>> the house has acted on a very sad day to protect and defend the constitution of the united states. >> americans will show up by the tens of millions next year to vote pelosi the hell out of office. >> good morning to you. it is thursday, december 19th. happening at 4:00 am on the east coast democrats follow through on 1-sided articles of impeachment but after ignoring due process during weeks of testimony and hearing they are changing the rules again. we are live in washington with

why nancy pelosi may not greenlight a senate trial. in the border battle over whether a private company can build a wall of its own but with cartel violence forcing a travel alert why should us citizens be allowed to protect themselves. >> entirely gone, just no more, that is it. >> rise of an empire, is jussie smollett making a comeback? "fox and friends first" starts right now. and good morning, you are watching "fox and friends first" on thursday morning and thanks for starting your day or ending it with us and we begin with this fox news alert. nancy pelosi considering bypassing a senate trial after

the houseboat to impeach donald trump. the president is not letting impeachment stop him, rallying thousands of supporters in michigan. gift jenkins joins us from washington taking it all down for us. a lot to break down. >> it is mostly down party lines, nancy pelosi making history with the gavel and struggling to quiet her fellow democrats who cheered when she wanted them to be solemn, serious and sad. >> the yeas are 230, and as are 197. present is one. article 1 is adopted. >> 600 miles away in battle creek, michigan, the target of their higher, donald trump was anything but quiet. >> by the way it doesn't feel

like we are being impeached. the country is doing better than ever before, we did nothing wrong. we did nothing wrong and we have tremendous support in the republican party. >> is heartbroken, article 1 abuse of power, the vote was 230-197, damaging democrats defected. tulsi gabbard voted present. article 2, section of congress 229-198, three democrats defected. jerry gordon, gabbard present again as well. not a single republican voted for either article, the partisan divide was abundantly clear during the debate leading to the vote. >> several of my colleagues in a row, interesting to see how very few of them address any of the fact of the president's misconduct nor do they wish to defend -- apparently i have struck a nerve. >> republicans stood firmly

behind the president. >> the president has been driving these guys crazy because you getting things done, doing what he said he was going to do. when we drain the swamp the swamp fights back. >> the biggest surprise of the night, nancy pelosi in a press conference asking, not announcing that she's sending the articles of impeachment to the senate for a trial where mitch mcconnell indicated he wants a fast and fair trial but that can't start until she send them over and no indication of when that might happen. we will hear more about it for sure. >> what is behind it? we will talk more about it. lawmakers on both sides call the impeachment vote historic but how those history books will be written depends on the letter next to their name. matt gates say american voters lost the most.

>> to change the opinion of the american people, week after week they have gone out with innuendo, hearsay, secondhand witnesses and tried to make the case this is not what it really is which is partisan attack of the president of the united states. it is the worst day for america, we are lowering standard for impeachment not just because donald trump doesn't deserve to be impeached. we lowered the standard for every president to follow. doesn't matter what they say or do they will be impeached because of my democrat colleagues tried to disenfranchise 62 million voters. >> they won by the president. they have seen the radical elements of their base will eat them alive if they do not support impeachment but they understand this toxic to our country and toxic to them politically. shannon: that toxicity reflected

in key polls where those vulnerable democrats like michigan and wisconsin and the same polls also show donald trump surging to reelection overall the current democratic front runners. other headlines today, police hotline for tips about a missing texas mom and her newborn daughter. anyone with information on heidi broussard's whereabouts is asked to call 512974 512-974-5100. community members in austin are organizing a massive search for heidi and her 3 week old named margo. police are not sure if she left on her own or if something can always going on. heidi and margo have been missing for one week. family, friends and even strangers gathering in texas to say their final goodbyes to police sergeant killed in the line of duty.

the honor guard leading a motorcycle that carried kayla sold's body. he was killed last week during a traffic stop when the suspect hit her car with his car. the leaves behind a wife and son. the police presented them with an american flag and her honor, she was a 16 year veteran of the department. there is an urgent travel warning as americans pack their bags for holiday trips. the state department says there is increased risk of violent crime in parts of mexico. aishah hasnie has more on where americans are told to stay away. shannon: sounds like the wild w.. hwy. robbery on the rise, roadblocks set up by drug cartels targeting you, americans visiting families for the holidays, specifically you are being asked not to travel to

these five states you see in red and are asked to reconsider travel to the areas in orange which is a pretty huge chunk. the state department says violent crime like murder and kidnapping is widespread and they are warning if you do decide to go the us government has limited ability to provide emergency services to us citizens in many areas of mexico y certain employees to certain areas is significantly restricted. three american women and six children from a mormon community were slaughtered in november in mexico. apparently caught in the crossfire of a cartel feud. despite all of this, a private border wall to protect americans in south texas is tied up in the courts on wednesday a federal judge issued a new restraining order temporarily stopping any

further work on this $40 million wall right in the thick of this travel warning. the next hearing for that is on january 3rd. for all of you wondering about vacationing in the cancun area, that's not in the clear. the state department says he will also need to exercise increased caution there as well. >> be aware, thank you. what about last night, donald trump bring up a fiery crowd of supporters at a rally in battle creek, michigan, the president highlighting the economy and trade while blasting century cities. >> i have the greatest economy in the history of this country and nobody talks about it. it could hillary had won your economy would have crashed, made the us mca, the worst trade deal ever. far left politicians support

deadly sanctuary cities which release dangerous violent committal aliens out of jail onto your streets was the sanctuary cities are disaster. >> the president praising the crowd tweeting thank you, keep america great. on the campaign trail 2020 hopeful michael bloomberg blasting his democratic rivals before tonight's debate. >> the president shouldn't be a training drive, you get to hit the ground running. we cannot wait after what has happened to our country. >> before mayor of new york contrasting his experience to the rest of the democrats as they prepare to hit the stage in los angeles is only 7 candidates qualified, the fewest of the election cycle. the time is almost 15 minutes after the top of the hour. nancy pelosi said she could delay sending articles of

impeachment to the senate. >> so far we haven't seen anything that looks fair to us. hopefully it will be fair and when we see that what that is we will send them over. >> what happens now and how damaging credit 2020 trial be for democrats. jack burns says any delay will help donald trump. he joins us live to explain.

>> we have legislation approved by the rules committee that will enable us to decide how to send over articles of impeachment. so far we haven't seen anything that looks fair to us. hopefully it will be fair and when we see what that is we will send it over. >> nancy pelosi announcing she may not send the articles of impeachment to the senate for

trial. after weeks of working up to this vote to impeach our democrats realizing the political damage they have done? break it all down for us. the vote not a surprise to most folks, primarily along party lines that after this announcement by nancy pelosi that they are not going to send it over to the senate or at least delay at a surprise. >> very strange when i watched that last night. and the constitution, the house has full power over impeachment, the senate has the full power over trying it. nothing in the constitution spells out the exact mechanics and it has only happened three times. however apparently under the rules they are operating under, will be adopted for this matter they have to take a vote on first who will be the managers,

prosecutors and when they will transmit it. she's not on firm legal ground to delay this, so interesting she announced her intention which is until they come up with a fair process, she can't dictate that. my crystal ball prediction is she's not going to hold it up and if you want to get in the weeds you could make an application to a court to force the house to send the articles to the senate. shannon: any type -- how soon they have to vote for this resolution to send it to the senate? >> in the clinton impeachment they did it virtually immediately. i suspect nobody should get to exercise between now and january because we are in the middle of the holiday season but once we hit january in the house is back in session it better happen relatively quickly or somebody's going to make an application to the supreme court. shannon: they leave and don't

come back until january 7th. in terms of when the senate does get it, then what happens? >> you convene a trial, the chief justice of the united states is the judge. they have elaborate stripes and people joke about that, he's the judge. the hundred senators are the jurors and a regular file you need 12 jurors to unanimously do that, this isn't a regular kernel case. here is laid out in the constitution you need 67 votes, everybody throwing around how you will never get 20 republicans and you will never get 20 republicans. >> what about witnesses? some say nancy pelosi using this delay for leverage, others saying maybe she's concerned about the possibility of biden being called. >> as a trial lawyer i find it almost endlessly comical. in regular case the impeachment in the house is analogous to the

grand jury process and getting the charge, the trial is the trial into the real world case you can call additional witnesses. each side has the right to call witnesses and if somebody calls a witness and breakdown what is going on the other side says we object to this witness, relevance, the judge takes an offer of proof. shannon: what do you think about chuck schumer announcing this is going to be an unfair process and 1-sided in the senate when that has been happening all along? >> very ironic and all this rhetoric it should be quick and so on and the bottom line is you had a relatively 1-sided process, not talking the legal weeds, not letting this one or that one but politically, the soundbites and brit hume said something, for soaring rhetoric is not warranted. it doesn't equate to the conduct we are talking about. the president raised the possibility of withholding aid unless ukraine did something, they got the money and didn't

have to do it. they default, attempted bribery but bottom line you saw soaring rhetoric. if we hear one more time when the president of the united states sells out the office to dig up dirt on his opponent, we are tired of it. shannon: and misquoting his - heather: over and over. >> in the senate, republican control. shannon: we will see what happens, thank you, crazy so far. 19 minutes after the top of the hour and michael horwitz was back on the hill to slam fbi failures in the russia probe. >> so many errors we couldn't reach a conclusion or make a determination on what motivated those failures. >> why he's worried about a

bigger problem. congressman our green using a child separation photo is impeachment evidence was only problem, it is not real. the verdict from social media. i remember that picture. guys, it's time to step up your game.

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>> in the name of democracy, on behalf of the republic and for the sake of the many who are suffering i will vote to impeach and i encourage my colleagues to do so as well. >> fake news on the house floor.

congressman our green reviving an old debunked photo of a little girl crying. do you remember that picture, seemingly separated from her parents at the border? carly shimkus with serious xm 115 is here with the overwhelming reaction this is getting on social media. >> reporter: that the photo congressman decided to show when he was making his case to increase -- over the ukraine issue but this picture went viral couple years ago known as the crying girl and it became a symbol of the trump administration's child separation policies at the border but was found to be misleading because that little girl was never separated from her family. the photo was taken when her mother was asked to put her down during a patdown by a border patrol agent. some people on social media calling about on this, peter said our green is the mainstream leader for impeachment in this debunked fake news picture typifies all he stands for. denise says pretty much confirms

the democrats are impeaching not for anything they are putting forth for impeachment. it is their dislike for him and linda says he's using a lie like they always and only can do. shame is they know so many believe what they here. the texas congressman our green has been calling for the president's impeachment since may, the first democrat to get on board. >> and saying it's not going to be over with this. they will try again. a misleading photo. >> let's talk about this, donald trump's approval rating is higher than president obama's at the same point in his presidency. >> the question is how is impeachment going to affect the president's approval rating for the latest gallup poll shows the president's approval rating is 45%, it is three points higher than former president obama's approval rating at the same

point in his presidency was we have social media reaction on this one as well, when twitter user says if the media covered him like obama he could be at 55%, 75% one another twitter user said obama said the barlow, trump will exceed all records. the big news in terms of polling, the president's approval rating is 6 points higher than when nancy pelosi announced the impeachment inquiry in september. shannon: independents switching. a lot of impacts people were not anticipating. the time is 26 minutes after the top of the hour. house republicans ripping democrats for their week case against the president. >> and impeachment based on presumption. can't have a factual basis on him, the president did nothing wrong. >> congressman richard hudson voted against impeachment and said the vote sets a dangerous

new standard and he joins us live next. >> nancy pelosi's house democrats have branded themselves with an eternal mark of shame. shannon: donald trump ripping the impeachment push and firing up supporters in michigan. todd pyro live talking with voters. >> a wild might, a split screen night as everybody is calling it, you did a great job handling all angles of impeachment. i bring you inside last night's amazing rally when "fox and friends first" returns.

>> welcome back. donald trump was far away from capitol hill firing up the crowd at a merry christmas rally in the battleground state of michigan. >> this lawless partisan

impeachment is a political suicide march for the democrat party. they have cheapened the impeachment process was while democrats are obsessed with impeachment we are focused on jobs jobs jobs. our first duty and true allegiance is to you, the american people before anybody else. shannon: what did the voters think? todd pyro just talked with some of them and is live in michigan, good morning, todd. >> good morning from the heartland, the home of kellogg's cereal, battle creek, michigan. speaking of battles you got a sense from the people i spoke to the trump rally that while they acknowledge nancy pelosi won the battle on impeachment donald trump is going to win the war. ♪ >> what message do you have for

those in washington tonight that are impeaching donald trump? >> start messing around and take care of business, so tired of seeing the poor treatment this president has received. >> there was a time we respected our president. where everybody upheld our president and honored him but today it is nothing like that. >> they need to stop, get back to bipartisanship and work like we used to work. >> that is impeachment heard or help donald trump's reelection chances? >> i think it is going to help and he's going to win big. >> people are upset because the president is doing a great job. >> the way they have acted over this impeachment will make a stronger election for him. >> take a look around, people

say michigan is a democratic state but looking pretty republican to me. >> he will be in their another four years. >> four more years. >> reporter: where we are right now, absolutely packed last might with a watch party for the rally, we are here live all morning long with "fox and friends" interviewing folks about what they thought of the rally, impeachment, stock market, usmc and all that stuff when "fox and friends" kicks off at 6 am. >> it was a record time too, over two hours so that was quite something. . thank you so much. as voters respond to that impeachment fallout we are him from the floor about how all this went down, richard hudson voted against the articles and joins us to discuss why. thank you for joining us.

i know it was a very long day yesterday. >> great to be with you. it was a dark day for this country. exactly what our founding fathers warned us about, the great alexander hamilton said the greatest fear about impeachment is one day the decision will be made based on strength of party rather than demonstrated innocent or guilt and that is what we saw yesterday. shannon: when it came to any type of bipartisanship it was democrats who crossed over to join republicans on articles of impeachment but none of the republicans crossed over. >> absolutely not. this is a 3-year impeachment in search of a crime. absolutely no evidence presented by the democrats. i'm still trying to figure out what crime they are alleging he committed that rises to the level of impeachment. this was an easy no vote. heather: the latest fox news

polls, when it comes to congressional job performance 62% disapprove of the job performance going on because it is been so focused on impeachment, the gallup poll shows a slight majority disapproving of impeachment. what is your reaction to those numbers? >> congress doesn't do anything. for someone like me who ran for congress to do things, to move the country forward it is a frustrating time. the american people are frustrated. we haven't addressed infrastructure, drug pricing, so many things we could be doing rather than this sham impeachment and the american people are frustrated by it. heather: the delay passing the usmc a which will be up in the house today. >> never a question there were enough votes to pass this trade deal but pelosi held it for a year.

the question is when will she allow the american people to see this bill come to the floor so we can keep his economy booming. heather: i want to ask about the latest announcement that they are going to delay sending it to the senate. do you know anything about that? >> if you ever question whether this was a sham impeachment disproves it, the fact that she wants to hold the articles, she said we have to hurry and get it done before the end of the year and now saying i will hold this indefinitely. it shows you the whole thing is a farce. shannon: and she wasn't going to do it at all and all of a sudden once again delaying it. thank you so much for joining us, we appreciate it, thank you. a time is 20 minutes until the top of the hour and fiery rounds 2. michael horwitz blasting the fbi failures in the russia probe.

>> the concern is this is such an important case, if it happens here it is indicative of a wider problem. heather: former assistant fbi director chris weber says this is a big problem and lays out the proof to back that up. ♪ i fell in to a burning ring of fire ♪

shannon: tulsi gabbard defendant her decision is the only house member to vote president on both articles of impeachment against donald trump posting this video to twitter a few hours ago. >> when i cast my vote in support of the impeachment inquiry 3 months ago i said that in order to maintain the integrity of this solemn undertaking it must not be a partisan and ever. tragically that is what it has been. a house divided cannot stand. today we are divided.

shannon: alexandria ocasio cortez blasting gabbard saying we are sent to lead. william barr cracking down on crime in the nation's most dangerous city. >> we are calling it operation relentless pursuit and it is a two pronged attack on violent crime. >> the initiative will be implanted in 7 us cities including albuquerque, new mexico, baltimore, cleveland, detroit, kansas city, missouri, memphis and milwaukee. it will increase the number of offices in the city to expand federal collaboration with state and local law enforcement. the $71 million program will be funded by federal grants. thousand of convicted felons will have their voting rights restored. democratic new jersey governor bill murphy signing off on a new

law, he signed a bill that will allow the record some low-level criminals to be thrown out. in a statement governor murphy said i'm proud to sign one of the most progressive expungement laws in the nation which will allow more new jerseyans the opportunity to engage in our society. the laws will go into effect by march, 16 other states have similar laws. inspector general michael horwitz slamming the failures of the fbi putting phase i of the russia probe under the spotlight during his senate testimony. >> they should have been given complete and accurate information so they could have meaningfully evaluated probable cause before authorizing us person associated with a presidential campaign. that did not occur. the concern is this is such a high profile important case.

it is indicative of a wider problem. >> horwitz's rebuke followers criticism of comey's fbi and the public order citing misconduct and providing false information to the court. the former assistant fbi director chris weber joins us to weigh in. thank you for joining us, appreciate it. what did you think of the testimony from horowitz? >> this is serious stuff. the fisa court is reacting to his report. anytime you hear from the inspector general, you get more context around his report and find out the absolute finding about bias isn't absolute. he seems to be calling out the fisa process. my problem is i think it is a red herring. the fisa process is one of the

most rigorous processes to get any warrant in the intelligence field. the problem in this case with leadership and quality control, the leadership did sign offs and either didn't read is or made sure it passed through. you can't legislate that or create rules and procedures that address the problem of people not doing their job or having bias. you have to hold them accountable and that is not happening yet. heather: if i was correct in listening to him as i understood it, he was saying there is no bias in opening the investigation but that wasn't to say there wasn't any bias that went on during the investigation that contributed to the fisa warrant being renewed 3 times, information that was left out, that type of thing? >> that is correct and he's making it clear he is leaving

those questions open but if there's an area that needs reform, a case and initiation area. i don't be leave him. i have opened many cases, you need more predication than they have in this case. they have a conversation in a bar and he thinks that's enough. i think there needs to be more process and procedure around initiation of sensitive cases like this than things like fisa. we would not be talking about this if they had address the issue of case initiation and the next step was a defensive briefing of the president. heather: i want to ask about it being a rigorous process to go through. if the numbers are true, numbers are 90, 99% of the applications approved?

>> they go through such an extensive review. there are ten layers of review, multiple steps in that review where lawyers render their advice and make sure it is right. the problem is quality control. they need to be audited to make sure there is quality. a criminal affidavit, going to go to court, have to justify that in a fisa affidavit they will never see the light of day, there need to be multi step levels of control whether on a yearly basis or semiannual. >> the solutions and imposing this january 10th deadline, what those solutions will be. >> let's be sure.

and counterintelligence, don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater and that the fine line the current director is trying to walk. he has taken a bunch of good steps, outlining them publicly to address issues with fisa and case initiation this and all the things raised in the report come moving quietly and aggressively on that front. >> appreciate your time and expertise in this area. it is day 9 of 12 days of giving on "fox and friends first" and today we feature united through reading, celebrating its 30th birthday, the nonprofit helps service members never miss serving -- storytime. helping military families stay connected up next.

heather: the holiday season is about spending time with loved ones but for deployed service members that quality time looks different and united through reading is going above and beyond using storytelling to connect to active-duty parents with their children all year round. here to explain is senior director of development, thank you for joining us. tell us why you are involved. >> i am an army wife and army mom and educator. reading and education and value of literacy is why i am involved.

heather: you are personally involved. >> i am a navy veteran and military spouse. heather: tell us what the organization does. >> what we do a simple. we are celebrating our 30th anniversary. it provides opportunity for military service members, we send the video in the book home to the kids. mommy and daddy on demand was when you wake up from your naps you can watch. heather: we are showing examples of that. this is such a great idea. what about people who have been impacted? any stories you got back them. >> a marine mom got this package in the mail, didn't know what it was. she put it into the tv and found her husband writing the story and her husband was watching,

turned around, came back and went back to the tv, turned around and mom figured out she was trying to sit in daddy's laughter. that is what we are about. heather: how can people help out? >> the money question takes $14 a month for one military family. those donations will ensure those connections are followed through the holidays but throughout the year, military families are constantly dealing with separation. heather: there is the website where people can make the donation, unitedthroughreading.org. people can contribute what they want. >> we think about it in terms of the family.

that is our customer. heather: this is all year round that families are impacted. thank you for joining us. most grateful. fox fans love our military. hopefully they will reach into their hearts and help you out. >> merry christmas. to all our military families. the the 26 minutes until the top of the hour. can empire end without jussie smollett, fueling rumors of a return for the disgraced actor. >> it was amazing, he is so grown. the big sister but i am a foot smaller. heather: the emotional embrace between sisters reunited after spending one year apart. (client's voice) remember that degree you got in taxation? (danny) of course you don't because you didn't! your job isn't doing hard work... ...it's making them do hard work...

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and get a free shredder with annual membership. call now to start your membership or visit lifelock.com/tv heather: jussie smollett could be headed back to the silver screen. >> empire gone, no more. praise the lord. heather: show runner for empire says he is considering allowing the disgraced actor to return for the final season for telling tv line there are no official plans to bring them back at this time but he is being discussed.

jussie smollett was cut from the show after february when police said he staged a hate crime attack. the final season airs this spring. time for the good, the bad and the ugly. a navy logistics specialist giving her sister an early christmas present returning home from deployment, surprising her sister at an arizona high school after a year. >> it was amazing to she is so grown. look at her. the big sister but i am a foot smaller. >> now the bad. a teenager sneaking into an airport, stealing a plane and crashing into a fence, the plane moving in a circle before hitting a building in fresno, california. the 17-year-old girl was not injured but is under arrest. the ugly, national regifting day. >> the same when i gave him, he

recycled this gift. heather: research shows 20% of office party gifts are regifted without ever being used. that wraps up this hour of "fox and friends first". "fox and friends first" continues right now, goodbye. >> legislation approved by the rules committee will enable us to decide how we will send over the articles of impeachment. so far we haven't seen anything that looks fair. >> it doesn't feel like we are being impeached. rob: this is a fox news alert, a busy day and yesterday, a day that will go down in infamy are history depending which side of the aisle you are on after the house vote to impeach donald trump. >> the next steps are unclear because nancy pelosi pumped the brakes on a senate trial. we are live with the latest in washington.