>> beginning with a fox news alert new reaction from the president with the ongoing russia probe. the president takes questions after returning to the white house from camp david now saying he has no plans to fire robert muller those comments after the trump transition team level serious charges against this pencil one --dash special counsel safety investigators went over the transition teams had to obtain sensitive e-mails. >> good evening. the lawyer for the trump transition team getting those tens of thousands of e-mails improperly.

so under attorney-client privilege but they are pushing back tonight going through all proper channels. we are live at the white house. >> what are in those tens of thousands of documents? >> tens of thousands of e-mails by the top transition members between the election and the inauguration. back in august the special counsel's office obtained those e-mails for the investigation but they are complaining that the e-mails were turned over without their consent and without a warrant. saying they receive those e-mails from the general services administration that provided the transition team with e-mail services.

but they claim gsa has no right to handle the transition private data about the special counsel's office saying when we have obtained e-mails we have secured the consents -- or the appropriate legal process. they have not accused special counsel mueller or his team to do anything illegal expressly or criminal activities but it is however asking congress to take action because of something is not done then the same thing could happen to future transition teams. or it could be misappropriated by the government agencies t6 but the president was pretty critical of this. >> yes. so they are continuing to fully cooperate and they expect that to be wrapped up

soon. but president trump weighs in with the latest controversy. >> not looking good. not looking good. it is quite sad to see this. we are upset. i can't imagine anything is wrong frankly because there is no collusion. no collusion whatsoever but a lot of lawyers feel that is pretty sad. >> we also heard from the number of lawmakers today that democrats are pushing back on the accusation that the investigation has become tainte tainted. >> he is the right person that when he finishes his investigation this will be done in a fair and balanced way i truly believe that. >> also the president shot down rumors he is planning on firing special counsel mueller and that is what we have been

hearing from the personal legal team throughout the process because if he knew who was appointed they would move the entire investigation back at square one and this is the last thing they want t6 and we have a lot more on that. throughout the newscast. arthel: republican lawmakers are considering subpoenas for fbi officials after evidence of anti- trump the bias of the agency surfaced. they want answers from the deputy director. >> republicans on the hill called it to key witnesses they try to figure out whether or not anti- trump officials were stacking the deck against the president while they investigate his administration. tomorrow the senate intelligence committee listens to the associate attorney general who was demoted from

his post when he found out he disclosed meetings with fusion gps that was from the dirty dossier alleging wrongdoing and also on fusion payroll then the director will meet with a committee where lawmakers are hoping to share light on the biased trump text messages before he was removed from the special counsel investigation. >> a all need to be held accountable but they need to be exposed to goes to the heart if this investigation was legitimate from the start. some republicans fear that this barely even scratches the surface of the anti- trump bias and they wanted the second counsel to investigate. >> to say he is looking over several matters this includes determining if any

investigation many need to be opened or with the assignment of another prosecutor. >> the judiciary committee will start to send a subpoena to fbi officials as they try to figure out if the bureau is working against the president. arthel: later republican congressman sits on the judiciary committee and has a lot of questions on how agents could have been influencing two major investigations at the fbi. >> the push for tax reform as it gets closer to the finish line. the gop has announced it does have the votes to pass the bill. meanwhile president trump confirms that senator john mccain while he has returned to arizona for treatment at walter reed now is dealing with the side effects from his

cancer treatment and our thoughts are with the arizona senator tonight. we have the latest but first, if senator mccain does not make it back for the vote can the republicans still have enough votes to pass the bill? >> it looks like they do even with a few to spare. >> the word is john will come back if you need his vote. that is too bad. he is going through a tough time no question. but he will come back if we need his vote. >> they shouldn't and vice president pens is willing to stand by but some say they would but were cut out of the deal. >> i really believe the president wanted to work in a bipartisan way. we were talking we are exchange ideas i gave them a

litany of things that i thought ten or more democrats would vote for. mitch mcconnell decided 51 votes was all that was deeded they will all be republicans to make it political and that is what happens. >> many are voting no because it adds more than $1 trillion to the deficit into big a chunk goes to the wealthy. and it cuts the individual mandate. >> besides those saying the average american could save $1030 how important is that change? >> it is huge for the entire economy. it slashes the corporate tax rate 35 down and 21% no long -- middle income workers will feel the benefit because now they will hire more people and raise wages but also give a one-time incentive to return trillions of dollars of profit that corporations have been keeping overseas. that is a long time coming.

>> america will never fall this far behind again. we are not waiting 31 years to become competitive we will match the moves of our competitors and make the change to our tax code to bring these jobs back to local businesses can compete. there is a whole new attitude about making america strong for the long-term. >> sec. nguyen told fox families will start to see bigger paycheck starting in february. >> fox news alert as america's busiest airport goes dark a major power outage shutting down parts of jackson airport in atlanta grounding all flights in and out creating a massive backlog on the tarmac.

we are with our local affiliate life helping us to cover the story. it is pretty dark behind you. >> it is extremely dark i will let you see what is going on setting up some temporary lights you can see people standing around waiting to pick them up that is the only way they will get out of the atlanta airport this evening. i will show some video from earlier. almost it is unbelievable with the planes sitting on the tarmac with nowhere to go here at the international airport. we do not know exactly how this started but we talk to passengers who said they were in line around 1:00 o'clock when the lights started to flicker then the electricity went out. there were some emergency lights but people started to go toward the windows or any

light source so they could see what was going on. there was not a panic. se as people were called but that is starting to dissipate as we get into the sixth hour without power at this major u.s. airport. we did get some video from a viewer from inside one of the terminals just to see how dark it was. people were playing a game of telephone to find out exactly what was happening. we also understand because so many people were trying to get out and find out what was going on there was a big issue with the cell phone service and we are still having trouble -- trouble getting calls in and out. we did talk to atlanta police

in the last half hour they are trying to organize to get people out so there is no power or no heat inside the building. it is not incredibly cold but it is chilly so there is concern of people having to spend the night but they're asking anyone who has a loved one do not try to come to the airport to pick them up they are working on a centralized location so people can go there to pick them up because the traffic coming into the airport is far too heavy for anyone to go where they need to go. arthel: it sounds like coordinating efforts to bus those passengers to a nearby location to avoid the congestion. is that the case? >> exactly. at this point our transit syste system, the trains are running they are encouraging

people to get on those train and meet at a station away from the airport. and the buses is likely what they will bring to the airport to get them to another location. arthel: you have limited cell phone service and the pa system is not working, do you have an indication of how they are getting messages to the passengers? is somebody walking through with a megaphone giving updates? >> that is a good question at this point atlanta police say they are working on the communications strategy. patient -- some said they saw operation manager titles trying to ask questions but they cannot at this point

cannot answer individual questions because they have to deal with a larger scope of the problem. people are frustrated and feel they should have been able to get answers immediately in the power is still out there trying to figure out what happened and how to restore that and that as well as getting people somewhere for the night is a priority. arthel: from our atlantic affiliate thanks for giving us that update. eric: 450 flights canceled and out west southern california people will not being going home for the holidays because of the wildfires the thomas fire could be the largest in the states history reaching the size of new york city the president says it looks like a war zone as the high wind continues to spark more flames.

right now in montecito is especially hard-hit by the wildfires. >> conditions have been great for the thomas fire that is good news for those on the ground. a stark contrast compared to yesterday when we had fire jumping around this community you could see it raced through here. the terrain is charged but a big house untouched that is a testament to what these crews have been doing. take a look at what they have been dealing with at this point yesterday. >> a number of fires here a challenge because the santa ana wind that is pushing me. dropping spot fires all across the community. they are trying to put those

out as quickly as possible because then we see other fires popping up and that is the challenge for the men and women on the ground. >> the good news again this fire is 40% contained and firefighters hope to up the numbers because the wind is supposed to die down but if it continues to burn only 34000 more acres that is not a comparison if that happened it will be the largest fire in california history. >> meanwhile taking a senate seat from republicans but why you should not always expect to vote down the partyline. >> i know this sounds like a broken record and we try to do

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>> i am a doug jones democrat looking at issues on both sides. everybody says because you are

member of one party or another you will vote a certain way that should never be the case i will figure out what is in the best interest of my state and of the country don't expect me to vote solidly for republicans or democrats. arthel: that was senator elect jones that he will not vote just on party lines the outlook could be crucial because the gop holds only a razr thin majority voting on the tax bill next week but as of right now he will not be officially certified to catch a vote on that legislation we have the associate editor from the hill and we are just getting into a big week for tax reform but republicans believe they still have enough votes to advance the package as late as tuesday night even if senator is mccain who was

in walter reed recovering from reactions or his treatment for cancer republicans should be fine even if senator mccain is out so are they expecting any last-minute surprises? >> we understand vp pens will be in town to break a tie if it comes to that but it doesn't seem that it will come close to that was senator rubio and corker, two people who came out said they would back it so with them on board it seems they have the votes even if senator mccain is not there to vote. arthel: of course he is in walter reed recovering from side effects of his cancer treatment and of course we wish senator mccain the very best to him and his family as well.

so now we move onto senator elect jones calling him a doug jones democrat. what does that that signal about the type of lawmaking policy and practices mr. jones will bring to washington? >> we see that all the time lawmakers say they will vote with conscience and in the best interest but at the moment doug jones is under no pressure to help republicans he is coming off that huge upset victory a deep red state that hasn't elected in a quarter-century 700,000 people voted for him so he is coming to washington with a mandate for his own party and plot his own course in the senate. there are some areas he could work with republicans. arthel: they said he will have a diplomatic approach partisan free.

is it possible senator jones is a beacon on the hill to shine a light the way lawmaking used to be and catch on? >> there are some areas like infrastructure looking forward to working with republicans and senators are more independent like you see a few key republicans come out to oppose measures so certainly there is opportunities like that where a single member can come out with such slim majorities that makes all the bills more important. arthel: i have to leave it there thank you for taking time on sunday evening. eric: the u.s. secretary of state and the ambassador

sitting at the same table looking at each other in a showdown. before there are any negotiations there has to be a change of actions. this is nuclear blackmail. can kim jong who never be reined in? and top officials and they are all over those questionable text messages trashing president trump and the president says he has no plans to fire special counsel muller and also what does that mean? moments away. ♪ ♪ give ancestrydna, the only dna test that can trace your origins

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>> working six years from the death of the north korea kim

jong il raising new concerns as tensions continue to rise with u.s. sec. tillerson says he wants peace in north korea but not go into talks unless they stop shooting missiles into the air. we are live in new york with more. >> north korea has a tendency to commemorate important anniversaries by launching rockets. so we are on alert as this is that fit the anniversary of the father current reader kim jong. the 59 or old australian man arrested saturday to try to sell north korean missile parts abroad. he was attempting to sell weapons of mass distraction working as an economic agent on behalf of north korea. he was in contact with high-ranking north korean officials it underscores the

reality while the united states actually the united nations put the topic -- toughest sanctions yet they continue to find ways to not only sell weapons on the black market for counterfeit money and drugs. earlier today john casey nick said the trump administration needs to decrease the military rhetoric and increase pressure. >> the president by putting pressure on north korea was the right thing but now it is getting carried away with the threats that we will be engaged in some kind of a war that could include in nuclear war the death of millions of people is not right and not correct foreign policy. >> the real concern that time could be running out and secretary of state tillerson called out russia and china on

friday to do more to isolate north korea. eric: president trump says he is not considering special -- firing t3. answering questions from reporters that he has no plans to do that opponents have feared he could try to shut down the investigation but those latest comments come after the claims that he would fire the transition team but they -- privately obtained the e-mails during the transition. they are also calling for a top fbi officials to appear before the judiciary committee to answer questions about allegations of bias here is jim jordan.

>> and also the chief of staff needs to be brought in. bring them in for depositions in the same on from rosenstein asked them the same tough question so the american people get the answers. eric: for starting with the president, who is a member of the house to sherry? and their reaction to what the president said that he will not fire t3? >> those were all rumors we have not heard that. i look back and i don't think he should have been appointed there was never a crime to investigate but searching for one. but it would be politically dumb to fire him at this juncture. i don't think they will make a collusion case. i'm sure the white house is

annoyed they have to deal with this but firing him will create some political problems. things are fine the way they ar are. >> can it modify as the investigation continues? >> here is the thing. with a very legitimate question about the genesis of the investigation before director muller was appointed looking at the campaign july and august of 2016 trump is already the republican nominee. we know the fbi got the dossier that was paid for by the democratic party. we are trying to get answers did they pay for the dossier or use that to get surveillance? what about this meeting from this agent that the trump

could not possibly get elected then the text says i wish that scenario were 100% but we meaning the fbi cannot take the risk of trump getting elected then alluded to needing asian insurance policy that is major because that is more than anti- trump bias but somebody who says they will act to interfere in the election. eric: but rosenstein night -- testified that there was personal believes that professional actions for nothing reflected that. do you believe that? >> well he was fired. eric: now with the human resources department. >> that was obviously a demotion he was in charge of

the hillary investigation it was super agent and in charge of the russia investigation so yes, you can have political opinions but we have had questions over a year about the lack of diligence into hillary's claim long -- k. >> mrs. clinton was not put under oath to testify. trump or others apparently changed the language from gross negligence to extremely careless and there is a difference in the law. >> this is even bigger than that. they had a finding it is reasonably likely her server was hacked by possible foreign actors but that was changed to say we cannot determine but it is possible. that really watered it down and what she said it was never hacked. the initial conclusion was different. so yes he was pro- hillary but

if you look at that investigation it is questionable if the subject of the inspector general investigation but then look at russia and he says he has to stop trenton wondering if they used that dossier to answer the questions. eric: supposedly they met with christopher steele. >> during the presidential campaign. he is right down the street right down the hall from the deputy attorney general. why does he go to me? i asked if that meeting was authorized that he would not tell me. eric: apparently it was not and his wife is at gps during the campaign. but let's get back to the e-mail. that text that calls president trump and idiot actually also bernie sanders so there is equal idiot opportunity. i want to believe of the

consideration in his office but no way he gets elected but we cannot take that risk it is like the insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you are 40. look at that. i want to believe the path for consideration. that could be andy's office. what are they talking about? >> we need to find out so i read that to say he will not win. no way he has the path so then the other says i hear you but we cannot take that risk we need the insurance policy in case he wins. eric: what is that? it says that right here. it is like an insurance policy. they are cooking up something. >> that is why we want answers about the dossier.

did you pay for the dossier or use this to start the investigation or use information from this to get surveillance? and remember. right after trump won the russia narrative would take over among certain elements of the bureaucracy with unprecedented leaking to take the issue in referring to something it is not good. eric: he will raise his hand tuesday before a house committee in asked so maybe we will finally get some answers. to those very questions that you raised we will get them for the american people. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. arthel: vladimir putin called president trump and thanks for his help. we will tell you why he is so grateful. an interview you don't want to

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visit quickbooks-dot-com. eric: have you heard about the airport at atlanta? a power outage that started 1:00 o'clock this afternoon shut hartfield jackson down all of the flights have been grounded in and out of atlanta and continue to be at this hour. officials are not saying a lot but working to fix the problem now 6:44 p.m. eastern. dozens of planes are still stuck on the tarmac can you imagine being not to be able to go to the gate because they don't have electricity? a lot of people in the air could not enter atlanta airspace more than 450 flights canceled so far at the nation's busiest airport they

describe chaotic scenes of passengers sitting on the floor with people know where to go other questions if there is a backup generator and why didn't that kick in? also meanwhile all of this will flood into the american airspace tomorrow morning because if you go to heaven you have to change atlanta first and tonight nobody is going anywhere. arthel: so now the white house confirms russian president putin phoned president trump thanking him for giving intelligence that help to foil a planned terror attack in russian cities st. petersburg. he also thanks the cia and that is happening today. we have a terrorism expert

with us and former deputy assistant secretary of the army. nice to have you. of course it is good news the cia foiled a terror attack but is it customary for one president to call the other? or is this what normally takes place between intelligence and law enforcement? >> it normally takes place between the intelligence chiefs and the president knows about it but in this case platinum your putin initiated the call. that is why it is so significant. this attack thwarted by our cia is because it was at the cathedral. to those of russian orthodox faith that cathedral is one of the most sacred shrines and this is why it was on the playbook and now russian security service who says that was in isis cell they have

arrested seven suspects and seized weapons and explosives. back in april they had an attack in st. petersburg so they are fighting this fight as we are. i think it is great to see president putin and president trump talk about this. >> have we heard from those confirming the latest? >> yes but putin told president trump to please relay the thanks to the cia and director about one week ago russian authorities came out to say that they had broken up a plot by isis suspects to conduct suicide bombings in moscow on new year's day -- new year's day. so this is something we have

plenty of differences at work you have to understand what you are dealing with but i believe this is a fight we can work on. >> of course putin gave his four hour press conference that was televised and during that conference he said allegations of russian interference was invented to cast doubt on the trump legitimacy. how is this persistent impact national security? >> we know that they conduct information against us but don't forget and there is more

to come but what we do know talking about north korea a little bit. it is a great opportunity for president trump to follow up. we need help that are helpful right now. for example a russian owned state owned telecom company to give more bandwidth capability. so that gives the north koreans to conduct tribal warfare. arthel: even mentioning the old kgb head. is he really to be trusted making these phone calls? and having these but then

again in knowing how to deal with them before. >> that is what you get. arthel: i appreciate talking to you and your analysis. we have to cut it short because of information coming out of atlanta. >> my pastor said the same thing about atlanta. but he meant other places. arthel: i'm going to heaven left mac -- [laughter] but they are not getting anywhere for now. eric: a royal caribbean cruise ship has been asked to turn around and it is not a pretty

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eric: u.s. army sergeant killed senior u.s. defense officials say army sergeant johnson was not captured or

executed but instead died in a firefight with radical islamic militants when their team was ambushed. those islamic extremist also killed three of the sergeants comrades. next month a much more comprehensive look at the entire operation also evidence that sergeant johnson did fight the end and our thoughts are with his family tonight. arthel: brave indeed. an apparent stomach virus spreading on a royal caribbean cruise ship and has since returned to port everglades after about 330 passengers fell ill son getting off the ship and the medical staff said they were overwhelmed and desperately iran low on supplies and they said they were treated with over-the-counter medication. eric: president trump speaking

out about the russian investigation that he will not fire special counsel mueller we will have the latest on the fox report look at that. handing out lot of drinks tonight because there is no electricity and flights are canceled and now going through the air traffic control system. from one era to the next. over 90 years later, we continue to build as america's 3rd largest investor in infrastructure. we don't just help power the american dream... we're part of it.

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>> happy birthday to my dad. harris: power is still out at the nation's busiest airport it is expected to be restored by midnight. they lost power at around 1:00 pm stranding stranding passengers and forcing a ground stop to all flights according to georgia power it was caused by a fire at the underground electrical facility. they are still assessing the damage but travelers are still stuck at the airport. we will go live for an update later. president trump says he will not fire speech long -- special counsel mueller this is a response to accusations