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options, answer any questions you have and, if you're eligible, help you enroll over the phone. call today and we'll also send this free guide. humana, a more human way to healthcare. ♪ ♪ mike: georgia's senate runoff caughts making their final pitches ahead of the critical runoff elections, and in the nation's capital, lawmakers are taking part in a quorum call for the 117th session of the united states congress. welcome to this special edition of "america's news headquarters," i'm mike emmanuel. we've got peter doocy in savannah, georgia, and chad pergram on capitol hill. peter is right where vice
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president-elect kamala harris will campaign later today. good afternoon, peter. >> reporter: there are several dozen cars lining up ahead of a visit by kamala harris, the vice president-elect is heading to georgia on behalf of both the democrats, raphael warnock and jon ossoff, and those are both candidates whose closing arguments have been heavily critical of kelly loeffler who they accuse of selling stocks based on inside information. >> she got busy making sure that she protected her own wealth. she's the wealthiest member of congress. she dumped $3 million worth of stock, meanwhile, telling you there was nothing to worry about. >> reporter: we had a sound bite there, sorry about that, i'm not sure what happened. basically, raphael warnock and jon ossoff are accusing kelly loeffler of getting information in congress about covid-19 and then selling stocks, that is something that she denies,
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something that the senate ethics committee looked at as well, and she was cleared of any charges of wrongdoing. she is also now trying to turn raphael warnock's pac around on him. >> this is a distraction. the democrats don't want to answer for their radical policies to change america, the radical agenda of raphael warnock and his own facts are that he's been involved in a child abuse investigation, he was arrested for obstructing it, he's been involved in domestic abuse. he won't answer those questions. >> reporter: david perdue, the other republican in the race, remains in quarantine with precious little time left to campaign. his campaign says that he's tested negative for covid-19, but close contact with an infected staffer is enough to keep him home, attending events virtually instead of in person. jon ossoff is wrapping up a canvas kickoff before this event
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with the vice president-election. mike: peter doocy, thanks a lot. let's turn back to capitol hill where lawmakers are still kicking off this new session of congress. there could be some drama. chad pergram is there with what we could expect from this opening today of the new 117th congress. chad, good afternoon. >> reporter: good afternoon, mike. mike: the house is now taking attendance. why that important, chad? >> reporter: to understand and actually codify just how big the house of representatives is at this moment. if the house were at full population, there would be 435 members. there's going to be 3 vacancies at a minimum, the republican from louisiana who passed away a couple of days ago, also they have not yet called the race in new york's 22nd congressional district between the democrat and claude what tenny, former member, republican there, and also maria salazar, republican from florida.
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she flipped a seat from blue to red, but she caught covid, was in the hospital, actually, and will not be there today. now, they don't have remote voting in the house of representatives just yet, so you have to be there in person to constitute the new house. the house will vote tomorrow to implement remote voting which is something that they had for the pan dem ic, but right now it's contingent on just how many people are here. it's 419 right now, it could be a little lower because there could be other people out later today x that will impact, mike, the voter if speaker later this afternoon. mike: interesting. what does it take for nancy pelosi to be reelected as house speaker? >> you have to have an outright majority of the entire house. if it's 432, it would be 217. it's just not the person with the most votes. right now at 420, you need 211. she lost 15 votes on her side of the aisle two years ago in the election for speaker. her margin this time around is only going to be about 5 votes,
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and you had people like jim cooper, democrat from tennessee, who opposed her two years ago. abigail spam berger, a second term democrat from southern virginia, she will probably oppose pelosi, so pelosi does not have much margin for error, and if you don't elect a speaker on the first ballot, you just keep voting. mike: running short on time, but how is pelosi going to manage a narrow majority with a whole wide range of democrats in her caucus? >> reporter: it has to be somewhere in the middle, and keep in mind members could be out due to covid. you hope with the people you actually have that day, and she will face pressure from people on the left, that's going to be tough in a divided house. mike: all right. chad, many thanks, live from capitol hill. is pouring in as a group of republicans say they plan to vote against the electoral college's certification of the presidential election. mark meredith is tracking it all. >> reporter: good afternoon.
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dozens of house republicans had already made it clear they were going to oppose the electoral college results, now there's a growing list of republican senators who say they, too, plan to challenge certification, at least a dozen. potentially even more plan to oppose the results when congress meets on wednesday. some are demanding congress appoint an electoral commission and also allow for a 10-day audit of the returns in some states. >> we have a unsustainable state of affairs in this country where we have tens of millions of people that do not view this election result as legitimate. we've just come off four years where the other side refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of president trump, and here we are again, and what we're saying is we need transparency. >> reporter: but it's important to point out that not every republican senator supports these challenges. some big names including bill cassidy, mitt romney, susan collins say it's time to move forward and accept the results. alaska senator lisa murkowski echoed some of those same
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comments saturday. she said i will vote to affirm the 2020 presidential election. the courts and state legislatures have all honored the duty and have found nothing to warrant overturning the results. majority leader mitch mcconnell says he's accepted the results and that joe biden is the president-elect. president trump is continuing to encourage his supporters to show up here in washington on wednesday as congress meets, they are expecting large crowds, planning for major roadblocks around the capitol and white house as well. mike: mark meredith, thanks a lot. joining us is one of the congressmen-elect being sworn in today, california republican congressman darrell issa. welcome back to capitol hill. >> well, thank you. it's good to be back. it's a pretty exciting time including for the first time in a number of elections instead of the democrats challenging the electoral college as they did in '16, as they did in 2005, as they did 2001, we're going to be
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challenging and asking for a level of transparency on some of these amazing discrepancies in places like pennsylvania, arizona, georgia and the like. mike: do you expect fireworks when that is going down on capitol hill? >> well, i'm, i remember the debate some years ago when barbara boxer, my hometown -- my home state senator -- sided with congresswoman from ohio, and we had the two hours of debate, we had the discussion, and it ended there. but the reality is those who now oppose if that include speaker-elect pelosi who supported it when the democrats were there. so i think for the american people, for fox viewers the question of whether or not this is fair to have isn't in doubt. the democrats have done this most times when they don't win, and republicans now have a unique situation in which at
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least five states have some amazing turn arounds that occurred late at night with a lot of questions including every one of those states the normal people that get to view and make sure you have an honest count -- mike: right. >> -- were pushed aside. so that and other things have caused a great many republican senators and a great many of us in the house to say it's time that we at least take a and look at it fairly and then, at a minimum, work on campaign are reform to prevent this in the future. mike: nancy pelosi's expected to have a narrow majority inner democratic -- in her democratic caucus. take a listen to your colleague, hakeem jeffries, of the great state of new york. >> nancy pelosi will be the next speaker of the united states house of representatives. there is incredible enthusiasm for speaker pelosi because she's done the work, and she's been a historic, legendary legislative leader through incredibly
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turbulent are times. mike: congressman, are you expecting controversy ahead in. >> i do, both in the days, weeks and months to come because speaker pelosi now is a care a taker on her way out. she said she would only serve two terms. she lost a lot of seats. you had a red wave, and i'm part of it, a large freshman class of republicans. so base iically, or she failed to advance the lead even while a democrat became president. that makes her a disappointment to a lot of her members, they just don't admit it on television. mike: the other massive political story, of course, the runoffs in georgia g.eorgia. i know georgia's a long way from california, but your thoughts on these critical runoffs that will decide the balance of power in the senate. >> well, i raised a lot of money there. it's not a long way from the importance for all of us that that we have some balance on this administration. it is so important that we elect these -- reelect these two
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republican senators to continue the sort of balance the american people want. there's no question at all america likes a divided government. they, they have nothing but complaints about the history, for example, with obamacare or with bill clinton's tax increases, all of which occurred on a purely partisan basis when there were majorities in both the house and the senate. this balance, this holding on to these two seats actually gives the balance that the american people want. mike: darrell issa. so you did 18 years on the hull, you took 2 years off, and now you're back. >> i'm rested and ready. [laughter] mike: congratulations and welcome back. >> thank you. thanks, michael. mike: for more on this and how the president's reacting to all of this, let's bring in trump 2020 senior adviser jason miller. great to see you. >> mike, thank you for having me. mike: your reaction to this effort by some allies on capitol hill because iically contesting the results of the 2020 election.
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>> well, we're very encouraged by what we've seen from senator cruz joining senator josh hawley from missouri and about a dozen or so other senators who really are concerned about the rule of law, who want to go and actually hear the evidence that we've seen in a number of states. you know, mike, one of the things that i think's really been glossed over from some of these election contests around the country is the fact that these state legislatures on their own are calling attention to the voting fraud and irregularities. so to give you an example, in the state of georgia -- which we've talked about quite a bit -- the senate judiciary put out a report saying the results from their state were untrustworthy. in pennsylvania where the president has made a lot of noise pointing out how the democrats have run their election illegally and unconstitutionally, 27 different state lawmakers sent a letter to senator mcconnell saying they had concerns about the unconstitutional nature of the way their election was conducted. so we look forward to well over a hundred members of congress voicing their objections. we look forward to even more
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than the dozen or so senators voicing their objections. let's have the debate. and here's the thing, mike, the democrats can't seem to find an answer to what do we have to lose by slowing things down by ten days. let's have this audit, let's get to the bottom of the fraud and irregularities. mike: do you anticipate a marathon session on the 6th, and do you expect a lot of fireworks? many. >> well, i do think there will be a pretty lengthy session. i know senator cruz is someone who really gets into the dethe tails, same thing with josh hawley. i know marsha blackburn, senator from tennessee, these are folks who are very well armed with the facts, all of the examples. a couple of the states, i did not mention nevada where we had cases of out of state voters or to wisconsin, the entire nature of the fact that you had folks who voted absentee without an application on file which would invalidate all of those folks. the state of arizonas where
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maricopa county is defying a subpoena to inspect the machines. we're going to hear all this out, and the democrats and the mainstream media will not be able to sweep this under the rug. we're going to go point by point to call attention to this, because if we don't get it right, then how can americans have any confidence in our electoral system? mike: all right. so to another massive political story, the president heading down to georgia for those critical runoffs deciding the balance of power in the united states senate. what will be the president's message to get out the vote on election eve? >> well, as we saw the president go down in december and hold a very big rally, one of the biggest that we've seen, he made it really clear just how important it is to reelect senator perdue and senator loeffler to a full term here. and particularly with senator perdue, he's someone i worked with very closely in the president's race of 2016. senator perdue was with president trump at every step. he's someone who even when we have the toughest days around access hollywood and a number of
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things, senator perdue stood strong. we've got to get out there. and senator loeffler lid did a great job defending president trump against this impeachment witch hunt that we saw earlier last year. so it's critical that we get out there. if you care about the supreme court, if you care about the rule of law, if you care about lower taxes, we have to elect both of these senators. that's what the president's going to be driving, and then we'll look forward to getting these senators back. and on wednesday the president's going to have a big rally at the white house, but we have to make sure that we're getting this election contest right. let's count all of the legal votes and don't count the illegal votes. this is very important to get it right, mike. mike mike jason miller, we have to leave it there. thanks for your time. >> thank you. mike: fox news is your praise for coverage of -- place for coverage, bret baier and martha maccallum will have a special tonight at 10 p.m. eastern, plus live coverage in dalton monday night as special coverage of the election results begins tuesday
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with brett and martha. don't miss it. the georgia runoff candidates are making the most of the time they've got left. give general countries is tracking them all from atlanta. hey, griff. >> reporter: less than 48 hours until the polls open on tuesday, and they are pulling out all the stops. all four candidates hitting the ground hard. we've got that coming up next. ♪ ♪ we made usaa insurance for veterans like martin. when a hailstorm hit, he needed his insurance to get it done right, right away. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa
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♪ ♪ mike: with just two days until the critical runoff elections, the georgia senate candidates are trying to round up every last vote they can. griff jenkins tracking it all live from atlanta. griff, great to see you. >> reporter: hey, mike, how are you? it feels like election day down here, for sure, my friend. i gotta tell you, mike, you can't turn on the radio, a tv, drive down the street past billboards without being bombarded with these candidates and the amount of money and effort they're putting into this. we can break this news, we just confirmed courtesy of our great brain room that across the four candidates, loeffler, warnock, perdue, ossoff and outside group
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spending, they have spent more than half a billion dollars, that's $512 million in these two senate races since november 3rd, election day. it's up believable. but here's the thing, mike, when it comes to really getting out the vote and the ground game, one candidate -- incumbent republican david perdue -- has a true disadvantage because his opponent, jon ossoff, is going all across the state while he is stuck quarantining out of fear he was exposed to covid. so he's doing what the cdc officials say he should be doing, but only time will tell whether or not it'll make an impact. meanwhile, you have loeffler and warnock going tit for tat with allegations, leffler painting warnock as a rubber stamp, while warnock pushing back saying she's profited off the pandemic. it's getting really nasty here,
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but it's unbelievable, in all the years i've been covering never have i seen this much spending and effort going into two the senate runoff races. mike: you've also got the biggest surrogates heading to georgia tomorrow. what effect are they likely to have, griff? >> reporter: we'll find out, you don't get any bigger vip an president trump. he's going to dalton, georgia, which is in northwest georgia, and he's going there because with the early voting shows that the republicans will have to have a massive turnout in northern georgia if they are to win these races. meanwhile, president-elect biden leaving nothing to chance, coming here to atlanta where i am tomorrow to rally hard. and don't forget biden came here in the waning days, the final days of the presidential campaign. he took a gamble, he bet on it, and it turned out in his favor. he won narrowly by that mere 12,000 votes. clearly, he believes coming here again late in the game may produce the results that he
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wants and, of course, if the democrats win both seats here in georgia, it could change dramatically the sort of legislative agenda that president biden's administration could put forth next year. it's already 2021, what am i saying? i'm already stuck in the waning days of 2020. mike: well, happy new year, griff. have fun in the final hours of this critical runoff. >> reporter: all right, mike, thanks. mike: democratic congressman matt cartwright is with me live from capitol hill. sir, here's republican senator david perdue. >> the only thing that you really care about is giving chuck schumer two more votes in the united states senate. that would give them total control, and it will change the face of america. that's the issue here. it will fix the election problems, but we've got to hold the line. it's in our hands, republican, conservative hands. mike: how do you see georgia?
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>> mike, first of all, i want to say i join you at a very sad time in the capitol. we come here to be sworn in and acknowledge our re-elections in the middle of a pandemic that has taken almost 350,000 american lives including among them one of our colleagues-to-be, luke letlow, a republican from louisiana are. we're all so stricken with sadness over that. a guy with 41 years old, little kids. we don't want to lose sight of the big picture here. of there's a lot of humanity losses going on right now. mike: no doubt. that's heartbreaking, his loss, and many, many american families who are suffering through the pandemic. thoughts on the runoff though? i know you're from pennsylvania, not georgia, but do you have a feel? >> well, the one comment that sprang to mind when i listened to your last interview was all the money that's going on. you know, it's something that i have regretted ever since i got involved in politics, is all the money that's involved.
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you know, ever since the citizens united decision, it's been, you know, katie bar the door as far as how much money goes into these races. i've seen that myself in my own races, we've seen that statewide in pennsylvania and, of course, they're seeing that statewide in georgia right now. it's regreat bl. and what i really -- regret bl. what i really wish above all is that the united states supreme court would revisit that citizens united decision and say, you know, politics in this country ought to be about more than just money. mike okay. so the house of representatives, speaker nancy pelosi up for another term. do you expect any drama this afternoon, sir? >> no. she's good at counting votes. if you ask me which way i'm going to vote, there are only two choices. you have to vote for the democrat or vote for the republican, and, mike, it's widely known that i'm a democrat, so i'll be voting for the democratic choice. mike: democrat from a trump district. you're able to speak the
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language to people who may have voted for the other guy in the presidential, but that's another issue. your thoughts looking at divided government over the next couple of years. it could be a recipe for gridlock. how do you can expect speaker pelosi and your leadership will work to get things done? >> that was the other comment i wanted to make about the georgia race. it's really not about warnock and ossoff and perdue and loeffler, it's about mitch mcconnell. you know, right now this country is really hurting. we have small businesses teetering on the edge of destruction. we have families that are in food lines right now, and we have mitch mcconnell who's standing there saying, well, we need to take a pause, that $600 is enough for all year for willing working people who have no money coming in. to me, that's the most important thing is to give joe biden a chance to achieve his agenda. he wants to build back better, he wants to invest in our infrastructure, he wants to take command of this virus and get
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rid of it and ramp up production of the vaccine and get it out. he has some ambitious plans. this is the a real crisis time in this country, and it's time for us to get past all the tomfoolery and get down to business. mike: all right. congressman matt cartwright from pennsylvania, thanks for your time. >> sure, see ya. mike: president trump will rally for candidates in georgia tomorrow as another group of republicans say they are interested in challenging the electoral college. rich edson following it all from the white house. hey, rich. >> reporter: hey, mike. the president is going down to georgia to try to maintain republican control of the u.s. senate. we'll have that and more coming up. ♪ ♪ sugar is crucial. try boost glucose control. the patented blend is clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels. boost glucose control products contain high quality protein and key nutrients to support immune health. try boost.
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>> probably more tomorrow when they get into the rules changes. mike: your thoughts on this afternoon's vote for speaker. >> i agree with a.b.'s analysis of it, is and obviously everything in covid times is more complicated. we heard from aoc on the intercept podcast a few weeks ago it'll graphing the fact that she and i imagine the rest of the squad would be supporting nancy pelosi, that they feel that you do need a leadership
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change but that we don't have a good pipeline for that, and we do also know this will be speaker pelosi's last term, and the expectation is steny hoyer and whip clyburn as well, it will usher in a new generation of leadership after that. so i expect the squad to largely fall in line, maybe a couple in their presence, someone like corey bush who just joined this new class and members of the expanded squad. but the surprises, i doubt there'll be any in terms of the votes, it's just a question of making sure everyone can be counted in these difficult times. mike: gayle, assuming it all goes as planned this afternoon, it's not going to be easy to lead this democratic caucus/ç jessica mentioned the squad and then you've also got some from, for example, abigail spam berger from virginia saying don't talk about that socialist stuff, i don't want to lose my job. >> that's why a vote for nancy pelosi's leadership is a glorious one-win given what a
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disaster she he has been from her marie antoinette moment in the saw -- salon in california with the impeachment of president trump that backfired on the democrats. if she stays the leader, that will be great for the country because she will continue to have these disasters, and if she were to lose the leadership, it would be gratifying as well because it would be a reward for her misleadership of the congress during such an important time as this pandemic. mike: then you've got the drama later this week of some republicans planning to challenge certification of the electoral college results. here's senator david perdue from this morning on that issue. >> i'm encouraging my colleagues to object. this is something that the american people demand right now. you heard in the last segment that there are huge irregularities in georgia.ç they need to be investigated, and they need to be corrected. mike: a.b., what are you expecting that day on capitol hill?
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>> well, first, mike, we have to get through the rally in georgia on tomorrow evening with the president after "the washington post" is reporting this afternoon berated and threatened the secretary of state of georgia in an hourlong phone call over the weekend begging him to recalculate and assign him 11,780 votes. it will be a real threat to the turnout on tuesday for the two georgia incumbent senators trying to win re-election and hold the senate republican majority. so getting through tuesday will definitely have an impact on what happens on wednesday. imagine that majority leader mitch mcconnell, who wants to remain majority leader and is urging his colleagues not to object from senator perdue to hawley, to cruz, to the rest of them that now number 12 -- mike: right. >> -- that he will likely have a firmer opinion on that should he wake up minority leader on
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wednesday. this is truly, trulyç a disastr because none of the courts and the state legislatures and the department of homeland security and the department of justice have found any, any evidence of systemic fraud that would amount to the threshold you would need to overturn the results of this election. this is an attack on our system. they are violating the oath they are taking today and tomorrow to uphold the constitution, and it is going to fail which is -- [audio difficulty] because they know in the end it won't break the system, but it is something that is going to follow them wherever they go. mike: fox news has not confirmed that washington post report, we are checking it out, obviously. jessica, your thoughts ahead on capitol hill this week. >> absolutely, big drama on capitol hill, and monday is a very big day. donald trump in that leaked
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audio call, everyone can listen to it on "the washington post" and hopefully will be confirming that soon enough, can hear president trump not only pressuring the secretary of state, but talking about what he's going to say on monday which is that there was electoral fraud. we've had a numberç of recount, one of them by hand, found no such evidence of that, and we also have republican officials across the board in states like georgia and arizona, people who supported donald trump and have supported republicans their whole careers saying there was no foul play here. i understand the president's feelings are hurt, he's the first republican to lose statewide in georgia in over a decade. he has a very fragile ego. but this raises huge questions about republicans now becoming a party that thinks it's fine to undermine democratic institutions. it also hearkens back to president trump's conversation with the ukrainian president which he said was a, quote, perfect call. the phraseology is sustained here where he says do me a favor, look into joe biden, now he says to brad rathensberger,
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do me a favor, find me 12,000 votes. be a man, be on the team here. we know republicans don't think this'll work. josh hawley didn't even show up for a phone call to defend this cock cockamamie plan. mike: gayle, your thoughts. >> sure. this is critical when 77% of republicans believe there was widespread election fraud that theirç elected representatives have to stand up and do what they can to make sure that as senator cruz said with these other senators, that the electors were lawfully certified anding willing arely given. and we saw -- and regularly given. we saw governors who violated the law and did things that the legislatures did not agree with in terms of mail-in voting. and i think that trump changed the way that republicans view what they're willing to accept from their elected representatives, and this is yet another example. and i say just the opposite of what jessica said. she called these republicans seditious on twitter, and it's
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just the opposite. they are making sure that our constitution is upheld and that we are not under attack. and that is why these republicans are doing it, and i will tell you that those republican voters are expecting this from their representatives and they're glad that they are making sure that this audit is, as we've put out there, republican senators will be on record whether or not they support this. mike: all right, panelists, we have to leave it there, but we'll see you again next hour. thanks so much. >> thank you. mike: congress may pass a new covid relief bill, but is it enough toç save the restaurant business? we will hear from one restaurant owner next. ♪ ♪ your journey requires liberty mutual. they customize your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. wow. that will save me lots of money. this game's boring. only pay for what you need. liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty.
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once dry, microban forms a bacteria shield that keeps killing bacteria for 24 hours, even after multiple touches. try microban 24. this has been medifacts for microban 24. >i spend a lot of time sin my truck.y? it's my livelihood. ♪ rock music >> man: so i'm not taking any chances when something happens to it. so when my windshield cracked... my friend recommended safelite autoglass. they came right to me, with expert service where i needed it. ♪ rock music >> man: that's service i can trust... no matter what i'm hauling. right, girl? >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ mike: fox news alert, live pictures coming from the old senate chairman bear on capitol hill where vice president mike pence is now performing a ceremonial swearing in. susan collins, republican of
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maine, elected to her her fifth term. in the age of covid, obviously, they are doing this with masks on and social distancing. even though this is the fifth time she's going through the swearing-in process, it's kind of like the first day of school for these united states senators as they are elected to six-year terms. it looks like senator john cornyn, republican of texas, and his wife as we see the vice president doing the mock swearing in in the old senate chamber. congratulations to the newly-elected senators. ♪ ♪ mike: a new round of covid relief has been passed, restaurant owners and the people they employ say they are still struggling. for a look into a what restaurants need to survive, let's bring in melba wilson, owner of melba's in new york city and president of the new york city hospitality alicense. melba -- alliance. happy new year, it's great to have you. >> it's great to be here.
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mike: no doubt about it. tell me what it's like as a restaurant ownerrer. you guys have such restrictive policies in terms of what you're able to do to keep your buzzes a afloat. give -- businesses afloat. give me your story. >> well -- [audio difficulty] saving literally working in the industry and saving up money under my mattress. wanted to invest in my community at a time when a lot of people did the not think -- [inaudible] i took a chance on a community that took a chance on me, and it was really important to me to employ people within my community that look like me but also to show them that to invest in the harlems of the world and work hard and be successful. but this time, this is a devastating time for us. mike: what kind of -- i'm sorry to interrupt, forgive the draw. what kind of heartbreaking stories are you hearing from other new york city restaurant owners and also people who make
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a living working in those restaurants? >> well, it's -- being the president of the new york city hospitality alliance, we're on the phone on a daily basis speaking to other restaurants, other restauranteurs and employees. these are not just employees. the industry is such a giving industry and takes care of so many people. this becomes your extended family. and the stories are devastating. 2010 and 2018 middle class jobs, the restaurant industry the grew by 84%, three times faster than the overall economy. now we're looking at these same people plunged into poverty, food insecurity. this is devastating. finish we're looking at, we're looking at over 11 million restaurants with 17-22% -- [inaudible] closed. and when a restaurant closes,
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it's just not -- mike: right. >> it's also, it's the bakers, it's the vineyards -- mike: sure. >> it's the bus drivers that drive these goods to and from us. it's our employees. it's the servers. and, remember, we do not have the luxury of working remotely. mike: right. >> that is not an option. mike: well, melba wilson, thank you for your timing thank you for sharing your story. obviously, we will keep you and your colleagues in our prayers and our thoughts and hope that 2021 is a much better year for the proud if people who work in the gate restaurants of this -- great restaurants of this country. >> thank you. mike: tragedy if this texas where a u.s. army drill sergeant has been found dead. what we know about the case so far after the break. ♪ ♪ but not every tomato ends in the same kind of heinz ketchup.
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mike: tragedy for the family of drill sergeanting jessica mitchell. alex hogan joins us now. hello, alex. >> reporter: hi, mike. a heartbreaking start to the new year for this family in texas. police found jessica mitchell shot multiple times in her vehicle. the initial report, police thought this was an accident in
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san antonio on interstate 10 but later finding bullet holes along the driver's side of the cars and the 30-year-old's body inside. jessica mitchell was on holiday leave. she died on new year 's day. her or close friends speak about her confusion and shock. >> she just became a drill sergeant and was just post on her facebook page. she was a beautiful, beautiful woman. she had a son. he's without his mom. >> reporter: mitchell leaves behind a 10-year-old boy. she was stationed on joint base san antonio, fort sam houston. the commanding general, quote: our sincere condolences go out to her family and friends, we are focused on supporting her family as well as her soldiers in this extremely difficult time. there are still no arrests in this case, but this is not the first tragedy for this family.
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just three and a half years ago jessica mitchell's younger brother was shot and killed. he was 18 at the time. mike? mike: heartbreaking story. alex hogan, thanks very much. take a live look at the old senate chamber where vice president mike pence continues ceremonying y'all swearing ins, a photo opportunity the as they begin six-year terms serving on capitol hill. mplete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. whoo-hoo! great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients to support immune health. . . . at visionworks, we want you to feel safe and we want you to see yourself in your new glasses and think, "ooh!" but if you get home and your "ooh" is more of a "hmm..." you have 100 days to change your mind. that's the visionworks difference. visionworks. see the difference.
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live pictures from capitol hill where lawmakers will be sworn in for a new session, the 117th congress, in just a few hours. meanwhile, down in battleground georgia, senate runoff candidates are making their final pitches with less than 48 hours until voters go to the poll ofs. senator kelly loeffler making her pitch here in the critical final hours and welcome to the special edition of america's news headquarters. i'm mike emmanuel. we have fox team coverage with peter doocy in georgia and chad pergram on capitol hill. in savannah, vice president-elect kamala harris will campaign later today. >> reporter: good afternoon. for the last two hours, david perdue who is defending his senate seat hasn't been a senator. at least not a sitting senator, one of the quirks of the race is
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that his term ended when that new congress was sworn in, which means that he is not able to officially join his republican colleagues in objecting to the electoral college results. >> technical problem is that i won't be certified until this election is certified, some week to 10 of days after the election when we win on tuesday. but i'm encouraging my colleagues to object. this is something that the american people demand right now. you heard in the last section that there are huge irregularities in georgia, they need to be investigated. they need to be corrected in my opinion. >> reporter: john ossoff is here in savannah, launching a canvassing effort to benefit himself and raphael warnock. tomorrow's headliners will be joe biden for the democrats and donald trump for the republicans. >> what i can't figure out is given that mitch mcconnell is currently snubbing and
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disrespecting president trump, overriding his veto of the ndaa and refusing to move the $2,000 stimulus checks that president trump and president-elect biden and the american people support, why president trump wants to work so hard to try to save mitch mcconnell's majority when mcconnell is treating trump as an irrelevant lame duck president. >> reporter: ahead of kamala harris' trip to savannah, you can see dozens of cars being carefully screened by the secret service. there is a line on state road 21 of cars waiting to get in and dozens more in a fenced in area here. we expect to see her with john ossoff and raphael warnock sometime before sundown. mike. mike: peter doocy starting us off in savannah. thanks a lot. let's turn to capitol hill where we've got lawmakers voting on the next speaker of the house in just a few hours. meanwhile, on the senate side, vice president mike pence holding photo ops for senators
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in the old senate chamber there, right now, and there you see the vice president wearing a mask because of course these are covid times. but some newly elected senators, each getting a photo op, great opportunity for their families to have a little face time with the vice president and from a distance that looks like senator lisa murkowski, but forgive me. well, there you go. chad pergram, my colleague is there with a closer look at what is going on behind the scenes. so chad, they took attendance like the first day of school. bottom line, who is there and who is not? >> reporter: the house of representatives should be at 435 members. they're starting at 427. they are a quorum call taking attendance and 427 people showed up here. there were two democratic absences, five republicans. so the breakdown today, some of these members will be sworn in maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, whatever, the breakdown right now is 220 democrats to 207
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republicans. this is important when you look at the actual vacancies. luke letlow, the republican congressman-elect from louisiana, he passed away. you also have an undeclared race, an unsettled race in upstate new york, the 22nd congressional district between claudia tenney and anthony brendisi. a couple of members have tested positive. you have maria elvira salazar from florida. she was actually in the hospital so she's not here today. she won't be a member. david valdedao from california who lost and came back, so you start a little short-handed. the numbers are very key as you start the speaker's race today, mike. mike: no surprise with covid having such an impact on our country that it's also having an impact on our elected leaders in congress. chad, why is the size of the house so important in the speaker's race this afternoon? who will oppose nancy pelosi? >> reporter: you have to have an
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absolute majority of the entire house. so as i said, the house right now as it's constituted is 427 members. the magic number for nancy pelosi is 214. by our calculations, she can only lose six votes. she lost 15, one, five, in the vote for speaker two years ago. alyssa slotkin, a democrat from michigan, she voted present and opposed nancy pelosi two years ago. slotkin says she will vote present again today. in the past few minutes, they have started the nominating speeches, hakim jeffries from new york, the chair of the democratic caucus, he placed in nomination nancy pelosi's name and liz cheney, republican from way only of -- wyoming, she is placing in nomination kevin mccarthy, the house minority leader. mike: chad pergram live on capitol hill, all over it. chad, thanks a lot. >> thank you. mike: president-elect joe biden will head to atlanta tomorrow to help boost the democratic senate
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candidates in the final steps of the runoff. jacqui heinrich is live from delaware. >> reporter: hi, mike. vice president-elect kamala harris is about to defar for georgia. president-elect joe biden will head there tomorrow, the last major push for the democrats to try gain control of the senate which will determine biden's legislative reach on a number of signature issues he campaigned on, especially his promise to bolster the affordable care act. it follows considerable fund raising efforts, biden's team steering about $18 million towards john ossoff and raphael warnock's election bids, including $6 million in staff and voter data support. biden tweeted on new year's eve, another fund raising effort to that degree. biden's team using the campaign mailing list to solicit donation, along with robocalls features messages from biden and kamala harris going out across the state. not only would a democratic senate clear an easier path for
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biden's initiatives, some are saying he's waiting on the results to announce his pick for attorney general. some key allies are lobbying for doug jones who lost the re-election bid to tommy tubberville. some are saying he could get more support than sally yates. democrats are concerned if he goes with merrick garland republicans could block biden from filling his seat on the d.c. circuit court of appeals if the gop continues to hold the senate. biden was expected to name his choice for attorney general about three weeks ago now, a little more than that, the week that he named his secretary of defense. we're waiting on that pick. mike: jacqui heinrich, thanks a lot. for more on this, nevada democrat congresswoman who will be sworn in for another term later today suzie lee joins me. welcome. >> thank you. happy new year, mike. good to be with you. mike: happy new year. the stakes in georgia, here is texas senator ted cruz and i'll ask you to respond.
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>> these two georgia senate races on january 5th are without exaggeration the most important senate races of our entire lifetime. if we see a democratic majority, a chuck schumer majority, i think they will do generational damage. it will empower the extreme angry leftist voices in the democratic party. mike: congresswoman, your thoughts on the stakes in georgia. >> listen, i agree that this is such a consequential election in georgia. but most importantly, i think that this country has just been ravaged economically, personally, by this pandemic and we need more than anything to be able to come together and really solve the problems facing millions and millions of americans. we have 55 million americans in poverty, one in six have entered food insecurities, so i think it's such an important time regardless of who is the leader that we come together and work to improve the lives of american
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people. mike: looking ahead to the speaker vote this afternoon, any drama expected? >> you know, listen, i think that the speaker has done her whipping and is confident that she has votes to retain her title. mike: all right. well, if she keeps the gavel, it may not necessarily be easy with a narrow majority. how do you basically navigate the range of your caucus from the squad on the left to more moderate members? >> you know, as you know, i'm a more moderate member and i think most importantly, we have to look at what we've done in the past and when i look at this past year alone with the passage of the families first act and cares act, it really was a demonstration that when faced with a crisis, we can work together and come forward in a bipartisan manner. i do think that as we say, we're a big tent party but ultimately we know that american people need help, especially in my home state of nevada which our economy has been ravaged by this pandemic, that nothing's more
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important than us coming together and working with whoever the leadership in the senate is and getting aid passed to the american people. mike: do you worry about two years of gridlock potentially with a very narrow majority in the house and maybe a 50/50 senate? >> listen, i mean, that's the main reason i ran for of congress was i was so frustrated by the gridlock here in washington. i joined the problem solvers caucus, which is half democrats, half republicans. as you know, we were instrumental in bringing leaders back to the table to pass this $900 billion package. so i think there's always going to -- there has to be a place here in the halls of congress for us to work together in compromise. and i think it would be -- it's dangerous to think that the only way you can get something done is by controlling all arms of government. i think that the american people are craving us to work together. they're craving us to actually sit down and have these tough
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conversations and perhaps i think the most dangerous thing about what's happening with respect to questioning the have- validity of the electoral college, it will only further divide this hallowed body and i hope that we can overcome that and work together because there's so many millions of americans who are suffering and need our help and they need us to work together. mike: speaking of that session on the sixth of this week, are you expecting fireworks? >> absolutely. i mean, as you know, there's reports of 140 republicans who are poised to protest the electoral college in addition to the senators and, you know, to me the he question is, if they're questioning the validity of this election, they shouldn't be sworn in today. because they were elected in the same election as this president. and so i just find it completely confusing. you know, there have been lawsuits past around in 50
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states, william barr, the president's own attorney general has said these claims are baseless. and i think the american people are craving for this to stop, for us to work together and solve the problems that they're facing. mike: congresswoman suzie lee of the great state of nevada. thanks for your time. happy new year. mike: stick with fox news for more coverage. bret baier and martha mccallum will he preview the races tonight at 10:00. we will cover president trump's rally in dalton, georgia, live on monday night. on tuesday, brett and martha will bring you special coverage of the election results starting at 6:00 p.m. eastern. ♪ mike: another grim milestone in the coronavirus pandemic with more than 350,000 deaths now being reported here in the u.s. fox senior correspondent claudia cowen is tracking the latest numbers for us live from la. hi, claudia. >> reporter: hi, mike. new infections since christmas
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are spiking in multiple states, including here in california, where a holiday event may have caused a terrible outbreak among healthcare workers. 43 emergency room staffers at kaiser hospital in san jose have tested positive after an employee showed up on christmas day wearing an air powered costume. investigators say it's possible the fan inside the costume may have spread infected air droplets all over the er. and at another hospital in vancouver, washington, 3 30 patients got the virus after they were admitted for other health issues. in los angeles, hospitals are struggling to keep up with the number of patients needing care. some funeral homes are inundated with so many bodies, they have to turn families away. this as the cdc predicts nearly half a million americans could be dead by the end of the month. >> the projections are pretty scary. but they're projections and what
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we do now matters. if you gathered over the holidays outside of your household without a mask, there's still measures you can take right now. you still can self-quarantine. you still can get tested knowing that greater than 50% of the spread now is among people who are asymptomatic. you can still wear a mask, wash your hands and watch your distance. if we do that, we'll be able to temper this surge. >> reporter: the crisis is being complicated by a slow rollout of the vaccine and that highly contagious variant from the u.k. that has shown up in california, florida, and colorado, mainly among people with no recent travel history, at least six cases confirmed so far. mike. mike: claudia cowen, live in los angeles, claudia, thanks a lot. family and friends paying final respects to louisiana congressman-elect, luke letlow in a memorial service on saturday. he died from covid-19 complications earlier this week, the incoming republican congressman was only days away
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from being sworn into office. letlow was 41 years old. did you know you can go to libertymutual.com to customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need? really? i didn't-- aah! ok. i'm on vibrate. aaah! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪
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mike: the new session of congress is officially underway with lawmakers wrapping up a
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quorum call just minutes ago. among the congressmen and women that will be sworn in today is kentucky republican james comer, he is here to talk about that and some of the other policy priorities for the 117th congress. congressman, welcome. >> thanks for having he me. mike: typically, certification of election results is a very ceremonial day. this year promises to be quite different. your thoughts? >> well, there are a lot of people in america that aren't satisfied with the election. there have been numerous reports of election irregularities and at the very least congress should have already had hearings to investigate this. so there's a huge level of frustration, especially among republicans, that congress hasn't done anything and i think that's going to come to a head on wednesday. mike: do you worry about it dividing republicans, though, because he nebraska republican senator ben sasse told my colleague on capitol hill the following. quote, i am concerned about the division in america. that's the biggest issue. but obviously this is not
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healthy for the republican party either. but what's good for america is the main question here. but this is bad for the country and bad for the party. your reaction, sir? >> i don't think any republican wants to be here. but we have to face the facts that there were a lot of states that changed the rules in the middle of the game with respect to absentee voting. i come from a state and from a region in kentucky where we've had countless election lawsuits, many of the local officials in my home area have gone to prison over my lifetime because of election irregularities and they were always centered around absentee voting. i think that our base and for that matter almost half of america wants to get to the bottom of this, they want to know were there irregularities and they wonder why congress hasn't already held hearings. mike: your thoughts on the next couple years in congress, a very narrow majority for nancy pelosi in the house and perhaps a 50/50
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senate. is that a recipe for gridlock? >> well, i think that we're going to have gridlock in washington for better or worse for the short-term, regardless of who is president, regardless of the outcome of the georgia election. the good thing about the house is pelosi has a razor thin majority. it's going to be very difficult for her to pass green new deal and a lot of her liberal, radical agenda because there's just too many democrats in purple districts that can't afford to be seen voting with ocasio-cortez and talib and omar and the rest of the squad. i think pelosi will have a hard time. she's having a hard time as we speak getting enough votes for speaker because there's a lot of democrats that have run many times for re-election saying they did not vote for nancy pelosi for speaker. so she has to get to 214. i think it's the number today. she's doing everything she can to twist arms to get those democrats to hold their noses and vote for her one more time.
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mike: as we look live on capitol hill, they're calling roll right now on the house floor, obviously a big moment, every couple years. congressman, final thoughts. areas of common ground, perhaps infrastructure? what do you see as possibly getting done over the next couple years. >> jobs and the economy are always the most important issue. we've got a divide, believe it or not, in congress because a lot of republicans want to safely reopen the economy and we have to pass stimulus and do other extreme measures because democrat governors continue to keep their states shut down. i do believe that both parties can come together on infrastructure. we need to invest in our crumbling infrastructure in america, roads, bridges in my area, rural broad band, so i think we can come together on rural infrastructure, on infrastructure in general, and i think that's a bipartisan issue and that's something that will also stimulate the economy and lead to more jobs so i'm pretty confident we'll get a major infrastructure bill passed in
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the next few months. mike: congressman james comer of the commonwealth of kentucky. congratulations, sir. thanks for your time. more on georgia and how the peach state is preparing for president trump's remarks, after the break. [♪] life is busy,
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mike: president trump will head to battleground georgia tomorrow to stump for gop candidate just one day before the state's critical senate runoff elections. steve harrigan is live in dalton with how president trump's appearance could impact the race. hello, steve. >> reporter: mike, republicans hope that the president's appearance here will help drive rural republican turnout which so far in the early voting has been he slow but that is in danger of being being eclipsed y battles between the president and those in georgia.
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the president tweeted he spoke with secretary of state. he was unwilling to answer questions, including out-of-state voters, dead voters and more. he has no clue. the tweet was flagged by twitter. the georgia secretary of state responded, respectfully, what you're saying is not true. the truth will come out. it's a real question how the president's challenge of potential voter fraud in georgia is affecting republican turnout. the president called the two senate runoff races, which will really determine which party controls the senate for the next two years illegal and invalid. turnout is huge in the early voting, more than 3 million people voting, 100,000 new voters, people who didn't vote in the general election but did vote early in these runoff elections. mike, back to you. mike: steve, are you hearing any election fatigue? obviously, 2020 was a long political year. obviously a hard-fought campaign. now you've got this runoff in
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georgia. voters are bombarded with ads on radio and television. any signs of fatigue? >> reporter: i think people do complain a lot about the tv ads. you can see six, seven or eight in a row sometimes on local television here in georgia, more than $800 million spent on ads. you have to judge by the turnout. ordinarily it drops off tremendously in a runoff race. that is not the case this time around, mike. mike: steve harrigan live on the ground in dalton, georgia. steve, thanks a lot. fox news alert, new audio obtained by the washington post of president trump on a call with georgia election officials, claiming that he won the 2020 election and threatening legal action. let's take a listen to one of those clips. >> all i want to do is this. i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state but they are shredding ballots
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in my opinion based on what i've heard and they are removing machinery and they're moving it as fast as they can. both of which are criminal fines and you can't let it happen. mike: let's bring back our panel, editor for real clear politics, amy toe stodard and gl trotter. ab, your reaction to the audio obtained by the washington post. >> well, the accounts of the whole hour's worth of sound really show that the president has been told by people i guess around him, like mark meadows is also on the call, that there is fraud that needs to be looked into. so he has not read in the paper, he's not seen it in a court docket, he's never actually been presented with evidence that raffensperger has that he's hiding but he's accusing raff afteraffensperger of doing that,
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saying things like in my opinion. this is incredibly politically damaging to president trump. he doesn't care one iota about that. but when we talk about wednesday, when we talk about republican lawmakers in the house and the senate objecting to certification of a free and fair, legitimate election, with allegations of fraud and evidence of of fraud they have not yet presented, this phone call where the president's threatening a secretary of state who counted the votes three times, a republican who supported him, it's going to be very hard for them to defend. mike: jessica, your reaction to the audio? >> my reaction to the audio is the same that it was just a few minutes ago. i'm absolutely gob-smacked, further gob-smacked by the fact we haven't heard from every single republican coming forward with their tail between their legs, saying this is a bridge too far. ted cruz was on earlier this morning with maria bartiromo,
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defending this push to overturn the electoral college results, asking for a 10 o 10 day audit r widespread voter fraud that no one has been able to prove. in court, the trump team has had one victory, the democrats have had 60 victories. no judge wants to hear about this ridiculousness, the most ridiculous being louie gomer's which got put down in 60 seconds. it's terrible for america. he should concede. he should walk out that door on january 20th. i don't think joe biden cares if he attends the inauguration or not. hopefully we can put this dark period behind us and all of these republicans can atone and make amends for what they've done. 140 republicans in congress, including people that won off of these, quote, fake ballots like jody heiss in georgia, needs to do a lot of atoning for this.
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mike: your thoughts? >> ab and jessica don't get it. the voters who wanted president trump to have a second term voted for him because he's a fighter. he's a man who fights. and this is yet another example -- there. >> [laughter] >> ab said this would be politically damaging and jessica is giving advice to her political opponent. well, president trump doesn't take advice from political opponents and here's another example where he shows he's going to the matt for the over 70 million voters who entrusted him to fight back and this is yet another opportunity where he understands the radical leftist agenda that joe biden and his administration want to push, particularly in the radical list of judges that they want to put on the bench who are politicians in robes and who don't want to fairly interpret the law but want to enact a liberal wish list into policy, through the courts and so president trump
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understands the stakes of this election and the georgia election, while it's a state election, has national implications and is the only way to stopgap the biden administration from pushing through the radical agenda of d.c. statehood, puerto rico statehood, court packing, and abolishing the electoral college and i will tell you that president trump supporters are glad that he is continuing the fight. mike: speaking of the stakes in georgia, those critical runoff races that will decide the balance of power, here is stacy abrams, georgia democrat. >> the business of serving the people has really galvanized voters. they feel the h very real consequences of covid-19 in georgia where we had more than 10 of thousan10,000 deaths and t capacity. republicans have no intention of responding to covid-19. mike: gail, how do you respond
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to that? >> that's absurd. but republicans do not want this nationalized lockdown. they understand that the pandemic not only has health costs for our elderly and people who have other health risks too but they understand there's a huge economic cost to this and that was one of the successful things of president trump's first term, is that he finally gave a punch-back to china in this cold war that we've had going on with china and we see that with the economic cost that the coronavirus has waged on america, we cannot just continue to have these lockdowns that do not enable people to be able to work. so while the democrats would be happy to -- particularly the politicians who haven't missed a paycheck and haven't missed a day of what they're doing to try and come up with bigger government and endless regulation, americans want to be able to work and they want to be able to do it safely.
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and so georgia is going to be a critical test in whether the biden administration and the house run by the democrats are going to be able to nationalize the lockdowns and that is something that would take us the exact opposite direction that we need to go in response to the pandemic. mike: jessica, is covid an effective issue in georgia? >> i'm not sure it's as effective as democrats would like it to b we thought it would be a bigger deal for the general election and the economy snuck back up as the most important issue. i would argue that healthcare and the economy are linked at this point, especially because if you're locked down you can't be going to your job and so many americans, millions have lost employment during all of this but i think that what can be associated with covid is talking about the stimulus package and the fact that republicans are blocking those $2,000 checks. how there has been a disproportionate effect of covid-19 on communities of color. stacy abrams and her group have
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done an amazing job getting people to register to vote and to turn out to vote. i believe over 800,000 people now. a lot of that messaging centers around the disproportionate impacts on people of color in america and georgia specifically. so i think covid-19 matters. the economy is going to matter more. but i think that gail's analysis is completely off-base. the new positivity rate for montgomery, alabama is 48.9%. you can't go back to work like that. you have to stay in your house like that. we're not doing this for fun. democrats want to work. they lost paychecks too. we want to make sure we're protecting american lives so next year you will be able to go to work because you'll be alive. mike: ab, do the $2,000 stimulus checks make a comeback early in the new congress, is it possible that mcconnell was waiting to see what joe biden's wish list will be in terms of more covid spending after congress authorized $2.3 trillion in spending before the end of the year. >> i think majority of leader made it pretty clear that he
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expects the biden administration and democrats to come back and ask for more but he doesn't sound so interested. and the way that he kind of shot down the $2,000 checks by pairing them with things he knew wouldn't pass the senate makes it pretty clear he doesn't support that. i think that he's just -- when lindsey graham is still tweeting about a standalone bill happening because president trump has called for it, you just see too many republicans in the senate conference who are not interested in more spending and say that congress has passed enough covid relief. i don't know how that's going to play in the georgia runoffs. kelly loeffler and david perdue have to pivot on that issue. maybe that's going to be problematic for the outcome of the races and the outcome of the majority. i don't think that changes mitch mcconnell's mind, no matter what, whether he's majority leader or minority leader in january, february. i don't see when they come back
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for more relief, i don't see that he's going to be supportive of those checks. mike: all right, panel. it's been an action-packed couple of segments together. thank you for your time. happy new year. and it's been a pleasure. >> thanks, mike. >> thank you. >> happy new year, you all. mike: tensions in the middle east on the one year anniversary of the u.s. killing a top iranian general. more on that, next. fine, no one leaves the table until your finished. fine, we'll sleep here. ♪ it's the easiest because it's the cheesiest. kraft. for the win win.
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mike: flairing tensions between the u.s. and iran as the world marks one year of the u.s. killing of a top iranian general. trey yingst is live in more in jerusalem. hi, trey. >> reporter: good afternoon. the middle east is on edge tonight, fearing an yo attack by iran. today marks the one year anniversary of iranian general qassem soleimani being killed in a u.s. drone strike in iraq. today in baghdad, thousands of protesters gathered to protest.
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many of the people there were members of iranian backed iraqi shiite militiaings. militias. they will in part get their wish later this month when the americans formally withdraw hundreds of troops who were in iraq to help with the fight against isis. this weekend the death of soleimani was remembered as people lined up to visit his grave site. iran's judiciary chief spoke, threatening retaliation for the drone strike last year. >> if a martyr were in the position of u.s. president, under no circumstances would it mean they can escape law and justice or they're safely situated in heaven, none of them are safe on the planet. this is definite. >> reporter: calculations are
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ongoing in tehran, washington and here in jerusalem about who actually benefits from possible military action. given the tension in the region, though, any single event could spark a much larger conflict. mike. mike: trey yingst live in jerusalem. trey, thanks a lot. closer look at georgia and the gop efforts on the ground there, we will talk to a representative from the georgia republican party all about it, after the break. new projects means new project managers.
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mike: all eyes on georgia as candidates deliver the closing arguments in one of the most closely watched and most expensive senate elections in recent history. joining for a closer look at what's happening on the ground, is spokesperson abigail sigler. thanks for coming. >> thanks for having me on today. mike: what are you seeing on the ground in georgia and what your expectations looking ahead to president trump coming in on election eve. >> georgians are fired up, ready to get out and vote for kelly loeffler and david perdue. they understand what's at stake in the election. they've got a choice between socialism and freedom. they can kill the american dream for generations to come on they can keep this country great and vote for david perdue and kelly
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loeffler on tuesday. mike: i should note we invited your counter part from the georgia democrat party. you were kind enough to he show up. let me ask you your thoughts on having the president come in on election eve. can he drive his base to the polls for your candidates? >> we are so excited to have the president in dalton tomorrow. just as you said, he'll be here on the night before the election and he is going to deliver a clear message to georgia republicans, that they need to get out and vote for david perdue and kelly loeffler on tuesday. the president's accomplishments are on the ballot here and he understands the importance of supporting david perdue and kelly lof loeffler and we are so excited that he will be here in person to remind georgians to get out and vote on tuesday. mike: you've got the washington post this hour reporting about leaked excerpts from a phone call, apparently an hour long phone call with georgia election officials, invisitting that he won the -- insisting that he won the state and threatening vague legal action.
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your reaction to this leaking out hours before the critical runoffs. >> look, the president has every legal right to ensure the november 3rd election was free and fair and transparent and he should. but what's move important for georgia republican voters to know is that they need to get out and vote for david perdue and kelly loeffler on tuesday because the stakes could not be higher in this race. we need to get out and vote. the more that we vote, the more difficult it is for democrats to cheat and try and steal the election so we need every republican in georgia to get out and vote and support david perdue and kelly loeffler here on tuesday. if you voted for donald trump on november 3rd and you haven't voted early yet for david perdue and kelly loeffler, we need you to get out and vote on tuesday. the president needs you to get out and vote on tuesday. and that's why he's going to be here tomorrow. he's going to make sure that all of the people who supported him on november 3rd get out and vote for david perdue and kelly loeffler. mike: does the 3 million or so early voting, what does that
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tell you about state of this race? >> look, we know that republicans vote on election day. and that's part of why the president is coming into town. he knows that as well. what we're doing up until election day is making sure that our ground game is top notch. we are knocking doors. we will be knocking doors until the last minute that the polls close on tuesday. because we need to make sure that everyone knows what's at stake here. chuck shy you her wasn't joking -- chuck schumer wasn't joking when he said they wanted to win georgia and take america. aoc told us why she thinks the senate seats are so important. the radical democrats want to take the seats so they don't have to, quote, negotiate with republicans. we cannot allow that to happen. they are telling us exactly what they're going to do, they're going to defund the police, they're going to open our borders, they're going to support taxpayer funded abortion. we cannot allow that to happen. we need every republican in georgia to get out and vote here on tuesday. i will say this too, mike. if you were aware of any problems or irregularities when
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you go to vote, i would ask you to please reach out to georgia republican party, let us know. we would like to investigate it. we need to make sure that the january 5th election is secure and we need your help to do that so please call our hot line. mail our voter fraud e-mail address to let us know that if you saw a problem there on election day or in early vote, we need you to help us make sure that this election is safe and secure. mike: a lot of the president's support ofers have concerns about whether there was some kind of fraud or inappropriate behavior with the general election. are you concerned about this runoff? >> look, georgia republicans, david perdue and kelly loeffler, have done everything that they can to make sure that this election is safe and secure. we need every republican in georgia to get out and vote on tuesday. the more that we vote, the more difficult it becomes for the democrats to steal telex. so we need you -- steel the election. we need you to vote on tuesday. mike: abigail, thanks so much.
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>> thanks for having me on. mike: as we count down the moments to election day, the georgia senate candidates will get a little help from big names, a look at the schedule ahead after the break. did you know you can go to libertymutual.com to customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need? really? i didn't-- aah! ok. i'm on vibrate. aaah! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ >i spend a lot of time sin my truck.y? it's my livelihood. ♪ rock music >> man: so i'm not taking any chances when something happens to it. so when my windshield cracked... my friend recommended safelite autoglass. they came right to me, with expert service where i needed it. ♪ rock music >> man: that's service i can trust... no matter what i'm hauling. right, girl? >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪
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my gums are irritated. i don't have to worry about that, do i? harmful bacteria lurk just below the gum line. crest gum detoxify works below the gum line to neutralize harmful plaque bacteria and help reverse early gum damage. crest. >> fox news alert, we obtained a letter written by missouri republican senator josh holly reacting to pat toomey's criticism over intentions to challenge the electoral college.
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holly in that letter saying, quote, i speak for my constituents when they raise legitimate concerns about issues as important as the fairness of our elections. these are very serious irregularities on a large scale in a presidential election as republicans debate weighing challenges to the presidential election in 2020 and obviously a difference of opinion between senators holly and sasse and some others as well. so now for a look at some of our top stories, vice president-elect kamala harris be in savannah today, holding a rally for john ossoff and raphael warnock at 5:00 p.m. eastern time. on monday, president-elect joe biden will travel to atlanta to do stumping of his own. he won't be the only one in the peach state that day. president trump will be there to rally for senators kelly loeffler and david perdue, this
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as a coalition of republican senators vow to challenge the electoral college results. of course, coverage on all this continues right here on fox news. bret baier and martha mccallum will have a special preview of the races tonight at 1 0u 1 10:. eastern time. tomorrow we will bring you coverage of president trump's rally in dalton, georgia. we've got you covered on runoff election day. brett and martha will be back with special coverage beginning tuesday at 6:00 p.m. eastern. of course, the races there in georgia are critical. they will decide the balance of power in the united states senate, whether mitch mcconnell will continue as the majority of leader or whether chuck you schumer will be knowledge art leader or the possibility of a 50/50 split and what the politics of that will be. brett and martha will be all over it as the votes are counted and any reaction that comes after the fact. that is all for this very
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special edition of america's news headquarters. it's been a pleasure. my colleague jon scott is up with the fox report live from new york next. i'm mike emmanuel. thanks for watching. you're looking at the old of senate chamber, swearing in day. >> the 117th congress is convening for first time as republicans in both chambers look to challenge president-elect joe biden's electoral college vi victory. good afternoon, i'm jon scott. this is a special edition of the fox report. ♪ >> on the agenda for today's rare sunday session of congress, newly elected and returning members take the oath of office and the house votes to elect a new speaker. nancy pelosi is looking to retain her hold on the gavel but she faces a narrow path. democrats' thin majority in the house could be thinner due to

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