the ugly. a real life grinch caught on camera stealing a christmas tree. you can see the man swiping it off of the porch in michigan, facebook saying, quote, if you know who this is and don't want that coal in your stocking please let us know. that wraps up this hour of "fox and friends first," thank you for joining us. "fox and friends first" continues, goodbye. rob: wednesday, december 5th and the fox news alert, live look at the rotunda on capitol hill where thousands will say goodbye to president george hw bush today. carley: we are here with touching tribute and final farewells on this national day of mourning. calling for leniency, robert mueller recommending no prison time for michael flynn. rob: that new memo doesn't show any kind of russian collusion, how the president's legal team's firing back. >> democrats know so much, that is true. we have to tell everybody how

smart we are. carley: so smart it hurts, the reason democrats say they can win over your vote. rob: "fox and friends first" continues right now. carley: you are watching "fox and friends first" on wednesday morning. i am carly shimkus. rob: thanks for getting up with us today, we honor the life of president george hw bush on this national day of mourning. if you are as donald trump and milania will enjoy the nation as we say goodbye to the 41st president. carley: allison barber has more on the touching tributes. >> reporter: president hw bush received a briefing on his funeral and a plan for a state funeral in 2011. his spokesperson says at the time the president asked do you think anyone will come? people came, they come -- they

come in droves, they are still coming this morning. politicians, celebrities and regular people paying respects to a man who gave this country so much. bob dole, world war ii veteran, gets up from his wheelchair to salute. another member of the greatest generation. >> what a powerful moment with senator bob dole, former political opponents, great patriot himself who served in world war ii at the age of 95 got out of his chair and saluted the casket. that speaks to this powerful moment for our country to come together despite our differences. >> reporter: the 41st president lying in state in capital, the casket will leave a little later this morning at 10:00. a motorcade will carry the president to the national cathedral. donald trump is set to attend the funeral, angela merkel and all living former us presidents. mister bush's and george w. bush is set to speak after the

service at the national cathedral. the casket of president bush will travel to joint base andrews to houston, texas. he lies in repose at saint barnabas couple church with the funeral taking place at the church tomorrow. his final resting place will be next to his wife barbara and their daughter robin on the grounds of texas and then behind the presidential library that bears his name. >> i will say two things gave him purpose. one was giving back to others, family matters. a time to celebrate george w. bush, not grieve his loss. that is what we are doing as a family right now. >> reporter: the family is staying at the blair house, the presidential guesthouse. president donald trump in the first lady visited and met with them for 20 minutes. mrs. trump invited laura bush and other members of the family to the white house. today the national day of mourning and all federal offices are closed.

rob: not just the same. carley: he wondered if anyone would come to his funeral proving how humble he was. thank you for that great report, we appreciate it. the images of former senator bob dole saluting the casket of george hw bush captivated the country. rob: conservative radio host rush limbaugh says it is something every american needs to see. >> you can see the determination on his face, he was going to stand. he was going to defied the impossibility that he cannot do it. he defied him possibility and stood up for the barest of second and saluted with his left hand and collapsed in his wheelchair and in that moment said more about that generation, about respect, about honor and integrity and these two people were able to bury the hatchet and come together toward the end of their lives. i wasn't there but i can rest

assured bob dole's one commitment he had since george bush died was to do what he did today and make sure he did it because those are the kinds of things, honoring people you may have been at war with, good times as well, but they were in a lot of fights together for the same objective, fighting for the same cause and they buried the hatchet. it was an amazing thing to see today. >> former senate majority leader from kansas, republican rival of george hw bush, won the presidential nomination in 1996 but lost to bill clinton. rob: overnight, special counsel bob mueller recommending no prison time for michael flynn. the new memo explaining the former trump advisor is providing substantial help. carley: the trump team rails against the investigation. >> reporter: we are looking at

some of the things michael flynn talked about with the special counsel including his interactions with the russian ambassador after the election but before the inauguration. specifically he talked about discussion of sanctions against russia for the 2016 election and the un security council vote against israel. mueller's team wrote given the defendant's substantial assistance under consideration set forth below, at the low end of the guideline range including a sentence that does not impose the term incarceration is appropriate and warranted. both sides knew this is just another piece of encounter federal proof that they had been right all along. the tweet from democrat adam shifts, the recommendation of no jail time for flynn apart from its obvious irony to the man who led chance of locked her up reflects both the timeliness and significance of his help that most of the details are rejected signaling far more than we may know, the president may know.

the president's lawyer equally did this to a guilty plea for spitting on the sidewalk. rudy giuliani said mueller's team is overzealous, media inspired prosecutors. they are sick puppies. it would be easier to tell who is closer to the truth, giuliani or shifts, if we knew more about who was in the 6 page document but almost all of it is blacked out. rob: a lot to read. fox news alert, top republican emails stolen in a massive hack during the midterms, email accounts of four top aides at the national republican congressional committee were breached after they hibernate -- hired the firm, crowd strike, when dnc servers were hacked in 2016. the breach of republican emails was discovered in april. senator chuck grassley demanding answers about an fbi raid on a

was a blower, agent dennis kane's home after he reportedly turned over documents related to the clinton foundation and uranium one deal. as the chair of the senate judiciary committee grassley wants to know why he was not protected as a whistleblower. carley: wall street shut down for a national day of mourning in honor of president george hw bush. it comes one day after the dow jones industrial average sinks by 800 points. investors are nervous about potential economic slowdown and uncertainty over a tariff war with china. the downturn marks the market's were still off. avoiding a shutdown showdown on capitol hill lawmakers are expected to vote on a short-term spending bill to keep the government running for another two weeks. they have until friday to approve the extension. if past it would fund the government until december 21st. the house canceled all votes earlier this week because of the passing of president george hw

bush. rob: former chairman haley barbour says it would be a mistake to rule out a republican primary in 2020. >> 100% chance donald trump will run, an assumption he will run, wouldn't bet against it. it would not be smart to say there won't be a primary. rob: the former mississippi governor saying he expects challengers for the gop nomination. donald trump has already lost his reelection campaign. jillian: speculation nobody wanted a job, kevin hart will host the 2019 oscars. the comedian calling it an opportunity of a lifetime. hours before the announcement the hollywood reporter called the gig the least wanted job in hollywood. rob: ratings have been slipping steadily in recent years including the last two shows hosted by jimmy kimmel because they were so political.

carley: they will do a good job if they stay away from politics. 9 minutes after the hour. the so-called bombshell mueller memo shedding light on michael flynn's cooperation in the russia probe but where's the collusion? attorney summer explains what this means for donald trump next. rob: the rumored 2020 field for the democrats is ever-changing. who is in and who is out? what we learned about beto o'rourke and michael avenatti. ♪ ♪ my hands are shaking and my knees are weak

rob: overnight a big development, bob mueller releasing a memo recommend a lenient sentence for general michael flynn saying the x trump official gave substantial help. carley: does is prove collusion with russia?

here to weigh in is attorney and conservative radio talkshow host chantel summers. thank you for waking up with us this morning. donald trump's attorney rudy giuliani said this does not prove any collusion whatsoever but other people point out it is so heavily rejected, how can you tell? >> that is true. it has been heavily redacted but i don't know that it provides evidence of collusion simply because of the fact the collusion was alleged to have occurred during the campaign, and general flynn's actions were said to have occurred after the campaign so it doesn't appear there was collusion during the campaign. rob: the whole point was to see if the russians and donald trump conspired to steal an election. you have flynn talking to sergey

twice in the transition about voting down a un security council resolution, not escalating the situation when obama slapped sanctions on him for dabbling in the election. what can flynn lead them to is the question? >> reporter: flynn was intimately involved with the campaign and had information they find helpful. but the 0 to 6 months sentence he was facing the first place doesn't seem to be that serious to where he had to cooperate. given his military background he probably was looking at a probationary sentence anyway. the idea that special counsel mueller agreed to give him a substantial cooperation and agreed to recommend probation to me is not that significant. however, the information he provided is probably not that

significant because they are holding it at bay and trying to be mysterious about it to hoodwink the other people they have under investigation into making statements. it is all a game of smoke and mirrors to me with the whole release of this particular memo in advance of the other memos on manafort and cohen. carley: something people have been scratching their heads about his as the national security adviser, it has been his job to talk about the incoming administration. is that accurate or did he break the rules? >> it is a violation of the logan act. no one has ever been prosecuted for a violation of the logan act but he did prior to taking office and that started the inquiry in the first place. why he lied is the big mystery. there was no reason to lie because he wasn't facing

prosecution anyway but was prosecuted for lying to the fbi and that set forth the chain of eventss resulting in donald trump asking fbi director james comey to go late on general flynn, a charge donald trump has denied and that started the chain of events which has led us to where we are today with the pending indictments against roger stone and more trouble for manafort. rob: you look at roger stone, he is going to plead the fifth the. a lot of people think that doesn't look good. never looked good to me when you won't talk. what do you think? >> it is okay to plead the fifth. i come from the criminal defense background and that is a fairly routine thing for people to do especially in the initial stages, everyone takes the fifth.

the idea is they don't want to give out any information in advance of suspected indictments special counsel mueller is about to issue. there are 14 indictments pending in the district court of washington right now that potentially could involve that, his attorney won't release any information or allow him to testify before a senate committee unless there's a grand of immunity to insulate him from potential charges the special counsel might bring. >> he called the questions a fishing expedition. thank you for being with us this morning. very insightful. the time is 18 after the hour. members of the migrant caravan cost trying to sneak onto american soil. the new order at the border from secretary of defense jim mattis. rob: no green envy here. remember rome's lackluster

christmas tree last year? the new tree just arrived. carley: what are they doing? ♪ when i'm sick. with zicam. zicam is completely different. unlike most other cold medicines... ...zicam is clinically proven to shorten colds. i am a zifan for zicam. oral or nasal. so shark invented duo clean. while deep cleaning carpets, the added soft brush roll picks up large particles, gives floors a polished look, and fearlessly devours piles. duo clean technology, corded and cord-free.

>> extending the mission, defense officials, thousands of troops at the with mexico border until the end of january. rob: democrats was a controversial security plan. >> the caravan crisis keeping more of those who serve away from their families longer on the scenes like this. continued breach of the us border prompting defense secretary jim mattis to issue the statement, quote, the

secretary of defense has approved an extension of the ongoing department of defense support to the part of homeland security response to migrant caravan arrivals. the support to dhs authorized until january 31, 2019. customs and border patrol holding a readiness drill ramping up its response to the crisis, their orders will involve stalling and repairing wire barriers and providing security and transportation to border patrol agents across california, arizona and texas. democrats would accept $1.6 billion from border security as long as the link which makes clear the money would not be used to build a wall. the president standing firm on his $5 billion request for the ball tweeting can someone exciting to the democrats, we need their votes, that our country was $250 billion a year on illegal immigration including terrible drug flow? top of security including a wall

is $25 billion, pays for itself in two months, get it done. there are reports of your migrants at local shelters in tijuana and official that the migrant counsel say 3000 migrants are unaccounted for and some of those could cross the border into the us. carley: michael avenatti no longer running for president in 2020, story daniel that lawyer saying he made the decision, quote, out of respect for my family. i will continue to represent stormy daniels against donald trump and his cronies and will not rest until trump is removed from office and a republican and its values are restored. avenatti was arrested on domestic violence charges, at the time he said the arrest made him more appealing in a week democratic field. rob: beto o'rourke could be gearing up for a run, he visited

barack obama in washington, the meeting took place in mid november at the time obama called over work a, quote, impressive young man. carley: one democrat figured out why the left is having trouble connecting with voters. >> the democrats have a hard time connecting to people's hearts instead of here. we democrats know so much, that is true but to tell everybody how smart we are. rob: responding to why democrats have trouble with voter turnout. the hawaii senator gained notoriety during the brett cavanagh hearings which urged men to shut up and step up. 25 after the hour. the american who vanished while vacationing in costa rica has been confirmed dead. the arrest police just made.

carley: asylum requests are spiking but could lawmakers be stopping the migrant caravan? our next guest says yes and it is all thanks to the president. here ya go, hon. hello! i'm an idaho potato farmer. did you ever notice that the very first bite of every great meal is always the potato? that's why it should always be an idaho potato. only genuine idaho potatoes have the perfect taste and texture to get your meal started right. whoa. hey look, it's huge.

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in paradise ends and tragedy. the body is missing florida woman whose father flew in to confirm its. a security guard has been arrested in the case after giving conflicting statements to investigators. authorities say she had stab wounds after she was hit in the head, she was in the country celebrating her birthday. an american soldier who tried helping isis, even kissing the terror group's flag to get 25 years in prison. he met with undercover agents posed advices members and try

giving them classified military documents. the trained air-traffic controller with secret security clearance pledged allegiance to the islamic state during that meeting. rob: new york's finest launching a fleet of 14 drones using technology in search and rescue operations, hostage situations and monitor large events, critics raising privacy concerns over the new eyes in the sky, adamant that the drones will only be used in appropriate situations. the state of louisiana rolling out a new obamacare medicaid system after a shocking report finds most people using the old system were in eligible. 82 out of 100 people qualified for the program shouldn't have been because they made too much money. if those numbers are accurate to the rest of the population the state could be losing as much as $85 million over 20 months.

heather: janice dean has a look at the weather. >> it is wednesday and it is cold, hump day, things are going to be cool for much of the country. these are wind chills. what it feels like with the wind on your skin if not protected, we are dealing with single digits from the rockies, look at dallas, 27. the cold air is in place which means any storm systems on the move could mean the difference between rain or sleet or freezing rain or snow. snow across the ohio valley and interior northeast and the next big system that is going to travel across the us, california going to get some rain and mountain snow, then this is going to be on the move thursday and friday making a complete mess of portions of the southern and central plains, starting his freezing rain in texas and oklahoma as well as new mexico in changing to snow friday and

saturday for southern states, freezing rain and ice saturday, heavy rain and potential for severe storms across texas. that will move toward the mid-atlantic and northeast. this system is going to suck up a good chunk of the country this weekend. just keeping you posted. thanks a lot. >> the migrant caravan at the border for weeks and getting restless as congress pushes back any chance of striking a deal. rob: the new report shows the number of asylum request denials skyrocketing to a record 65% denied in 2018. will congress's in action on this and the delay help or deter the caravan at the border.

carley: joining us is melissa quinn. thank you for being with us. the migrant caravan sitting in tijuana for a couple weeks and clearly there is no guarantee. do you think this could persuade people to go home or not join the caravan in the future? >> reporter: in part we have seen that happen. we saw in the run-up to the midterm elections with donald trump taking a number of steps including signing his asylum executive order, sending troops to the border to be from the country's immigration problems in the wake of no action from congress and what we see now is members of the caravan have arrived in tijuana, finding they cannot come into the country. there are more stringent rules in terms of their ability to seek asylum. some of them have decided to go home and others accepting the

offer from the mexican government for a 1-year humanitarian visa. we are seeing impact on those who were part of the caravan. rob: asylum claims have jumped 700% in ten years but work this out. it is a way to get into the country. a lot of times it is abused, maybe most of the time it is abused and let's pull up a graphic that shows how denials have jumped in 2018 far more people being denied asylum claims which should tell us these are not real claims. >> the city from ceric use university, a lot of these people who were denied asylum were in the country prior to donald trump's presidency but there are changes made at the justice department under attorney general jeff sessions, more specific guidelines on what immigration judges could accept in terms of asylum seekers.

the ceric use study said in part that change from the trump administration caused a number of denials to increase. >> a partial government shutdown over the border wall, donald trump once $5 billion, democrats say that is not happening. do you think the president will get funding for this while? >> that is the million-dollar question. the fact that democrats regain control of the house of representatives in the midterms makes that theme a little bit more difficult but this is something donald trump promised during the campaign, he has continued to press congress for his border wall. republicans in house and senate said they want to help donald trump attain that goal and he's been unrelenting in pushing congress to secure that funding. rob: the optics of that wall going up. let's talk about former

president george hw bush, this has been a tremendous couple of days watching this play out, moment at the capitol rotunda. let's talk about clarence thomas. one of his supreme court appointments. that lasting legacy. >> if you remember president bush angered conservatives when he nominated david souter, for supreme court nominee, he ended up deciding consistently with the liberal wing of the bench and conservatives can be very pleased with what they have seen from justice thomas and president bush's decision to nominate him. he has been a reliable conservative vote on the bench nearing his 30th year. this is one of president bush's longest lasting legacies. jillian: some of his clerks are in high-powered positions in the administration. >> not only in terms of his writings and opinions but also those that he hired to work for him on the court.

rob: 36 after the hour, france on fire, protesters vowing to fight the country's climate change plan but is this a sign of a bigger movement happening around the globe? >> graham allen thinks so and americans need to take note. he is live next.

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carley: french protesters challenging the government's latest climate change initiative but american lawmakers have been pushing for similar laws for years. rob: the french protests have been bad, a sign of a bigger movement against taxes and regulations to curb climate change? carley: here to weigh in is graham allen, thank you for being with us. these horrible protests we have been seeing for weeks, people refused to pay for the gas tax, and some climate change regulations are unrealistic for people if you tax them too much. do you think democrats are taking note of this? >> i'm sure they are. democrats are telling us all the time, america needs to take note another countries.

democrats know so much more than the rest of us americans do, this isn't the first time americans, bill clinton tried to do something similar in 1993 and had to back down because he faced backlash in his own party because he would have raised gas prices around $0.07 or something like that. it is hard to just say we are going to raise taxes and by raising taxes accomplish this amazing thing when you don't have the benefits of the actual working american or better life of working americans in mind. rob: i thought this tweet from the president spoke volumes about this issue, he said i'm glad my pretty manual macron and protesters in paris agreed the paris agreement is fatally flawed because it raises the price of energy, responsible countries, the worst polluters in the world.

and making great strides in improving america's environment but american taxpayers and american workers shouldn't pay to clean up other people's pollution. you make the point, you don't have to be a climate change denied to not want the paris accord. other countries are still allowed to pollute. >> donald trump has made a solid point. his entire presidency and say america is not going to sit idly by, the country that walked over these days and american citizens especially and he raises a good point. no one is saying we don't agree we can be cleaner in our energy and cleaner about the way we go about things like gas emissions and carbon in the air and things like that but we have to do it without crippling the working class of america. >> is may not cripple the working class of america but something people have strong

opinions about, los angeles is moving to impose an outright ban on plastic straws by 2021. >> we have to protect our citizens at the end of the day. not just walking around with dangerous objects like straws. rob: plastic is a problem but paper straws, don't know what you do about it. i know it is a problem. >> a crazy world we live in. rob: wednesday took a big step toward legalizing magic mushrooms. remember college? are there any health benefits to this? carley: doctor nicole safire is here to weigh in. ♪ i'm free ♪ freefalling ♪ and i'm free ♪

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>> coming up on "fox and friends" did you see on jeopardy we were actually an answer on the big show. and we have great guests lined up, advises the president of the united states during his campaign. and anthony scaramucci, and and the colorado town. to petition to overturn the ban, he has the one snowball the mayor was going to throw. he is going to join us and tell

us his story coming up on "fox and friends" 12 minutes from now on the channel everybody trusts for the morning news. >> put it in a cooler or it will be a cup of water by the end of the show. massachusetts getting massive backlash for constitutional nativity scene that shows baby jesus and the wise men in cages, the phrase peace on earth is followed by a question-mark, not the first time they sparked controversy. last year the parish chose names of towns where mass shootings occurred. the parish has no plans to take this year's display down. rob: the christmas tree on display in rome, italy stirring up its own controversy. the second year in a row this is the 70 foot for missing a lot of branches. it will regain its shape by the lighting ceremony. italians are comparing the

flimsy fertile last year's tree which they nicknamed mangy, a little thin. carley: from anything from charlie brown? rob: even the rockefeller center tree they put back together when they ship it in. carley: move over, marijuana. magic mushrooms may soon be on the ballot. rob: state attorney just opened the door to legalizing this hallucinogenic drug. carley: are there health benefits to this and are there risks? doctor nicole safire joins us with the answers on magic mushrooms. tell us what is going on? >> reporter: a ballot initiative in oregon is trying to get magic mushrooms onto the ballot for the next 2020 election. and they decriminalize illegal possession of magic mushrooms and also give licensing for

manufacturing and distribution. this is putting the cart before the horse a little bit. last october two months ago the fda called what is called the main component in magic mushrooms as a possible breakthrough medical therapy. we have been studying this for several decades and it is showing benefits in severe depression, anxiety and those with life-threatening conditions like cancer and severe ptsd better big however. when you are treating someone, the ideas to get them to become functioning members of society and get back to work. you can potentially have hallucinations, not necessarily able to function. unless you are in a controlled environment you may wind up in the emergency department or have psychotic episodes.

there is a huge caveat here. i'm not necessarily sold on this. i don't think it should be on the ballot yet. rob: something that comes out of the ground that is not that bad. we see benefits of marijuana. >> opioids are not doing so well. >> it would need 40,000 signatures to appear on the 2020 ballot. i don't know if you can get 430,000 people that interested in magic mushrooms. but they still need it. >> people sign ballots for any reason, whether they get voted in is completely different, i would not be surprised if it is on the ballot. whether or not it is is a big question. rob: 4.6 million illegal

household in this country are on some type of welfare. we reported this story, 60% of illegal immigrants are taking welfare, to extend the medicaid system in that state to illegal immigrants. >> in the united states, and you don't have to be treated. we treat you. and to anyone 19 and younger, and here's what they see. and it is absolutely not, we can't afford this.

you have donald trump looking for $5 billion for the wall, california saying we charge 3 billion, and middle-class after it passes. >> we will be right back. . . and fearlessly devours piles. duo clean technology, corded and cord-free.

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carley: the american public honoring the life and leg geafs george h.w. bush on this national day of mourning. this is a live look at the national rotunda where his body is lying in state. rob: will attend his funeral later this morning. they met with the bush family privately to you pay their respects. carley: first lady also invited the bushes to the white house to see the christmas decorations and visit with their old friends the white house resident staff. we have live, continuing coverage right here on the fox news channel all morning long of the ceremony. join bret baier and martha mccallum for special coverage right here beginning at 9:00 a.m. rob: after today's service in washington, george h.w. bush will be flown back to washington for another service and taken to final resting place that will be on 4141 taken there. it was designed over a decade ago in the president's honor. >> american patriot will take a final trip to texas

a&m in houston. he will be buried next to his wife barbara and daughter robin at the presidential library. rob will be beautiful week for that family. somber but beautiful. carley: absolutely. rob: time for th the good, the bad, and the ugly. start with the good. world war ii veteran credits long life to light beer. carley: amen to that. rob: andrew has been drinking one coor's light every day for the past 15 years. his son says the former air force gunner was still shoveling snow and mowing his lawn as recently as two years ago. carley: because of beer. why not. next the bad. one company is bringing helicopter parenting to the next level bracelet for teens. call teens to check in. the service cost between 8 and $10 a day. getting your teen to actually wear the bracelet robber rob good luck with that. that's terrible. finally the ugly, a plane

passenger's bill sky high after he forgot to turn off air phone bill. at&t says the phone connected to the plane's antenna and used data outside the customer's plan and he has a big fat bill. carley: "fox & friends first" starts right now. rob: see you later. >> today on this national day of mourning we honor the life of george h.w. bush. >> what a powerful moment with senator bob dole a former political opponent at the age of 95 got out of his wheelchair and saluted the casket. >> and that moment said more about that generation, about respect, about honor, about integrity. >> breaking news about president trump's former national security advisor michael flynn. >> special counsel is recommending no jail time for flynn becaused on his substantial cooperation. >> there is no mention of collusion. i think it's good news for president trump.