we have to see you right here next week and on in 2019. ♪ ♪ >> fox news alert, it is day 8 of the partial government shutdown and it's anyone's guess when it may end, president trump and congressional democrats at odds for funding for border wall as both sides continue to pass the blame. hello, everyone, welcome to brand new hour of america's news headquarters, i'm laura ingle here for arthel neville. eric: i'm eric shaw. senate in the house not in business and not scheduled to hold votes until at least on monday. currently about 5% of federal government remains close at this hour with more government agencies expect to go run out of money very soon. >> garrett tenny live in

washington with more, hi, garrett. >> hey, oh good afternoon, lawmakers tell us there hasn't been any real progress to end shutdown and some are expect to go drag on for at least another week or two. capitol hill has essentially been a ghost town the last couple of days with both sides digging in and new congress on wednesday, most lawmakers headed home and leaving it up to leadership to work out a deal but so far democratic leaders refusing to negotiate with white house and white house blaming squarely on nancy pelosi. >> not enough time spent securing our border and while she may have the votes, it's a thin majority if she does and she's not going to cut any deal with republicans until she has that speakership secured. >> democrats are expected to attempt to move a bill to fund the government next week after they elect a new speaker on wednesday.

that bill is not expected to include funding for the president's wall, though, which is why a number of top republicans expect shutdown to last for a while but democrats argue, president trump only has himself to blame for both shutdown and for not getting his wall. >> unfortunately president trump has been hard to negotiate with. if he had listened to us and negotiated with us 2 years ago he would have had $25 billion for a wall and we would have had the dream act. instead he listened worst elements of his cabinet as well as some pundits that guide his decisions. >> most of the government has been closed for the holiday so congress hasn't really faced a lot of pressure to end shutdown. agencies starting to close down, that's expect today change and that could help push both sides to work out deal sooner at that time rather than later, how much sooner is still a big question? >> huge question.

garrett tenney, thanks, garrett. eric: ellison. >> yes, republicans here are putting blame on house minority leader nancy pelosi, they say that she's the one holding up negotiations and preventing senator chuck schumer from striking a deal. officials say they believe democrats will not negotiate in the near future and that it is because pelosi fears losing speakership, white house budget director mick mulvaney. >> she cannot be seen by her party as being weak on negotiating with donald trump so we fully expect that until she's elected speaker and has locked the vote up, we don't expect to hear from the democrats again. they told us last night that they were not countering our last offer. nancy pelosi speakership is shutting government down, that's the discussion that we wish people would be having because that's exactly what is happening in washington, d.c.

>> pelosi pushed back on the sort of suggestion during the oval office meeting with president trump and senate minority leader chuck schumer earlier this month. democrats earlier this month overwhelming nominated pelosi as speaker designate, 2003, 32 against her. not just there yet, she still needs 218 votes to take the gavel, the white house gave democrats a counteroffer a week ago, they say it was in between 5 billion and $1.3 billion. >> the democrats have simply shut down the discussions, they did not even counter us, we went back to them by the way after second 1.3 billion and picked a up in less than 5. we actually came off of our 5, and they left town and i think that speaks a lot of about what is happening in washington, d.c. again. >> democrats say they have given the white house 3 options to reopen the government that all three options including funding for border security but not funding for the president's wall

which they call immoral, in effective and expensive. >> eric, we are learning more about the illegal immigrant charged in the murder of california police officer. now this suspect is accused of shooting and killing officer during traffic stop early wednesday morning in newman, 100 miles east of san francisco. jeff paul on this one live in west coast news room with more, hi, jeff. >> hi, laura, arrested suspect in bakersfield, california, investigators say the suspect was in the country illegally, they also said he had press arrests for dui and known gang affiliations, one of the sheriffs is calling out california so-called sanctuary law suggesting that things could have been different if tougher laws were in place.

>> if he wasn't here, then he wouldn't have been driving drunk and it wouldn't have been reported the officer and the enforcement stop potentially never would have occurred. my point is, why are we providing sanctuary for criminals, gang members? it's a conversation we need to have. >> investigators say they also arrested 7 other people on suspicion of helping the suspect including his girlfriend and two brothers, laura. >> jeff, what more are we learning about officer that lost his life, more details are coming in. >> just a day before he was shot he was celebrating christmas with wife and 5-month-old son, we are learning that officer was originally from fiji and immigrated in the u.s. legally and spent 12 years in law enforcement and 7 of which with the newman police department, not only a small community but the department itself has only 12 officers, as you can imagine they are close with one another

and the loss is hitting everyone very hard. >> when you lose a brother like ranel it's difficult to process, i don't think i will forget how i felt when i got the text message and i saw it on facebook. it's surreal. i would like to get on my phone and call him and hear his voice but that's not going to happen anymore. >> now the da say it is suspect is is expected in court to face charges, laura. >> jeff paul in west coast news room, thanks so much. the president reacting to the death of california officer tweeting before the arrest of his accused killer, quote, there is right now a full-scale manhunt going on in california for and illegal immigrant accused of shooting and killing police officer during traffic stop, time to get tough on border security, build the wall exclamation point.

joining me to talk about this, i want to ask you what you think about how this played out in terms of garnering more support for the wall speaking of president trump's tweet and how people are viewing california's sanctuary policy at this point? >> you see two continue to harden positions as trump demonstrated this will continue to be talking point for those who advocate for building wall and cracking down on undocumented immigrants, on the other hand in california we have incoming governor who will be more liberal on immigration than the current governor. you'll also have democrats with super majority in the state legislature, so from the standpoint of the state government, i don't see them back get away from their sanctuary policies at all. you will continue to see the loggerheads between the federal and state governments. >> yeah, emily, there's a real sense of anger with all of this,

you probably heard from the sound bite there in jeff paul's report. i've been talking with former sheriff in california, friend of mine who told me this morning that law enforcement throughout the state is extremely frustrated with the legislature saying if local law enforcement was able to communicate with ice, the first two times this guy was arrested, officer would still be alive, the suspect that's twice arrested, validated gang member and by all accounts would have been deported. and it's just hard to imagine, you know, the sides are divided on this. how can we get in the middle and get this resolved so this won't happen again? >> well, i think in the short-term i'm not sure there's going to be a resolution at the state level. i think that at the federal level there's more likely to be some sort of negotiation on immigration just simply because they have to get the government reopened at some point, the pressure is going to build on both sides to strike a deal as more and more federal workers come back from holidays and

shutdown really starts to kick in for a lot of folks. >> right. >> you know, i do think that at some level trump will have to give in on the 5 billion on the wall and the democrats will have to kick in money border security whether or not it's called a wall, it's up in the air. >> exactly. the partial government shutdown you mentioned was prompted mostly from dispute with president trump and the house over funding of the wall we said. acting white house chief of staff mulvaney expects shutdown to go on for a while. let's listen. >> last night they called us and said that they weren't going to counter that. here is what i think the happening. this all comes down to mrs. pelosi's speakership. chuck schumer and senate democrats would cut a deal but they are protecting mrs. pelosi, she does not have the votes and if she cuts a deal with the president of any sort before her election on january 3rd, she's at risk of losing her speakership, we are in it for the long haul.

>> the deal we are talking about is about money. we know there's talk number less than $5 million for the wall, what do you think it's going to take? >> it'll be interesting to see what trump is willing to accept because with democrats in control of both houses -- i'm sorry, in the house and republicans in the senate but that 60 vote threshold, they will need to bring democrats along and i don't see democrats really being able to budge on the wall and the question is they are willing to give more money for fencing as they have in the past, are they willing to increase from 1.6 billion which is what they offer to 2 billion, something like that that gives the administration a chance to say that they won some sort of concession, i think we will see some sort of negotiation where they are both kind of trying to edge into agreement. >> it's interesting the democrats say the white house is not helping end this shutdown. we have another sound we want to play for you, house majority

whip last night. >> this is a strategy of theirs that's a stupid strategy, harmful strategy, a strategy that undermines the competence of the markets, under mines the confidence employees and international community. >> so it goes on. shutdown is nearly 400,000 workers without pay, they don't know what they're going to do. we talked about how long this ago but there's no real answer today before the end of the year, but if you were to look in your crystal ball, what would you see coming next? >> i think we will have more clarity next week when lawmakers get back into town. new members sworn in. pelosi, everyone assumes will be speaker and if there is an ability to do some more negotiating.

i think the holidays froze things and we knew there would be new democratic house majority and once we have the majority you will see the negotiations begin in earnest. there are a lot of people who aren't getting paychecks and that will start to hurt more and more. >> all right, great coverage of all this and more especially the water issues as one of the latest articles online. great reporting, thank you very much for being with us today. >> have a good one. >> be sure to watch fox news sunday tomorrow, sandra smith anchors for chris wallace and speaking to counselor to the president kellyanne conway and house majority whip steve scalise, two shots at this, eastern time, check your local listings for time on your local fox affiliate as well. eric. eric: laura, new report about michael cohen, does he back up claims that were in the antitrump steel dossier and how could this impact the

mueller-russia investigation, we will take a look coming up. homeland security kristin nileson, she's visiting the southern border this weekend following the outrage and despair over the recent tragic deaths to have two migrant children in government custody. >> certainly that's absolutely tragic situation, something nobody ever wants to see happen, it's one of the reason that is the president wants to fix our broken immigration system.

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eric: new developments in special counsel robert mueller's investigation, subpoena reportedly could be tied to probe as reported unveil new questions about michael cohen whether phone -- gillian has more. >> is there anything that -- >> a time when --

>> reported thursday that they discovered, one of the participants mentioned cohen was in progue. mueller knows everything. cohen has been cooperating with investigation for months and this report put him squarely back in the hot seat, if true report lends credibility christopher steele in now infamous dossier. >> over my dead body. >> the federal government also filed a sealed response friday to get supreme court to weigh in on mysterious grand jury

subpoena rumored to be connected to the russia probe. nearly all details of the dispute remain but sources to fox news in robert mueller's investigation. they don't see the end in sight. >> white house correspondent for fox news radio also an attorney, great person to talk to about all of this, hi, don. >> hi, there laura. >> first i want to ask you what do you make of the report, do you really think it's credible, first of all, and most everyone knows that all phones can be traced even when they are powered off, why would anybody risk taking phone to country where they maybe holding a secret meeting, do you think this is credible? >> well, i have no reason to doubt the credibility of this

particular report, we know that michael cohen on countless occasions has said that he was not in prague during summer of 2017 leading to presidential election, his attorney lanny davis corroborated what his former client has said he was not in prague or czech republic, this report is obviously at odds with that and obviously the person who knows all of the answers to those questions is robert mueller, special counsel, after all michael cohen has spoken to the special counsel or the u.s. attorney's office in southern district of new york at least 7 times and i'm certain that prior to going to jail during the course of those conversations he's disclosed all of his travel leading off to 2016 presidential election. >> if the facts presented in this story are true, what if it all mean if mueller investigation going forward?

let's look at who has been indicted or pleaded guilty in the case, 5 former trump advisers, 3 russian companies, so how problematic is this mclatchy report for trump if true? >> there's a big if the report is true. if it's true, it would certainly tie the president's former, personal attorney to russian officials leading up to 2016 campaign, the idea of collusion and that is something as we all know president trump has denied numerous times over the course of 2018 and 2017 and 2016, so i don't know whether the president, if this report proves true would be in any type of legal jeopardy, after all, it is the word of an admitted liar, a word of a convicted liar against the word of the president and if you are an attorney, if you are a prosecutor, you don't want to

sort of base your entire case around the word of a convicted liar. >> sure, has anybody checked passport? he had to give that up or somebody had to take a look at it? >> in the course of past 2 years, michael cohen shared stamped passport with buzzfeed and no indication he traveled to czech republic. >> okay. >> michael cohen traveled from another european country to czech republic there would be in stamp there, he may have two passports, he may have done business in saudi arabia and israel and if you have israeli stamp in passport you want to have another passport because saudi arabia won't allow an individual with israeli stamp into their country. >> an important distinction for viewers, thank you so much for that. real quick, former whitewater independent counsel was live on calf -- cavuto this morning and

says mueller investigation has been going on for way too long and thinks it will wrap up in may, what's your take on that when things will wrap up? >> an interesting one, after all he got the whitewater case over the course of 4 years, it took him 4 years to wrap up investigation. that gives you indication of how long investigations can drag out. no one knows where we are in terms of the mueller investigation except for mr. mueller and his team and based upon what happened toward the end to have year with michael cohen guilty plea, the conviction on numerous charges including lie to go -- lying to congress doesn't seem that he will wrap up soon. >> john decker with your ear to the ground in dc, happy holidays to you. thank you so much.

>> appreciate it. >> eric. eric: russia and turkish leaders meeting in moscow to discuss their plans for syria this as the united states prepares to pull 2,000 troops out of the war-torn country. what this could mean for the future of the middle east? plus national security adviser john bolton traveling to israel to discuss that topic, topic of syria, how the move will impact relationship with israel and security of the jewish state my experience with usaa

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♪ ♪ >> homeland security secretary kirsten nielsen is in arizona today, her visit coming after an 8-year-old died from the flu in government cus after being detained with his father. now, you might remember this marks the second time in three weeks that a migrant child has died in custody. we have more on this, jackie, what is being done about the conditions at the bor

border patrol made a series of changes since that boy passed away including second medical checks on all children in custody. secretary nielsen wanted to see firsthand how medical screenings are being handled. yesterday she toured the facilities in el paso, texas, and today she is in yuma, arizona. she also hate the blame on the courts -- laid the blame on the courts saying homeland security is overwhelmed. she pointed to the 9th circuit flores settlement, a 20-year-old ruling that limits time kids can be detained. the trump administration wants to overturn flores and keep families detained until their asylum cases are fully processed. president trump blamed the democrats, tweeting: any deaths of children or others at the border are strictly the fault of democrats and their pathetic immigration policies that allow people to make the long trek

thinking they can enter our country ill -- illegally. earlier this month democrats asked the acting inspector general whether a 7-year-old girl was given food or water before she died of shock and dehydration in custody, they've also criticized the death of the 8-year-old who died in new mexico on christmas eve. the state medical examiner said that he had the flu. laura? laura: so what's the reaction been at the border? >> reporter: well, human rights advocates say the tour is not meaningful without follow through. immigrant advocates are speaking in el paso where i.c.e. dropped off hundreds of detainees at bus stations. agents had no post-release plans for them. >> it is too late at least for two families that had the children die during the custody of border patrol. this is too late. i mean, and i don't know exactly what is they going to.

>> reporter: members of congress were briefed at 2:00 local time, we are waiting to hear what was released there. laura: thank you so much, jackie. we'll look forward to your future reports. thank you. eric: overseas top russian and turkish ministers meeting today if moscow agreeing to cooperate in northern syria as the united states prepares to withdraw our troops from that war-torn country. this as turkey threatens to launch a military operation against the u.s.-backed kurdish forces. they control nearly one-third of that country. kitty logan now has more from london. hi, kitty. >> reporter: hi, eric. well, the aim of this meeting today was to figure out what will happen on the ground in northern syria after those u.s. troops pull out. now, in principle there was an agreement between key players such as russia and turkey to cooperate, but this is a complex situation. many countries have a stake in this long-running war, as you

know. now, the meeting follows president trump's recent announcement to pull out all 2,000 u.s. troops currently in syria. he says they're no longer needed as isis has lost most of its territory. but that decision has angered kurdish fighters who have fought hard to defeat isis with the support of u.s. forces. now, the kurds fear now they could be vulnerable to an attack by turkey after u.s. troops go. and in the past week, turkish military convoys have been seen near the border with syria close to turkish-held areas, and those very nervous turkish fighters -- kurdish fighters, i should say, are already looking for newal lies to protect them. and on friday the syrian military entered a city as part of an apparent agreement with the kurds. now, the kurdish fighters currently control around a third of syrian territory, and they still could play a key role in the outcome of this war.

now, the details of the withdrawal of u.s. troops is still being discussed, but meanwhile, the fighting continues. the syrian government now keen to push rebels out of the opposition stronghold in the north of syria with. eric? eric: all right, kitty, thanks so much. well, you know, syria will be top on the agenda as national security adviser john bolton travels to israel. he'll meet with prime minister benjamin netanyahu and other top security officials. they're expected to delve into the president's decision to pull those troops out of syria. mr. bolton tweeting yesterday, quote: looking forward to visiting israel and turkey in january. we will discuss our continued work facing allies and partners in the region including the next phase of the fight against isis as the u.s. begins to bring troops home from syria. what does this mean? let's bring in retired lieutenant colonel daniel davis, military expert for defense priorities. colonel, welcome. thank you for joining us today.

>> always great to be here, thanks. eric: the president said he couldn't get an end date from the military and the syria, they would always ask for six more months, and he said, no, no, no more. critics saying it handed the broken country back to assad, putin and the iranians, so how does bolton reassure the israelis? >> well, number one, it's very important to understand -- and your previous segment there kind of underscored all the chaos and all the multiple organizations and entities that are operating up in that area. but the fact of the matter is this is still a civil war, and it's also really important to understand that, you know, syria owns -- i mean, that is their southern country, and they have allies of russia and iran. they had them before all this happened, they're going to have it afterwards. so we're not ceding anything because we don't actually own any terrain. we just occupy certain spots on the ground. so one of the big misapprehensions is that these troops of ours are providing some sort of really important

strategic operation right now, and they're not. so pulling them out will not cause us any harm because that's not actually how we defend ourselves from terrorist operations around the world, so it's the right thing to do. eric: what about critics who say our presence helps bolster the fight against the iranians specifically, helps buttress? the foundation of democracies say, quote: those troops and civilians with the hinge of long-term iranian with containment backed up by allieded european special operations units that check the advance of a much larger and costly iranian, russian and syrian forces. trump's withdrawal has signaled boredom, pick ifingness, fatigue and fear. he's weakened american allies in the region and probably obliged the kurds to seek protection from russia -- from iran and russia. so, colonel, what do you say to those who think this was absolutely the wrong decision,

sending the wrong message and only bolsters putin and the iranians? >> i could not disagree more strongly, because if you follow that logic, we will have to be there forever. the fact is this is syria's country. this is not our country to just go in and stay as we wish. the other thing that's really important to point out, we don't need a handful of troops on the ground to contain iran. our conventional and nuclear deterrent against iran is so overwhelmingly stronger than anything they could ever muster, we don't need that. but we do endure enormous risk by having those troops there because they may get involved with the civil war, they may accidentally clash with russian troops, and that could escalate into who knows what. but i do gotta point out there's one critically important thing not being mentioned, and that's the fact that if our troops are going to perform a mission like that, that has to be debated and discussed and authorized by congress. the president doesn't have the authority to just decide that

that's what he wants to do. those troops were sent there to get isis out of raqqa with the syrian democratic forces. that mission was accomplished. you can't just now change the mission and decide they're going to contain russia, whatever that even means. so we have to follow our constitution if we're going to, you know, use our military forces. eric: do you think the president is right when he says that they can use the iraqi bases that we have to try and move into syria if need be against isis? >> well, as you seen, there's a lot of backlash in baghdad about that because a lot of their members of congress in multiple parties, even those against each other, are all saying, hey, it's time for the united states to leave, this isn't their country. the same thing applies here. if we even think we're going the use a base for a military purpose, that has to be authorized by congress. just because we went in there in 2003 under, obviously, false accusations about the wmd, if we're going to do something like that, congress has to weigh in on it. i just can't reiterate that

enough. we can't have the president anymore just unilaterally, any president, just saying here's what the military is going to do. eric: i guess the final, the end -- the real tragedy of all this is that someone like assad, a butcher who has just massacred his own people in such unbelievably catastrophic humanitarian catastrophe, that we saw back in the 1940s and the '30s, not to that extent, but in many ways very similar. chemical attacks on their own people. he's being rewarded, in effect. is there anything that the international community, the u.n., that we could have done, the civilized world could have done to stop that? >> you know, honestly, i don't think that there is, because unless you're willing to go to war and to kill even more people and to lose your own, we can't stop every regime around the world from doing things we want to. certainly, we wish because, man, my heart goes out to everybody who's suffered. i've actually been to the region several times and have visited with the people who are refugees

who were driven out of the country. i mean, it just breaks your heart. but the fact is our military can't solve all these problems because they're mainly political and diplomatic in nature, and it has to be solved by the people on the ground, however much it hurts our hearts. eric: colonel daniel davis, thank you for being with us and, of course, thank you, sir, for your service to our nation. >> always my pleasure. thank you very much. laura: hard to believe 2018's almost over, and as we head into 2019, we're taking a look back on the year in entertainment including the rise and fall of one of television's biggest stars. ♪ ♪ this is not a bed.

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laura: fox news alert, an american is being monitored after possibly being exposed to the ebola virus. nebraska medical center saying the american was providing a aid in the democratic republic of congo and is coming back to omaha for observation. the hospital says the contagious time and will be kept in a

private area of the hospital for up to two weeks. nebraska's medical center treated three patients for ebola during the 2014 outbreak. eric? eric: well, on the west coast it's been a whirlwind year in hollywood. it was packed with wedding bells, falls from grace, blockbusters and more. jonathan hunt takes a look at the year in entertainment. >> reporter: with another year's end, it's time to look back at the top moments in entertainment. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: bells were ringing in 2018. who can forget the fairy tale of prince harry and meghan markle? justin bieber and haley baldwin tied the knot in secret, and pri yang ca chopra and nick jonas closed out the year with their fessive nuptials. from marriage to carriage, harry and meghan are pregnant, jessica simpson also expecting. will and kate became a party of five, 55-year-old reality star

bridget nielsen welcomed a little one. the kardashian clan grew too with three new babies. and eva longoria, rachel mcadams and cardi b. all became first-time moms. and a major moment for the gender pay gap after it was found out michelle williams was paid less than 1% of costar mark wahlberg's fee for reshoots of the film "all the money in the world with." wahlberg later gave his $1.5 million fee to the time's up legal defense fund in williams' name. in movies the shape of water took home best picture at the oscars, frances mcdormand took best actress for three billboards, and gary oldman won a statue for darkest hour. blockbusters black panther and crazy rich asians shining a bright light on the lack of diversity in hollywood.

not only two of the top earning films, both featured casts predominantly made up of people of color. 2018 also brought celeb power to the polls as stars stepped out to support candidates in the midterms. taylor swift's online political endorsement alone prompted over 65,000 people to register to vote. the singer was also named 2018's most influential people on twitter even though she only tweeted 13 times throughout the year. and kanye west created a media frenzy sitting down with the commander in chief to talk prison reform. falls from grace, roseanne barr fired from the popular reboot of her sitcom following racist tweets posted online. comedian kevin hart lasted just two days as the host of the a academy awards, stepping down amid criticism over years-old anti-gay tweets.

[cheers and applause] >> the me too and time's up movements building momentum in 2018. and there were a number of high profile takedowns. harvey weinstein accused by more than 80 women of sexual assault faces criminal charges. america's former favorite dad, bill cosby, was sentenced to3-10 years in prison for sexual assault, and les moonves pushed out after at least a dozen women accused him of sexual misconduct. these celebs called it quits, jennifer aniston and justin theroux, jenna dewan and channing tatum, robert deniro split from grace hightower after 20 years of marriage, and ariana grande and pete davidson called off their engagement. davidson, mariah carey, the rock, tragediy p -- taraji p.

henson and selena gomez spoke up about living with mental health issues. still for many stars the road to recovery is a lifelong battle, especially when suffering from addiction. demi lovato, or ben affleck and heather locklear all seeking treatment in 2018. he put the e in legend making history as the first black man to went an emmy, grammy, oscar and tony in his lifetime. damn, kendrick lamar becoming the first rapper to win a pulitzer prize for music. and drake had the number one song of the year with "god's plan." ♪ ♪ >> reporter: yet another year in the lives of the rich and famous, certain to be outdone in 2019. in hollywood, jonathan hunt, fox news.

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eric: all right. so it's two days and seven hours or 55 hours or 3,206 minutes, that's when the confetti will come down in times square. organizers of the world's biggest new year's celebration getting ready, even testing to make sure the confetti works as massive crowds prepare to descend on the iconic celebration. new york city people beefing up security, jessica formosa takes a closer look. >> reporter: the countdown has begun. >> i'm 100% excited. >> reporter: people from all over the globe will be gathering at the crossroads of the world on monday to ring in the new year. >> it's going to be amazing. yeah, we want to see the ball drop. hopefully, we can get a spot. >> reporter: and as the excitement builds up, the nypd says it is ready. >> it's going to be one of the most well-policed, best protected events at one of the safest venues in the entire world. >> reporter: more than two million people are expected to fill times square. commissioner o'neill says there will be thousands of officers, some you will see and others you

won't. >> we always have the world's best intelligence analysts and investigators monitoring the threat stream every day and night. >> reporter: teams will survey the crowds and check for explosive materials. >> you'll see over 235 blocker vehicles, everything from police cars to sanitation sand trucks. >> reporter: 1225 cameras will be surveilling this area. intelligence detectors already in place at all the hotels. but different this year are the drones. the nypd will deploy its new fleet of drones for the first time on monday. >> that's going to give us a visual aid and a flexibility of being able to move a camera to a certain spot through a tremendous crowd. >> reporter: police commissioner o'neill says there are no specific or credible threats to new york city; however, he wants everyone to be alert, so if you see something, say something. there's also a hotline, 1-888-nyc-safe. in times square, jessica formosa, fox 5 news.

eric: and, of course, watch us here as we ring in the new year. tune in to fox news' all-american new year's celebration on new year's eve. it's going to run right on through the new year -- laura: so fun. eric: they'll just keep on going all night, maybe the next day too. lauer rawr i wash every year. it's so much fun. and we've got a showdown that could stretch into the new year. the partial government shutdown stretches into week number two if you're counting, and the new democratic house and president trump are expected to continue their battle over immigration. we've got some live reports from washington coming up at the top of the hour where eric shawn and i will continue our coverage coming up right after this break. ♪ ♪ ♪ the new capital one savor card.

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eric: we start with new developments n the sickening shooting death of a california police officer allegedly by an illegal immigrant with a criminal record and gang affiliations who had benefited from california's sanctuary state law. authorities arresting the girlfriend and brother now of that suspected gunman for allegedly helping him. a total of eight people now behind bars in connection to this horrible crime as we learn investigators may have also recovered the weapon that was used, they say, to gun down newman police corporal singh during a traffic stop early yesterday. welcome to america's news headquarters, i'm eric shawn. rawr lauer and i'm laura ingle in for arthel neville. a northern california community held a vigil friday night to remember the fallen officer.

corporal singh's brother grieving his loss while thanking investigators for their hard work. >> he was my older brother. yes, he is not coming back, but there's a lot of people out there that misses him, and a lot of law enforcement people that i don't know who worked days and nights to make this happen. i'd like to thank you from the bottom of my heart. eric: jeff paul is following the story live in our west coast newsroom and, jeff, many are saying this is just a total, complete outrage. >> reporter: yeah. and the suspected killer was caught by police after a 48-hour manhunt. investigators saying gustavo perez arriaga was heading to the border when they arrested him in

bakersfield about 200 miles away from where authorities say he killed the officer who had pulled the suspect over on suspicion of dui. investigators say the suspect was in the country ill rely, had previous arrests for duis and known gang affiliations. a sheriff in the area called out california's so-called sanctuary law suggesting that the outcome could have been different if tougher immigration laws were in place. >> when you tie our hands and don't allow us to work with our federal partners and commune candidate with our -- communicate with our federal partners, we're going to have incidents like this not just on police officers, but on the public that we serve and protect. >> reporter: the community last night choosing to focus their energy on the life of the officer they lost. many showed up for a vigil to honor officer singh who leaves behind a wife and a five-month-old son. singh immigrated to the states legally where he then became a

police officer. in fact, he was one of 12 officers at the newman police department, and some of his fellow colleagues spoke about that close bond last night at a vigil. >> i don't know why it had to happen to my buddy. he was a great man, he was a great father. he's got a wife, he's got a five-month-old son. he's not, he's not going to be able to teach how to ride a bike anymore, a bicycle, you know? he's not going to be able to grow up with him. >> reporter: the suspect is expected in court on wednesday to formally face charges. eric? eric: all right, jeff, thank you. laura? laura: another top headline we're following, no deal on the table but plenty of blame is being passed around. we're talking about the partial government shutdown marking an eighth day now. democrats and republicans locked in a stalemate over border security funding, and the president's long-promised border wall. house budget committee chairman steve womack earlier today accusing democrats of playing politics. >> democrats talk a good game,

but the actions don't match the rhetoric. think about this. voted against kate's law, voted against the criminal alien act. they support sanctuary cities. they voted against the bipartisan budget -- or the bipartisan agreement on immigration reform that had relief for daca. therefore, i would lay a lot of this blame on the other side of the aisle where the actions don't match the rhetoric. laura: garrett tenny has more from washington on this. hi, garrett. >> reporter: hey, laura. a number of top lawmakers believe this shutdown is going to last for another week or two. both sides are digging in as negotiations have stalled, and there hasn't been any progress over the past few days to end the shutdown. nearly all of congress has headed home and are leaving it up to leadership to work out a deal, but so far democratic leaders are refusing to negotiate with the white house. that's expected to change this next week though after democrats take control of the house and elect a new speaker. all signs point to nancy pelosi.

they are expected to try to move a bill to fund the government by the end of the week though it isn't expected to include funding for the president's wall. if that happens, it would only be symbolic because republicans control the senate and the white house. senator lindsey graham tweeted it this way: to nancy pelosi and the house democrats, no wall money, no deal. today at least one democrat suggested he's open to giving the president money for a wall, but yord to do that congressman john garamendi said the president needs to provide congress with a lot more details other than a price tag. >> we would not allow the department of transportation or any part of the armed services to spend a nickel without a specific plan where, when and how and for what purpose it's going to be spent. now, the president comes up with a plan, he needs $5 billion for specific purposes, we'd be happy -- at least i would be happy -- to appropriate that money. >> reporter: at this point both sides believe they have the upper hand in the shutdown fight though, but that could start

changing as hundreds of thousands of government workers either return to work or stay at home without getting paid. that is typically when lawmakers start feeling a lot more pressure to make progress laura: garrett tenney watching this high stakes tennis match, thanks for keeping on top of it for us. eric: president trump says he's waiting at the white house for democrats to make a deal on border security, but can the two sides really reach a compromise with the democratic party posed to take control of the house next week? and the president's standing firm on the funding for the border wall. ellison barber is live on the north lawn of the white house with the very latest on this. hi, ellison. >> reporter: hi, eric. so the president says he does not care what democrats call it, they can call it a wall, a fence, all that matters in his eyes is that he gets funding for some sort of physical barrier at the u.s./mexico border. president trump tweeting this yesterday, quote: we will be forced to close the southern border entirely if the

obstructionist democrats to do not give us the money to finish the wall and also change the ridiculous immigration laws that our country is saddled with. it's unclear if the president could legally close the entire border. american citizens, of course, go to mexico for vacation, then come back. legal experts say it would be illegal to prevent them from reentering the country if the border was closed to non-u.s. citizens, there would certainly be legal challenges. we saw that after the so-called travel bans. but white house budget director mick mulvaney says it is not an empty threat. >> shutting down the southern border would cost a billion dollars a day, is the president seriously willing to do that? >> yeah, he absolutely is. all options are on the table. listen, it's the only way we can get the democrats' attention. >> reporter: a week ago the white house gave democrats a counteroffer, somewhere between $5 billion and $1.3 billion for border security and new wall construction. administration officials won't say exactly what number that offer is, but sources tell fox

news it's around $2.5 billion. the white house says they did not hear from democrats for days, and then the democrats just walked away. >> that steel barrier that the president tweeted out, that's what he wants to build. the democrats, believe it or not to, don't call that a wall. they offered us $1.3 billion to do that. we countered with $5 billion. they did not even counter us. >> reporter: the president says he is at the white house waiting for democrats to come over and make a deal. in the meantime, he is tweeting and making calls with leaders overseas. president trump tweeting, quote, that he had -- well, he said he had a long and very good call with chinese president xi jinping, that's from his tweet there, and that a possible trade deal between china and the u.s. is moving along very well. so spending his time at the white house today, he says he's waiting on democrats and also that talking with president xi about a potential trade deal between the u.s. and china.

eric? eric: ellison, thanks so much. laura: a high-level meeting held overseas between top russian and turkish officials as the nations agree to coordinate their steps in northern syria to fight terrorism as the u.s. prepares to withdraw troops from the region. kitty logan has more from our london bureau. >> reporter: hi, laura. the big question is now how will the allegiances on the ground in northern syria change once u.s. troops pull out. in principle, the ministers agreed to cooperate on the ground in syria as u.s. forces prepare to pull out of the country. but this is a complex situation with many players who now have a stake in the outcome of syria's long-running war. the meeting followed president trump's recent announcement to pull out all 2,000 u.s. troops currently in syria. many are near the turkish border. president trump says they're no longer needed as isis has lost most of its territory. of the announcement has angered

kurdish fighters who fought isis with the support of u.s. forces. the kurds are worried the departure of u.s. troops could leave them vulnerable to attack by turkey. in the past week, turkish military convoys have been seen gathering at the border with syria near to kurdish-held areas. fearing a new turkish offensive, those kurdish fighters are already looking for new allies to protect them. on friday the syrian military entered the city as part of an apparent agreement between them and the kurds. these kurdish fighters currently control around a third of syrian territory, and they still could play a key role in the outcome of the war. it's still being debated as to whether u.s. troops may leave weapons behind for them to use. meanwhile and in syria, the fighting is far from over. government forces now aiming to take back control at the opposition stronghold in the north of the country.

laura: kitty logan, thank you so much. and we will have much more on the impact of the president's decision to withdraw troops from syria later this hour and how it could impact iran. eric? eric: back here at home, the fiance of that missing colorado mother faces a murder charge in connection to her disappearance even though police say they have not yet recovered a body. how that could affect a trial. our legal panel will weigh in. plus, as the partial government shutdown continues, president trump and democrats appear to remain far apart on his demand for the border wall. >> i can assure you that the democrats, all of us in congress and beyond, want border security. we want the money to be spent wisely in the most effective way possible, and that includes physical barriers in certain places.

♪ ♪ laura: a toy gun exchange for kids is sparking some backlash in new york. the long island town of hempstead invited children to exchange their toy guns for a different christmas gift, calling the swap a safe alternative. finish now, the town's police department says toy guns put children's lives at risk because in the street they could be mistaken for real guns, but critics argue this type of event demonizes gun ownership and that

teaching gun safety at an early age is a better way to go with. that debate goes on. eric? eric: well, we are now inching toward day nine of the partial government shutdown, and president trump is pinning responsibility on democrats. this despite the president saying that he would be proud to carly the shutdown mantle. said that earlier this month at that oval office meeting as he fights for his border wall which democrats, apparently, do not want. let's bring in david leventhal from the center for public authority. david, who budgets, who moves, who cries uncle? i mean, how does this thing potentially end? >> we're nine days into this affair, and nobody has budged an inch. now, the white house has come back a little bit from that $5 billion figure that donald trump has been talking about to say, hey, maybe we could get to $2.5 billion, somewhere in between what democrats want and republicans, but the democrats are definitely not budging here, and they've got time on their side. a couple days away from taking away the u.s. house, they're

going to have more power in that situation, and as a result, there's really no incentive on either side to come together, to sit down and to hammer something out particularly over the holidays. everyone wanted to go home for christmas. nobody's here in washington. so it's going to be a long, long time, many days, before ultimately something happens here. eric: well, not no one is in washington, the president is. he canceled his vacation to mar-a-lago. nancy pelosi apparently out in hawaii, you know, enjoying hawaii and barbecues and all that sort of stuff. meanwhile, the government is partially shut. and you have on one hand, as you pointed out, $1.3 billion for the democrats, the president has come down from 5 billion to 2.5. mick mulvaney pointed to the potential for compromise, here's what he said earlier. >> in all fairness, i think that having worked with the vice president and i met with leader schumer last saturday, the last time we sat down face to face, and my gut was that he was

really interested in doing a deal and coming to some sort of compromise. but the more we're hearing this week is that it's nancy pelosi who's preventing that from happening. eric: is that true? >> well, nancy pelosi wants to become speaker of the house, and she doesn't want to enflame or antagonize her own party. it wasn't a couple of weeks ago it was up in the air as to whether she was even going to have the votes to become speaker of the house. in terms of, you alluded to it earlier, eric, donald trump kind of painted himself in a corner earlier this month when he said that, hey, i'm going to own this shutdown. this is going to be my shutdown. i'm going to take the mantel of the shutdown. so the democrats right now are basically saying, okay, own the shutdown. go for it. so as a result, donald trump is kind of finding himself in a difficult negotiating profession when he said that earlier and is now trying to move this forward as something that is the democrats fault when earlier he

said this was going to be about the border wall, and he was going to go all the way to the wall, quite literally, in order to get that money for the wall. eric: here's what he tweeted, even going beyond what you just said. he said, quote: for those that naively ask why didn't republicans get approval to build the wall over the past year, it is because in the senate we need ten democrat votes, and they give us none for border security. now we have to do it the hard way with a shutdown. too bad bad @fox news. democrats do say they support border security, it's just a matter of the wall. i mean, there is a fence along a lot of the border, i've been down to sun city, new mexico, and other areas where you got a fence. you can look right through it. can there be a compromise in the language, in the, do you think, in whether it's a wall or a fence or a barrier or are they just so far apart, it's all politics now with the democrats trying to give it to trump and

the president trying to give it to democrats. >> sort of one side caving completely, which doesn't seem likely anytime soon, there going to have to be some sort of a compromise. the difficult thing for donald trump rhetorically is when he was running for president, he wasn't talking about build the artistic steel slats, he wasn't talking about build the virtual wall, he was talking about building a physical wall, a big, beautiful wall. so anything that's going to be short of that is going to be something that democrats are going to ship as a failure on -- spin as a failure on the president's part, perhaps at least among some trump supporter circle as something that falls short of what they were expecting from the president. the president is trying to keep his promise here to his constituency, to the people who supported him and the people who voted for him. as a result, that's why we're in the situation in the first place. this is all about the wall. there's nothing standing in the way of a deal getting struck except for the wall, one big problem though is that a couple days away or at least a week or

two away you've got a situation where people are going to not get their paychecks. paychecks are going to be due, they're not going to be able to pay their rent, to pay bills, they're going to be choosing between getting medication and getting food on the table in some quarters among the hundreds of thousands of federal workers who are going to be affected by this. so, you know, sometimes these negotiations take just a couple of hours literally to get the government opened up after it's shut down. we had a situation in the mid '90s where it took almost a month, so there is precedent for something like this extending to a very significant period of time. in this case, well into january which is bizarre because there's never been a government shutdown that has gone from one congress to a new congress -- eric: yeah, we did have one that went into the new year, january 6th, this'll probably go longer than that. wall, fence. what if democrats call it a fence, what if the republicans call it a wall, and you tweeted it out, a kind of fence with a

point with spokes, you know, on the top of it? that's a compromise, then why can't everyone say we got what we wanted? >> everyone wants to save face, and nobody wants to be seen as caving. as a result of that, you've got these battles that are going back and forth. it's entirely possible that could be the direction that goes in, that there's going to be some sort of semantic compromise, that the financial compromise will be in the middle between the $1.3 billion in border security that the democrats want and, ultimately, the $5 billion plus that republicans want. it's going to have to end some point because people are going to be freaking out, and they're going to be concerned especially all across the country that this is going to affect the broader economy in a major way. and if donald trump loves one thing, he loves talking about a strong economy, he loves the fact that unemployment is low, he loves the fact that everything is going well in many quarters of this country. but if people are hurting, and there are plenty of people already hurting, and they're hurting more, that's going to be a big problem. eric: maybe they can build a

wall and a fence and get this behind them. we'll see, david, thanks so much. >> thank you. laura: a colorado man is facing charges in the murder of his fiancee before police have even recovered her body. our legal team is in to talk about if profits have a case -- prosecutors have a case here. but first, two migrant kids have died while in government custody this month. what homeland security secretary kirsten nielsen is doing to stop this as supporters of the wall weigh in on why it's necessary. >> president trump has a 100% right on this border. i'm glad he's the president. he sees it, he's doing the right thing. oh! oh! ♪ ozempic®! ♪ (vo) people with type 2 diabetes are excited about the potential of once-weekly ozempic®. in a study with ozempic®,

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♪ ♪ laura: homeland security secretary kirsten nielsen is in arizona today after paying a visit yesterday to the texas border town of el paso where an 8-year-old migrant boy was detained with his father before tying in government custody. now, his death is marking the second such case in three weeks.

this is the battle over border wall funding rages on in d.c. former i.c.e. director thomas homan giving his thoughts earlier. >> every place they've built the wall, the wall has worked. look, i'm not a politician, i'm not running for office. i spent 34 years doing this as a border patrol agent, i was the i.c.e. director. i know this issue. laura: jackie heinrich joins us with more on this developing story. what's the latest? >> reporter: secretary nielsen said she was making the trip because of a spike in migrants showing up with illnesses and unprecedented numbers of children and families. she wants to see firsthand how the medical screenings are being handled. the visit comes days after a second guatemalan child died, 8-year-old felipe alonzo gomez died of the flu. and then earlier this month

7-year-old jacqueline from guatemala dies of shock and dehydration. secretary nielsen laid the blame on the 9th circuit flores settlement. it limits the amount of time kids can be detained and sets conditions for facilities. president trump wants to keep families detained until their asylum cases are fully processed saying current laws encourage illegal border crossings. secretary nielsen seemed to echo the president's viewpoint, calling on congress to act. she wrote: the system is clearly overwhelmed, and we must work together to address this humanitarian crisis and protect vulnerable populations. we know that if congress were to act or the courts were to enforce the laws as britain, we could address -- as written, we could address this crisis tomorrow. meanwhile, border patrol made a series of changes including second medical checks on all children in custody as well as temporary housing solutions. this as border towns like el paso struggle to house hundreds

of undocumented immigrants dropped off on buses by i.c.e.. >> we believe that this is an artificial crisis created by this administration, and they are handling immigrants in a very inhumane way. >> reporter: secretary meal nielsen was in el paso yesterday, and today she's in yuma, arizona. laura: thank you so much for that report. eric: new developments in the mueller investigation as a mysterious grand jury subpoena that could be tied to the probe makes its way to the supreme court. meanwhile, the president's former attorney michael cohen is continuing to deny a report that he paid a visit to prague to meet with russian officials during the height of the 2016 presidential campaign. gillian turner has more. >> reporter: mcclatchy is standing by its reporter that claims president trump's former attorney traveled to prague in the summer of 2016 to meet with

russian government officials on behalf of the trump campaign. >> is there anything that you were able to actually physically see for yourself? >> i wish we had, we had held out for a while for that and we,eing you know, there came a time when we thought we had a credit call maas. >> reporter: mcclatchy's d.c. bureau reported thursday that foreign intel agencies discovered a cell phone believed to be cohen's pinging cell towers in and around prague during august through semi2016. they also -- through september 2016. they also report a european intel agency intercepted a call mentioning cohen was in prague. cohen punched back tweeting: i've never been to prague. mueller knows everything. he's been cooperating with the special counsel's report for months, and this report put him squarely back in the 40 hot seat. mcclatchy's report rl lays

credibility to the infamous dossier. >> over my dead body but, you know, i could be dead. >> reporter: the federal government also filed a sealed response friday to an unnamed foreign company's fight to get the supreme court to weigh in on a mysterious grand jury subpoena rumored to be connected to the russia probe. nearly all the details of the dispute remain under seal, but sources have indicated to fox news it involves special counsel robert mueller's investigation. looking ahead to 2019, rudy giuliani claims mueller's investigation is nearing completion, though independent analysts who have worked on previous presidential special counsel investigations tell fox news they don't see the end in sight for at least zell more months -- several more months. eric? eric: thanks so much. laura: well, the colorado man accused of murdering his fiancee is set to make a court appearance on monday. he is suspected in the disappearance and presumed death of 29-year-old kelsey bareth

who's been missing since thanksgiving. the two share a 1-year-old daughter who is currently in temporary custody with kelly's parents. prosecutors -- kelsey's parents. prosecutors are expected to move ahead with charges despite not having a body. defense attorney and former president nicole deboard. thank you both for being here. it really is a heartbreaking case when you look at the face of both the missing mother and her little girl. rachel, with all that we know so far, where do prosecutors go with their case? you know, the father of the child has been charged on suspicion of murder but no body. her phone has pinged in another state which means we're dealing with state line issues. where can this start? >> well, prosecutors are utilizing various agencies to work together and, apparently, all of the agencies, interstate agencies and federal agencies and local agencies are working very well together, and that's a first step. but anytime a prosecutor has a murder case and there's no body,

it is an uphill battle. there is a principle in the law that you need to have a body of evidence, and in a murder case the body of evidence is generally the body that has been murdered. but when you don't have that body, you need to develop a body of evidence that consists of circumstantial evidence and other evidence. in this case it appears there are a lot of sworn statements and evidence under seal that they're using to build a body of ed against patrick, but it's going to be an uphill battle. laura: coal, how do you build the case? there's a substantial amount of evidence at the home, he's been charged with solicitation of murder. don't know a ton about that part, but we are also hearing that three days office -- days after she was last seen alive, her cell phone was used to text messages that she wouldn't be at

work. what do you think as a defense attorney? >> so as a defense attorney, a case where there is no body for forensic evidence investigations purpose is a little bit of an advantage, quite frankly. it can be very difficult for the state to prosecute a murder case when you don't know the manner and means of death. one way you determine that is to look at the body and determine how that body died, how that person died. so the defense doesn't have that, and the state doesn't have that. so the state is going to have to prove what happened here without really knowing. does sound like there's quite a lot of additional evidence in that house and maybe in these affidavits, but we don't know what this is yet. law enforcement have kept that close to the vest. laura: rachel, there's also the issue of custody of this little girl. right now the 1-year-old has been given to kelsey's parents in a temporary custody case. how long can that stick, you know? there are going to be court appearances this week coming up,

but still how long can that happen? >> there are. well, it'll happen until a judge orders differently. at this point the temporary orders are in place, state agencies are also in place, and the best interest of the child is the standard that's applied here. so it's my understanding that on thursday there's going to be another hearing, it's also my understanding that the paternal grandparents are also interested in having custody of the child. so it's a very sad and tragic situation. and at this point there's just so much that we don't know. there are so many unknowns. and it appears from the investigators' statements and from the d.a.'s statements that there's a lot more that is in sealed information that we're not aware of yet. but one of the very dangerous things in a case like this is to rush so to judgment, and i find it a little bit interesting that they've already charged patrick phrase city with the murder. but with the solicitation charge, they might be try thing to put pressure on the other person they might know is already involved in this, and

having them in custody helps them do that. hey lauer there's video of her at a grocery store on thanksgiving, that is the last known public sighting of her, and her parents didn't report her missing for ten days after that because they didn't know what was going on. nicole, the husband has asked to put a lid on media cover an. the decision for a gag order is expected to be made monday. how big of an impact could it make if his request is granted? there's a lot of information out there already. >> it is a problematic case for the defense because there has already been so much information out there. lots of people have made up their mind that this defendant is a bad actor. so what the defense is trying to do is slow that train down a little bit and say, hey, let's hear about the evidence that the state actually has in court and make a decision based on the facts and the evidence as those things are presented there and not based on what they hear out in the community. it can be very difficult to get a jury from a community where

they have already been saturated with information that might not ever come into evidence in the case. laura: right. well, do we think there's any shot, i mean, i guess with them already charging him with suspicion of murder, them saying that there is evidence in the home that a crime occurred, it's hard to say at this point that we all want to hold -- we do want to hold out hope that she can be found, but things are not looking great. thank you so much to rachel and nicole for bringing your perspective on this very tragic story. >> thank you for having me. >> thanks for having us. eric: president trump's surprising announcement that he'll withdraw u.s. troops from syria has raised some questions about another top administrative objective, limiting iran's influence in the middle east. fox news national security analyst walid phares will be here to tell us about that. plus, a year-end storm threatens to put a damper if on new year's eve plans for many. we'll is have a national weather

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♪ ♪ eric: well, concerns from some are mounting over president trump's decision to withdraw american troops from syria. you know, the u.s. presence in the war-torn country has served as an obstacle to iranian's presence. but experts say the remile of u.s. troops makes the goal of rolling back iran's influence in the region difficult. even as the trump administration pushes forward on imposing sanctions against iran. walid phares, fox news national security analyst, joins us now with more on this. what do you think is the effect of the president's decision going forward on syria and the middle east? >> well, eric, things have been going so fast, experts are trying to figure out how the decision was made in the first place. we heard from secretary pompeo, national security adviser ambassador bolton first that our

forces in east syria were, first, to destroy and terminate isis, but also to stop iran from linking with syria. the president came up with the decision to withdraw based on the idea that the turkish army can terminate isis. the question that many experts are raising right now, okay, the turks may be able to destroy isis, but what is the price? what would the turkish position be with regard to the kurds, our allies, with regard to iran? these are unanswered questions so far. eric: are there any assurances for the safety of the kurds? they were already, according to reports, trying to turn to assad for protection. do you think there could be a war with turkey going after the kurds? >> examining the strategic intentions of the players, specifically turkey, you know, the erdogan government has been very clear he wants to disarm and dismantle the ypd or the syria democratic forces, which were our allies against isis. that would mean a war because these kurdish forces with arab, sunni and with other christian

militias with them have about 65,000 troops. and the turkish advancing forces will be about 100-120,000, so that would be a war that we need absolutely to avoid. eric: and what would happen if that were to come to pass? >> if there is a clash between the turns and the kurds, then the kurds will allow the syrian army to move toward to the borders, and eastern syria, at the end of the day, i don't think turkey and iran will fight against each other. they will divide eastern syria as poland was divided. eric: president trump has come under a lot of criticism for this decision, lindsey graham calling it a disaster in the making. ores say, rook, you -- others say, look, you had 2,000 special operations forces there, were they not really enough to blunt the advance of iran, the advances of russia and, of course, to try to fight -- certainly not fight against assad's regime, that the president's decision was really a bow to reality.

how do you see it? >> look, there could have been many scenarios. the president wants to pull out american forces, but before pulling out, we need to make sure that who replaces us are our allies. maybe even with a surge, i would have recommended, european forces or a syria-strategic training of the kurdish forces would be available, then we could withdraw, and the wall will be intact between iran and syria. eric: they say they are considering various types of options to consider any sunni-arab allies bringing in forces. >> you know, i was one of the persons who advocated the arab coalition moving into syria years ago. but at this point in time it's so difficult, and our senate actually could -- [inaudible] the only option we have at this point in time is to not withdraw very quickly and enable the

kurdish forces to be able to defend themselves. that's the only option we have at this point in time. eric: have we sold out the kurds who did so much along with our troops? >> eric, i hope not. because if we do not only will we lose eastern syria, but many allies in the region will be very hesitant to work with us with in -- work with us in the future. eric: john bolton has been very strong, as you know -- through years -- in his rhetoric and his proposing actions dealing with iran. he's going to israel this week. how can he mollify prime minister benjamin netanyahu, and what is he going to say in terms of american policy going forward? >> i'm not sure what is he going to say about our decision to withdraw from east syria because here in washington we really don't know how it happened and what will be the alternative, but we understand that the president is determined to withdraw those forces.

israel has no business in north ian syria, but it has business with one thing. if the iranian forces rush through this area and get very close to israel and have missile at their disposal, i think the israelis will have no choice. eric: they're doing that now. they struck a weapons depot the other day in damascus. apparently, these are weapons that are brought in from to syria. >> this is now. the iranians have not yet deployed the bulk of their missile force which is going to be in the hundreds, if not the thousands. eric: all right. certainly the national security adviser going to the region, we'll see how this plays out. certainly troubling. thank you. >> thank you. laura: well, the countdown is on. major preparations are underway in the big apple for new year's

eve. confetti will fly at the stroke of midnight. the extra element revelers can expect. he's a hint, people probably aren't going to like it. ♪ ♪

laura: a powerful display of her new york city's times square as organizers of the world's biggest new year's eve celebration did confetti airworthiness test. yes that's what it's called. more than a billion people around the world are expected to watch the traditional ball drop. eric: we can't wait. meanwhile the partygoers in times square will do something extra when the ball drops. remember last year temperatures were hovering around 9 degrees when midnight struck me this year won't be that cold but it will be raining not just in new york city but the entire northeast. kerry has more on the soggy forecast. >> if you're heading to new york pack that poncho. we could see about one inch of rain across new york on new year's eve. here is what the setup is. we have a low pressure system

that's going to be bringing us extra moist air to the tennessee valley into the northeast and it's going to be pretty soggy. here's the timeline. you can see the morning time reaching washington d.c. and by the afternoon that will be around new york. futurecast clear conditions but quickly the rain moves in. 7:00 p.m. is when we expect to see that rain and it will last for hours. we will see pockets of downpours. here we are new york at 1:00 a.m. and we will see heavier rain so certainly pack that poncho. it's going to be a wet one but the good news is it's also going to be much warmer than last year. we have this warm flow coming out of the south. temperatures on the east coast will be great in the 60s, 50's and new york in the 40s but look at fargo. 36 below is the real feel temperature. there's a formula we take into consideration. you get the accuweather real

feel so it's going to be chilly in the north-central region. look at the difference. 2018 i felt like five degrees below for the accuweather real feel and this year ringing in 2019 it's going to feel like 45. just going to be a soaker. here we are new year's day. we have a high pressure system bringing in cold air so much of the country getting cooler as we continued to see wet weather in the southeast. temperaturewise though not too bad on the east coast. in new york we should be in the upper 30s and 60 degrees with sunshine. atlanta sunshine and 65, and denver are nice and bright in l.a. temperatures will be around 61 degrees. it's going to stay nice and bright. bismarck unfortunately is going to be on the chilly side with temperatures around two so bundle up. eric: do you know how to stay dry in new year's eve? just a home and watch it all here on the "fox news" channel

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lauren: when you think vienna austria you think mozart. the city is all woman roller derby team is putting on a half time show like none other with an all-male cheerleading squad. it's true that call themselves the fear leaders. complete with head bands and led warner -- legwarmers and the soundtrack to go with it.

eric i read that they wore uniforms that are one size too small. eric: that's wild. laura: "the fox report" with jon scott is up next. a member of the violent street gang and illegal immigrants. police revealed they have arrested seven other people trying to help in the rest. in the rest. good evening i'm jon scott and this is "the fox report". officers captured the suspect friday two days after singh pulled them over on suspicion of drunk driving. the suspect was in the country illegal to you. here's sure donny youngblood. snake's immigration status to me is not what was most important in this case. this is someone that we believe