possible. "america's news headquarters" starts right now. ♪ >> jon: president trump back to work today as he closes out his first year in office. a whirlwind year in the white house, welcome to "america's news headquarters." i'm jon scott. >> julie: i'm julie banderas. the trump family enjoying holidays in florida, even fielding calls from kids tracking center. today it's back to business. president trump tweeting "i hope everyone is having a great christmas, tomorrow it's back to work in order to make america great again which is happening faster than anyone anticipated. we are told to look ahead, tell us what's on the agenda when the president returns to washington.

>> addressing north korea, that something the administration is tackling right now. the treasury department is has identified to call more officials adding them to a sanctions list right now. steven mnuchin said in a statement "treasury is targeting leaders of north korea's ballistic missile program as part of our maximum pressure campaign to isolate the dprk and achieve a fully do nuclearize to korean peninsula." treasury says this announcement follows friday's u.n. security council resolution that tried to combat financing from north korea. meanwhile, president trump is golfing today, taken advantage of not being in washington and dealing with the cold weather. it's a course that the georgia

senator, along with a couple of professionals. the president is also tweeting about a little policy this morning before heading out to the golf course, talking a bit about health care, tweeting "the base on the fact that the very unfair and unpopular individual mandate has been terminated as part of our tax cut bill, the democrats and republicans will eventually come together and develop a great new health care plan." republicans tried this a few months ago, they preferred to replace obamacare, were on unsuccessful in their efforts. that's included in a strategy session the white house is going to have in the president will have when he gets back from his break here in south florida. the white house legislative director telling chris wallace that the president has invited the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, paul ryan, to camp david the first weekend in january to discuss their legislative priorities which

also include infrastructure. the main part of the president's proposal when he wanted to be president, now that he is the house and senate haven't really acted on that plan, spending perhaps hundreds of billions of not $1 trillion on infrastructure. what is unclear is how that is going to be structured. how much the federal government is going to spend, how much state and local governments are going to spend and where that money is going to come from. on top of all of that, congress has to address spending on disaster relief, immigration and a host of other items including budgeting and the debt ceiling, all to start 2018. >> julie: thank you. >> jon: health care is just one of the many issues on president trump's agenda. many of them putting republicans and democrats at odds. the hope is that lawmakers find common ground. will they be able to do it? i'm doing now by editorial director for the

"washington examiner," we are told that one of the things the president wants to accomplish this time around in 2018 is a big infrastructure bill. that is generally something democrats find pretty palatable. is that likely to be the big achievement of this legislative session? >> whether it's an achievement i'm not sure but it's definitely something they're going to focus on. as you just heard, the president is meeting with paul ryan and mitch mcconnell at camp david to hash out what the agenda will be. i think the president has made it pretty plain that infrastructure will be at the top of the list. as you say, democrats favor infrastructure spending. this may be an opportunity for the democrats who are going to hammer president trump and the republicans and everything else to show they are not just a party of no. they want infrastructure spending. perhaps they can go into the 2018 election showing they have cooperated on at least one

thing. conceivably infrastructure is something that will get done. >> jon: is there anything else on the horizon that both parties can agree on? >> no, i don't think so. i think on health care, even though the president may be right in the long term, the repeal of the mandate unravels obamacare, in fact the republicans have given the democrats an extra weapon to go into 2018 with because the repeal of the mandate is going to push up premium costs even more sharply for those who still buy their health care through the obamacare exchanges. i think the democratic base is very fired up, they really oppose president trump. the democrats know that historically in the first midterm elections after the election of a new president, the president's party generally loses seats. they believe they've got a big democratic wave coming. the last thing they are going to do is try to make the

republicans and the president look good at. they are going to oppose him at every point on every policy with the possible exception of infrastructure. >> jon: that's pretty much been the playbook for the first year of his term. opposition to pretty much the them president has wanted to do and he has still managed to get a few big things across the finish line. >> he certainly has. they would say the playbook was working pretty well until about the end of november or a little bit earlier than that and suddenly in the end of november and into december, the republicans and of the president in particular got onto our role. the big tax reform package signed just before christmas was the biggest thing but there is enormous amounts of deregulation and the net neutrality was repealed or is now at death's door. i think the president is entering 2018 on our role. republicans are feeling fairly

strong, too. one of the things that happened was that in the house, leadership finally got the republican conference to unite. they weren't being tripped up from those on the left, those on their right, and when they united they were able to completely ignore the demands of the democrats for legislation on dreamer immigration and they pass the tax reform bill without any democratic votes. the problem is going to be in the senate where it was hard enough for mitch mcconnell to get things done and move the agenda forward when he had a 52 52-48. now doug jones is going to be seated and that means the margin is only going to be 49-51 and that's going to make things even harder for mitch mcconnell. plenty of republican senators who would not go along with him on health care or on obamacare repeal and replace, now it's going to be even harder. >> jon: i remember way back in

the 2016 elections when a lot of the experts were predicting there would be a democrat majority in the u.s. senate. mitch mcconnell has to be happy about that. in terms of -- there is not likely to be any big change in terms of the parties working together? this health care repeal, the individual mandate repeal and the budget passed very much along party lines. pretty much in the house and the senate. >> i think you can expect with the 2018 election coming and with the democrats really feeling they have an opportunity to take the house, they have a pretty strong opportunity to do that. the president's personal unpopularity suggests -- one of the things they will be worried about all the way is even though the tax package is currently unpopular and republicans have done a terrible job in getting the message that this will benefit 90% of the middle class,

it's very unpopular. one of the things democrats are going to be hoping for is that this does not turbocharge the economy and make things look up and up on the way into 2018. and perhaps prevent them from winning the house. they've got a much tougher job to win the senate because they are defending more than twice as many seats as the republicans are defending. the most likely result is probably going to be they may take the house but they will find it tough to take the senate. >> jon: of a lot of people see their federal withholding going down from their paychecks in the coming weeks it could change a lot of minds. >> where a very long way from the election. it was foolish of me to actually make a prediction, don't hold me to it. >> jon: we are happy to hear you go out on a limb at any rate. >> thank you, john. >> julie: a mother and her two children shot dead and a police

officer injured and fury of shooting at a phoenix apartment complex. >> we went around the block to try from the other side in the entrance was blocked off by tons of cop cars. we saw some police holding guns and rifles. >> i've never seen anything like this before, our neighbors all seemed really normal and nice and we never had a problem with anybody here. >> julie: the suspect barricaded inside an apartment for several hours, he was finally taken into custody after a brief exchange of gunfire. officers found the bodies of a 10-month-old and 11-year-old inside. the suspect and injured. one officer was wounded by shrapnel. >> jon: hold hometown paper's blistering review for orrin hatch, one of the senate's longest-serving members. his response and what this all about is ahead. plus, new developments when it comes to north korea as tensions

mount over the rogue nations nuke. whether 2018 will likely bring peace or war. >> white house supports diplomatic talks. the observation is being made and i would agree with the observation, we are waiting on north korea to come to that conclusion and until they do, the pressure campaign will only intensify. i had been diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer. metastatic and it spread to my bones. time is very important when time is running out.

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♪ >> jon: some western politics for you now, a utah newspaper calling on senator orrin hatch to retire. the salt lake tribune's editorial board attacking the republican senator for appealing to get ready to run for another term after seeing his 2012 campaign would be his last. the op-ed reads "once again, hatch has moved to freeze the field." "it is basically a theft from the utah electorate. it will be good for utah if hatch finally caught the great white whale of tax reform were to call it a career. if he doesn't, the voters it should end it for him." senator hatch responding on twitter. there have been reports hatch could retire to make room for mitt romney to fill his seat.

a spokesman says that is not true. >> julie: dealing with north korea after a weekend of war rhetoric from the rogue nations under new sanctions russia is offering to broker talks between the u.s. and the north. the top democrat on the senate farmer believes there is an opening for diplomacy, listen. >> there are pretty strong additional sanctions that will be imposed against north korea because of their continued testing of ballistic missiles. that is absolutely a strong move forward and it was great to see china and russia join us on that. it needs to be followed up with diplomacy, if we get china and the united states working the same strategy with north korea to find a way that we can ease the tension and get north korea to change directions. >> julie: patrick cranfield served as a speechwriter, he is

currently a professor at georgetown university. thank you very much for talking to us. i always say talk is cheap, i want to see action. when it comes to talk, rex tillerson has come forward and said he wants to try to open up a dialogue with north korea but it's interesting because he and president trump are sort of on-again off-again when it comes to an agreement between the u.s. and north korea and diplomatic talks with pyongyang. is that even possible now? >> there is an old saying in diplomacy, diplomacy without force is like a symphony without instruments. in order to have diplomacy work you need to have a credible threat, of course. even though we are in the season of hope and joy and peace i think we need to think seriously, think hard about the prospect of what military confrontation, what military action against north korea would entail in 2018. it's difficult because ever since north korea got nuclear capability in 2006 in the bush

administration there's been a lack of clarity about what the options are and what we have to do. we have to face the facts, we have to face the truth and what that will require is for us to exhaust all diplomatic options available. i think you heard of those sound bites from rex tillerson and you've seen the work of secretary mattis and ambassador haley. it's encouraging that they are rationing out the diplomatic pressure. when you look at what even a limited military escalation would involve, you've heard that it is possible. i went to catholic school and i remember a latin phrase, more feeds on itself. we don't know exactly what a war would cost, what its ramifications would be but we do know that diplomacy, deterrence backed up by a credible threat, have worked in the past and that's what we should continue to pursue. >> julie: it hasn't worked with north korea. i want to know where you stand with the kremlin offering to

broker talks between "america's news pyongyang and the u.s. >> i hear some skepticism in your voice it. believing that vladimir putin would be a reliable is it like believing the new york giants have a chance at the super bowl this year. we need to be tough on russia. before they can sit down and broker peace, we need to look at what they are doing in north korea. they've helped their missile program, being tough on north korea means being tough on russia and that something president trump will have to do in 2018. >> julie: i think he sent a pretty strong message to russia. let's talk south korea, today south korea has predicted that the north will look to open talks with them next year. korea even trust north korea after all the direct threats coming in in the form of missile test firing over the years?

i don't know what can be trusted here. >> i think you're right and i think the south koreans, we need them to be in lockstep with us and we need to be in lockstep with them. that means continuing our training exercises, continuing to work with our military and making sure we are prepared. they have a slogan out there, i've seen them train on the korean peninsula and the slogan is "fight tonight." we need to be prepared, we need to be ready and in order to be ready, we need to have legitimacy of the international community and a full diplomatic full press over the next few months. >> julie: i don't want to be the ones to expose our weaknesses but we are not ready, we are not. we have troops based in south korea, north korea doesn't want u.s. troops based in south korea. what is the military's role if these talks ever take place? >> you heard of the commandant

of the marine corps, one of the greatest leaders and marines of the generation. say just in the past week, yes, we need to be prepared for a big war and that our soldiers need to ramp up their preparation. at the same time, again, we need our diplomats and our military professionals working in tandem and we need to support them wholeheartedly so that threat can be as credible as possible and we can diffuse this crisis peacefully in 2018. >> julie: let's hope so. thank you so much. >> jon: remember the massive mixup on live tv? >> "la la land." >> jon: this moment seen by millions around the world watching the oscars, we have a look back at some of the biggest mistakes and scandals of 2017. and a jetliner slipping and sliding off the runway in snowy weather makes for a scary landing.

plus, president trump's legal team predicting a rapid conclusion to the russia investigation.

♪ >> julie: the winter weather causing a scary situation in

boston's logan airport. a jetblue flight from savannah, georgia, us getting off the taxiway shortly after landing at around 715 last night. no injuries were reported but passengers were bus to the terminal, shaken up after getting safely off that plane. airport authorities say snow did force them to a close run the race yesterday morning but all was clear by 11:30 last night. >> jon: united airlines apologizing and offering of travel voucher after a passenger accused airline of giving her first press seat to democratic congresswoman sheila jackson le lee. the flight was from houston to washington. united says it upgraded jackson lee automatically and not because she's a member of congress. the congresswoman in a statement says she did not ask for anything exceptional or out of the ordinary. >> julie: the wrong to best picture almost takes home an

oscar and a number of celebrities and politicians are hit with sexual assault allegations. 2017 a year filled with scandals in hollywood and washington, d.c. >> "la la land." >> and epic blunder at the oscars, when "la la land" eclipse "moonlight" as best picture. >> i'm sorry, there's a mistake. moonlight, you won best picture. >> the mixup was corrected in the middle of "la la land" excepts in speech. kathy griffin creates blood ems after a photo shoot of her surfaced with her holding a mask of president trump's blood he had. the comedian initially said she was sorry but later revoked that apology. united airlines faced a public relations nightmare in april. the video showed two security officers violently dragging a passenger off the plane when the passenger refused to give up a seat to an airline crew member.

the ceo for the company issued a public apology for the incident. bill cosby accused of drugging a woman before he perform sexual acts in 2004. he denies the charges and the judge declared a mistrial. the new trial is set to occur in the spring. the dove under trial for what is called racially insensitive commercial. the company said it missed the mark, and thoughtfully representing women of color. dozens of women come forward accusing harvey weinstein of harassment, assault, and even rape. in addition to several open investigations by authorities, he denies the allegation. the story created a ripple effect of dozens of men accused, including kevin spacey, louis c

louis ck, ben affleck, dustin hoffman, nick carter, sylvester stallone and former president george h.w. bush. today show anchor matt lauer terminated from nbc after an employee filed a complaint about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace. andrew lack said it was the first complaint lodged against him. the network has reason to believe it was not an isolated incident. charlie rose fired from cbs and his prominent interview show was dropped after several women accused the former cbs this morning host of harassment, including groping and lewd phone calls. harassment allegation checking up washington as well. roy moore accused of dating and in some instances sexually assaulting teenage girls when he was in his 30s. he denies all of the allegations. >> the people of alabama have

more in common then divided. >> he ended up losing the seat in the december 12 election against democrat doug jones. democratic senator al franken shows in this photo, placing his hands over leeann tweed and in 2006. after mounting pressure for the senator to resign. this just days after john conyers, facing his own allegations announced his retirement. with 2018 right around the corner, no doubt there will be more of the scandals in the news and we will be covering it all right here. in new york, ainsley earhardt, fox news. >> jon: it's been devastating california for nearly a month and it's already the biggest wildfire in state history. firefighters say they could be weeks from containing the blaze. plus, despite winning big on tax reform, why republicans may be wary of their 2018 chances. the warning signs. our political panel debates.

>> i think there still a lot of confusion about what's actually in the bill. there's a lot of good policy and the tax bill. we will see if that translates into any political support but i will tell you this is going to be a tough year for my party.

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recent election victory signal a wave that could help them retake the house of representatives and next year's midterm. and with the g.o.p. holding just one seat edge in the senate, democrats are not counting out retaking that chamber as well. bernie sanders on why democrats are hopeful heading into the new year. >> i think what you're seeing is a referendum on donald trump about a man who said one thing during the campaign and his actions are very different. what we've seen in alabama, what we are seeing in virginia, new jersey, states all across this country, large voter turnout, people standing up and fighting back and demanding we have a government that represents all of us, not just the 1%. if i were the republicans i would worry very much about 2018. >> jon: let's bring in our political panel. jessica tarlov is with us. lisa boothe is with us as well. both are fox news contributor's. hi to both of you.

jessica, do you first. from the republican standpoint, how worried are you about losing one or maybe both houses? >> i think i'm really worried about losing the house, less worried about losing the senate. i agree with a lot of what bernie sanders said in terms of this being a very high turnout into democratic states right now. especially focusing on the african-american vote which is what delivered the win in alabama. i know that is our extenuating circumstances. >> jon: the african-american vote tends to not turn out in election years. >> that's why the special election is important there. i take your point completely and obviously when you are showing up to elect the first african-american president that's going to be a larger turnout than for hillary clinton for instance but we need to continue to cultivate that enthusiasm going forward. in the senate we are defending

25 seats, ten in deep red states that went for a trump. but the house ain't bad. >> jon: lisa, typically an off year elections, the party that controls the white house does lose a bunch of seats. it tends to go in line with the president's popularity polls. this president's popularity polls at this moment are not all that great. what do you think the chances are? >> i agree with a lot of what jessica said. a surprisingly. of course, republicans have the house and the senate and the white house. republicans could face some losses heading into the 2018 midterm election. i'm a little more worried about the house then i am the senate for the reasons that jessica laid out. look at the senate map for republicans. democrats are defending 25 seats, i think republicans are defending eight. if you are republicans you are

only defending one state that hillary clinton won and that's the state of nevada, where democrats are defending ten senate states that president trump won, five which he won by double digits. i think the senate is much more difficult. i worked on campaigns during two wave elections, 2010, 2014. i think it's a little too early to really tell and read the tea leaves but for the reasons both jessica and i outlined i think there should be some concern for republicans. >> jon: that's what we like to do this time of year. we like to read tea leaves. jessica, most elections revolve around the economy. nancy pelosi famously said this tax reform bill is an abomination, what did she call it? >> armageddon. you didn't notice the end of the world? >> jon: we are here to cover it if it comes. what if this economy takes off under this tax bill? is not going to be a problem for democrats? >> depending on what they say

about it. if democrats come out there into the american public is feeling more optimistic, democrats are coming out their hand railing with the same tired talking points, we are not going to get anywhere. i think democrats need to be very careful about their messaging and talk about the disparity and what the upper classes getting versus the middle and lower class, these cuts will not continue in perpetuity, what kind of breaks are hidden into this that are benefiting those that are not the base of our party. i think we need to get our own win here. we've been talking a lot about the perpetual for a bill to get protection for our dreamers, 800,000 of them. we should do something on infrastructure and that's a win for both parties. when you look at the generic ballot, we are up 13-15 points right now. it doesn't bode well for republicans. these are natural cycles that happen in politics. democrats need to be careful, don't be insulting, i don't want to hear the word deplorable on national television or even in

private at a fund-raiser. be careful in how you are speaking about the masses of americans and those who voted for donald trump. he's out 35% of approval, some of those voters we can pick them up if we are careful and thoughtful. >> jon: i think i just gave you 30 seconds of free time for candidate school. >> i do think democrats did themselves a disservice with the crazy rhetoric we saw over the tax reform debate. "the wall street journal" had a pole were only 17% of americans think they're getting a tax cut when in reality it's at least 80%. that's a lot of room for republicans to change that voter opinion heading into 2018. i think when you have 80% of americans realizing they are going to get a tax cut, they are going to have more take-home pay, i think those numbers change and that does certainly benefit republicans. >> the cut doesn't come into effect until next year.

>> i'm talking about voter opinion and changing the message. letting voters know that what they've been hearing from the national media simply isn't tru true. turn to other networks, read other publications, it simply not the case. >> i am saying that you can hear a message all the time but until your bank account goes up you are not going to feel it personally. i don't think he would disagree certainly about what's going on on the tax bill, if you consider the fact that people are going to be talking about that. i think it is a bill that is incredibly slanted for the upper-class and not the middle and lower class and we can debate that another time. if the cuts aren't going to come until next year, people are going to be voting on their same wages or with their $1,000 bonus or an extra $20. i don't know if that changes a 13-15-point slide. >> jon: a lot of people rode off donald trump throughout his candidacy and he is now occupying the oval office.

it's going to be an interesting year. >> three more years. >> the economy is doing well. >> three more years. >> jon: thank you very much. lisa, jessica. >> julie: texas still recovering from hurricane harve hurricane harvey. they are looking for solutions. >> living in this area, storm surges are a humongous threat. >> galveston bay and texas where she was during hurricane harvey. >> living out here there's really nowhere to go? >> if you can evacuate there is way out. >> homes and neighborhoods flooded. >> it was a kind of crazy, panicked feeling because there was water all around us. >> water all around becomes a regular occurrence for towns along galveston bay. which has flooded multiple times over the past 20 years. the problem is here at the tip of the island, galveston bay

opened and exposed right here to the gulf of mexico. during the storm, all the storm surge from the golf makes its way unimpeded into galveston bay. it doesn't just threaten the homes and neighborhoods. the bay finals into the port of houston and endangers our major population center. as well as houston's oil and petrochemical infrastructure. >> water is a hugely powerful force. >> some say houston has to move out of the way of that water. this man promised to move that water out of the way of houston. >> your idea is to limit the amount of water here that can get into galveston bay during the storm event. >> absolutely. and causing significant impacts further up the gulf. >> 's proposed building, giant movable gates that storm surge barriers.

it's similar to ones in the netherlands that protect ports from the north sea. if approved by congress the gates will be open for ship traffic but closed during big weather events like harvey. >> these are massive structures. >> they would be gigantic structures. it would be the largest navigational structure in the world. >> the total cost would be $10 billion. >> as long as he wanted to worry about water ever again. >> absolutely worth it in the end. it's going to save a lot of lives. >> it's also going to save a lot of infrastructure. on galveston bay, douglas kennedy, fox news. >> jon: california firefighters gaining ground on the massive thomas wildfire but they do not to sit expect to have it fully contained until early next month. of the fire has been burning since the fourth of december,

quickly spreading across 300,00. fueled by high winds and bone dry rather. scorched about 1600 homes, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate. it is now the largest wildfire in california state history. >> julie: winter is here and with a vengeance. bitter cold across large parts of the nation, snow falling in one city that rarely gets it in december. and the russia investigation still hanging over president trump's head as we approach the new year. but could it soon be over? we will discuss. >> the white house has cooperated, no collusion has been proved. whoooo.

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portland had measurable snow on the 25th of december. >> julie: lawyers for president trump say they expect the russia investigation to wind up soon. at least the part involving the president. trump lawyers say they expect to their end of the investigation to be wrapped up. what do mueller's people stay? >> we have no idea what it's going to be but this is a highly charged, politically toxic situation so there may be communication lines, we don't know. to me it's more like cautious optimism on their part. you can't read their cards, you don't know how long it's going to go on. there's a lot of politically toxic sound bites back and forth, they have not uncovered any specific evidence of collusion with russia during the

election cycle, that's true. at the same time, they've been able to bring some charges to a few people. >> julie: they haven't proven what they initially thought was true. >> the charges have nothing to do with the election, obviously. the other two, to a lesser extent, did it. i don't have a crystal ball as i like to say but i do think that may be by the end of 2018 it will be wrapped up. >> julie: mueller's team has brought charges against four individuals, he pled guilty of lying to the fbi. at this point, trump's lawyers are looking forward to what they say it, and expeditious and to the russia probe. again, when you have brought up charges against four different people that are not

president trump, or somebody directly involved with giving him bad advice, at what point do you just hang up your heels? >> what they recently were banking on was when general flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi. everybody jumped in, he is cooperating with the probe. that's true. it translates into, there will be an actual case of collusion during the election. that's not true in my opinion. i think again, while they are projecting cautious optimism, they may have some information and see, as lawyers, they've seen there has been no specific case. >> julie: over the weekend, president trump reignited his feud with fbi leadership. word on his reported --

"the washington post" basically came out and said he planned on retiring but only in the months after he received his full pension benefits. let's read the tweets in case those of you at home don't follow president trump on twitter. "andrew mccabe is racing the clock to retire. full benefits, 90 days to go?" this tree comes as no surprise. is that more bad optics for the fbi? >> originally it was the notion that the fbi is corrupt, it's terrible. thousands of investigation, thousands of agencies. in a politically charged case, you had serious errors and breaches of protocol. the u.s. attorney's office decides that.

in the politically toxic hillary clinton case, things got a little out of control. these politically toxic cases are all over with. >> julie: doug burns, great to see you. thank you so much. >> jon: a special tribute from a star athlete to a homestay era. at touching tribute about senator john mccain. that's next. on textbooks, why implementing it why might not be so easy. hi, i'm julie, a right at home caregiver. and if i'd been caring for tom's dad, i would have noticed some dizziness that could lead to balance issues. that's because i'm trained to report any changes in behavior, no matter how small, so tom could have peace of mind.

we'll be right there. we have to go. hey, tom. you should try right at home. they're great for us. the right care. right at home.

♪ >> julie: arizona cardinals wide receiver larry fitzgerald writing an open letter to senator john mccain out for christmas. offering prayers as the 81-year-old lawmaker continues to battle brain cancer. he wrote a letter saying this "the sacrifices john mccain made for our country and especially the men and women he served within the military are incredible. as a prisoner of war in vietnam, he missed a six christmases with his family back home and suffered unbelievable hardship. today my friend

senator john mccain, again finds himself in a battle. this time it's with cancer and the treatment he's undergoing is exhausting. i wish him a merry christmas today and i pray he lives in another 20 years. a very sweet message to the senator who did in fact get to spend this holiday with the mccains in arizona at the ranch. >> jon: he said he has seen the cell that the senator was detained and when he was a prisoner of war. >> julie: it's nice to hear somebody give him credit for the sacrifices he's made for the country. well deserved. >> jon: he is a hero. a classroom controversy brewing in california, teachers will soon only use textbooks that fairly treat lgbtq americans. but of course the fight wasn't always fair so there are concerns that inclusion could turn into speculation. live in los angeles for us. what is this new california

textbook policy exactly? >> the law says that publishers must include the contributions of gay and lesbian americans. that presents a challenge when same-sex activity years back was illegal. >> i think what's going on here, is an effort to politicize history. we are not trying to make anybody gay, we are not saying there's an agenda or saying these people are better than other people. we are saying this is another group of americans and they face prejudices. >> the state requires publishers to include the sexual preferences of prominent

historical figures. among others, activist jane addams, writers emily dickinson and nathaniel hawthorne. >> buchanan, he never married, he had a very good friend who was living to him. he may have been gay. on the other hand, that time, being gay was seen as something evil and wrong. >> the state approved the text for eighth graders. and it, he refers to a woman who identified as man. >> much of this is speculation. it's not good history. >> the state rejected publishers who refuse to label some figures as gay and forced another to insert the word lesbian when

referring to astronaut sally rogers. others believe california is not teaching, 40% of california students enter the state university system needing remedial math and english. >> jon: what a story. thank you. >> julie: growing tensions over the status of jerusalem after the u.s. recognizes the holy city is the capital of israel. how washington is handling opposition at the united nation united nations.

♪ >> there is follow from production to the united nations up budget after the u.s. negotiated $285 million cut, welcome to "america's news hq," i'm julie banderas i'm julie banderas. >> jon: good to be with you, julia. nikki haley saint, she's pleased with the results, the inefficiency and overspending as the robot is well known is going to slash lectures budget days after the u.n. voted to recommend drew's room is the israeli capital. doug mckelway is live in washington, d.c.. maybe expect more of the u.s. with the human contribution to make speak out there a lot on speculation. it depends on member nations react over time to cut its

contributions by $285 million in what future votes, member nations take that may isolate the u.s. 285 million is a tiny piece of the u.s. total contribution to the u.n., $8 billion or 22% of the u.s. total budget. after last week's vote, you remember, ambassador haley declared the u.s. will remember this day in which it was singled out for a tax when they called upon to once again make the world's largest contribution. sunday night, she kept that promise and it was reminded that the u.s. and station in the nation is under new management that draws redlines and from what we have seen, enforces them. >> jon: we are hearing guatemala may not be the only nation to join the u.s.? >> yes, according to israel's deputy foreign minister, ten of the countries have expressed interest in moving the embassies from tel aviv to jerusalem.

also announcing on his facebook page, and attention to do so, i have given instructions to the foreign ministry to start the necessary respective coronation to to make this happen. that announcement was met with praise from the israeli foreign ministry, which has long appreciated guatemala, when the first nations to support the creation of a jewish state back in 1947. >> israel says thank you very much to guatemala. we believe this is a just decision and also the defectors between our two countries. >> the decision to recommend the embassy move was condemned by palestinians. one member of the legislature says that u.s. and guatemala are in the minority of global opinion. >> the decision of the president guatemala to move the embassy is violating international law. the majority of the world is on

our side, and the decision of one country like guatemala will not change that. >> the israeli foreign ministry has not said which other countries are contemplating moving to embassies to jerusalem, but media reports say honduras may be the next one. back to you, jon. >> jon: doug mckelway, thank you. >> julie: there is a new wrinkle in the fuse between president trump and senator jeff flake, the arizona republican now leaving open the possibility of challenging him and 2020? speak i do wonder, in the futura president trump running for reelection on one side, drilling down hard on a diminishing base, and on the other side, you might have somebody like bernie sanders or elizabeth warren on the far left to the

democratic party that leaves a huge swath of voters in the middle, that are looking for something else. >> you are open for running for president in 2020. >> i do not rule anything out, but it is not my plans. >> julie: joining us now, president and ceo of squared communications and former chief of staff for maria cat, and publican police of strat flake who will retire is not necessarily announcing a run for presidency, but not sane he is. what is he saying? >> me? sorry, i think senator flake had a situation right. this trump will be going through a much smaller base, the trouble in the primary, primary and carcasses, it will carry him to

the white house as for the nomination, but keeping that smaller base, the trouble for him would be the general election, whether it is a much larger middle. he was a political trouble before he announced his retirement. he had hard time in the primary in arizona and will have a hard time to admit that to beat the democrat. on politics, he does not have much room in the middle, deftly in the primary process, the left and the rice write on both sides. >> julie: for those who want to vote somewhere in the middle and brian, i think that is what flake is referring to, there is a bernie sanders or elizabeth warren to choose against president trump, it may be a potentially be a huge challenge. >> yes, it is a good thought, but the reality is, republicans tend to come home and support

whoever the incumbent or nominee is. my view is, if someone was going to mount a campaign against the president, which is highly unlikely from his own party, that would be the surest way to ensure bernie sanders or elizabeth warren does not get the election themselves. i think you divide the party and this is not a good time to be talking about the party, extremely united at the moment after the tax vote the other day. >> julie: in the interview, abc news basically got flake to talk about the president inviting a republican challenger along the way. the president has conducted himself while in office, and what flake is doing in this piece that i want to air, he's highlighting the fact that while, yes, the republicans came in and they were united on the tax overhaul, they are not necessarily all united behind closed doors as we know. there's a lot of g.o.p. members that have been vocally against the president.

let's listen to jeff flake you. >> i do believe that the president is running for reelection, he continues on the path that he is on, that will leave huge swath of voters looking for something else. >> if he is the republican nominee, we will see independent candidates? >> he is inviting a republican challenge as well. certainly, independent challenge. >> julie: michael, do you think president trump has anything to worry about, republicans, that he has butted heads with in his own party looking to challenge? >> absolutely, for sure. in 2015, donald trump was a democrat, and then won the republican nomination nose running the republic of party. anything is possible. it is been a long time since an independent, almost 30 years by 20% of the vote. the difference of the primary and a general election, in a primary, you do not need a majority to in may the states are decided by representation. having a republican party chose, i can imagine unless you lose

the house in 2018 and the present continues to dip. that's a lot to f's. he does keep his base motivated. there is definitely that. it's a question of whether flake could beat him in a nomination or whether a third party can. >> julie: third party candidate, jeff flake is saying, president trump will face an independent challenge in the next presidential election. when you talk about an independent candidate running an election, where it is a reelection for the president, if anything, you are going to hurt your own party. you're not necessarily -- your chances of winning are so slim, really what you were doing, taking votes away from that republican. you're basically handing it to the democrats. what republican would want to do that? >> again, the only -- the net result of an republican leaning independent challenge by president trump would be too handy election to a democrat. what a political party is, a

collection of interests, who come together around certain shared goals, and i think republicans have shown that they are willing to come together and shared goals, and at the end of the year, they show that they had a very robust list of accompaniments that they can point to if they do come together, which they did. i think we know, the party is very unified and heading into 2018, and he talks of people challenging the president within the party is extremely premature and not with the party really i is. >> julie: think you and sorry for the long awkward pause. i thought i had said or just the question. anyway, i always love nice silence every once a while. guys. we need to be quiet every once in a while. >> jon: meditation. deadly attack in afghanistan. at least ten people are dead. who the suicide bomber targeted and progress in the fight

against isis is that terror group is routed from iraq, but who gets the credit? president trump or the obama administration? >> we are ordering $4 billion of missile defense, and that will be done by signing right here, our military has been doing a fantastic job in so many ways with isis and everything they are touching lately has been working on. i love kiwis. i've always had that issue with the seeds getting under my denture. super poligrip free. it creates a seal of the dentures in my mouth. just a few dabs is clinically proven to seal out more food particles. try super poligrip free. ♪

ice is taking responsibility for a suicide bombing in afghanistan. it happened yesterday in the capital of kabul, the interior ministry saint, the bomber blew himself up outside an office of the intelligent service as people arrived for work. at least ten people were killed and several others injured. president trump was briefed on the attack. >> jon: how the wife maintains a presence in the middle east, there is been a good fight against that terror group major strongholds lost in iraq and syria, many credit president trump for that, and others argue, the obama administration made laid the groundwork. a lucas tomlinson's life with a look at everything here. how close is president trump from being completely routed from iraq and syria? >> isis has lost 90% of the territory once held. half of those losses come since

president trump took office. critics say the rules of engagement during the obama administration, but the white house waiting weeks to pick targets. >> the obama administration micromanaged a war, and what the trump administration did, was allow execution decisions to be made in accordance with the guidance he provided. we could have accomplished our objectives through the use of all men whelming power in three months, not three years. >> today, the u.s. military says it less than a thousand ices fighters remain mostly in a small area scene here on the map in red. they controlled at once an area the size of ohio, but a former senior director and the obama white house pushback on any criticism that the former president did not do enough to crouch isis. >> this was a top priority. the early days of, the type of territorial that they had in the

game, in particular, there was a recognition and save haven that extended not just into the region, but into europe and into the united states. >> will they have been largely been defeated, it may continue to call in attacks during the holidays and a new message to spread today. >> you can wipe out a terror group or its members, but can you wipe out their ideology connect with this thing ever be gone completely? >> jon, the anti-ices coalition says, they do not expect a complete defeat of ices anytime soon. >> ices became a brand, and a lot of pre-existing's have seen this, they start to raise the flag. mostly to recruit foreign fighters >> in addition to ices, an old foe is taking root in syria come into take on a bigger party next year. >> a lot of folks when they think about al qaeda cap, probably still think of it as a

center of gravity, and that afghanistan, pakistan border. i would think of the center of gravity for a calendar, is she syria at this point. >> the suicide attack yesterday and kabul, afghanistan, jon, ices claimed responsibility. we went lucas tomlinson at the pentagon. thank you. >> julie: with low approval ratings, despite delivering on several campaign promises this year. is the president not getting the credit he deserves? we will discuss it with our guest coming up. plus a tragic christmas eve for a police officer and family, what we are now learning about the driver involved in this officer's death. >> we lost not only hero, but a son, a daughter, husband, and a father, to a senseless act and the irresponsible decision. many families have been impacted by this as well as citizens of

california that officer cammalleri swore to protect

>> julie: new information to tell you about the crash that killed the california highway patrol officer. officer andrew cal mary was in the passenger seat of a patrol

car when it was hit by a suspected drunk driver. the 33-year-old officer just joined the california highway patrol just last year. he leaves behind a wife and three children. the officer in the driver's seat suffered minor injuries. the suspect was reportedly speeding and under the influence of alcohol. >> jon: it has been a busy 2017 for president trump, but despite his accomplishments, he does not get any respect from the mainstream media. "the wall street journal" editorial bo mcgurn says, this time one year ago, the political coverage was the only people more stupid than don't trump where the deplorable's who elected him. president-elect trump has been president trump over his 11 month in office, he is put neil gorsuch on the supreme court, and four times as many judges on the other courts as barack obama. recognized jerusalem as the capital of israel with the paris

climate accord, and yet, that, mr. trump is a very stupid man, is the assumption dominating this press coverage. the author of those words of "the wall street journal," joining us and appeared in your column, you include yourself as one of those who is skeptical. >> i never thought president trump was stupid. when he first started, you look it up jesse ventura, arnold schwarzenegger, and then they started high expectations, approval ratings. they got what they really wanted through, and then it fizzled. >> ventura did not even get reelected. >> the question was, what would make him any different, i thought like a lot of populace, he might fizzle out. he might be like a comment. pleasantly surprised he wasn't. >> of his achievements, what do you consider number one? >> that is hard to say depending

on foreign policy. domestically, i think the tax cuts have to be big. they are the biggest achievement, because reason we haven't had them in 37 years. it is very difficult. you come at two would form the tax code, that is a big achievement. and he's also used his executive authority in a way that he seems to be unaware of. other people who are more trained of politics say, we have to put up the journalism decision coming getting out of the climate accord. he just doesn't. and i think he has shown that you can do things if you just say you are going to do them and you do not have to succeed to the dominant orthodox in washington. >> there is a book about george w. bush, do you think the press is underestimated this present? >> i've covered a lot of people i don't like. i think it is a very debilitating assumption your judgment to go in and have such

dislike for someone, because a college or judgment. i think a lot of people missing achievements, he could have gotten these things done? i think you have to ask yourself. i also for a show of hands, how many people are constantly telling us how stupid donald trump is, it predicted he would not win the presidency publicly, and some predicted if by some miracle he didn't, he would never get anyone decent to work for him, and i think he assembled a formidable cabinet, and he has done more than i had expected. >> jon: we had a panel in the last hour of democrats at the polls come november, it democrats seem to be chomping on the bed. i wonder if this economy catches fire, as it seems to be doing, unemployment is down. huge job creation. 3% plus economic growth, those are things that the obama administration would have loved.

>> i say three things. i understand your enthusiasm for 2018. usually the president loses seats and his party loses seats in the midterm. they have that going for them. president trump is a polarizing figure. just how president obama with a lot of democratic losses, there was enthusiasm with the democrats enjoy the coming in people preferred democrats. sooner or later, they will have to have flesh and blood candidates, real positions, and it will just become a well behaved donald trump? i do do not know. >> jon: there's a lot of republicans who do not embrace this president. i still think you have to have a message come i don't think you have to have a good candidate. i don't think the democrats considering its identity politics it's extremism on issues such as abortion and economic growth, apparently, within a single democratic going

for this package. >> is it possible the president uses his twitter feed is a shiny object to distract while he is over here operating the levers of government? some of the issues, which she doesn't use it as much. i think this is one of those dangers of disliking someone so intensely. you overlook what they are doing, and a lot of the enthusiasm love the twitter stuff. it clearly, donald trump it when i was in the white house, we fell for everything. this is unfiltered. >> from "the wall street journal." thank you. some travelers admits the holiday rush, but there are many out there. even more to complain at one major airport. it is all because of one passenger. we'll tell you that person is. home owners and high-tech

states, looking for ways to save money. a new tax code taking effect, will take a look at its impact on americans. >> the bottom line is, this is the biggest tax cuts and reform in history of our country. this is bigger than president reagan's many years ago. whoooo.

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orlando airport during the holiday rush. please say, a passenger try to bring a gun and ammunition on a plane in a carry-on bag. although the passenger had a valid concealed weapon license, federal law prohibits people from carrying weapons through airport checkpoints. he is now facing charges. >> just having an even bigger impact, faster than i thought, the corporate tax rate come as you know, it will be lowered from 35, 21%. that means more products will be made in the usa, and a lot of things are going to be happening in usa. will bring back companies that did not start coming back. i think they had certain confidence, they figured we would get this done. they have already started. >> jon: that is president trump touting the $1.5 trillion tax bill, which he signed into law friday. the new measure has state and

local tax deduction, sending those with high tech states like new york and scrambling to prepay the 2018 property taxes before years end. present of the tax foundation there has been a lot of concern and questions about what happens to the taxpayers in state and local taxpayers. people who are paying fairly high taxes, but will not be able to deduct as many of those taxes from the federal income tax. are the taxpayers going to get burned? >> it appears that a lot of these folks are going to face a change in their state and local taxes. these high tech states, especially the politicians like governor in new jersey, california, et cetera, they are going to have to think long and hard about the kind of taxes that they impose on the local citizens. the federal government will not be covering it anymore through

the state and local tax deduction. >> jon: you think this can motivate some of the higher tech states, new york, california, new jersey, to revamp their tax system? >> i think starting january 1, we will have 50 state tax debates. number one, each state has to decide how it's going to conform to the federal tax system. a lot of states link their tax systems to that federal tax code, they will have to figure out what areas of the new federal system they will conform their local tax system to come up but particularly these high tech states, newark, new jersey, connecticut, et cetera, which have especially high property tax, high income tax, they will have to rethink those taxes, because they can no longer pass along those costs to uncle sam. >> jon: the town supervisor of greenberg. we will listen -- okay, i

thought we had him on tape, but he says, i am getting swamped with many, many calls. usually one in our about people who want to prepay their taxes. all the officials and westchester, the county where he is talking about, are being swamped with calls. people clearly notice, taxation wise. >> dev a one-time reprieve old to prepay property taxes, and date do not have to face the limit of property tax deductions next year. you cannot jell your income taxes, you can only prepay your property taxes. this is like a one-time reprieve. next are, you are going to be limited in terms of how much of your state and local deduction you can take, and that is limited $10,000. for most americans, this will not be a big deal at all. there are state and local taxes are well below that, and in fact, most people end up taking the standard deduction rather than itemizing it, so they'll be

reprieved from this at the end of the day anyway. >> jon: are the politicians and those high tech states going to take notice? will they be hearing from their constituents, or our constituents going to take out their anger on people at the federal level, president trump and the republican-led congress? >> i think we already seen at the state level to start to change their tax code. in fact, the new governor of new jersey, proposing a millionaire's tax has rescinded that and said, i think we need to think twice about passing this millionaire tax, because they can no longer pass that along to uncle sam. i think this will force a lot of tax competition at the state and local level. especially low tech states, they will have a much bigger advantage over these high tech states, because there taxes are low. they are going to be much more attracted to new businesses and for people who want to move from these high tech states that have

a better tax climate for their job. >> jon: does it hurt property value in the high tech states? if you cannot deduct as much of what your pain and taxes, and that will hurt property values, isn't it? >> at the end of the day, we will see some of those property values come down. actually, a lot of the price of those taxes get built into the price of the home. in some cases, those homes will become much more affordable to entry-level buyers. as i say, those property taxes get built into the price of the home, which is good for local politicians, but it is bad for home owners. you end up paying a higher price, just because it was high taxes. >> jon: it will be a year of change in the tax world. a lot of change. thank you for helping us look into the crystal ball. thank you. >> julie: 2017 was the year of controversy in hollywood, which had more of its share of scandals, breakups, and mishaps.

adam housley breaks it all down in his hollywood recap. >> the biggest entertainment story of 2017 is far from over, starting in october with sexual allegations media mogul harvey weinstein when several actresses accused him of inappropriate behavior. that started a landslide of others to come forward against kevin spacey, ben affleck, dustin hoffman, lucy kaye, russell simmons, jeffrey tambor, and matthew lower. at this disaster, there was a blunder when they announced the wrong best picture winner, giving it to "lala land" instead of "moonlight." after $200 million opening of "star wars," the last jenna, the ninth film did not make this year's top five grossing movie of 2017, but these dead. the live-action remake of "beauty and the beast,"

wonder woman came in second, no surprise would number three, "guardian of the galaxy volume two," followed by spider-man: homecoming and rounding out the top five, the horror flick "it." >> kaiser tragedy struck twice t and oriented grande show, killing 200 some people. then on october 1st, gunmen opened fired and route 91 music festival in las vegas, killing 58, injuring 546. hollywood marriage breakups include chris pratt and anna faris, ben affleck and jennifer garner, as well as ben stiller and christine taylor. two power couples welcome twin sister, george clooney and jay-z and beyonce.

the top three albums of 2017 include kendrick lamar's " "d.a.m.n." sitting on top, and she earned "shape of you, and it featuring justin bieber coming in a second. their son also hold the other being the most streamed song of all time. other major stories celebrating the upcoming royal wedding, a billion-dollar deal between disney and 21st century fox, and 146 years and been the greatest show on earth, ringling brothers and barnum and bailey circus brought on the tents. and finally, there was a sad farewells during 2017, leaving a voice for many fans, soundgarden's front man, chris cornell, playboy founder,

hugh hefner, mary tyler moore, don rickles, country superstar, glen campbell, and tom petty rock icon. in hollywood, adam housley, fox news. >> jon: what a year. more than 4 feet of snow bearing on big cities. we will take you there, and north korea demanding the united states prove that the regime was behind a massive cyber attack. >> president trump use just about every lever short of starving the people of north korea to death to change their behavior. we do not have a lot of room left here to apply pressure to change her behavior. nevertheless, it is important to let them know that it is them, and we know it is them.

they got some better today, quote climbing above $16,000 after plummeting from the $20,000 high on friday to just

above 10 grand. no clear explanation for that massive sell-off, but coin based quote one of the leading u.s. crypto currency exchanges says they are creating -- it was going down for two hours. >> jon: a white christmas for americans, and savannah's fourth largest theory , buried under snow, . your many officials have a state of emergency, they're asking drivers to please stay off the roads, more snow could fall there till tomorrow peers between the united states announcing sanctions against two senior north korean officials involved in the deponent of weapons of mass destruction. north koreans envoy at the u.n., once washington to back up the claim that the north woods behind the wannacry ran somewhere attack, calling the allegations baseless obligation causing tension.

it attacked hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide. john hanna, at the defense of democracy, he is also a former security advisor to cheney. thank you so much for talking to us. first of all, what you make of the treasury department announcing sanctions, and will they be any difference? >> i think it is well and good, to sanctioned officials, but i don't think anybody should pull themselves into believing this will be a major contribution to our effort to get rid of north korea's weapons. far more important will be the type of measures we took last week to actually target north korea's economy. if they were given enough time, could well bring that economy to its knees and trigger a real crisis in the kim jong un regime. right now, i think that probably the only hope we have short of launching a full-scale catastrophic war on the north

will resolve this crisis. >> julie: regarding a crisis of cyber warfare, the wannacry cyber attack, and whether or not there is evidence that would basically prove that publicly, they want them to release any evidence proving that the north did this. they deny it. how do you back up the claim that pyongyang is behind the attack? >> first and foremost, eb have to be protecting absolutely critical intelligence sources and methods. we do not mean to be revealing to anybody, especially in this new frontier of cyber domain all of the tricks of the trade that we have and discover what they are doing. that would be my biggest concern, but i would absolutely put no stock in the north korean denial. they fly in the breeze as easily

breathe. they will make very serious national security claims to the extent we can and we want to generate some degree of international support and legitimacy for actions we might take in, should be as transparent as we possibly can be, while protecting the credible methods. >> julie: explained to our viewers, this is a new frontier of terror. how imperative is it for the united states to find out who is responsible for cyber warfare? >> it's essential to be able to attribute these attacks. a again, this is a new domain. there is no rules of the game in the cyberspace. as quickly as possible, it's imperative that with rogue regimes like north korea, we make clear that attacks like this would be met with swift and severe retaliation. you have to understand the very

high price for these kind of attacks is not going to make it work for them. this is the essence of deterrence. we have done it for centuries on the battlefield. for decades on the nuclear battlefield, and now we have to get it out to a very serious business of establishing real deterrence beyond the cyber battlefield. >> julie: i want to switch gears. there is a ship escorting a russian vessel, and it passed near the territorial waters over christmas. this is according to vince defense ministry, russians naval activity has increased near britain in the holiday period is relations are strained. what does the accelerating pattern that russia's military aggressiveness say about the kremlin's strategy, to create further conflict with nato's borders. >> this is part of a pattern we

have seen in recent years. not only at sea but on land. it is highly dangerous, and in most cases, very unprofessional. they could easily escalate through miscalculation into full-blown hostility. this is a systematic russian pattern, not only to raise doubts about the firmness and unity like nato, but of the united states itself, which is the leader of the west, which makes it absolutely essential that we and our allies respond to these incidences very firmly while trying as best we can to ensure they don't spiral out of control. >> julie: nothing new that britain and russia relations are strained. that has been ongoing for quite some time, but after this incident, in a statement, they were not hesitating to defending the waters or tolerating the

form of aggression. moscow blamed london for the poor state of relations between the two countries, it goes back and forth to and where does the u.s. sit in all of this, or does it? connect do we stay out? >> we cannot stay out, we are committed, article five of nato to come to the defense of britain if britain gets into a dustup with the russians. we have got to be the leader of the nato alliance, leader of the west. they are together, mobilizing all of our allies. again, very firmly resolutely, but without trying to trigger or escalate this thing into a major crisis. we have to let the russians know that they face not all just one member of nato, they will face all of nato. this aggression continues. >> jon: john hanna, thank you. >> jon: a fixture at the white house for nearly 200 years will not be around when

president trump returns from florida. businesses cashing in, and why americans are buying much more this year. tada!

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>> julie: a very special christmas delivery for a minnesota woman and her husband, the baby debut for weeks early on the side of a highway. with our minneapolis affiliate having the story. >> we were headed to where i had my other two babies. >> as most wrapped christmas presents, four weeks early, it is the gift that just could not wait. to spread joy to the world. >> i definitely thought i'm going to have the baby. >> hanna gave birth as they pulled over alongside highway 8 in chisago county. they did not miss a beat. >> about two or three perches, and poppy was out. that is a fourth baby in the

past year. 's first year on the job. >> just glad it was my first, i guess. >> he knew what he was doing and he was calm and collected, and it helped to keep us calm too. >> as jay got hannah and taylor through every step. it was awesome to see, officer brian carlson of the lakes area police department was on the scene just in the nick of time. >> i cut out the shoelace come and tied off the umbilical cord with the shoelace, a just a couple minutes after that, the lakes region ambulance, paramedic, and emg arrived. >> he was very excited. >> holiday assist prize that gives new meaning to to roadside delivery. >> julie: thank you. >> jon: what a story.

did you notice more christmas presents under the tree this year? because retail sales were way up this holiday season. an uptick in spending at the mall, and online, joining us live from los angeles, anita, about why people were willing to spend more of their money this year? >> hello, jon. people like to shop this year, they had a new sense of confidence about the economy, unemployment is low, the market is high. most of the fact that christmas fell on a monday this year, giving shoppers a full weekend to spend, and they are still spending this week. >> 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 or digital day, another buzzworthy day to have lots of discomfort people or prime members. >> do not forget the brick-and-mortar, even though a lot of the stores will be closing their locations next year, a lot of them close

locations this year, some of them like macy's are offering even bigger sales this week. >> jon: we are seen at record sales, even over last year. pretty good. >> definitely, we are. people spend a lot more money than in previous years. take a look at the start. according to the national retail federation, seven years ago, sales were at 520 billion. 2017, the estimates, 682 billion. a spokesperson from master carson, overall, this was a big win for retail this year. even though people say, they shop more online, according to "fortune" magazine, they actually tended to spend more money in stores. a little more than $80 more per person in the store. the shopping continues this week, jon. >> jon: anita vogel from los angeles. >> julie: a frightening scene in alexandria, virginia, after a fire broke out in an antique

store, christmas night. although fire crews came early, they were forced to get out. >> our units arrived on scene commit to minutes of dispatch, to identify a fire on the second floor. there was concern for a collapse. units withdrew from the structure and shortly thereafte thereafter, we had a collapse of one wall of the structure, and continue to have other multiples on the interior. >> julie: it not clear how that fire started. >> jon: president trump is getting ready for a busy 2018, a closer look at the agenda and what it will take to get everything done. there's rocket mortgage by quicken loans. apply simply. understand fully. mortgage confidently.

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speed it when president trump get back to the white house, it will look a lot different. mainly because a large portion of eight magnolia tree on the south grounds is going to be too weak to remain intact, so it will be removed. spokeswoman for melania trump said the first lady head reports, and they decide to remove the tree. this will be preserved and seedlings readily available if there is a chance to plant a new one. and megan magnolia tree was pld 1895. >> jon: the same kind of populist message as

andrew jackson with the jackson magnolia getting cut down. >> julie: melania trump was the one being involved, and whether the tree comes on. it is the insider information you do not normally get. that will do it for us. spirit hears rick leventhal in for shepard. >> rick: president trump saying that they will overcome their differences and come together to create a new health care plan replace obamacare. state lawmakers will get on board. from infrastructure to immigration. also, as investigation into russia's election meddling, putin is cementing his power, as the most serious challenger he has had in years just got banned from running for president. we will have that and why russia seems a little worried about what washington may do next. plus, from the northeast to the midwest, snow is causing all sorts of travel problems?