>> america's news headquarters starts right now. >> bye-bye. >> this hour starts with a fox news alert. justice department inspector general is now planning to review some department of justice and f.b.i. actions ahead of the november election. hello, i'm heather nowart. we're told they'll examine whether policies and procedures with followed in connected with jaims comey's communications on the f.b.i. investigation. some argue his late announcement tankled her chances against now president-elect trump. another story, it is a very basy day on capitol hill for the incoming trump administration. three more cabinet picks take their turns in the hot seats during the confirmation hearings. cincinnati committee hearing from three men to determine if president-elect trump's nominees are ready to lead their respective agencies. dr. ben carson for housing and urban development, general james mattis for defense secretary,

congressman mike pompeo for cia director a lot going on. we have peter ducey, sorry peter, work with your dad in the morning, steve. outside trump tower. what did the transition team today say about the hearings? >> heather, they're watching the confirmation hearings in washington. they want to be clear about one thing, even if a nominee for a cabinet job doesn't -- said something that does not precisely line up with what the president-elect has said, if they're talking about russia for example, it doesn't matter. each nominee they think will pursue the president-elect's vision and the president-elect's agenda. they don't see a conflict there the same way they think there was a conflict with the intelligence community. until last night, mr. trump had taken aim at five agencies during his press conference with the world watching suggesting that somebody there leaked information they should rnlt have leading to story and confusion about thor verified

document that spread all over the world. director of national intelligence, james clapper, says he called the president-elect last night to share his concern about what he calls corrosive likes. and the president-elect appreciated the call. he said this on twitter, james clapper called me yesterday to de nounls the false and particular tissues report that was illegally circumstance rated made up of phony facts. too bad. mr. trump not willing to let it go with cnn, he calls the network that first reported the details leaked out of that behind closed doors briefing, he says they have a no credibility. >> all right. peter tell us about rudy julianie, he got a new job with the trump administration? >> yes, remember rudie guillian was gunning for secretary of state, he's going to lead a cyber security effort and he talked about it this morning. >> my belief that the answer to cyber security is going to be found in the private sector.

that's where we have great creativity, that's where we have the huge amount of money, and that's where we have great companies the the greatest in the world. the idea is to bring together corporate leaders and their technological people, the president will meet with them on an ongoing basis as well as anybody else in the administration. >> this morning executives from at&t were seen in the lobby at trump tower, pending $85 billion merger with time-warner has been heavily criticized by the next president. >> peter ducey live outside trump tower, thank you. retired general james mattis vowing to keep america say. he needs a waiver. less than seven years after he left the military. national security correspondent jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon. >> congressional lawmakers will try to fast track that waiver before they recess tomorrow.

this was a newsy senate armed sfls hearing with general james mat whois told lawmakers it was the media, not marines, who gave him the moniker "mad dog." his statements stood in stark contrast to campaign promises of donald trump who malted mouthed nato, suggested the u.s. could work with russia and would tear up the iran deal when general mattis said he wouldn't have signed but wouldn't renege on. >> it's not a deal i would have signed, imperfect arms control agreement, it's not a friendship treatmenty. when america gives her word we have to live up to it. >> he differed with the president-elect by expressing strong support in nato saying that the treaty alliance is vital to u.s. national interest and if we did not have it today, the u.s. would have to create it. he crowd the strongest possible relations with nato to counter vladimir putin. he questioned whether the u.s. would be able to cooperate with putin or russia.

>> we have long list of times that we have tried to engagetively with russia. we have relatively short list of successes in that regard. and i think right now, the most important thing is that we recognize the reality of what we deal with, with mr. putin, and we recognize that he is trying to break the north atlantic alliance. >> on threats to the current world order, he issued the following warning. >> i think it's under the biggest attack since world war ii, sir that,'s when russia, from terrorist groups, and with what china is doing in the south china sea. >> do you think we have a strong enough military today in order to achieve that goal? >> no, sir. >> cincinnati armed services just voted to give mattis a waiver to serve as defense secretary. even though he has not been retired for seven years. he would be the first general to be asked to do so since harry truman made an exception to civilian control of the military

and asked general george s. marshall to serve. three democrats voted against. it will now go to the house and come back to the full senate vote. they're hoping to achieve that waiver before congress recesses tomorrow. >> all right, jennifer griffin live at the pentagon. jennifer just mentioned, we're movements away from action by the house armed services committee to consider that waiver allowing general mattis to serve as secretary of defense. now, my next guest was a u.s. marine under general mattis in iraq serving in fallujah in 2004. california congressman duncan hunter is a republican on the house armed services committee. you would have purview over budgets and all of that for the military as well. congressman hunter, thank you. i want to ask you about this, president-elect trump has talked about building a stronger military. how do you see that happening under mattis and how do you see that happening under president-elect trump? >> thanks for having me. number one mattis was known, his marine corps nickname was "the

monk", they called him "the monk", he was so smart and never married. it's not complicated. that was his marine corps nickname that the marines gave him. it's easy. spend wisely, to provide security for the american people. do things effectively and efficiently. it's going to take money and take a secretary of defense that is a war fighter and doesn't try to do social experimenting with the u.s. military, make sure they're the most effective fighting force in the world. that's not difficult but the bureaucracy gets in the way. >> he talked about concerns about russia and wanting to maintain a strong nato and strengthen nato, in fact. one of the things we did during the cold war, we forced the soviets to spend so much money and the ruble isn't doing really well right now, they have economic problems there. can we do that again, are we in position to force russia to spend a ton of money and put them back on their heels? >> yeah, we can do that wisely. here's how do you that. you don't do that by just giving

nato money and doing things they can do for themselves. i like what trump says about let's make the nato countries carry their fair share, spend 2% of their gdp on defense. we have to leapfrog technology so that we come out with stuff that the russians don't have. they then have to spend a lot of money to catch us. that's how we did it during the '80s. you leapfrog big technology jumps, and then the russians go, man, we have to catch. that and then they have to spend a lot of

acquisition bureaucracy that we have. you have to make sure your old stuff is up and going. when you've been fighting in two countries since 2003, all of our stuff is pretty worn out, planes, ships, hum-vees, you have to get it going. >> speaking of those two wars that we've been fighting, marines, 300 of them, were just being sent, announced they would be sent back to afghanistan about half of them have served in afghanistan. they're returning just two years after they left. where do you see this going under trump administration? >> you know, afghanistan is never going to be san diego, where i'm from. no matter how hard you try or put troops into afghanistan, it's not sarn diego. i think you have to have people on the bases, you have to listen to what pakistan is doing, the yawn iranianses, use afghanistan to hear what the bad guys, terrorists are doing in pakistan and irans.

but that's it, from my point of view, we're not going to make afghanistan into disneyland. we tried that. we got to stay there so we know what's going on in that parent of the world. where you have bad guys trying to con kkt plans to hurt americans. >> so you ser verd under general mattis, he wasn't a general at the time. in iraq. what was he like? >> oh, he was pretty interesting. my first time that i went from kuwait up just south of baghdad, i got ambushed, machine gunner got shot, we get up to the base, mattis is there. he called me in and asked why i didn't kill all of the bad guys that shot at us. that was my first tale to him, by the monk, mattis. great guy. >> congressman duncan hunter, thank you for joining us. republican from california. >> thank you. >> three of president-elect cap net picks face tough questions. more highlights and reaction ahead. mr. trump selects a familiar face to run the department of veterans affairs.

is the president-elect still planning to fix that broken system that he consider it stiezed from the campaign trail? congresswoman march that roby has been very active on v.a. reform is up next to talk about that. >> they're waiting in line for 16, 17, days. cases where they go in and they have a minor early stage form of cancer and can't see a doctor. by the time they get to the doctor they're terminal. it's not going to happen. it's not going to happen. tech: don't let a cracked windshield ruin your plans.

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may be changing course on an overhaul of the troubled veterans affairs administration. mr. trump announcing david shulkin, the agency's current undersecretary, will now run the

v.a. that means that there are? concerns, now, about the plans to privatize veterans care and whether or not that could now be off the table. the executive director for concerned veterans said in a statement, it noise secret that the v.a. has been failing veterans for years. while shulkin already holds a leadership position as secretary, he will now have ultimate responsibility over the agency and we are hopeful he will take it in a new direction. joining me now is congressman mayor that roby, she's been a very vocal supporter of change at the veteran's administration. welcome to you, congress wouldman. i want people to know how much you have done to change things in your home state at the v.a. how can what you've done there be aplietd to what the new v.a. secretary needs to do? >> i appreciate you saying that. certainly, i have made reform at the v.a. a top priority. i had one of the worst health centers in that i backyard. it's important that i expose it

legislatively, put in place reforms that would hold those bad actors accountable. i will continue to do that. i'm looking forward to the opportunity. and i certainly also understand concerns that people might have with dr. shulkin. but i know him, i've worked with him. he is an outsider. he's only been at the v.a. for relatively short time. and i believe he brings expertise and the know-how to get it done. >> let me ask you about that outsider part a lot of folks were surprised when they heard the name and it was an undersecretary who works there. expecting that president-elect donald trump would bring in somebody from the outside. why him, what's significant about that? >> well, he's currently the undersecretary of health and he has only been there for a relatively short amount of time. he was brought in when the other folks were let go because of the disaster within the v.a. i have worked with him 1-on-1 as i introduce legislation to hold

the v.a. accountable. and he was helpful and i believe that his efforts will be to do just what i have worked so hard on. that's to get this right by our veterans. >> one of the things that president-elect donald trump talked about on the campaign trail is allowing veterans to see private doctors or on occasion go to the private facility outside because the wait times are too long. is that off the table or do you see that kind of a plan still going forward under this new v.a. secretary? >> absolutely i see that as part of the plan. this is something that we worked on here in the house with the choice bill that we passed. that's been a huge advocate for access to community care for our veterans. >> excuse me one second that,'s a pilot program, correct, where some men and women who use use v.a. can then go to a private doctor on the outside? >> it is currently the law that the veterans can access through the choice program. and there have been changes since that law has been implemented to improve upon

that. there have been hurdles and we've worked with the v.a. to ensure that our veterans have access to the outside providers where the v.a. cannot provide that care. i think this is a critical component to our veterans being able to get the best care that we can offer them. for them to access it in their own backyard without having to travel to a health facility down the road. >> you have done a lot to reduce wait times at your v.a. facility, i want to commend you for. that let me ask you about something else that could be big in the news, senator jeff sessions facing off with his colleagues as the cincinnati considers him for attorney general. your name is being floated as a possible replacement for his post. tell us about that. >> let me tell you about jeff sessions he's a great american. he will serve this country well as attorney general. and he hit it out of the park at his confirmation hearing. he's a great conservative. he served alabama well. and he will continue that service down the road in his new

capacity. he has big shoes to fill and i'm honored to have been considered for that. but i'll tell you i'm really, really focused on the work that we have to do in the house on behalf of alabama's second district and this great country. >> thank you so much, congresswoman martha roby. let's stay on it and let us know how it goes. >> thanks for having me. >> with inauguration day eight days away the nation's capital bracing for a flood of visitors and cash. how d.c. is preparing for the big day economically and security. then a major announcement from e-commerce giant amazon, the big changes coming to fulfillment centers and what it means for the overall economy. we will be right back. (avo) did you know two areas of your brain can make it hard to lose weight?

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>> heather: show of force in europe. thousands of american troops rolling into poland as part of the effort to deter what u.s. officials see as russian aggression in nato country. some of these soldiers spend a month training in poland, some germany before they move to other parts of regional europe. the exercises will be used to task how fast u.s. forces can respond to any possible conflict with russia. the kremlin calling it a threat to russia's interests and security. russia has beefed up troops in that area as well. amazon announcing it will create more than 100,000 new jobs. the e-commerce giant is staffing up as it expands into new categories, including groceries and online video.

amazon says most of the positions will be in new fulfillment centers and all full time with benefits. the company has kree amounted more than 150,000 new jobs over the past five years in the u.s. alone. nice. right now, inauguration preparations are underray in the nation's capital. temporary structures are being built for the festivities there. but that's not the only thing going up. hotel rates and restaurant prices also on the rise. washington prepares for a big crowd. we're live in washington, shannon got a look at what is going on. >> 1.8 million people showed up for president obama's first inauguration that,'s expected to be a historical high. it was a huge boon and hotel rates hit an all-time average of more than $600 a night. if you can colorado get one. every four years the nugration comes at the right time for d.c. >> it has an enormous economic impact. the context is that this is the

slowest time of the year for the economy. this is mainly the visitor industry. hotels have the lowest occupancy rates in january and february, around 40%. so anything that changes that can have an enormous impact. >> preparations have been under way for months on capitol hill and many hotels and private homes booked well in advance of the actual election. air b&b which allows homeowners to rent out residents short term saw a huge spike in bookings and prices. one person who manages those bookings said he had a90% cancellation rate in the 48 hours after the election. clearly thought it was going a different way. air b&b says the bookings are back up, about to hit an all-time high heading into the inauguration. expernts think 400,000 to 500,000 people will come. they spend about $3300 each for an impact of more than a billion dollars. it's not cheap to stage the inauguration. some of those benefits that come

in, economic benefit, they're offset by that. when you factor in construction, security, all of the other bells and whistles the price tag comes in at about $175 million to $200 million. about $70 million covered by private donations of the rest is up to us. >> if you think about the overtime for police officers that adds up. shannon, i know -- >> we're ready for you. >> moving on in. i'll see you next week, thank you. two more cabinet confirmation hearings. dr. ben carson and mike pompeo. what happened in those hearings? first, here's the nominees for cia director. >> i have no doubt that the discourse that's been taking place is something that vladimir putin would look at and say, that was among the objectives that i had. no doubt among the american political xhoo unt to suggest that somehow american democracy was not unique.

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>> heather: secretary of defense nominee james mattis wasn't the only one under the microscope on capitol hill today. two other confirmation hearings. dr. ben carson fielding questions for hud secretary. kansas congressman mike mom peo taking on pointed questions for the cia director. chief congressional correspondent mike emmanuel joins us live. we're looking at some of the more challenging issues brought up for the man picked to head

the cia. >> good afternoon. mike pompeo sounded like some one familiar with speaking about sensitive matters having the skill to do so after serving on the house intelligence committee. prominent republican senator asked him with all of the buzz about hacking and cyber security, about the u.s. is ability to strike back. >> do we have the capabilities in your view to adequately respond to cyber attacks? i'm talking about the cape witnessbilities, not the policy -- capabilities. >> i want to be careful in open session talking about the full scope of american capabilities. but this is an amazing nation with incredibly smart people. if given policy directive to achieve the objective you're describing i am confident that america can do that. >> congressman pompeo may be freer to speak openly at this point. they're in a closed session right now, with members of that committee. and the cia director nominee. >> interesting.

they went into closed session so they could have more free conversations that we don't have access to and talk about that spy kind of stuff. great. >> indeed. >> heather: tell us about dr. ben carson, on the hill for a hearing to head up housing and urban development. >> he is clearly not a housing expert after a distinguished career as a doctor. but he grew up in poverty and achieved great prominence. he did show a little bit of skill as a politician in terms of answering a question about a specific type of housing. >> do you believe that hud has a duty to take actions that promote equal access to housing opportunities for lgbtq people? >> if confirmed in this position, of course i would enforce all of the laws of the land. and i believe that all americans, regardless of any of the things that you mentioned, should be protected by the law. >> sources close to the nominees

told us they would be red kwu, they had done their prep work, they had been through mock questioning before, and that certainly sounded like dr. carson had had some practice and did his homework. >> heather: mike emmanuel, great to see you. thank you. here with reaction to all of this, thome, the republican political analyst and executive vice president of jamestown. let's start with you and ben carson, not, maybe, a normal pick or natural pick to head up hud. one thing he's passionate about, trying to fix inner cities and urban america. do you think he can make changes that president obama didn't seem to address in his administration? >> i don't think the president didn't address it, i think he tried his hardest. the problem that ben carson is probably going to have the same problem donald trump is going to have, we need to invest in the infrastructure bill. they have to depend on the party to pass it. that's going to be the hard part, getting the budget hawks to pass a trillion dollar pretty

much stimulus package, trillion dollar highway bill or bridge bill -- >> president-elect donald trump talked about getting the private sector to foot the bill. >> but the president tried that as well. when he tried to pass the infrastructure bank and it failed by republicans. once again, the stumbling hurdling block is fiscal deficit hawks. will they be willing to work with donald trump on passing a trillion dollar bill. >> heather: we'll watch. that want to ping pong to a bunch of issues. tony, i want to ask about general mattis. one of the things he said that caught a lot of folks attention is that the world order is under the biggest attack since world war ii. russia, china, and also isis. where on earth do we start? >> he's right a big part of that, is the rise of the shiite out ofter ram. you have four arab capitals under president owe bam and hillary clinton and john kerry's foreign policy that fell to complete control of the world's

largest pro live raytor and sponsor of terror because of our wrecknesses, russia reasserted dominance in that region. chien is a major tratding partner, somebody we could have a very kwon strucktive relationship with. they have expanded into the south chinaee. >> heather: we'll talk about that in a second. twient play a clip for the viewers who didn't catch the mattis hearing, about russia. >> sincial ta, we have long list of times we have tried to engage positively with russia. we have a relatively short list of successes in that yard. and i think right now, the most important thing is that we recognize the reality of what we deal with, with mr. putin, and we recognize that he is trying to break the north atlantic alliance, and that we take the steps, integrated steps, diplomatic, economic, military, and the alliance steps, working with our allies, to defend

ourselves where we must. >> heather: that's a full plate. richard, let me ask you about that. he's taking a tough approach against rush i can't. how do you square it with the trump administration where they stand? >> i think this general is walking a tightrope here. i see a little bit of southern term, russia ain't our friend. there's no understand and or buts about it. we have to get that clear. most americans agree that russia isn't our friend. and now i hope that the president-elect agrees that russia isn't our friend. we have to do everything in our power to curtail the spread of russian influence. whether it be in crimea, syria, the black sea. >> heather: there's one area of cooperation -- >> russian influence. >> heather: there's something that president-elect donald trump has talked about, potentially working with russia and trying to defeat isis. phony how do you see that going down that, gets dicey when you get in, a lot going on in syria and al asaad. >> and you have asaad is a sponsored by moscow and tehran.

the reality, theoretically we should be focused on fighting isis russia cares about it more parochially, they have radical islamic elements in their country, chechnya in particular. but we have a broader responsibility at the united states leading the coalition that de fights eye sis, we have be a di -- isis and we have abdicated that authority. you see russia going into crimea with little kwenls and examiner kiezing muscle in the middle east. what i think you heard general mattis say, i don't anticipate any issue, he's been getting high praise from both sides of the aisle and i assume he'll sail through with close to 90-plus senators. but what he's talking about is reconstituting the nato alliance in the post cold war world that still continues to uphold the western strategic interest and values and negotiates with russia from a mace of strength. >> heather: something that was covered in rex tillerson for

secretary of state, his hearing yesterday that,'s making america a strong world leader once again. and many in the administration feel that that just has not taken place during president owe bam'sed managers. let's listen to a quick lip from mr. tillerson. >> the highland building in the south china sea itself, many respects in my view, building islands and then putting military assets on those islands, is akin to russia's taking of crimea. china's activity in this area is extremely worrisome. failure of a response has allowed them to keep pushing the envelope. we are e going to have to send china a clear signal first the island building stops. and second your ak access to those islands is not allowed. >> heather: that testimony, and testimony just like that, i think it's probably taken wind out of the sails of democrats who thought that perhaps mr. tillerson and mr. trump wouldn't be so tough on the issue. >> absolutely. rex tillerson as well, like

general mattis, performed brilliantly in the hearings. there's very little room for democrats to go and attack him outside of just traditional partisan political theater. for eight years, our foreign policy and military policy has been present dick tiffly weak. under trump administration i think you're going to see a refocusing on the most boo i part san vir u since the end of world war ii, having an agenda internationally that's led by the peace through strength doctrine. not chaos and weakness doctrine. one more thing, heather, it's important -- >> heather: i have another segment, let me get to richard then we'll come back. i'd like you to respond. >> this idea to sit here and say that president obama has not led on foreign policy is ridiculous. >> heather: give us a xum couple of examples where they led on foreign policy and succeedted. >> first we decimated al qaeda, caught osama binl laden. >> heather: but now we have

isis, which is a larger problem. they're a worldwide threat. >> beyond that point hered the problem donald trump has, he has said that he likes putin. but as marco rubio said a couple of days ago on the senate floor. he made it very clear that russia sntd our friend. russia killed a lot of innocent people in alep owe. we can't stit here and say putin is a good guy when he's killing innocent citizens, global stejs of the world. russia, what trump has got to do is find a way to counter balance china. also curtail russia, at the same time maintain stability in the middle east. that's no easy task. hrn we got a lot of work to do. okay. stick around, hold folks, we're going on bring them back to talk more about these hearings on the hill. guys, hang in there. the senate laying the foundation to repeal obamacare and taking all night to do it. we will have more from the panel on whether republicans can make good on their promise to repeal and replace. as democrats warn, it's a

terrible mistake. >> up to 30 million americans will lose their healthcare with many thousands dying as a result. because you have no health insurance and you can't go to a doctor or a hospital, you die.

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and here's the best part... you still own yohome. call now! take control of your retirement today! >> shepard: in our next hour or nation's intelligence chief set to brief senators bee heendz closed doors about rush yaz attempt to interfere with our election. we'll look at capitol hill and live reports. justice department watchdog ready to investigate how that department and the f.b.i. handled the clinton e-mail case. we'll talk about that with the policy policy center from "wall street journal." in 16 minutes on "shepard smith reporting." >> heather: the cincinnati staying up all night repeal obamacare.

the house is expected to house on it as early as tomorrow. democrats say dismantling the affordable care act will hurt millions of americans. republicans say they are confident they're fulfilling their campaign promise. listen. >> i spoke with president-elect trump probably two times in the last three days on this. mike pence was in my office to discuss this yesterday. we're in complete sync and we agree, we want to make sure that we move these things concurrently, at the same time, repeal and replace. we need to show that there's a better way forward. >> the mub answer might have an ideological opposition to affordable care act. they have to understand what it means in cost to their constituents. >> heather: let's bring back tony and richard. gentlemen, welcome back. tony, on the republican side of things, congressman -- speaker paul ryan calling it a rescue mission to repeal and replace. one of the tough things has been actually coming up with a replacement part of the plan. how do they do that and what is the plan?

>> let's start with this. obamacare has repealed itself. it imploded completely, it was a bad policy, a bad law, based totely on political ideology. right now, you have 75% of the obamacare owe opens collapsed. they're done. most -- many states don't have more than one or two options. 17% of people don't have healthcare with obamacare because it was too expensive. it's done nothing to reduce costs. what republicans have to do is focus on a market based solution that continues to expand near universal coverage -- >> heather: do they have a consensus plan, in place, for repealing or replacing obamacare with something else? >> they have consensus around a lot of points and that's going to be put together in the form of legislation that is going to be debated in the senate and the congress. that's the way it should be done. >> heather: but richard the timing is important, donald trump says they want to do it

right away, do it quickly. is that possible? >> and he also said that tom price, if confirmed as hhs secretary, will have a plan ready to go. he authored one, you remember, two years ago and never saw the light of day, president obama would shoot it down. >> here's the thing. i don't say the afford an care act was perfect, no democrat will say it was. what it did do is made sure that people with prior conditions could get healthcare, mandatory maximums. a woman wasn't a pre-existing conditions. we got money for people with black lung to get the care they need. >> heather: some people benefitted, okay. >> tony and republicans continue the talk about platitudes, market space, more choice. i ask you this, show me the bill. republicans have not shown us a bill -- >> heather: it is a problem when insurance companies have completely pulled out of markets leaving people with very little coverage. >> absolutely.

>> heather: what happened to if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor. >> if you talk to democrats on the senate side, they'll tell you, the affordable care act was one step, didn't go far enough. you have to remember that health insurance doesn't equal healthcare. we have to find a play to fix that, making sure that every american has healthcare and not just health insurance. >> heather: tony? >> if you don't have free market competition you won't have lower prices. kornlt is the prob lechlt obamacare didn't solve it. you didn't have to change 100% of it. >> heather: more americans have health insurance. and the question is can they afford it. that's the question. >> that is the question. are they any good, are the plans any good. >> heather: we have to leave it there. thanks to both of you, rich around fowler and tony, we'll see you next time. huddle on capitol hill as top intelligence officials talk

about russia's role in hacking related stuff with our election. we'll keep an eye on any possible developments. speaking of russia should we expand our nuclear capabilities to contain moscow? we'll look at what that could look like under the trump administration.

>> heather: welcome back. intelligence officials about to provide classified bipartisan briefing for the entire u.s. senate describing russian involvement in the election. director of the cia, f.b.i., nsa and national intelligence will present interagency report on russia's attempts to interfere with the 2016 election. that briefing is expected to get under way in just a few minutes. they'll dot same thing tomorrow for the entire house of representatives. the president-elect is taking a tougher tone regarding russia. mr. trump implying that he's more capable of being tough on vladimir putin than hillary clinton could be. he said this during his news conference. this as the u.s. steps up its presence in europe as part of the deterrent against russian aggression in that region. kevin cork is live from the white house. kevin, what can you tell us about the latest move by the united states? >> well, good afternoon, heather. you're right. this has been in the works for more than a year now. you may recall, we talked about this during the nato summit last

summer which was in poland. and as you know, nato has become an indispensable part of the safety and security of our allies in europe. because of that reason and because of the fact that the russian military has been increasingly aggressive in places like ukraine and specifically crimea, our allies are asking for help. the u.s. along with canada and other countries are there to help fill the void. >> this deployment is defensive in nature. it isn't intended entire toy shore you have shall -- it is intenned to shore up the defenses along the western flank. it is motivated in part by some of the destabilizing and escalating actions that the russian military has undertaken over the last year or so. >> josh earnest right there laying out the reasons for it. he didn't get into specifics in

terms of numbers, the d.o.d. is still managing that as of course we get more information we'll pass it along. >> heather: we've seen some reports about 3500 or so sent out from fort carson in colorado, soldiers from the army headed out to help reassure our allies in the region. let's talk about this, the administration take on donald trump's subjection that russia will respect the united states more with him in office. tell us about that. >> well, listen, this is super interesting for me for a couple of reasons. i think there's more to this than meets the eye. keep this in mind. yes, he could make that suggestion during the campaign. he actually made it specifically yesterday. but i think this is also interesting, because, listen, the president-elect is also saying something about the current administration in his comments. what he's effectively saying, it's good to be friends with russia. failing that, we'll be tougher and they will have a healthier amount of respect for a trump administration than they ever did for an obama administration. now, as you can well imagine, i

tried to push the white house on this. they're loathe to comment on something like this especially after releasing trump's tweets and comments. suffice to say, though, they bristle at the suggestion understanding they have had eight years to work at this relationship and hasn't gone well. we'll see if things are better under president trump. >> heather: an exciting time. kevin cork at the white house. television photographer finds himself making the news instead of covering it. with a daring cold water rescue. wow, that's next. you don't let anything keep you sidelined.

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>> heather: a photo journalist hailed a hero for saving a woman from a sub merged car. greg dunne said he was driving in indianapolis when the car behind him hit a curb and went into the water. >> stepped slowly, tried to keep my footing and i hear screams from inside the car. i don't know if she's buckled in or not. but she had floated to the back

seat. i was able to see her head. i just reach in, grab her, and pull her out. >> heather: the woman did not suffer any serious injuries. see you tomorrow. here's shep. >> shepard: breaking news on fox news channel, 3:00 and the united states senate is voting right now on allowing a waiver for the retired general james mattis, "mad dog" mattis as the president-elect e calls him and his friends do, to serve as the defense secretary. you may know by now, under current law pentagon chiefs must be out of uniform for at least seven years. that's the rule. but general mattis left the military in the year 2013. the senate armed services committee passed the waiver earlier today. the word was they would most likely vote on it in a full senate either tonight or tomorrow most likely. instead, they fast tracked this and the vote is under way right now.