is 1, 7, 5. these pictures are taken, then the kids wearing the belt, and santa creeps up behind them. magical. is that how santa came into your home as well? that is wonderful. "happening now" starts right no now. ♪ >> jon: we start at the white house in florida as president trump spend the week in mar-a-lago for the holiday while looking ahead to the challenges 2018 will bring. welcome to "happening now," and it is a tuesday will morning. i'm jon scott, . >> lea: and i believe gabriel after the first year in office, he sounds hopeful that the next year will bring more bipartisan. >> jon: traveling with the president, but it's on president trump's schedule, rich?

>> good morning, jon and lea. earlier today, the the president is heading to the golf course where he is playing golf today with a couple of pga tour vets, and rice dish and for a pj golfer and the republic and from georgia, purdue. yesterday, he had a christmas message along with the first lady and himself, wishing everybody a happy holiday. also heard from the administration official, the president provided dinner to the people of service, the military official and local law enforcement for protecting him and his family and mar-a-lago, jon. >> jon: the president is looking ahead to next month's fight? >> the white house insisting this is also a working vacation. yesterday, he was briefed on a terrorist attack, the capital of afghanistan.

the legislative director, marc short, to have a meeting for the first week in january at camp david with paul ryan and the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. a top of that legislative agenda, they are expecting to talk infrastructure that the white house will roll out. also i tweet this morning on health care, as legislative agendas go, based on the fact that the very unfair and unpopular individual mandate has been terminated as part of our tax cut bill, which essentially repeals overtime obamacare, did democrat and republicans will come together and develop a great, new health care plan. the president telegraphing he wants to work on health care, in the first approach happened a few months ago, republicans tried to replace obamacare. only republican effort in a way that only republicans are going to vote for it. in that case, they did not get enough of their own members to go along, and that died in the

senate. democrats say they want to save obamacare, change obamacare, improve obamacare. republicans are looking at this idea that they would replace it. the president mentioned the individual mandate. that is the portion of obamacare that requires nearly every american to purchase or have health insurance. now that that is done, does a number of analysts say that portion of obamacare could very well unravel, but there is still a very large part of the law, including the expansion of medicaid. all of that will be up for grabs as a lawmaker tried to figure out what to do with the future of health care. there is also disaster assistant relief, the hurricanes that we saw in the last couple of months. there's immigration that the president with a congress to work on. health care, budgeting. it is a robust agenda for the early part of next year, which by the way, is a midterm election year. >> jon: because of the election year, everybody says nothing is going to get done. we will see about that. thank you very much. president trump said to hit the

ground running in at 2018. he hopes to make good on another campaign promise after delivering on tax reform. >> i think you'll see the president roll out for structure plan in january, and the president already invited paul ryan to camp david in the first week of january to make sure we are on the same page about what our priorities are for 2018. >> jon: talk about those priorities, the conservative syndicate radio host and monique presley, attorney and democratic commentator. thank you for both of you being here on this day after christma christmas. i guess, whether this administration has achieved a great deal in 2017, it might depend on what side of the aisle you're on. monique, give us your perspective from a democratic side. >> from a democratic side, and an honest republican perspective, this past year has gotten eight d- 28

f. and once he was elected, we saw g.o.p. led congress into republican president not seem to be able to get their act together enough to push forward an agenda when they were in the majority. sure, there is a new spring court justice, but when you look at that, the speaker had to change rules and refuse o have a vote for almost a year in almost 28 for the president to get an office to get that done. that is not really a trump when met, that one goes to mitch mcconnell. >> jon: cbs is not generally favorable towards this presiden president. kevin, here's a line from one of the recent articles, despite low popularity and drama filled white house, president trump has done what many of his predecessors haven't done, he fulfilled many campaign promise promises. monique says he hasn't, but cbs says he did. it was her assessment. >> to be fair, is what monique said, but let me address what

that issue brings. in politics, the key is to keep your word. i nearly every agenda item that you can point to, he is either fulfilled the promise or he's made progress towards it. the democrats do not like the promises he has made, but you cannot say he did not get tax reform done, you cannot say he did not repeal the individual mandate. this will be the silver thread that undoes all of obamacare. you cannot say he did not get the border wall process started. you cannot say he did not get a supreme court justice put in place. 12 circuit judges and 70 plus judges. he's a head of obama and replacing judges at this point in the presidency. at the end of year one, he is closing and i were obama was in year two. you're talking about 80 something accomplishments, 11 legacy rollbacks and 800 regulations rolled back. this is a very busy white house.

it may not be something that monique's side of the aisle likes, but you cannot say that i'm not been active. >> jon: they have come at repealing the individual mandate, monique, -- >> that is not the same. that's not the same as repealing obamacare. we know that is the promise. let me add a new letter, because it seems that e for effort, they really tried to do some things. they are starting to move towards the border wall. i don't care about actually building a border wall, it makes no sense, because too much money, not going to work. they have not done it, did not repeal obamacare. they passed a tax much equipment yes they did, that will help the top 10% of the public. i cannot understand by real trump supporters would be excited about that was to figure out what's difficult but it's going on. they get a grade a, a+ for

trying to reverse every single thing the past president did. that i think is the real agenda. doesn't matter that doesn't help the american public. just the fact that they are getting that done. it seems to be enough. >> jon: when you look at economic growth numbers, and when you look at the stock market, not everybody in the stock market, but it is a good barometer of how the business climate goes in this country. >> it's a good barometer. we desperately want to rollback everything barack obama did in terms of job creation. we do not want 1.5% gdp growth, we want 4%. now, we've been north of three without the tax reform. now tax reform is passed, quarters one, three, four. i know your site does not like the agenda, but you cannot say that and at least commissioning the start of the wall and the different plans that they have

to approve and test, and congress, not having that money, you cannot say they've not been active. some promises have been completely fulfilled in year one. some are in process. all of them have been to the present. >> jon: he wants an infrastructure bill passed, and that would seem to be the one that both sides are going to be in favor one. that might be the easiest one yet. >> where the economy is concerned, i have two things to say. thank you obama and merry christmas. >> it did not happen until quarter three. >> jon: monique presley and kevin. thank you both for being here. >> lea: everybody is okay after a plane off of a boston runway. jetblue from savannah, georgia, when icy conditions caused it to skid and slide right off the way. firefighters help passengers of the jet and nobody was injured.

the bad weather also briefly closed runways. speaking of ice and snow, it was a white christmas for millions in the northeast and midwest. take a look. waking up two scenes like what we are about to show you where he pulled this video across the country, snow in places like seattle on christmas day. snow is rare there. an early forecast for new year's eve? adam klotz is live at the extreme weather center. adam? >> that's the first time in a decade. mostly that's no is winding down at this point. the next foot couple of days, frigid cold temperatures. this is the current windchill, and up in canada, we saw some plunging, but these are negative numbers. 49, that the negative 49 and 49 degrees below zero. this is the windchill. 32 degrees below zero in fargo, or feels that way with the windchill.

10 degrees below in kansas city. the actual temperatures are going to drill in here on the northern plains states. these are the real temptress. no longer the windchill. we are sitting across this entire region down into the negatives. negative three in omaha, negative eight, you talk about spots still in the negative tens, 20s, 25 degrees. absolutely frigid and some of these areas. you have that wind, and it feels even colder. the windchill, falling back down into spots where is 30, 40 degrees below zero here at this point. on the entire day, the wind is going to be there, but the actual high temperature does not get all that warmer. high is only one train degrees in minneapolis today, 12 in chicago. 15 degrees. this cold air, unfortunately, is going to linger in the northern half of the country all the way through this week. you begin to think about the new jersey plans, what about a winter storm? it is still a little ways away,

but paying attention, here's a future radar, all the way from monday into thursday. staying clear for a while, and as you get into the week, we have this line of winter weather that is going to be firing up into the stretch of the southeast only to new england. sunday, new year's eve, running into new year's day. unfortunately, this is a system we will be paying attention, still a ways off. it may speed up or slow down, but that is what we will be targeting that because in trouble and new year's eve. >> jon: adam klotz, thank you. the question, candidate donald trump bested 17 other republicans to win back the primary and ultimately the presidency. could president trump face a republican challenger in 2020 when arizona jeff flake is saying and not saying about a presidential plan. a christmas day tragedy, a woman and two children are shot and killed in arizona. why police finally arrest a

suspect. >> we ran around the block to track on the other side, and entrance was blocked up by ton of cop cars. we saw some police holding guns and rifles.

>> jon: as we told you earlier, the president is spending the holidays in florida. his legal team is keeping tabs on the russia investigation.

jay sekulow, one of the president's attorneys telling "the wall street journal," he predicts it should be over soon. sane, i know we collectively, the lawyers, are looking forward to an expeditious wrapping up of this matter, but he did not say when. he expected that to happen. now stand in, a columnist for "the hill." jay sekulow and his team have indicated that the russian investigation could be over by the end of the year. that seems awfully optimistic as the days take down into thousand 17. >> absolutely. we have been hearing this from president trump's legal team for a while. they expect the pro to be over soon, and that hasn't happened. i think this is part of a larger move to show cooperation with the probe and legal respect for the presidents team to put all the appearance of, we have clean hands and nothing to hide, and therefore, we hope this gets to

its conclusion as soon as possible. >> jon: a lot of observers read the tea leaves. the president legal team is trying to hasten robert mueller's team by suggesting this has gone on too long and it ought to be wrapped up quickly. is that part of the m.o. here? >> i certainly think you could see that reaction, this is really a strategy that suggests that they have nothing to hide in the end should come to. if that doesn't happen, i think we could see the president's legal team joined political allies in suggesting, this has become -- really there is some political motivation involved here. it is part, i think some of the larger strategy. >> jon: robert mueller -- he has had some problems within his own team. he has had a lot of public relations problems.

would it benefit him to get this thing wrapped up quickly? >> i am not sure. i think robert mueller with the problems you alluded to, jon, was well respected on both sides. he has a very impressive record. he is looking into a serious matter. as far as we know, his response is to get to the bottom of this matter to see what information is true and what isn't. i don't think he is looking at it in terms of, can i finish sooner or later. he is trying to get a conclusion that he is comfortable with, even while they're always competing pressures from democrats as well as republicans and critics of the president as well as supporters. everybody is trying to put their spin on the worst thing, and he's trying to drive it through the middle. >> jon: if robert mueller is living up to the title of an independent prosecutor, then it would seem like pressure even from the trump team to wrap this

up quickly is not necessarily going to be effective. >> i am sure robert mueller would say come he was dan's pressure from any side. if you're making this argument is part of the legal team, innocence, trying to keep the president calm and at the end will be coming soon. at that does not happen, then we do not know how trump and his closest advisors feel if this is going on 2, 3 months on. that is a consequent. >> jon: you're suggesting the team is trying to keep the president calm in part by suggesting that this thing is almost at an end? >> i think so. the legal team certainly have tried to suggest, firing robert mueller, they do not want precipitous action like that. i think part of this whole operation is trying to keep it in perspective and to say to the

president, look, you haven't done anything wrong. this will all be cleared up in a short time. don't do anything rash that would prolong a probe that is coming to an end. >> jon: they say it has gone far past its designated task, looking into russia collusion accusations. how do you see a? >> this is one of the issues where lawyers as we all know argue endlessly between one or two sentences. the letter from the deputy attorney general appointing robert mueller said, he could look into russia and related matters. how do you do find related? the relation of "is." and lawyers could try to help the some to get to the answer or the bottom of it. >> jon: niles, a white house communist for "the hill" per

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>> lea: a woman and two children shot and killed in arizona in a potential domestic violence situation on christmas day. it happened in the phoenix apartment complex when police arrived, they try to talk to the suspect, barricaded himself inside the apartment. later police say, he started

shooting at them. >> she heard over 15 gunshots in the complex. >> i've never seen anything like this. all of our neighbors seemed really nice, and we have never had a problem with anybody here. >> lea: one officer was enteral and is hospitalized. police arrested the suspect. >> lea: 2017 is almost behind us now, and it has been a busy year. president trump's inauguration, the speech i seven movement. shepard smith is a rundown of the year's top stories. >> and 2017, new president took office while powerful men fell and women came forward to say individual mandate. those stories and more dominating in 2017. the year started when a big change in washington, d inauguration of president donald trump. >> the people became the rulers of this nation again.

>> at the day, millions protested the new president at the women's marches across the country. the biggest signal day of protesting in history. also confronting north korea after the test firing of his first intercontinental boson. most powerful nuclear weapon, a hydrogen bomb. in launching a missile that could hit any point in the united states. in may, president trump by the fbi director, james comey. that led to the appointment of a special counsel, robert mueller, to run the investigation and russia's election middling and possible collusion with members of the team. the investigation led to the indictment of a formal trump campaign chairman, paul manafort, and the former can ai aid. general michael flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about contacts with the russian

ambassador. he is not cooperating with special counsel. charlottesville, virginia, became the scene of a deadly demonstration a man hit his card against people protesting white nationalist rally and killing. americans continue to recover from three devastating hurricanes. which hit during the end of the summer. first, harvey slammed into the u.s. as a category 4 transform causing catastrophic damage to houston and the texas coast. >> we are just beginning to process of responding to the strong. >> next, irma, it slammed florida with devastating rain, and finally, hurricane maria. carving a path of destruction to puerto rico, killing dozens of people and wiping a power to the entire island. on october the first, o.j. simpson walked free after spending nine years behind bars

following a botched robbery in los angeles. and hours later in las vegas, the deadliest mass shooting in american history. 58 people killed in more than 500 wounded when a gunman fired into a crowded music festival. still no word on the motor. a month later, another deadly mass shooting. 25 people died including a pregnant woman during a sunday church service in texas. the deadliest shooting at a place of worship in history. >> no active bonds will break our spirit or the faith in the american people. >> in october, the legendary hollywood producer, harvey weinstein lost his job and so much more after dozens of women accused him of harassment, salt, and even rate. democrat lawmaker announced the recognition. then, roy moore, and the alabama senate race. women accused him of harassing

and assaulting them years ago when they were teenagers. roy moore lost to the democratic doug jones. calling for the large overhaul of the american tax code and more than three decades, looking ahead to 2018, the midterm election coming up, the whole country waiting to see if voters will reject or reward president trump. we are also keeping a close eye on tensions with north korea in the latest sexual misconduct accusation. of course, we will be here for all of it in your crime shepard smith, fox news. >> lea: a topless protester making a scene at the vatican. the woman who belongs to a feminist organization attempted to steal the baby jesus from the date to be seen. this has thousands gather to hear the christmas day message as she was stopped and arrested

before taking away the statue. >> jon: a tragic christmas eve for california police officers, 33-year-old struck and killed by a suspected drunk driver. what we are learning about this officer here. plus, a republican senator leaves the door open or possible 2020 challenge to president trump. >> it does not take rocket science to know, there is going to be an independent challenger, and probably one of the trump republicans challenging him as well. that was it. now i have nicoderm cq. the nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release technology helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. it's the best thing that ever happened to me. every great why needs a great how.

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or, you could just trust duracell. ♪ it's beginning to look a lot like christmas ♪ >> lea: new information about the deadly christmas eve crash that killed a california highway patrol officer. andrew cammalleri was in the passenger seat of the patrol car when he was hit by a drunk driver. the 33-year-old joined the california highway patrol just last year. he leaves behind a wife and three children. the officer driving had minor injuries. the suspect was speeding and under the influence of alcohol. >> jon: a frightening scene in alexandria, virginia, after a massive fire in an antique store on christmas night, although fire crews arrived quickly, heavy flames and high heat force them to pull back. >> units arrived on scene.

2 minutes of dispatch. and i spotted in the second floor of the structure. there was concern for a collaps collapse. units withdrew from the structure and shortly thereafter, we did have a collapse of one wall of the structure, and we continue have multiple collapsing on the interior. >> jon: it destroyed the antiques torque. the cause is under investigatio investigation. >> jeff flake with a warning for president trump. the arizona republican suggesting the president words and actions are leaving him open to a primary challenge and flake is not ruling out the possibility being the challenger. >> i do wonder that in the future, we will be faced -- with president trump running for reelection on one side. coming down hard on a

diminishing base, and on the other side, you will have might have somebody like ray sanders heard on the far left on the democratic party. that leaves a huge group of voters in the middle. that may be looking for something else. >> you are open to running for president at one point. >> i do not rule anything out. it is not my plans. >> let's bring in our panel, lawrence jones is a conservative commentator and radio hosts of the lawrence jones shown. jim kasser is a former legislative and policy director of chuck schumer and cofunder the third way. nice to see you both. i want to start with you, lord's fear of what you think of senator flake's response connect we have heard this response from politicians before. do you think he will run, and you think he has a chance connect >> i say, go for it, dude. the primary in your own state,

that is why you are not running for office. you see the primary of downtown, this this is a guide that votes democratic, both on legislative proposed. i say, go for. you cannot even would make your own state. >> lea: ouch, jim, senator flake says president trump is certain to face an independent challenger if not one from within his own party. what do you think to >> i think he will. you will have an approval rating that could freeze water. you are to get a primary opponent, and almost a certainty that there will be an independent running against him as well. i do not know if flake could beat donald trump. i don't think he could. he could to damage like in a primary, and independent candidates can do damage in the primaries well. presidents unpopular come he's weak. three years is a long time.

if he doesn't stop those problems, people are going to be running against him. >> lawrence says republican's have two marginalize the nationalist movement. what people have no says the steve bannon movement. what are your thoughts? >> we are always going to have a phase in the movement of conservatism. we do not believe in groupthink like the democrats. there will always be infighting on ideas. this is a big part of the party, and voters selected donald trump to be the president. that's the bottom line. either these people are going to challenge donald trump's policies that they disagree with and make them better. i disagree with a lot of the way they did the tax proposal. i think there's a lot of good things, but the individuals want more. i think that they got something out, but i was not antitrust. i wanted to be better. what we have seen from people like jeff flake, he was anti-trump. police recently, he was.

where until he got what he wanted from the president. >> lea: jim, you mentioned tax reform and people say could have been done better, republicans really are relying on those tax cuts to help them in the midterm. let's take a look at what could happen midterm if the republicans were to lose one or both houses. how that could be a game changer for president trump in 2020. >> means he will have to work in a bipartisan fashion on everything. the way he should have, because he had that opportunity. one thing that is happening and what we have seen in 2017, democratics have been nominating moderates in the primaries. throughout rough in doug jones was a moderate as well in won. you see the democrats nominating moderates in these places, it's going to be a real problem for

trump in 2018 and 2020. if democrats take a broad path that looks like they are doing, these elections could turn dramatic. the president's agenda would either be brought over or he would have to change? >> what is your idea. you wanted to respond. >> the last thing you want donald trump on the ground that the american people before he goes into a general election. we know donald trump, even with the conservative right, they need to energize the base. and so, if you give him a primary challenge, he will be fired up we know what happened the last time when you put donald trump in a primary. he has the heart of the american people and when you talk about some of those, donald trump got a lot of those voters. your talk about ohio. those voters that voted for barack obama switched to

donald trump. he is not the type of president that is so deep rooted in his ideology that he cannot be reasonable. >> he better show some flexibility. he just had two major losses with virginia, democrats won that by ten points. the democratic have not won back the 1980s, and in the alabama senate race. i know that it is special, but they weren't even competitive there. that is a big with the reporting party. it seems to be shrinking day by day. with the war the republican party. it's about if you're going to be, have at least a little bit of diversity within a party which you seem to be doing. >> that is the debate. >> and democrats, they need to take a broad path for the democratic party -- i think there are problems, and it is happening in the primary. democratics have been taking the

moderate candidate, at that have been the 2018 and 2020, this country is going to turn against them. he'll be a different party for the white house and for congress. >> lea: lawrence, a quick comment? >> they believe selecting candidates and not letting the american people selected we saw with bernie sanders as well as hillary clinton. the people in the leadership chose their nominee. that the people. we see on the right, we let our people decide who they want to serve in elected office. >> lea: we will leave it there, lawrence jones and jim, thank you. merry christmas. >> jon: hurricane maria, devastating puerto rico. 30% of the island's residents still do not have power. what is taking so long? >> i new york affiliate explain explains. >> least 30% of the power grid

so tens of thousands continue to live in the dark and some still do not have clean water. >> we do not have enough water here. this woman, catalina lives in the neighborhood, in this video showed earlier this month, she talked to new york, jimmy harper, who is returned from her third humanitarian mission. >> if you mentioned all the towns, there is devastation at someplace that you say, wow. >> her mother and father live in puerto rico, driven the island in a rental car, hand delivering care packages to hundreds of residents living in remote areas, have seen little government help since it struck three months ago. >> those that are there, there's a lot of areas where they say, you're the first one here. how is it possible. >> she's also made it her mission to feed as many homeless animals as she can. she'll make your fourth trip to the island later this week.

she has a gofundme page for forgotten americans, a page or most of the supplies come out of her own pocket. admits the devastation she says, she's all seen in amazing resilience between the people of the alley, especially around christmas. >> from cast, something gorgeous came out, and it is the power and willingness of the puerto rican people. they are strong, they want to have a good time regardless. jamie will pack up all of these bags and head back down to puerto rico on thursday, and that she plans to return again in january. she's also in the process of forming an official nonprofit organization. >> jon: still a mess, as for the recovery effort, 5% of the people do not have running water. 12% of gas stations are still close, and 12% of cell phone towers are still down. >> lea: a football star sloughed the home he appeared white receiver larry fitzgerald touching christmas tribute plus

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>> jon: a football start with a touching tribute to senator john mccain. arizona cardinals wide receiver larry fitzgerald writing a letter in "sports illustrated" offering courage and prayers.

senator mccain fights a tough battle with brain cancer. fitzgerald writes, i will wish them a merry christmas today, and i pray he has another 20 years. i know this come as soon as my boys are of age, i will tell them stories about the quality of the man i've got to know. i will tell them senator john mccain will be revered and respected for his as long as the united states has a place in this world and his legacy will outlive us all. >> a new demand from north kore north korea, the rogue nation challenging the u.s. the claim that kim jong-un's government was behind wannacry. if you remember, that's a cyber attack that affected hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide. retired four-star general robert nadler, commander of the u.s. atlantic fleet. he is also commander in chief of nato's with atlantic command. they's to see you. the u.s. does not make those claims lightly. when it says a country conducted a attack, what you make of kim

jong un's demand that the u.s. backup the claimant? >> not only kim jong un but his father has a long history of demand d9 just what every thing. certainly there were behind the sony attack. this current attack, wannacry, confirmed that north korea was behind it by multiple countries and independent corporations. it is obvious with the record of kim jong un's activities. >> lea: used to beat the commander of seven fleets, for those who do not know, you are in charge of war planning in terms of potential war on the korean peninsula. i want to get your unique perspective on where we are right now. how far do you think the u.s. really is willing to go in terms of stopping kim jong un? >> going the distance, hopefully with the negotiations. that really has to be the solution to this. anything short of negotiating a

settlement is a folly. you have to be prepared for combat operations those kind of operations against north korea would be devastating to both north and south korea and certainly would have a huge impact on american personnel. >> lea: want to also get your perspective as a former naval officer untroubled that we are seen in the north sea. they had to shadow a russian warship as it passed near u.k. territorial waters over christmas paid what you make of this, russia exercising its freedom of navigation can make we do this, right? >> we certainly do, and russia has a long history of doing this. we have been very deliberate as had the russians up to this point of giving national waters clearance, so there is no mistaking warships entering into the waters of a nation that is

independent. we have seen huge acceleration of these kind of operations with russia, both with air operations, submarine operations, and surface ship operations against nato countries, including the united states. >> lea: i want to know how concerned you are about russia and increasing its bluewater operations as you mentioned. russia sealed the deal with syria to make the base permanent, which makes -- they took crimea with the purpose of having a warm water port. we are seeing more of these bluewater operations. i concerned about what russia is doing with naval power? >> i am concerned about appeared obviously, when mayor pruden has decided to go back to the cold war activity of the old soviet navy my big concern, not necessarily what the russians are doing, but what the united states is not doing. in the face of these kind of

operations by the russians, the north korean, in-your-face, kind of operations, the chinese accelerated -- >> lea: it we are coming up against a hard break, but thank you robert natter. found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brain-health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember. you've got to get in i know what a bath is smile honey this thing is like... first kid ready here we go by their second kid, every parent is an expert and... ...more likely to choose luvs, than first time parents. live, learn and get luvs looking for a hotel that fits... whoooo. ...your budget? tripadvisor now searches over... ...200 sites to find you the... ...hotel you want at the lowest price. grazi, gino! find a price that fits. tripadvisor.

>> jon: the retail industry got there christmas gift everybody seems to want, money. sales for the holidays season it rose to the best pace since 2011 this year. both online and in-store. anita vogel joins us from los angeles. let's talk about why people are so willing to spend money this year. >> hello, jon. good morning. shoppers have a new sense of confidence about the economy the season. that and the fact that christmas fell on a monday, giving

shoppers a full week and to open their wallets. did so online and in the brick-and-mortar stores and places like macy's, toys 'r' us, kohl's. cash registers were more than just holiday cheer, and shoppers were moving into the end of the year. >> check out amazon, obviously, walmart is going to be doing discounts as well. and if you're willing to wait until the 29th, amazon has digital day, another buzzworthy day to get lots of discounts for people with prime. >> it is not just amazon, many of the big chains stores, walmart, macy's, they know people shop only after christmas, and they say the sales this year will be huge. jon? >> jon: record sales over last year, anita? >> that is right. the numbers show people spent a lot more money does her than to have a previous years. according to the national retail foundation, seven years ago

sales were at $528 billion. in 2017, the estimate for this holiday season, $682 billion. a spokesperson for mastercard said, overall, this year it was a big win for retailers, and jon, it is not over yet. the bargain shoppers are the ones who will be out and hitting the sales all the way to the end of the year. >> jon: some more cash registers to come. anita vogel from los angeles. thank you. >> new york city empire state building showing off festive display on christmas day with a red and green lights and a candy cane antenna. the tower is featuring a music delight show, featuring quest to stephani "you make a file christmas." the l.e.d. lights with that -- they can have 16 million colors, and a whole new array of digital effects. >> jon: wow. president trump is looking ahead

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the croc came from but they suspect he is somebody's pet. >> just what we all need, pack crocodile for christmas. thanks for joining us, to be 22 starts right now. >> kennedy: this is a fox news alert. president trump is an ambitious g.o.p. agenda taking shape and republicans from the president on down offer democrats to come to the table in the new year. this is "outnumbered." chaim kennedy in here today, with public and strategist and fox news contributor lisa boothe on the couch. along with the national review reporter kept him and democratic strategist and fox news contributor jessica tarr live. and joining us on the couch today, nationally syndicated radio host of the buck sexton show and former cia analyst, buck sexton is here and he is outnumbered. happy boxing day to you. >> merry christmas. we have a few more days of merry christmas going