will: that's going to do it for us this morning. i won. rick: congratulations on your best ever -- pete: kayleigh, thanks for being with us. will: they can out -- check out the pbr, madison square garden. ♪ neil: all right, here come the storms, and i'm not just talking about the rain and snow that'll

have the east coast digging out. try the political storm with those iowa caucuses now closing n nine days away. we'll talk to republican presidential candidate ron desantis who is stepping up his attacks on one nikki haley and and hear why governor chris sununu is bibling down on his support -- doubling down on his support for nikki haley. the supreme court has aa greed e to take up donald trump's case against the colorado supreme court, and what president biden had to say to mark three years since the january 6th riots. tree intriguing arrests today -- three intriguing arrests today. all that that and the big battle for the big labor vote. teamster boss sean o'brien meeting with all the candidates. plus secretary of state mike pompeo, and market legend ken fish or on where all your money should be heading. he called last year's big rally to the t. wait until you hear that he's

predicting for 2024. cat cavuto live" starting now. ♪ ♪ neil: you know, sometimes i tell my staff two hours isn't enough to cut it, right? it's such a busy show. welcome, everybody. happy new year. it's going to be a snowy weekend for a lot of folks. want to take you to iowa first where the caucuses, believe it or not, we've been jabbering about this for more than a year, are nine days away. bill melugin is there with more. >> reporter: it's crunch time now, right? the iowa caucuses less than 10 days away. these candidates have been on a full blitz trying to connect last minute with some of these voters. today is also the 3-year anniversary of january 6th. that's something president biden highlighted yesterday in his very first campaign speech of 2024 when he went after donald trump, called him a threat to democracy. well, donald trump, take a look, held a speech of his own here in iowa yesterday.

he said he heard president biden's speech and said e that he was essentially a stuttering mess. he said president biden's presidency has been a disaster for the country, and trump is promising if he's reelected on day number one he says he will start unraveling some of the policies he feels is damaging the country. take a listen. >> we have the worst president in history. we have a president -- [cheers and applause] that can't put two sentences together. no, we have a president who's a great danger to democracy, he really is. >> reporter: meanwhile, florida governor ron desantis and foreman u.n. ambassador nikki haley, they've really been going after each other in recent days as they're both essentially fighting for second place in the polling behind donald trump who is with still maintaining a pretty massive lead. both haley and desantis have been going all over iowa, both of them are going to have town halls on fox news next week. governor desantis in march has gone all in on iowa. he visited all of iowa's 99

counties, and he's telling voters it's time to move on from trump. he says if trump is the nominee, it's essentially just going to be a referendum on the past with biden. take a listen. >> if trump's the candidate, 2024 is going to focus on his legal issues, criminal trials, january 6 and really all these things from the past. and that's going to subsume everything. biden's going to get a pass. finish. >> reporter, and again, the iowa caucuses less than 10 days away set for january 15th. neil, it's really going to be the first barometer we get to see where voters stand on these candidates. does donald trump really have this huge lead in polling that the polls say? we're going to find out from these voters come january 15th. every one of these candidates having huge rallies, speeches, they're going to be all over the state in iowa today. fox news will be covering every single one with of them live all day long. back to you. neil: bill, thank you very much

for that. ron desantis will be joining us to get his take on how crucial this race is. a lot of people say he's either got to win or place a strong second to register any impact. in the meantime, president joe biden looking backward at the significance of january 6th three years ago. lucas tomlinson on how and why the president is playing it that way. he's in wilmington, delaware, with the prime minister lucas. >> reporter: neil, as you just heard from bill, there wasn't much nuance to president biden's speech, launching a full assault on the former president, donald trump, mentioning him by name 44 times during the speech. that's the most he's ever mentioned the former president in this new election year. if the president, as you mentioned, invoking the memory of january 6th just three years ago and the capitol riot. >> trump is running as the denier in chief. the election denier in chief. finish once again he's saying he won't orrin -- honor the results of the election if he loses.

trump says he doesn't understand. well, he still doesn't understander the basic truth and that is you can't love your country only when you win. >> reporter: neil, the president spoke at a community college 50 miles away from valley forge, home of george washington's winter encampment during the american revolution from 1777-1778. biden visited the site before the address. now, the 563-seat theater where he spoke at that community college was at capacity, but it was by invitation only and included senators from delaware and the critical battleground state of pennsylvania. biden has visited the keystone state more than any other state the outside of delaware, the rnc slamming the address for biden's failure to address his record one time during the 30-minute speech. quote, while families can't pay their bills, children dying from fentanyl overdoses, terror is suspects crossing the open southern border and americans

are still being held hostage by hamas, biden wants to further divide can americans. >> trump exhausted every legal avenue available to him to overturn the election. every one. but the legal path just took trump back to the truth, that i had won the election and he was the loser. >> reporter: now, ab sent from the president's speech outside valley forge was any significant amount of young people, of course, a voting bloc that the biden campaign is desperate to win over if the president's going to win re-election in 2024, neil. neil: lucas, thank you for that. will wilmington, delaware. i want to go to bill war right now -- bill barr right now, former attorney general of the united states. as you know, the supreme court will be taking up the arguments for or against colorado removing donald trump from its ballot. whatever your personal if views, and you made it very clear on the former president, do you think that is an overreach for

states to start doing stuff loo hockey that, right? in -- like that, right? if. >> absolutely. i think the last time i was on your show i thought the supreme court would take it up very quickly and smack it down very quickly. regardless of, you know, what i think of trump and the fact that i oppose his nomination, i think he has to be beaten at the ballot box. and these heavy-handed efforts to disenfranchise his supporters, i think, are counterproductive. if anything, they a make him stronger. neil: you know, obviously this could address any of these other states that are entertaining the same thing. there are others who argue that a conviction even though none of them are involved in the 14th amendment, insurrection, all of that, could change the template here. but it wouldn't be before this hearing anyway. what a do you think? >> well, that's right. i don't think -- you know, the january 6th trial, i think, will be months later. and it could affect the election just based on the information

that comes out and the fact of a conviction. but, you know, i think what's happening here is the effort to take him off the ballot and deny people the choice. and, you know, as i've said before, i think that's untenable as a legal matter. we we can't have all the states making their own rule as to what an insurrection is, how much evidence needed to make a determination that someone is engaged in an insurrection are. and under the constitution, under the 14th amendment, section three that's not a provision that can be enforced until congress actually sets up the mechanism. and if anything, recent events show the wisdom of that approach. you need to have congress spell out how that will be enforced. neil: you know, it's been three years since the insurrection, whatever you want to call it e on capitol hill. the fbi just today added three more arrests to subjects who had a role in that. so they continue to this day. and many in the trump camp say

these are unfair, these are unwarranted. but the battle goes on and on. and, by and large, the republican party itself -- certainly those in congress and those of any political import -- seem to side with the president on this. are you surprised three years after the fact that's only grown? >> well, you know, like everything else the left does, they did, i think, go with too far. i think there were people involved in january 6th mar arely the people who attacked the police and broke their way into the if capitol, there were people that should have been prosecuted. but i think they cast their net far too broadly. they've been hounding people that really, you know, just walked into open doors in the capitol and hung around. i, you know, i think they just took it too far. but that being said, i don't minimize if what happened up there. while i don't think it was an

insurrection, it clearly was a shameful episode, and some of the people involved should be prosecuted. neil: what did you think if you had a chance, sir, to listen to the president's, president biden's speech on this and making that a focal point to kick off his campaign? >> well, i think it sort of shows what the dynamic of this election is. i don't think, i think that biden's administration has been a catastrophe. and the only thing they have to run on is donald trump. donald trump breathes life into the democratic party. now, a lot was made of the fact that he's leading biden right now, but i think the actual story is it's shocking to me that he's only leading by a couple of points, a small lead over biden despite the fact that it's a catastrophic administration if. you compare that to someone like nikki haley who's leading by 17 points -- neil: you're talking about over president biden. not within the republican party. >> right. neil: got it. could i ask you a little bit about that, bill?

because you had argued, and you've been fairly consistent at this, attorney general, that a second term of donald trump would be awful. it would spell disaster. you would -- you said a number of times that donald trump knew if well he had lost the election but continued pursuing this. so what is your biggest fear if he gets back in? >> right. now, i think the biden administration would be an unmitigated disaster. my concern about trump is severalfold. one, i think he has the best chance of losing because he brings out the opposition. i i think -- i think he will lose the house. i think he will be a lame duck president from the word go. i think his management and leadership style is unduly divisive and chaotic, and he will not be able to accomplish the kinds of things we need to do to have lasting change. all republicans who are running will block bad regulation and stop bad things from happening,

but that's not enough. we need some changes going forward. we need control of congress, and he will not deliver. that i think the other candidates would come in, they would not be lame ducks, they would have the support of congress, and they would be able to be more awe department as a executives -- adept publishing what has to be accomplished. neil: sir, every time we talk about how we're going to be talking about you, we get a lot of comments from trump loyalists who might be surprised, but some are saying the former president is already violating or at least testing this federal gag order by making comments as he has about you, among other things theying -- saying that that you were a coward, you didn't fight hard enough for the issue of the election and everything else. i know you've been dealing with this back and forth a lot and among his supporters a lot, but what do you think of that?

>> well, whether he's violating the gag order in. neil: that he makes you the focus of violating it. >> well, i don't know. i mean, i don't -- you know, calling me a coward, you know, it doesn't really affect things. i don't really consider it a violation of the gag order. if he was threatening or something like that, that might be a different story. but i just dismiss what he has to say. but i think, you know, the gag order is in a sensitive the area. you have a candidate in a political race who's running, and he should be able to speak, speak freely, and he should also be able to attack the charges against him. just where i draw the line i i think is delicate and, you know, if he threatens witnesses or things like that, it's a different story. but just calling people names, you know, i don't think it's that significant. neil: so and a gag order, just to understand the details because i'm not a lawyer, although i watch legal shows, attorney general, so i think i quaff. -- qualify. [laughter] but i do wonder what you make of

constantly going after the people who attack him while it technically, i guess, isn't a violation of a gag order, is it intimidating? are you ever intimidated by that? do you fear that others are intimidated by it and might hold back? >> no, i'm not intimidated. but, you know, there may be some others that will be. i think, you know, more than what he has to say is i think some republicans are calculating that the chances are good that he would be, that he'd -- would be good that he'd be president again, and i think they're worried about offending him. neil: attorney general, thank you for taking the time. very good seeing you. >> thanks, neil. neil: bill barr. we're watching a big storm that could be coming to the east coast, we'll see how big, and also a political storm brewing in iowa as polls are showing a tightening at least for number two.

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muck. ♪ neil: all right, we have all these specific graphics, the music, you've heard it all ahead of iowa and the caucuses in a little more than 9 days from now. the guy who a lot of people are watching and thinks he's the only one who's visited all the counties in this entire state joins us right now, florida governor ron desantis. governor, very good to see you. >> good morning. neil: let me get your take on how the political pros or wonks are weighing what you gotta do.

they say you gotta win and that without a win, your campaign's toast. you've heard or that, i just want you to respond. [laughter] >> you've got to love these folks. look, you've got to win a majority of the tell gates. you know this is a lengthy, dynamic process. i actually like, you know, when people try to count me out and the underdog. that gives us a great opportunity to really, to really put points on the board or and surprise some people. but, look, we've done it right here. we've gone to all 99 counties, we've created folks. we go and take -- we've visited folks. we're going to do a town hall on fox next week, we show up to debates. we do all this stuff. and that's how you've got to do it to do well in the iowa caucus. and i think you know that this is not like a normal primary election where you just punch your ticket and go home. this is a commitment. it's going to be probably very cold weather. we've got snow -- i'm in dubuque, there's snow on the ground, much different from what we've got in florida, and it's probably going to be even a lot

colder then. people are going to come, so we've got an army of committed people that are going to go, we're adding more every day. we've got a great organization, and this is traditional are hi the way you've got to do it. so i'm proud of all the effort that we have. and i'm proud that we're going to be able to bring this to great fruition here very shortly. neil: you know, and you might pull it off. these polls can be all over the map, but we've never seen one that features the republican if candidate leading by so much, donald trump leading by this big amount, so that's hard to see it get frittered away. if that were to happen, some say it would be with because you and nikki haley have divided the vote as the alternative candidates. do you agree with that? do you think that her emergence has maybe hurt you? >> so, look, what i offer -- the way i view the primary is this: donald trump's running for his issues, nikki haley's running for her donors' issues. i'm running for your issues, your family's issues, that's my

sole focus. and i have a record to back that upper, of delivering on 100% of my promises in the state of florida and taking on the left and beating the left. no other one running has done -- neil, just now i think you guys saw some of the reports about the teacher union because of the reforms we did in florida to say you can't do automatic deduction of union dues. now, because we've empowered teachers e, a lot of them aren't joining, and the dade county teacher union, third largest in the country, is on the brink of decertification. when has a republican ever fought and won against them? we beat soros, fauci, all of them. that's what separates us. i'm more reflective of the conservative values that you see here in iowa iowa than the other two candidates, particularly somebody like a nikki haley are. she was in new hampshire saying that iowa's votes need to be corrected by other states. that has gone over like a lead balloon here in the state of iowa, i can tell you that. and donald can trump has not

been willing to answer questions. he doesn't do the type of meet and greet and town halls that are a staple here. he hasn't been willing to participate in any debates. we have a debate scheduled, i accepted, haley accepted, he declined and scheduled a town hall on fox news channel where he could have easily debateed. there's a contrast here and i think, ultimately, we're the ones that are that have earned the votes. neil: you mentioned haley's comments about iowa. governor sununu said it was just a joke and the fact that donald trump would probably win iowa and the folks in new hampshire would have to correct him. in the middle of all of this, nikki haley said she would maybe consider you as a possible vice presidential running mate. what dud you think of that? >> well, i can tell you i am not going to accept that under any circumstances. you know, i'm running for president -- neil: really? >> -- because i think we need

somebody that can win and get the job done. but i would much rather do my final two years as governor, '25 the and '26, than be vice president. i don't think it's a position that offers much. i want to make an impact, neil. i'm in office to be able to deliver results to people. and to take a position where you're not going to be able to deliver results for anyone, that just doesn't appeal to maine i do think though it's interesting, she refuses to rule out whether she would be donald trump's running mate if trump were to be the nominee, and that's, i think, important because she's really catered to a lot of democratic accurate donors, democrat-leaning voters. a lot of people who are anti-trump and have donated a lot of money in the past to oppose donald trump. they've viewing her as the vessel to be an anti-trumper, and yet she will not rule this out. why can't she just give a straight answer? if either yes or no? instead, we get the typical

politician speak. i've said definitively, no, that's not what i'm running for, and we're in it to win it. neil: many a candidate emerged as a vice presidential running mate has said exactly what you said, so i assume by what you're saying you would say the same about nikki haley being your running mate. >> right. so here's -- i get asked about a running mate all the time. i think there's two criteria you have to have. one, you've bot to be someone who can be president, so you have to have the experience and judgment, and then, two, you've got to share our values and kind of our vision on that. i'm partial to governors because i think they've been in executive position, but i don't want to -- i wouldn't want to put someone on there that would take the country in a different direction than what i campaigned on. and i think she's running more on more liberal issues rather than the standard conservative policies that i think have proven to work in statements like florida and iowa -- states like florida and iowa. so in that sense, you know, a lot of people supporting me, you

know, if i wasn't running, a lot of them would prefer donald trump to nikki haley on policy because i think that she represents more of the corporatist republican bent, and that has just not been popular, has not delivered results for people in many, many years. i think florida, we've shown how to do it. neil: golf, you know -- governor, this is the third anniversary of january 6th. you're aware what the president of the united states was making of that speak at valley forge. i don't want to get into the weeds on this, sir, but the impression that a lot of people have is that republicans, especially influential, powerful republicans, politicians, those who are in the position of power in the house or senate, are glossing over that day and not blaming the former president for anything that day. do you have any concern about the president's role, donald trump's role that day and whether he ins greated -- ins gated something that historically had the feel of an

insurrection? >> well, two things. one is obviously, you know, you had a protest. it devolved into a riot. that's to not a good thing. but i think what the left has done and what biden's done is they've really tried to weaponize that against their political opponents. you remember he gave that speech in front of that blood red background where he's shaking his fist, basically saying that people that were supported trump were all, basically enemies of the state he was trying to say. i think he's doing the same thing to demonize people there there. at the same time, i think just looking forward as republicans we'll win in '24 if we're holding biden accounting bl concern accountable and talking about the issues that are affecting the american people. my concern with donald trump being the nominee is the entire campaign will be subsumed with legal issues, criminal trials and january 6th. i think that this is going to be something that they use against him. and unfortunately, i think it's proven to be effective with a certain subclass of voters that you need to win to be able to

win a general election. so i know like the liberal corporate media, january 6th is akin to their christmas. they are going to take this and blow it, blow it up. and i think a lot of republicans have reacted against that because it's one thing to say, okay, you know, these things shouldn't have happened, but it's another thing, you know, to wave the bloody shirt and try to impugn, you know, tens of millions of americans as a result of that. so biden, he had a chance to be a uniter for this country, and he has failed. he has chosen division every step of the way. neil: nevertheless on january 6th, are you talking about how the left might be using this to sort of gal van isize this, but a majority of your own party, golf, and you yourself were critical at the time of how this got out of control. and i'm just wondering, that has changed and maybe the politics, the polls and the performance of donald trump in some of these key states, and to your point rightly could change, but it is what it is. and people have recognized the political reality that there's no good in criticizing donald

trump or criticizing his actions that day because it's not just good politics. do you think that's -- >> well, neil, i think also it's just -- well, look, i think at some point it's like, okay, it happened. a lot of people were, you know, made comments at the time. but it's like at some point are we going to move on and focus on the people's issues? because with i can tell you here in iowa when i'm taking questions, when i'm in new hampshire and town halls and these other states, this is not on top of mind for voters. they're asking about issues affecting their lives, they're asking about issues affecting a lot of the corruption in d.c. so in that sense, i think it's you want to be addressing the issues that matter to the people. now, i do think practically this will be something that the democrats would wield against a candidate trump if he were the nominee. and i do think, unfortunately, it would likely be a a effective. and i think there's a lot of republicans who acknowledge that. at the same time, it's like they have politicize ised this to no end. they did a massive committee and

spent how much money on it, and now they're using it basically as one of their main issues in the 2024 campaign. neil: we shall see. governor desantis, very good seeing you again. be well. >> thanks, neil. neil: governor ron desantis of florida. getting a word on this with gop fundraiser carly cooperman, democratic pollster, just as effective for her side. you heard what governor desantis had to say about democrats seizing on january 6th as the gift that keeps giving for them. but it's a zero sum game, that it's not working. what do you think? >> i think biden's absolutely right to kick off his campaign by making this a central theme in the campaign because donald trump absolutely poses a threat to democracy. this is what biden wants to argue and is going to continue to argue. he continues to speak highly of the january 6th insurrection as a if it was a positive thing, and biden knows that a large majority of voters generally

agree with biden that this is not something that we want to see repeat again. we want somebody in office who is going to uphold our democracy and respect it. and so i think, you know, biden's well aware of a wide range of issues the voters are concerned about and needs to connect with voters on those issues. but i absolutely would be making this a central part of the campaign assuming trump does become the nominee because this is something that is very serious, and it is important to voters. and biden's on the right side of this issue. neil: you know, noel, on that very same issue one of the things that governor desantis wanted -- this is all the more reason we don't want donald trump as our nominee because all this stuff gets dredged up and we don't want to be part of that. what do you make of that? because a lot of the money raisers, the $24 million nikki haley just raised, it seems to be a view among some in the if party that we want to avoid that. we want to avoid donald trump.

>> yes, and there are a lot of people that fear as a match-up in the general that he's not going tab -- to be able to do it, and it's imperative that the gop win. a lot of the big doe -- donors that i deal with and talk to, a lot of these guys responsible for funding a lot of these presidential campaigns, they are adamant about we are going to lose control of our country. our country's going to be unrecognizable if we are continued under any dem. accurately. democrat leadership. so it's imperative that we win. so they're looking at this from a business point of view on what is the number one issue that could plague and prohibit us from being victorious, and they're looking at donald trump's legality pops, they're looking at -- problems, they're looking at january 6th, they're looking at basically how he lost the last time. and i think that's where you're seeing a surge in money with

nikki haley because of a lot of things, especially issues with women like the abortion issue. so you're seeing a lot of the donors hedging their betts. these are business people, and a lot of the small dollars are following the big dollars because you're looking at polls and also the money poll. they're seeing where nikki haley is surging in that. it was a great interview you had with ron desantis. and i notice what really got -- [inaudible] was the would you be vp to nikki haley. he was adamant, he did not like that. neil: yeah. a lot of them are very adamant about vp on anything. we'll see what happens. ladies, i apologize for our truncated time here with all this breaking news including antony blinken back in the middle east right now. we've got the latest on that and what he hopes to accomplish. the secretary of state has to try to cobble together disparate audiences. doesn't mike pompeo know that? he's next. (ella) fashion moves fast. setting trends is our business.

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- [narrator] wounded warrior project helped me find the strength to go further than i ever thought possible.

- [narrator] i was able to come outta my shell and really connect with others. - [narrator] so i can feel like part of a team, part of the community again. - [narrator] it's possible to live better. - [narrator] it's possible to have a voice and to be heard. - [narrator] to feel understood. - [narrator] to find peace. - because i've experienced firsthand that anything is possible. (inspirational music) neil: all right, antony blinken, the secretary of state, is in greece right now. he's going to be visiting the entire region including, ultimately, israel. i believe next week there. so we'll keep you posted on that. secretary of state is a buzzy person. coming up we have mike pompeo, former secretary of state, what's at stake in news ongoing talks to ultimately end the hamas-israel war. alex hogan in tel aviv with the latest from there.

alex. >> reporter: hi, neil. we are in central tel aviv where this is a display people from all over the city and country have come because this is something that happens every week. they set up this long table, empty table, each seat symbolizing one of the hostages that has been taken, should be at the dining table with their family for shabbat over the weekend but, of course, those seats are empty as people here continuing to put pressure on the government that something needs to be done. these hostages remaining left in gaza, including americans, need to be safe and come home. and that is something we will likely hear season secretary of state antony blinken touch on as he makes his way to this part of the world in this multicountry stop. he arrived in turkey last night meeting with the turkish foreign minister and also president erdogan. he expected to try to cool some of the rising tensions that we've seen in recent weeks not only within the gaza strip but, obvious, in lebanon. looking now to gaza, tomorrow will mark the third month since

hamas invaded israel and killing as many as 1200 people. today the israeli military says that it is pressing forward in han unimis-- khan yunis in gaza. now, new alert today in northern israel, the idf fired upon hezbollah infrastructure this morning in response to the barrage of rockets. hezbollah says that it launch as many as 60 rockets toward israel alone, and israeli forces say they identified as many as 40 rockets. and people in the region there tell e me this has been one of the most chaotic days in recent weeks again with those attacks coming early morning. back here live in tel aviv, this area will be packed with thousands of people in about two hours. there will be a major protest again putting on finish on the government to bring those hostages home. we know that about 100 of them have been leased so far. far fewer than the number of

families and loved ones hoped they would have seen by now. again, tomorrow will mark three months, neil. a lot of pain for the people walking around here today. neil: i can't believe that, alex, but you're right, three months since the october 7th attacks. thank you, alex. you and your crew, please be save. great people, all, with all of that going on. we have mike pompeo with us, former secretary of state, fox news contributor. get his read on the significance of his suck successor's trip here. i believe this is the third time in a little more than a month. but the fact of the matter is nothing seems to be easing not only the spreading fears of the war, secretary, but more to the point the idea that more folks could be getting involved. what do you think? >> well, neil, good morning. three months since the barbarism that happened on october 7th, the rapes, the pillaging, the brutality. too many people have just turned on to the next thing. i'm so glad you all are still

covering it and reporting it. all those hostages including americans being held, and secretary blinken with a very difficult problem set because his boss, the president of the united states, refuses to identify the actual problem child which is the islamic republic of iran. each of these things you identified whether it's the rockets from hezbollah in the north or the challenges in the red sea coming from if these knuckleheads in yemen called houthis that are terrorists but they refuse to call terrorists, if you don't identify the real problem, this is coming from tehran, if you can't respond to that appropriately, you're right, neil. you do risk continued's escalation, and you create enormous problems for tip lo mats. diplomats. neil: isis claimed responsibility this past week for this deadly iran bomb attack that killed more than 80 people, but isis was claiming respondent when a lot of people were pointing the finger at israel, that it high might have had something to do with that. and it just reminded me how much

iran is a focus here. not only do a lot of mod rate arab nations fear and flip over iran, but now terrorist groups like isis itself. i'm just wonder what you -- wondering what you make of the significance of that. >> i don't know if that claim is real. i am highly confident this wasn't israeli. we don't kill civilians in the way that happened in these two bombings, so this was someone other than israel or the united states -- neil: then why should they take a bow? why would they take a bow, even if that were -- >> i'm sorry, why should -- i'm not -- neil: -- take a bow and say that we're behind this? >> oh, because everybody loves the strong horse, right? you always want -- these groups always make climbs. -- claims. groups often make claims that a he was no responsibility for so they can tell their people, come fight with us, come take my $50 to come work for a week.

bet on our team. so everyone wants to claim greatness. you know, i always think back to where we were almost exactly three years ago when president biden came in. we had more nations recognizing israel's right to exist, we had relative stability in the west bank with the palestinians, we had the abraham accords where countries had said, yeah, let's all work together, and iran was ice lited. and the -- isolated. and the reason you're having americans attacked a hundred times since october 7th is because the biden administration flipped the script. these are evil actors. and when you think, boy, i can negotiate with them, i can give $6 billion to them and they'll stop taking american hostages, that is dangerously naive and puts more than people at rusk. neil: i talk to a lot of prominent if republicans on this, the anniversary of january 6th and what happened on the hill, and that the party has coacelessed, and polls have changed, but donald trump, as if that didn't happen or if it dud, it was unfairly portrayed or taken advantage of by left-wing

media. i think that was the gist of what above desantis told me. -- governor desantis told maine what do you think about the former president's role in that and whether he galvanized that? a lot of republicans mad about that but not mad anymore? >> look, it wasn't america's finest day, neil. i don't think there's any doubt about that. but what liz cheney and the progressive left have made out of that day is grossly disproportionate to the reality of the risk to the united states. and i think you can see that. just stare at the four years of the trump administration and stare at the three years of the biden administration. and if you're asking which president was more likely to do something like, oh, try and overturn the supreme court and refund student loans that you have no authority to do, i mean, this has been a reckless administration. and i think the american people can feel that no matter what the biden administration tries to say about, gosh, the economy's good. i just don't think the american people feel that that the same way they did the four years president trump was in charge. neil: secretary, very good

having you again. happy new year. >> happy new year to you as well, sir. neil: we have a lot more including the storm that's threaten the east coast of the united states. who9 gets the most snow? after this. ♪ ♪ [typing] ♪ you were made to act spontaneously. we were made to help plan accordingly. ♪ hey, i just got a text from my sister. you remember rick, her neighbor? sure, he's the 76-year-old guy who still runs marathons, right? sadly, not anymore. wow. so sudden. um, we're not about to have

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neil: all right, there's wicked weather coming for much of the northeast, east coast of the united states. i know a lot of friends that live in the midwest and the dakotas who always say, neil, calm down, take a chill pill. well, it's better than 100 million americans are going to have to deal with this. it's already prompted a lot of flight cancellations, i think 200, and more than 1700 delays, so i'm sure that will pile up as snow and other stuff piles up. the definitive guide on this is my buddy, craig herrera, meteorologist extraordinaire. he is an iconic figure. and if anyone knows exactly how this is going to sort out, it's craig. [laughter] prepare me, craig. >> oh, my friend, thank you so much. no need for the chill pill.

i'll tell you, if only we had a little more cold air, literally, we'd be talking about a whole different storm, neil. this is what we've got going on. this area of low pressure dropped almost 2 feet of snow over the four corners region, combined with energy off the gulf coast, and it's going to start to move up the eastern seaboard. we're going to see heavy rain on the southern side, maybe even some thunderstorms over portions of central florida. the northern side where the cold air is, heavy snow. but we want to break it down because the freezing line is very fine, and it's hugging the i-9 5 corridor. a whole bunch of rain is the story for places like new york city. here is where we were hoping that the kids were going to get the sleds out, that the you were going to have lots of snow to contend with. it's farther north from there. even through philadelphia, mostly a rain event. here's what's interesting, the tomorrow parks off the coast here. now we've got those northeasterly winds with. with those coming through overnight through early tomorrow morning, places like jersey shore, long island could be

dealing with a whole lot of water being pushed up. so you could be dealing with some coastal flooding. the rain continues to come down, can and this is also interesting, tomorrow the back side of there, the cold air starts to bring northeasterly winds bring cold air from canada, snow light over places like new york. but when we see this move out of here, the totals are going to be impressive over places like the hudson valley. and we're also going to see up to 12 inches of fresh snow, neil. boston will be the big winner of all the cities on the eastern seaboard. inhand, up to a foot of fresh snow chen bees, d -- when this is said and done. neil: do better next time. >> okay, you got it. neil: craig herrera, amendment new year, my friend. more detail, more documents, more bold-faced names on these jeffrey epstein court releases. what to make of them, after this.

♪ neil: all right, or we expected a lot of documents with the are release of all this jeffrey epstein stuff but, manage oh, man, we got so many named, i couldn't keep track of ate -- it all. charlie gasparino is here, and what can you tell us? >> neil, don't pin it all on me to read are 9 million e-mails and -- neil: incredible. >> -- documents involving jeffrey epstein. i think what you could say is there's a lott more of the same that's in the latest batch, you know? the same names keep popping up. jeffly epstein, as you know, longtime financier in new york, major player in the new york financial scene, felt with just about every -- dealt with just about every major bank, had sources all over the place. the people that he dealt with are popping up in some, in a lot of these documents.

marley political people -- particularly political people like donald trump, like bill clinton. and i think that's where this thing is heading right now. i'll tell you with, neil, i don't see much news value out of any of this stuff other than embarrassment to people whose names are being mentioned. there are -- there's no real smoking guns. a lot of hearsay thrown around. we should point out that the former president, trump, says he hasn't been friends with jeffrey epstein in years. he confirms they were friends at one with time, fit toe for former president -- ditto for former president clinton. both of them said their relationship broke up at least before his first conviction when he was -- actually, his only conviction back in 2006. neil: if i don't mean to interrupt you, but a lot of people misinterpreted the conversation you and i had a couple of days ago that we were sort of dismissing some of the more recent allegations concerning epstein. what i thought was important about what you did was how he developed a reputation in the

financial community that he had friends like a bill clinton, all these others. it had nothing to do with all this other tawdry e stuff -- >> you know, neil -- neil: -- can but his financial connections and his ability -- >> you know, neil, people will, people will hear what they want to hear. neil: absolutely. >> i can't help what goes on in someone's brain cells. the only thing i can say is this, you and i, report -- we reported this fairly. he was a despicable houston. he was, essentially, he went to jail once on child sex trafficking. the second time he was going to go to jail for a long time. neil: right. >> on top of that, he dealt with a lot of people, whether they knew it or not, there's no evidence in these documents -- neil: but in the earliest days, his connection was his financial acumen, his knowledge of tax history, real estate law -- >> oh, yeah. i was -- listen, jimmy cain, the head of bear stearns, told me that. he was good at his job. there's reasons other than potentially sex with kids that

someone might want to be friends with him, and you wouldn't even know that. again, you can hear what you want to hear out of my mouth, out of your mouth, these are are plain journalistic facts. and i do have a breaking news story for your show. more bad news coming out of blackrock. as you know, blackrock is the big, the biggest -- the world's largest money manager, huge into esg. and because of that, it's been a lightning rod for create criticism -- criticism, particularly in blue -- in red states. harry fink's name came up negatively in the latest presidential debate because he forces, allegedly, esg on companies. people are pulling money out of black rock's funds, particularly blue -- red state pension funds. and because of that, we understand, they're going to have a round of layoffs next week. neil: okay. >> going to be kind of big news next week, that blackrock is going to be laying off some of its 19,000 work force amid this anti-esg push that's going on among republicans, particularly republicans who run big pension funds.

i hear the numbers are less than a thousand. neil: okay. >> a thousand would be, essentially, 5%. i hear it's less than a thousand. blackrock announces earnings next week with, i believe it's friday. they're expecting a decline in earnings. neil okay. >> stock has been off about 2% so far this year. so put it all together, that's a recipe for layoffs. back to you. neil: and a lot of them, i guess. charlie gasparino on that. we'll have more after this. ♪ somewhere, anywhere... ♪ ♪ i just want to lie motionless in a chair! ♪ booking.com, booking.yeah ♪ ♪ ...

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