they just blew the game last night in las vegas but thanks so much for watching i believe sandra smith is poised to give you three hours of great viewing , and hopefully you'll be listening to the radio show. ainsley: merry christmas, happy hanukkah we love you.

>> we have great confidence in our son. i'm not concerned about any accusations made against him. it is used to get to me. i think it's kind of foul play. >> sandra: congressman jim jordan joins us in moments. first peter doocy is live in wilmington, delaware. how concerned is joe biden on the impact of this investigation on his presidency? >> he claims that he is not, sandra and that he will keep his job running the federal government and the federal investigation separate. >> can you reach across the aisle to people who will be using this as an attack on you when it is such a personal attack because it's about family? >> it benefits the country,y, i

really mean that. we know who we are. >> you are a better man than i. i'm not sure i could do that. >> it doesn't mean i'm not angry and if i were back in days in high school i wouldn't say come here and go a round. >> we still haven't heard back from hunter biden's lawyer whether or not he has been interviewed by authorities yet as new text messages show that joe biden may claim he never discussed his overseas business deals with hunter but hunter's business deals talked about how important it was to make chinese businessmen think joe was on board. there was a text about a joint venture with the chinese company's cefc to say this. man, you are right. let's get the company set up and tell h, hunter and family the high stakes and get joe involved. the president-elect does not have any public events on the schedule for today. we did already see him attend

church this morning on this the 48th anniversary of the car accident that killed his first wife naomi and daughter amelia. back to you. >> sandra: peter, thank you. let's bring in congressman jim jordan, a member of the house judiciary committee. good morning to you. american people have a lot of questions and it is made clear to us that republican lawmakers have many as well. at what point, you heard peter's reporting, that we don't know yet because we haven't heard from hunter biden's attorney whether or not these very important questions have been asked of hunter about his father's business dealings, about his business dealings and what his father knew about them? at what point do we need to demand that happen? his father is about to become the president of the united states. >> let's think about what we do know. hunter biden took a million from a ukrainian energy company, 4 million from a company with ties to the

communist party in china and asking for 10 million more dollars. we know his father was involved because we have an eyewitness. we have an eyewitness tony bobulinski on your network two months ago before the election talking about the fact that the emails that reference the big guy are a reference to joe biden. we have the email she is they wanted to give to keys to the office building to joe biden. we know the vice president is involved. that's the main focus here. we also have learned just in the last week and a half that hunter biden has been under investigation for two years at the justice department. we know a lot already. i think you're right. we need to have him answer more questions but think about what we already know and frankly the failure of the mainstream press to report it is astounding to me. i think the networks have done 26 seconds on the biden story, which is just amazing to me and a disservice to the american people. >> sandra: hannity teed off on that point last night.

>> hunter or someone else in the biden family might well be receiving cash now from china. joe biden wants to run this country, his son might well be getting cash payments from what is our number one adversary, that the more than a little concerning. what if the last name was trump? i wonder how the media would react? >> sandra: we don't know about ongoing payments from china. we'll see if lawmakers get answers to questions like that. is this a bipartisan push to learn more? we know the media is ignoring it. >> of course it's not. >> sandra: have you heard from any democrats saying well, we do need to ask these important questions? >> of course not. representative comer and i have asked chairman nadler and maloney to do an investigation. crickets from them. this underscores and how important the united states senate races are in georgia because if the democrats win

the senate, do you think gary peters is going to do an investigation? you saw his exchange with ron johnson a couple days ago. gary peters knowing that this was false said it was russian disinformation back in october about the hunter biden story. there is no way. the idea he made that -- you think he will do an investigation? it underscores why keeping the senate in republican hands and winning the two seats in georgia is so important if we want to get to the truth and the facts for the american people. >> sandra: we'll see what impact it has on that. when it comes to eric swalwell we're digging for answers there as well, congressman. we don't seem to be getting any. when nancy pelosi is asked if lawmakers were briefed because your republican colleagues say they were not. she says this and kevin mccarthy just responded this morning. play the sound back-to-back. >> i do think that it's unfortunate that mr. mccarthy is trying to make an issue of this when we all found out at the same time. republican and democratic leaders and the leadership of

the committee were briefed at the same moment. >> i've never been briefed on this. i learned about this the same time you did. in the meantime i've asked for a briefing and twice the f.b.i. has canceled the briefing that they had scheduled with me in the last week. today i will get a briefing. >> sandra: and congressman we had two members of the committee the intel committee on this program yesterday, both chris stewart, brad wenstrup say they were not briefed. what is going on here? >> i think the first question is what is nancy pelosi talking about then? you have three other people supposedly getting briefed and said they weren't. what is she talking about? the last time i checked kevin mccarthy didn't put swalwell on the intel committee, pelosi did. the key question is when did she know and why did she put him on if she did know that this was already happening? if she had information about eric swalwell and the chinese spy, why did she put him on the intel committee in the first

place? >> sandra: what's the answer to that? >> you would have to ask her and she would have to give you the answer. she is the one who put the -- selects the chairman and put democrats members on the intel committee like leader mccarthy does for republicans on that same committee. that's the question. >> sandra: you have an incoming democratic president and eric swalwell possibly compromised congressman sitting on the house intelligence committee. he is not answering questions on it. nancy pelosi says she has no concern about it. does this go anywhere? >> this is a big concern because here we are. "the new york times" has done zero stories on the swalwell story, zero coverage on that. when you have the mainstream press who won't cover real stories for the american people and big tech censoring conservatives that's not a good situation. so i think they'll try to move on from this typically what democrats do and try to keep the american people in the dark.

thank goodness your network is covering this story. i think it's important for the american people to know and important for us to know some of this stuff before the election. there is no way that people in the press didn't know that hunter biden was under investigation back in october. and failed to let the american people know that critical information before the election. >> sandra: we'll continue to cover both of those stories. jim jordan, thank you for being here this morning. appreciate it. wealth -- we'll have more with swalwell in a moment. >> trace: new concerns on the cyberattack on u.s. federal agencies. officials believe hackers tar g*eted at least a half dozen government agencies including the department of energy that overseas our nuclear weapons stockpile. chief white house correspondent john roberts live on the north lawn. good morning. what more did we learn about this hack overnight? >> good morning. just about everyday brings a

new revelation how deep this hack attack go as the government tries to find out exactly where the hackers went. this morning congressional oversight committees hear from the department of energy about a breach of its system. they're investigating an intrusion in several systems including the national nuclear security administration that overseas the u.s. nuclear weapons stockpile. at the moment the breach appears to be limited in scope. the spokesman saying at this point the investigation has found that the malware is isolated to business networks only. has not impacted the mission essential national security functions of the department including the national nuclear security administration. when doe identified vulnerable software immediate action was taken to mitigate the risk and all software vulnerable to this attack was disconnected from the doa network. five federal agencies known to have been affected by the act, energy, department of treasury,

commerce, agriculture and parts of the homeland security department. president trump is tweeting about the new moderna vaccine but no mention of the hack attack. the worst cyberattack against the united states in years. the white house hasn't publicly accused anyone, cybersecurity experts and some lawmakers say it has all the hallmarks of the russian foreign intelligence service, the sbr. president-elect joe biden vowed under his administration malign actors will be punished. >> they'll be held accountable. held accountable. there are financial repercussions for what they did. >> the senator from florida dismissing biden's pledge, listen here. >> i have not ever seen joe biden hold one bad actor anywhere around the world accountable for anything. the way he says these things people laugh because he has never done it.

>> the federal government level an all hands on deck to find out how deep into the computer systems, federal government and private sector it goes. a chilling warning yesterday from the cybersecurity infrastructure security agency which oversees all this saying the solar winds orion program may not be the only one. >> trace: they got into everything. let's bring in marc theesen, co-host of what is going on podcast and a fox news contributor. former dhs advisor talks about the magnitude of the ongoing attack is hard to overstate. the key phrase the ongoing attack. we know they are trying to hold the systems, right?

it was hard to pick up this whole crime and hard to undo. what do you make of the timing of all this, marc? >> well first of all what's troubling about it is that it wasn't discovered by our intelligence community. the way this attack was discovered is they attached malicious software to software updates from a company that provides network software for government agencies and fortune 500 companies and that somebody in one of these companies sent an alert because his credentials had been used to get into the system. we were focused on the wrong thing. russia was doing this. there is a lesson here for us, i think, which is cyberattackers acarkers are ver

like terrorists, right? they use our openness and free society and democracy to attack us. the lesson we leafter 9/11 we can't defend in every place at all times against every possible technique. the only way to deter and stop terrorist attacks is to go on the offense against the terrorists and the same is true for cyberattackers. we have the best offensive cyber capabilities in the world and we are not using them enough to take out and deter people who are attacking us. >> trace: interesting you say the intel missed this, marc. a top u.s. official said quoting here this is looking like the worst hacking case in the history of america. they got into everything. the reason i bring this up is because, you know, chris krebs, the former director of the cybersecurity and national infrastructure security agency wrote an op-ed the title was this. we prepared for more russian interference but this year the

assault on democracy was from within. he goes on to say as election day came and went we continued to monitor networks and work with partners with them reporting any suspicious activity to us and as i said in a news briefing election day was just another tuesday on the internet. normal sorts of scanning and probing were happening but we did not see any successful attacks or damaging disruptions. the question now was, was this just another normal tuesday on the internet? >> it wasn't. we were just looking in the wrong place. keep in mind this was yaush that was behind this. the largest cyberattacker is china. they have hundreds of thousands of people working every day to penetrate u.s. networks both government and private sector for identity theft and intellectual property and military and malicious purposes. again, we cannot defend in every -- first of all we have to try to defend.

we defend in the physical terrain all the time but you cannot defend against any form of attack at all times. the only way to stop this and turn it around is to impose costs on the attackers. and so what we need -- the trump administration has probably done more with offensive cyber than any administration in mystery. i got president trump in an interview to acknowledge he had launched a cyberattack on russia in 2018 over its election interference. we need to start doing the same thing to take out these cyber capabilities before they attack us so these things don't happen in the first place. >> trace: scary to think russia could dismantle our infrastructure without firing a shot. >> exactly. >> sandra: vice president mike pence and second lady karen pence and surgeon general receiving their coronavirus vaccines just a short time ago this morning. it happened at 8:00 a.m.

eastern time. the shots come as an fda advisory panel approves the moderna vaccine. luca tomlinson is live in maryland for us. more welcome news on the vaccine front, lucas. >> good morning, sandra. that's right. the vice president received the new vaccine an hour ago and described what it felt like. >> i especially want to thank the fine medical team at walter reed hospital that administered our vaccine today. i didn't feel a thing. well done. and we appreciate your service to the country. >> late yesterday a panel of fda experts voted 20-1 for emergency approval. plans to vaccinate every member of congress. house speaker nancy pelosi said she planned to get the shot in the next few days. approval of the moderna vaccine with rapid distribution of 5.9

million doses to 3,000 locations across the country. the goal is to vaccinate 20 million american in the coming days. it will be given in two doses a month apart. a key difference the moderna vaccine can be stored in freezers like your kitchen which will be a big help to people in rural america which didn't require the ultracold storage like the pfizer vaccine. dr. fauci told bill hemmer he is optimistic. >> i have looked at the data carefully from both the pfizer and the moderna trials. they are strikingly similar. the efficacy is 94 and 95%. it is quite effective in preventing severe disease. there are no real serious adverse events so the safety profile looks good. >> distribution of the new vaccine should begin this weekend with the first shots expected monday.

>> sandra: lucas tomlinson live from maryland. >> trace: new questions about the vote in the georgia senate runoff. are people moving to the peach state just to vote? former white house strategic communications director alyssa farah is helping with the republicans' campaign and she joins us next. as new details come to light is the media going easy on the hunter biden scandal? >> the fact that they did not cover this is journalistic malpractice and should enrage americans and 14% who said they would not have voted for joe biden had they known this in advance. ♪ you can count on me ♪ i'll be home for christmas ♪ if only in my dreams

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>> sandra: top stories we're watching this morning. covid cases surging in southern california, the icu capacity in the 11-county region is now at 0%. 379 people from california died thursday. the highest number in the state since the pandemic began. >> trace: new images show iran may be doing work at an underground nuclear facility. >> sandra: a new report from "politico" suggests some democrats are now joining a movement to recall california governor gavin newsom. he came under fire for failing to follow his own covid

restrictions. for more on these top stories and others download the fox news app, scan the qr code on your screen or go to foxnews.com/app. >> trace: republicans are mobilizing for the homestretch of the georgia runoff elections with senators ted cruz and tim scott to campaign today. a new report from the atlanta journal constitution 75,000 new voters registered in georgia before the deadline for the elections. jonathan serrie with more on that. good morning. >> according to an updated voter registration list obtained by the atlanta journal constitution 76,000 new voters registered in georgia during the roughly two-month period between the deadline to register in time for the presidential election, the general election in november, and the deadline to register to vote in the two senate runoffs taking place in this state in

january. athe new voters are young with 56% of them under 35 years old. some are new georgia residents, others just turned 18. none has a voting record in the state. because younger voters the end to favor democrats the influx of new registrants under 35 could help challenge gears warnock and ossoff in a state that joe biden won by just over 12,000 votes. early in the election cycle some liberal activists had called on supporters to move to georgia to vote in the runoff. that prompted warnings from state elections official efs that anyone register to vote in georgia must have the intention of staying in georgia. those who game the system face up to 10 years in prison. however, state officials maintain there is no evidence of wide scale voter fraud and according to the atlanta journal constitution analysis the rate of new voters who registered during the last two months is roughly equivalent to what they saw during other two-month periods over the past

two years. democrats have been very active in recruiting new voters in the state but republicans are also adopting strategy from the democrats' playbook now encouraging supporters to vote early or cast absentee ballots for senators david perdue and kelly loeffler. both parties are reminding their supporters that the outcome of these two senate runoffs in january will determine the balance of power in the u.s. senate. back to you, trace. >> trace: jonathan serrie, thank you. >> sandra: for more on the georgia senate runoff elections let's bring in former white house communications director alyssa farah. great to have you here. welcome back. as far as the jeremiah wright story is concerned with warnock having hosted him as a guest speaker back in 2014, knowing he said this, listen. >> the government gives and

they give bigger prisons and then says god bless america, no, no, no, not god bless america, god damn america. >> warnock has defended that. >> what you are witnessing in realtime is a far left attempted takeover of the state of georgia and very concerning specifically with some of the viewpoints that raphael warnock has endorsed. this is not a jimmy carter democrat, not a georgia democrat. this is a far left democrat who frankly if elected, which i hope he will not be, would take kamala harris's mantel as the most liberal center in the sen rat. pro-marxist viewpoints and sympathized with farrakhan and brought in some of the most far left members of the house to support him. the support of aoc and others. this is not a georgia democrat. this is somebody who is fully

funded by the coast ali coastal elites. independent minded and not far left by any means. >> sandra: republicans are mobilizing in that state. ted cruz, tim scott and others. as far as the message what it comes to new voter registrations you just heard our reporter on, the georgia secretary of state says if you illegally participate in our elections you might be spending a lot more time in georgia than you planned. 75,000 new georgia voter registrations. what do you predict will be the impact from that? >> well listen, democrats have made flipping georgia to blue a

top priority. they've been pumping millions of dollars from new york and california to try to flip georgia to the left. it is something that we're prepared to deal with in the ground game for the republican candidates but at the end of the day what i want to convey to georgia voters right, left or center, jon ossoff and raphael warnock are not representative of georgia values. they are funded by coastal he leets trying to shift georgia to look like california. i don't think that's what the voters of georgia will come out for. >> sandra: exactly why georgians should vote for senator kelly loeffler. warnock is a radical liberal candidate anywhere in the country, he writes. he says this. warnock's policies don't represent georgia values. he is as unabashed marxist sympathizer who would destroy

the american dream and repeatedly praised marxism and socialism and slammed capitalism writing the marxist critique has much to teach the black church and pay attention to the distribution of wealth. what do you want to add to that when you look at what is at stake with these upcoming elections? >> well, it's terrifying. as i mentioned, if elected warnock would be to the left of a kamala harris and bernie sanders. we do have senator tim scott will be in georgia campaigning. somebody who has shared the message of creating an inclusive economy that benefits all americans. he has been leading on the charge to do policing reform in a smart way that supports our police departments but deals with racist issues that may exist in some systems. he will be somebody championing what is the republican vision for georgia, you know, and

frankly it is not what warnock is selling. >> sandra: how is the president feeling about the upcoming elections and what is he saying on that? >> he is feeling good and he will continue to be engaged. we have some other big names close to trump world going out to georgia to make the case. listen, senator loeffler and senator perdue are people who will carry on the american first pro-trump agenda in the senate about economic growth, rebuilding our economy after dealing with covid. they are the right people to be there. as you mentioned the balance of power in the senate is on the line here. we cannot walk into a situation where there is no back stop against nancy pelosi, aoc and the far left liberals in the house. >> sandra: great to have you on this morning. thank you. >> thanks. >> trace: the mainstream media largely down played hunter biden's business dealings ahead of the election. how would they have covered the story if he was the son of a high profile republican candidate? and 'tis the season for chicken.

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come clean entirely what was going on with not just his son but his brother and sister, his entire family has been trading on his name and public life for 50 years. joe biden should have a press conference to address all of this. >> trace: senator cotton calling on joe biden to address his son's business dealings. hunter biden is under investigation about his business dealings in china. the president elect is saying he is not concerned about any accusations. i'm joined by marie harf, executive director for serve america pac and charlie hurt from the washington times. what do you make of tom cotton's call for joe biden to have a press conference and lay it on the table? >> i think he is exactly right. obviously. the fact that he would go on -- joe biden would go on the colbert report or whatever comedy show he went on to talk about this shows how he is making a mockery of all of it.

these are very serious charges. charges the biden family has used their influence in order to make millions of dollars from major opponents, global opponents of america? and nobody seems to be asking any questions about it. it is very troubling. >> trace: you know what, marie, lindsey graham made a good point. listen to him and get your take on this, marie. >> can you imagine if this were the trump emails? if you had information about the trump family trying to impress the chinese to get a joint venture with a chinese energy company? so the american media is pathetic when it comes to investigating allegations against democrats. >> trace: if three years ago, marie, if cnn had emails of donald trump junior asking a russian energy giant if they could send $10 million and the whole trump family extends

their well wishes, i don't know. your thoughts. >> well, we basically have evidence of that over and over again the trump family using their name to make money personally whether it's ivanka getting treatment in china and elsewhere. i'm a little -- the hypocrisy of tom cotton hunter biden had foreign business contacts is outrageous. media outlets are reporting it. the "wall street journal" looked into the story before the election. they found joe biden had no role. they found no evidence that he had done anything wrong. and outlets are looking into it right now. the problem, trace, some of the insinuationesque made aren't backed up by the facts. there is an investigation. we'll see where that leads. random text messages and emails don't lead up to evidence of joe biden doing anything wrong. it is not there yet. >> trace: they point a certain

direction, charlie. the evidence is mounting a little bit. pointing a certain direction. it's the early stages. marie is right. six weeks ago not a great deal of evidence but it is trickling in. >> i would argue there is an enormous amount of evidence. you have actual emails that were parties trying to get millions of dollars and getting millions of dollars from foreign powers. this isn't a smoking gun. it is video of the gun going off. it is so obvious. the only question that might be out there was the degree to which joe biden himself is compromised by these million dollar deals with places like ukraine and china. that's the only thing that is at debate here. >> trace: lastly, marie, the "chicago tribune" saying now the media is covering it after the election. i'll give you the final word. >> well, look, charlie, you may have questions about joe biden's role but until this

point we have seen no evidence that joe biden, the president elect, played a role here. >> that's not true. >> you and your fellow conservatives are so outraged by hunter biden making money overseas are you that outraged the trump children have been proven to do that? are you mad about that or just mad about joe biden? >> there are no emails show ivanka trump going to china and bringing home millions of dollars based on her family's name. >> yes there are. we have our answer. >> those are just conspiracy theories. >> it is not. >> trace: thank you both. happy friday. >> merry christmas. >> sandra: a nice, respectful debate. happy holidays for the stock market a few moments ago. it's down a few points just hit all-time highs across the board. the dow, the nasdaq, the s & p 500, the dow still firmly above

30,000 on hopes of this moderna vaccine soon to become available and also as markets await stimulus, a possible deal ahead of a weekend deadline and we're watching that. eric swalwell remains quiet as calls grow for him to step down from the house intelligence committee. will he explain himself? plus another vaccine approved by an fda panel. what a second vaccine could mean in the fight to end the pandemic. >> this week was the beginning of the end of the coronavirus pandemic. but with cases rising across the country, hospitalizations rising across the country, we have a ways to go. hot liquid medicine. powerful relief so you can restore and recover. theraflu hot beats cold.

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>> trace: just in time for your holiday zoom party popeyes is bringing back a chicken inspired ugly sweater. last year the item sold out. the fast food chain says proceeds will go to the popeye's foundation to help families and children in need this holiday season. >> sandra: love the great cause. i don't think it's an ugly sweater. it's not that bad. i've seen ugly christmas sweaters. >> trace: listen, $10 if you wear that monday the whole show. >> sandra: you could rock that. i'm sending it your way,. >> trace: $20 you wear it on monday. >> sandra: i love an excuse to wear an ugly christmas sweater. vice president mike pence receives the first dose of pfizer's vaccine early this morning. all this coming on the heels of

an fda panel approving moderna's vaccine. marc siegel joins us now. his first dose mike pence received and his wife. dr. siegel, i'm sure you'll tell us the importance of that so people are not fearing this vaccine. >> i really, really like that he is doing this. he is 61 years old. he is not in the high-risk group over 70 but comes in contact with a lot of people and he is an essential worker as the vice president. he is sending the message to the country, i do it, you do it. it's what we've been talking about all week when we showed the healthcare workers taking it and considering it an honor. it will improve vaccine compliance in a country with too much vaccine helps tennessee. -- hesitancy. >> sandra: have you gotten your vaccine? >> i'll get it over the next

week or two. our medical center -- i would love to get it on this program. our medical center set it up to give the icu and emergency department first. those who are seeing covid patients the most frequently and closest contacts with ventilators have gotten it first. i'll be in the next wave. >> sandra: the roll-out operation vaccination. dr. siegel, it stuck with me. if i could put up the difference in the pfizer and moderna vaccines, efficacy rates are pretty similar. pfizer is just above moderna's but really high. one big difference is the storage temperature. we know the challenges of transporting and holding onto the pfizer vaccine at those very low temperatures. one big difference with the moderna vaccine it doesn't have to be kept in such cold temperatures. do you foresee either of these emerging as a clear winner as far as the more used vaccine in this country, dr. siegel?

>> you know, sandra, the answer is in your question. great question. the answer is that i think both of them are very, very similar in terms of how effective they are. side effects we're starting to focus on occasional side effect we're seeing with allergies coming out. somebody fainted. that's a reaction we see a lot of time in the needles and pain. the more vaccines will go out the more you'll see the rare side effects. dr. fauci told me something more important the other day. moderna can be kept in a refrigerator for 30 days. in other words, we ship it around in frozen temperatures on ice, pfizer on dry ice. when you actually have the moderna vaccine you can keep it in the refrigerator, the regular 35 to 40 degrees fahrenheit refrigerator, take it out and out at room temperature for 12 hours. that means it can be in a doctor's office or in the pharmacy. it doesn't have to be in a

major medical center or vaccine center that is set up just for it. so across the country we'll probably see the moderna vaccine given a lot more often because of that issue. >> sandra: i have to go but real quickly have there been any reports of adverse effects from those on the front lines that have received the vaccine so far? >> absolutely not. there was just one or two allergies. one allergy that occurred. again you'll see that to the ingredients in a vaccine. no, across the country so far this week extremely well tolerated vaccine. our own healthcare workers are still working after having received it. >> sandra: we'll see you when you are ready to roll up your sleeve to get yours. >> very soon. >> sandra: thanks so much, doctor. >> trace: text messages obtained by fox news show former business associates of hunter biden wanted his father involved in a joint venture with a chinese firm. does joe biden need to address the investigation?

"fox news sunday" anchor chris wallace on that top of the hour. plus one restaurant owner going into survival mode after he had to close the doors at five of his businesses. he will join us next to talk about his fight to save the two restaurants he has left. that's how much veteran homeowners can save every year by using their va benefits to refinance at newday. record low rates have dropped to new all time lows. with the va streamline refi there's no appraisal, no income verification, and no money out of pocket. one call can save you $3000 a year. ♪ you can count on me

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>> trace: restaurant owners are fighting back against tough covid restrictions that could put many of them out of business in california. chef rodney worth finding a workaround of sorts. he is the owner of two restaurants. chef, good to see you. you said i have never broken the law in my life but i'm in survival mode right now. $20,000 fines. assault and battery zero bail. that said you feel like you are being villainized, what are your thoughts?

>> we're in survival mode right now trying to stay afloat right now. we don't know what to do. we've done everything they've said to do and people have got tents thousands of dollars on tents, we have outside dining, the best sanitizer, we have training. we are dying the death of a thousand cuts right now. >> trace: you said you were leting people eat at some of the tables you had set up outside and getting pushback on that. i know a lot of places around california the cities have done that and health departments have gone back and said you can't do that. you can't let people sit outside at any time. >> yeah, so there has been people bringing their own picnic chairs and tailgate parties getting the food to go sitting outside, sitting on their tailgates or bringing their chairs. we basically you could stand and eat on my patio and i can't get fined. if you sit in one of my chairs i can get fined. we aren't serving anybody. we were just letting people

take the food to go. they would have to go silverware and a trash can and they would eat on our chairs. so now we were told that we cannot do that. so they are sitting on the hard surfaces around the restaurant and then people did a picnic protest and started bringing their own chair. >> trace: the health department says it has been established the three key risk factors, close proximity for others for an extended period of time without wearing a mask. all these things happen with outdoor dining. other experts say that's not science, it's just speculation. the restaurants in california have been shut down for 13 days. the infection rate has never been higher and a lot of people are saying look, that proves it is not the restaurants, it's something else happening here. >> yeah. i went to a big box store the other day and it was -- there were a thousand people in there. we were doing the 25% inside at

one time and then social distancing outside with the tables six feet apart. very few people. it was just fine. we have not had one case of covid in our restaurants with 55 employees and all the restaurants near us we haven't heard of any cases of covid at all. so all the owners keep very tight touch with everybody to know what we're doing and we haven't heard of anything. we use the best sanitizers. we've all taken classes through the health department through the years and all have certification. we take this very serious. and we don't want anybody to get covid. i don't want covid. we're just trying to survive right now. >> trace: chef, i have to go but want to ask you if this thing is extended, this ban, are you going to make it? >> we're fighting. our community has been very loyal to us. they have been coming in and

tipping our employees very well. they've been doing a lot of to gos. the picnic protest people are coming out. we're seeing an uptick in sales in the last few weeks. >> trace: chef rodney worth, best of luck to you and your employees. >> sandra: our best to him. a growing paper trail meanwhile shining a spotlight on hunter biden's foreign business dealings and efforts to get his father, joe biden, on board to make it look like a family venture. welcome to a brand-new hour of "america's newsroom." happy to report it's friday morning. good morning, trace, i'm sandra smith. >> trace: good morning to you. again good morning. i'm trace gallagher. the latest revelations adding to the steady drip of news on the president-elect's son as federal prosecutors conduct a criminal investigation. his dad says he is not concerned. many republicans are calling for a special counsel. ohio congressman jim jordan

earlier saying he hopes there is a real and thorough investigation to get the truth to the american people. >> we know the vice president is involved. that to me is the main focus here and we also have learned just in the last week and a half that hunter biden has been under investigation for two years at the justice department. so we know a lot already. i think you are right, we do need to have him answer more questions. >> trace: rich edson is live in washington joe biden is finally talking about this a bit. >> good morning, trace. president-elect joe biden is chiding those who are criticizing him over his son and despite a federal investigation he has confidence in hunter. >> i am not concerned about any accusations that have been made against him. it is used to get to me. i think it's kind of foul play but look, it is what it is and he is a grown man. he is the smartest man i know

with pure intellectual capacity and as long as he is good, we're good. >> the transition team points out when biden mentions foul play there he is answering a question about those who use hunter against him. federal officials are still investigating hunter biden. fox could be taind more messages from hunter's business associates. quote let's get the company set up. tell h and family the huge stakes and get joe involved. he strengthens our u.s. to the chinese as it looks like a -- it is a unique selling point for usp. it could also mean u.s. persons. messages are from 2017 shortly after joe biden left the vice presidentsy. they were trying to set up a

joint venture with a chinese company. >> trace: rich, thank you. >> sandra: for more on this let's bring in chris wallace, anchor of "fox news sunday". great to see you this morning. good morning to you. so we're definitely learning more, we're getting a look at some of these messages. there is a paper trail. what are you able to make of what we're learning in this story? >> well, the key in terms of joe biden is what is he going to do about the investigation? i think you will see a lot of pressure on them. affecting his choice of attorney general and it will affect the question that he will have to answer whether or not he is going to keep the u.s. attorney who has been leading the investigation in delaware on the job to continue the investigation. normally a new president comes in and appoints new u.s. attorneys. but that gets a little more complicated when the u.s. attorney, this particular one is investigating your son.

there is some talk inside the administration about appointing the trump administration, about appointing a special counsel but interestingly enough you saw even john cornyn, a conservative republican senator from texas say i'm a little concerned about all of these special counsels. they aren't accountable to anybody. they go on forever. so i think one of the questions that certainly will be asked of joe biden's pick for attorney general when he makes it and of the vice president, president-elect when he gives interviews will you keep this investigation going even though it affects your son? >> sandra: very interesting. by suggesting the white house might be thinking about appointing a special counsel that would be the justice department, chris. do you think they'll move in that direction? peter navarro suggested something along those lines with martha last night. >> well, it is something that's out there. we know that attorney general

barr gave the people looking into john durham looking into the whole russia hoax -- alleged russia hoax question gave special protection and it is something you could imagine this administration doing. whether they'll go ahead and do it or not as i say. there is some pushback from republicans in congress. that doesn't necessarily affect the president's decision as to whether he wants to push. remember now there is an acting attorney general after december 23rd because bill barr will be out. >> sandra: meanwhile my suggestion is everybody gets a little rest over the holidays, chris. when we get back we hit the ground running covering the georgia senate races. "politico" headline this morning. how georgia is driving congress toward a stimulus deal. they see it as a winning issue in the battle over the senate. how is that, chris? >> well, i'm not so sure it's a winning issue but it is a losing issue if you are seen as

blocking it. apparently some republicans are concerned that if they don't past covid relief remember it's the two incumbents in the special elections david perdue and kelly loeffler are both republicans and if they are part of a republican majority that blocks covid relief, then it could hurt them in the special election. so i think that republicans think it's important to pass covid relief for a variety of reasons, like americans need it more important but also it would help the two republican incumbents running in the special elections on january 5. as far as democrats are concerned they see political advantage. i don't mean to be cynical but when you spent a lot of time covering washington you can't help it but you have this one enormous need. millions of people unemployed, millions of businesses hanging on by their fingernails. the need which has been here for a while is getting more profound and now you see in

both parties political self-interest. when you have need and self-interest together, usually things get done. >> sandra: chris, you bring that point up as we just led into you with that chef in california and you just hear the pain and struggle, the restrictions, how they are just fighting to survive in so many of these cases. final question to you, chris, and i also want to hear who you have coming up this weekend. would this be the -- does this get the help those struggling americans need? is this enough once this deal actually gets done? >> well, again like everything else in washington there is kind of a division of party lines. one of the reasons nancy pelosi says she is supporting this is because president-elect biden says this is a down payment and after he is inaugurated on january 20th he will come back and ask for more. he is saying and a lot of democrats are saying it's not enough but it's a down payment. on the other hand you hear some republicans in the senate

saying no, this might be it. this might be enough. so i don't think it's clear whether we'll see another bite at the apple. we are talking about huge amounts of money. almost a trillion dollars, the federal stimulus that was passed when obama first came in in the great recession in 2009, that was $780 billion. this is more than that. the only reason this seems relatively small is because we passed 2 or 3 trillion back in the spring. >> sandra: we'll watch that and make news on that this weekend because your guest coming up is jen sacky? >> the incoming white house press secretary under joe biden. lots to talk to her about both in terms of covid relief, in terms of the cabinet and the policies that president-elect biden is putting together. talk about hunter biden and some people are saying dr. jill biden should not go by the

title doctor. we'll talk about all that with jen psaki on "fox news sunday". >> it is unfortunate that mr. mccarthy is trying to make an issue of this when we all found out at the same time. republican and democratic leaders, and the leadership of the committee were briefed at the same moment. make sure you know that. he keeps going around saying -- he knew when we knew. >> i have never been briefed on this. >> trace: who was briefed and when on the communist party spying program and pressure gross for swalwell to step down from the intelligence committee after a chinese spy helped him raise money and put an intern in his office in 2014. more on this later with senator

josh hawley saying it is unbelievable that swalwell is still on the intel xity. >> sandra: developing now a major drug bust involving several big-name american universities. the feds cracking a drug ring they say was run by current and former students at the university of north carolina at chapel hill, duke, appalachian state university. they charged 21 hardened drug dealers in this operation. charles watson is live in atlanta with more on this. charles, what a story. this is allegedly a massive drug operation. what are we learning? >> many of the 21 people who were arrested and charged in this investigation are connected to fraternities on those three college campuses. investigation led by local, state and federal authorities reveals that individuals involved allegedly sold thousands of pounds of illegal drugs to students in or around at least three greek fraternities of the campuses of

unc, duke and appalachian state university since at least 2017. law enforcement say current and former students on those campuses allegedly trafficked more than 1.5 million worth of marijuana, cocaine, xanax and steroids. they would ship the drugs from california through the u.s. postal service and when they were sold the suspects allegedly laundered the money they made or sent thousands of dollars back to the supplier through the mail in encrypted apps like bin mo. >> it wasn't hard to see what was going on such that when we contacted our partners at u.s. attorney's office we were all quite shocked at how brazen these young men and women were that were moving these narcotics. >> a statement on thursday the chancellor of unc chapel hill said the university is

committed to working with law enforcement to fully understand the involvement of any university individuals or organizations so that disciplinary action can be taken and officials at duke and appalachian state university say they're fully cooperating with the investigation as well. law enforcement say they expect to bring more arrests and charges in this case. back to you. >> sandra: charles watson on that story. more coming up. >> trace: congress working overtime this weekend to hammer out a new covid relief bill. will it include stimulus checks and how big could they be? congressman josh hawley ahead with an insider look at the talks on capitol hill. plus the push for the truth in the hunter biden investigation and the possible impact on the incoming president. >> this is a cloud over this presidency. this is like political fly paper. it will stick and stick and stick.

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>> sandra: this just in from the supreme court moments ago. they have thrown out a lawsuit seeking to block president trump's plan to exclude immigrants living in the u.s. illegally from the population count used to allocate congressional districts to state. this just in. a 6-3 ruling gives president

trump a short-term victory as he pursues his hard line policies toward imgaition in the final weeks of his presidency. that just in from the supreme court. we'll have more on that coming up. >> trace: president-elect joe biden defending his son's overseas business affairs telling steven colbert he is not concerned about the accusations against hunter. chris bedford, a senior editor at the federalist. good to see you. i want to play the texts for you the back and forth between hunter biden's former business partners we're talking about mr. james gill area and tony bobulinski. man, you are right, let's get the company set up and then tell h, hunter and family the high stakes and get involved. a few days earlier he texted bobulinski, a-lister to meet chairman sunday. bobulinski replies a-lister, top person at the same level of chairman who would like to

access china or money. the way it works culturally for them and empowers the b family and us and the next day he says think joe may come sunday? i'm hoping, bobulinski replies yeah, i told jim biden. that's a no-brainer, if he could make it he should be there. what do you think about this back and forth? >> given this interview we just got to watch we have to get used to another four years of this where you see a comedian up there and joe biden up there claiming this is republicans trying to get at him through his son when it more plainly was members of the communist party trying to get at him through his son. a danger to u.s. security. the fact that his son and business partners were willing to try to bring him on show a foolhardiness here. when the next messages went back and forth he was no longer a u.s. official, he can do what

he wants. but everyone knew he was planning to run for president and a lack of judgment and willing to compromise joe biden to get to him with the chinese. >> trace: you talked about him being on colbert. i want to play some for you and get your response. >> we have great confidence in our son. i am not concerned about any accusations that have been made against him. it is used to get to me. i think it's kind of foul play. >> trace: biden spokesperson clarified saying he wasn't talking about the investigation itself but republicans using hunter biden against him. >> republicans using hunter biden against him is completely false. this is a worthwhile investigations for republicans to pursue. i would never ask anyone to get up on public stage and disown their own son or yell about their own son. joe biden won't do that. the american people and republicans have a right to ask

questions about the chinese communist party, not the gop trying to get at joe biden through his son. >> trace: the final question each day we keep getting these emails. a little bit more information and it is building a scenario. do you see this being added to in the days to come? >> yes, there is no reason to see this is going to stop at all. as far as i can tell there is no reason to see why donald trump would not appoint a special counsel to actually go after this. i know there are a lot of people and a classic republican move saying let's not play the same games democrats play. after the last four years there are enough people in washington that might be sick of that. >> trace: i have to go. we asked this earlier. if three years ago somebody had emails of donald trump junior asking for $10 million from a russian energy chief and saying the whole trump family was sending their greetings, your final thoughts. >> there would be a no-knock raid like happened to donald trump and this is exactly what they accused to trump family of

being guilty of. looks like a biden family might be. >> trace: good to see you. thank you, sir. >> you, too. >> sandra: we are learning the f.b.i. is going to be holding a briefing this afternoon on the eric swalwell/chinese spy scandal. kevin mccarthy and possibly speaker nancy pelosi will be there. all this as there is growing calls for swalwell's removal from the house intelligence committee. lots of questions being aimed at speaker nancy pelosi and what she knew. >> i would love for her to be asked why did you pick -- what did the f.b.i. tell you, when did they tell you that? did you really put him on the house intel committee investigating president trump for having contact with russia when you knew that he had a relationship with a chinese spy? >> sandra: next we'll show you swalwell's reaction when he asked about it. a political revolt in

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last month made up more than a quarter of all covid-19 deaths statewide in new york. download the fox news app for these stories and more and scan the qr code on your screen or go to foxnews.com/apps >> do you plan on stepping down from the committee or anything like that or resigning from congress? can you tell us anything about your relationship with ms. fang? anything in general? congressman swalwell? >> sandra: silence. eric swalwell not answering questions about his past ties to a suspected chinese spy as calls for him to step down the intelligence committee are growing. josh hawley is a member of the senate judiciary committee. that moment, good morning. that moment happened yesterday in eric swalwell returning to

his home in the washington area out for a run. he was asked questions on this, important questions that the american people are wanting answers to. he said nothing. >> well, i can't imagine why this guy is still on the intelligence committee and why we still don't have the details of what his relationship with this chinese spy was. we know the spy raised money for him for heaven sake. you want to talk about an election integrity issue. chinese spies raising money for democrat politicians, bundling money and putting people in his office. it is extraordinary and again i can't believe he is still on the intelligence committee over at the house. >> sandra: brad wenstrup from that committee joined me yesterday and said this. >> we would need to know what nancy pelosi knew and when she knew it. same with adam schiff and same with swalwell and same with the f.b.i. that's the only way we'll get to the bottom of this. this is not going "way, i can promise you that. we have to get these answers. >> sandra: all right.

there is an f.b.i. briefing as we just reported this afternoon apparently kevin mccarthy will be there, nancy pelosi may be there as well. we don't know yet. how far do you want to see your republican colleagues, particularly on that committee, push for answers? are you, too, game for calling for the removal of him from this committee in the meantime? >> i think he should be off the committee. there is no doubt about that. i can't believe he is still on it. i think we've got to figure out what in the world went on there in terms of this spy. what exactly -- what money did she raise for him. was it legal, foreign money, what influence did she have in the office? she got people placed in his capitol hill office. were they also connected to the chinese government? this is a major espionage issue. it is not the only one out of california. democrat dianne feinstein in california had a chinese spy on her staff for years. what is going on with nancy

pelosi's california democrat party? i think we need to get some answers. >> sandra: senator, it boggles me knowing there are questions not being answered and a possible compromised congressman sitting on an intel committee receiving classified information that more isn't being done faster on this issue. so are you going to get the details of this f.b.i. briefing this afternoon? are you going to ask for what they're told by the f.b.i.? >> i certainly will but it hasn't been offered to senators. not to my knowledge. i certainly haven't been invited. to your point, this just shows you that we really still have no idea over a week, what is it two weeks since the story broke, we still have no idea, really, of the details, of the depth of the chinese espionage's ring ability to get inside that office, inside swalwell's campaign. what other information they may have gathered. we're totally in the dark. >> sandra: we'll wait more details on that in the meantime i want to ask you about the

next round of stimulus for the american people. i know that you are calling for something greater. here is mitch mcconnell i believe a few moments ago on this, news from him. listen. >> in fact i'm more optimistic now than i was last night that a bipartisan framework for a major rescue package is very close at hand. >> sandra: so is this going to happen? >> i can tell you this, i'm certainly not going to consent to the senate going home for christmas until we've voted on direct relief for working families in america. i will not consent to it. i will go to the floor shortly in about an hour and ask for an up and down vote for $1200 for individuals and $2400 for couples and $500. this has to be in the covid relief bill. if it is not i will not consent to the senate leaving. >> sandra: why is that your

request? why are you going there with it? >> working families are in desperate need. we have unemployment now edging back up. millions of working folks who are out of work and other folks who have work but missing shifts and taking wage reductions because of covid. they can't afford to go to the doctor or buy food. the food needs in this country are exploding. working people ought to be first in line for relief, not last. let's not forget they were left out completely initially of the covid relief deals. no direct relief even a new days ago. we have to make sure working people get relief. they ought to be top priority. >> sandra: does that give them the help they need >> a direct check for $1200 for every individual. working people. it is targeted. for those folks it would make a tremendous difference. it lets them make the decisions what is best for their family. that's what we need to do.

>> sandra: quickly if i could circle back on this eric swalwell story. for a second there in the lower third it identified him as republican from missouri. he is a democrat from california to be clear on that. if you could being that the story will move forward this afternoon with the f.b.i. briefing, i asked you how far you want to see your republican colleagues push on this story but how crucial is it to get to the bottom of this when you look at how widespread the espionage and spy rings are and what you see in washington >> senator dianne feinstein had a chinese spy on her staff. you look at the fact the chinese were able to eric swalwell to develop a year's long relationship and get access to the inner workings of his staff and access to his capitol hill office. get access to his campaign. that's extraordinary. look at hunter biden, by the way. >> sandra: what are we doing to stop this and to try to weed

this out? >> well, what needs to happen is our relationship with china needs to be totally re-examineed. we need to cut off these espionage has got to be cut off at the knees. shut down things like tik tok and out of the trade deals with china. china has been able to do whatever they want to do. the espionage is the latest. back to swalwell at the very least he ought to be off this committee, the intelligence committee? it is unbelievable. >> sandra: we appreciate your time this morning, senator. thank you. >> thank you. >> sandra: all right. network of hardened drug dealers selling narcotics on college campuses and growing calls for president trump to get a special counsel for the hunter biden investigation and what it could mean for president elect joe biden. this holiday at t-mobile, get an iphone 12 with 5g,

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>> trace: as president trump faces calls to appoint a special counsel to investigate hunter biden our next guest says there is significant evidence that hunter has been compromised by the chinese government. k.t. mcfarland is a former national security advisor. you think a special counsel to investigate hunter biden is imperative. tell us why and why you think there are national security implications. >> okay, first of all why we need to investigate. go through the facts, trace. china will be the most important national security decisions that president biden makes during the course of his presidency. number two, hunter biden has received hundreds of millions of dollars of contracts over the years from the chinese government, chinese companies. number three, the justice department is going to be put in a difficult decision. the intelligence community to

on its own investigate hunter biden and any connection he might have to vice president biden when he becomes president. number four, joe biden has had a long history of being soft on china. looking the other way. during the campaign he said china is no strategic threat. a special counsel is the only way we'll find out if there is any there there. if i was joe biden and had nothing to hide i would want a special counsel. i would want to have my record be examined and them saying there is no there there. but if there is something there, the american people need to know. >> trace: senator joe manchin was asked about special counsel and whether joe biden might get involved in this or get in the way and he said no. watch him. >> on the hunter biden investigation do you have confidence that joe biden as the president will not interfere. >> absolutely. joe biden will not interfere. not in his dna. not in his dna. he believes in the rule of law

and i guarantee it will be done in a proper way and i feel very confident about that. >> trace: instead of a special counsel let whoever is doing it now keep going. >> that's not necessarily what would happen. what's happening now is if the u.s. attorneys if different states looking into hunter biden, tax issues. when a new president comes in those u.s. attorneys they get replaced. so does their investigation continue? look, it is not about is joe biden a crook or not a crook. i know what it's like inside government. is the justice department really going to go after a president that they really like, that they feel strongly in favor of? it's a career breaker. it is a career buster for anybody who would investigate the president or his staff or his family. so no, i think let's all be safe about it. put it away from politics and let the special counsel do their job and tell the american people what's going on. >> trace: you write if a

special counsel finds no evidence of wrongdoing we can all move on. if there is something to the charges the american people deserve to know who they elected as president if he has been compromised by a foreign power. we could just a bit more sunlight. your final thoughts on this. >> the chinese -- who knows what they are up to? eric swalwell, joe biden, all of the hacking they've done, intellectual property left. the american people need to take a cold, hard look at china. the way to do it is through hunter biden and the financial relationship business, political and thought leaders have with the chinese government. >> trace: a little more sunlight. k.t. mcfarland, always good to see you. thank you. >> thank you, trace. >> sandra: a major drug bust involving students at several big name universities. how the feds uncovered it next.

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>> sandra: the feds have charged 21 people in a major drug bust at three north carolina universities. the university of north carolina at chapel hill, duke and appalachian state funneled marijuana and harder drugs to those schools. all this after an investigation that started more than two years ago. let's bring in criminal defense attorney jonna spilbor. this is hard drugs, cocaine and others. this is shocking a lot of people. >> shocking indeed because what we have here are at least a dozen college students going to be trading grad school for a prison cell. what i heard yesterday in the news conference wasn't just a small little drug bust happening on a couple of

college campuses. it was essentially organized crime happening on our college campuses under everybody's nose. that's the scary part about this. >> sandra: what will happen to these 21 defendants that are involved? >> so this is interesting because i am a firm believer in the presumption of innocence. my experience tells me there are certain crimes that are hard to prove and other crimes that leave forensic footprints. this is the latter. when you're dealing with a drug ring you have people who need to communicate with other people. you have a money trail. most importantly, you will have people at the bottom of this pyramid who will give up names and information to get themselves out of trouble now that the gig is up. so this will be fairly easy for prosecutors to actually prosecute and get convictions here. look, we're dealing with major drug offenses. these people are looking at

potentially years in a federal prison and add to that the fact they're college students. even if they get some leniency from a judge, when you go to apply for a job and you are up against somebody who doesn't have a felony conviction but you do, come on, life is not going to be the same for these students at all. >> sandra: the u.s. attorney matthew martin said no one is above the law including college students and fraternity members at elite universities. this is about saving lives. i know you are also making a bigger picture side bar to this story about fraternities and what has been happening in recent years and what has been uncovered as happening behind closed doors at some of these major american university frat houses. >> i know. i know my opinion might be unpopular but historically let's take a look. first of all we have hazing and people who die unfortunate deaths because of them. you have sex assault cases stemming from different fraternity activities and now

we have this, which like i said is being described almost as if it is organized crime in these frat houses. it makes you take pause and wonder why do we continue to have them on college campuses if they've become more of a liability than what their original purpose was, to network and to help people with their careers. because this is not that. >> sandra: we'll continue to follow this story and the details from it as they emerge. jonna, great to see you this morning, thank you. >> thank you. >> sandra: trace. >> trace: tom cruise with a sudden change in his production schedule after his rant went viral. details on that plus a talk show defends president-elect biden's deputy chief of staff over her not safe for work comments about republicans. ♪ every veteran, every service member out there,

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rallying behind jennifer o'malley dillon after she used to word to describe republicans in an interview with glamour this week. carley shimkus. put up marco rubio's tweet. he says quoting here. biden talks about unity and healing. you want to know what they really think? read how the person he wants as the next white house deputy chief of staff called republicans in congress a bunch of fers. >> you could see it on the screen. go ahead. >> the reason this comment by jennifer o'malley dillon is getting so much attention isn't because republicans aren't getting the vapers over an expletive to describe the gop but the position of her saying in the same sentence during that glamour magazine interview team biden wants to reach across the aisle and work with

republicans and trashing them. it is being used as proof that biden's unity message is an empty promise. and people like marco rubio who are pointing this out are being accused of faux outrage. there is no faux outrage. civility in politics has left the building. joe biden has promised to bring it back and one of his top staffers a reflection of him clearly is not on the same page with that message. >> trace: ?e is saying we want to unify, we want the democrats to come in with the [bleep]ers to come in. we want to be a happy family. joy behar is defending o'malley dillon and going after marco rubio. >> you talking about a guy who wants the overthrow a fair election, who voxs the pandemic and separates children from

their parents and they are worried about this? really, marco, shut up. >> trace: marco, shut up. >> it is not just republicans that are talking about this. axios is reporting that some biden advisors are frustrated with o'malley dillon because her comment was off ramp for the biden campaign. his message has been a return to normalcy, working with republicans to find common ground. while joe biden may at this point want those things there are all the forces around him that don't. before jennifer o'malley dillon was biden's campaign manager she is beto o'rourke's campaign manager and all in on the gun buyback and bans on certain weapons. not the middle of the road politician that joe biden has painted himself to be. >> trace: hillary clinton said people who stood by donald trump for four years are claiming to be offended that a

democratic campaign manager used a curse word? i don't think so. one of the ladies on the view said she was a little off point. if you talk about unity, probably not the best way to go about achieving that. >> like i said this isn't about the curse word, it is about the fact that in her message jennifer dillon cursing out republicans. maybe unity is a little impossibility at this point. hopefully joe biden can prove us wrong. >> trace: it's the holidays, you never know. >> praying for a christmas miracle, trace. >> trace: see you later. thank you. >> sandra: all right. thanks, carley. tom cruise is reportedly taking his christmas break a little early after his tirade at crew members on the set of mission impossible set went viral. he ripped crew for not

following safety rules. >> is it understood? if i see it again you're [bleep] gone and so are you? >> sandra: some celebrities did come to his defense saying his rant was reasonable. i believe it was george clooney who said well, the message was fine. i may have delivered it in a slightly different way. fox news alert now as we get word the federal agency that maintenance the u.s. nuclear arsenal was breached in a massive cyberattack. that hack shaping up to be one of the biggest government breaches ever and investigators say all signs point to russia. this at the same time we're seeing the extent of china's plot to spy on the united states and breaking right now, the f.b.i. is about to brief lawmakers on the threat china poses. welcome to a brand-new hour of "america's newsroom," i'm sandra smith. i thought you were there with

reaction to the tom cruise story. but it is quite something. >> trace: i have a statement for the end of the show. good to see you sandra, i'm trace gallagher. the suspected russian cyberattack as the u.s. faces growing threats from china as beijing targets lawmakers with spies and cozies up to d.c. insider to an effort to gain influence placing more scrutiny on hunter biden's chinese business dealings and the investigation into his taxes. fox news obtaining text messages that show hunter's former business associates pushed to, quote, get joe involved in a joint venture with a chinese energy company. now some republicans are calling for answers. here is congressman jim jordan. >> i've asked chairman nadler and chairman maloney to do an investigation. we have crickets from them. this is how important the united states senate races are in georgia. because if the democrats win the senate do you think gary

peters will do an investigation? >> trace: peter doocy is live in wilmington, delaware. good day to you, peter. >> good day to you. seconds ago while that sound bite was playing we found out the f.b.i. is going to brief this afternoon at 3:00 p.m. about the swalwell matter, what they know and so we should expect some movement, some advancement in that story about four hours from right now. as for the hunter biden matter we don't know how much joe biden knows about the evidence against his son or about this investigation into his son but for now he does not seem concerned. >> you know that the people who want to make hay in washington are going to try to use your adult son as a weapon against you. how do you feel about that and what do you have to say to those people? >> look, we have great

confidence in our son. i am not concerned about any accusations that have been made against him. it is used to get to me. i think it's kind of foul play. >> new text messages show that hunter biden's business partners talked about how important it was to them to make chinese businessmen think joe was on board with their ventures. one associate texted bobulinski about a joint venture with the chinese energy company. man, you were right let's get the company set up and tell h, hunter and family and get joe involved. the partnership with tony bobulinski fizzled and a $10 million wire that hunter wanted never went through. we don't know much else about hunter's business dealings in china. before this investigation was publicly announced joe biden asserted the following.

>> my son has not made money in terms of this thing about what are you talking about, china. >> biden doesn't have any meetings or appearances on his schedule today. the 48th anniversary of the car accident that killed his first wife and daughter. he went to church this morning and we think that's it for him today. trace. >> trace: peter doocy live in wilmington. thank you. >> sandra: let's bring in ben domenech publisher of the federalist. amazing when you look at that interview with colbert and joe biden and the question was how does that make you feel. >> you know, this is the point that we've reached within this whole biden effort. the hard-hitting journalism of stephen colbert. you don't have the ability to put questions to this fellow in any kind of context where you can receive a serious answer.

he is allowed to dismiss it saying he has confidence in his boi. supportive of his son. he doesn't believe he has done anything wrong, etc., etc. even as we have more and more proof there are legitimate questions about all of this, questions that tie not just to hunter biden's behavior but to his father's potential awareness and potential role in all of this goings on. things that are very concerning. in any kind of situation like this regardless of the party of the person involved, these are legitimate questions to be put forward and instead we have to rely on late night comics in terms of access to the president-elect to be able to put any of these things forward. i think it's ridiculous he has been able to go this long without answering serious questions about this and i hope we get answers. i'm not that confident that we will in the coming weeks. >> sandra: here is another question from colbert in the interview. watch. >> in terms of your job as president, can you reach across the aisle to people who will be

using this as an attack on you when it is such a personal attack because it's about family? >> if it benefits the country, yes, i really mean that. we know who we are. we know who we are. >> you are a better man than i. >> sandra: more praise from colbert there. to the actual question about reaching across the aisle, ben. have we seen any indications yet from the biden camp that they will work in a bipartisan manner and work across the aisle as he has promised? >> absolutely not. it has been nothing but spin they put out publicly. in every single selection they're making with appointments to the cabinet they're choosing people either avowed partisan or people who are even more extreme than kamala harris. the man set up to take over the department of health and human services is maybe the most aggressive person when it comes

to prosecuting pro-life protestors and journal lifts in california. going after them in significant and targeted ways. this is a situation where they are trying to spin something in public and then do something when it comes to the actual matters of policy that is a total break with that. and you know what? i realize that we have to give stephen colbert credit. he is a funny and talented guy. he has always been nice to me but he shouldn't be in this position of spinning this for joe biden. joe biden should be in public taking questions like any kind of president-elect would and this is a situation where he is just being allowed to skate. >> sandra: those questions have to be hard hitting and actually have the aim to get answers. jim jordan took on the media when it came to the hunter biden coverage of that story. watch. >> frankly, the failure of the mainstream press to report it is astounding to me. the networks have done 26 seconds on the biden story, which is just amazing to me and a disservice to the american people. >> sandra: that was from

earlier when jim jordan joined us on this program. meanwhile, here is josh hawley, the senator joined us a short time ago and he teed off on what we're learning or not learning about eric swalwell. listen. >> you want to talk about an election integrity issue. you have chinese spies actually raising money for democrat politicians, bundling money and putting people in his office. it's really extraordinary and again i can't believe he is still on the intelligence committee over in the house. >> sandra: we've heard growing calls from many republicans he needs to be removed from that committee saying he is compromised with his relationship with the suspected spy. we have just learned and confirmed now that there will be a 3:00 p.m. f.b.i. briefing on the threat that china poses. we're told that kevin mccarthy will be there. he suggested so when he was on fox news this morning. and potentially nancy pelosi will be present as well. what do you believe will come

from that? >> well, i think what ought to come from is an agreement that it is inappropriate for congressman swalwell to continue to have any kind of position on the intelligence committee until this can be sorted out. the fact he avoided answering questions doesn't give me any confidence what is going on here. while china does target both sides of the aisle when it comes to influence the fact that they were able to get so close to him personally and also to potentially put people within his office is of the utmost concern. the fact that adam schiff is acting dismissive of all of this. can you imagine if the shoe was on the other foot and it was some republican on the intel committee having a close relationship with a russian spy? he would be raising high heaven. this is the sort of situation where you cannot take these people seriously when they come to you about intelligence threats and the knowledge involved, the expertise that they have and the awareness that they have if they are going to be so dismissive and partisan when it comes to issues that are so clear-cut

where every american should be concerned. >> sandra: ben, thank you for that. happy holiday to you and yours. >> thank you, happy not to give you an irish goodbye this time. >> trace: we are learning more about a massive cyberattack on the u.s. government. russian hackers suspected of targeting several federal agents including homeland security, treasury and commerce department and accessing the energy department which overseas our nuclear weapons stockpile though they were apparently not affected. officials say they probably went on for months. they say it was hard to detect and hard to undo. the worst cyberattack in american history. >> we're in incident response phase. forensics are ongoing. we're trying to learn exactly what the russians have

extracted, what sort of information they've stolen, and we're still trying to determine all of the access that they have to state, local, and federal levels. make no mistake, this is a massive intelligence failure on our part. our goal is always to detect threats way out left of boom. and in cyberattacks there is always a period of surveillance where they look at the target and they're in the network and probably your last opportunity to detect the threat. we failed to do that and now we're paying the price. >> trace: i wanted to get your take as well. we heard from chris krebs, the former director of cisa who said the election was totally safe. we're still trying to fight these hackers off. >> well, there is no indication that the russians or anyone else was able to infiltrate our election infrastructure. that's a separate issue

entirely. but this one is for sure just a massive attack and again the forensics are ongoing. i don't think we've even evicted the advanced persistent threat 29. something the russia foreign intelligence service is mounting against us. another thing i would highlight is russia will weaponize this information against us. it will be a key requirement for our intelligence community to determine how exactly they might be doing that in the future. russia now has a lot of intelligence on their hands and vladimir putin, the kgb operative is not one to sit idly by and let it sit on the shelf. >> trace: for those targets the hackers will have long ago moved past the entry point, covered tracks and gained what experts call persistent access. hard to detect or remove. the overall goal, dan, wasn't

for destruction, it was for intelligence and information gathering. >> that's right. as distinguished from the military intelligence which conducts hacking operations to support their war efforts. in this case again it's the svr and they conduct espionage. the goal is to acquire and steal protected information, classified and unclassified. even sometimes information that is not classified can be of great value. that's what they vacuumed up here quite successfully. >> trace: i have to go, dan. we keep saying russians. it looks like the prime likely suspect. do you agree the russians? >> yeah, yeah, it's vladimir putin running another effective cyber operation. hypocritical that he was suggesting a cyber working group where we cooperate at the summit with president trump a couple years ago. >> trace: thank you, sir.

>> sandra: house democrats meanwhile passing over alexandria ocasio-cortez for a coveted committee spot. who was chosen instead? and breaking news just now forced to issue a major retraction on a high-profile story. now admitting it was all one big lie. what we're talking about. we'll have it for you next. interest rates have dropped to record lows. one call can save you $3,000 a year. newday's va streamline refi lets you refinance without having to verify your income, without getting your home appraised, and without spending one dollar out of pocket to get it done. it is the quickest and easiest refi they've ever offered.

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>> trace: setback for a member of the squad. alexandria ocasio-cortez missing out on a coveted spot on the house energy and commerce committee. the panel would handle legislation on healthcare and the environment. democrats instead choosing congresswoman kathleen rice, another new york lawmaker for the committee's last open seats. >> sandra: this is a fox news alert. "the new york times" moments ago retracting one of its high profile podcasts called the caliphate after it now looks like the main source made up his claims involving the terror group isis. that source a canadian man who joined isis told canadian news outlets he played no role in the terror groups killings and he told the podcasts he had conducted executions himself

before escaping. the times failed to screen the claims that were exaggerated or even false. here to talk about it is joe concha, fox news contributor. reading directly from this write-up this morning on this story, exaggerated claims, false claims, he told those news outlets he played no role in the isis killings and told the times he did killings himself. a restrak -- retraction from "the new york times." >> i believe it was jason blair who made up -- reporter for the times and made up stories in terms of sources he spoke to and so on. a black eye that took a long time for "the new york times" to get over. in this case people hear podcasts at home. understand this. it was a widely listened to podcast and won a peabody award. a case where i think "the new york times" eyes were bigger

than their stomach. the story was almost too good to turn down. as usual we try to be sometimes first instead of accurate and in this case, they actually did the right thing in terms of -- i'm seeing retraction in terms of that word being used. it wasn't retracted and they have only taken down, let's be clear, here is exactly what they said. they are addressing lapses in the series. in other words, they aren't taking these conversations down, they are only addressing where the lapses were and that's a problem. i would take the whole thing down. if some parts are untrue, none of it should be available for listening. >> sandra: quoted the executive editor of the times in the podcast interview he did scheduled to post at some point. he says this, when "the new york times" does big ambitious journalism we put into a tremendous amount of scrutiny at the upper levels of the newsroom. we did not do that in this

case, he goes on to say. meanwhile, you are reporting about media coverage or lack there of of the eric swalwell story for "new york times," no news is fit to print about representative swalwell and a spy. no news from the times on this issue? >> isn't that amazing that this story broke something like 11 days ago, axios broke the story. not exactly a right wing story that we hear the excuse from traditional media. "the new york times" decided it isn't a story. is it a story that a then 33-year-old eric swalwell was compromised by a chinese spy to the point where she placed an intern in his office to the point where she actually helped with raising money for his reelection campaign? then the f.b.i. tells him you don't want to be with this person. she is a chinese spy. all ties are cut. here is the curious part and where the newsy part comes in, sandra. a couple months later house

speaker nancy pelosi for some reason says you know, let's take this guy from california that has no foreign policy experience, didn't work in the intelligence community, let's put him on house intel on that committee that overseas the c.i.a. and has access to the most secret documents in the country. let's put him on that panel considering how easily he was compromised. "the new york times" doesn't cover it. you say other news outlets out there, the evening news is watched by 25 million a night and they won't touch this story, either. it is like hunter biden 2.0 at this point in october where a story is being deemed thou shall not cover when it absolutely is a story. i have a feeling it's because there is a d behind eric swalwell's name in print instead of an r. if you recall know if that were the case we would be seeing coverage. >> sandra: "the new york times" with 7 million subscribers and considered the country's most

influential publication doesn't see the swalwell story as a story at all it tells you about their moral compass and editorial decisions. i wonder if that changes. today at 3:00 p.m. the f.b.i. is set to brief lawmakers on this spy scandal and the threat that china poses to our national security to our country, joe. will they report on that? final thoughts. >> i have a feeling it will be like hunter biden. in october it wasn't a story. now news organizations after it was announced that there is an f.b.i. investigation into hunter biden they have to covering it very tepidly. "the new york times" will be foerpsed to cover this as well. i would love to hear from the executive editor what took you so long, pal? >> sandra: have a great weekend. good to see you. >> trace: the georgia senate runoff race is heading into the homestretch. why a new report says one party could be getting a big boost come election day.

vice president pence getting vaccinated against the coronavirus live on tv. and more protection could soon be on the way for millions of americans. and later, how a man's trip to see his girlfriend overseas ended in heartbreak. ♪

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>> trace: atlanta journal constitution reports over 75,000 georgians registered to vote ahead of january 5 as the candidates head into the homestretch. new voters could tip the election. jonathan serrie is live in atlanta with more on this. >> according to a voter registration list, updated list obtained by the atlanta journal constitution nearly 76,000 new voters registered in georgia between the two-month period between the registration deadline for the november election and the december registration deadline for these two senate runoffs coming up in january. according to them they are

overwhelmingly young. under 35, new georgia residents and others turned 18. none has a voting record in the state. younger voters the end to favor democrats the influx of new registrations under 35 could help warnock and ossoff in a state that joe biden won by just over 12,000 votes. but according to the analysis the rate of new voters who registered during the last two months is similar to other two-month periods over the last two years since 2018. senators david perdue and kelly loeffler are campaigning against radical elements of the democratic parties. loeffler is trying to link her opponent to a pastor that president obama had to distance himself from. >> warnock was a proud defender of anti-american, anti-semitic pastor jeremiah wright who said america deserved the 9/11 terrorist attacks. >> he claimed that they are

taking the words out of context and he was talking about speaking truth from the pulpit in a way that exposes social injustice but makes a lot of people uncomfortable. >> trace: john seary live in atlanta. thank you. >> sandra: amid the new controversy surrounding democratic candidate warnock some are suggesting ossoff distance himself from the warnock campaign. for more let's bring in our panel fox news contributor leslie marshall is here and patrick griffin. good morning to both of you, happy to see you. leslie, should ossoff distance himself from the warnock campaign? >> actually i would say no, sandra because we've seen both of those candidates benefit from this stronger together not just having online but the rallies that they've held in person. so i would say no. look, when you look at the data and when you look at the people that are voting, a lot of people left and right aren't really voting on issues.

they are voting for party and control of the senate and in a way this is a referendum an mitch mcconnell thumbs up or down. >> sandra: alyssa farah from the white house gave a warning what it means to vote for warnock in georgia. listen. >> what you are witnessing in realtime is a far left attempted takeover of the state of georgia. it's extremely concerning specifically with some of the viewpoints that raphael warnock has endorsed. this is a far left democrat who frankly if elected, which i hope he will not be, would take kamala harris's mantle as the most liberal in the senate. >> both of these candidates are poster children for the most radical elements of the democratic party and stand for a lot of the same things that lost democratic house seats

down ballot and prevented democrats from taking the senate. whether they campaign together or apart reverend warnock is famous for his cries to defund the police, cancel culture and supporting marxism and castro. these are not mainstream ideas and georgia democrats are going to have a hard time trying to not link these two together if they choose to campaign together. i think that this is a dangerous road. i think georgia has broad shoulders but know there is a lot more at stake than just the importance of keeping all politics local. this is about control of our government. >> sandra: you have sounded off on that issue. now to the issue of the atlanta braves name change because the candidates are weighing in on this. at least the republican candidates are. they put out a joint statement on the braves name honor ours american heritage. under no circumstances should

one of the most celebrated teams in sports cave to the demands. cancel culture and radical left. the vast majority of georgians want the name to stay the same. how will it play for democratic candidates in the races. >> that one issue, although 72% of people in georgia agree with the two republican candidates running is not a big issue for voters whether they are democrat, republican, independent or undecided at this point. for some they are looking at an old georgia versus a new georgia. the past versus the future. some are looking at the potential looking at the first african-american senator in the state of georgia. for others again it comes down to mitch mcconnell and who controls the senate and how much power they give the president-elect joe biden. >> sandra: patrick i'll ask you if you think the issue affects the races, does ossoff and warnock need to states where they stand on it?

>> a classic example of the cancel culture birds coming home to roost. the fact of the matter is 70% of georgians want to keep the name it is. 90% of republicans. this is a classic example of these kinds of democrats and the kinds of things they will promote in the u.s. senate and in washington at large. this is a perfect example of the local issue really infecting this particular race. i think it helps both republicans. >> sandra: interesting takes from both of you on that. appreciate your time this morning. thanks leslie and patrick. >> trace: developing now word that french president macron is having a miserable time with the coronavirus. he tested positive yesterday. now officials say the french leader is suffering from a fever, cough and fatigue and being treated at a presidential

retreat in versailles. pictures showed him last week meeting with dozens of other world leaders without wearing a mask. a teenager from georgia decided to defy the coronavirus rules so she could see her boyfriend compete. now she is in jail and is sentenced the stay locked up for the next four months. what does her family think about all this? we'll talk to her grandmother next. veterans can shortcut the refinance process and save $250 a month. $3000 dollars a year. with the va streamline refi at newday, there's no appraisal, no income verification, and no out of pocket costs. one call can save you $3000 a year.

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irresistibly smooth chocolate. to put the world on pause. lindor. made to melt you. by the lindt master chocolatier. >> trace: china not just cozying up to politician. they are also targeting our businesses through economic espionage. national security correspondent jennifer griffin live at the pentagon. what is the trump administration doing in response to the chinese espionage threat? >> trace, it's important to mention president trump so far has yet to respond to the suspected russian cyberhack that infiltrated many sensitive u.s. government systems but his administration has made a

series of announcements today about protecting the nation's infrastructure from china. today the commerce department announced 77 more chinese companies including semi conductor manufacturer smic and a chinese drone manufacturer will be on a new u.s. trade black list. secretary wilbur ross made the announcement. >> what this is all about is these are companies that are tied to the people's liberation army. >> ross added the goal is to stop u.s. technology from helping china build its military. china usually hacks into u.s. companies and steals their secrets as the justice department caught chinese state-sponsored hackers doing to u.s. steel in 2014 undercutting the competitive edge of u.s. steel and undercutting the price and the loss of leading to the loss of american jobs. >> china has done to the steel industry what they tried to do

with other industries and rob, replicate and replace. they hacked into american companies, they rob their intellectual property and reverse engineer it to replicate companies in mainland china and replace american companies by dumping or violating international trade laws. >> the department of energy also just ordered extra measures to be put in place to protect the u.s. power grid from china at the same time russia appears to have gained access to the u.s. agency that oversees the country's nuclear stockpile on energy. >> trace: hit from both sides. thank you. >> sandra: hope i'm not surprising anybody by saying christmas is just one week out now. so wrap your gifts, pack your car and check with your boss? can employers cancel your holiday travel plans? centrum minis may be small,

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>> sandra: a scottish man who doesn't know how to swim is now in jail after jet skiing across the irish sea to visit his girlfriend. he thought it would take 40 minutes to get to the isle ofman and took him 4 1/2 hours. when he got there he was nearly out of fuel. police arrested him for arriving there unlawfully. the border is closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. he faces up to three months in jail and his girlfriend, well, she has to quarantine now. >> that's not the biggest headline from jet skiing boyfriends and coronavirus jail time. a college student from georgia is sentenced to four months in prison after flying to the cayman islands to see her

boyfriend in a jet ski competition. she was supposed to quarantine for two weeks, after two days she slipped out of her monitor and attended the event. she did not mask or socially distance. she and her boyfriend were both sentenced to four months in prison. her grandmother is here with us now. we're hearing reports out of the cayman islands that other people have been fined and sent out of the country. is it a sense your granddaughter is being made an example of because she is an american? >> yes, definitely. anyone from another country has not had -- she is the first person put in jail for this. they needed to make a statement, they said. that's not true. she did socially distance. her boyfriend put -- they set up pop-up tents for their tools. he did not put his in the pit

with all the other riders. he put it at the opposite end of the beach area. so they wouldn't be right there. the only people she talked to were people that came to her and she told them that they needed to stay away and they chose to stay there anyway. skylar had tested negative on saturday. she tested on friday, got her results on saturday and that's what frustrates me. the cayman islands is accusing her. their government is accusing her of causing major anxiety of everybody on the island. it is because they aren't telling them that she was negative. she does not have the virus. she never has had the virus regardless of what they say. she has tested -- she tested the day she landed. found out on that saturday it was negative. since then she has tested five more times and has been negative and the people that did visit her in the pit have all tested and they're negative.

>> trace: you say they were trying to make a statement. the judge was unhappy. he said this was as flagrant a breach as could be imagined born of selfishness and arrogance and deliberate and planned as evidence by her desire to switch her wrist band the day before to a looser one that she was able to remove. the prosecutor thought the four months should have been more. should have been like 15 months. >> yeah, they want to hang her for this. she is 18 years old. you know, my thing is yes, she did it. we're not saying she is not guilty of doing it and we're very disappointed she did it. that's not what i would expect from skylar. the fact she was negative and the fact that she knew she was negative and, you know, this was the last race of the year, a national finals. i think for the caymans. i think she got caught up as a teenager. she is very mature and been in

college in mercer since she was 16 years old. and she is very -- pardon? >> wants to be a doctor. she wants to be a doctor, med school. >> she was accepted and started mercer when she was 16 years old. she graduated from high school at the top 10 students in her class. and was like a 4.3 or 4 grade point average and entered mercer as a sophomore. she has dedicated her whole life to making the grades to get her into mercer. >> trace: ?e is very smart. she admitted quoting here i made a mistake and words cannot express how sorry i am for this. i was afforded the opportunity to enter the islands during these trying times and i abused it. i ask for the forgiveness of the community. have you contacted the u.s. embassy, the white house, and

if so have they gotten back to you? >> we have been working with the u.s. embassy. i'll be honest with you, originally the one in the caymans was not very helpful saying she broke a rule and has to serve the time. then i came back and said we don't disagree she broke the rules. she should not have done it. but the punishment should fit the crime. they have not given anyone else this. she has already paid $3100 in american money in what they call fines, which is paying for the hotel that they are housing their quarantine in and then she had already set up her community reentry -- her community service. and she had already set up her community service and was going to do volunteer at the animal shelter there for 40 hours and

come home. and, you know, when her attorney pled for leniency because of her age and the fact that she has no family support over there, the judge said that's all well and good but the people are angry and i have to answer to them. >> trace: and that's one thing. we're hoping for you. we need to get moving on this thing along. we hope the u.s. embassy can get her released as quickly as possible. keep you updated on the story. thank you for coming on. the best of luck to you and your family. >> okay, thank you. >> sandra: well, millions of americans who dodged that snowstorm that hit the northeast this week are about to get a taste of winter for themselves. we'll tell you who could soon be getting the coldest blast that they've seen in a long time.

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♪ if only in my dreams ♪ >> trace: well, can your boss cancel christmas? it turns out in the name of health and safety your trip home for the holidays could need their approval. christina is reporting for the fox business network. good day to you. >> good day! 'tis the season i guess to stay home. or possibly risk losing your job. i know we are all itching to travel, which is why i came to penn station. this place is often super packed. people trying to get out of the state for the holidays. but people are scaling back due to increase in cases as

well as the travel restriction. if you choose to travel, the big question should you tell your boss. if you don't tell your boss, what happens? the answer may surprise you. they tell us that they will give us two weeks a year or four weeks a year, that is a gift. it's not a legal requirement. it's something they offer to us by right, a legal basis, they can take it away. >> exactly. your employer can cancel your vacation request if they deem it too risky to coworkers. they can also take it up a notch and if you come from vacation without telling everyone and it's risky for office environment they could potentially fire you. we know so far the latest survey shows 33% of americans or roughly 85 million americans still plan to travel over the winter break. so that could lead to a few legal disputes. if you want to avoid the legal

route and not get in trouble, wrap the gifts. pack the bag. check with your boss or at least check your travel policy. trace? >> trace: or not tell your boss at all. krstina partsinevelos live for us. >> sandra: great. stirring up trouble. thank you for that. we are a minute from the 12:00 noon hour here on the east coast. trace, a couple of big things we are watching for today. including a 3:00 p.m. f.b.i. briefing to lawmakers. kevin mccarthy, nancy pelosi expected to be there on the swalwell spy scandal story. we'll see what comes from that. overall, they will be briefing lawmakers on the threat that china poses at home. secondly, the lawmakers beginning today, we just learned, beginning to get their coronavirus vaccinations. office of the attending physician, trace, says it's essential and vaccinating lawmakers is necessary to meet the long-standing requirement of continuity of government

operations. big event we are watching. >> trace: the vaccines are a big deal. they are spread out across the country, which is fantastic news. sandra, it's great to see you. have a great weekend. >> sandra: you, too. we'll be back monday morning, by the way. "outnumbered" starts right now. >> harris: we begin on friday with a fox news alert. we are learning that the f.b.i. will brief house minority leader kevin mccartney today on eric swalwell's reported past connections with the suspected chinese spy. speaker nancy pelosi may be there as well. republicans have been urging the f.b.i. to brief them. and have been calling for an immediate investigation in the "compromising of swalwell." there also have been growing calls for speaker pelosi to remove swalwell from the house intelligence committee. we will bring you all the details as they develop this hour. this is alsoni