that's it for this week's show, thanks to my panel and to all of you for watching, i'm paul gigot, hope to see you right here next week. arthel: we begin with fox news alert, president trump continues tour of destruction in california, the president just wrapped up a speaking at wild fire incident command post in northern california and had a chance to see firsthand endeavor station from the deadliest wild fire in the u.s. in a century, death toll rises to at least 71 people and at least 1,000 more are now listed as unaccounted for but the president's time in golden state is far from over. -o, everyone, welcome to another inside america's news headquarters i'm arthel neville. eric: hello, everyone, i'm eric sean, president trump making a stop later in southern california, that's where the

woolsey fire has killed at least 3 people, it is a dave stating and difficult saturday out west. earlier the president visited with the governor and state leaders as well as governor elect newsom, first responders were there as well as wild fire victims in the northern part of the state, here is what the president said about all of this a short time ago. >> as far as the lives are concerned, nobody knows why yet, certain number but people that are unaccounted for and this is the kind of destruction, in fact, they are telling me this is even not as bad as some areas, some areas are beyond this, they are just charred so one thing we have, we have the greatest people in the world looking and helping. arthel: from paradise we go to malibu where jonathan hunt is live with the latest, jonathan. >> arthel, there's a limit on how much comfort any president

can offer to people who have lost pretty much everything but that is what president trump is trying to do today to do his best to offer some comfort as he could and gets closer look both from the air and on the ground of the extraordinary devastation around the paradise, california area, paradise being that town that was pretty much wiped off the map by the flames, both of whom are about as politically far from the president as you can get has been peppered with questions about his views on climate change and his claim that some of the california fires could be avoided if there was better land management. well, i can tell you this that none of the people, the victims of this who have lost their homes give a whip right now about politics, what they care about is rebuilding our lives

and the president will get a sense when he comes here later today to southern california of just how many people here too have lost their lives. so many scenes just like this one right in front of me right now. this is one of hundreds of homes in the areas north and west of los angeles that were so touched by the woolsey fire. this home in malibu on one street were about a dozen homes have been left and that's not all the president is doing today, we've had a loft tragedy obviously over the past 10 days in california, you'll remember the borderline bar&grill mass shooting, 12 innocent victims gunned down there in the city of thousand oaks about 40 miles outside of los angeles. well, the president we are told by his press secretary sarah huckabee sanders will also meet some of those who were impacted

by that terrible shooting and awful lot of tragedy as i say here in southern california over the last week and a half and frankly californians need all the comfort they can get right now, arthel. arthel: and i know the nation collectively is sending a big hug and hope to those people in california, our fellow citizens, jonathan hunt, thank you. eric: and for more of all of captain tony, public information officer for los angeles county fire department and joins us on the telephone, cap aib, thank -- captain, thank you, what is it like right now for the search for so many that remain missing? >> well, i could tell you at the woolsey fire we are not in a situation where we have any missing. that issue is for the northern california fire command. all residents are accounted for,

we did have unfortunately 3 fatalities that are still under investigation but right now we are getting a little bit cooperation with the weather, on shore weather pattern moving in the area assisting us with containment process. this fire was wind-driven fire driven primarily by offshore santa ana winds that caused extreme rate of spread in high-level of destruction, we are at 98,000 acres right now, 82% containment. we are continuing to sure up and contain reinforcement lines as we speak. eric: captain, can you explain of containment? >> containment means as we have a perimeter, the forward spread of the fire here has stopped and people in this area can see that but there's no smoke going up in the air, it's not a complete burn, it's a large area and areas of unburn file that still exist but containment is the line around the fire that

basically delineates no more forward progress and as we move around that perimeter we put in scratch line so we separate the burn fuel from the unburned fuel and we continue to lay progressive hose lays around the fire. in essence, we make sure that no fire debris, hot debris does not spill outside of the outer perimeter and make it into unburned fuel. eric: can you explain and describe the viewers where that perimeter is now and where the danger continues? >> well, the perimeter goes all the way down if you go dowrn perimeter along malibu canyon and roughly along the decker canyon north which is approaching the ventura county line to -- and then across 101 freeway to county line up to 118 freeway, very, very large area approximately 20 miles across, hundreds of square miles in total and involves primarily the county of los angeles. eric: and.

>> those homes still in danger in terms of that burn? >> well, there was, you know, a very high level of destruction because we have steep terrain and very dry vegetation, we've had extremely low rain fall over the last 7 years and moisture content, fuel, brush around the homes is very low and the brush is very -- it's not resistent to ignition so once there's any sort of ignition sources into dry brush like this, fuel and extreme offshore wind would get an extremely high rate of spread and we had unfortunately a lot of structures were damaged and destroyed by the fire. right now the total stands at 836 but we currently have damage assessment teams that are out on the fire line right now doing accurate count of how many structures were destroyed. eric: and the president in news conference availability up north earlier talked about fos management and mentioned norway

and dealing with the dry brush and tree limbs and what's on the ground, from your experience is this an issue with forest management or is the climate change and as you mentioned the drought and the high winds, is it because you just haven't had a lot of rain for so long and this stuff is like kindling? >> well, when we are talking about southern california it's not a forest management issue because we are really this is not a forested area. the comments with the president was -- was giving out last week with regard to forest management were really pursuant to forested areas, we are talking about timber areas, this is not that type of terrain, this is a brush area here, we have grass, oak trees, that type of material, it's not a forest management issue here. for us santa ana winds and offshore winds with the dry heat is something that we get here every year, la county fire ramps up for this type of weather every year, nothing new to us but what is new and what is worsening is the fact that we've

had such low rainfall totals over the last 7 years that the brush is extremely dry, it really relates to the amount of moisture that's contained in upper levels of the soil and that moisture does not get itself into the brush when it's not there obviously and then the brush does not have any resistance to ignition and the rate of spread is extreme. when you apply a santa sanna wind to those conditions and the poor access to steep canyon roads, you have perfect storm that comes together to create a really, really extreme fire behavior scenario, it's very difficult because we have embers out in front of fire head that would go 2 or 3 miles spotting behind where fire fighting activities are going on. we had a very tense fight on friday night last week where the fire had moved through the thousand oaks and agoura hills area and we positioned a lot of resources along the 101 freeway to try to make a stop there and the fire with the embers cast was intent, we had a lot of hot

debris that was blowing over top of equipment and firefighters and started to spot along the 101 freeway behind us and once the wind got behind that it was literally just a few hours and the fire burned from the 101 freeway all the way to the beach in a very, very short period of time. it's actually unprecedentedded for any of the veteran firefighters who have been working in the area for many years. eric: we thank veteran firefighters and praise the courage and work that they are doing on the front line. captain of los angeles fire department, we thank you, arthel -- >> county fire department. >> los angeles county fire department. >> with the county and we thank you and hope we can get all of this contained and out and prevent it from happening perhaps in the future because the dimension is just unimaginable. captain, thank you. >> thank you. arthel: meanwhile another big story we are following this hour, election officials in florida hoping to wrap up the recount before tomorrow's deadline, most counties have finished the hand recount in the

hotly contested senate race where republican rick scott holds a slim lead over democratic incumbent bill nelson, peter doocy is live in florida with the latest, hi, peter. >> arthel, this is the last hour for anybody who might have been told that their ballot was set aside because of a problem with a signature to come to an election facility and fix it but even if the 5700 or so that are outstanding are all fixed and they all go for bill nelson the democrat is very difficult to see a big comeback for him and that's because of the map and the hand recount only help it is democrat incumbent get 274 votes closer to republican rick scott here in broward that's not nearly enough to make up a 12,000 plus vote deficit and again, that deficit isn't going to be close completely if all 5700 of the mail ballots are turned today by 5:00 o'clock or

if the 2,000 ballots that somehow went missing here in broward county between election day and the start of the recount are somehow all found and included and all go for bill nelson but these missing ballots are something that have nelson's lawyers here very upset and they are not getting a clean answer from the director of the election here brenda snipes about where they are. >> for ballots are in the building, the ballots are in the building, somebody must have put their stack in a tray where it didn't belong and we didn't pick that up so we continued to count what we can do is go back and recount the ballots are in this building, there would be nowhere else to be. they are misfiled. >> broward county officials are officially doing hand recount right now of the agricultural commissioners rate but lawyers

for the nelson campaign continue pressing for answers about the missing ballots in the senate recount, both senate candidates have been laying low, nelson and scott have not been out in public much, so there's no new indication that nelson might be getting ready to concede especially because the florida democratic party is sending out a fundraising appeal asking for donations to keep up the legal fight, arthel. arthel: peter doocy, thank you very much and for more on this we will go to amber, she's the breaking news editor at the daily caller and we will start there with broward county, amber, look, so they missed the machine recount deadline by 2 minutes. so election night number stand, they completed the state mandated hand out in two hours, are voters themselves up in arms? >> well, they should be. seems like broward county election supervisor brenda snipes has not been accurately

counting all of the votes that should be counted. from the beginning to have process there's been absolute disaster in addition to number of allegations of misconduct in ms. snipes' past, she's been accused of not giving information to both parties involved in the case including how many ballots they were left to count in initial ballots, how -- in terms of -- in addition to that brenda snipes -- excuse me -- arthel: that's okay. hold that thought for me because we will go back to dr. snipes? a moment. look, a deadline is a deadline or is or can any group contest that the recounted votes by machine in broward county won't count because of two minutes, you know, if you pull up an app on your phone you call a car service at least they'll wait 4 minutes for you? >> right, i'm not sure who would

actually contest this because when you look at the results of the recount there would be more votes going to rick scott in this case -- arthel: listen, and understand where my perspective on this, it's about voters having confidence in the system, not about the outcome, i understand as it looks at this moment what we do know that the votes may not be in favor of senator nelson but that aside, i mean, people have said your one vote counts get out there, to hear and peter doocy's report just now dr. snipes saying, i think the number was like 2,000 votes, you know, that were set in the wrong file or they weren't counted, you know, what are people to make of what's happening? >> right, there's no doubt that voters should be concerned that their votes are not being counted in this election, broward county is not the only place where ballots have gone missing. after the initial machine recount in palm beach they discovered that they were missing so many votes that this

could not have been due solely to recount and certain precincts of their county that were not included in recount and were trying to figure out where those were coming from. voters should absolutely be concerned. i hear people talk about the integrity of the elections, democrats are still talking about the 2016 election with president donald trump and saying that that was illegitimate because of russia -- arthel: wait, amber. no, no, stop, don't do that. don't mix those up. we are not talking about russia and we had proof from our intelligence agencies that russia did interfere in our election. >> but not that they changed any votes. arthel: incompetence, that's what we are talking about by people from america, don't confuse the two. regarding broward county there have been major, many complaints over the years, i ask you what is the future of dr. brenda snipes who is the supervisor of elections in broward county and also, i mean, is there any real

talk of fixing the antiquated and dysfunctional voting systems in florida and across the nation for that matter? >> right, in terms of the machine recount what they used there are these automatic standard machines in my opinion those should be used in the first place as opposed to hand-counting ballots, seems much more efficient way as machines don't overheat. jeb bush was the first who first appointed brenda snipes and he's now calling for her to be removed and a lot of people are saying that's the best course of action because of her history of misconduct. the reason i brought up russia was because i think that people should be concerned about everything that undermines our election both foreign and domestic causes, that was my point there. not to compare the two. arthel: well, i appreciate that you clarify where you were going there. it's just that, you know, and we have to go amber and i appreciate your point because there's so much confusion and it's our job to do our best to try to, you know, simplify and

give proper information and clarification as to what's happening there and that's where i was coming from with that. but our time is up, i thank you very much, we will see you again amber, thank you very much. >> thank you. arthel: take care. we are we are we have fox news alert on continuing confrontation that's brewing in the southern border, the first group of migrant caravan arrived in tijuana, méxico, they are seeking asylum, thousands more are expected to arrive there soon. reaction from the president earlier today. >> we have large numbers of people trying to get into our country, i must say the reason it's increased so much is because we are doing so well as opposed to the rest of the world and if you look at south of our borders not doing so well. we are we -- eric: william on te border, hi, william.

>> this is where the caravan wanted to make camp, the locals confronted them forcing the city to open shelter instead. you can see where the border patrol put up razor wire, you see the plates, the barb wire is not necessary. this is where the locals had protest against migrants, they don't want them here and they have the support of the mayor, contrast that to other mexican cities over the last 3 weeks where the caravan was welcomed, the difference is they may be here likely for a long time. 6 to 18 months according to governor and 2600 in town today according to government and could double to 6500 so realizing the situation is not ideal, rock and hard spot, they don't have a lot of options here, they can no longer walk over the border, claim asylum and get released because president trump signed executive

order so they feel misled by some leaders of caravan that they are not telling more. so i'm going to send it back to you, eric, because i'm sending it back to you, eric, i will have more on this, bye. >> all right, william, thank you very much. arthel: president trump making surprised endorsement supporting president trump in bid to become speaker of the house again, what's driving this live report and analysis straight ahead. 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar. ensure max protein. in two great flavors. on our car insurance when we switched to geico. this is how it made me feel.

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into your xfinity x1 voice remote. a guy just dropped this off. he-he-he-he. eric: well, the president is backing nancy pelosi for a bid to return as speaker of the house and some say well, it would not be completely in jest, a complete list of democrats who are not on board, one considering even running against her, garrett tenney in washington with more. >> right now nancy pelosi she doesn't have the votes to become speaker, at least 17 democrats are openly opposing her and a couple undecided. pelosi is known as deal-maker and she's been youse -- busy meeting with lawmakers, today she got endorsement none other than president trump. >> i would help nancy pelosi if she needs some votes.

i like her, can you believe it, i like nancy pelosi. i mean, she's tough and she's smart but she deserves to be speaker. >> that's not necessarily an endorsement pelosi was looking for, though, this week she was adamant that she will win speakership with democratic votes, congressman marsha fudge one of the democrats considering challenging speaker. on friday the two met 45 minutes behind closed door for what it would take fudge to support pelosi. >> sometimes you just need a different voice, sometimes you just need a different kind of a vision, but i want to be clear, that i have not said anything negative about nancy because i think she's a very good leader. >> many critics say she's been in power for too long and one possibility being discussed to appease those concerns is pelosi agree to go limit herself to two years as speaker and then stepping aside to let new

leadership take the ranks. eric. eric: thanks so much. arthel: for more on this let's bring in jason nick and kim alfano, strategists. >> thanks for having us. arthel: would this be an avoidable self-inflicted injury to be fighting at a very start of their rule over the house, over the speaker position? >> i really don't believe there's going to be a fight. i honestly believe that marsha fudge who is a fine politician is not going to run, i think she's going to be a team player. i think nancy pelosi is proven to be effective leader and when you win the super bowl you don't change your quarterback, so i think she needs to be the leader of the party, marsha fudge only has two dozen supporters by her own count, she also has issues in terms of supporting lgbt

protection, civil rights protections that won't endear her to other democrats. i think that nancy pelosi will be the speaker. i don't think it'll be close and i really believe that marsha fudge is going to support her. arthel: kim, what's your take? >> i think he's right. she's going to be the leader. i don't know why anybody wants the job. she will see what it's like to be in charge of a caucus that does not agree with itself. it's going to be a thankless job. i cannot wait for her to have to deal with, you know, the socialists in her party and the people, the younger folks, the far left that are going to have ideas that nancy pelosi will even think are far left and frankly it's great for the republican party, you know, either way whether it's her or someone new they are going to have to make a case for undoing all of the good that we've been able to do for raising -- they will have to make a case for raising taxes and for rolling back regulation that is we were able to roll back and stopping the economy from moving forward

with those types of policies, i don't know why she wants the arthel: jason, how can congresswoman pelosi win over whatever owe pone nents opponent this time. garrett teny addressed this in his story. should congresswoman pelosi promise to take on a wrot prote, teach a former democratic house speaker. >> i absolutely believe in toreship -- mentorship. i think that's absolutely a good thing. as far as taxing people, that's not in the democrats' plan. we want to tax the super wealthy who have the money to pay for things. i think even with some of the progressive things that have been argued for like medicare for all, you don't get that in the conversation without ac a a. the way you got aca without

nancy pelosi. i think they're going to come along and realize she is an effective leader and that she's the person for the job right now. but she absolutely should groom someone else to take the ans. arthel: let's talk about president trump. what is his political calculus behind offering votes for nancy pelosi. can he really deliver votes? >> i'm sure he -- he's done a lot of things none of us thought he could do. i think the calculus is, again, it's not easy to be the party that has to now come in and in their minds scratch everything and start over again, especially when everybody agrees, republican, democrat alike, that the economy's in a good place. so i think that he's happy either way but i think he has a rapport with nancy pelosi. arthel: she's been a punching

bag of his on the campaign trail. >> as republicans, we put a lot into this. we would love to have her at the head of this for another couple years or so until the next set of elections. >> howed that work out for -- how did that work out for you, using her as a punching bag, didn't work out very well. i think the president a has a different calculus, i think he wants to sow the seeds of discord within the democratic party. he also thinks perhaps that nancy pelosi will open hi will n the border wall that's never going to get built. he's trying to make people distrust one another. he knows if republicans vote for nancy pelosi, maybe some democrats will start to distrust her. i don't think it's going to work. she's widely rejected republican support. she will win with democratic support. arthel: kim, i'm sure you having to say about that but i just got a hard wrap. that means i have to go. we'll have you on again. thank you.

take care, guys. >> thank you. eric: we have to go back to coverage of the california wildfire. the president witnessing the horrible devastation firsthand. the fires are still ravaging both ends of the state. we have fox news coverage on the day-long visit, straight ahead. some lawmakers are trying to make sure robert mueller's russia probe is not shut down, with the appointment of matthew whitaker as attorney general. we'll have the battle over him, straight ahead.

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we have to take care of the deadwood that is so dry. you can take some of these trunks, you can take a match and light it on fire. arthel: we have fox team coverage. adam klotz is live from the fox extreme weather center. we begin with questio kevin core in paradise, california. >> reporter: always nice to be with you, even under a difficult circumstance for the folks in the beautiful golden state of california. i want to say this, from the president's perspective despite the comment, he wasn't trying to make it political, white house officials say. he was trying to make a statement of fact. in fact they said as much today that now is not the time for politics on the left or the right. the time to get out there and do what is right and that is provide all the help we can for the people of the state of call importancalifornia. >> hopefully this will be the last of these. this was a really, really bad

one. i'm committed to make sure that get all of this cleaned out and protected. >> reporter: white house officials tell us the main focus, arthel, of the tariff is for the president to meet with firefighters and first responders and the families who have been impacted by the devastating fires. now, that said, it doesn't mean the state and the federal government can't work together to do more to prevent fires like this from happening in the future. >> we're all in the same path. we do have to do management, maintenance, and we'll be working also with environmental groups. they've really -- i think's seen the light and i don't think we'll have this again to this extent. >> reporter: now, i want to share just a couple of facts and figures because i think there's been some misunderstanding about the idea that there's a price tag that you can put on american life. there is no price tag. but clearly this has been an ongoing problem, arthel, and the president and the white house

for that matter as well as fee m&a an -- fema are saying this s an expensive problem as well, which should undergird the argument that we can do better to manage the forest and manage the resources that go into rebuilding. since 2005, the country has given $6 billion in fema grants to california to rebuild after these massive fires, that's one nugget to explain why they feel now's the time to get together. arthel: kevin, thank you very much. you can see the full interview with president trump tom roy on fox news sunday, check your local listing to see when it airs on your local fox station. chris wallace there with the president. it also airs here on the fox news channel at 2:00 p.m. eastern and again at 7:00 p.m. eastern. eric: one of the topics discussed of course has to do with the air quality. you don't have to be at the fire scene to be affected. we're told the air quality in l

california is also hazardous. the wildfires bringing dangerous levels of smoke and exhaust to san francisco and nearby areas, more than 150 miles away. prolonged exposure considered harmful even if you're healthy. going outside in san francisco, it's like smoking half a pack of cigarettes. adam klotz is live in the fox extreme with weather center with more on the air quality. adam, you could cut it with a knife. >> reporter: you really can. the problem is the topography where the smoke a and the fire, the huge fires, it has nowhere to g here's where we are have air quality alerts, northern california, stretching into l central california. the young and elderly should not spend any time outside in this. respiratory issues are a concern. you don't want to exercise in this. what sets all this up is you've got the mountain ranges, the sierra nevadas off to the east

on the western side of the state. have you the coastal ranges and you get this area where all the smoke gets trapped between the mountain ranges, occasionally it will shoot on through and end up in places like san francisco but otherwise in this valley, sacramento, places to the south, running up towards redding, all spots where you're stuck in the area where the thick smoke will linger. what will help would be some rain. it's not coming anytime soon. the radar is completely clear across the state, still bone dry. any fires could spark in the next couple days because of that as a result, we're under high fire danger in portions of northern california, right around paradise where the camp p fire was. a look at the extended forecast. there's air quality alerts which are expected to wrap up on tuesday and wednesday and that's when we see the first big rounds of rain, that's going to knock the particles out of the air and help some of the folks around california. eric: tuesday, wednesday, cannot come soon enough.

arthel: president trump says he answered robert mueller's written questions, quote, very easily. when should the special counsel's team actually receive them and could it mean the probe is closer to wrapping up? also the showdown of president trump's appointment as matthew whitaker to serve as acting attorney general has reached the highest court in the land. we'll tell what you the supreme court now has to do with that political controversy. that's up next. got directions to the nightclub here. and if you get lost, just hit me on the old horn.

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arthel: if appointment of matthew whitaker as acting attorney general causing concerns among some lawmakers that he might try to curb or shut down the russia investigation. meanwhile, the president says his written answers to robert mueller's questions will be submitted next week. allison barber joins us from washington with more. hey, allison. >> reporter: president trump told reporters that he personally answered about 140 questions from the special counsel and the president says they will be submitted this

coming week. >> it didn't take very long to do them. they were my answers. i don't need lawyers to do that. you need lawyers for submital, you need lawyers to go over some of the answers but they're not very difficult questions. >> reporter: we reached out to president trump's personal attorney, rudy giuliani this morning, and so far have not heard back from him. the president says he answered the questions easily but he also talked about his concerns over a perjury trap. president trump has attacked special counsel robert mueller and the investigation into ties between his campaign and russia. on twitter this week president trump called mueller's team a disgrace to our nation. >> republicans including my friend the republican leader say president trump has not threatened the special counsel investigation so there's no need to protect it. that's a laugh. he threatens the investigation almost every day. he did this morning in his tweet. >> the president has made it very clear over a series of

almost two years now that he finds much of this to be a witch hunt. there is no collusion. >> reporter: trump forced out jeff sessions and named matt whitaker acting attorney general. some say he is problematic in part because he criticized the special counsel in the past. there's questions about the legality of his appointment. a bipartisan group of lawmakers are pushing for legislation to protect the special counsel. perhaps most notably jeff flake. mitch mick connel mcconnell sait of legislation in his view is not necessary. eric: the supreme court has been asked to weigh in on the legality of the appointment of matthew whitaker as acting attorney general. what could they decide if they take it? we have former justice department officiadepartment of.

do you think the appointment of matthew whitaker is legal? >> yes, he is. these type of temporary appointments have been made since george washington. we have over 200 years of these practices. second, the president acted fully in compliance with the federal vacancies reform act, a law that's been used for example by barack obama to make similar appointments. the office of legal counsel at the justice department issued its third opinion this past week of the justice department on this issue, saying this is perfectly constitutional. by the way, they pointed to an 1898 u.s. supreme court decision called u.s. v eaton, that approved these kind of temporary appointments. eric: you know what the legal critics say in their filings, thomas goldstein who is really a supreme court expert, here's what he wrote in one of his filings in the suit.

as long as there's been a department of justice, congress has mandated only a senate confirmed official can serve as acting attorney general. those provisions are mandatory. the president cannot designate anyone else because whitaker's appointment does not satisfy the appointments clause, it is unlawful and he cannot serve as acting attorney general. i mean, they say look, the guy's not confirmed by the senate so it's illegal. >> yeah, but what goldstein says in that pleading is not correct. the federal vacancies reform act in fact a allows this to be done and what he is saying, what goldstein is saying should happen would cause unbelievable chaos. i'll just give you one example of this. as you know, when a president leaves office all three of the 93 u.s. attorneys also leave. those are senate confirmed positions. if an assistant can't be temporarily appoint todd take over that job, all criminal prosecutions across the country by the u.s. justice department

would have to cease and stop until the senate confirms a replacement in each of those 93 seats. that would cause unbelievable chaos and i just don't think the court is going to believe that that's a good result or one that was contemplated under the constitution. eric: only about 30 seconds left. you think the supreme court will take this and if they do, how will they vote? justice kavanaugh would be a key? >> i think he is. now, i think clarence thomas has expressed doubts about the constitutionality of this federal law that the president acted under. i don't know how many other justice woulds have the same view. like i said, it's very interesting that president barack obama used this same statute to make appointments in the same way and no one questioned the constitutionality of that. eric: we'll see what the supreme court does if they take it and what the ruling could be. arthel. arthel: eric, as you know, the

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arthel: beale air fort base is in yuba county, california. robocalls are being called out. a bipartisan bill would crack down on telemarketer's scams by slapping major financial penalty. jackie heinrick is live with the details. >> reporter: the bill would increase penalties for scamers . legislators say it's high time something is done with these calls reaching epidemic levels. the act was introduced yesterday. if it's passed and signed into law, the trace act would broaden the authority of the federal communications commission, allowing thing to levy abuser was fines up to $10,000 per call. the bill comes as data analyzer first owe rye i don't know released new -- first orion released numbers that said the rate of scam calls jumped more than 25% from 2017 to 2018.

the2018 oneof the most popular s is neighborhood spoofing. a scammer disguises their phone number as a low l call number to try get the cell phone users to pick up. if they do, they're likely to get repeat robocalls and there are few ways to prevent them. lawmakers have been trying to go after robocall companies for some time. current laws are pretty lax. the act would provide that the service providers adopt technology to authenticate calls. eric: as we continue this afternoon, president trump continues his tour through california, visiting the areas devastated by the wildfires. we will have live reports on the president's day and what he is nddoing, straight ahead. ♪ while you dwell within it ♪ you are ever happy there daddy, it's christmas! ♪ childhoods, joyland

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the united explorer card hooks me up. getting more for getting away. traveling lighter. getting settled. rewarded. learn more at the explorer card dot com. arthel: president trump is in california right now, touring the damage and speaking with leaders about the camp fire. the deadliest wildfire in the u.s. in a century. hello, everyone, i'm arthel neville. welcome to a brand-new hour inside america's news head quarters. eric: i'm eric shawn. 74 people so far have been killed in the wildfires in both parts of the state. 71 of those deaths are linked to the infamous camp fire, north of sacramento. more than 1,000 of our fellow americans remain missing. they are still unaccounted for. the woolsey fire damaged communities outside of los angeles, killing three people there. the president earlier today spoke about the devastation he witnessed. >> we've never seen anything

like this in california. we've never seen anything like this. it's like total devastation. the men and women who are fighting this fire are incredible. eric: kevin cork is live in paradise, california, a town totally destroyed by the camp p fire. what do we expect the president to do for the rest of the day? he's got a big, long day in california. >> reporter: you're right on the money, a big, long day, obviously visiting here. use pointed out, this is an area that's just been absolutely decimated by the fire. i have to tell you, eric, i know you've covered many. until you're actually here and you can look and see and smell it, the pictures don't do it justice. next the president is off to areas to the south, also hit by devastating fires. we'll continue our coverage as he makes his way across the golden state. way right here in paradise, a firsthand look at the devastation and a promise to do better. >> we're going to have forests that are very safe.

we gwe can't go through this evy year. we're going to have safe forests. that's happening as we speak. we're going to work together with the state, local, federal government. the federal government is going to work with the state and we're going to help them with funding and we're going to take -- it's going to take a lot of funding. >> reporter: the key factor there as far as forest management is concerned, eric, is you want to work with eco experts to preserve the beauty here while also protecting our people. eric. eric: he was touring with governor brown, governor-elect newson and jody jones, the mayor of paradise. how soon can local and state officials expect to get federal help to try to get them back on their feet? >> reporter: disaster relief dollars move in right away. i should point this out for the folks at home that don't know. while the grants are almost automatically kicked in, a lot of what you're going to see is resource management as well.

we're talking about an influx of manpower, and obviously the ability, eric, to pick up some of the materials that it will take to continue to battle some of the ongoing problems that are happening here in the state. we're talking about vital assets to engage the fires that continue to wreck not just this part of the state where we are today but also areas to our south. this has been a recurring problem as you and i have talked about today. in fact, i can share this. since 2000, california's had 198 federal disaster declarations, that's the most of any state in the country, and almost all of them, 177 out of 198, eric, of involve fires. now, the president will continue to meet with first responders, the families who have been impacted and others and of course we'll continue our coverage. for now, back to you. eric: kevin, thank you so much. arthel: the camp fire taking humanitarian toll on northern california. tens of thousands of people have been displaced and more than

1,000 are relying on shelters like this one in a walmart parking lot in the town of key f chico. joining me now is a volunteer and resident of chico. thank you for being here with me and to talk with us. you live in chico, california. you are currently in san francisco to get more supplies. first, how is your home and how is your family. >> thank you for having me, arthel. my family fortunately is completely fine. they were very briefly evacuated and now our entire family is full-force volunteering and trying to help other families. but the real victims are the people of paradise. it's decembe devastation like ir seen in my life. just yesterday a woman was keeping her 11 day old baby

keeping her alive witkeeping her dryer. it's difficult to understand if you're not there on the ground. arthel: even when you see it it's hard to believe. your mind and your eyes get a divorce because you can't believe what you're seeing. >> it is very hard. i've never seen anything like it. i mean, pictures of katrina didn't do this justice. it's truly terrifying. arthel: i understand you're there to collect supplies in san francisco. what are you collecting? what do you need? >> that's correct. well, a company called meat head movers was kind enough to reach out to me and offer to fill up the fleet of trucks and bring supplies. what we're collecting are brand-new clothes, things that keep you warm at night, brand-new rain jackets, brand-new rain clothes, tents. people are living in a tent city right now across the city of chico and then just

unperrishables, like water, canned food. these people will be out of their homes for years. arthel: we're looking at pictures while we're speaking with you there in chico, california of clothes racks set up outside where people are fishing through, trying to find something to wear because they left with just the clothes on their backs and you have pets out there, people out there. you know, what was the name of the company? meat head movers. >> meat head movers. they that? >> what you can do is give to the wildfire relief fund. they will direct money to helping people rebuild their lives, get new employment if small businesses were burned down. paradise is all small business. there's not a walmart, target or costco. now it's all destroyed. you can give to the north valley

leadership fund, they're helping to rebuild chico and they're helping get people into temporary housing. i'm happy to work with anyone to connect with families directly that need specific size clothes. arthel: you mentioned the wildfire relief fund. what was the second? >> north valley leadership fund. arthel: we just go to northvalleyleader pshipfund.org? >> nbl f.com. arthel: what we're going to do, we'll put this information on our website. i know there's many people who want to help and they feel helpless. here's a way straight from your mouth in terms of how they can help directly get much needed supplies to those who are displaced, homeless, frankly. so when you head back to chico, what's your mission when you get back? >> i mean, it's hard to say. seeing these camps, these tent

cities, it's devastating. it's hard to have a starting off point. the goal right now is get people as comfortable as possible. that's hard because there's so many people sleeping on cots and on the ground. but it's getting people comfortable, helping them to make their next move and really in one word it's just to survive. so many people out there are just trying to make it day by day, buy a meal to live to the next day to try to find their family, find their pets, get to paradise, see if they have anything left in the a ashes. they are just trying to survive and we're trying to do whatever we can to help them do so. arthel: you know the nation is with you and so many people want to help. , people from probably all over the world, but right now we're talking about inside this country, americans wanted to help fellow americans and before i go, i said we're going to put this information on our website, foxnews.com, we will will. i want you to tell me again those websites. you mentioned -- also before you tell me, once we get to the

websites, is there an obvious link or a clickable button where we can donate? is there a list of what's needed, like a wedding registry? >> so there is no registry. there's so many shelters in chico right now that are operating independently which is great. but it does make it difficult to have one registry. there aren't exact items that are needed. the biggest thing is money to nblf.org and californiawild d -- arthel: it's n what? n and as in nancy. >> nvlf. arthel: are you saying v as in victory? >> correct. l as in leadership, f as in fund. arthel: dot? >> dot-org. arthel: producers will talk to you before you go. we'll put all of that information on our website and

we wish you nothing but the best and our prayers are with you and words really can't fro vie prove solace that you need out there in california. >> it's good to have your thoughts. thank you. eric: it is so important to try and help. in florida, the bitter battle over the senate seat there, it soon could be coming to an end. election officials have until noon tomorrow to submit results from a hand recount of tens of thousands of ballots. right now republican governor rick scott holds a 12,000 vote lead over democratic incumbent senator bill nelson for nelson's senate seat. peter doocy is live in lauder hill florida where the counting has been going on. hi, peter. >> reporter: eric, somebody here in broward county misplaced 2,000 early ballots between election day and the recount and democratic lawyers are inside right now, continuing to ask

where those ballots could have possibly gone. while republicans that i have spoken to are asking why it is that the supervisor of elections, brenda snipes, would say this if the ballots never left the building. >> the ballots are in the building. the ballots are in the building. somebody must have put their stack in a tray where it didn't belong and we didn't pick that up. so we continued to count. what we can do is go back and recount. the ballots are in this building. there would be nowhere else for them to be but they are misfiled. >> reporter: the hand recount helped democrat bill nelson get 274 votes he closer to republican rick scott but that's very short of the 12,000 plus deficit that he is trying to make up, a gap that will not be closed by the 5700 or so mail-in

ballots that had mismatched signatures and then voters were told about it. they had until 11 minutes ago to get those fixed if they wanted them to be counted. last night, a federal judge also ruled that thousands of ballots that didn't turn up in mailboxes until after the 7:00 p.m. election dated line could not be counted despite a legal challenge by the bill nelson campaign. most of the post election day recount excitement has been fought courtrooms and the rick scott team says that's because they don't think -- they think bill nelson knows he cannot win without somehow changing or altering or making exceptions to election laws. they're accusing the nelson team of trying to change the florida election law now in 2018 to make it easier or to benefit the democratic side in the presidential election in 2020. officials right now inside, going back through all those early ballots, hundreds of thousands of them, trying to

figure out where the 2,000 missing ones might eric? eric: man oh, man, long process. pea techs thanpeter, thank you. let's bring in nancy, an editorial page editor for the miami herald. 2,000 votes, dr. snipes says they're in the building somewhere. what do you make of the fact they can't find 2,000 votes and that's part of the many problems they've have in broward county. >> that is same old, same old for the broward county election supervisor. unfortunately, we have been through this before in previous elections. and there is a laxness, there is a lack of discipline in that office that has been so long-lasting. that it's amazing that she is still in office. now, i will have to say that there are 2,000 in broward alone but there are state-wide 8,000 votes that turned up missing in

the machine recount that ended yesterday. eric: is there any explanation of what happened? is it just a mathematical issue? is it the ballots when they get recounted, they fall off or they're folded? have election officials to your view given a satisfactory answer? >> well, no, but there are many hypothey sees, one that some ballots were originally damaged in the first counting, that there are things that were -- ballots that were kicked out the second time around. apparently, what we really need to be looking at is what happens now, what happens so that this doesn't happen again in 2020. eric: we heard the same things back in 2000 with the chads and the hanging chads. why haven't they been able to fix it and why do voters still reelect ms. snipes? she was appointed florida governor jeb bush.

these are elected officials. if they're not doing their job, voters have the right to boot them out. >> it's one of the unfortunate advantages of incumbency and the inability to really draw a good opponent in that race. but, yes, you are right, after the 2000 elections, florida went through to great lengths to rectify the hanging chads, the pregnant chads, but we now -- what we now see are machines that are aging, two scanners overheated in palm beach county this week as the recount was going on. what we see are signatures that do not match up, that is not necessarily an indication of fraud but there is a very cumbersome process, one, to match up signatures and two, to alert voters that their signatures do not match and that

they need to come in. these things need to be much more disciplined, much more stringent, much more heavily regulated between now and 2020 so this doesn't happen again. eric: what would you suggest? what should officials do? you had a strong editorial. you said we can hear the late night jokes, flora-duh is in the middle of this again. it's given rise to the idea that maybe a blue wave didn't take place, we didn't count right or democrats are sore losers. you've come out strongly to try to have some ways to reform the system. what do you suggest? >> what i suggest is that money be spent to upgrade the optical scanners. this is what we put in place of the paper ballots, hoping that we would avoid this very kind of

debacle. we also need a way to ensure that signatures do match up, a better way of making sure of that, a better way of alerting voters that their ballots might be thrown out because there is a signature on their ballot. you know, we need to make sure that if someone is not on social media, does not watch the news, how are they alerted that their vote might not count. we really need to do a deep dive here and get it right. eric: we can do almost anything on the smartphone and figure it out. you think that of icials in this done -- that officials in this country could be able to get that done, especially after the presidential election. nancy, thank you for joining us on this. >> thank you very much. eric: arthel? arthel: a legal battle intensifies over a question on

the upcoming 2020 census. why some states don't want it. eric: president trump says he's finished answering written questions from special counsel robert mueller. where things stand with the russia investigation and what could come next, you ahead. smile dad. i take medication for high blood pressure and cholesterol. but they might not be enough to protect my heart. adding bayer aspirin can further reduce the risk of another heart attack. because my second chance matters. be sure to talk to your doctor

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arthel: we actually have a fox news alert for you. the democrat in the race for governor in florida, andrew gillum just announced oven his facebook page that he is conceding that race there in florida. in the video, mr. gillum congratulates republican governor-elect ron de santis, de santis getting a big backing from president trump. the race went to a machine recount. in the end it looks like mr. gillum is stepping down and concedes the florida governor's race there in the sunshine state. >> there should have never been any mueller investigation because there was never anything done wrong. there was no collusion. there never has been. would you have known about it a long time ago if there was. eric: president trump continues to criticize the ongoing russia investigation as you know. this as his legal team is expected submit his written

answers to questions asked about the special counsel earlier next week. democrats are continuing to slam the president's pointment of -- a appointment of matthew whitaker as acting attorney general. allison barber has more from washington. >> reporter: we reached out to one of the president's personal attorneys this morning to try and ask about those questions. so far, we've not heard back but the president says the questions will be submitted soon. he also claims he personally answered all of them. >> my lawyers aren't working on that. i'm working on that i write the answers. my lawyers don't write answers of. i write answers. i was asked a series of questions. i've answered them vee very eas. >> reporter: president trump forced out attorney general jeff sessions and named matt whitaker acting attorney general. democrats and some republicans say whitaker is a problem in part because he has publicly criticized the special counsel in the past. some lawmakers say that now really is the time to pass

legislation and protect the special counsel. >> i think there's nothing lost by doing it and there's possibly much gained and it clears the air. >> whitaker has expressed hostility towards this probe. he's suggested ways to diminish it, to starve it of funding for example. why in the world we would allow this to happen is beyond me. >> reporter: senator lindsey graham met with the acting a.g. a ki couple days ago. >> i think he would be good for the country in person duty to make sure -- in perpetuity to make sure special counsels have protection. i see no reason that mr. mueller will be dismissed by president trump or mr. whitaker. >> reporter: mitch mcconnell has said legislation protecting mueller is not necessary. jeff flake who you just heard from, a republican member of the

senate judiciary committee, he says that he will not vote to confirm any judicial nominees until legislation protecting mre senate floor. eric. eric: allison, thanks so much. arthel: president trump seeing firsthand the devastation of the wildfires in california. we'll have an update on those displaced by the woolsey fire. you're headed down the highway when the guy in front slams on his brakes out of nowhere. you do, too, but not in time. hey, no big deal.

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arthel: president trump is in california to tour the damage caused by wildfires ripping through the state. 74 deaths now blamed on the destructive fire, thousands of homes burned to their foundation. crews searching for more than 1,000 people in northern california where the camp fire is razing entire communities. jonathan hunt is in southern california, live from malibu. >> reporter: the president is now in fact on his way to southern california to survey

the damage caused by the woolsey fire. we don't know exactly what area he is going to tour. this fire of course burned something like 150 square miles so there are many areas he could head to. but at all of them, he's going to find scenes like this. we'll show you what he will see in any area he goes to here. utter destruction of so many homes, hundreds of them just burned to the ground here in southern california on this street, which is a short dead-end street in the point doom neighborhood of malibu, i would estimate around a dozen homes have been destroyed. now, the president earlier as you know was in northern california around the town of paradise that is completely destroyed. he was there to thank first responders, to offer what comfort he could to those who are impacted by the fire. he'll be doing similar things down here but of course, arthel,

there is a real limit to how much comfort you can offer to people who have lost absolutely everything. arthel: if that's not devastating enough, jonathan, i mean the fires aren't the only reason for the president's trip, right? >> reporter: yes, sarah huckabee sanders revealed on fox news on the hannity show last night that the president is also making a point during his visit to southern california to meet with some of those impacted by the borderline bar and grill mass shooting. that occurred just about 10 days ago, you'll remember, a gunman walking into the borderline during what is called college night and gunning down, massacring 12 innocent victims. so the president according to sarah huckabee san terse, is sag to meet with some of those who were either there at the time and survived the shooting or perhaps and also the families of

some of those who were murdered on that terrible night. so it is a very long and very emotional day for president trump as he continues this tour of california. arthel. arthel: so emotional for the people going through this firsthand. boy, jonathan, thank you very much. i want to let everybody know that many schools in the region have been forced to close because of bad air quality from the camp fire. the environmental protection a agency says the air quality in sacramento is hazardous and in san francisco the air there is very unhealthy. >> it sucks for people who are allergic to this stuff. even me, i'm just walking out there, and my throat is feeling raspy. i walk here every day. i'm on my work lunch break. it's crazy. it's really sad. hopefully they'll be able to stop it. we'll see how long it goes. arthel: a monitoring group says

the air quality in northern california was the worst in the world this week. >> i am he very close to making a decision on u.n. ambassador. on attorney general, no. until that decision is made we have a great gentleman in matt whitaker. eric: that president trump on filling the role of the nation's top law enforcement next one week after he asked attorney general jeff sessions to resign while the president considers who to nominate to replace sessions, matthew whitaker is facing legal challenges and criticism. a lot of eyes are turning toward who could replace sessions permanently, not acting franco d a anez joins us. what is the president looking for when he is considering a new attorney general to replace jeff sessions? >> he wants someone who will

have his back, who is going to be supportive, who knows the law, would who follows the law but is also not going to aalthough in his mind ther the mueller investigation, the russia probe to go off the rails and stop this from a witch hunt. whitaker seemed to fit that role in many different ways. as you point out, he's acting. there's a lot of consideration about others, who could that be. eric: when you talk about having his back, the attorney general is the lawyer for the american people. he's not the president's personal lawyer. so are you saying that the be president wants someone to protect him or is it to protect the laws of the nation? >> certainly there's no question that the importance of this position is an attorney for the united states. but president trump has made clear that he wants someone as he has said like eric holder was protecting barack obama, he wants someone who also will be looking out for some of those issues that he could be under fire for, that he feels are

unfair. eric: now the question is who. let's take a look at candidates. let's first start with the inside folks, these are people who are not widely known by the american public. you've got -- these have been listed and mentioned. alex azar, deputy secretary of state, john sullivan, transportation department general counsel, steve bradberry. not widely known by the public but obviously accomplished people in their own right. any chance that the president could pick one of these three versus someone much more publicly known? >> i think that's the million dollar question. there's no question he could pick one of these people. these are people he knows. a lot of people expect that he will pick someone that he knows and that he has a familiar relationship with, that he feels he can trust. another name being talked about a lot now is pam bondy. she was the attorney general in florida. she is actually going to be meeting with president trump next week as we reported on

mcclaspy. she is someone who has certainly been tied to president trump since the beginning of his candidacy. she was a staunch supporter, campaigned for him and she also meets some of those same credibility points that you put out as well as meets some of the issues that he liked about jeff sessions, strong criminal justice person, strong on immigration, so she is someone to watch out for as well. eric: here's what she said recently. she's going to have a meeting and here's pam bondy talking about this right now. let's take a look. >> i consider pam bondy for anything. but right now i -- i know her very well. in the meantime, she's got a very good job. she's doing a very good job. she's always done a very good job. in some form, i'd love to have her in the administration. eric: that sounds like a pretty gooden doorsment for pam bondy

-- good endorsement for pam bondy. there's also chris kovak the secretary of state of kansas who lost his race for governor, then chris christie of course, and there's pam bondy on the right. so could she be the dark horse and potentially have the inside track on this? >> i think so. i think you might be right there. certainly chris christie is someone that has been talked about a lot. he also has a fuchsi few shadi guess you could say, considering his history with the kushner family, having prosecuted jared kushner's father and there's feelings that there's a lot of bad blood there. chris kovak as you point out, he walls talked about a lot -- he was talked about a lot in the past for several positions including attorney general. there's been questions about whether he could be confirmed. he wrote some of the most aggressive immigration laws and

people thought that maybe some wouldn't like that. we're actually hearing that president trump may be kind of cooling on him simply because he did not win his race. eric: franco, we'll be watching and seeing when the be president makes his decision and announces it and we'll have you back. thanks so much. president trump sits down with chris wallace, with an exclusive interview on fox news sunday. here's a preview. >> you need forest management. i'm not saying that in a negative way, a positive. i'm just saying the facts. i really learned a lot. when i went through the state, even in the primary where we did very well, i went to various places for senators campaigning, great people and i was given lessons literally by governors and by senators on forest management. they don't manage the forests out there. if you had all of that stuff, you have to see it, though, they are raking the things that i'm saying. if that was taken out before,

you would have a much different. also, you need fire stoppers. you have to have fire stoppers. we don't do that because of the environmentalists. and you would really -- how about the united states? it throws your budgets out of whack. people are dying. when you lose 6, 7, 800 people in this horrible fire that's going on right now and it can be not only stopped, it can be made much better at a minimum, it can be made much better. we need forest management. we have to take care of all the dead wood that's so dry. you can take some of these trunks, you can take a match and light it on fire. you can't do that with a tree because it sucks up the water. it's wet. we need forest management. eric: the president talking about the horrible wildfires, he's out in california at this hour. a lot of other topics with the president tomorrow on fox news sunday. check your local listing to see what time it's on your local fox station or keep your tv set

tuned where it is right now, the fox news channel. it will be on tomorrow at 2:00 and again at 7:00 p.m. eastern time. promise toss be a fascinating interview and session. arthel? arthel: a heated legal battle over questions on the 2020 census. the federal government wants to ask about citizenship. some states are strongly pushing back on that idea. david lee miller explains why. >> you cannot know your country unless your country knows you. >> reporter: mandated by did constitution, every 10 years the government is required to hold a national head count as part of the 2020 census, the trump administration wants to ask all people surveyed if they are a u.s. citizen. new york joined by 16 other states is fighting in court to keep the question off limits. >> we feel that the trump administration is trying to politicize the census. >> reporter: supporters of the citizenship question say american l values are at stake. >> it's about idea logical

warfare. >> reporter: some say it will scare immigrants from taking part and some areas could lose congressional seats and federal money. >> the trump administration is trying to restrict the rights of immigrants. >> reporter: an advocacy group that wants the citizenship question asked says the information gathered could be used to protect voting rights and accuses critics of unfairly charging racism. >> this is what they do when they're running out of arguments is they start to say it's racist. they're afraid that we're going to get a better handle on the problem of illegal immigration. because right now we have a pretty good sense it's occurring but we don't have exact information. i think that's what the plaintiffs are afraid of because it runs against their broader agenda. >> reporter: the judge is expected to render a decision in the case in about two weeks. no matter what he decides, each side says it's likely the case will go to the u.s. supreme

court. in new york, david lee miller, fox news. eric: president trump giving nancy pelosi, yes, nancy pelosi his seal of approval as the democratic lawmaker seeks to become house speaker again. we'll explain. plus there's a stunning new development in that horrible murder of columnist jamal khashoggi. once i started looking for it was a no-brainer. i switched to geico and saved hundreds. that's a win. but it's not the only reason i switched. the geico app makes it easy to manage my policy. i can pay my bill, add a new driver, or even file a claim. woo, hey now! that's a win-win. thank you! switch to geico®. it's a win-win.

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learn all you can... to help protect yourself from another dvt or pe. talk to your doctor about xarelto®. eric: there's new disturbing developments in the investigation into the murder of columnist jamal khashoggi. according to published reports the cia concluded that saudi's crown prince did order the killing of the washington post columnist. the saudi government has been claiming he was not involved in this case. kitty logan has more from london. >> reporter: there has been much speculation about who ordered the killing of jamal khashoggi. but the state department says there is still no firm conclusion. jamal khashoggi was killed after

entering the saudi consolate in istanbul last month. an earlier report in the washington post said the cia believes the saudi crown prince himself ordered the murder. this is apparently based on intelligence on calls made around the time of the killing. the state department says these reports are not accurate. president trump was briefed on the latest developments as he flew to california. he previously said he believes the saudi crown prince was not involved. jamal khashoggi entered the consolate to collect documents for his upcoming wedding. the saudi government admitted he was killed there, saying it happened by accident. they initially denied knowing what had happened to him. the saudi authorities now blame the killing on a group of 17 men, five of those are facing the death had penalty. u.s. government has also imposed sanctions on the alleged killers. yesterday symbolic funeral prayers were held for khashoggi in saudi arabia and turkey.

his body has still not been found. he was a fierce critic of the government in saudi arabia and lived in the u.s. the saudi leadership has of course come under intense international pressure over the killing of jamal khashoggi but it insists it did not order the murder. eric? eric: thanks, kitty. arthel? arthel: the holidays are upon us which means food and family gathering for many of us but for some military members it means being separated from loved ones while they serve overseas. one veteran service organization is coming up with a way to share the christmas spirit with those troops. carmen blackwell from kfav in phoenix picks up the story. >> reporter: it's a simple gesture that means so much to so many. christmas cards to military members serving overseas. members of the american legion pat tillman post 117 are trying to reach their goal of collecting about 10,000 cards to send to troops. >> our goal is to make our troops feel appreciated.

that we're thinking about them overseas. it's christmas time. they're lonely. their families are here, they're over there. >> reporter: the christmas cards mean so much to troops. u.s. army veteran blake bryant says the holidays can sometimes lose its special meaning while troops aren't home for the holidays. he says he remembers the christmas cards he received during his time in iraq. >> everybody's got their lives back home. it was nice to know that they were thinking about us and took the time out of their day to really put something together for us and let us know how they felt, that they supported us and took care of us. >> reporter: only having under 2,000 signed christmas cards, they are still in need of thousands more. in phoenix, carmen blackwell, fox 10 news. arthel: carmen, thank you very much. eric: that is so important. arthel: very important. eric: the pat tillman post in phoenix, arizona. the president is backing nancy pelosi's bid for speaker of the house. not all democrats are on board. we'll have more on what's going on behind that, next.

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eric: president trump is backing nancy pelosi's bid to return as speaker of the house. some think that's not completely in jest. that's because earlier today the president tweeted i can get nancy pelosi as many votes as she wants in order for her to be speaker of the house. she deserves this victory.

she has earned it but there are those in her party who are trying to take it away. she will win. gar res we have more on this frm washington. >> reporter: right now nancy pelosi doesn't have the votes she needs to become speaker. 17 democrats are openly opposing her. a couple dozen others are undecided. nancy pelosi has been meeting with lawmakers to try to win them over. today she got a big endorsement from none other than president trump who said he is willing to get republicans to vote for her to put her on top. >> i would help nancy pelosi if she needs help. i will perform a wonderful service for her. i like her. can you believe it? i like nancy pelosi. she's tough and she's smart. she deserves to be speaker. >> reporter: that's not necessarily an endorsement pelosi was looking for. this week she was adamant that she will win the speakership with democratic votes. congresswoman marcia fudge is one of the democrats considering challenging pelosi for the top

job as speaker. on friday, the two met for 45 minutes behind closed doors to discuss what it would take for fudge to support me lo pelosi. fudge said she's plans to make a decision over thanksgiving. >> sometimes you need a different voice. sometimes you need a different kind of vision but i want to be clear, that i have not said anything negative about nancy. i think she's a very, very good leader? many of pelosi's critics believe she has been in power for too long and pushed younger lawmakers to the side. one possibility being discussed to apiece those concerns is pelosi agreeing to lim limit hef to two years and then stepping aside. eric: we'll see if she does that. arthel: we are keeping an eye on air force one as president trump is set to land in southern california to tour damage from wildfires after making stops up north, the styte of the deadliest fire in a century. we have team coverage ahead for you.

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>> aaa predicting 50 million more people plan to travel for turkey dinner this year. most with the road and experts of the best days to travel will be thanksgiving day. friday or saturday. for air travelers tuesday and wednesday have the higher fares. thanksgiving day has the lowest fare and is the latest travel

day. crack that means you can move thanks giving like to another day if you want to save money and travel on thanksgiving day. right? >> people will do that in our family. that won't go down very well. have a good day. [laughter] >> the president getting a firsthand look at the devastation from the california wildfires. this is the death toll from the northern campfire rises to 71. and the number of people unaccounted for rose to more than 1000. that evening i am jon scott, this is "fox report". jon: president from visiting the decimated town of paradise. one of several stops made across the state. the president praised the firefighters have been working around the clock for more than a week. and mourning with families. many of whom have lost everything. >> law enforcement have been beyond anything that anyone could believe. and to see what has happen