time we have left this evening, the christmas season is here if you're looking for that perfect gift to give the political junkie, may i suggest my book "the deep state," how an army of bureaucrats protected of barack obama and is working to destroy the trump agenda. my thanks for sean hannity to allow me to sit in on this seat. "the ingraham angle" is up next. >> laura: good evening everybody, this is a very busy news night tonight from washington. we begin with the curious case of michael: cohen, he sat down with an interview with his new best bud, former bill clinton sr. advisor george stephanopoulos and he offered a rather patriotic christmas hope. >> the country has never been more divisive and one of the

hopes that i have out of the punishment that i have received as well as the cooperation that i have given, i will be remembered in history as helping to bring this country back together. >> he wants to know exactly how he's going to do it. i think he's in a lot of pain. >> laura: right, all of his motives are entirely patriotic. he's doing this all for america, for our children and our grandchildren. it has nothing to do with the fact that cohen wants to have his jail time shaved off in exchange for more cooperation. >> are you still cooperating? >> if they want me, i'm here. and willing to answer whatever additional questions they may have for me. >> there are certain areas you can't get into because you're still cooperating. >> laura: did he lay it on thick, he's kind of a new man, he feels liberated.

i like the turtle neck, it was an anti-williams christmas special feel to it all. he wants you to know that donald trump is bad but his heart is as pure as the driven snow and at the time he seemed to hearken back to the days of old. >> there was a lot of fun going on. >> when did it change? >> i can't give you a specific time that it went from point a to point b, it was just a change. the gentleman that is sitting now in the oval office, 1600 pennsylvania avenue is not the donald trump that i remember from trump tower. he's a very different individua individual. >> laura: q barbra streisand. he doesn't speak to the president anymore and no one entering the presidency really understands that until he or she gets behind that desk, the difference with this president

is that even before he was sworn in, the doj end of the fbi led by comey was already scheming to remove him from office using a phony dossier paid for by hillary clinton, deploying their friends in the media to spread disinformation to cement a narrative that he was spooning with putin before, during, and after the campaign. i was watching this this morning and at some point he bizarrely after painting a picture of the president as a hopeless liar, cohen went on to say this. >> a lot of people watching who are going to be thinking he lied for so long, why should we be leave him now? >> lied about what? is a microcosm of the new york real estate market, what did we lie about? its new york real estate, if the greatest product ever created, is that a lie? >> laura: i'm confused.

the most markable thing about this interview talking about transparency was the idea that the media, they now see cohen as some type of honest broker, that's a lot different from the way they viewed him during the campaign. >> that's not the way you communicate, go to law school and act like a thug. >> is he serious about becoming president? he's got to get rid of the goon. michael cohen does him no favors. >> this guy is a thug with a law degree. >> is a group of scumbags sitting around and in cahoots with each other. >> laura: i love to see the word scumbag used with the american flag behind him. >> expect to see three more months of "i'm a changed man" narrative and i'm really sorry sob stories.

i can't wait to see where he ends up next. rachael ray, does she have an open book and? he's been stirring it up for so long, i'm sure he would be great in the kitchen. joining me now it's reaction is alan dershowitz professor emeritus at harvard law school and kim strassel "wall street journal" columnist. michael cohen goes from a thug, a fixer, a goon as they called him to a media darling. i was watching the roundtable at "good morning america" and they were empathizing with them, it was a beautiful moment for him to come forward and unburden himself. no other motive possible for him to come forward right now, how credible are these sob stories? >> i've had about 250 criminal defendants that i have represented and many of them have gone on this kind of redemption tour or redemption campaign.

i think they persuade themselves that they mean it, they persuade their family and they want to meet it because nobody wants to be a phony. i suspect deep in his heart, cohen thinks he's a changed man. if he got out of jail, would anybody really hire him to teach ethics somewhere? i doubt that very much. i'm sure he has mixed motives, he wants to appear to his peers and friends and family to have seen evil and redemption. he also obviously has a secondary purpose, secondary game of trying to get a reduction, i think it's unlikely to happen. >> laura: he was going to get a sentence reduced, it would seem like it's an odd thing he says on the interview he's willing to cooperate and talk to anyone at any time. i made that point this morning,

it would seem like with all the sit downs that he has had, that would've already been unpacked right now. >> the southern district of new york was not very complimentary of him and that filing they made it. they said he had not very cooperative, special counsel's filing was more generous. that brings us to the question of him as a potential witness which was something he discussed with george stephanopoulos against any proceeding that might ever be brought up against president trump in terms of these campaign finance violations that people are talking about. given that even the southern district didn't view him as a credible, trustworthy, helpful person, how good of a witness in such a case would he make? >> laura: a terrible witness. you and i put him on the stand,

it's not hard to get him to wet his pants. he is not a hard guy to cross examine. i've got to ask about this sec issue because we're going to move on -- a two term sec commissioner has written a pretty compelling piece for fox news about these types of hush money payoffs. aren't criminal violations under the fec rules -- they twisted his arm to plead guilty and to throw in all this stuff about the direction to influence the election and so forth. this kind of payment would not be under the facts, have you looked into that. >> when you get somebody like

cohen, sometimes they compose. they try to make the story a little better. the idea that he told trump what he was doing was wrong or illegal, let's be very clear. the laws are very complicated but one thing is very simple. any candidate can contribute as much as he wants it to his own campaign for any purpose. if bloomberg runs he could contribute a billion dollars to the campaign. a candidate can go to the bank and take out $150,000 in cash bring it to a woman and say i'm giving you this in order to -- so you won't talk and you won't destroy my campaign. that would not be a violation of the law, there are ways in which it could become one if corporate contributions were involved, or failure to report but reporting requirements after the election -- essentially no harm no foul. i think the american public are

missing the point. where is the crime? where is the statute that makes this a crime? >> laura: because you haven't heard the other case. when you're in court you can argue the point. john edwards did that and he pointed that out. he cited the edwards case at the particular relevant in this matter. i want to move on to other stories today. the new michael flynn document that dropped just a few hours ago -- remember tuesday night's attorneys felt that he had been duped by government lawyers and that he was told he didn't need legal representation in that interview with the two fbi agents in january of 2017. he responded writing the agents did not provide general flynn's lawyers with a warning of the penalties for making a false statement. before, during, or after the interview. prior with the interview,

mr. mccabe and other fbi officials decided the agents would not warn him that it was a crime to lie during the fbi interview. there was a concern giving the warnings that might adversely affect the report. if they also said the lack of counsel did not make him a lie and that he should have known better. you wrote in the journal that what happened to flynn was akin to entrapment. is there anything in today's document -- interesting reductions were going to get to as well but is there anything that you saw today that changes your thinking? >> it's an incredibly unpersuasive document. one thing that struck me is how expensive it sounded, we are used to these special counsel filings where they hold all the cards. this one went out of its way to note that he lied to the press. it then goes to he should have

known better, he should have known not to -- none of this changes the fact that the way they set this up and jim comey has admitted that, they set it up on a casual basis, let's have a chat -- there seems to be no question that michael flynn believed he was going to sit down and go through some of these questions when in fact what they were conducting was a formal interview and they didn't go through any of the motions or standard procedures of a formal interview. >> laura: the question is why. i want you to respond to this because i know this is what you want to address. this is in the government filing that just dropped. responding to the question about the agents themselves thinking that he lied. the interviewing agents didn't observe any deception and had the impression that the defendant was not lying or did not think he was lying. those who miss impressions did not change the fact as the defendant has admitted in

district court that he was indeed lying and knowingly made false statements international security investigation. if those false were material. that is a cute formulation by the special counsel's office but the fact is they were twisting the arm of michael flynn and threatening his son but the agents themselves did not think he lied, period. >> on day one, i said he was not guilty and he should fight this. i think he would win on a number of grounds. there are two issues. did he do the right thing? no, he shouldn't have lied. you don't lie to the vice president or to the press or two fbi agents. the real question is what the fbi did, they asked him questions they knew the answers to, they weren't trying to get information from him. they were trying to get him an opportunity to live.

that was the purpose. they send in agents like peter strzok and they gave him an opportunity to live. he shouldn't have done it but that's not the way the fbi should operate and they should never discourage anybody from bringing a lawyer. i have never had a client to sit down with the fbi, i've never had a client testify. they aren't here to help you, they are pretending they are friendly and he fell into the trap, it's his own fault but i'm not talking about him. as a civil libertarian, do we want our government officials to behave this way to help create crimes? >> laura: they are on the hunt, one more questions i want to ask. why are they redacting the agents name who interviewed michael flynn with peter strzok? what would be the reason for redacting the name? >> it's unclear because his name is generally out there and i

heard people confirm it -- they are filing it under we just don't put the names of agents out there. >> it's kind of important people think this whole thing is biase biased. we want to know who started this ball rolling with the investigation. we want to know who was in between the commas -- who are these people? all the other people were leaking to the media. >> i think it's because they don't want this guy's name out there where he might get called in to talk further. >> congress can get his name obviously if they don't want it. let's trap as many people as we can into committing perjury and then we'll squeeze them and try to get them to testify against trump. the special counsel is appointed to try to uncover crimes that already occurred. in this case all the crimes

occurred after he became special counsel in many instances and they use those crimes not because they are interested but because they want to squeeze and that raises fundamental question of civil liberties. >> laura: i want to return to the ridiculous double standard that president trump is facing, this time it's inauguration funding. this practice has never fallen under such scrutiny but this suppose that blockbuster investigation gives liberals the narrative that the walls are closing in so the president has nowhere to turn. here's something you might not know. back in 2013 special interests contributed 40%, that's almost half of the funds for obama's second inauguration. here with reaction this ari fleischer former white house press secretary to bush 43 and robert wolf. obama make a donor and someone

who donated money to the 2012 inauguration for barack obama. is this scrutiny warranted? is this a clear-cut case of a double standard? >> on the surface it certainly seems to be a double standard. the investigation of hillary was never a real investigation of her and that is troubling. i don't like to draw conclusions like that about justice and i was raised to believe justice is blind but we haven't heard from justice. these were leaks into the newspaper, it's not yet confirmed. if the focus is on foreign contributions and given to strongmen who donated, that is a different matter and it should be investigated but i haven't seen any evidence that any woody in trump did anything wrong. >> laura: roberts, you were a

big donor to president obama, i think campaign finance laws are unconstitutional. you should be able to give as much money as you want to anyone and your own money shouldn't matter. anybody should be able to give whatever they want, i have no problem you're a big donor to obama. he swore off special interests in the first inauguration but then took corporate money, lobbyist money, teachers unions, all sorts of union money and came to the campaign. what's the difference here? >> we should take a step back. i think your premise is a double standard otherwise george w. bush took from the same type of people. i don't think we're talking about corporate money here, i think the point is whether foreign interests who gave? if you want to go back where corporate interests started i think in 2005 in the

inauguration, he took from the same people that george w. bush took from. i don't think it's about corporate, i think it's about were any laws broken? i'm not saying any laws were broken, i'm saying i think that's what they're looking at. >> laura: it's a complete fishing expedition i'm going to tell you why. hillary clinton foundation received money from saudi arabia, kuwait, qatar, oman, australia, norway, dominican republic, i don't know how much algeria gave and suddenly all that money starts drying up when she is no longer the secretary of state and she's no longer clearly going to be president of the united states -- all that money went away. do you think that money was donated to get access? can you imagine donors get access in the obama world and all these people going to these parties -- they aren't getting access! welcome to washington.

>> i can't imagine why people don't want to continue to get access and why did they stop giving money? of course. your guest made the point about the hotel. something that's unusual and different about donald trump, to his credit that she's a businessman. he came from a hotel industry. all the laws and all the rules are set up to make it easy for career politicians to stay in congress and state and government and therefore you never had a conflict because you don't own anything in the real world. it's almost impossible for them to run and people try to make a mountain out of nothing. he's already said he's not making the profits from it, he's divorced from that as the president but so what if that trump corporation is making money? it is america's private sector and i want people from the private sector to be able to run for office. >> i'm all for capitalism.

i ran a bank that's in 49 states, we gave to the rnc, we gave to the dnc, phil gramm was my vice chairman. i have no problem with donald trump doing amazingly well. ubs did business with donald trump. were talking about today, did the inauguration committee do something illegal or not? let me just finish. >> there's nothing wrong with spending money at his hotel. >> am i saying anything is wrong with that? i'm saying that's what they're looking at. >> laura: you raised it many times. >> i raised it because it was on the front page. >> laura: how'd that happen to come out given the fact that the inaugural committee itself -- they've never heard of any investigation. they haven't been asked for documents and haven't been interviewed and suddenly this is leaking out of the southern district of new york. they are the most leaky federal prosecutor office in the countr

country. >> they were outside my office for five years. >> laura: stephanie walcott, her company was paid a lot of money. she made good money off of the inauguration. the ghoulish manner in which democrats and the media are using the tragic death to tar the president, the latest border manipulation is next

>> laura: the tragedy of a 7-year-old guatemalan child who died in border control custody has led to some disgusting politics. the girl and her father had been in custody for about eight hours when she started having seizure seizures. medical personnel fought to save her life but were unable to end in the aftermath it was reported that during her trek to the border she had not eaten or had any water for several days. within hours, democrats knew who to blame. >> this is part of the insensitivity to migrants, people seeking asylum in this administration. you take 7-year-olds across the border, you don't check them, take the temperature, you don't give a damn. that's what this shows. >> laura: america is extremely

generous, we've spread humanitarian aid all over the world but we aren't the worlds police and we aren't the world's hospital. we are doing what we can and incredibly difficult circumstances created by politicians. here to respond is hector garza vice president at large for the national border patrol council. hector, take us through what are the normal procedures and what do border agents need to do when families cross into the united states. we've had record numbers of family units crossing across our southern border in different sectors because people know they are going to be able to come in and be released after a certain number of days, what is the procedure? >> as agents, we are sick and tired of being blamed for these tragedies. the people who should be blamed are drug cartels orchestrating these events. also politicians who are encouraging illegal immigration are to blame, not our agents,

not president trump. our agents are doing an amazing job to care for these people. we have specialized policies with regards to how we treat juveniles in our custody. every time these people come into our custody we have professional medical staff that will conduct an evaluation continuing through the process. we give them water and give them blankets, they will stay together to maintain family unity. >> laura: apparently eight hours were dhss and telling anybody what happened to this little girl. what happened to her and her father? we don't know. >> this specific case is under investigation but what we do know is these people were part of a group of 163 agents that enter our country illegally, about 50 of them were unaccompanied minors. this is a very remote part of

the desert in new mexico so you have to put yourself in agents she was when you're out there patrolling the border. you come up on a group of 163 agents, it's going to be chaos. our agents are going to try their best and unfortunately this father that brought this child with him is also responsible just like the cartels and the politicians. >> laura: if an american citizen or an illegal immigrant had withheld food or water from his or her child for several days, took him or her across the country to points unknown and didn't feed or give water, they would be in jail. >> they would be charged with negligence of a child. but that's not what happened here. these are children running for their lives. >> laura: so the father has no responsibility. >> he has no responsibility to protect the child. >> laura: several days, they didn't eat or drink.

you're bringing your child into an extremely dangerous situation with cartels, human traffickers. >> to save them. >> laura: it's a hard call for americans watching thinking blaming these border patrol agents who wanted more funding and wanted more help from politicians. >> we are to blaming the border patrol agents, were blaming the system that was created for the border patrol agents don't have enough resources to help all these people. it's a 7-year-old child who came to the border patrol with clear signs of exhaustion, clear signs of not having eaten or drink any water and it was disregarded. this happened under ice custody before, several people have gone there with medical conditions and died. >> laura: it's the american people's responsibility, the american taxpayers responsibility when a parent decides to across our border illegally, come into the united states with a child across very difficult terrain, it's the american taxpayers

responsibility to pay for medical care. pay for interpreters, pay for lawyers, pay for a process, that's what they're doing. >> if we are going as a government agency to say come to me, i'm going to process your problem, i'm going to take custody of a 7-year-old child, that government agency is responsible for that child. if they commit something of a negligence or disregard a medical condition. >> laura: i think we need to find that out. i want to find out what happened in those intervening hours and at the same time for nadler to come out and say this is on the hands of border patrol agents, this is part of 163 people. that's not one person, this is a mass of humanity crossing the border at one time. how many agents were there?

>> that is the point, none of the people to deal with the problem. >> laura: an orchestrated attempt by individuals from honduras and guatemala, we are learning a lot more about the organizers of these caravans who have a financial incentive to give people false hope that this is going to be a good track for them. >> it's happening, we can't deny it and close our eyes. president trump should allow a government agency to provide enough people to fix the problem and not continue the problem. >> laura: where are the democrats on this? you've been asking for more funding, for more means to handle these circumstances and for silent reforms which has to be put in place so children are not put in this horrific situation where they are dragged across the desert to deal with drug cartels and potentially be taken by human traffickers which happens all too often.

>> these politicians who fail to do their job and congress are encouraging illegal immigration. president trump is supporting the wall, infrastructure but some politicians aren't giving him the funding that we need. make sure we stop this illegal immigration, there is a legal way to do this and that's going to the port of entry. let's stop encouraging illegal immigration and that's my message. how come we aren't out there blaming the drug cartels? they are the ones who dictate who was crossing and as a matter of fact i think drug cartels should be designated terrorist organizations as president trum president trump. >> laura: i think there are a lot of people who are trying to incentivize and give people false hope that this is all going to work out well for them. the politicians i have no words for them. i want to know what happened in those eight hours, i think dhss to be forthcoming really fast about the timeline more than

they have done. i think blaming the border patrol, i don't think any press conferences that nadler has done for the victims of crimes at the hands of cartels or illegal aliens in the united states -- i don't remember it. i don't remember much of it. great conversation, thanks so much. some political losers hit the president on the way out the door. a pbs new orleans christmas special and an inspiring moment from a national airport, we could use some inspiration. all that in "friday follies" next. perfect! nobody knows young readers like we do... barnes & noble

♪ >> live from america's news headquarters, i'm robert gray. president trump announcing on twitter that white house budget director mick mulvaney will be his acting chief of staff. a former south carolina congressman will take over for john kelly who president trump said will be leaving the white house at year's end.

mulvaney responding on twitter this is a tremendous honor. i look forward to working with the president and the entire team. it's going to be a great 2019. meanwhile the pennsylvania supreme court denying bail to bill cosby while he appeals his sexual assault conviction. he filed an appeal last month are doing the judge had a grudge against the key pretrial witness and his decisions are grounds for a new trial. if the 81-year-old cosby was convicted in april of drugging and molesting a woman in 2004. i'm robert gray, now back to "the ingraham angle" ." >> laura: it's friday and that means it's time for senatorial losers taking parting shots at trump on their way out the door. a new orleans christmas special and a touching moment at a national airport joining us now raymond arroyo, fox news contributor and "new york times" best-selling author, you would

think your last moments of service to the nation would be gracious and magnanimous, i would think george washington's farewell address -- how are characters in capitol hill leaving us? >> they chose a more petty path, let's start with arizona senator jeff flake. >> to say our politics is not healthy is somewhat of an understatement. i believe we know this is not a normal time. the threats to our democracy from within and without our rea real. none of us can say the situation we find ourselves in -- >> laura: thank god of the establishment is giving us a kick to our stomach after the rise of china, open borders, foreign policy -- don't let the doorknob hit you. >> the clear inference is that

donald trump is a problem to the republicans, this is what is so amazing about this. they did exit polls at the election in november. 26% favorable rating. >> laura: he's gone up, he used to be 19%. they were doing the elevation tour. >> the conscience has really hit the skid. >> laura: bob corker, the president mainly referred to him as little -- >> any time the president refers to as a cruel nickname. >> laura: i think you're being unfair to bob corker who couldn't resist this sideswipe. >> i think where the president hurts himself and hurts our country is his own personal conduct, it's unnecessary. it's an unforced error. the unorthodox nature of the presidency has in some ways caused people to be closer on

each side of the aisle, on some ways. it's sort of like everyone is in the same boat. >> laura: trump is letting the cameras come in and see how the sausage is poorly made. smart businessman, he's been on to say he likes the trump presidency, the judges, the economy. he doesn't like his style? >> everybody got the vote, just not his boat. it was a populist win, i'm going to run against that. that's what he did, his people abandon him. he slid into the 30s and lower among republicans, that's why he couldn't run again. everyone we shall tonight have either lost or walked away.

>> laura: corker wanted to be secretary of state, it was a momentary flirtation with that. it's like the girl who doesn't get picked to go to the prom, you never like that boy again. that boy is off to his own devices. >> senator claire mccaskill mused on how senators view the president. >> week, doesn't really understand government, doesn't care to understand anything complicated. asks and says the most unbelievable things, it clearly shows he doesn't understand the subject matter. no intellectual curiosity. >> laura: you had a chance to vote for brett kavanaugh, that's what hurt you. a basic sense of fairness.

can it get overheated? yes it can get overheated. but the obsession with the style, you notice there is very little substantive criticism about what the trump agenda has accomplished. >> the arrival of trump for so many of these middle-of-the-road people to choose a side and they chose the wrong side and got shoved out in these states that it clearly swung. >> laura: they are all delighting in this momentary indictment mania. you have clearly produced and hosted a christmas season for pbs called christmas time in new orleans. what is it? >> it's a cd with jazz classics on it and it's a big piece of my heart, it's a love letter to my hometown and it celebrates the people, food, traditions, and music that have held us together for 300 years. christmas is the perfect time to look at the cuisine and the

people. this sizzling jazz orchestra has members of the marcella's family in it and they play all these original compositions. at this time in our countries history when we are so divided, it's important to see a place where spanish, french, english, africans, germans, italians came together and created something that lasts. >> laura: the people, the food, the places. i don't know if it's a comforting thing but i get why you went crazy, i actually understand it now. >> this is chef john falls in a bit of the nola players. >> no other city ever in the history of this world has seven distinct nations coming together to create what we call the mixtures, the creoles of

new orleans. there's nothing like it. >> laura: now we have a viral video. >> a viral video, this happened earlier in the week to travelers in nashville. they came together to sing the national anthem and they did so to honor children of fallen servicemen and women. the important thing about this is as children were boarding flights, the gary sinise foundation flies over 1,700 children to disney world. i went to orlando to spend time with them and we will bring this entire story, to me one of the most moving. it puts it all in perspective. they are amazing heroes. this will bring tears to your eyes.

>> laura: and yet he couldn't go on space mountain. raymond was very moved by that. were going to see this, gary sinise is awesome. has antiwhite sentiments become new normal for some of the power players inside the democratic party? we are going to debate that with the head of the washington chapter of the naacp and pastor aubrey shines.

♪ you think you've seen everything? ♪ let's talk about that when you get here. ♪ the united states virgin islands.

>> and very suspect of that this year going into a democratic primary with women doing well, i'm not sure if it's the time for white men. >> is it time to have somebody of color and a woman, somebody younger, as a white guy, are you trying to calculate whether or not this is the right time for you? >> laura: there's a reason the media continually asks this question. it's a mind-set that seems to have been encouraged by the mainstream of the democratic party, the idea that a candidate might face scrutiny simply because he or she is

white. why are we talking about rates? i thought we were supposed to get away from judging people on the basis of their skin color. why isn't that racist? this is the latest in a string of stories we've highlighted to speak to this new reality. whether it's the powerful women's march, louis farrakhan remanding a powerful force inside the democratic party, or the "no whites allowed" to vacation spots we've reported on, how is any of this acceptable? here to debate it, hilary sheltered, head of the washington, d.c., chapter of the naacp. maybe i'm naive here but i think there has been so much progress, nothing is perfect but a lot of progress made at every level of society, business, entertainmen entertainment, high-tech, sports, politics, two term african-american president -- why is the democratic party now

saying if we nominated a white person that might be problematic asthmatic problematic? >> as were looking with challenges and problems we have in our society there's a racial definition that surrounds those issues as well. what's great for president trump to talk about how the african-americans have the lowest unemployment rates since the day it's been it's collected but at the lowest unemployment rate is still three times higher than our white counterparts. >> laura: you're saying has it been any progress? >> we've gone from slavery to being citizens of the country, there is progress. >> laura: i want to make sure our national audience can understand. you discount improvement in the economy for african-americans? >> we don't discount it, we

recognize it's there. we also recognize we have not reached a point of parity. >> laura: you mean equal opportunity? >> equal opportunity and equal outcomes. >> laura: unless you have a proportional representation on corporate boards, that's not equality? >> it's certainly not parity. we want to mention the voices are there. corporate boards or getting into college and universities, being able to own homes. >> laura: it's kind of -- it's almost antiwhite mail or white female candidate mentality in the democratic party. >> i would disagree with that. if you look at the voting patterns of african-americans, we've never had problems with voting for white americans. >> laura: you know what i'm talking about, if you are a white person you are immediately suspect, the blacks only vacation spots that were featured earlier this week -- i

don't get that. the best person should win. opportunity zones -- that gets thrown off to the side. he's a racist because he is doing all this good stuff that's going to help underprivileged areas. >> it's always great being with you but mr. shelton has left out a tremendous point. it has always been the democratic party that has identified people of color by color. this is why the democratic party is the party that gave you slavery and the kkk, et cetera. when i hear mr. shelton and others begin to espouse these false narratives, if it's the current narrative that is going on. let's take a look at that. if 8 out of 10 black kids are not being raised by their fathers, guess what's going to happen? they're not going to get an education, end up in jail. those are facts.

you're going to have kids not going to high school or college, therefore they can't debate and they cannot find themselves with any type of parity with their white counterparts, put the data in the home, there is no difference in the employment issue at that moment. it's a false narrative. >> laura: when we have you both back, we are doing an hour on this topic, just a racial topic in the new year. the rhetoric we are hearing from some, not all in the democratic party of the type of candidate, not on the basis of ideas but on the basis of skin color, i think that's a problem. i don't think it's good for democrats and is not good for republicans. it should be based on the content of your character. >> absolutely, those measures should be just that. regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, if we look at the outcomes and the needs that we

have -- >> laura: you should work with the president on opportunity zones. >> i have great ideas that might very well help. >> laura: you can work with the present i think you'll get along with him really well. thanks so much, we'll be right back.

>> laura: it's time for the last bite. michelle obama isn't above cutting a rug, especially if it's with santa. watch. >> stand up and dance with mrs. obama and santa right now. drop it down. >> drop it down? we wanted to see how she stacks up against another former first lady. so tonight we're launching our own new reality show, "dancing with the democrats." take a look at our first fair faceoff. oh, i'm going to go with the guy in the front. oh no, you've got to hand it to

-- i think michelle obama wins this. that's my view, but i don't want to taint the process or the pool of answers. so who's the big winner? tweet me at "the ingraham angle" with your pic. shannon bream and >> the white house is as busy as ever. major moves tonight on chief of staff. investigations and obamacare. the commander in chief speaking out at this late hour. first, president trump former fixer cohen doubling down on claims. but has there actually been a campaign finance violation? well, tonight we've got a former member of the federal elections