to be able to trust them in syria. paul: all right. thanks to my panel, thanks to you for watching. i'm paulgy -- paul gigot, and we hope no see you right -- to see you right here next week. eric: a fox news alert, taking a live look at america's busiest airport, it has gone dark. a power outage has grounded all flights in and out of the atlanta airport at this hour. take a look at that. no one is leaving, no one is arriving. can you imagine what the passengers who may be watching us right now are thug? a miscue by construction workers. officials saying they are, of course, working to fix the problem. right now, sadly, there's no timetable -- i hate to tell you -- for when operations may resume. as they say on the airplane, just stand by, we'll get more information when we get it. it's a developing story, and we'll bring you up-to-date when

they get things back up and running at the atlanta airport. ♪ ♪ eric: things up and running in washington, and that's the push for tax reform. it is getting close to the finish line. there has been some last minute drama over the weekend and tough negotiations over the final numbers, but republicans in congress are finally ready to seal the deal, they say, on their bill making for their first major legislative accomplishment of the trump administration. on the verge, they say, of passing the biggest rewrite of the tax code in 30 years. hello, everyone, and welcome to "america's news headquarters," i'm eric shawn. arthel: and i'm arthel neville. the house is expected to vote tuesday and the senate should follow suit later in the week. treasury secretary steven mnuchin making a last minute pitch saying this is a historic moment. >> this is going to be the largest change in fixing a broken tax system that we've everred had. people said -- ever had.

people said we couldn't do it, we will do it and i couldn't be more excited. arthel: caroline shavely, what's the -- shively, what's the latest? >> reporter: opponents counter. here's senator bernie sanders. >> we did everything that we could, but at the end of the day what you had is people like mr. mnuchin who himself is worth $3 or $400 million, the president of the united states who's worth several billion dollars, as you mentioned, some 4 or 5,000 lobbyists doing everything that they could to write a bill which significantly benefits the wealthiest people in this country and the largest corporations. >> reporter: democrats also point to estimates that it will add more than a trillion dollars to the deficit over a decade, and they point out while the corporate tax rate gets slashed from 35% to 21% permanently, individual cuts expire in 2025.

but republicans argue that lowering the business tax rate will inspire companies to innovate more, hire more and pay more. plus, they dismiss the democratic line that this is a gift to the rich. congressman darrell issa says the wealthy are actually shouldering a bigger burden in high-tax states like california, new york and new jersey. >> this is a good bill for business. there's some good things in it to help get business investment. but if you're an executive in a company or somebody who's being asked to make investments and you're paying 53% blended in california, this isn't helping you much, and you're right, the investment class of people are going to find this as a problem. >> reporter: keep your eye on those pay stubs starting in february. that's when secretary mnuchin says middle class families will start seeing more money in their paychecks thanks to this bill. arthel: thank you, caroline shively. eric: another big story we're following, that is the trump transition team. have you heard about this? they're leveling some serious

charges against special counsel robert mueller's investigators. they claim that his team improperly obtained a trove of e-mails from the transition headquarters before they got in to office. and some republicans are are speaking out harshly about this. mueller's team says, though, everything they did was proper, that they followed correct criminal procedures, and investigators did follow the law. >> all those guys need to be held accountable for what they did, but it needs to be exposed, because this goes to the heart of whether this whole investigation was legitimate from the start. we still don't know. the government won't admit whether they paid christopher steele for the dossier, how the russia thing started, whether they used it to surveil trump associates. eric: those are some of the questions to garrett tenney on the north lawn of the white house with the latest. >> reporter: at the center of this debate is who did these e-mails belong to, and we're talking about tens of thousands of e-mails that investigators now have from 13 top members of

the trump transition team. now, the trump transition team claims the e-mails belonged to it and that it was its property and that if the special counsel wanted those e-mails, it should have come to the transition with a warrant. instead, mueller's office went to the government agency that provided e-mail services to the transition and then obtained those e-mails without a subpoena and without informing the transition team. in a letter to top lawmakers, an attorney for the transition suggests investigators may have violated the fourth amendment by obtaining the e-mails without a warrant. the special counsel's office is pushing bakken on that though and in a statement said when we have obtained e-mails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we are secured either the account owner's consent or appropriate criminal process. now, despite these new allegations today a number of lawmakers are from both parties came out to say that robert mueller continues to have their full confidence. here's alabama senator-elect doug jones. >> i would be very surprised if

bob mueller did anything that illegally obtained or anything like that. he is the consummate professional, and that investigation is proceeding, it's going to go forward. i don't see any anticipate at this -- taint in this point. >> reporter: we also got more details about a phone call president trump received earlier today from russian vladimir putin. president putin called to say thank you for the u.s.' help in thwarting a major terror plot in st. petersburg this week which the u.s. intelligence agencies had given the russians advanced warning about. based on the information the united states provided, russian authorities were able to capture the terrorists just prior to an attack that could have killed large numbers of people. in russian lives were lost, and the attackers were caught and are now incarcerated. the two leaders discussed north korea just a few days ago, and the white house tells us in this latest phone call both leaders agreed that this latest attack

sevens as an example of the good that can come from the two countries working together. eric? eric: garrett, thank you so much. arthel? arthel: okay, out west now to the latest on those wildfires burning out of control in many lawyers there this southern california -- areas there in southern california. the nearly two-week-old thomas fire is officially larger than new york city. will carr is in santa barbara, california, with the very latest. will? >> reporter: arthel, larger than new york city and boston combined, and it's still threatening 18,000 homes and buildings in this area. but firefighters have caught a break. the winds have really come to a lull throughout the course of today, so that's allowed fire crews to walk along where this fire burned yesterday. you can see the charred terrain here, and you can see how close it is to some of homes here. these fire crews really did a great job yesterday when we had winds whipping through here with 50, 60 mile-per-hour gusts. this is what they're doing on

the ground today. we were just up the ridgeline seeing what they were doing from the air. take a look. fire crews trying to take advantage of the lull in the winds that we've had throughout the course of the day. we've seen them attack the side of this hill, making numerous air drops while the winds are calm because if they pick back up, they could push embers into montecito and santa barbara creating real problems for the crews on the ground. this fire's now 40% contained, but we're still in a red flag warning through tonight, so keeping a close eye on out on whether those winds will actually pick up. right now the fire, if it burns 3-4,000 more acres which it likely will given how much has burned already, it will become the largest wildfire in california's history. arthel. arthel: unbelievable. okay, will carr, thank you. eric: and we have another fox news alert for you. too bad so many times we've heard about this, christians again coming under attack from radical islamic terrorists.

this overseas. two suicide bombers targeted a packed church in pakistan killing at least nine people and wounding more than 50 others. this is happening in the city of ketta. isis also claiming responsibility for the attack just eight days before the christmas day. guards say they managed to kill one of the attackers at church entrance, but the other one did make it inside the church where he blew himself up. arthel: meanwhile, international protests continuing this weekend over president trump's recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital. people pouring into the streets of jerusalem today to voice their displeasure. massive crowds also attended rallies in pakistan and indonesia. muslim clerics in jakarta even calling for a boycott of american products. conor powell is live from jerusalem with the latest. conor? >> reporter: things here in jerusalem in places like bethlehem and other palestinian cities have calmed significantly in comparison to recent weeks.

there's still a lot of anger and tension, but the violence we saw a week or so has calmed considerably. around the world we are seeing protests, and this is shifting into a diplomatic battle here in the next days and weeks with turkish president erdogan saying today turkey would soon try to open an embassy to the palestinian state in east jerusalem. this comes as thousands of turks demonstrated against the u.s. today across the country including in the capital city ankara. turkey has a consulate in jerusalem, and like most countries with diplomatic ties with israel, turkey keeps its embassy in tel aviv. protests against trump's policy decision continue around the world including in paris. clerics in pakistan also today calling on all muslim countries to cut diplomatic ties with the u.s., and in indonesia there was calls for a boycott of american products. while none of these are likely to actually happen, arthel, this is moving into a diplomatic battle, and in the next couple

days we do expect to see a motion put forward to the u.n. security council that would, essentially, denounce and condemn the u.s. position on jerusalem, recognizing it as the capital of israel. some big u.s. allies including france, the u.k. and egypt all seem to be backing this motion. so it'll be interesting to see what happens in the next days. the u.s. has already basically said it will try to veto it, but there will be a fight on the u.n. security council on this movement. arthel? arthel: thanks for keeping us posted, conor powell. eric: and we have breaking news out of the nation's busiest airport, operations at hartsfield-jackson international airport, well, as you can see, look at that. they're not going anywhere. the power outage has caused that airport to have a complete ground stop. in fact, inbound flights from other parts of the country and the world have been held at the points of origin until about 4

p.m. eastern that just passed about 11 minutes ago. passengers are sitting and waiting at the height of the christmas travel season. can you imagine being stuck sitting on the carpeted floor right now? they say even some of the wi-fi and cell service is out. we will bring you the very latest on that situation on this sunday afternoon in atlanta. meanwhile, it's a griming milestone in the scott peterson case. we're ant to mark 15 years since the disappearance of his wife and unborn son. coming up, we'll take a look back at that tragedy that gripped the nation. and republicans on the verge of overhauling the u.s. tax code, the first time in decades that would give the president his first mayor legislative win. so how big would that victory be for the gop? that as fox news channel's coverage of all the world's events continues right after this. ♪ ♪ >> we're not waiting 31 years to become competitive again. we're going to continue to match the moves of our competitors, we'll continue to make the changes in our tax code so we

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arthel: a major blackout grounding flights at the nation's busiest airport. we're told the outage at hartsfield-jackson international

in atlanta was caused by construction crews cutting a power line. georgia power working with airport officials to try to get the airport back on the electric grid. frustrated passengers took to twitter describing the scene. one person calling it, quote, literal pandemonium. by the way, check your airline's twitter feed for updates and we, of course, will bring you any updates as we get them as well. eric: oh, man. it's a big week on capitol hill with republicans in congress on the cusp of turning their dream of tax reform into a reality. the house is expected to vote on the bill on tuesday. the senate should follow suit with a vote later in the week. they're all hoping to get the bill on the president's desk for him to sign by christmas. the gop's been saying it will simplify taxes so much that you will be able to file your returns on a postcard. well, we'll believe that when we see it. treasury secretary steve mnuchin echoed that point this morning when he appeared on fox news sunday. >> over 90% of americans are

going to fill out taxes on that postcard or a virtual electronic postcard. this is about simplifying taxes and the business system. so there will always be people who complain they're losing tax breaks, but this is about making it simple for the american public. eric: colin, i mean, a postcard? do you think they're going to get to that? h&r block is not going to be happy. you hardly understand any of it, you're sitting in your living room, dining room table, i mean, sometimes i just give up. i pay, but i still give up. >> i don't think h&r block actually has that much to worry about. republicans are keeping in place most of the deductions, especially on the individual side that make the tax code more complicated. so even though they set out with this goal to allow you to fill out your taxes on a postcard, it's unlikely that most people are going to be able to do that. although if you take the standard deduction, they're going to double that deduction. so basically, that means you

forgo any other itemized deductions, and that will be a simpler process. eric: do you think they'll be able to get this done and it will be signed and ready in the oval office for the president to hold up, you know, by christmas day? >> they've been able to hold to this very ambitious schedule, and the house has a vote scheduled on this for tuesday, the senate could take it up potentially as early as that night, possibly wednesday. it remains to be seep -- seen on their end a little bit. but, yeah, it looks likest going to be ready for the president's desk before he heads to mar-a-lago. eric: what does that mean if they are able to notch this in their belt after the failures of obamacare and health care in the past? >> it's certainly a victory, but it also allows republicans basically to breathe a sigh of relief that they were able to accomplish something this year. that being said, they're really gambling that the economic growth from this is going to be as much as they are saying and that it'll be a boon for them in

the midterm election cycle. eric: yeah. and that is, you know, something they're betting on. what if that doesn't work out? i mean, they say the average american is going to get about $1,600 or so in savings, but this thing is adding a trillion dollars to the budget deficit. >> right. eric: bob corker was big on that until he became a yes vote. >> right. the deficit concerns continue, and the polling on this has not been favorable for republicans. it's been in the 20s to 30% approval rating which is, basically, where obamacare was when it was passed seven years ago. and i think part of that might be the process. this has been seen as a very partisan process, only republicans voting for this. the 1986 tax reform effort was bipartisan. ronald reagan locking arms with democratic leaders and basically getting that done. and this has been just a different, different exercise this go round. eric: that is a great point that not one democrat, for good or for bad, is voting for this.

they've attacked it up and down saying it's going to cut people's health care, that it's a gift to the rich, the top 1% especially, the corporations. republicans say that'll spur job growth. here's senator bernie sanders, as you know independent of vermont, predictably attacking it. >> we did everything that we could, but at the end of the day what you had is people like mr. mnuchin who himself is worth $3-$400 million. the president of the united states who's worth several billion dollars, as you mentioned, some 4-5,000 lobbyists doing everything that they could to write a bill which significantly benefits the wealthiest people in this country and the largest corporations. what we are seeing here is a real massive attack on the middle class. eric: and what about that? i mean, there's fears that next could be social security, medicaid and medicare. >> well, so there's a budgetary

procedural vote that republicans will have to vote on in order to avoid cuts to entitlements as a result of the addition to the deficit that this tax plan creates. but i think what you're hearing there from senator sanders is basically a preview of what democrats will be saying on the campaign trail this coming year, basically attacking this as something that benefits corporations more than it does individuals. and there's some basis for fact in that. most people will see a tax cut, but the tax cuts on the individual side are twear -- temporary and due to sunset in 2025 whereas the corporate tax cuts are permanent. eric: the president says it will lead to more growth. we'll see if it gets on his desk in the next week. good to see you. >> thanks for having me. eric: of course. arthel? arthel: it has been 15 years since lacey peterson and her unborn baby were murdered on christmas eve. it sparked a frantic search in

modesto, california. her husband scott peterson was convicted of the crime. he is now on on death row. laura ingle has been covering this, and many a special airing tonight laura joins a group of experts as they dig deeper into what happened and why scott thought he could get away with it. here's a preview of tonight's episode. >> reporter: it was a case that gripped the nation, the disappearance of an eight-month-pregnant woman from modesto, california, in 2002. police admit they are no closer to finding lacey peterson than they were on day she vanished. the northern california schoolteacher with a big, broad smile drew immediate media attention 15 years ago. >> we've been through so much these last days that i'd like to make a plea to the person or persons who have my daughter. please bring our daughter home. >> reporter: attention quickly turned to laci's husband scott who told family members and investigators he went fishing

the morning of christmas eve saying it wasn't uncommon for them to do things on their own. >> being, you know, seven-and-a-half months pregnant, she's not going to want to go out in a boat, but it's simply a leisure activity to pursue that day, and, you know, it was what our plans were. >> reporter: one month after laci's disappearance, it was revealed scott peterson was having an affair with amber frye. the single mother went to police once she became aware that her boyfriend was quickly becoming a prime suspect in the case. months of searching and hoping came to a crashing end when the bodies of a baby boy and woman in maternity pants washed ashore not far from where scott peterson said he went fishing. their positive identification confirmed the family's worst fears. >> we will seek justice for her and connor and make sure that person responsible for their deaths will be punished. >> reporter: scott peterson was arrested four days later. in 2004 he was found guilty of

murdering his wife and unborn child. the following year he was sentenced to death. both of peterson's appellate cases are still pending, both challenge his death sentence and request a new trial. in new york, laura ingle, fox news. arthel: the special, "interview with a monster: the scott peterson case," airs tonight on fox news at 8 p.m. eastern then again at 11 p.m. eastern. eric: should be fascinating. well, the question this afternoon, did they flinch the e-mails proposerly? republicans -- properly? republicans reacting to the mueller investigation obtaining those tens of thousands of trump transition team e-mails that happened to be on government servers. our panel will take that up next. >> there are two fundamental questions; did the if fbi pay christopher steele, and was the dossier associated with spying on president trump's campaign? if the answer is yes to either of those questions, then this is as terrible as it gets, as wrong

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♪ ♪ eric: today to marks six years since the death of kim jung-il, he, of course, the father of current north korean dictator kim jong un. the commemoration of the former north korean leader's passing is raising new concerns about continuing nuclear ambitions amid tensions with the united states. secretary of state rex tillerson saying that he does, of course, want peace with north korea blue that the administration -- but that the administration will not go into talks with north korea unless they stop the missile tests. >> we have been clear that all options remain on the table in the defense of our nation. but we do not seek, nor do we want war with north korea. the united states will use all necessary measures to defend itself against north korean aggression, but our hope remains the diplomacy will produce a

resolution. eric: will it? bryan llenas live with the very latest here in new york. >> reporter: hi, everything. we now -- hi, eric. north korea has a tendency to launch rocket tests and military drills, so the world is on extra alert this weekend as today marks the sixth anniversary of death of their former leader, kim jung-il. now, this as a 59-year-old australian man was arrested saturday for allegedly trying to sell north korean missile parts and other military technology abroad. authorities say the man was attempting to sell weapons of mass destruction, working as a, quote, economic agent on behalf of north korea. police say choi had been in contact with high ranking north korean officials, the arrest underscores the reality that while the united nations has enacted the toughest economic sanctions yet against north korea, the regime continues to find ways to make money selling not just weapons on black market, but also counterfeit

money and drugs. and earlier today ohio governor, republican john kasich, said the trump administration needs to decrease the military rhetoric and increase international pressure on north korea. >> in the beginning i think the president, by putting pressure on north korea, was doing the right thing. but this is -- it's getting carried away and bluster and threats and thrown around the fact that we're going to be engaged in some kind of a war that could involve nuclear weapons or result in the death of millions of people, i think, is just not right, and i don't think it's correct foreign policy. >> reporter: secretary of state rex tillerson called out russia and china at the united nations security council friday calling on them to do more to isolate north korea. eric. eric: all right, bryan, thanks so much. arthel: all right. we are going to talk more politics as trump transition officials now saying robert mueller, quote, improperly obtained tens of thousands of transition team e-mails. those claims coming days after

new anti-trump texts surfaced from a top fbi agent working on mueller's team. that same agent, peter strzok, also worked on the hillary clinton e-mail investigation. the house judiciary committee member jim jordan saying that he is willing to peen that top -- to subpoena top fbi officials as well. >> subpoena andrew mccabe, peter strzok, bruce orr, and i also think the chief of staff needs to be brought in. let's get all the documents, let's bring them in for depositions and put them on the same witness stand that rosenstein sat on last week and sessions sat on a few weeks ago and ask them the same tough questions. arthel: let's bring in jehmu greene, former chair of the democratic national committee, fellow for the athena center for leadership at barnard college and fox news contributor. also here, gianno caldwell, a fox news political analyst as

well. so let's jump in. i'm going to go with ladies fist today on this sunday afternoon, jehmu, the transition team accusing mueller of obtaining unauthorized e-mails. did mr. mueller do anything wrong, and should the allegations alone discredit the team and the russia investigation? >> hi, arthel. i think we should start by talking about who robert mueller is. he's a decorated military veteran who was appointedded to multiple senior positions by republican presidents, multiple positions in the justice department, and he was praised by trump's lawyers and all of the republican members in the house for his unparalleled independence and impartiality until the investigation gets closer and closer to the oval office. then we're starting to see all of this passion around investigating the investigation. and that's really sad because we

have to remember where we started, and that's a foreign government trying to inmoons our election. -- influence our election and to, you know, attack the integrity of our elections. arthel: that being said -- >> partisanship is pretty transparent. arthel: so you're saying this should not discredit the investigation. let's jump over to you, gianni. you've got congressman jim jordan of ohio saying he would like the house judiciary committee, we just showed it, to subpoena the fbi director, the deputy director, andrew mccabe, agent peter strzok and officials from the doj. what is the likelihood of that happening, and what do you think the results would a hearing like that produce? >> i think it's very likely to happen, and considering the explicit bias shown by peter strzok, i'm not sure at this point if he's a double agent at all. because it's equivalent to either being, working for the fbi or working for the

democratic party when we look at those messages and those e-mails. in this has become very problematic because an spring of this caliber, this level, we should never have to question his integrity. and in any normal investigation, we would consider can anything he collects fruit of the poisonous tree. so when it comes to an investigation that is so serious, and i agree this is the most sensitive investigation the fbi has ever had in the history of our democracy, because the russians did penetrate our elections, penetrate our elections, and we need e to know what actually happened. so when it comes to that, everyone needs to be aboveboard. and at this point senior lee leaders at the fbi are not, so that's very problematic. arthel: let's take a listen to the james lankford of oklahoma, he was onen cbs this morning on "face the nation." >> we expect the justice department to be blind and be fair to all sides, not have a clear political bias and express it so strongly. i don't think it taints the

entire process, but it certainly taints that season of it, and it's something you should look at with any political investigation he was on at a -- at the time. we want our agents to be nonpolitical and not actively engaged politically. arthel: senator lankford is on the intelligence committee. do you agree or disagree, jehmu? >> well, i think we should listen to deputy attorney general rod rosenstein himself who said very clearly that he has no concerns about bias in the investigation. he batted down repeatedly the republicans' questions about any sort of bias and how robert mueller has handled this. we also have to keep in mind robert mueller discovered these appalling texts -- and i agree with everyone who says that they are appalling -- he discovered them, and he removed the problem. that's the type of person he is. that's the independence we need in a position like this.

and it's just really sad, again, to see the polarization driving, undermining our nation's law enforcement agency. that, at that level that's just sinking to a new low for republicans. arthel: gianno? >> i don't know about that, jeff my. i think -- knew. i think if this individual was someone who was a police officer that shot an unarmed citizen and we found out these messages, would you give this person the benefit of the doubt? wouldn't you question the entire investigation? i mean, at the end of the day you wouldn't want peter strzok as a part of your jury pool because you know he's a biased individual. if there's anybody that's undermining this investigation, they're senior leaders at the fbi. and it's so, such a problem because this shouldn't be about politics. this is our democracy at play, and we shouldn't have a foreign entity that's disrupting that. so at this point, this isn't a political situation where

republicans or democrats are at fault, this is our democracy, and we need to be aboveboard -- >> it is our democracy. arthel: -- response from deputy counsel who denies corey lang offer's claim that the then-general counsel had promised that any request for transition team records would be routed to legal counsel for trump for america. beckler never made that commitment, transition team members, he adds, were warned that information would not be held back in any law enforcement investigation and that no expectation of privacy can be assumed. let's get final words from you, jehmu. give me 20 seconds, then i've got to get to gianno. >> anyone who works on a presidential transition committee knows that your e-mails are government property. but what i think is also pretty telling is passion, the passion that we just saw from gianno, the passion we're seeing from these republican members who are trying to investigate the investigation, that same passion, arthel, has not been

there when it comes to the actual investigation of russia impeding many our electoral process. >> that's not true. john mccain, lindsey graham, i could mention a number of senior republicans -- >> i'd like to see passion on the same side -- arthel: jehmu, let me give gianno e the last 20 seconds. go ahead. >> there's been committee hearings on this very topic, jehmu, so that's an intellectually dishonest statement. i don't appreciate that at a all. but certainly, we are at a point where we must all just come together and unite and find out exactly what happened. so at this point politics should be completely out of it, and to the point -- >> i agree with that, i agree with that. let's take politics out. >> these are -- let me really quick, really quick, those documents some of them are privileged communications. so you can get them, they're government property, but some of them were supposed to be redacted, and that was the issue in terms of those documents being turned over to the gsa.

arthel: i leave it there. gianno, jehmu, thank you very much to both of you. eric: well, breaking news in atlanta at the airport, hartsfield-jackson, see those planes sitting there not doing anything? well, that's the way it is on this kind of rainy late afternoon on sunday during the christmas season because there's been a total power outage there that has grounded all the flights coming in and going out, causing as you would expect a travel nightmare for the flyers trying to use that airport during this very busy christmas travel season. when will the power go back on? when will the flights get to talk off to go -- take off to go from the control tower? we will see. no news on this yet, so our hearts go out to all our fellow americans and others sitting on the carpets right now at hartsfield-jackson. arthel: about 80-100 planes sitting out there waiting. eric: this is going to ripple across the whole air traffic control system of this country for the rest of this evening

because they've got to move around some of those airplanes to go on other legs. so go to plightaware.com to -- flightaware.com. we'll stay on top of that story this afternoon. and meanwhile in the middle east, you know those protests over president trump's recognizing jerusalem as the capital of israel? well, they're continuing. and now the palestinians say they have their own plans. they're calling a united nations security council meeting tomorrow. what they want, what that they plan and what they hope happens. ambassador dennis ross on that next. at planters we know how to throw a remarkable holiday party. just serve classy snacks and be a gracious host, no matter who shows up.

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♪ ♪ eric: fox news has confirmed that the united nations security council is set to vote tomorrow on a draft resolution calling for the withdrawal of president trump's decision recognizing jerusalem as israel's capital. you know the resolution though will likely be vetoed by u.s. ambassador to the united nations

nikki haley. what does this mean? ambassador deb thinks ross joins us now -- dennis ross joins us, fox news foreign affairs analyst and and author of "doomed to succeed: the u.s./israeli relationship from truman to obama." ambassador, the draft -- which i've read -- it's sponsored by egypt, it expresses deep regret at the president's declaration. it says that it, quote, has no legal effect, is null and void and must be rescinded and calls for no nation to place an embassy in jerusalem. is this vote tomorrow significant or merely symbolic? >> well, it's certainly symbolic, and what it reflects is the palestinian unhappiness over the president's declaration and the fact that it puts the palestinians on the defensive. you see president abbas basically making the point that the palestinians are not acquiescing, they're not taking this. the image that was created, even though it's not the reality, somehow jerusalem was being

conceded already. and instead of focusing on the part of the statement that president trump made that he's not prejudging the negotiations, the boundaries of israeli sovereignty still have to be negotiated, instead of trying to focus on that and then seeking to get the administration to be more explicit about what that means. if you're saying you're not prejudging negotiations, it must presume that palestinians have needs as well. by focusing on the u.n. where, in fact, you're going to have an american veto, you're going to end up producing once again a sign that the palestinians can't affect things. what you should be trying to do right now is show that you can. eric: the palestinians are going to be stay ising defiance about this -- staying defiant about this. here is the permanent observer for the mission here at the united nations in new york speaking about in the other day. >> jerusalem is in the heart of the global international

community. jerusalem is the city of peace. from jerusalem we can have peace, and without jerusalem we cannot have peace. eric: so, i mean, how is it possible to have something otherwise when they deal with this tomorrow? >> well, again, the resolution's not going to change the reality. even if -- you can put it on the table, you can have it voted, and when the united states veto it, it means that nothing's going to happen. what the ambassador was saying, in effect, is you can have peace with it, without it you can't. on the one hand, that's probably right. there isn't going to be a resolution of this conflict unless you also resolved final status of jerusalem. now, that has to be negotiated. the president's statement said it needs to be negotiated. what has to happen i think at this point is to find a way to show that the administration is also taking account of palestinian claims, palestinian

needs. the sole reason you need to negotiate this is to take account of both sides' needs, not the needs of only one side. ultimately what's a pact is that -- a fact is that a significant part of jerusalem is going to be the capital of israel, it already is. and everyone knows that will always be the case. there is a question of whether or not there'll be one capital for jerusalem or two capitals for two states. that too, ironically, is not being precluded by what president trump said. he said he's not prejudging the negotiations or the final status of jerusalem. i understand that because jerusalem is an emotional issue for all sides and for the palestinians and the arabs, they're been put on the defensive by this statement. one thing the administration could be doing is at least quietly talking to arab leader about what else they could be doing at this point to create more political space for those very arab leaders who we want to be a part of any kind of peace process and who we need to be responsive when the administration presents plan that jared curb they are says

the united states is going to present on israeli/palestinian peace. eric: we're right up against the clock. that is the hope. we'll see what happens tomorrow. i'll be there reporting on it, covering for fox news. we'll be right back.

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california have been up against high winds as they try to knock down the thomas fire. will the conditions give them a break anytime soon? meteorologist adam klotz joins us now with that answer. adam? >> reporter: i've got good news, not great news, but things are going to be improving a little bit. our fire danger now centered just around a smaller area in southern california. just yesterday it was stretching up towards san francisco. so the winds have backed down earlier today getting up to 40 or 50 miles an hour. this is our forecasted wind gusts, and when you start to see deeper blues, that is indicating more wind. as i run into the next couple of days, that's going to wind down a bit, that's going to stop the fuel this fire and give firefighters a chance what you really need is moisture and, unfortunately, that's not in the forecast, hasn't been there in the last 4 hours. the extended forecast, we begin to see a little bit of a rain system move into the pacific northwest, but that is not going to reach all the way down into southern california. now, this runs all the way into

next week. this is model eled forecast precipitation, ask and you are looking at that fairly large system eventually bringing snow farther inland. but if you run down to the area where it's been really dry, it's a bull's eye. unfortunately, that rain continues to hold off, and this is running all the way into next weekend, arthel. while we have the good news of the winds backing down, the rain that they really need just isn't on the way yet. arthel: okay, adam. thank you very much. we are over here sorting something else out because the fires are a big story and so is president trump returning to the white house. he spent the weekend at camp david having major meetings there. and the president spoke to reporters upon landing, and one of the big takeaways -- we're going to get that sound for you in a moment, but one of big tickaways, the president said he does not plan to fire special counsel mueller. eric: that is huge, that the president says he does not plan to fire mueller. also comes as he says the acquisition of the e-mails from

the trump transition team, the president said that doesn't hook good. you know, critics are criticizing the way mueller did that by, apparently, getting records from the -- arthel: the gsa. eric: -- government agency that handled the transition team. but the mueller situation is the headline at this hour, the president insisting he's not going to fire the special investigator. let's listen to the president right now. this is a playback. >> not looking good. not looking good. it's quite sad to see that. so my people were very upset about it. i can't imagine there's anything on them, frankly, because as we've said there's no collusion. there's no collusion whatsoever. but a lot of lawyers thought that was pretty sad. [inaudible conversations] >> go ahead? >> [inaudible]

>> little loud ehelicopter, a lot of noise. reporter: [inaudible] >> yea, that's right, it is the anniversary, hopefully everything will normalize. right now they are not doing the right thing. when they're not doing the right thing, we're not going to do the right thing, that all there is to it. the cuban people are incredible people, they support me very strongly. we'll get cuba straightened out. reporter: [inaudible] >> no, i'm not, no, what else? what are you, surprised? what? reporter: [inaudible] >> i did speak to senator mccain. i wish john well. they headed back, but i

understand he'll come if we ever needed his vote which hopefully we won't. the word is john will come back if we need his vote, and it's too bad. he's going through a very tough time. no question about it, but he will come back if we need his vote. thank you very much, everybody. >> there's president trump seeming to for a change enjoy talking to the reporters, saying what else? you got anything else? the last point the president made regarding senator mccain at walter reed recovering from complications of cancer treatment saying he spoke to cindy mccain, senator mccain's wife. if senator mccain's vote is needed on the senate vote for tax reform, he'll be back in d.c. on the floor. >> our thoughts are with senator mccain. of course, there is the headline the president saying he does not have plans to fire robert mueller. we didn't exactly hear that as i recall in what we just heard. we'll get more information on

that. that, at this hour, the big headline on that. and we'll have a lot more coming up in one hour from now. arthel and i will be back at 6:00 p.m. eastern. >> absolutely. hope you can join us, greg gutfeld is up. >> does not belong on the national stage. he looks like disheveled drunk that wandered onto the political stage. greg: not true, i'm completely sober. [ laughter ] >> you're right. ♪ [cheers] . greg: it was quite a week for the orange sheikh, first senator kirsten gillibrand demand donald trump resign over harassment allegations, yes, she's quite the defender of women. i think we have tape of her