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emmanuel macron, but leaders, 35-plus, including the soon to be the next leader of the united states, the past and present president donald j. trump. and nice things to say about the american people, lauren green. >> good morning, neil, i know we're six hours ahead, i'm not quite sure. the sun is down and the rain started and wind started and thousands of people of lining the sein to see the notre dame cathedral. and the meeting between donald trump and emmanuel macron. and like old buds, i remember when this went on. and this is a geopolitical happening at the opening of the notre dame cathedral, one of

the leaders that was in trump's first term until 2020 and inviting donald trump to the opening of notre dame and macron is positioning himself to be a major political leader and also attending today, ukraine president volodymyr zelenskyy. he may meet with president trump-- soon to be president-elect trump as well, but no meeting is officially scheduled. britain's prince of wales, prince william is here, jill biden, the first lady is here as well. five and a half years ago, a fire nearly destroyed the 12th century gothic cathedral. and macron promised that it would be done in five years and so the work began. the statues restored and 2400 oak treeses around paris were cut down to build the trusses,

and the roof, the relic, the crown of thorns, the nail, a sliver from the nail, the holy-- believed to have been in the crucifixion. and it's just this rebirth and the restoration of an old friend and i think that's what's really important. the restoration costs some $800 million and 65 million of that came from the united states, so, even though this is a house of worship or a national event, it is also a house of worship built for the glory of god and that's what this nation hopes, many people hope that it will be again, a structure that's built to the glory of god which welcomes all people. neil. neil: beautifully done and beautifully said. lauren green in paris, thank you for that. i've got stephanie bennett a correspondent in london. stephanie is following a separate development, donald trump even as president-elect is engendering a great deal of confidence from other leaders

who want to talk to him and by pass the present occupant of the white house especially when it comes to international developments. we told you about ukraine and emmanuel macron working with the administration to come to deal with that separately, and cutter qatar is talking to try for a truce and on we go, stephanie. >> hi, neil. as you said, a lot of world leaders excited and on the fence about working with the trump administration. today the qatar's prime minister said there's fresh momentum behind the cease-fire talks when it comes to gaza and an agreement could be possible before trump's inauguration in january and he spoke today at the doha forum and two key issues, a willingness to have a prisoner exchange and a desire to end the war. he did confirm that qatar is engaging with the incoming trump administration on gaza and that has recommitted itself to mediating these

negotiations. >> we have seen a lot of encouragement from the incoming administration in order to achieve a deal even before the president comes to the office. >> and earlier this week, donald trump issued an apparent warning to hamas, threatening all hell to pay if the hostages held in gaza were not released by the time he returns to the white house. let's head over to the north, lebanon's transport minister says that israeli air strikes hit two border crossings between lebanon and syria and they said they were targeting those routes because they claim they were used by hezbollah to smuggle weapons. the lebanon cease-fire appears to be holding for now. speaking of syria, tensions are rising over there, and reports that the idf will call up additional groups in the golan heights area as thousands of people have fred the central syrian city, and rebels seized

major cities across the country starting in aleppo. and 2,000 syrians have crossed into iraq, accord to go a local iraqi mayor. united nations have come out with new statistics saying in the last week, about 280,000 syrians have been displaced and they are worried that number could reach 1.5 million. neil. neil: all right. stephanie, thank you for that, stephanie bennett following those benefits and curt lippow, the u.s.s. cole commander. and how they're reacting to donald trump, after ronald reagan, with jimmy carter wondering what kind of leader he would be. and hostages were released on inauguration day. and do you think, and i raised

this with the congressman, that donald trump is playing the same script, there will be hell to pay, if you don't release the hostages before i come to power. what do you make of that? >> i actually think when it comes to president-elect trump, he has learned a lot from his previous administration and then being out of office for four years. what you are seeing now is really an exercise in leadership because what he is doing is giving clearly defined goals and expectations to the world on what the united states is going to do and what we expect other nations to do in order to have a more stable and less violent world. and we're seeing that with hamas. we're seeing that with how he tends to deal with russia and ukraine. we're going to also start seeing that with china as well. neil: so what would hell to pay mean for you. let's say hamas doesn't move on releasing any hostages? what does that mean? >> well, i think for me, neil, what it really means and there's a bit of

unpredictability there, he's going to give israel a freehand and the weapons necessary to locate, find hamas and finally destroy them in toto and make them an absolutely not ineffective combat force, but ensure they in no way have future in the governing of the gaza strip so that we in fact can get people in there that will have the best interests of the palestinian people at heart, and do what's necessary to rebuild that into the glory that they got 40 years ago and it's where it should be today. neil: you know, i want to switch to ukraine and you and i talked about this many times, kirk, and the idea what type of role would the u.s. envision under a trump administration than it is now. and the talk increasingly is, despite what emmanuel macron might want in private discussions with donald trump, that we might disengage somewhat, we might not pay and keep putting and adding money

to ukraine in favor of making a deal. donald trump is a transactional businessman, become a multi-billionaire as such. and that he might give something or offer something to vladimir putin that would make him go away, including keeping some of the lands he's won in ukraine over which russian soldiers have control. what would you make of that? >> i think what you're going to see president-elect trump do is clearly define for the european continent what his expectations are for them to live up first and foremost to n.a.t.o. commitments and then their support into ukraine. the u.s. has been the leader in how that country has been able to wage war and defend itself against russian aggression. and at the end of the day, i hope that president trump will take some of the restrictions off, allow ukraine to engage in some of the combat with the weapons they've been given, and that the europeans need to step up and take responsibility for

their own continent and what is going on with the largest conflict since world war ii. while the united states can help lead, the way we can lead is telling them go for it. give ukraine what they need, when they need it, get it from the europeans, give it to them and tell them, push the europeans back to the border, take back the crimea that was taken in 2014, and then clearly defined. russia right now is teetering. they're teetering economically, when you look at what's about to happen in syria, if in fact syria falls, they will lose their warm water port, they will lose the major air base that allows them to keep all of orforces throughout the sub saharan africa, not be able to reinforce them. what you're seeing, russia is beginning to have to fall back. if we give ukraine the ability to defend itself by not putting restrictions on either our weapons or the europeans, they will be able to push the russians back despite putin's continued threats that he's

going to use nuclear weapons or other thing. i don't believe he will cross that threshold. neil: do you think that vladimir putin will acede to that? and vladimir putin almost everything you hear, that he likes donald trump more than joe biden and thinks he'll have a more receptive ear with donald trump than joe biden. what you just outlined is the mirror opposite of that. >> when it comes to vladimir putin he's the one that tries to be unpredictable and crossed thresholds using the nuclear weapons and a red line before and made the world extremely more nervous and dangerous. and donald trump has a vision he would like the conflict to end, but on terms that the europeans and the united states can live with. at this point in time if you go with the negotiated settlement with russia, it's not a matter

of if, but when they're going to reengage. right now, russia is weak. push them back. do not give them an opportunity to rearm in five years from now, we're dealing with an even more lethal and strident russia that's going to again reignite that conflict and try to take it over, knowing that we may have a different president by that point, and that the europeans will prove once again they are unable to defend their continent without u.s. leadership. neil: you know, you remind me in the past, peace through strength and we have a new administration coming in and donald trump is very pro the military, but also, he's got two very rich guys, vivek ramaswamy and elon musk reviewing and looking at the books and spending, including in the defense department. and that there's a lot of waste going on there. what did you make of that? >> i think there absolutely is. a quick snapshot where you can cut a lot of waste. in world war ii, we fought it to victory with 4,000 ships and

about 100 admirals. the at height of the reagan buildup 600 ships and 125 admirals and broke the economic back of the soviet union. today i'm around 290 ships, but i have over 400 admirals and senior civilians running the navy. that kind of bloated bureaucracy needs to be cut in half throughout all the services, and then we start looking at the defense contractors and saying, stop with the waste. we need to get refined. we don't always need 21st century weapons for a 20th century fight. not every enemy the u.s. will confront has to have those technology to fight them we can still further our national security objectives. there's waste both in the bureaucracy and within the defense industry itself. neil: given your past and background, that carries a lot of clout. commander, we'll see what happens. if we don't chat before the holidays, have a very merry christmas.

>> thank you, neil. neil: commander lippold. i don't know if you've seen the pictures provided world wii of the guy who they insist that shot the united health care ceo. forget facial recognition, and they hope that the people that see him, forget the hoodie, enough for someone to say i know that guy. after this.

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and that's the kind of thing that cole parker follows, a fbi special agent and fox contributor. thank you for coming in on a saturday, no less. let me get your take on their take on this. they are being very, very cautious about what they release and say. they're fairly sure that he has left the new york metropolitan area so that's not a big shock, but i suspect they know a lot more than they're saying. what do you think? >> i guarantee they know a lot more than what they're saying. when i was a fbi agent and a lead investigator on a large case on the national level and i would be working behind the scenes and watch the news, and that's interesting that that's how they're reporting it, but that's because law enforcement cannot show their hand. they cannot reveal everything that's being done behind the scenes. you do have to keep the investigation confidential, not to tip-off the suspect and to reveal things that are going on. but i do believe it's important to note from day one, i said

the most important intelligence you're going to get in solving this case is human intelligence. somebody knows this shooter. somebody is someone's brother or son or a relative or a friend or a neighbor. the pictures are coming out and i do believe that it's good for them to increase the cash reward because no one's going to rat someone out if they don't think it's worth it, but you know what? it's the holidays and might be someone out there who says, you know what? i know that person, i know who that is and i'm going to report them. please send in tips because they're invaluable to the fbi and n.y.p.d. and you may think a tip you have, it's not going to make a difference, when you take all the tips in law enforcement, all of the pieces of the puzzle, all coming together creates a big picture and that's how we solve investigations. neil: they did raise the bounty, so to speak, from $10,000 to $50,000. but i did want to get, also, your thoughts on the killer himself.

there were some thinking originally, given his stance, his calm, walking away from the shooting right after the shooting, that he was a hitman essentially. now we come to discover, at least there are signs, that he did this on his own, there might have been some anger at an insurance company, that would not be the first time we've heard people angry at insurance companies for being denied or whatever. we don't know all the details, but some suspect he wasn't doing anyone's bidding, but his own. what do you make of that? >> i think right now, like i said, the investigators probably know a lot more than we do. that could be the case. he could be lone gunman acting alone. he could be the one with the grievance or he could have a co-conspirator, work with a group of individuals behind the scene. i know a phone was recovered and a call was placed right before this incident occurred. who was he calling? and i hope that law enforcement could get into the phone and make the determinations. also, you know, criminals, they do things all the time. we saw it's not a hitman, it is

a hitman. i have worked cases they'll put red herrings out there and make it look like one thing and it's completely different, but i feel 100% confident in, n.y.p.d., with the fbi stepping in, they're interviewing every, you know, family member of the victim, friend, relative, people that were aware of the threats that were coming in, investigating how those threats were transmitted. you know, the casings, what was found on the, you know, the crime scene and those types of bullets used in any other shootings recently. a.t.f. will be involved and everyone is all hands on deck, but i go back to the point i made at the beginning, if you see this individual you need to contact law enforcement immediately because he is on the run. they understand that he ended up going to the bus station at 178th street in new york. i thought as well he was probably out of dodge shortly after the crime was committed. he is well out of the way of new york city in my opinion, but again, if you see tips, call them in. neil: well put. nicole, great catching up with

us. thank you, former fbi special agent. we're keeping an eye on that and also keeping an eye on this meeting in paris, of course, the notre dame grand reopening after five and a half years ago and they thought it was kaput and what could they salvage. it's beautiful and they will have the formal ceremony. and the back drop for this is what is going on politically. and macron wants to pete with president trump and meeting with him, and including volodymyr zelenskyy on ukraine, and donald trump has ideas how to end the war russia has with ukraine after this. lowe'st holiday list can stretch further than your budget. with mylowe's rewards... yes. you get member deals and earn points when you shop. so, you can get more and give more too. join my lowe's rewards for free today. lowe's knows how to help you holiday.

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>> all right. it was no surprise that joe biden pardoning his son hunter

biden, would elicit a good deal of questions at the white house briefing. it did. and now talk about extended pre-pardons for those who might be targeted by donald trump when he takes office. lucas tomlinson is sorting this out. >> good morning, neil, after hunter biden received his pardon before christmas many awa awaited karine jean-pierre's appearance at the white house and refused to rule out that other pardons are coming. >> look, i'm not getting ahead of the president, but what i can say is that the president is reviewing other pardons and commutations. >> some of the names floated. dr. fauci, former chairman. joint chief of staff, mark milley and former congresswoman liz cheney. for months, she said that the

president said that hunter would not be pardoned and the president as well, did not leave wiggle room. son predicted the pardon would come before hunter was sentenced. and after spending thanksgiving with him and before jetting off to africa. >> he did, he wrestled with this, he wrestled with this. again, he said in his statement, in his own voice, he made this decision this past weekend and the fact is, when you think about how the president got to this decision, circumstances have changed. he wrestled with these circumstances. the president laid it out himself in his own words. he did. he laid out how he wrestled with this decision. he wrestled with it. >> donald trump's incoming press secretary responded to the about-face. >> you tell the truth and inca reason jean-pierre was lied to or lying to the press and therefore the american people

which is a complete dereliction of duty. >> neil, we await to see if any more pardons from president biden are coming, neil. neil: you're a great student of history. have we ever had pre-pardons? >> neil, in the nearly 250 year history of this country there have never been preemptive pardons, certainly unprecedented territory. neil: i knew you would know that. thank you very much. stay warm, my friend, lucas tomlinson at the white house. and i want to go to john yoo, let's say pre-pardon, what kind of weight do they carry and can you do that? >> i hate to do that, just to correct lucas, just a little bit. there have been pardons like this before, but on a massive scale. for example, as a student of history, the civil war. abraham lincoln and andrew johnson basically pardoned

everyone who participated in the confederacy even though they had committed treason. president washington, first used the pardon power, pardoned somebody for engaging in what was called a whiskey rebellion, in this season sounds like an irish bar, but the whiskey rebellion was in fact one of the first rebellions against the united states and washington pardoned the ring leaders before there were charges. and those pardons were done for the national interest to heal the country. here biden is doing the pardons to save a family member and maybe save members of his administration, that's a sad end to the failed presidency. at the end of the presidency you're pardoning people in your administration because they're afraid of what is coming next. neil: and i see the distinction, there's a difference between someone charged of a rebellion and the

whiskey rebellion. and another one with crimes that have not been outlined yet and coming up. i'm wondering, is that a slippery slope? would it be considered a retribution campaign, be careful what you wish for? what do you think? >> you know, we're never going to disagree, but like careen jeanne pee aierre, we're going wrestle with, wrestle, wrestle. neil: and how sweeping this was going back 10 years, is that unusual and does it lay the groundwork for sins that were committed prior to the sins we know about? >> and sorry for making light of it. put your finger on what makes these unprecedented.

i think they're within the pardon power, no limits to it, just impeachment and state crimes can't be pardoned otherwise the supreme court has said the powers plenary, they don't generally get into review of the pardon. this is different, as you say, it's not a pardon for specific acts that are mentioned for specific prosecutions, often people have already served their sentences. instead, it's a time period, and president biden saying anything that happened in that time period. the only one i can think of that's like that is the nixon pardon by gerald ford who basically pardoned nexten for watergate and didn't know what was coming next, but that shows how unprecedented it is, again, to use that. not for -- what ford did, to heal the country after watergate, but biden is like someone who set someone's house on fire because he tore down the norms in the service of law fare and he oh, the fire is going to hit my house now. he's worried the same thing that he enleashed for the first

time in law fare are now going to be used by donald trump against him. so, actually his use of this pardon in an unprecedented way, is response to his own crossing of the rubicon and allowing the prosecution to have political effects. neil: well said. despite your slap at italians there. [laughter]. neil: who am i to argue when you have all of these books behind you. you're just such a brilliant guy. >> and i've even read a few of them. neil: i believe it and wrote a few of them. john, so good seeing you, thanks for coming in on saturday. always enjoy your expertise. we were telling you how unusual it is, emmanuel macron and donald trump and ukrainian president, what is so remarkable about it, donald trump has yet to formally return to the white house, but you can tell in the eyes of the world and certainly in the eyes of emmanuel macron and by extension, president zelenskyy of ukraine, he's president now, after this.

>> thank you. >> all right. well, you clearly hear everything that they're saying, which is not much, but it is an image, right? because you think about it, donald trump of course, we all recognize the former president, he's going to be president again, but right now he's president-elect and this is showing you the kind of clout he has on the global stage, while not formally back in the oval office and the fact that he will be there in six weeks, good enough for him and good enough for the ukrainian president and i wonder if the ambassador of the united states wonder it's good enough. karen pierce doesn speak her

mind. ambassador, this is so unusual, ambassador, we're seeing a president-elect, i doubt in your country when a new prime minister comes in or government comes in, that prime minister is on the job that day. he's moving into downing place that day. and here in this country, there's some time between election in november and inauguration in january. what do you make of all of this? >> well, first of all, neil, i think it's a great way to take advantage of the notre dame reopening. it's not if you like an international meeting. it's not a formal summit. neil: right. >> those three people are there because notre dame, the wonderful cathedral in paris has been restored within five years and it's reopening. so, it's taking advantage of a particular moment in history. dr. jill biden, the first lady is there to represent the u.s. and we are expecting the prince

of wales to land in paris imminently and hope he will meet president-elect trump and the first lady. neil: that's diplomatically answered and that's what makes you good at your job. let me get a sense where the world stands right now, a bumpy ride for europe. donald trump putting pressure on europe to foot more of the bill or more of the role for n.a.t.o. members, for example, dealing with ukraine. i don't know whether one could infer from that less on the united states and that we sort of bow out or trim our exposure there. what do you think? >> i think there's very much a long-term state of affairs that we have to look to, but in the short-term, this is all about to employ the president's phrase, peace through strength. let's get ukraine in the strongest possible position so that when negotiations come,

and these things always end with a negotiated settlement, when negotiations come, she's in the strongest possible position and i think all our leaders, certainly our prime minister starmer, and all look forward to sitting down with president zelenskyy and talk about what's going on in 2025. neil: sorry you can't tip your hand, i respect that, you have to give vladimir putin something, too. i mean, you just can't leave him high and dry and assume he'll just walk out. and much of the discussion centers on letting him keep some of the land he's got there in ukraine. how do you react to that? >> well, i have to say as a human being, i think it really sticks in one's throat to give vladimir putin something. now, he should not be in ukraine to start with, neil. he created this war criminally.

he did it for his own purposes. he didn't do it because russia's security was under threat, as he claimed. because all he's managed to do by invading ukraine is double n.a.t.o.'s border with russia because it propelled sweden and finland into the n.a.t.o. alliance. diplomacy, conflict, stability in europe, as you say they all require slightly more sophisticated answers than a normal human reaction, but i think it will be for president zelenskyy and the ukrainian people to say where, if anywhere, they want lines to be drawn. neil: you know, ambassador, i'd be remiss after what's going on in syria, that government it seems or at least assad's government is under great duress. there are reports that he's fled the country and we're told by those who serve president assad that that's not the case, that he's still there. what if that government were to topple and russia, of course, a big backer of that government.

then what? >> i agree, neil. it's an extraordinary development and it could realli the middle east, but also, possibly some opportunity. when i was at the u.n., i worked on the syria crisis. and it's been a terrible crisis. what assad has done, with russian support, to the syrian people, but at the same time, what syria needs above all else is some security, some stability for its people, not to be persecuted, so, i'm sure that one of the things, all our leaders will be talking about with their middle eastern counterparts over the coming week, will be how to restore some sort of stability and security and protection for the syrian people. neil: you know, you know the global developments far better than i, but i get the sense, and you have the sophis

sophistication, and immediate reaction and emotion more than anything, a lot of bad guys are on the run, and a lot of bad guys killed off in hamas and hezbollah, and rebel forces in and around the persian gulf and now possibly in syria. iran is stumbling and enter donald trump to season this and take advantage of this and his latest warning, ambassador, that there will be hell to pay if hamas doesn't release those hostages. how do you frame all of that? >> i think it's a really interesting moment and i'd agree with you, neil, some bad leaders have met a lot of sticky ends recently with probably more to come, but fundamentally, the sorts of movements like hamas and the events that give rise to them, they typically need a more

political solution over time, but it is very interesting how all of these guys, iran's proxies, iran itself, even russia has told its people to leave syria. so i completely agree. we need to be ready to spot this opportunity and working together make something of it that collectively brings more peace and stability and security to the people of the middle east, including in israel and in gaza. neil: you know, ambassador, i remember when donald trump was running for president, again, that he was surprised that biden administration had limited or strongly warned israel about its response to that attack on israel, not to go after nuclear facilities, not to go after oil facilities. donald trump at the time, i'm paraphrasing because i don't want to risk being wrong here and you'll quickly correct me if i am, said that was foolish, that that should not be taken off the table.

sure enough, the indications were that benjamin netanyahu did look at other areas to attack, but not those facilities that the biden white house had said shouldn't be attacked. what did you make of that? what do you think of the signal that president trump returning to the white house would send? >> i think they're both valid attempts to deescalate and get the right answer. you know, there are times when you come out with certain statements because you want to promote stability. you want to promote deescalation, and then there are times when you say other things because you want to keep the adversary guessing. it would be a huge mistake to announce plans in advance from which the likes of iran and russia would only benefit from having that telegraphed in advance. so, i think it's very much

looking at the situation and giving a response in the moment is the best way to deal with that particular situation, but i think overall, you know, you do on the western side, we do what's lawful and we do what will be successful and it's driven far more by that need to make a difference and to have success than it is by any ideology in my experience. neil: karen pierce, ambassador, so good seeing you again. i hope you have a very merry christmas. >> thank you. neil: we've enjoyed our many, many discussions with you this year. i always learn a lot. thank you, ambassador. all right, we have a lot more coming up, including how a lot of the defense ties and those tied to looking how we're going to respond to everything as a country going on in the world, whether this harkens back to the ronald reagan days or whether this harkens to new more frightening days. jennifer griffin sorting it out after this.

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>> all right. this is bigger than notre dame or a cathedral opening after looking like it was destroyed five and a half years ago. this is world diplomacy on a grand stage, including the incoming president donald trump in this country meeting with emmanuel macron, and volodymyr zelenskyy getting attention everywhere, and experts gathering in simi, california for the reagan defense forum. jennifer griffin is there. >> neil, i think it's notable that this important defense conference is taking place on the anniversary of the attack on pearl harbor. this is my 11th reagan national defense forum here at the reagan library in simi valley. i've been coming here since it started 11 years ago and in about an hour, i will be having a fireside chat with the commerce secretary, gina

raimondo. and you may be why a commerce secretary is here at the reagan national defense forum where executives and the pentagon's top brass, she is the tip of the spear in count erring china and is responsible for implementing president biden ace ai safety executive order and overseeing the bipartisan chips and science act with $53 billion in grants and subsidies to help bring manufacturing for advanced military, chips needed for advanced military weapons, to smartphones, cars and dishwashers, back to the united states. so, the u.s. economy would literally come to a halt if the supply chain of these advanced semiconductors, which are mostly testified right now in taiwan, were somehow cut off from the u.s. almost every member of the joint chiefs will be here, there are panels with the

current heads of the army, navy, air force, marines, as well as the head of the u.s. special operations and the admiral at the tip of the spear in terms of the u.s. pacom, is responsible for deterring china militarily from taking taiwan. and we've heard from the panel, the 7th annual reagan defense survey. the results are somewhat surprising, seeing support for reagan's vision, peace through strength. and 57% of those said that they think the u.s. should be engaged, up 15% from last year. and voters are driving this change. and here it is moments ago. >> we cannot have parity, our adversaries do not have our moral compunytion.

they need to wake up scared and go to bed scared. >> neil, we will have much more from the national defense forum. all of the panels will be streamed live online at the reagan library website. neil: beautiful job. beautiful backdrop there. i forgot how beautiful it is there. thank you very much, jennifer griffin. we have a lot more coming up. this whole day is to commemorate the fact that the notre dame cathedral is reopening. and the door that is being knocked on by the archbishop is better than 150 years old. that's old.

>> boy, it's been a great two

hours as we look at donald trump and emmanuel macron and president zelenskyy of ukraine. i thought how do we end this show in a classy note and in keeping with france and the history and the arts and phil is real clear politics afficianado, and knows things in and out and well-traveled. phil, thank you for joining us. you cover history very well, phil. i don't remember a time where a president-elect has carried this amount of clout and attention. it's remarkable because you go back to ronald reagan in 1980 he won in a landslide, and yet, short of what happened on inauguration day where the iranians seemed to be intimidated enough to release american hostages, donald trump is getting it worldwide and participating in meetings and, you know, these summits that are normally afforded sitting chief executives.

what do you make of it? >> you're right, pope francis declined the invitation to be at notre dame and donald trump accepted, that made him the unquestioning center of gravity in paris. while world leaders are travelling to paris to celebrate the rebuilding of that cathedral there. all of europe is looking at how do they rebuild their own relationship with donald trump, with the united states, under his control. and i think that what we've seen from french president macron is very strategic here. he was one of the first g7 leaders to call donald trump, obviously, he welcomed trump to that country three different times during the previous administration and right now, he is trying to sort out what was campaign rhetoric and what was actually, you know, an ironclad promise because as donald trump said the world's going a little crazy right now and he's back in the oval office soon. neil: quickly, it's sort of

upsidedown world, right? i mean, when they last met, emmanuel macron was a rock star and now his government could be crumbling and donald trump is sort of like the new ronald reagan. what happened? >> macron is certainly in search of-- he's trying to find a prime minister that can, you know, be acceptable to both the left and the right there. he has trouble. there's questions of whether or not his government is going to entirely collapse. in the meantime, donald trump has succeeded remake ing the republican party in his own image, and attracting new voters not typically among the g.o.p. ilk. and that's to watch as the meeting take place. neil: thanks, phil. and fox's coverage of what's going on in paris right now. you know i can't believe you lost another kevin. it's a holiday tradition! earn big time with chase freedom unlimited. how do you cashback?

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