: tonight at mara lago, a party, about 800 paying guests. sly stallone, fabio. the featured guests, president-elect, wife melania and son baron. we expect to see people driving by a few hours from there. >> peter doocy, at least you get a little snack for new year's eve. appreciate it, sir. good to see you. there's fresh evidence that the bad blood between washington and moscow will carry into the new year, this time over

allegations that russian hackers tried to penetrate a computer program linked to vermont's electrical grid. caroline shively is chasing the details. >> the electric company found malware on a company laptop yet after the department of homeland security shared the code with utility, financial and transportation companies. the laptop wasn't connected to the power grid system. here is senator leahy's response. state sponsored russian hacking is a serious threat and the attempts to penetrate the electric grid are the latest example. this is beyond hackers having an electronic joy ride. this is about trying to access utilities to potentially manipulate the grid and shut it down in the middle of winter. as punishment for the hacking scandals, russian diplomats and their families have one day left in this country. the diplomats were kicked out of two compounds, this in long, new york and another in maryland. they look like beautiful vacation homes with tennis

courts and sailing, but the obama administration says they were used for much more than that including intelligence gathering against the u.s. you can see a line of cars leaving the maryland building stuffed with what appeared to be files. it drove straight to the russian embassy in washington. diplomats in san francisco are also getting kicked out there where u.s. officials say the russians had a robust spy.net work. the russian consul general wishes they'd do what our president has done, kicked out our diplomats. >> tit for tat, the same diplomats should be expelled. but zero, zero u.s. diplomats will be expelled from russia, zero, zero. >> putin is sending a special plane to the u.s. to bring the diplomats and their dependents home. elizabeth? >> caroline shively, thank you

very much. more on this, let's bring in senator mike lee from the great state of utah, also a member of the armed services committee. thanks for being here. >> thank you. >> it seems as though everyone is declaring victory. vladimir putin is declaring victory because he can do this to obama. obama is declaring victory because he's saying he can stand up to the russians. and donald trump saying i'm smart enough that i caused him to hold off. >> let's hope president-elect trump is right. i want him to succeed with russia, succeed in strengthening the united states throughout the world, whether it's with russia, whether with our relationship in the middle east, in countries there or elsewhere. i've got high hopes that president trump and his team will do a good job. >> as you look at what's being done here. clearly obviously as it related to israel, president-elect trump came out very strongly against president obama. as related to russia, you do get

this feeling he seems like he at least is willing to attempt to make friends with vladimir putin and see if that's possible. a lot of your colleagues in the senate are saying not so fast. lindsey graham and john mccain among them. are you on that list as well? >> i'm not going to put myself on that list. i agree with something i heard congressman sean duffy say earlier today, which is you can't fault an incoming president for trying to make nice with a major world power. that's what he's trying to do. i don't think we ought to be criticizing him for doing that. >> as you look forward towards the confirmation battles that will come, certainly the democrats are saying they are going to fight on a number of them primarily right now, rex tillerson, possible secretary of state. have you looked at that at all? do his ties to vladimir putin bother you at all? >> this is a man who has been involved in business at an international level. the fact he's been an

international businessman shouldn't disqualify him from this. i haven't reviewed his entire record yet, but as of yet i don't see anything that ought to preclude him from becoming our next secretary of state. >> we'll mark you in the yay category. we know the trump folks are trying to work on that. want to move on to what's happened not with the future president, but the current president. president obama found a way to outrage not only you but other gop lawmakers when he named two national monuments this week. in a statement the president said the designation of gold butte in nevada and bears ears in the utah desert? >> i've hiked to the top, a beautiful place. >> the president says years of public input and various proposals to protect both of proposal in ncluding tribal governments in and around utah mean he's designating these national monuments. we're talking about a million six new acres of land.

local and native american leaders cheered the decision. you not so much? >> we have states that are smaller than this. we have a national monument designation that has taken place against the will of every state-wide elected official in utah, against the will of ef the delegation, against the will of the county commissioners. all the people, and we're talking about democrats and republicans, they're against it. >> if everybody is against it, why is the president doing that in your mind? >> i think he's gotten a lot of pressure from aggressive environmental activists, extremists who want to make sure as much land in utah and elsewhere is tied up so no one can gain access to it, including, by the way, native americans who make san juan county utah their home and want to access this land for their own religious purposes. that's now in doubt. president obama doesn't appear to care about the fact that the local population is

overwhelmingly against this. he wants to satisfy his far left environmental extremist base. i think that's unfortunate. >> we've seen him satisfying his base in different ways, whether it be regulations on coal mining, the monuments, changing the minimum wage work rules, those kind of things in his last three weeks. what makes this different is the antiquities act allows a president to designate something a national monument or national park and then it's done. it's not like the next president can just roll that back. any ideas what you're going to do in congress? are you going to try to change the an tick tips act in some ways to allow this to be rolled back? >> i actually think we ought to repeal that. we'll want to repeal the an tigitys act, reforming the act, exemption utah, as wyoming and alaska already are. and also encouraging president trump to roll back or eliminate this by presidential act.

there is pretty good support for the theory he's able to do that. ours is not a government of one. our constitution goes to great lengths to make sure no one person will accumulate too much power. this flies in the face of that. >> this flies in the face of it. a lot of what president obama has done flies in the face of it. we've had you on before talking about how upset you are. we're hearing the same language from president-elect trump, i'm going to do this, i'm going to do that. not much discussion like, i want the advice of the house and the senate, need them to do x, y and z. >> that's an important point. i discussed this point at length in a book i wrote called "our lost constitution." all 12 people who have read it have absolutely loved it. >> does that 12 include your mother? >> yes, exactly. she was the 12th one. i made the point in my book that congress has for the last 80 years voluntarily relinquished too much power. in the case of this law, 110 years ago.

for the last century, give or take a few years, congress has been giving too much power over to the executive branch. it's done so for its own political convenience. this has had the effect of empowering the president and dis empowering the american people. that needs to be undone. >> so important hard to put the back in the hat. don't yu need the president to approve giving up essentially his own power? >> yes. fortunately i think we have an incoming president, president-elect trump, who believes in the need to do this. i had a good chat with with him where we discussed this problem. he can see what the american people are feeling, which is that the american people see they have become poorer and less powerful as power has been taken from them and moved to washington. within washington their elected representatives have given up that power to the executive branch. >> you think it's possible that president-elect trump will sign legislation that takes significant power away from the executive branch?

>> i do. because he's elected by the people with a mandate to do that. i look forward to helping him do that. >> it will be fascinating if that happens. happy new year to you and yours, sir. great conversation. >> be sure to watch fox news sunday tomorrow. shannon breen, friend and colleague, filling in for chris wallace, one of senator lee's, i guess you could say fellow senators and friend tom cotton about the growing tensions between the u.s. and israel. check your local listings and time. fox news alert. right now the united nations security council has adopted a resolution supporting the cease-fire in syria brokered by russia and turkey. the cease-fire so far has established a shaky truce in the nation ravaged by civil war. the cease-fire was put in place to jump start peace negotiations between the syrian government and rebel forces. speaking of tensions, we

know they will be high when donald trump takes office in just a few weeks, and not just internationally. here at home president obama's sanctions put donald trump on a collision course with members of his own party on capitol hill. they want the president-elect to be tough on putin. so for more insight into what's next with russia, let's bring in tom rogan, a columnist with "national review" and "opportunity lives." >> good to be with you. >> i want your reaction first and foremost to the news breaking the u.n. security council, adopting a resolution in part to support that cease-fire in syria. obviously it's just breaking, so i don't mean to put you on the spot. but i do want your reaction to it before we get to our next topic. >> i think it's a joke, quite frankly. i had a piece a month or two back talking about trojan horse gambits. putin is saying humanitarianism,

we're going to back down, coalesce with different parties. the functioning party, as proof by continuing assad air strikes, air rainians on the ground, this is a way to weaken the coalition in support of the moderate sunni rebellion, but also enable the russians to continue taking action. this is a pretense that does not follow reality. so i mean i think it should be ignored. it's a russian intelligence. >> you said it's a trojan horse. it's for our viewers so they can get a better understanding, how much, if any, were any representation by the united states was there and present during these talks. any? >> no. i didn't think there was any. the russians deliberately excluded the obama administration because they're trying to embarrass president obama as he leaves office. the reality is the russians have the initiative in syria. that won't change unless the united states pushes back

against them and with president-elect trump coming in with this potential, he's said he wants better relations with russia. we don't know what will happen. >> so often we see peace talks in paris. that's not the case here. the united states was not involved in this talks. i want to shift our conversation and talk about russia. it's been a hot topic on our show today. we've had senator mike lee here. he said when we look at president-elect donald trump sending out tweets saying vladimir putin was smart not to expel those u.s. diplomats. he didn't necessarily fault the incoming president and administration for trying to make relationships perhaps less tense. do you agree or disagree with that? >> i sort of agree, but my concern is that donald trump doesn't really seem to get the fact that the russians are trying to play him, and they are. the u.s. intelligence community i'm pretty confident, will be telling him that. the fact is that the russians are using putin, a very skilled

manipulator. it's overused this term that he's a kgb guy. he's a kgb guy from east germany, forged in that mentality. the problem is where trump has seemed to back away from a tougher stance of what russia is doing around the world, whether it be in europe, alignments with china or, of course, in the middle east, i think it weakens the position. my great hope is this is part of mr. trump's, the art of the deal, he's trying to put on a good tone and when he enters office he'll take a tougher stance. one indicator that might be true is when putin said he was going to increase russian strategic deterrent force, trump said we're going to do the same thing. that's a good thing, quit pro quo. >> we had a professor on earlier saying putin is in it for the long haul, a game of chess for

him. he'll sacrifice for the king. do you feel president-elect donald trump is also in it for the long game? does he have that vision, that it's a marathon, not a sprint? >> i think we just don't know. the concern based on how friendly he has been to putin suggests perhaps he doesn't think that's the case. the real functional issue here, especially in the middle east, perception drives power. the real success of what russia has done in syria is not simply to consolidate the assad regime, but use the consolidation as a mechanism to get all the actors in the regions, especially the sunni monarchies, traditionally an player khan ally, to coalesce around russia. now we're listening to russia, we'll buy their equipment, defer to their judgments. it usurps the stability anchor that the united states has been in the middle east and replaces it with this russian imperial gambit. if trump keeps on playing, i'll let putin hold the cards here.

that destabilizing the middle east and makes things like the iran deal, isis, whatever you want, much harder to resolve. >> tom rogan, thank you for joining us. fascinating. >> thank you, happy new year. >> happy new year to you. it's already 2017 in south korea. the bells you heard were ringing in the new year in seoul. as you prepare to set new goals and bid farewell to 2016, you've got like 24 different times to do it. through the show we'll show you how countries across the globe are celebrating the new year. across the border in north korea, kim jong un put on a display. in hong kong a dazzling display reflected off the water below,

victoria harbor there. wow, what a show. finally, taipei, taiwan, neon lights going. there's fireworks. here it is, it's 1:17 eastern time, that means we are about 40 -- we are actually 15 minutes away from the next new year's which is in india and sri lanka and about 40 minutes away from new year's in pakistan. whatever resolutions you want to make, then it's new year's in pakistan to keep them. >> thank you for keeping tabs on that. >> here to help in any way i can. churches across the country bringing in the new year with a traditional watch night service. for some congregations, 2017 will come with heightened security. >> we step into 2017, we're not scared, we're not afraid, we're not tricking back, we are moving forward. >> we have security, the mpd is aware, we're mobilizing all the men of the church so we have crowd control. the mighty men will be here and

other organizations such as the masons will be here. we're hoping to -- we want to keep everyone safe and everybody to feel they're safe. >> as we told you before, federal officials say the islamic state is urging followers to attack churches. many are using metal detectors at the door and increasing on-site police presence. like we have told you, there have been no specific threats against any particular house of worship. in other words, do enjoy your new year's. >> one of the ways 2017 is so different. revelers bring ringing in the new year should prepare to bundle up. very chilly temperatures across the country. some snow, some rain in the northwest and in the northeast. overall, skies will be clear or partly cloudy, perfect for those fireworks right at midnight. after the break, a new homeland security report shows illegal immigration continuing to rise, but not from the typical hot spot. we'll tell you where these folks

are coming from. also, a family trip to see a professional basketball game turning tragic. the latest details into a small plane crash in ohio. and what was supposed to be a mild ride at an amusement park was anything but, and there was no bathroom while they were stuck up there either. we'll tell you about the rescue to get folks down before midnight coming up next. he ♪ stuck in the middle with you, wondering what it is i should do ♪ i don't want one that's had a big wreck just say, show me cars with no accidents reported pretty cool i like it that's the power of carfax® find the cars you want, avoid the ones you don't plus you get a free carfax® report with every listing start your used car search at carfax.com

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thrill seekers got more than they bargained for last night in california. 21 passengers were stranded for six hours on an amusement park ride 100 feet in the air.

remember how bryan llenas was talking about no bathrooms in times square? no bathrooms up there either. the riders were trapped on the attraction that has panoramic views in orange county california. firefighters lowered the strapped riders one by one to the ground using ropes and harnesses. park of feshls say the riders weren't in any danger. you believe them? >> what about mental danger? >> mental danger. by 10:00, you want two things. you'd want a bathroom and a drink. >> or just to never do that again. now to a sad story. a search and rescue operation has become a recovery of fort after a small plane carrying six people disappeared over lake erie. it tooks off thursday night. the plane was supposed to land at ohio state university in columbus when it lost altitude

about two miles over lake erie. there was no distress call. dive teams gathered this morning to scour the lake for any signs of debris. we know three adults and three children were aboard that plane. a fox news alert ahead of donald trump's inauguration. a sizable surge in illegal immigrants across the southern u.s. border. the report indicates those crossing the border illegally mostly come from central america. will car from our west coast bureau. >> there's definitely been a busy year for border patrol and customs enforcement as president obama gets set to leave office. according to the numbers released on friday by the department of homeland security, total apprehensions across the country jumped by 67,000 this year compared to 2015. border patrol arrests alone are

up 23%. homeland security points out the numbers are lower than they were routinely from the '80s to 2008 and they've made a concerted effort to crack down on illegals who have committed crimes coming across the border other than coming across the border. in a statement, jeh johnson says we continue to focus interior resources on removing individuals who may pose threats to public safety, specifically convicted criminals and threats to national security. an increasing percentage of those deported from the interior were convicted of serious crimes, 90% in 2016 as compared to 51% in 2009. last year we saw the surge of immigrants coming from central america. it comes as there have been reports that this year's search could also be linked to president-elect trump's tough stance on border security.

>> we will build a great wall and we will stop illegal immigration for once and for all. the report also says that sanctuary cities are significantly impacting the removal of illegal immigrants across the country, going on to say those policies drain resources from those that should be protecting the public. leland. >> will carr, los angeles. more on this as it happens. thanks, will. we know new year celebrations have begun. in new york thousands of revelers have staked out their place for the iconic ball drop in times square tonight. that includes our own bryan llenas with some pretty awesome glasses. hi, brooiian. >> reporter: these glasses were only four bucks, they are amazing. i'm ready to bring in 2017. so are about 2 million other people in and around times square. i'll bring you the latest on security, preparations and what some people are doing waiting

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increased security, personnel and equipment are out in force in europe for new year's eve festivities tonight. with the members of the terror attacks still fresh in nations such as germany and france. here is our own kitty logan in london. what can you tell us? >> reporter: well, you're right. all across europe there's additional security in place ahead of the new year's eve celebrations. the concern is these large crowded public outdoor events, they could be an easy terror attack. here in london, what we're seeing is additional armed police on the streets and on public transport and concrete barriers being put up in areas where crowds are due to gather later on. as always, london putting on a huge fireworks display at midnight with thousands expected to attend that.

in berlin, remember there's particular concern there after that attack in the city just before christmas, but people are still preparing to celebrate the new year at the famous brandenburg gate. an annual public event. this year things are being done a bit differently. >> translator: after the attack at the christmas market, security has been tightened. we set up concrete barriers around the event area. we have armed vehicles at the site and our officers have submachine guns. >> reporter: there will also be additional security attacks, a 17 o 0 extra police standing by. german chancellor angela merkel promised to improve security with new laws in the long term. but for now in paris, again, there will be no fireworks display there this year. it was canceled last year, too. the country still in a state of emergency following a series of

extremist attacks over the past couple years. despite this, hundreds of thousands of people are pekted to gather on the river. but alongside the revelers, 10,000 police on the streets as well as soldiers patrolling the city. police have arrested one person suspected of planning an attack. with these measures in place across europe, authorities are leaving nothing to chance. the hope is that the celebrations will pass peacefully. >> definitely the hope. kitty logan, happy new year. tight security here in the united states as well as police learned valuable lessons from the truck attacks in berlin and niese. bryan llenas is on the ground in times square where thousands of revelers, i guess hundreds of thousands, will turn out tonight. >> that's right, leland. the 112-year history of the

times square new york city new year's eve just party here, there's never been security like what we've seen this year. so far what we're seeing is 7,000-plus police officers, plane clothes and in uniform. they have brought bomb sniffing dogs and we have counterterrorism units. the special crc or critical response command units were created in new york city after the paris attacks. they have heavy weapons and on call 24 hours a day to respond to potential terrorist attacks. manhole covers for a 20-block radius have been completely shut down. trash cans have been removed in and around to prevent people from putting a possible explosive in those trash cans. radio testing equipments, boats, helicopters, you name it. they say there's no credible threat here to new york city, but they say this is going to be one of the safest places in the

world to celebrate new year's eve given the precautions they're taking. particularly this year they're using sanitation trucks, 65 of them put on 6th avenue -- >> looks like we lost bryan llenas's live shot from times square. video of 6th avenue where they're putting in these huge sanitation trucks, the dump trucks of new york, they weigh like 17 tons. they're filled with sand. that's to prevent any of the truck attacks that we saw in ber len and niese. also, obviously, police searching each and every person before they head in to times square. live pictures of times square as people are already gathering. once you're inside times square, there's no booze, it's cold. you're not allowed to have backpacks. as bryan pointed out, you can't bring in anything to drink.

>> umbrellas. >> also, there's no bathrooms it could be a very long wait for the next ten hours and 25 minutes. >> they talked about some of the trucks setting up in the perimeter. they have certainly used those before, but never in this instance. we've never had a new year's celebration where there's upwards of 2 million people in one area. bryan, you were talking about the security concerns and the set ups, things never done before in this particular instance, that's the sanitation trucks filled with pounds of sand. >> reporter: they're 20 tons each and have 15 tons of sand in them. what you're seeing are dogs and police officers and also the peds. people are checked twice with security wands, no big bags are allowed, no alcohol is allowed.

you must become perfectly great friends next to you. it's an experience once-in-a-lifetime. you have to get it done. this is one of the most secure places on earth right now as people come here to enjoy a ton of confetti, literally a ton of confetti that will fall on them at midnight. again, no specific threat here. hoping to celebrate just like we always have, in a fun and amazing fashion here in new york. >> what a sad statement we say unprecedented security. it seems to be getting tighter and tighter. bryan llenas with new york's finest and a million of his new friends. stay safe. in other domestic news. firefighters scrambling to contain a series of wildfires in a major urban area as blazes are reported throughout oklahoma city and surrounding areas. fires popping up around enter states, in the back yards of homes and even near the rogers

airport there. at least one mobile home has been destroyed. other than that, no injuries or fatalities have been reported, just a long day of work for a lot of those firefighters. >> awfully dry out there. leading up to inauguration day, president-elect donald trump is taking a decidedly friendlier approach to russia and leader vladimir putin and the current white house administration. our fair and balanced panel next on how trump's approach could fair compared to that of the obama administration. >> it's sort of like that biblical refers, i wish you were hot, i wish you were cold but because you're lukewarm, i spew you out of my mouth. there's nothing worse than being ignored. basically obama is being ignored by putin and that's the most serious wound of all.

. while president obama is using his last three weeks in

office to pick a diplomatic fight with russia over hacking during the election, mr. trump is calling the russian president very smart for not responding. but mr. trump's stance on russia threatens to divide his administration and top gop lawmakers who want a tougher approach to vladimir putin. here to weigh in, our fair and balanced panel, brian hook former assistant secretary of state under president george w. bush, senior policy adviser to mitt romney and al modder, member of the clinton campaign national finance team. brian, first to you, as we have the last panel of 2016. another person who cozied z up to vladimir putin was your old boss, george w. bush who said i looked into vladimir putin's eyes, i saw his soul, a man i can do a deal with, had him to crawford and got pretty worked over by vladimir putin in the end. >> there seems to be a pattern here of presidents coming into office wanting to get on good terms with russia and then

they're disillusioned. it happened to george bush. it happened to hillary clinton. it happened to barack obama. the question is how quickly do they make up for it? i think we've got now another president coming into office who wants to on a good footing with russia. i think generally, democrat or republican, we give the incoming president the benefit of the doubt and see what they're able to do with our allies and our adversaries. >> al, conceivably it took president obama to f eight years to finally get tough with vladimir putin and it wasn't until his party got shellacked in the election, he decided the russians meddling in things is a problem. >> the difference here with president-elect trump trying to set things right or get on a good foot, you had a foreign country interfering in our elections, that's the conclusion of the fbi, the cia and now the entire u.s. government. it's different from when bush came in or obama came in.

what's troubling is we had a president-elect praising someone who engaged in criminal acts. >> brian, to that point, how tough are the sanctions that president obama put on russia. kicking out 35 diplomats, closing two diplomatic facilities. it kind of feels like a slap on the wrist, or is this essentially president obama allowing himself to be the bad cop to donald trump's good cop. >> i think it is a slap on the wrist. throughout obama's presidency, he has failed to taylor the punishment to the crime for russia. >> or china. >> a hack of 20 million personnel records including mine. the response was weak. weakness insights aggression. obama knew a year and a half before the election that the russians were meddling and they were hacking, and he didn't do anything about it. unfortunately now this is a little -- it's too little and too late. as i said, presidents' vice

presidentially figure it out with russia. >> doesn't president obama really not have a lot to stand on right now? he knew that this hacking was going on. he knew it was an issue, knew the russians were meddling, didn't call them out, didn't try to do anything. no retaliation. it wasn't until the democrats lost that suddenly now this is a big issue. >> that's a fair criticism, leland. i think they made a calculation and they made the wrong one, they wouldn't do anything pre election because hillary clinton was going the win. that ended up being false. >> the dnc didn't do anything when the fbi called them and said you're being hacked. the dnc said we're not sure if this is the fbi, thank you, have a nice day. >> the question is what do we do next? is the president-elect getting off on a good foot or is there something more to look in. you have nominated secretary of state with business ties to russia, international security adviser giving paid speeches in

russia. his former campaign manager with ties to russia. what is underneath that? maybe nothing. it's worth looking at. >> brian, is this an achilles' heel? even if there is no something else as al was suggesting, but the appearance of all these ties make it more difficult. every time he does something that's even conceivably positive towards putin, everyone jumps on trump and says now you're just putin's puppet. >> i interpreted that tweet as putin has once again outmaneuvered president obama. there are a lot of democrats using various proxies to contest the election result or undermine the result. >> that's exactly what the russians wanted to do. >> russia is the latest sort of proxy for contesting it. i think until he's sworn in, he's probably going to have a hard time separating the politics from the national security aspects of this. once he's sworn in to office,

he's asked for an intel briefing next week on the cyber attack. once you're in the oval office, things look different. he'll be a congress that wants to get to the bottom of it. i think trump hip self probably has every reason to want to get to the bottom of it. >> conceivably get to the bottom of it. as we've seen time and time and time again, the last thing donald trump wants to be is a puppet. the most aggressive he got in the debates is when he yelled back at hillary clinton about that fact. are democrats now sort of realizing they can get to donald trump on the russia issue or are they focusing on honing their attacks on that? >> i think so. you see it affects his eeg go. when you get at his ego, he reacts impulsively, perhaps petulantly and not rationally. that could be what's going on here. i do think you'll see some partnership going on. it's been very bipartisan, mcconnell, rhymer, schumer all think we need to investigate. >> great conversation. i'm sure there will be more to come. happy new year to you and yours.

take care, guys. >> when we come back, we'll fill in the blanks. resolutions from the new year from one of our favorite political pundits. >> they know how to do fireworks in china. more celebrations as the strek of midnight rings for 2017. video from beijing. ading wherev. the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine. all seems beautiful to me.

it's almost time to put a cork in 2016, but not before we check in with one of our favorite political forecasters about the year ahead. larry sabado heads the center for politics at the university of virginia and joins us with

his crystal ball and new year's resolutions and predictions. thank you for joining us. we have a lot of ground to cover. let's begin with two people who have obviously been dominant in the news coverage, especially in the last 30 days, president-elect donald trump and of course president obama. let's hear your resolution and predictions for the year ahead. >> thank you. this is my comedy debut. i'm really nervous. >> don't be nervous. we have your back. >> president trump should resolve to remember that as of january 20th he is fully in charge and there's no one left to blame except maybe rosie o'donnell. >> very good, very good. now i want to get to president obama. >> president obama should resolve to quit smoking for real this time and ditch the marlboro carton he's hidden in the sock

drawer. that's where former speaker boehner told him to put it. >> your comedy career getting off on the right foot. vladimir putin and hillary clinton obviously in the headlines this year. let's start with hillary clinton. >> hillary clinton should resolve to visit wisconsin. it's never too late. >> never too late. famous last words. >> oh, that hurt. >> that did hurt. what about vladimir putin. >> president putin should resolve to only hack americans who use as their e-mail password abc123 which also works to open a lot of luggage, in case you ever need that. >> let's get to paul ryan, speaker of the house paul ryan. >> back to wisconsin. paul ryan should resolve to memorize the biblical passage about the patience of jobe. he's going to need it just with his own caucus, much less the trump white house.

>> he does have a long road ahead of him. i want to ask you about white house reporters. they have a tough job and they'll have a whole new administration coming up. what's your resolution for white house reporters? >> with apologies to the ones at fox. white house reporters should resolve to sit back and enjoy the show because no one believes what they write anyway. what about fake news? we believe fake news unfortunately. okay. let's get to finally, you, yourself and other pundits and pollsters. let's just say maybe, maybe you've haed a rough year. >> finally , it's almost over. political pollsters and pundits, we should resolve to buy ouija boards and astrology charts since they're at least as accurate as our polls and predictions. >> do you think if you did have a ouija board you would have been able to predict the election? >> absolutely, no question about

it. 100% chance. >> out of all these, can i get your favorite? we love to have you on. these are great resolutions. i want to ask you, of course, your favorite. >> the favorite is hillary clinton. visit wisconsin. she didn't visit wisconsin after the election and she lost. maybe if she visited, she would have won. >> and the weather is so great this time of year. >> weather is terrific, wonderful. it's all white. >> i sort of liked yours for pollsters, maybe resolving to ouija boards. >> a late christmas present. >> larry, thank you so much for joining us. it's never dull. these are great resolutions. i'm sure we'll get the word out. >> happy new year, and i'm going to stick to my day job. don't worry about it. >> you and me both. coming up, the season of giving. one former first family is helping give this guy a second

chance at sea life. we'll tell you more and explain after the break. as we bid farewell to 2016, stay with us as we bring you more new year's celebrations from across the globe.

last story of 2016, the surtal's name is salty, ands that former president jimmy carter, helping him with a new lease on life to release him for the new year. how was that? pretty quick. >> thanks for joining us. have a great day. happy new year. we be again with a fox news alert and disturbing new allegations tied to the russian hacking controversy, raising serious con serps about the nation's power grid. hello and welcome to a brand new hour inside america's news headquarters. i'm uma pemmaraju. a vermont utility company is confirming it discovered malware linked to russian hackers on one of its laptops. raising suspicions that the kremlin is attempting to carry out attacks. vermont goch nor said,