up in the hospital and realized he had a second chance of life. we can never thank them enough. congratulations. most-wat >> a car crashing into a crowd of pedestrians in melbourne, australia have second largest city. >> i always say that the most massive but it is the largest tax cut in history of our country, merry christmas, america. >> i wanted to do something that would be memorable. ♪ ♪ santa claus is coming to town ♪ santa claus is coming to town ♪ santa claus is coming to town ♪

>> you are watching "fox and friends" first on thursday morning. lots of breaking news to get to so let's get to that, thank you for joining us. breaking overnight, 14 people injured, several critically after this happens, an suv mode down pedestrians in melbourne, australia, two men are in custody, this photo just into the newsroom shows one of those men being dragged out of the vehicle by police, this all happened at 4:45 local time at the main train station, that station is used by 100,000 people daily, the victims were standing near a cable car stop was among those injured a preschool age suffered who serious injuries, this is not an

accident. >> a deliberate act. we do not know the motivation and it is still early in the investigation. heather: eyewitnesses said bodies went flying as they were hit. the driver ran a red light doing about 40 mph and did not break. they are calling this a deliberate act which much more on that is it continues. and a soldier defects from the north korean regime. shooting 20 times and northern guards looking for the defector along the border, this marks the fourth north korean soldier to escape to the south this year, brand-new pictures of joint american military drills with south korea, soldiers wearing night vision goggles and gas masks, training to capture north korea's nuclear weapons. merry christmas, america, donald trump fulfilling his promise

getting his promise to pass his tax reform bill, his first and biggest legislative achievement, democrats not happy about this. and how they plan to retaliate. >> a celebration at the white house following passage of the tax legislation and it is >> hasn't been done in 34 years but really hasn't been done because we broke every record, the largest, i always say the most massive but the largest tax cut in the history of our country and reform. >> republicans praise what this means for the average taxpayer, businesses in terms of lower taxes and higher wages but the bill failed to attract a single democrat who painted this as corporate welfare and tax cuts for the rich, some responding the poor fellow from charles dickens's a christmas carol, tiny tim.

>> what we are doing is saying wealthy americans, big fat christmas present for you. tiny tim, we are taking your crotch away from you. >> like tiny tim, simon and his family find their future in danger because of the greed of those with power, the cruelty in the heart of the tax scam. >> the party could be over as republicans rush against a deadline to fund the government past friday as democrats led by nancy pelosi urge members to vote against the continuing resolution offered today by the house to fund the government until january 19th. the prospects of sending government workers home for christmas without paychecks is a daunting one but steve mnuchin says he is confident that will not happen. >> it is highly unlikely for there to be a government shutdown. the right thing to do is get a

short-term funding and deal with these issues in january. >> here is where we stand. the house meet at 8:00 am and major components of the continuing resolution, children's health, foreign surveillance reauthorization and disaster relief separated into a different bill. a lot to do before anyone goes over christmas. >> they should start working at 4:00 am like us instead of 8:00. thank you very much, see you later. less than 24 hours after congress passed the sweeping tax reform, americans already feeling the trickle-down effect, major companies handing out bonuses, announcing investments, dana last thing it proves democrats were wrong. >> chuck schumer was attacking at&t claiming at&t was going to use this to enrich themselves and what did they do? they announced they are investing in their employees and

their community as is boeing and other companies because this is how economics work, they are on the wrong side of history on this. >> hundreds of thousands of at&t and comcast employees will get $1000 bonuses. and bonuses to 14,000 workers and boosting minimum wage to $15 an hour. wells fargo hiking those pay rate starting next march and boeing will invest $300 million in facilities and employees training and education so hopefully that just the beginning. the american people confused what they are getting in the new tax package and money going back into their wallet. paul ryan is blaming democrats for that and they are out of salt on the tax reform package. >> when people are bombarded with that kind of rhetoric no wonder they are confused when

they are bombarded from rhetoric from the left and a lot of people in the media, this is going to raise their taxes people are going to be confused. this is the kind of debate i'm told had when reagan passed his tax reform and pulling before they passed it 18% of americans thought they were going to get a tax-cut so this is the hyperbolic rhetoric you have when we are doing monumental reform which lets people get more of their own hard-earned dollars which gets businesses in sync with the rest of the world so we are not punishing them, the left hates this, they are not for it. >> you hear a completely different story, donald trump has to craft a deal to keep the government running, the white house says it is confident it will get a continuing resolution to keep the government funded through january 19th. that horrific tour bus crash we have been telling you about the left eight americans dead now lamed on the driver. a mexican prosecutor said he was

negligent and likely speeding when the bus lost control and hit a tree. passengers headed from cruise ships to a nearby my and ruin. in all 12 people i did including three americans from the same family. and 11-year-old son killed along with his grandmother, our prayers with that family. part of the major west coast highway finally back open after the last piece of the drilled amtrak train is removed. officials identifying the third and final victim as benjamin graham of washington state. the ceo of amtrak calling the accident a wake-up call saying, quote, it is not acceptable that we are involved in these accidents. we are terribly sorry to the people that are involved. investigators trying to figure out why the train was going three times the speed limit sending it flying off the track.

fbi director andrew mccamp's testimony raising more questions than answers. investigators telling fox news his nearly 8 hour grilling conflicted with previous witnesses, saying he couldn't remember when democrats funded the anti-trump dossier even though there are signed documents proving he knew about it. this prompting the house intelligence committee to issue new subpoenas for next week on justice department and fbi personnel. a federal judge declaring a mistrial in the case of a nevada rancher accused of leading an armed standoff against the government. the judge blaming prosecutors for withholding key evidence from defense lawyers. clive bundy and his two sons are accused of enlisting gunmen to intimidate federal agents after he refused to pay grazing fees. he is still in custody but the family hopes they can work on terms for his release. he will face a new trial early next year. related twist, in a virginia

house race democrat shelley simon losing her 1-vote lead against david yancey as a 3-judge panel determines the race as a tie following a ballot in question were a voter filled the bubble next to both candidates. board of elections will pick a winner at random possibly using a blue for the draw. if the republicans hold control of the house by one seat, some back and forth going on. a picture-perfect homecoming just in time for christmas, and army wife carried a cardboard cutout of her husband around a christmas story keeping him there in spirit while he was deployed in afghanistan but parents had a christmas miracle. photo bombing his wife coming

home a month early. >> best christmas present ever. >> it is incredible. >> the best in the world. >> he was gone for six months and they only got to speak one time during his deployment. can you imagine that? the time is 11 minutes after the top of the hour and who is responsible for the opioid epidemic? cities now suing big drug companies, they think they have a case. dave chapelle trading comedy for class warfare. >> you are poor. keep fighting for me. >> should he stick to his day job? >> a year of extraordinary accomplishment for the trump administration. >> a big day for america.

this is america's come back. >> the president's tax victory isn't his only wins this year. what is on the for 2018? we will talk about it. ♪ taking care of business ♪ taking care of business

heather: the man sent an anti-trump manifesto to the white house stole a massive amount of guns and threatened schools and churches, he learns his face come he will spend the next 14 years in prison, he cursed out the judge demanding he be freed or killed, he still 18 guns, silencers and ammo in april before torching his car and going on the run for ten days. a new lawsuit, the largest drugmaker than pharmacies in the world accusing them of fueling the opioid epidemic. multiple companies are suing

purdue pharma, cvs, walgreens, rite aid and costco. they say they are responsible for not only the 64,070 drug overdose deaths in the us last year before aggressively and over promoting highly addictive drugs. another lawsuit involving facebook accusing facebook and hundreds of other companies of age discrimination. a joint investigation finding the social media site allowed companies like amazon and verizon to exclude older people from seeing their job postings. facebook defending its decision, quote, age-based targeting for employment purposes is an accepted industry practice and for good reason. street artist calling meryl streep on her bluff. brand-new sign setting social media on fire claiming the actress knew about harvey

weinstein and did nothing. carly shimkus with serious xm 115 with reaction online. >> someone in los angeles claims she heard all about harvey weinstein's heinous behavior and decided to remain silent long before the allegations were made public, these say she knew, her eyes popping up across los angeles and in pasadena near meryl streep's home, this is happening after rose mcgowan accused meryl streep of knowingly remaining silent. she addressed that allegation directly saying it hurts to be attacked but i want to let her know i did not know about weinstein's crime. i wasn't deliberately silent but a lot of folks on social media agree with the poster, one twitter you this is of course she knew, they are new and

tricia tweets very sad that her career was more important to her than taking a stand and defending other abused women. many others on social media say the negative attention should go to harvey weinstein, leave meryl streep out of this. >> the huffington post writer said he was a prop. >> they say he was a prop, dancing next to the president during the taxable speech yesterday because he was an african-american man. he deleted this tweet but did originally say what a shocker, one black person there and sure enough standing next to the mic like a manipulated prop. way to go, senator tim scott lady tweeted the back saying i helped write the bill for the past year, has multiple provisions included, multiple senators on board and worked on tax reform my entire time in congress and if you would rather

see my skin color please feel free. what a sweet. that blogger that tweeted that apologized, he regrets it and deleted it. >> he has done a lot of work beyond tax reform. the man behind the tsa instagram account reveals, the tsa not totally popular, there instagram account extremely popular, almost 1 million followers and that is because of a guy named bob burns who posts all the funny photos of people that are trying to get things passed like mummies, that gun handle, a lot of people like them. if you don't follow the tsa you should, the number one thing, his favorite thing he ever saw, somebody tried to get past the tsa, one of those deli meat

slicer is with one of those big serrated knives. who knows how that could get past the machine but somebody tried to do it. you got to find humor where you can find it. kudos to bob burns. appreciate it. the time is 20 minutes after the top of the hour and a bombshell scandal taking a new turn, former democratic 8 accused of fraud linked to hezbollah and a reporter who broke that story joins us live. >> a year of extraordinary accomplishment for the trump administration. >> a good bill for america. this is america's come back. >> the tax victory isn't his only win this year so what is under for 2018, ron meyer joins us live next.

>> this is a year of accomplishment for the trump administration. >> this is a big day for america. this is america's come back. >> the first 11 months in american history, including ronald reagan. heather: donald trump celebrating one of the biggest legislative accomplishments he has seen but that is not his only win this year so what is on the horizon for 2018. ron meyer, thank you for joining us. big day yesterday. let's start with that, the first major overhaul of the us tax system since 1986 and they are

pretty happy today. >> most americans don't understand how good this will be because the media convince them everyone is getting a tax increase. places that are no friend of the trump administration or republicans use their calculators, see if you're getting a tax cut. in high tax states like northern virginia is a fast majority, 90%, and do your homework, they are getting their money on their pockets, at&t and boeing, and in capital, great news. heather: a lot of democrat talking points, what they think will happen down the road in 2027 and they will be partly responsible if they don't vote to continue the tax-cut at that time, the individual rate. >> of democrats run on this in 2018 they lose the biggest opportunity a they have.

>> at the same time the economy is booming, 2.2 million jobs created, 3% gdp growth, 2004 i think. >> unemployment rate is the lowest it has been in 17 years, 156 million new manufacturing jobs this year. and the dow jones industrial average is 5000 points. and economic boom, americans ask themselves are they better off than they were a year ago the answer is yes, whether you are in rural america, in the suburbs, downtown, the rejuvenation in the american economy. >> in terms of foreign policy, and crushing isis overseas as

well. >> flee to africa and most instances because of the big win. they want donald trump to send 80,000 troops into syria, and do what they need to do to finish off isis, endangering many fewer americans, and not trapped in the middle east any longer, and defeating terrorists. heather: the supreme court nomination of judge neil gore such, not just the supreme court he is making a difference with. >> he got a number of circuit court judges, more than any president in their first year in american history, he is getting his agenda done, mitch mcconnell has taken a lot of flak, and a

big help. >> bringing a lot of people home, americans detained overseas even though one of their parents wasn't too grateful for that. >> he has brought cia officials back, a number of americans back and that story hasn't been told, a good negotiator getting people back home and the state department and rex tillerson, that they don't get along but they have been able to work together, from people getting overseas who haven't been imprisoned and detained. >> imagine the mainstream media talking about positive things what a difference everything would be right now. >> approval ratings would be different. this is the impact the media does have and the drama does have, if you take out the tweets, the roy moore election,

messaging about these victories we would see a change in the popularity of this administration of the republican party. heather: thanks for joining us. see you later. we will be right back, stay with us.

heather: welcome back, 4:32 on the east coast, donald trump promised to pass sweeping tax reform now a reality, democrats putting up a fight, griff jenkins joining us in washington dc, how to retaliate. >> the retaliation, it was a party at the white house, what is bold, tax reform legislation that hasn't been done in a long time, take a listen. >> hasn't been done in 34 years, but hasn't been done because we

broke every record. it is the largest, most massive, largest tax cut in the history of the country and reform. >> reporter: republicans praised what this bill brings in terms of higher wages and lower taxes but democrats, not a single one voted for this, uniformly painted this as corporate welfare and tax cuts for the rich and they are getting revenge as republicans rush against a deadline to fund the government past friday, gop leaders scrambling to come up with a continuing resolution to fund the government past january or until january 19th, key elements in their include reauthorization of foreign surveillance act, some conservatives are not happy with that, and children's health insurance program until march, 2 billion for va programs and

waves pay go, and cuts government programs if you raise the deficit in this tax bill will do that, that is talked about today, 8:00 a m, try to get something going, to vote against this, nancy pelosi sending a letter to all democrats merging to strongly vote no against this continuing resolution. >> not a single democrat voted for the republican saxophone package, nancy pelosi and chuck schumer take aim at steve mnuchin. listen. >> i just think it is so -- billionaires here. >> make it up as he goes. >> won't cut taxes for the rich.

they handed the top luckiest 1% of the benefits. heather: the american people are tired of the democratic rhetoric. >> they fundamentally disagree with us, that is why they voted against us. they don't believe in the american economy, the one to do things that are good for workers but voted against the bill, we have been saying the number one impact is to make america competitive again, fix the business taxes, deliver tax cuts for the middle income. this is not about tax cuts for billionaires, it is tax cuts for working families, people with kids, you will see this in the polls as people get paychecks, democrats complain about this. heather: democrats not willing to budge on the terms of the

shutdown so republicans will have to do it on their own again. another story we are following, car dealership in virginia busted as suspected money-laundering for a hezbollah linked in lebanon, the owner the same it aide who was paid 7 million taxpayer dollars to provide it services to democratic members of congress. joining me is be investigative reporter luke roseback. this seems like something that would be out of a movie. doesn't seem like something that would be actually happening. take us through this with imran awan a family. >> dozens of house democrats as an it guy he can read all the emails, members of committees like the intelligence committees, homeland security, foreign affairs and sets up this company. who knows how he does it?

he is making $7 million, $165,000 each, setting up a used car dealership and if you look at operation we learned about recently, these guys took $100,000 to the department of justice, this guy has been linked to hezbollah by the cia. >> and car dealerships, one of which was called cia. >> the insane parts, there were markings of a friend, testified that it was a sham, needed to buy a car and go across the street and borrow one from a different dealership.

they have ukrainian connections. it has all the markings of a suspicious company and if you are working for it, $100,000 from foreign actors -- >> debbie wasserman schultz as well. >> a guy linked to hezbollah, he actually, house investigators found he accessed the house thousands of times and got authorization. a sister organization of the dnc says it was frightening stuff, has access to this stuff and appears to act on it. and -- heather: where does this happen?

>> operation cassandra when you don't see action by the department of justice very little done on this, a prudent person would have reasons to believe they are engaged in a foreign intelligence gathering operation blues not only on us soil but the u.s. congress. put these facts together, to disprove or prove that. relatively minor crime involving trying to flee the country after they learned about the underlying investigation. >> and ron's wife, working for it for congress. >> one of them is ukrainian, a car dealership that doesn't exist. heather: look at your article, log on to daily caller.

thank you for joining us. stay with us.

>> fox alert breaking overnight, 14 people injured, several critically after an suv mows down pedestrians, kitty logan with the latest on what police call a deliberate attack. >> the police saying at this point this was a deliberate attack, arrested the driver and a second man, this incident happened in a bit the pedestrian area, 14 people injured when the suv drove into crowds. one child is said to have a serious head injury, a busy shopping area packed with christmas shoppers at the time. business area, people needing

work, close to a trading station, and the car drove through and witnesses say it was driving at a speed of 60 miles an hour. it ran a red light, did not try to stop, police say they do not know if the motive for this. attacks in berlin, london, barcelona, and january, four people killed in a similar incident but at the time police said it wasn't thought to be terror related. to threaten christmas events and has been responsible for similar incidents in the past. we have to wait for the outcome of this investigation before we learn more. heather: appreciate it. some other stories we are following, business news. are you for your holiday commute

will look like this? ♪ heather: the popular gps apps called wave is adding a new feature to help you make your commute a little bit easier. tracy is here with what we need to know. >> reporter: they have been busy crunching numbers, setting driver data and found tomorrow, friday, december 22nd, will be the busiest time to travel between 3:00, and 5:00 p.m.. the best day to travel will be christmas day. data they found to make your drive easier, there is a 61% increase in navigation to grocery stores, avoid those areas, and there is a spike, to get to a movie theater on

christmas day so stay home and stream something on netflix and new year's day, it was no busier. no need to beat the holiday rush on new year's day. >> apple, they make their iphones slower. why did they do that? >> the older your iphone is the slower it gets and apple has finally confirmed this is true, we do that deliberately to make the phone last longer as the lithium-ion batteries start to wear out. could be -- in current demand with cold conditions.

that is the statement. >> 15 minutes, the alarm now sounding, what that means for you. the hunter and fisherman, outdoorsman. ♪

heather: christmas is in the air around new york city, beautiful

declarations. you are watching "fox and friends" first, and the countdown is on. if you are looking for christmas present you are not out of luck. the gift of the great outdoors, great idea you bass pro shops here with the best last-minute gifts for the outdoors woman in your life, love your displays. your stores look like this too. let's begin with gifts. the first one we were going to talk about. >> it is made out of graphite, carbon drag, superlightweight and durable. heather: you can use it for any type of fishing? >> multiple links. heather: i am not a fisher woman. i have done it once.

this is really cool. >> retail for $19.99, it allows water under the harshest conditions, you could drink water out of the lake, river, stream, anywhere in the world, filters everything out. heather: great for going on a hike or anything like that. everybody loves the yeti. >> and the word design, 20 ounce yeti, the last tumbler you will ever have to buy. heather: their original design. >> the flashlight. >> a stream light flashlight, error grade aluminum, superbright will last forever,

waterproof and shock resistant, the last flashlight you have to buy. very lightweight. push this. >> push it. i am sorry, it is very bright. >> what kids imagination doesn't get going. and multiple species. sunfish, a little bit of everything. and gift cards. a great last-minute gift for everybody. >> you can get our gift card on christmas morning, even if you forgot or somebody shows up to christmas that you were not ready for. it is top rated by forbes. you can use it in our stores and restaurants and two resorts and

you can exchange the gift card in either of our stores. we have one inventory and another in memphis, tennessee. heather: thank you for joining us. we will be right back, time is 8 minutes until the top of the hour. all packed up and ready to go to christmas. bring your wrapped gifts on the plane, what you need to know up next.

heather: merry christmas to you. hopefully you will be under the mistletoe this season, you are watching "fox and friends" 1 at avenue of the americas. the holiday travel rush is in full swing but a new hurdle could cause more headaches. airlines battling a growing pilot shortage hitting smaller regional airlines and low-cost carriers, boeing predicts a need for 117,000 pilots between now and 2036 in north america alone. worldwide, 637,000 during the same period of time.

if you are heading to the airport this holiday season you might think twice before wrapping your christmas presents. if you do you may be asked to unwrap them if it sets off an alarm or the tsa agent needs to see inside the package. instead they recommend packing them in your checked bag and bringing wrapping paper with you or shipping your present ahead of time. also toys that look like weapons and snow globes not allowed in carry-on bags. a new way to make sure your kids don't feel like this on christmas. ♪ he knows that you have been bad or good ♪ heather: nearly 70% of students would rather get a student loan payment instead of a traditional gift. also the only thing student borrowers went more than alone

repayment was cash. everybody always likes cash. "fox and friends" first continues, i will see you after christmas. have a merry christmas, goodbye. >> thursday, december 21st, breaking overnight pedestrians purposely plowed down by an suv in australia. what we know so far. >> i always say the most massive but it is the largest tax cut in history of the country, merry christmas, america. >> donald trump and republicans pass their tax reform plan just in time for christmas, live in washington with what you need to know about this major legislative win. >> millions of americans hitting the road and skies, to make the trip home a big headache, tracking what you need to