he died. >> sean: creepy. best election coverage. let not your heart be troubled. laura ingraham, happy new year. >> laura: happy new year, did you have a good christmas? >> sean: i did. how about you? can i say something? i had a chance to meet your wonderful children. they are amazing. loved them. they are awesome kids. >> laura: they were going is that the guy -- >> sean: that mommy makes fun of every night? >> laura: no the one that gives you a hard time. >> sean: i have to bribe them next year. start the year off right. attack "hannity." >> laura: no, it was great. we got to hang out. it was fun. >> sean: the kids are awesome. they are great kids.

you should be proud. >> laura: thank you very much. happy new year. i am back. i am laura ingraham and this is "the ingraham angle." it's a busy washington. we will explain why the killing of an iranian general soleimani reveals trump as a pragmatist and john bolton about his potential testimony. senators are here exclusively. president trump has a way of revealing folks for who they really are. molly hemmingway and mike huckabee will tell us how the left and the media are defendinging terrorism. and raymond arroyo is here. this is a monday appearance for

raymond. when ricky gervais gave celebs great advice at the awards show they didn't listen. something i wrote 17 years was ahead of its time. first trump the realist. that's the focus of tonight's "angle." as with issues with immigration and trade. on the iran situation president trump has been forced to clean up the messes created by previous two administration. post 9-11 bush thought once we invaded iraq, once we killed saddam hussein and disbanded the iraqi military democratic institutions would take flower. well, that was a colassal and cruel joke. the kurds were happy. but with the evil saddam hussein

gone, iran was also empowered and started to build ieds that killed our forces. >> the battle of iraq the united states and our allies have prevailed. the transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time but it's worth every effort. >> laura: we are still waiting for that. in february 2006, when i was broadcasting on my radio show from iraq. the enlisted soldiers, some on their 3rd deployment, told me the place is a disaster. iran is crawling everywhere. they are building weapons that are blowing up by buddies. i didn't want to believe it. two years later obama was elected in part on his promise to pull us out of iraq.

obama took a different approach. he made things worse. he thought as long as we ended combat operations in iraq, we could bribe iran to get better behavior this iran. $400 million was delivered on pallets january is 17th. that's the same day tehran released 4 american prisons. -- pallets of cash were delivered in the dark of night to the iraqi regime. one of the most disgusting acts i can recall. secretary of state john kerry insisted this was the best we could do and iran signing on to the agreement would be a stabilizing process. nothing could have been further

from the truth. any evidence that iran behaved better after the deal? they never released a former cia officer whom they held for 13 years. ditto for five other americans who have been held prisoners on spurious grounds. terrorists act have continued and iran was behind rocket attacks in 2018. the shi'ite rocket attack that wounded 4 u.s. troops 2 weeks ago was the 11th barrage in just 2 months. this doesn't take into account all of the other american blood that they have on their hands. >> responsible for 17% of all

american soldiers death in the iraq war between 2003 and 2011. >> laura: when i was there this 2006 and what i was hearing. general quassem soleimani was the orchestrator of these terrorists assaults. the attack on the u.s. embassy in iraq was the latest. he was so brazen and comfortable. this blows my mind. he was freely operating at the baghdad airport. he was planing to kill or terrorize more americans. very bold about it. with the escalation on the ground that put our troops at risk, donald trump had to weigh the options and make a decision. was it better for the u.s. to allow soleimani to parade openly around iraq with no response after he fomented the attack on

our embassy? president trump decided the answer was no. >> we would have been negligent had we not taken this action. the american people would not we were not defending american lives. >> laura: ordering an air strike to soleimani was a perfectly reasonable decision. will this trigger retaliation from iran? perhaps. but the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism they didn't need any excuse to wreak havoc against american issues. they have been our enemy for over 40 years. democrats accused the president of destabilizing the region. if trump says the sky is up, they say it's down. most democrats today believe that we as americans are safer with that murderer thug alive

and spreading his influence in a country where we lost thousands of our servicemen? really? these are the same people who called themselves anti-war when obama was president but never gave trump credit for his policies of military restraint. as it so often the case, trump forces democrats to reveal themselves and the media. they are so caught up with resisting and hating trump, for everything he does and breathes. over the weekend they literally sounded more emthetic to the families of a mass murderer than to the families of those attacked in iraq. >> it's difficult to convey how revered he is in iran. he is regarded as a heroic

figure. >> it was a targeted attack on a government official. a high ranking military official. >> i thought of segal. >> sean: what are these guys doing? bush was too idealistic about what was possible in iraq and obama was too defeatest about iran, trump is a realist. he made a calculation as long as this general was alive things would be more dangerous for the united states. soleimani was not acting as a brake on the iranian regime. he was an accelerant. he endangered american interests for years and years. a friend gave me this idea:

if our position right now listening to the democrats is we can't eliminate a known and unrepentant terrorist for fear of reprisals that, means the situation in the region is hopeless. if that's what we believe, we should all agree on a withdraw of all troops from the region. otherwise the troops are sitting ducks along with contractors and others. president trump decided that the status quo was unacceptable. he was and is correct. it's very important. my views on these endless wars. it's important that the president listens to his judgment here. that he doesn't listen to the same people who got us sucked into iraq the first placement the bush doctrine is dead and trump helped bury it.

the president is smart enough to know that another war or needless escalation will harm american interests and his reelection chances. america first, america safe, america strategic and america smart. that's the "angle." join issing me is a congressman and the first green beret to serve in congress and also retired general and a former direct for strategy and victor davis hansen from the hoover institution. why is the left upset that trump acted? >> well, first i want to say you're absolutely right. as a combat veteran i find it appalling some of the this criticism. for the left how many american body bags are enough? apparently 600 was not enough

from the iraq war. we want more and more before it's okay for the president to stop this escalation and act. they have this false choice: either we do nothing or have world war iii with d-day invasions of tehran. there is a lot of room in between. that's not on the table. nor does the president need authorization to defend our embassies and troops to strike back and stop this escalation. we are preventing further war and we are not escalating into war. it was the right move. >> laura: the democrats didn't like that trump was pulling troops out of the middle east. now they are upset he has taken action. >> i really worry that the actions the president took will get us into what he calls another endless war in the

middle east. congress and i will assert our authority. we don't need this president either bumbling or impullsively getting us into a major war. >> laura: general? >> the president improved our stability in the middle east and security of american forces there. for 2 reasons. 1 this showed the president's intent to punish iran if they cross the line. and second soleimani was going around the middle east creating chaos everywhere he went. i gave up hope we would do the right thing with regard to his actions back to my time in iraq in 2007. >> we should have a long time ago. >> laura: i love and support our troops. those enlisted guys -- remember

trump met with the enlisted soldiers a couple of weeks ago. they said the story is iran. don't drop iran. general casey didn't want to get into the iran situation in an interview. this has been proing for so long. -- brewing for so long. >> a terrorist is a terrorist whether they are sunni or not. >> we never did a thing about the ieds. >> laura: victor davis hansen, bernie sanders spoke out tonight about this situation. watch. >> you can say there are a lot of bad people all over the world running governments. the president of china put a million muslims into educational camps. some call them concentration camps. once you start this business of a major country saying we will

have the right to assassinate, you are unleashing international anarchy. >> laura: he compared this to putin killing his dissidents. reaction? >> yeah, i think trump confused people. he showed restraint by not reacting to the interceptions of ships and didn't react to the drone attack. he didn't brag about it. in 2012 joe biden said bin laden is dead and hillary went into libya and she said he died. he hasn't done that. i think what trump, everybody understands and this frustrates the democrats, he has a very unique view of the middle east. he is saying we don't need its oil anymore. israel is self-sufficient in

oil. the arabs are anti-iranian. it's a new situation. the middle east is not the middle of anything anywhere. he is saying that in this situation where iran, we were very patient. now we re-established deterrents. whether one side wins or loses a we're are diplomat, economic and military. iran has none of those three and all of their decisions are bad. trump is saying we reacted. i showed restraint. now it's your turn. see what you will do. i don't think they will do what everybody thinks they will do. they don't have any options. >> laura: yes. >> it's hard to intervene. >> laura: i want to go back to this point. i do believe we wasted an enormous amount of blood and treasure and the american people

don't want that. those days are over. maybe defense contractors want it. they make a lot of money. the atlantic today. title it's 2003 all over again. the factors that made the iraq war a disaster are present here. false claims. all of this means while the iran crisis may not be the disaster on the scale of the iraq war, it could be a disaster." are we creeping into a long conflict with iran? >> no, i don't think we are. i think this was a response to stop the series of escalations. the president made it clear that if they escalate again our response will be overwhelming. the last thing the iranian regime wants is a war with the united states. the thing they value the most is their own survival. they know they would be destroyed in a conflict.

they have a history of escalating right up to the edge. faced with strength they back approximate down. -- faced with weakness they are emboldened. i think the president understands the dynamic. we are not looking to build switzerland. the trump administration is not looking to create a perfect democracy, but we have a counsellor terrorism mission. -- counter terrorism mission. what obama missed is just pull everybody home. we got attacks in europe and in the united states. even though the energy play is lessoned the counter-terrorism piece is real. we can do that with a small foot print. >> laura: general, people are focussing on the references to the culture sites saying a reference could unify the iranian people who don't agree

on these issues and want this regime gone. against washington. are you concerned about that? >> i think the iranian leadership will have to take a reassessment based on the strikes. whatever language the president uses it reinforces this sense of unpredictability. they don't know where the line is. if they don't know where the line is, they have to reassess. i think you will see a level of stability as a result. not just in iran. it send a message to beijing and moscow. they need to pay attention to the president is saying. >> laura: speaking of china, victor and i are china focussed as it general spalling. what there their angle on this? >> they don't know what trump will do. they didn't think he would ever initiate tariffs.

north korea doesn't know what he will do. in all three of these situations, china needs a reicalblation of this. -- the same thing with north korea. the sanctions are starving north korea. everybody is hysterical. but all of the cards are on our side with iran, north korea and china. calm down and let these things play out. we are the ones with the sanctions and the strong economy and with the largest military. as long as we don't over-reach, we are in great shape. that's frustrating with the democrats. they understand that. they don't know what to do about it. >> laura: you see chuck schumer reading those comments. he's been in the senate for decades. he knows what he thinks or does he not know? very odd.

gentlemen, thank you very much. and john bolton said he selling to testify in the senate impeachment trial if he is subpoenaed. will that happen and what effect will it have. senator ron johnson is here with reaction. and was killing soleimani illegal? congressman doug collins. i can't wait to hear him on that. stay there. i'm finding it hard to stay on top of things

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some things are too important to do yourself. ♪ get customized security with 24/7 monitoring from xfinity home. awarded the best professionally installed system by cnet. simple. easy. awesome. call, click or visit a store today. >> ♪ >> laura: could the left actually see one of their impeachment fantasies come to fruition. john bolton testifying in the senate trial. the former national security advisor said he would testify if he received a senate subpoena. if. democrats are using this as a

political thing against republicans. >> given that mr. john bolton's lawyers stated he has new and relevant information to share. if any senate republican opposes issuing subpoena to the four witnesses they would make it clear they are participating in a cover-up. >> laura: the senators are participating in a cover-up or the white house? our next guest spoke to john bolton about the ukraine mess last august? joining me exclusively is the chair of the senate homeland security committee. bolton is the latest in the long line of the silver bullets the left believes it has. >> first happy new year. >> laura: happy new year. thanks for coming on. >> i am not sure what else john would add to this. i have not spoken to this.

we share the same position. from my standpoint president trump has been consistent why he has reservations about ukraine. throw into the mix the corruption of the ukraine, that's what he stateed in the white house on march 23rd. he was consistent on august 31st and talking to john bolton made the same points. i don't know what else he would add. the house didn't make their case and they are hoping the senate will make the case for them. that's not our job. >> laura: what is that scenario? the house doesn't go to court to enforce the suspect but they are foisting it on mcconnell. you have to issue a subpoena thand push it forward. how does that work? >> i don't think it does. i don't know what nancy pelosi is doing. her strategy seems totally

bizarre. i don't think we should let nancy pelosi run the senate. the "wall street journal" had a column suggesting we should change the rules of the senate. don't require articles of impeachment to be delivered. they already voted on it. take up the trial and tell nancy pelosi we start the trial tuesday at 1 o'clock. bring your managers. if not the president's team will have his defense ready. if you don't put on a case -- i think that's essential. i think the president needs a chance to defend himself. >> laura: i don't like this idea of this hanging out over him during an election. that would be a strategy on the part of the democrats, but a weak one. >> or during a crisis in iran. there has been so much damage already done to this country because of this. the fact that any future president will have a hard time having a candid conversation

with another world leader. within 2 weeks of this president taking office conversations with world leaders were leaked. i don't know who the president can trust. think of that. >> laura: he still has people on the national security council working against his policy. >> yes. a news story came out after the missiles attack general soleimani. there are still people leaking inside the administration to undermine his policies. >> laura: ben said you must hear this testimony from john bolton. he had direct knowledge. involved in conversations with the president. if you don't, then basically implying you are part of a cover-up. >> if it was that crucial why didn't the house go to court to get that testimony?

>> laura: they said they doesn't want to drag this out. >> now she is holding out the articles of impeachment. it makes no sense. >> laura: you think in the senate this should dealt with quickly. would you have an opportunity to appoint or ask for managers to come? maybe she didn't pick them. >> i would give her the opportunity. your managers can show up at one o'clock on next tuesday and put on a case. we will give you 24 hours of floor time. if you don't show up the president's team will be ready and will give his team 24 hours. we will decide what to do. we have heard enough. it's such a weak case. >> laura: how many votes do you need to change the rule? >> only 51. >> laura: i can't wait to see how this plays out. senator, thanks for coming in. i appreciate it. and impeachment, one house democrat suggesting that they add a new article.

killing a terrorist. >> he would be again violating the constitution by disregarding congress. it is illegal and another impeachable offense. >> in the president did not abide by a resolution by congress that you would add that to articles of impeachment? >> it's on the table. there is no greater offense than sending american troops to war without congressional authorization. >> laura: congressman, democrats didn't care when obama was killing them. what is different?

>> nothing is different. except trump is doing something that actually doing something. they came off an impeachment issue in the house. what is happening is nancy pelosi is saying this was so bad. this was worse than i thought it was but i had to do it to appease the left. let me just hold it out there. after she got solemn and said this is duty and prayerful, this is our duty. then within an hour you go out and use it as a political toy. nancy pelosi she has no credibili credibility. >> laura: cory booker one of the many democrats speaking out about a supposed violation of the war powers act by the president in dealing with soleimani. watch. >> it's dangerous to allow the

president of the united states to undermine the checks and balances. you may have a sober president like president obama but the next one could be impullsive thinker like president trump. >> wow! president obama sat in the white house and allowed drones to attack anything he wanted and got immunity from the left and the democrats. now a president who took out a general has blood on his hands? what do we say to troops having to go there? what do we say to the gold star families and to those who were maimed? what soleimani did our country. the war powers act is not covered under that. this is a president taking a self-defense action for our country. taking it directly to our

economy and someone who previous administrations said was a terrorist. he was not supposed to be out of iran. he was not supposed to be traveling around. >> laura: and iran was boasting it was erogued any thought of abiding by this ridiculous iran nuclear deal. we won't be doing this. we could not trust them and never could despite obama's idealistic naive approach. >> they never attempted to keep this up. the moment after it was signed soleimani was traveling. they were testing their weapons and running. this was an appeasement by the obama administration. the president had to clean it up and he did. also think about iraq is being run by iran. >> laura: should we pull out of iraq? >> we have a small foot print there. we don't need to send troops

back in. >> laura: he is sending more troops over there? >> well, what amazed me. the democrats said we have no plan for this. the president has a plan am he understands. what they don't like is here's a president being a president. this is what they have not seen in 8 years. they saw a president who drew redlines in the sand and didn't do anything. president trump makes promises he keeps. >> laura: will nancy pelosi send the articles of impeachment this week to the senate? >> i hope so. i think it's time to stop playing with this country and the voters and start to stop playing with the destruction of democrats in the house of representatives. they broke every rule. if you have such a strong case, adam schiff, they need to go after the wizards of oz. they need to find a heart because they lost it. if they have a case make it.

if not shut up. >> laura: congressman, great to see you. first appearance in the new year. up next trump has lured the left into defendinging what most of us think is indefensible. what did the golden globes tell us about the next election if anything? stay tuned. >> man: so i'm not taking any chances when something happens to it. so when my windshield cracked... my friend recommended safelite autoglass. >> tech: hi, i'm adrian. >> man: thanks for coming. >> tech: oh, no problem. >> tech: check it out. >> man: yeah. they came right to me, with expert service where i needed it. that's service i can trust... no matter what i'm hauling. right, girl? >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪

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>> ♪ >> we have an increased threat to americans. >> he is a bad guy. what is trump's foreign policy? >> no one -- we are talking about the act and the fact that now we are upping the ante and talking about war crimes. >> laura: not making sense. he is a bad guy but. if reagan was a great communicator, trump could be the great revealer. he is forcing democrats to stumble on their words and contradict what they said 5 minutes ago and the media are showing their true colors. they seem to be standing with iran's sovereign right to foment terror around the world.

molly, the president once again has the left all tied up in knotts on this soleimani thing. it was like he was bandaging up poor animals. >> they are having trouble sticking with a particular narrative about soleimani and iran. first no big deal. then highlight the people mourning his death. they said that trump doing this might have been a wag the dog effort to distract from impeachment. last week he could not wait for impeachment that's why nancy pelosi has such leverage. they can't stick with a particular storyline. the only thing they are consistent about is opposition to trump. >> governor huckabee when you think about how trump has been

an advocate for being a more restrained use of our military. now they are mad he is protecting american interest against this mass murderer. >> he is not sending thousands of troops into ground combat but took on a mass orderer. a person who killed tens of thousands of his own people in iran. he is not a nice guy. the only good reason for people of america to day do i want to elect democrats who hate donald trump more than they detest a mass murderer? no, they can't stand him. they will side with iran.

when bin laden was killed and obama murdered i praised him and i said i am glad the president made the decision. i think every republican did. why can't democrats accept this? one said it was the right thing to do but the wrong person did it. that's how sick they are. >> laura: yes. molly, barbara lee joined the paul bandwagon with a tweet saying people of iranian descent are being detained by border patrol officials. we can't let this stand. it turns out that this was debunked. there is a red scare. this is the trump scare. everything is an internment camp. >> people should be skeptical when they are told things.

the previous two presidents had problems trusting intelligence. you can never get mad at people for asking to the goods on intelligence or being skeptical that another president will embroil us in another war in the middle east. but you need to check your facts. >> laura: governor, the reaction to the latest leftist out rage. when the evangelicals prayed over the president on friday some is of the med iia reacted horror calling it cult like. but when church members lay hands on biden it's an inspirational moving moment. >> it's the absurdity of what we are dealing with. some people eat soup louder but it doesn't mean their soup tastes better. if donald trump is part of

anything that is spirituality or the evangelicals are around him it's cult like. but if it happens with biden it's a wonderful expression of faith. he doesn't practice well because he is catholic and yet pro-organizatipro pro-abortion. >> laura: do you think nancy pelosi will send the articles of impeachment to the senate? >> yes. >> laura: if you missed the golden globes there are a few moments you have to recapture and visit with raymond arroyo who will join us in a special appearance, never shows occupy mondays, next. ♪

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>> ♪ >> laura: it's time for the golden globes with host raymond arroyo. host ricky gervais exposes hypocrisy in the celebrities. all right, raymond, i thought you were going to wear a tuxedo and embarrass yourself. tell us about ricky gervais. liberal, athiest trump hating ricky gervais. >> he pulled no punches. right out of the gate. ricky gervais we are going to get laughs at hollywood's expense and offered them this warning. >> if you win award don't make a political speech. you are no position to lecture the public well anything. you know nothing about the real

world. if you win, come up and accept your little award. thank your agent and your god and [bleep]. >> laura, let me tell you, ricky gervais really stole the golden globes. don't tell the focus at the "l.a. times" that. their tv critic said he was disrespectful and he could not read the room. my take was he was reading the living rooms across america. this is what people have been saying for years. they hate the politics at these award shows. maybe the celebs should have heeded their advice they did. williams talked about how her career was made possible about abortion. >> i would not be able to do this without employing a woman's right to choose when to have my

children and with whom. >> she encouraged women to rush to the voting booths to protect abortion rights. so out of touch. that's why the ratings have fallen to a low. >> laura: i am glad ricky gervais came along to my views. and patricia arquette. she blocked me on twitter. she could not help getting political. now a foreign policy expert? >> we won't look back on this night in the history books. we will see a country on the brink of war. while i love my kids so much, i beg of us all to give them a better world. we have to vote in 2020 and beg and plead for everyone we know to vote in 2020.

>> looking at her. for all of the talk of respecting women and the era of "me too" hanging over this awards ceremony there was confusion about what the golden globes referred to. there was more cleavage on that stage than the san andreas fault. i could not believe some of the out fits. it seemed the outfits got worse and worse. like fredderic's of hollywood was dressing these women. it was outrageous. the evening got worse and worse. >> laura: you wrote a great piece on golden globes at foxnews.com. from beginning to end, other than ricky gervais, it was one incomprehensible moment after another. and phoenix, a great actor but

what he was saying? >> they were talking about the australia fires. they arrested 12 people in australia for those fires and they blamed it on climate change. >> laura: we'll be right back.

i am totally blind. and non-24 can throw my days and nights out of sync, keeping me from the things i love to do. talk to your doctor, and call 844-214-2424. >> there are a lot of australians in the room tonight and i know we are all very grateful for the call out to our

fellow compatriots who are suffering. when one country faces a climate disaster, we all face of climate disaster. >> laura: as raymond noted, there are reports tonight out of australia that it was arson, perhaps not climate change. they have arrested many people who apparently have been found with accelerants and other arson-related material. we will bring you updates on that. and it's raining. four days of rain expected in key parts of australia. that's great news. that's all the time we have tonight. good to be back. shannon bream at -- and the "fox news @ night" team. they take it from here. >> shannon: happy new year. great to have you back. we begin with a fox news alert. pentagon existing there is no decision to withdraw our military troops from iraq. the pentagon says it plans to send more troops to the middle east along with b-52 bombers. breaking tonight: