tv Americas Newsroom FOX News December 24, 2020 6:00am-9:00am PST
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>> remember to set your dvr for 6:00 a.m. eastern time every morning so you never miss a minute of "fox & friends." merry christmas eve. >> merry christmas eve to you both. >> gridlock in washington on christmas eve after president trump vetoed the national defense authorization act calling it a gift to china and russia. it sets a potential veto override of the defense bill next week. in the next couple minutes house democrats will try to pass a new covid relief bill by unanimous consent after the president demanded stimulus checks of $2,000 instead of $600 that were in the bill they passed. kentucky congressman james comer standing by to walk us through all of the developments as they happen on capitol hill. this fox news alert. sources telling fox news high level officials in the justice
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department are issuing and discussing whether a special counsel should be appointed in a hunter biden investigation. it comes as we learn a lot more about overseas business dealings by the president-elect's son that may be in the present rather than past tense i'm leland vittert. >> i'm julie banderas. the special counsel discussions are coming after former attorney general bill barr said he would not appoint one in his final days as attorney general. business records show hunter biden still holding a 10% stake in a chinese private equity firm less than one month before his father is set to be sworn in as president. fox team coverage for you this thursday morning. byron york joins us with more in a moment but we begin with jackie heinrich. good morning, to you. how likely is this to happen? >> good morning to you, julie.
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it is yet to be seen. acting attorney general rosen refused to say last week whether he would name a special counsel. this was on the heels of his predecessor saying on his way out the door that it wasn't necessary. this is what a.g. barr said last week on that issue. >> i think it is being handled responsibly and professionally currently within the department and to this point i have not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel and i have no plan to do so before i leave. >> but two high level justice department officials tell fox news the door is not shut on this decision and some believe it is warranted citing the special counsel statute. the source says it was passed to deal with a potential conflict of interest of the attorney general or the president of the united states. president-elect coming in where his appointed attorneys will be investigating his son? that's textbook conflict. the u.s. attorney overseeing
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hunter biden's case is a trump appointee. it is unlikely biden will fire him. he pledged not to interfere choosing his attorney general or getting involved in his son's case and that attorney has broad support from two democratic senators after playing the role in his election by president trump. as hunter's toxs are under a federal probe hunter is in the process of offloading a 10% stake in a chinese private investment firm which he owns through his business, source close to hunter pointed to an article saying the process is in motion. the president-elect joe biden promised in the primaries if he won the white house, nobody from his family would have any role in a foreign operation. there are 27 days left until he is in the white house, julie.
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>> all right, jackie heinrich, thank you for keeping an eye on it for us. >> for more we bring in byron york chief political correspondent with "the washington examiner" and christmas tree in the background. merry christmas eve. devin nunes yesterday talking about why there is a need for a special counsel. take a lins. -- listen. >> if there was a special counsel that was started on donald trump for nothing, it was the bidens who got 3 1/2 million dollars from moscow. some business deals in china. we don't hear anything about an investigation. nothing until after the election when biden was elected. maybe the f.b.i. will do a good job and d.o.j. will do a good job but i highly doubt it and so do millions of americans. >> do republicans have a legitimate gripe there is a double standard? >> well, merry christmas eve to you, leland. you could argue right now that there is not a conflict of
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interest with the trump justice department. but you could also argue that conflict of interest will start on january 20th with the arrival of the biden administration. at that point everybody who is running the justice department will be appointed by joe biden and will then be expected to oversee the investigation into joe biden's son. so that does appear to be a conflict. and what you heard attorney general barr say, who is no longer attorney general as of yesterday, was that he didn't see one now. and that he trusted the biden administration to do the right thing and basically he was saying that's a decision for the biden administration, not for the trump administration to make. >> you've got the court of legal opinion, if you will that we are talking about now and the court of justice. then you have the court of public opinion which has a
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different standard and different way of looking at things. this is joe biden in the sound bite that jackie heinrich mentioned from 2019 talking about overseas business dealings. take a listen. >> no one in my family will have an office in the white house, will sit in meetings as if they are a cabinet member, will in fact have any business relationship with anyone that relates to a foreign corporation or foreign country. period, period, end of story. >> is the biden administration going to be held to that standard in the way the trump administration was held to a certain standard? >> well, that's what he said. clearly his son hunter biden would have to divest a lot of his business interests by
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election day to make joe biden's pledge true. we'll have to see about that. you mentioned the court of public opinion. that is where the media comes in. and a lot of media outlets have been very protective of joe biden in this whole hunter biden story. if you will remember in october when the "new york post" published the revelations from hunter biden's laptop, a number of media organizations either did not report it or tried to knock it down or attacked the "new york post." and the social media giants facebook and twitter, tried to either block it or deemphasize the story. those are all efforts to influence the court of public opinion. so we'll have to see how that goes when joe biden is actually the president. >> we've talked a number of times, enjoyed every one of them. i don't sense an optimistic tone in your voice that the court of public opinion and the media will be all that
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aggressive in its reporting. >> well, you know, there is just a different dynamic. for example, some of the evidence apparently in the hunter biden administration comes from something called suspicious activity reports. reports that financial institutions have to file with the federal government when they see suspicious activities like foreign transactions. and in the trump administration, we saw leaks of specifics suspicious activity reports from anti-trump people deep inside the bureaucracy. we have not seen that kind of reporting on hunter biden. as a matter of fact, the reason we know that there is a justice department/hunter biden investigation is because hunter biden himself revealed it a few weeks ago after subpoenas went out. we have not seen a very tough watchdog press on this issue. >> i'm old enough to remember
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four years ago anchoring during the transition from the obama administration to the trump administration and almost every day there were new front page stories about the insinuations of trump and russia and trump and russia business deals and don junior and the like. if you zoom that back in historical perspective, where do we have more smoke and fire from, 2016 trump/russia or 2020/biden china? >> well, biden/china is clearly something with some real alarming indicators. but we have not seen those fully investigated. so it is really hard to say. but you have to remember in the transition from obama to trump, this period four years ago you saw a deep bureaucracy at war with the incoming trump administration. you saw a leak of michael flynn's conversation with the
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russian ambassador, which came from a u.s. intercept. the most highly sort of classified information available, you saw a leak of the intelligence chiefs briefing of the president-elect in which james comey, then the head of the f.b.i. briefed the president-elect about the dossier. that leaked a few days later and bingo, the whole dossier is public. we see a war from the bureaucracy and some elements of the press against the incoming administration. you don't see that at all right now. >> you have to wonder who david ignatius is talking to right now in some of his reporting. if it's equal to looking at the trump administration. merry christmas to you and yours. >> thank you, leland. >> president trump issuing 26 more pardons last night. two of them went to his former campaign manager paul manafort and to his long-time advisor roger stone. they were both convicted as you
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may remember, as a result of robert mueller's investigation into foreign interference in the 2016 election. stone thanking the president on tucker carlson's show last night. >> i have an enormous debt of gratitude to god almighty for giving the president the strength and courage to recognize that my prosecution was a completely politically-motivated witch hunt and my trial was soviet style show trial in which the judge denied us any powerful line of defense in which the judge we now know hid exculpatory evidence from us. >> nearly 50 people have been granted clemency by the president in total. four of them were convicted in the robert mueller investigation. >> capitol hill is back in a stalemate. president trump called the
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covid-19 bill a disgrace. both sides of the aisle are digging in with time running out to send relief to americans hurt in the pandemic before the end of the year. the president vetoed the defense bill yesterday saying it was a gift to china and russia. mark meredith traveling with the president for the christmas vacation in florida. >> good morning. as you were talking about, a lot going on here. president trump did not say he was going to veto the stimulus bill but made it clear he wasn't happy with the economic package that was worked out. he left washington last night telling congress get back to work and increase the amount on those stimulus checks set to go out. the deal had already been approved by the house and senate. not to mention negotiated by the president's treasury secretary sending that $600 check to some qualifying americans. democrats and president trump say that's not enough now. >> president trump: it's called the covid relief bill but it has almost nothing to do with covid. ifm owe asking congress to amend this bill and increase
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the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000, or $4,000 for a couple. >> if we can we'll take you live to the house floor now where you can see looks like they have wrapped up their work. what was going on on the house floor. there was an attempt to get this done unanimous consent. democrats would be able to get this increase up to the $2,000. we were expecting an objection and one happened just like that. republicans were planning to show their disgust with the amount of money being spent on foreign aid and other priorities. something the president railed about in his own message in the video message that came out on tuesday. so while we're still waiting to see whether or not the president will sign this economic stimulus package or not a lot of people wonder what it will mean for them ahead of the christmas holiday. >> after the christmas holiday as well as eviction moratoriums
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run out. not a threat of veto yet but a disgrace for the omnibus and relief bill. the president vetoed the defense authorization act on wednesday. when congress comes back to session, we saw that on monday at 2:00 p.m., they either vote to override that or try to cede to the president's wishes. >> he made it clear he wasn't happy with some of what was in it and what was not in it. he wanted to see something repealed for liability protections for social media companies. something that is not normally in a defense bill. the president demanded it be put in. it wasn't. the house will meet monday to override the senate's veto. they say they will support that effort. it would be historic as congress would be overriding the president's veto with less than a month left in office for
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him. interesting the president drew a line in the sand. he said he would do it. he vetoed it and now it is up to congress to decide what to do next. >> gives new meaning to the term working vacation. you'll have that down in florida. as will the president on this. mark, good to see you. merry christmas to you and yours. >> merry christmas. >> for more on this let's bring in james comer, kentucky congressman. thank you for coming on. we received word that house democrats have failed to get a unanimous vote on $2,000 stimulus checks that the american people desperately need. nancy pelosi folding the coronavirus aid package into the spending bill, the republicans had hoped she wouldn't tie this down. but apparently that's the case. what's the next step? >> the next step is what leader mccarthy tried to do.
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the republicans wanted to file a unanimous consent to reduce the wasteful spending in that covid bill. what nancy pelosi has right now is a bad case of selective hearing because what the president said was he wanted to increase the stimulus direct payments from $600, to $2,000 but also said he wanted to reduce all that wasteful spending that nancy pelosi put in that bill. so they have selective hearing. i think what the president should do now is he should veto the bill and if pelosi is unwilling to cut the waste out and start all over. because 90% of the bill has bipartisan support. but what the problems of the american saw is the process is awful. putting lots of different bills into one vote and then no debate, no amendment, not enough time for everyone to completely digest the bill and that is not what the american people want. that's a broken congress because of nancy pelosi. and i think the president has
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done a great job bringing this to the american people's attention and now it is up to congress to right this wrong. and i appreciate the republicans standing firm on that and hope we can eliminate the waste, fraud and abuse in the budget. >> the spending bill has to be passed by monday night. democrats have said they are on board with the president's proposal, but apparently not. minority leader kevin mccarthy is saying he would rather focus on pulling out the pork with a government shutdown looming. i guess the question is now will republicans back the president and give more money to americans who are struggling, and why is it that nancy pelosi is more focused on not giving $2,000 stimulus checks to the american people out of a job especially, and instead tying it into the spending package that involves billions of dollars in foreign aid? i don't understand why you would drag the two together especially in the midst of this pandemic that's been going on for nearly a year now. >> right. nancy pelosi has been doing
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this for over four months. she puts politics ahead of people. this is perfectly demonstrated in this bill by how she conducted the process being the speaker of the house, she has the ability to set the agenda and make the rules. and she made the rules this way which are totally wrong. elections have consequences. unfortunately she will still be speaker of the house. but the president in his role can step in and say no, no, we're not going to do this. we're going to do it right. pelosi is right the president wants to increase the spending. what she leaves out and what unfortunately a lot of the mainstream media left out the president also demands that we cut that waste out of the budget. the unnecessary foreign aid, the unnecessary pork projects, the direct pork in the budget. and i think that is what the american people want. i hope we can get it done.
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if the american people -- and they have i think over the last 48 hours seen the process that pelosi put in place. they are not satisfied with that. even the liberals. they also see the wasteful spending. we have a lot of democrat governors that shut their states down and made a bad situation worse. the people are suffering. i support the president's payments. we have to eliminate the waste out of the budget and do what the president supports. that can be done. it's not too late to do that. we'll all be in washington monday. if nancy pelosi is unwilling to do that, then i think the president should veto the bill and require congress to start all over. this can be done. it can be done to benefit the american people and it can be done to save unnecessary tax dollars. >> all right, congressman james comer, thank you for coming on this morning. we appreciate it. merry christmas to you. >> merry christmas to you. >> all of this plays into the georgia senate race which is now just two weeks away from
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that runoff election. we'll show you how this fight over a covid relief bill is going to affect those races. plus christmas celebrations are underway around the world. we'll show you how the holiday looks a little different in bethlehem because of the pandemic. ♪ i'll be home for christmas ♪ you can plan on me liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's one that'll really take you back. wow! what'd you get, ryan? it's customized home insurance from liberty mutual! what does it do bud? it customizes our home insurance so we only pay for what we need! and what did you get, mike? i got a bike. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪
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experience the wonders of at nizuc resort & spa, where paradise is personal. nizuc is a world to discover unto itself, day or night, indoors or out. something wonderful awaits. >> leland: a pakistani court has ordered the release of an islamic militant convicted in the murder of "wall street journal" reporter daniel pearl after the 9/11 attacks after the same court set aside the death sentence for him and pearl was working in pakistan during 2002 investigating al qaeda networks there. authorities say the four men kidnapped him and later killed him. mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 he tax claimed he personally beheaded daniel pearl. muhammed is awaiting trial in cuba. >> julie: with the high stakes
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senate runoffs in georgia less than two weeks away, january 5th, remember that date, president trump surprise announcement that he would not sign the covid stimulus bill and his veto of the defense spending bill could have a huge impact on those races. we have jonathan serrie all over the story joining us live from atlanta, georgia this morning. jonathan, where do the georgia candidates stand on these issues? >> we reached out to both of the republicans. we're still waiting to hear back. georgia's republican senators have yet to say whether they plan to vote to override the president's veto of the defense spending bill. the annual funding is crucial to georgia's military families. but senators david perdue and kelly loeffler have aligned themselves closely with president trump who remains hugely popular among republican voters in this state. their opponents are taking advantage of this -- will
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loeffler go with president trump or block money for military facilities? there is a rare moment of agreement who criticized the original $600 checks passed by congress as too little too late. when asked about whether she would consider a revised bill with increased payments, here is what senator loeffler said. >> i will certainly look at supporting it if it repurposes wasteful spending toward that, yes. >> fair fight. the voting rights group founded by stacey abrams is suing to block the conservative texas watchdog group true the vote from challenging the eligibility of more than 364,000 georgia voerts. the federal lawsuit accuses the watchdog of voter suppression
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and intimidation but true the vote says it is merely challenging these voters based on postal records and other commercially available information on the current residence of these voters and not based on any demographics or voting history, julie. >> julie: right. all right. jonathan serrie, thank you. >> leland: all right. with that we bring in former consultant to the obama campaign marjorie clifton and matt gorman, former communications director for the national republican congressional committee. matt, start with you. you read the quote from senator loeffler. i will look at supporting it if it repurposes wasteful spending for that, yes. that almost sounds like a no because the chance of democrats redoing the federal foreign aid packages is about zero, right? >> yeah.
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this omnibus and covid deal is like pandora's box. you open it up and a lot of things will come back out. let's remember here, this bill was supposed to be something that loeffler and perdue could take to the atlanta suburbs that voted overwhelmingly for biden in november and show them and also juice up the base a little bit. so that will be something that will be interesting to watch. also, right after voting for this the other week dana perdue ran an ad touting his vote for it. it is ironic that donald trump is agreeing with john ossoff, as you mentioned before. >> leland: there was a time that republicans and democrats used to disagree about handing out more money and spending more money we don't have of the taxpayers and next generation. now there is general agreement and so many republicans willing to up it from $600 to $2,000. spend whatever it takes, does that take away a big democratic
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talking point here? >> gosh, i think part of biden's campaign was based on we need to get realigned. we need to find a way to be able to work together and so in some ways i saw this bill as a hopeful beacon of what was to come. bipartisan support for the things that matter. what matters in the bill right now people are hurting and feeling the financial pain and as the year end comes where rent protections are released and a lot of other things that kept people barely afloat we saw so much alignment. it was a hopeful thing. republicans getting on board with that. this is a bizarre honestly bizarre turn of events. i think it is going to be a moment of truth for the republican party because you are seeing some of that trump faction versus the more traditional and older republicans and some of the more moderate republicans willing to align on this. and so it is a difficult time. truly i'm hopeful beyond covid
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that we find -- >> leland: you make a good point about time. it's of the essence. rent and eviction protections expire december 31. decreased unemployment expires december 31. if the president can't push this through and win this bluff or this call, what happens and who takes the blame for it? >> that's the tough part. there is an agreement in place. what frustrates a lot of republicans i talked to is number one, this spending was included in the administration's own request in the budget. but also trump could have involved himself, picked up the phone at any time if he wanted this spending out. he certainly could have gotten higher direct payments if he wanted to. that's what's frustrating. >> leland: if you are sitting there as the president how do you go wrong saying i want more money for the american people? that's what it's about. >> you want more money. how do you get it done?
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checks are supposed to go out. if you sign it into law next week you get $600 now and renegotiate something in the new year. american people now are slated to get nothing. >> leland: marjorie, as we look at this and i want to bring you in on this. do these issues really matter in the georgia senate race? is that what it comes down to or more of the local issues? >> these issues definitely matter in the georgia race and why the georgia race matters, whoever wins. if democrats take both of those seats we have a different balance of power happening in a senate. this is a critical election matter for georgia. >> leland: no one is disputing how critical it s. we have that and you have a billion dollars spent in television advertising to prove how important it is. the question is, though, as we look at the georgia race are we right to talk about it as a proxy for national politics or are the issues that will decide the georgia senate race those
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that are particular to georgia? >> well, what i do know is the research that i've seen in particular has looked at the priorities for black women coming into this election. they were so responsible for turning out for biden in a huge way and in georgia they are leading the charge. their number one issue is covid relief. they're looking to this particular policy for the reason that they will show up at the polls. nationally the question has been voter turnout and who shows up and what their priorities are. this covid package, this issue is everyone's top priority across the board. i think will determine also how the republican party starts looking in different areas. because, you know, as matt pointed out compromise is the name of the game. what does it take to get something done versus using a talking point that will lead to a stalemate and nothing getting done? that hurts the american public and voters respond to that. >> leland: gridlock in washington is nothing new as
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they say. marjorie and matt, thank you for taking the time on christmas eve. good to see you. >> merry christmas. >> julie: a strict covid lockdown is putting a damper on christmas celebrations in the birthplace of jesus. only marching bands will be allowed for today's procession through bethlehem. coronavirus also changing christmas for the pope. the public will not be allowed to attend his annual christmas eve mass in st. peter's basilica. it will be held two hours earlier than usual to comply with current protocols in italy. >> leland: from the united kingdom another stark warning saying there is yet another strain of the coronavirus that has been detebted in great britain. we'll tell you why officials say it is more contagious than the first variant discovered there last week. prominent figures in oregon are calling on businesses to stay open because the governor has extended the state of emergency restrictions. we'll go to oregon with the
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after all, home is the best place to be. right at home, navigating what's to come. ♪ >> leland: talking about the georgia senate runoffs less than two weeks away. the secretary of state there brad raffensperger is coming out against the no-excuse absentee ballot system in that state. >> this cycle has shown we need
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to move to an excused-based system. the no-excuse system voted into law in 2005 long before most of you, if not all of you, long before i was in the general assembly, it makes no sense when we have three weeks of in-person early voting available. >> leland: democrats say that oppose restricting absentee voting in the middle of a pandemic. it will force more people to wait in long lines at crowded polling places. as of now, in georgia, more than two million early votes have already been cast. >> julie: a republican mayor from oregon is calling on businesses to get this, defy the governor's coronavirus restrictions and keep their doors open. governor kate brown extended a state of emergency keeping most businesses in extreme risk counties closed until march of 2021. the mayor of the town of sandi says the restrictions have
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bankrupted family businesses and sent our neighbors to spiral into depression and anxiety. joining me now is that very mayor in oregon. thank you very much. talk to us about the open letter that you wrote directly to the governor calling the rules arbitrary. >> well, that's right. i wrote an open letter to the governor because small communities across oregon like mine are tired of the double standards. neighbors can pack into malls and support corporal america but we can't support our stores on main street. the double standards have to stop. >> julie: you write, our neighbors are simply unable to continue drowning in arbitrary rules that are bankrupting their family businesses. governor brown, we are opening. have you heard from the governor? >> i have.
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i talked to her the other day. she told me that she has the evidence. she acted extremely excited that she had the evidence that fitness centers and restaurants and bars contribute to the spread. so what i'm asking this morning is after 24 hours after she promised that her staff would send me the evidence, where is the evidence? i want to know. we expect to know. if you are going to shut down the main street communities across this state at the very least the mom and pop locally owned stores deserve to know why and when they look across and people can support corporate america but not a locally-owned store. we demand answers. governor kate brown, where is the evidence? >> julie: i want to quote the national federation of independent business to show how dire a situation this is. it says that 25% of oregon businesses anticipate closing within six months if economic conditions don't improve. basically what you are saying
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the governor is going to put all these mom and pop businesses out of business. you call a double standard. you say that people are wondering why they can go to the mall and pack in like sardines and support corporate america but we can't sit down at our local mom and pop main street businesses and support them. so now let's talk solutions, okay? how can measures be taken to open and remain open in a safe way do you think? >> well we're talking about doing it when you look at what the governor's status is of places like the portland metro area. she has them classified at extreme risk. we talk about opening one level under that at high-risk. all the sanitation practices in place, wearing facemasks, doing the proper social distancing. we want to do what's right. we want to follow the governor's guidelines in a safe way that prevents additional threat of covid. this is outrageous. we can pack in supporting corporate america but not our
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local main street. it is ridiculous. we can do this in a safe manner. if the governor doesn't want us to open up across the state on january 1, go to my website and download the sign, put it in your store front. if she doesn't want us to open up across the state on january 1 under our own guidelines she needs to adjust her guidelines. we're at the table ready to talk and negotiate but allow us to open the doors and get the employees back to work. >> julie: will the store owners face any kind of penalty if they ignore the governor's orders? >> she certainly threatening to do so. what we're asking is it's been on kaur channel all summer and fall long we saw mob protests and riots hurting local small businesses. vandalizing their store fronts with zero consequences. we demand that exact same indifference from this governor for our peaceful protest that
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she showed to groups like antifa. outrageous she threatens local small business owners while she allows riots going on in downtown portland. >> julie: i'm sure the people of your town and residents appreciate you sticking up for them and look forward to seeing how it unfolds. the mayor, thank you. >> leland: it is worth taking a second and listening to rush limbaugh from yesterday. >> you have an expiration date. a lot of people never get told that and so they don't face life this way. >> leland: we'll have more on his message of gratitude as rush limbaugh battles lung cancer. millions of americans are ignoring all the calls to avoid travel over the holidays. is there going to be another coronavirus surge similar to what we saw after thanksgiving?
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>> leland: we've heard it day after day. warnings to stay home. millions of americans are flying the friendly skies this christmas week. more than 5 million people passed through the airport security checkpoints between friday and tuesday alone. we bring in dr. marty makary. we appreciate it. four weeks ago today was thanksgiving and there were some dire predictions, if you
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go visit friends for thanksgiving we'll see this explosion of coronavirus cases and sadly an explosion of the death toll. have those predictions proved true? >> we've seen on average state by state in the analysis about a 10 to 15% increase in the weeks following thanksgiving. unclear if that's the normal rate of increase and the normal momentum right now that we're seeing. i do think, leland, it is safe to travel if people take precautions. folks will have to assess their own personal and individual risk. the airlines have done a great job blowing fresh air and requiring masks. if you're concerned wear two masks for a face shield. i'm more concerned when the plane lands. eating is a time of concern because there is no masks during that time. >> leland: we see the research over and over when families get together and you are all in the same house and around a table and that's the time that the virus spreads. you made a good point in terms of sort of who you are in the
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population making your own choices. do you feel as though the messaging needs to get a little bit sharper, that hey, if it's a bunch of 20-year-olds getting together and not seeing their grandparents it's fine. if two families in their 70s better not? >> absolutely. we have to think about vulnerable folks. look, you don't want to get the infection in the last two or three months of this year-long pandemic. we've made tremendous sacrifices. it would be a shame for somebody to get it that the point. millions of americans have come full circle. it starts with oh my father just got tested positive. then he has some symptoms. then he is in the hospital and then icu and there is a loss of life. i hear that story over and over again from friends and friends of friends. it's not how you want to get serious about the science of the pandemic. >> leland: talk to a physician who is more on the business side than he is on the medical side of this but they intersect. his thought was that there is a
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real difference between now and say april or may and how successful we are at treating in. the overall case fatality rate continues to fall. >> if you've got the infection in july your mortality rate is 30% below what it was two months hour because of some medicine. right now it's the antibody therapy. people are not aware of the antibody therapy. press your doctors if you are high risk and have symptoms of the coronavirus you want to press your doctor to talk to the local hospital and get the antibody therapy before you are admitted when are you no longer a candidate. we've made great strides and buying time as people have taken the mitigation steps. >> leland: how confident are we that these therapies and the vaccine are going to work against these new strains that are in the united kingdom, south africa and the newest strain more contagious than the new one we heard about last week? >> that's right.
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england announced a second mutation that appears also to be very contagious but not more lethal. it begs the question. if we're seeing mutations at this rate is it possible that a future mutation soon could mutate around natural immunity or vaccinated immunity? it is possible. that's why many of us think that every two or three or three to five years you'll come back for a modified vaccine for the mutated strain. >> leland: almost like a flu shot or something. doctor, we appreciate it. merry christmas to you and yours whether you celebrate together or virtually. we appreciate you guiding us through all these months. >> merry christmas. >> julie: with a new strain of the coronavirus found in europe, what new york is doing to keep travelers from spreading the virus in the big apple. plus this. the investigation into hunter biden, why some in the justice department are saying a special counsel is needed next.
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>> leland: take a look at this picture from baltimore. a building explosion left two construction workers trapped on that scaffolding you see there that was dangling. firefighters you see a guy in the window, were able to rescue the two workers and get them to safety. the explosion caused a partial roof collapse that injured 21 people. so far, though, the cause of that explosion at this baltimore building is unknown. >> julie: with the new strain of coronavirus spreading in the united kingdom new york city mayor bill deblasio is stepping up the quarantine enforcement for all incoming travelers sending a simple message to anyone visiting the city. quarantine or pay a fine. we are live from time square.
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so obviously major contention between elected officials in new york and new yorkers in new york city. >> that's right, julie. good morning to you. christmas will look very different in the city this year especially if you are coming in from the u.k. you can expect to get a personal visit from a sheriff's deputy. this as new york city mayor bill deblasio kicks up those covid rules a notch on wednesday. thousands of u.k. travelers continue to pour into the city. anyone traveling to the state must continue to fill out a contact tracing form which includes exactly where they are staying. only now they will also be served a quarantine order by certified mail and travelers from the u.k. specifically will get an unannounced knock on the door by a sheriff's deputy at their home or hotel to confirm that they are in fact in quarantine. and anyone who fails to comply, julie, faces a $1,000 fine
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every day of non-compliance. the u.k. strain is believed to be 56% more contagious according to the latest study out of london. there are no confirmed cases here in the u.s. but dr. anthony fauci believes it is already here and the mayor does not want the take any chances. >> we don't want to penalize people. everyone has been through hell this year. we don't want to, but if you don't follow quarantine you're endangering everyone else in the city fighting the second wave. >> all of this comes ton heels of another new restrike ton that went into effect this week. three airlines will now require passengers from england to show a negative covid test before being allowed to travel. of course, we have the checkpoints still in place across the city. julie. >> julie: thank you very much. sources are telling fox that high-level talks are currently underway at the justice department as we speak about
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appointing a special counsel to take over the hunter biden investigation. welcome to a brand-new hour of "america's newsroom." >> leland: merry christmas eve to you at home i've leland vittert. sandra smith is off today. some top officials at the justice department who believe a special counsel may be warranted to avoid any potential conflicts of interest going forward. sources are telling fox no decision has been made but the discussions are ongoing. the 50-year-old son of president-elect biden is the target of a federal investigation into his taxes and overseas business and financial affairs. congressman devin nunes says a special counsel is needed to prevent any interference by the incoming biden administration. >> if there was a special counsel that was started on donald trump for nothing, then with all that's going on, i mean, it was the bidens who got 3 1/2 million dollars from moscow. some business deals in china.
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maybe the f.b.i. will do a good job and d.o.j. will do a good job but i highly doubt it and so do millions of americans. >> leland: david spunt live at the justice department. this is different view of this than what we saw a couple of days ago from bill barr, right? >> what's changed is that bill barr is now a private citizen and no longer the attorney general of the united states. his former deputy jeff rosen is now the acting attorney general of the united states. barr left after almost two years of service at the justice department yesterday. you mentioned this specific discussion that is going on that's coming from our reporter. discussions, no final decision has specifically been made yet when talking about a special prosecutor for the incoming president's son, hunter biden. quite a different tone than you saw from now former attorney general bill barr. just on monday he was in front
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of cameras on a separate matter and he was asked specifically about a special counsel and just days before leaving office he said he did not see a need to appoint a special counsel or special prosecutor to investigate the incoming president's son. listen. >> to this point i have not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel and i have no plan to do so before i leave. >> barr passed on the special counsel opportunity. now it is up to acting attorney general jeff rosen to give the special counsel idea a thumbs up or down. he has a few weeks to do so. if he chooses and the clock is ticking. president-elect biden will be sworn in and take over at the white house on january 20th. his attorney general, a person we don't know their name at this point, will probably take over soon after that although we're still waiting for that a.g. pick. >> leland: biden has said he won't talk with any of the potential a.g. picks about the
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investigation into his son. >> correct. >> leland: what's happening at the justice department in light of these pardons that were issued? they were a couple of cases that the justice department worked pretty hard on. >> absolutely. specifically three cases that are gaining attention and pardons come through the justice department in consultation with the white house. president trump issued 26 pardons yesterday. last night three commutations. the three pardons getting attention are two people prosecuted during the mueller probe. one is former campaign chair paul manafort. also roger stone, a trump confidant and the father of trump's son-in-law mr. charles kufpner. he was convicted and spent two years in jail for tax crimes. the man responsible for putting kushner behind bars, u.s. attorney chris christie, another close confidant of the president. those close to trump and the administration believe there
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will be more pardons coming. several weeks to go. that's the president's right until the last moment he is president, leland. >> leland: stay tuned as they say in the television business. julie. >> julie: for more on this joe concha is a columnist for the hill and fox news contributor and joins me now. d.o.j. officials are having ongoing discussions about how to investigate hunter biden. my question to you is should there be a special counsel appointed? >> well, if you look at the statute, julie, it appears that would be a case. a source telling fox news it was passed a deal with the conflict of interest of the attorney general or the president of the united states. the president-elect would have a conflict of interest. who will be the attorney general? if we look back at the obama-biden administration look at the two attorney generals from that era. eric holder who said he was, quote, still the president's wing man so i'll be there with
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my boy while he was active attorney general. probably not very independent there. loretta lynch who met with bill clinton in the infamous tarmac meeting in august of 2016 at the height of the hillary clinton investigation before that election. she showed she wasn't very independent there as well. she said she was there to talk about golf and grandkids. if you believe that you look into beach front property in arizona. now we look at joe biden's possible selection for attorney general. at the top of his list according to many reports is sally yates. who is that? as she has shown over the last four years she is a very partisan person around the president and chosen to speak at the democratic national convention. so is she the person that would act independently of the oval office as joe biden is promising moving forward? probably not. therefore, that's why we're seeing these discussions around a possible special counsel. >> julie: do you believe with
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sally yates there would be bias present? >> yeah, because i go back and look at her twitter feed and comments during impeachment. i watched her speech at the democratic national convention. it was overwhelmingly partisan. therefore, when you hear joe biden say that a, the investigation into his son by the f.b.i. is russian disinformation which has been disproven because there is an f.b.i. investigation now, it is not about russia as it always seems to be. and therefore if you look at yates again, you look back at her conduct and actions over the last four years she is the last person you say would be indpen dent. >> julie: all right. i want to move to the coronavirus stimulus checks. house minority leader kevin mccarthy is accusing speaker nancy pelosi and other democrats of selective hearing. this happened on wednesday night after president trump called for congress to raise the amounts from $600 to $2,000. first about the amount on that check. why do you think the president didn't ask for the $2,000
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amount sooner? >> well, it seemed that before the election he was asking for larger amounts and again the house is controlled by democrats. house speaker nancy pelosi seemed to be playing politics with these negotiations in terms of getting joe biden over the finish line and then suddenly wow, negotiations were all in vogue. it's so 2020, however, that now here you have the president advocating for $2,000 checks and who is on his side? nancy pelosi, the house speaker. who are they possibly going up against? some establishment republicans who think the $2,000 is too much. if you look at public polling people see $600 that probably pays for one utility bill and overdraft fees. many people feel it isn't enough. that's the populist we're seeing in president trump. >> julie: it is quite pathetic when you crunch the numbers. mccarthy is saying that republicans should follow the
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president's lead, re-examine how our tax dollars are spent overseas that includes billions of dollars in foreign aid amid a pandemic that has wreaked such havoc on the u.s. for a year. put the numbers on the screen. all the money that is being sent to foreign governments included in this broader spending bill that nancy pelosi has lumped into helping the american people. you have $700 million for sudan, $453 million for ukraine, $250 million for israel and palestine. $86 million for cambodia, $15 million for pakistan and it is included in the $10 million for gender programs. so when the president calls for more money to go to the american people, it doesn't seem democrats are listening. instead they are looking at how to throw money overseas. i just don't get it. >> don't get it and remember, julie i'll end it here. 5,593 pages, lawmakers were asked to read in six hours.
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war and peace was 1300 pages. people were voting for a bill they didn't see what was in it. the domestic spending has to be looked at as well. $1 billion for the smithsonian, kennedy center getting tens of millions? a train wreck all around and exposed thankfully and the president was right to take the lead and say enough is enough. that money needs to go into the hands of the american people and not everywhere elsewhere it doesn't affect actual involve covid relief. merry christmas. good to see you. >> leland: christmas good news. we're learning how effective the federal operation called operation legend was in getting dangerous criminals off the street. they arrested 6,000 people in nine cities charged them with 1500 federal crimes like homicide, domestic abuse, drug trafficking. former attorney general william barr says the operation was a
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resounding success. it was named after this young man, legend, a 4-year-old boy killed by gunfire while sleeping in his bed in kansas city in june. >> julie: president trump sending a warning to iran after a series of rocket attacks targeted the u.s. embassy in baghdad. president trump tweeting iran was responsible. lucas tomlinson is live at the pentagon this morning. lucas. >> the top u.s. commander in the middle east called the rocket attack the largest in a decade. president trump issued the following threat last nie. our embassy in baghdad got hit sunday by several rockets. three failed to launch. guess where they came from? iran. now we hear chatter of additional attacks of americans in iraq. if one american is killed i will hold iran responsible. think it over. u.s. navy giving iran something
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to think over. monday the guided missile submarine sfwerd the strait of hormuz. it carries cruise missiles. escorting was guided missile cruisers. those two warships alone are armed with dozens of tomahawk cruise missiles as well. in addition the american destroyer john paul jones tested her five inch gun to send another message. they are armed with dozens of tomahawks. dozens and hundreds of these cruise missiles are in range of iran ready to launch and destroy any iranian targets if ordered. there is another ship in the air that can launch hornets and b-2 and b-52 bombers can deploy. israel is making plans to
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deploy a submarine to the area. over 60,000 u.s. troops are stationed still in the middle east. julie. >> julie: lucas tomlinson, thank you. this news on iran comes just as we learn more about the deaths of american bob levinson. he was a former agent for a drug enforcement administration and f.b.i. working for the c.i.a. when he planned a trip to iran back in 2007 where he was abducted. his son, dan, will join us later this hour to talk about iran's aggression and his warning for president-elect joe biden about how to deal with tehran. >> leland: good news here. the u.s. has reached a major milestone in the fight against the coronavirus. as of yesterday, more than 1 million americans have received their first dose of the vaccine. distribution networks achieved that just 10 days after the first shot. healthcare workers on the front lines and seniors as we've been showing are some of the first
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to get it. cdc is still encouraging everyone to practice social distancing, wear a mask and wash their hands until further notice. >> julie: the questions keep coming in the hunter biden controversy as we learn he still owns a stake in a chinese equity company. will his foreign business dealings catch up with the president-elect when he takes office next month? rush limbaugh speaking from the heart as he signs off for the year. what he said in his final show of 2020 about his battle with lung cancer and the power of love. >> i wasn't expected to be alive today. my point in all of this today is gratitude from the bottom of a sizeable and growing and still beating heart. it's been a tough year. and now with q4 wrapping up, the north pole has to be feeling the heat.
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>> leland: welcome back this christmas eve. in his final show of the year radio great rush limbaugh had a message for his listeners that had nothing to do with politics. >> my point in all of this today is gratitude my point in everything today is to say thanks and to tell everybody involved how much i love you from the bottom of a sizeable
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and growing and still beating heart. i wasn't expected to be alive today. you have an expiration date. a lot of people never get told that and so they don't face life this way. i have learned what love really is during this. >> leland: important message. you can listen and watch more online. he announced last february he was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. he was awarded the presidential medal of freedom at the state of the union address. >> julie: joe biden said no one in his family would have foreign business dealings when he is president. but less than a month before inauguration day records show hunter biden still owns a 10% stake in a chinese private equity firm. i want to bring in dan hoffman,
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former c.i.a. station chief to talk about this. your reaction to business records showing hunter biden still owns 10% stake in a chinese private equity firm. >> well it is certainly something the media is tracking and rightly so. reportedly there was some speculation that he was still offloading his stake but make no mistake, he resigned from that board in 2019 and thus far there hasn't been any reason given for why it is taking this long for him to extricate himself from that company. >> julie: here is what joe biden said regarding his family business relationship dealings back in october of 2019. no one in my family will have an office in the white house, will sit in on meetings as if they are a cabinet member, will in fact have any business relationship with anyone that relates to a foreign corporation or a foreign country. so now the question is begging
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to be asked could hunter's entanglements catch up with the president-elect? >> that statement by then candidate biden was certainly a not so thinly veiled criticism at this administration, the trump administration. let's be clear. there is nothing illegal sitting on a board even a foreign one, when a family member is serving in the government. it does reflect poor judgment. and it has been the case for hunter biden first in ukraine with burisma and then at dhr in china. it creates the perception of a conflict of interest and some collateral damage on our foreign policy. that's the concern. that's why there is a requirement for full transparency. >> julie: does joe biden do you think need to further address the investigation? >> i think he will be called to answer questions until it is resolved. there is federal prosecutors in delaware looking into hunter
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biden's taxes focused on money laundering and his overseas business dealings. principally with china. i think that the media, rightly so, will be tracking all of that and asking joe biden when he is president to continue to comment on it. it is not going to go away until it is fully resolved. >> julie: do you think a special counsel is necessary? >> of course ultimately the attorney general will make that decision. it's a pretty high threshold if you look back at past special counsels. whitewater, iran contra, watergate. the threshold is awfully high. we're talking about a family member of the president. the attorney general will have some thinking to do about it in the event the attorney general decides not to pursue, then that will be an interesting discussion point. >> julie: all right, dan hoffman, great to see you. merry christmas, thank you. >> thanks, happy christmas.
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>> leland: 13 years ago former f.b.i. agent bob levinson appeared in iran. his family said he likely died. we'll talk to his son about iranian aggression and his warning for president-elect joe biden. silent night in the holy land. bethlehem looks so much different because of covid restrictions for christmas. we'll take you there next. ♪ when it comes to autism,
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because it gave me peace of mind. >> leland: bottom of the hour. top stories. a major storm is threatening the east coast this christmas eve. forecasters say heavy rain, flooding, strong winds and possibly tornadoes. severe weather is expected to continue into christmas day. t-trump administration planning to buy an additional 100 million doses of the pfizer vaccine. according to the department of human health and human services all of the doses will be delivered by the end of next july. >> leland: information on the number of covid cases among u.s. military personnel now topped 100,000. pentagon says the first case an american service member being infected was reported last february. for more on these stories and everything else, download the
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fox news app. you can scan the qr code on your screen right now or go to foxnews.com/apps. >> julie: a publicly funded charter school in nevada is now finding itself in a bit of legal trouble. a lawsuit claiming its curriculum created a hostile environment when students were instructed to link aspects of their own identities with either privilege or oppression. jonathan hunt is live in our west coast newsroom with more on this. hi. >> the course is called sociology of change. part of the curriculum at a charter high school in las vegas. the student who filed the lawsuit claims he was force evidence to take the course to graduate and the course itself created a hostile environment. the class material includes a series of slides pointing out examples of institutionalized,
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sexism, racism, gender oppression and trance phobia and argues that reverse racism doesn't exist. people of color can have racism against white people but gangs of white people will crash down on those who are prejudiced against white people. the oppressed groups don't have the power to enforce prejudices and sums up the argument with a slide saying racism equals prejudice plus power, therefore people of color cannot be racist. in the lawsuit william clark said the terminated class discussion in the terms that everyone can be racist and the school deliberately created a hostile educational environment for william clark who, unlike his classmates, appeared to be and is regarded by his peers as white. his mother is white, his father now deceased was white. it was founded in 2005 in new
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york and operates 21 schools across the country with the stated aim of proving that students, regardless of what zip code they are born into, can perform at high academic levels. democracy prep told us via email this morning, quote, we strongly disagree with how the class has been characterized. in addition, we have yet to be served with the lawsuit. we should also point out, julie, that while the lawsuit claims some other unnamed students also objected to parts of this course, william clark and his mother appear to be the only ones to have taken legal action. julie. >> julie: jonathan hunt, thank you. >> leland: president trump says iran will pay a dear price if they kill any americans in their increasing attacks. sunday's rocket attack against the u.s. embassy in iraq drew parallels to last year's violence and the killing of
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iran's top general. it put new focus on the case of levinson, the iranians kidnapped him and is now presumed dead. joining us now dan levinson, bob's son who campaigned for his dad for the 14 years he was a captive. thank you for joining us. how is the search for justice? >> it has been long. we'll continue. we had a number of things happen in recent weeks that are encouraging to us including the passage of the robert levinson hostage recovery and hostage taking accountability act which should be part of the larger spending bill by congress. hopefully signed into law soon. the u.s. treasury and the u.s. government sanctioned two individuals in iran as part of the government who they have found to be responsible for taking my dad. so it's a long journey. we'll continue to keep the pressure on iran. >> leland: you all have seen
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firsthand american foreign policy toward iran in intimate way. bush administration, obama administration and trump. which has been most effective and why? >> well, we've been dealing, as you said, with the past three administrations and it has been different success and different failures and the trump administration has been wonderful to us. the officials that we've been dealing with are keeping the pressure on iran and we hope the biden administration does respond. what we've learned in 14 years is that the iranians, we've played nice with them, we've given them outs but they only respond to pressure. they need to keep the pressure up. >> leland: they need to keep the pressure up. president-elect biden says he wants to go back to the iran deal. the obama position on iran didn't put the kind of pressure the trump administration did. do you think they have a clear
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eye and clear view of how evil these people are and what they did to your dad? >> i certainly hope so. my dad's case is a prime example. they kept him for all this time with no basic human rights, no access to his family or a lawyer. they have to understand that this is the way they're dealing with americans and other citizens of other countries. they're still americans they're holding. and their cases need to be resolved along with my dad's. they have never acknowledged holding my dad. they need to be held accountable in every regard. the news over the past few days they are still attacking americans. >> leland: it was a year ago the soleimani was killed. the top military leader in iran. there was a thought there would be world war iii in the middle east. nothing happened by the iranians effectively. now on the one-year anniversary the u.s. put a number of additional military assets back into the region in case there is an attack. we saw the tweet from president
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trump threatening retaliatory strike. the fact that iran didn't really respond after the killing of their top general, do you think it shows how well they respond to force? >> that's a very good point. i can't comment on these broader issues with iran. we have realized that you can play nice with them and they'll roll right over you. you have to take a stand against the iranians. you have to make sure that they know that they will be held accountable for their actions and that there will be -- there will be retaliation and they can't get away with this kind of stuff. >> leland: dan, we appreciate you being here with us. i've said it before, we know that for the years that your dad was alive and down range one of the things that kept him alive was the knowledge that his family was fighting for him back home and your family has done a great job keeping his legacy alive. >> thank you so much. >> leland: merry christmas to
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you and yours. >> julie: it's christmas eve and christmas from bethlehem to the vatican and all around the world for that matter are scaling back holy day gatherings as the pandemic puts a damper on traditional festivities this year. trey yengst is live in jerusalem. >> christmas celebrations in the holy land are different this year due to the outbreak of covid-19. the ancient city of bethlehem was nearly empty today as the procession marched through i the square. one boy scout troop and futureists or pilgrims in sight. they have recorded 120,000 cases of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic. israel nearly 400,000 total cases as the country this week started a massive vaccination campaign. today in vatican city pope francis will hold his traditional midnight mass.
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it won't take place at midnight this year due to coronavirus curfew restrictions. most is set to take place online at 7:30 local time. julie. >> julie: beautiful background behind you. very gorgeous. there are people out and about enjoying it fortunately. thank you very much, trey yengst. leland. >> leland: another show of defiance against the lockdowns. what the republican mayor of one town in a democratic state is urging businesses to do as they fight to survive. plus it's not something you usually find in a big box store, a babe ruth autographed baseball. how much they want for the ball next. ♪ take me out to the ballgame, take me out with the crowd ♪ ♪ buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks, i don't care if i ever get back ♪ ♪
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>> julie: we have some items you can add to our shopping list the last time you go online for costco. you might have to dig deep. the babe ruth autographed baseball can be all yours for the bargain basement price of $64,000. and if you have any more spare change after that how about this? a bat autographed by ty cobb. the price $160,000. right now there are some 29 sports memorabilia items listed for sale. get out there if you have any cash left. >> small communities across oregon are tired of the double standards. neighbors are able to pack into malls and support corporate america. for some reason we can't sit down and support our local small business owner along our main street. >> leland: that's the republican mayor of oregon with us last hour about the coronavirus restrictions. wrote a letter to the
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democratic governor kate brown saying her orders have bankrupted family businesses and he urged businesses to open new year's day in defiance to the governor. we are joined by a seattle reporter. we appreciate it. this shows the divide in some of these deep blue states, right? >> it really does. look, all of these covid mandates wherever it is they're coming from. in the pacific northwest, south or wherever, the covid mandates are only as good as our willingness to follow them, right? if everyone tomorrow decided they won't do it and heed the calls from this mayor and decide just to reopen there is only so much that individual states can do about it. when you decide to move forward with mandates that are not necessarily based in science and data after telling us for months that you are going to be informed by the science and data, you are essentially begging people to push back. i understand why there are mayors who are interested in signing on to this pack and i
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certainly understand businesses coming forward and saying look, you told us that contact tracing is the end all, be all of reopening our economy. gyms haven't been tied to any of the cases in oregon or in washington for that matter. why are you telling us that we have to be closed down? we can't survive this. >> leland: waffle house has 2,000 locations around america. how many cases of coronavirus have been linked to your stores? he said zero. there is science there if you believe it or not. it brings to light a larger question. we've gone from sort of fighting back against the lockdown orders to now the potential defiance issues and have seen these in certain states and cities. not in the way of local officials now beginning to sort of try and supersede state law. where does the rubber meet the road on this? does kate brown send in the state police to shut businesses down. or if the mayor says open will
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she have to take it? >> probably a little mix of both. depends how much defiance there actually is. if a bunch of cities decide that they are in fact going to reopen, the fact of the matter is kate brown won't be able to do that much about it. you can send in labor and industries and they'll be able to threaten to fine some businesses. at some point the business themselves with the backing of their local mayor and their local council will say look, if we stay closed we'll be closed down permanently anyway. go ahead and hit us with the fines. we won't pay them. it all depends on how much will there is. governor brown has a lot of power so long as people say you have that power. she would be making a smarter move if she would look at the science and data and show a little bit more understanding say look, we aren't going to close down all of the restaurants, all of the gyms based on the data. but we'll baby step it because they want to be careful. that at least shows some goodwill on her part toward these businesses that goes a
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long way. >> leland: i'm harking back from what you just said to the constitution and the declaration. consent of the governed was a big part of this whole experiment we are on 200 plus years ago. jason, we appreciate it. thank you. >> leland: merry christmas. >> julie: new york city restaurant owners issuing a new warning to state and local leaders. what they say they're doing if the indoor dining ban is not lifted. a threat? that's next. ♪ we are the thrivers.
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mayor bill deblasio. both of them. they say if the indoor dining ban isn't lifted soon they'll ban the two from eating at their establishments. carley shimkus with fox news headlines 24/7 is here. this is more of an intent, not that the mayor and governor plan on dining together in new york city any time soon. it goes the show the major contention between new yorkers and the mayor and governor. the question now is turn about fair play? >> absolutely. i have spoken to so many restaurant owners throughout this pandemic and they all say the same thing. they feel like scapegoats. people aren't stupid. we know what's going on here. shutting down restaurants has nothing to do with the coronavirus itself. it has everything to do with folks like deblasio and cuomo's desire to appear in control and like they are making the tough decisions. it is very easy for them to say i don't want to shut down restaurants or go into a lockdown but saving a life is more important than saving a
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job. that's all well and good but we know that restaurants are nowhere near the top source of spread and what happens when you do shut them down? not only do the restaurants struggle but folks will hang out together in an unsupervised setting in a home, an apartment. so this is really all about power and control. restaurant owners have every right to be angry and take a stand like this. >> julie: you make a good point. remember during halloween and after halloween there was a major spike. this is after the governor ruled out any kind of trick-or-treating and all that. all the families in new york huddled inside people's home and super spreader events along the state. only 1.5%, less than 1.5% of covid cases are a result of restaurants. that's a percentage and evidence it doesn't seem is being looked at by these political allies, between the governor and the mayor. i don't understand that. >> that is infuriating. no one understands it when you look at that and see that
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restaurants are being forced to shut down during the busiest time of year when it is getting cold outside. it makes absolutely no sense. this whole thing about banning cuomo and deblasio from restaurants. who knows if people would do it. it reminds me earlier on in the pandemic when governor cuomo said you have to order food if you order a drink. some restaurants in update new york selling a bag of potato chips. a lot of creative jabs being taken here. restaurant owners are going to follow the rules and they are responsible business owners and none of them want to be a source of spread. so they'll go above and beyond. the thing that's so disheartening is a lot of folks have spent even more money on the plastic dividers, on ppe, on keeping people safe. >> julie: you are absolutely right. >> and it is money wasted, julie. >> julie: they've done an
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incredible job. you walk down any new york city street and see all the work that's been put into outdoor dining and indoor dining is no different. they've definitely spent a lot of money and taken a lot of time to make sure they're safe. it is unfortunate to see but let's hope for out of the woods soon. carley shimkus, thank you so much. appreciate it. >> see you julie and leland. >> leland: it is like any -- a christmas like any other. americans are trying to figure out how to celebrate during the pandemic. we'll show you how all the canceled holidays are making a bad time for event venues, well, even worse. rich edson when we come back. ♪ when it comes to autism,
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>> leland: in so many ways christmas looks very different this year including the holiday parties. most usual gatherings have been canceled. bad news for venues that usually host them. good news for comedians, rich, who want to host digital cocktail parties. >> i guess if they can charge for them. this is usually a time of year when restaurant and event businesses make a significant share of their income.
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this year those large profitable holiday parties are off. a recent survey says more than half of companies are skipping hosting a holiday party this year. that's the highest rate since consulting firm challenger gray and christmas began the survey in 2004. 44% of businesses canceled parties because of covid. 5% say they've dropped their parties to cut costs. like the rest of 2020, covid is battering the party business. >> we've tried to come up with other ideas. things about doing some virtual things and catering out to offices or homes. but to be very candid there is no replacing the lost business. >> the event industry is going through a very difficult time right now. and we are not only rebuilding after a pandemic but we're going to be rebuilding after an economic collapse. >> leland: another aspect of this. health officials are warning americans to avoid traveling and gathering during the
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holidays there is concern about an impact of a year of social isolation. americans should try to connect with others over the holidays at a distance however possible. video calls, volunteering or letting others know you're thinking of them. leland. >> leland: rich, thank you very much. fox news alert. we learn a lot more about hunter biden's finances. we're now learning he still has a stake in a chinese private equity firm less than 30 days before president-elect biden is inaugurated. welcome to "america's newsroom," hour three as we press on. hi, julie. >> julie: hi. i'm julie banderas. sandra smith is off today. joe biden making it clear during the campaign that nobody in his family would engage in foreign business dealings if he was elected president. well now that less than a month before he takes office a source close to his son telling fox
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that hunter is still in the process of offloading his investment in a chinese company. we're also learning the justice department is having, quote, open discussions about whether a special counsel should be appointed in this case. here is law professor jonathan turley. >> if this is just a tax investigation, it is not a trivial matter. that can be a felony criminal investigation. it could very well be wrapping up and there may not be this great threat of a conflict. if it on the other hand is more of a money laundering type of investigation, then you have a more serious potential for conflict of interest. >> julie: jackie heinrich is live in wilmington, delaware. >> as federal investigators probe hunter biden's tax affairs we learn we owns a 10%
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stake in a chinese private equity firm. hunter's ownership comes through his company. a source close to hunter indicated he is in the process of selling his overseas holdings. that process still in motion pointing to an article from this summer. the "wall street journal" reports a person close to him says the international scrutiny hunter's involvement has drawn limited the company's deal making. it is a complicated process for hunter to divest himself of his ownership. he stepped down from the board in october 2019 promising not to do any foreign work if his father won the white house. hours after that announcement joe biden made a campaign stop in iowa where he promised no one associated with him or in his family will be involved with any foreign operation if elected. 27 days before inauguration hunter's overseas insment lives on.
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if follows bill barr's departing decision a special counsel is not necessary. two high-level justice department officials are saying the talk is ongoing. >> you have a u.s. attorney in delaware looking at tax fraud. but he is not looking at his overseas dealings. hunter biden's dealings with the ukraine, china and other countries. >> the u.s. attorney overseeing hunter's case in delaware is a trump appointee but biden insiders say it is unlikely the president-elect will fire and replace that person. it could be seen as overt interference. julie. >> julie: jackie heinrich, thank you. >> leland: we'll bring in phillip weggemann. real clear politics correspondent. merry christmas. so many of us we're working through the holidays these days. you know, you talk to the biden campaign about this and we saw
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it when peter doocy asked the president-elect about it. no, no, nothing to see here, move on, move on. privately are they worried at all about this? >> i think that the biden campaign is watching very closely what acting attorney general jeffrey rosen is going to do over the holidays. it is a question that he is wrestling with. we know how bill barr feels about this issue. he said point blank he thought that this is a matter that ought to be left to the u.s. attorneys office in delaware. but look, we know how president trump feels about special counsel and the biden transition is watching this very closely. either way, the decision that could be made about a special counsel this is something that could determine the course of biden presidency. we saw what happened with the special counsel in president trump's first term. something similar. >> leland: it changes the dynamics when you have somebody
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with an unlimited budget and the power of a federal subpoena. a quote to fox news from a source at the justice department. referring to the special counsel statute. it was passed to deal with potential conflict of interest of the attorney general or president of the united states. president-elect coming in where his appointed attorneys will be investigating his son? that is textbook conflict. what do you make of the politics of this? that it was bill barr in the beginning of the week who said no, i don't think we need a special counsel for the hunter biden investigation and now at the end of the week the justice department saying no, no, no, we might. the only thing that has changed is bill barr isn't there anymore. >> it shows that the department of justice was of two minds on this issue. look, the republican argument when it comes to a special counsel being appointed to look into hunter biden is straight forward. their argument is institutions like this were set up to prevent conflicts of interest when you have either the
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attorney general or the president investigating someone close to them. but i think that andrew mccarthy makes an interesting point here that perhaps paradoxically appointing a special counsel to investigate hunter biden might be beneficial in some way for the biden administration. the reason being is that if there is a special counsel appointed, that kind of takes some of the wind out of the sails of the political argument that hunter biden would be getting special treatment ahead of biden nominating an attorney general. >> leland: i appreciate the explanation of that. i had to look at paradoxically. big words on christmas eve. this is how alyssa farah looked not necessarily at the criminal investigation part but how it played out in the media. >> the fact that these different scandals did not come to light ahead of the election frankly was a disservice to the american public. who wasn't able to fully vote
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with an informed perspective about the different conflicts of interest that hunter biden, the incoming president's son has. i think a special prosecutor is the best way to go. >> leland: we got the justice side of it. now comes the court of public opinion side of it. take you back four years ago to the trump transition where almost every day we were hit with new information about don junior and discussions of russia and on and on and on. do you see the same kind of media interest in the hunter biden issues and the hunter biden china connections that we saw in trump/russia? >> well, it depends what media you are watching. a lot of people told us there was no there there when it came to hunter biden before the election. now something that you can't not pay attention to. but i think what we just heard from alisa a second ago was an interesting statement about how president trump feels about
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this. he hasn't tipped his hand yet. when the mueller investigation began he saw this as a hamstringing of his presidency. he thought it was unfair. he thought it was unjust. he thought it was something that obama and biden had done to him. regardless of whether or not an investigation is merited, i would not be necessarily surprised to see president trump on his way out the door sort of appoint a special counsel to stick it to biden. >> leland: right. and stay tuned for pardons coming up. it will be a busy 27 days between now and january 20th. we appreciate you making the time. real clear politics.com is where you find phil's reporting. >> julie: despite warnings from public health officials millions of americans are traveling to see family and even friends for the holidays. garrett tenney is live in chicago. how are airports preparing for the influx of travelers during this pandemic? >> they're doing everything
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they can to keep things moving. that's pretty easy when things are as dead as they are right now. this morning o'hare was packed. airports across the country are the busiest they've been. social distancing markers and two dozen airports are offering rapid testing for passengers up to three days ahead of their flight to try to limit the spread of the virus over the holidays. >> my mom wanted me to get tested. i got the rapid test and came out negative. i can come back and be safe around my family members. >> according to aaa more than 84 million people may travel over the next week and a half. the vast majority are opting to skip the lines and packed planes and drive. 3/4 of americans won't be traveling this holiday season and following the advice of public health officials to stay home and limit the spread of
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the virus. but for many of those who are traveling they say they're aware of the risk but after the year we've had it is a risk they say is worth taking. >> it feels like nothing has been going on this year other than, you know, tragedy after tragedy. i felt like i needed to be around with who i can be before i lose too many more. >> for those who are traveling the cdc recommends getting tested before and after your travels. limiting the number of folks you come into contact with and quarantining whenever you get back home. julie. >> julie: all right, thank you very much. garrett. >> leland: well, for a few hours here in washington it appeared the covid relief package was a done deal for a few hours. now the battle is back on. house minority leader kevin mccarthy slammed speaker nancy pelosi for trying to -- for tying aid to americans across the country with the larger spending bill. she tried to use american
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people as leverage the make coronavirus relief contingent on government funding that includes billions of dollars of foreign aid at a time when there are urgent needs at home. now the house will hold a roll call vote on the covid bill with a $2,000 relief check. that vote comes monday. >> julie: a california church is basically wanting to open its doors for christmas services and i'm sure they're not alone. that does go against governor newsom's covid shutdown orders for the state of california. how a judge just ruled on the matter and the precedent it could set. plus new yorkers hightailing it out of the city as the state now leads the nation in population decline. the impact this could have in congress next. >> the quality of life has deteriorated badly under mayor deblasio and governor cuomo. more garbage, more crime. some hot cocoa?
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>> julie: so new york is now leading the nation in population decline. this is important. it is according to the census bureau and could have major political fallout as more and more people move out of the empire state because of the pandemic. if the population keeps dropping new york could lose up to two seats in the house of representatives. i want to bring in our next guest senior correspondent charles gas parrino. thousands of people left the empire state between july of 2019 or july 2020. more than any other state. the question lies if those numbers hold, it could have significant political
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consequences. new york could potentially lose a seat in the house dropping to 26 and leave state with fewer seats than florida for first time ever. how concerning is this? is there any way to turn it around? >> it is very concerning and it is a long-term trend unfortunately. it picked up steam during covid and the harsh lock downs that occurred in new york city. i have friends that live in the city are living in florida now and they work remotely, they work in the finance business. and it is very -- it is really bad for new york. here is why. new york is a heavily indebted city and state. if you lose that many people, particularly people that have means that pay a lot of taxes, which is where most of these losses are coming from, new york is heading for bankruptcy, particularly the city with its debt levels. that is really a fear for new york now. that the city itself is heading for bankruptcy. a lot of these folks aren't coming back. you put on top of that the fact that many of its biggest
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employers and that's wall street, banks, insurance companies, they are looking to outsource to other states. it picked up during covid. this is not necessarily about covid. covid expedited things. this is about what happened under bill deblasio and andrew cuomo. rampant crime. poor quality of life over the last two years. it all picked up steam during covid. i think people are looking at their balance sheet, these are people that can leave and will leave and saying okay, is new york worth the taxes when i might get mugged, when the schools are horrible, when we have socialists running the city and state government? that's a real problem for new york. how do you change that? i don't know if you can change that. >> julie: listen, i have been a new yorker for 15 years and i'm among those that have escaped
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the city. my apartment is sitting empty. i don't want to sell it. who will buy it? i pulled my kids out for many reasons. one being safety. the governor and mayor, the mayor didn't do a darn thing when they were riots. who the heck is going to want to live there? the governor and mayor want to close down all the restaurants and not allow indoor dining. who will want to come back? our economy is in the pooper. here is the population change according to the u.s. census bureau. take a look at new york compared to every other -- all these other states. .645% decrease in new york. arizona up, hawaii down, nevada up. this head count determines how the 435 seats in the house of representatives are divided among the 50 states based on the population changes recorded. we add to that, charles, at least 322,000 american lives
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that have been lost to covid-19 since march, which is making the stagnant growth trend worse. what does it tell us where we're headed as far as low population growth? >> low population growth is in many ways a function of decline of the economy. remember, new york has been losing population to florida and other states for a long time. it has only been expedited in recent years as we have had worse politicians running the place. bill deblasio, you know, is one of the more fectless mayors in the city. the mayor from seattle that let others control city blocks. he is right up there. he has put homeless shelters in residential neighborhoods during covid. bizarre things anybody has heard about. filling luxury hotels with a homeless population. many problems.
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people that are mentally ill and on drugs and adds to the decline in the economy as well. the big thing here julie is business. businesses used to say new york is the place to go because we have really smart people here. guess what? all the big businesses that were here, finance, banks, you name it are finding there are a lot of people in texas and florida and nashville and that's why they are moving their vast portions of their workforce there as well. >> julie: it's just really hard to watch. as a new yorker or anybody to see politicians destroy a city that was once the greatest city in the world. it will come back but not with the help of politicians that do nothing to help it. charles, thank you, great to see you. >> merry christmas. >> leland: on this christmas eve a california church is going to court. they want to stay open for christmas worship. we'll tell you what a judge just ruled on the governor's
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lockdown order there. plus increasing numbers of tsa checkpoints, more holiday travelers, does it mean a spike in the coronavirus? ♪ alright, everyone, we made it. my job is to help new homeowners who have turned into their parents. i'm having a big lunch and then just a snack for dinner. so we're using a speakerphone in the store. is that a good idea? one of the ways i do that is to get them out of the home. you're looking for a grout brush, this is -- garth, did he ask for your help? -no, no. -no. we all see it. we all see it. he has blue hair. -okay. -blue. progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. -keep it coming. -you don't know him. when you bundle with us. we're going to find the perfect tree. ♪ we're going skating. we're going to nana's. wherever you go this holiday, chevy can help you get there.
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who signaling herd immunity from covid is not likely to happen until the end of 2021. difficulty of vaccinating people in under developed country. one million americans have between vaccinated. >> julie: 16 republican attorneys general joining an nra lawsuit against james. she targeted the nra's leadership seeking to dissolve the organization on grounds of self-dealing and conflicts of interest. >> leland: study show people who had covid were successful in warding off the disease. these stories and more can be found on the fox news app. either scan the qr code right there on the bottom of your screen or just go to foxnews.com/apps. >> julie: a california church loses yet another legal battle
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in a bid to allow christmas services. a federal judge ruling the governor's shutdown order is a lawful public health measure that safeguards religious freedom by allowing outdoor church services. christina coleman is live in los angeles with more on this. hi, christina. >> that's right. a california church lost another battle against the state's lockdown orders. the church's attorneys say they were seeking immediate action so that their members could worship on christmas day. in a 2-1 decision the ninth circuit court of appeals rejected the harvest rock church request for a temporary restraining order against the state's restrictions. the church's leaders argue the restrictions violate their first amendment rights and also say governor gavin newsom's restrictions criminalize in-person worship and chanting while state leaders encourage social justice protestors to gather and chant. despite their arguments the court ruled the church failed
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to prove the covid restrictions were infringing on the first amendment rights of worshippers. this comes as churches across the country challenge various covid lockdowns and restrictions. earlier this month the u.s. supreme court stopped new york from enforcing certain limits on attendance at churches and synagogues in some areas hard hit by covid. that ruling essentially referred to a health order that treated churches the same way as comparable businesses. so again, these legal battles continue over various covid restrictions. julie. >> julie: christina coleman live in los angeles this morning. thank you very much. >> leland: that's the legal side. now the court of public opinion. a former national surrogate for bernie sanders and former candidate for new york city public advocate and republican political strategist and win big media. phil, start with you on this. we saw the church lose in court
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but is the reopening debate starting to change and are those in favor of reopening starting to win in the court of public opinion? >> i think so because it is the common sense element where you have california which has been in lock down for nine months and number two in covid cases now. where i live in the state of florida and right now where we are, we're in the bottom 15 in cases and we've had total freedom this year since about late april, early may. it doesn't make sense. you have businesses fleeing the state. people fleeing the state. you have nationally suicides up. the consequences of this are enormous. so much damage no one is talking about and you have elected leaders in california violating the rules that they are setting up and that comes down.
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>> leland: as this plays out we talked to a pastor in colorado who said he was willing to do this and others. if people are willing to get arrested to go against the lockdown orders and defy them, what kind of position does it put in if you start seeing sheriff's dep sees arresting people going to church, getting a haircut or opening a restaurant. that is not an optic that governors want. >> i think the reality here is that we have to sit here and look to our government and say why didn't you do anything sooner? you look around the world where -- new zealand zero cases because they effectively locked down and you didn't have people resisting so that they put their entire communities at risk. elderly, young people, old people, sick people all because people feel understandably frustrated with this. if we had taken it seriously from day one and listened to
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the cdc and hadn't defunded -- >> leland: the issue that we haven't taken it seriously or america is different than new zealand. germany has the same number of cases and we're in the same place? >> in florida where the governor says -- there are certain people more susceptible than others, i trust you to make decisions. it's mask option north america. we're in the bottom 15 with cases in florida. >> how many have died in florida? i would like to know that. how does that measure up? >> how do you know how many died of this point strictly from covid? i want to know that. >> putting people at risk. you are putting the entire country at risk because you want to be free to not wear your mask. that's dangerous. we know this. there is science. you are pushing conspiracy theories. >> leland: hold on. hold on. guys, we'll stop with the name calling. i ask you this question. somehow all of the messaging from much of the media talking
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about how everybody needs to wear masks and on and on. why don't people believe it? as phil points out there are a zillion people who don't have masks on in florida and not at the top of the charts in terms of who has the number of coronavirus cases. >> we know there have been waves. florida has had a significant number of deaths looking at the numbers. people don't believe it because we have conspiracy theorists going on air and saying they don't need to. that's the problem. you go to mexico and new mexico, there is a mask mandate and the levels are down. if our government -- if our government was providing for its citizens at this time i will say this. actually providing real relief for citizens at this time i don't think people would be doing this. >> leland: that got into a different discussion than what we thought about. i'm guessing you guys christmas celebrations might be a little bit different. merry christmas to all. >> wear your mask. >> leland: thank you.
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americans in iraq. friendly health advice to iran. if one american is killed i will hold iran responsible. think it over. >> apprehensive so we're masks on, everybody stay together. we'll see how it goes. i don't know with the new strain coming out, i don't know if it's the smartest idea. >> julie: as millions of americans are set to travel officials are sounding the alarm on another wave of covid cases. tsa screening over 3 million people last weekend. aaa expecting 85 million americans will be traveling during the week. what will it mean for surging cases and hospitalizations? let's welcome in dr. nesheiwat. despite the warnings tens of millions of people are traveling by plane, train, automobile this holiday season. how big of an impact will it have on the spread of the virus? >> it's going to be a great
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impact, julie. it will be a huge challenge for our country and healthcare system already strained and struggling. nurses and doctors, respiratory techs are tired and suffering from covid fatigue. when you travel you increase your risk of picking up covid and also spreading it. and it is not just a matter of getting on that airplane, bus or train. it is about what you do. about your behavior upon arrival to wherever you are going. about your behavior and what you did before you traveled. that's really important. will you go to a household where you don't live in that household? where you aren't wearing your mask around people you don't live with? will you have the windows and doors open and practice physical distancing when you are traveling? did you get tested before you left? will you get tested upon arrival? these are the things we worry about because it is the household gatherings, the mixing of households and social
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gatherings where the outbreaks are stemming. we know what the problem is. it's a matter of tackling it and being compliant with cdc guidelines especially because we're still fighting the thanksgiving surge, julie. we're suffering from 3500 deaths a day. at least one person is dying every minute from covid-19. so we have the tools and the knowledge and we know what to do to prevent these deaths. it is just a matter of adherence. >> julie: the new norm should be if you are going to be around anyone if you insist on ignoring the mandates get a covid test. everybody get a covid test before you potentially expose others or just don't go. sadly millions of people aren't heeding that warning. how much of the vaccine once its largely distributed give people peace of mind when it comes to traveling? >> right now it won't have a significant impact. it will take some time. a year from now, julie, it will be our golden ticket back to normal. we can go out to our favorite
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restaurants with family members and loved ones. go to our favorite concerts and ballgames. it will take time. we need a good 70 to 80% of the population to be vaccinated to reach a herd immunity. if we can get 70 to 80% plus add that in with the people that have already been naturally affected by coronavirus, then we're on our way to success. it is just right now a matter of hanging in there, being compliant, we're at the homestretch. right now december, january, christmas, new year's, this is the most difficult time because we want to be with our family. we want to be with our loved ones. we'll have a surge upon a surge like dr. fauci says. we need to be compliant right now until we get the vaccine which is shown to be safe and effective and shown to be of high quality. >> julie: all right. dr. jeanette nesheiwat, merry christmas to you and stay safe. >> thank you, julie. >> leland: city of detroit is
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they say their behavior is protected under the first amendment. you can't yell fire in a crowded theater. can you incite people to throw stones at the police? >> you stole my thunder. welcome. thank you for having me on the show. listen, this is what the big problem is. no, you can't. you can lawfully and peacefully protest. when i was prosecutor i would be responsible for organizing those protests and in some of these cases like you see in kenosha you have all tern at sides protesting. the police's responsibility is to protect property and to protect the protestors on both sides. violence is never an acceptable expression of your first amendment rights. i would add one thing. this lawsuit is interesting to me because all the civil rights cases i handled i've never seen the police and city fire back at those that have filed a complaint against them. >> leland: this is the claim from the city of detroit.
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the counterclaim. the blm protestors and organizers sued the city. >> wrongfully conspired with one another for the illegal purpose of disturbing the peace. inciting riots, resisting or obstructing officers and committing acts of violence and it goes on. if you read this it reminds me an awful lot of the strategy used by the southern poverty law center to break up the clan in the 70s and 80s. >> exactly. i think what the police are doing in this particular instance. this is unique because there is a group detroit will breathe which is incorporated under the laws of michigan and they were putting things on their social media platforms that were advocating according to this complaint violence directed at police up to and including take their badge and teeth and things of that nature and telling them to come down to the locations. what the conspiracy is, a group of people organized by the laws
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of the state of michigan that put this stuff out there specifically targeting police and riots occurred and police were injured as well as i have to adhere the peaceable protestors that were there doing what they felt was the right thing and completely lawful. >> leland: a lot of them got hurt as well. getting back to this. it's interesting. this is different than a criminal charge. thinking back how groups have been taken apart before. if you go after the leaders financially that changes the dynamic, right? >> this is both a public relations document when you look at it. the detail, the quotes are so specific. but to your point yes, you can go after the organization for its money but leland one point you touched on that really important. these individuals are alleged by this complaint to have committed criminal acts and now they will be required to waive their fifth amendment right to remain silence and who knows
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what evidence may be developed against that organization that could result ultimately in criminal charges. a risky thing for the persons who filed the original complaint. >> leland: is this perhaps foreshadowing what, for example, the f.b.i. or d.o.j. could do to go after antifa groups and other violent groups on the left in a number of these cities? >> i don't care if you are left or right. if the f.b.i. sees organized efforts to riot and attack police and not follow the rules of peaceable protest i think they should be looked at for prosecution. >> leland: prosecution and also as we noted in the case of these who have gone after civilly. >> julie: the crew working on mission impossible 7 still recovering from the star's meltdown. >> i don't ever want to see it again, ever.
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>> julie: why tom cruise's rant is throwing the film's production into disarray. we have details next. ♪ run, run, rudolph, santa has to make it to town ♪ ♪ santa making merry telling he can take the freeway down ♪ ♪ run, run, rudolph, got you reeling like a merry-go-round ♪ . in that spirit of giving, chevy's proud to give our employee discount to everyone. the chevy price you pay, ...is what we pay. not a cent more. because giving, ...and giving back, is what the holidays are all about. use the chevy employee discount for everyone to get a total value of over eight thousand four hundred dollars on this silverado. get the chevy employee discount for everyone today. we're portuguese? i thought we were hungarian. can you tell me that story again?
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>> leland: you might remember this. tom cruise ripping his crew for not following social distancing guidelines. now there is a growing risk on the set of "mission: impossibl "mission: impossible 7" because of this part of his tirade. >> thousands of jobs. i don't ever want to see it again. ever. >> leland: okay. insiders say that the crew is now walking on eggshells because of that ranch. "mission possible 7" is scheduled for release in 2021. >> julie: as new yorkers settle into the new has locked down, there is new data which shows bars and restaurants are only responsible for less than 1.5% of coronavirus cases. on fox business.com says that the ban on indoor dining might
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be doing more harm than good. the hopeful answer is that they will stay home and do nothing. a far more realistic answer, however, is that they will take their gatherings into the entirely unregulated and unmasked living rooms of their apartments. let's bring in the author of that article. entrepreneur and co-ceo. thank you so much for talking to us. you know, despite the bars and restaurants being responsible for, i believe it is 1.4% of godly cases, the governor has invoked the lock down once again indoor dining. so, what are people going to do now? >> yeah, listen, julie, taking a step back, i don't envy the governor's position here. on the one hand, you have vaccines finally being deployed. on the other hand, you have a surge of the covid virus again. you have to do something. shutting down dining, to your
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point, is just making things worse, not better, right? don't forget there is 317,000 new yorkers employed by the restaurant industry. that's our friends, family, our coworkers. i mean, we have to think twice before making any sort of decision that can affect their livelihood. much less a shutdown. and then, you see the data coming out of the governor's office. only 1.5% coming from restaurants, right? 74% of the spread is happening in these indoor, unregulated areas. as we go into the holidays, if we don't give people a safe space, they are going to end up back in these indoor gatherings where covid is spreading and people aren't wearing masks. they are not social distancing. and we are impacting the livelihood of all of these workers. so, follow the science. do what you keep talking about. you say you want to follow the
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data and follow the science. look at your own memos. we should be opening more restaurants. we should be putting the right protocol, giving people a safe and regulated space to spend the holidays, rather than -- >> julie: all you have to do is look at the evidence. you've got halloween, thanksgiving. you look at new york state contact tracing staff on the spread, and you see that the social gatherings are blamed for nearly 74% of the spread, so by eliminating the public venues, you are essentially bringing covid home. what should be done to prevent this from happening? quickly. we have to go. >> we've got to open up more of these public spaces that are regulated and are safe. i think the government can do that and also keep jobs alive. the work that they need most, especially -- julie, i hope this gets fixed. i hope the government looks at its own data. i hope that we can reopen these restaurant sooner, rather than
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later. >> julie: thank you. happy holidays to you. speak up thank you so much. happy holidays. >> julie: leland, you staying indoors this holiday? >> leland: indoors, outdoors. i don't know. that's all i got. but i've got christmas shopping to do. "outnumbered" starts now. >> kennedy: this is a fox news alert. the house failing to make any changes to the joint coronavirus aid and funding bill. days after president trump called it "a disgrace." rejecting -- while democrats oppose republican's request to revisit foreign aid spending. we will have much more on what this means for the bill and for you and all americans who need help. that's coming up later in the hour. and we have another fox news alert. new developments in the hunter biden investigation. sources telling fox news that high-level justice
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