2012 to 54% 10 years later in 2022. george washington university from 33% to 49 and another university from 52% accepted to 74%. when reached for comment elon says its admissions rate has dropped to 66%. the trend reflects on increase in applications as well as a greater awareness of their nationally recognized exercise. fordham claimed a bad roll-out and george washington university did not respond to our request for comment. griff, as it is getting easier to get accepted there is financial opportunity. admissions counselors tell me the colleges and universities more willing to negotiate the cost of attendance so important to get the good grades for the students. >> griff: lydia, thank you.

>> we're being ripped off at the panama canall. a rip-off of our country will stop and we will never, ever let it fall into the wrong hands. it is falling into the wrong hands. we'll demand that the panama canal be returned to the university of america in full, quickly and without question. >> julie: president-elect trump asserting dominance saying he wants the u.s. to take back control of the panama canal ahead of his return to the white house. welcome to a new hour of "america's newsroom," i'm julie banderas. dana and bill are off today. you have jenkins and julie. >> griff: great to be with you this holiday week. president-elect trump is throwing down some big markers on the world stage adding the panama canal to his list of

foreign policy demand over china's growing influence in the region. the canal originally built and controlled by the u.s. shortens the distance that ships must travel from the atlantic to the pacific. it can save ships up to 22 days in travel time and 72% of ships passing through the canal are going to or from u.s. ports. >> julie: let's go to jackui heinrich. >> the president-elect the u.s. is being ripped off having built the panama canal and signed a treaty for use of it under president carter. now ships pay levies as high as $5 hundred thousand per passage. the president of panama said every square meter of the panama canal belong to panama and continue to be the sovereignty and independence of our country

is not negotiable. trump replied we'll see about that with an image of american flag planted in the canal with the caption welcome to the united states canal. >> the panama canal is considered a vital national asset for the united states of america due to its critical role of american economy. the whole world economy and also national security. the panama canal. has anyone ever heard of the panama canal? we are being ripped off at the panama canal like we are being ripped off everywhere else. >> trump expressed renewed interest in controlling greenland yesterday in a statement connecting the ambassador to denmark that owns greenlands. we feel the ownership and control of greenland is an absolute necessity. ken will do a wonderful job

representing the interests of the united states. greenland's prime minister responded in a frosty statement. we are not for sale and will never be for sale. foreign policy was at the front of mind for trump yesterday at turning point usa. announced putin is seeking a meeting with him. >> one of the things i want to do and quickly and president putin said that he wants to meet with me as soon as possible, so we have to wait for this but we have to end that war. it would have never happened if i was president, that war would have never happened. >> this comes after trump's team reportedly told nato allies he intends to keep arming ukraine if european countries bump their funding to 5% of their country's gdp. >> julie: thank you so much. >> if you are looking around at the fact your conventional capability has been reduced. your proxies have been reduced. your main client state has been eliminated. assad has fallen.

it's no wonder there are voices saying maybe we need to go for a nuclear weapon now. it's risk i'm briefing the incoming team on and something that is the consequence not of iranian strength but iranian weakness. >> griff: jake sullivan says the risk of iran resuming its pursuit of nuclear weapons could be immediate adding it could be an opportunity for president trump to hammer out a nuclear deal with iran. general jack keane joining us now to weigh in on all of this. general, thank you for taking time. merry christmas. the world is facing a precipitous time what's happening with the threat of nuclear weapons proliferating. what do you make of what jake sullivan said there? >> well, he defined the reality of what is taking place. iran is back on its heels in a way it's never been in 44 years since the supreme leader and radicals took over the country. both of their proxies, their

main proxies, hamas and hezbollah have been decimated and they lost their strategic platform, syria, which was the main platform for them to be able to dominate and control the middle east. they are defenseless at home. the military has always been weak and their investments have been rockets and missiles for the conventional military and the same for their proxies. but the reality is, israel has stripped away their air defense system. the leadership in tehran is not protected from an air attack. nuclear sites are not nor rocket and missiles production sites. they're very vulnerable and they know it. what option does iran have left? move to a nuclear weapon as soon as possible. they've always wanted a nuclear weapon. been in pursuit of it for decades. why? for the same reason other countries like them have wanted

it, to guarantee the preservation of the regime. so now that they're back on their heels, this is more of a desperate situation. what is really happening? iran is pursuing this nuclear weapon covertly at two sites. those are sites that have never been inspected by the iaee ever. that's ongoing. the current administration is aware of it. incoming administration is aware of it. what are the options? i think i know where prime minister netanyahu is. he wants to take down these nuclear sites sooner rather than later and he doesn't trust iran to dismantle the system if we use coercive diplomacy. that's the other option. send a message to the supreme leader, president trump leaves that message signed by netanyahu and tell them he has an ultimatum. dismantle your sites by a date certain. submit to inspections by the

united states, by iaee u.n. inspectors. if you don't do that and stop your malign activity we'll cripple your nuclear enterprise using a kinetic strike. that's what is in front of us. the incoming administration in talking to prime minister netanyahu are working the options and they will eventually present those to president trump for decision. >> griff: general, a week ago on monday i was in mar-a-lago at the press conference with president-elect trump and asked would you consider preemptive strike on iran for this very reason and he said i'm not going to answer that. why would i answer that question? as you sort of laid this out, is that something that the incoming administration really needs to take a hard look given what you know about the timeline and how fast this may be advancing? >> well that's what i just said. they absolutely are looking at it and working up options for the president to consider. i think it will be very much in

conjunction with what israel wants to do as well. the problem the israelis have, they do not have the capabilities to really do the necessary damage to these sites. they are somewhere in the neighborhood of a dozen nuclear sites as part of the enterprise and some of those are deeply buried sites with very thick walls to protect them. we have the kind of munitions that can penetrate that system. we can give them to israel or we can participate with israel in such an attack. it would not be an attack that would be comprehensive against the entire regime. i think it would be more focused attack at dealing with this enterprise and rockets and missile production. i doubt seriously if they would go into tehran and take down leadership targets and other targets in that vicinity, although that would be available to them and certainly knowing that iran is defenseless it is a

target they could strike with some confidence and accomplish its mission. i think it would be limited likely to their other strategic targets. >> griff: all options on the table. jack keane, thank you very much. have a merry christmas. >> merry christmas to you and the team. >> griff: reports of gaps remaining in israel/hamas negotiations. they have given them the names of 34 and hamas has yet to give names to israel. another stalemate in the peace talks is over control of the a corridor, half mile wide strip of land that runs along the gaza/egypt border. israel believes hamas is using it to import arms and weapons and control is needed to prevent hamas from replenishing its arsenal.

the world will mark 80 years since the liberation of auschwitz camp and poland is threatening to arrest netanyahu if he attends. >> julie: the final holiday stretch and aaa is predicting more than 119 million people are taking to the roads, rails and skies. jeff flock is live from philadelphia international airport with the latest. jeff, you look happy. you are not getting on a plane today obviously. >> you read my mind. the last time i talked to you we were talking about snow angels. no snow angels out here but it is cold. eight degrees in philadelphia this morning and in the northeast. inside the terminal is where the crunch is. i want to show you numbers as we come inside. this is the tsa numbers. you said 119 million. just this weekend take a look at this on sunday 2.7 million through the tsa checkpoints up

6% from last year. sunday numbers up 43% from last year. yeah, we're traveling. you mentioned 119,000. if you total up all these numbers, 107 by car, 8 million by air and 4 1/2 million by train, bus or a lot of people cruising these days. that's who is traveling where. this morning we have pictures from places like chicago and minneapolis where maybe you see the impact of all of those numbers, a lot of people backed up in lines but generally the misery has been pretty minimal. the misery map by the folks at flight aware say we've got delays and cancellations, 909 delays and 27 cancellations thus far. so not so bad. i leave you with this number. if you had to buy your ticket to go somewhere this holiday, $830 the average round-trip domestically and $1600 for

overseas travel, up 13% from last year. kind of a calm here in the midst of the storm in philadelphia. suits me as you point out. i will sleep in my own bed tonight, julie. >> julie: hardly recognize you not doing a snow angel on tv anymore. great report, thank you. >> thanks, julie. >> we have a full systemic failure going on in our subways right now among our leaders. the whole litany of them. first governor hochul. you are more likely by two times to be murdered in the subway than you are above ground. >> griff: horrific scene in new york. a woman set on fire inside a subway train by an illegal immigrant hours before new york governor congratulations herself on making the subway safe for riders. trump seems to be taking the wheel and biden is handing him the keys in his final days in office. >> they are calling it the trump effect.

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call rosland capital today at 800-630-8900, 800-630-8900. that's 800-630-8900. israel, the birthplace of our faiths for christians and jews. that christmas morning, wise men brought gifts from outside the holy land. but in this year of war, this holy land and her people are living in fear. many of the elderly are alone and suffering. like the wise men or wise women, would you open your heart and give a special holiday food box to someone here in israel this christmas hanukkah season? right now, the hardships in israel are felt by everyone. people like hanna who can't buy food,

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christians and millions of jews together, we make this holy day season holy indeed.

>> julie: moments ago the new york state supreme court in downtown manhattan, luigi mangione pleading not guilty to state murder and terror charges. the terms of his custody were also discussed with the judge. let's listen to that. >> guilty or not guilty? >> not guilty. >> julie: that not guilty charge, by the way, in that plea will be a very hard one for the

defense to argue. there are cameras, there are pictures, there is a manifesto that he wrote about. he is facing three state murder charges including two terrorism counts and the death of the executive brian thompson was from united healthcare and weapons charges. they also found the gun on him when he was detained. a lot of evidence that is going to be making it very difficult to prove his innocence. >> griff: you can see one, two, three, four, five cops standing behind luigi mangione. you normally don't see cops standing behind someone. in the arraignment. reason perhaps why they feel a security risk from what mangione could possibly do in this court hearing and also because of the fact that you had the most brazen murder on camera just blocks up from where we sit today and yet now i think you

are right when you say that not guilty charge is going to be a tough one. fascinating to watch is the terrorism charges as well attached to this. >> julie: when he was extradited from pennsylvania to new york. he was brought in by choppers. so many spectators. eric adams attended as well. they know all eyes are on this. they know that the new york prosecutor's office have made a lot of mistakes in the past by letting criminals go. this is an example of them doing the right thing by holding this man accountable for his heinous crime. >> griff: we'll continue to follow this and bring you updates as we get them. the mayor in chicago is battling calls to step down after the firing of chicago's public school's top official late friday night. garrett tenney is live in chicago following this move. hi, garrett. >> good morning.

a big reason why johnson is in office is because of the support the powerful chicago teacher's union. now in office the union wants to collect on its investment with a new collective bargaining agreement that chicago public schools can't afford. the district is facing a nearly $4 hundred million deficit and for months mayor johnson and allies have been pressuring the head of cps to take out a $3 hundred million high interest loan so the district can pay for the new contract. the new ceo has refused to do that since it would saddle the district with more long-term debt it can't afford. late night the school board fired martinez. he urged the board to keep him in place. that has a lot of folks upset. >> the mayor is a walking conflict of interest when it comes to cps and ctu. the manchurian candidate of a

mayor has handpicked you not as a board members, but as pets for his ctu overseers. >> the move has prompted calls for the mayor to resign including this headline from the chicago business editorial board. mr. mayor, if you truly care about chicago you should step aside. state lawmakers are criticizing the firing as well. >> i'm still really in many ways still in shock and awe at what happened. i did not expect for this to go down the way that it did. parents, teachers, students, school communities deserve much better than mayhem. >> his firing comes a few weeks before a partially-elected school board is seated which would have made it harder for the mayor to get the head of cps remove. martinez has filed a lawsuit which could make the mayor's decision that much more expensive for chicago taxpayers. >> griff: that's an important

point. he was fired, quote, without cause. so martinez sees an opportunity that he will fight it again. great reporting. garrett in chicago, thank you very much. julie. >> julie: president biden missing in action during the spendsing bill chaos last week likely the final domestic crisis on his watch. press secretary karine jean-pierre couldn't answer for it again. >> i won't get into hype that calls. >> julie: what? here to weigh in are richard fowler and alexa henning. i won't weigh in on it? what are you supposed to be doing? are you the white house press secretary. what will we see the president again and hear from him again? why is he m.i.a.? all signs point to he is silently quitting. >> i do think we need to hear from the president biden.

most presidents give an end of the year press conference and hope to hear from him. with that being said i'm not sure if i define this as a crisis per se. it was a crisis because elon musk and others decided they would weigh in on a bipartisan spending bill that would have kept the government open. after this election they want to see more bipartisanship in their government. the house majority for republicans is tighter than ever and why speaker johnson reached out to democrats to get a bill done to expand disaster relief, help america's farmers, to help folks get healthcare through telemedicine. elon musk in the way of a deal that shouldn't have been a crisis to begin with. >> julie: alexa when you hear of the spending bill and possible shutdown of the government, don't you want to know that you have a president who is in the office, who is actively trying to prevent the white house from -- the government from shutting

down? we heard nothing from this president which makes me think we don't have a president until january 20th. >> right. i think this would be more concerning, i guess you would say, if it wasn't so consistent over the past four years. biden has been checked out for four years. where is kamala harris? we haven't heard from her recently either. when are we going to stop believing the democrats when they say things like the border is secure or crime is down or the economy is good, the subways are safe? now we have biden is as sharp as a tack. anyone with eyes and ears can see that's not true. so who is it that's responsible for commuting these sentences of these heinous crimes? i'm pretty sure it is not elon musk, the new democrat ploy to point their anger at. it is unelected bureaucrats who have been running the country for the last four years. >> julie: you heard about joe manchin torching the door on his

way out. torching democrats calling the party toxic. it leaves it up in the air as to what the state of the democratic party is considering what kamala harris did in her run for office. let's play this tape on manchin. >> the d brand has been so maligned from the standpoint of it's toxic. just don't make your life if it might be on the extreme or in the minority, make me believe that's the norm. the democratic party, the washington democrats have -- how would you describe what the democratic brand is right now? >> it's basically infringement. >> julie: what would you -- how would you describe the d brand as he calls it, richard? >> no question i think there is some realignment of the democratic party. a lot of voters feel like the democratic party needs to be doing more and comes at a unique time in our country as we speak

as you talked about earlier in the program you have workers both at amazon and at starbucks on the picket lines demanding more wages. this is a place where you always see the democratic party being very strong. they are the party of raising the minimum wage and making sure workers have the opportunity to join a union. i think in the new year, that is where the democratic party has to go back to. how do we help working class families and people? steve bannon even says to incoming president trump. no more corporate tax cuts. provide incentives to working families. even he and i understand this will be about how you help middle class families and working families make ends meet at the kitchen table and time the democratic party centered the party about those issues. that's what the next election will be about. >> no secret the democrats are

completely out of touch. they don't have a leader or a message. people and voters are screaming for the past four years we need help with gas prices and securing our communities. democrats don't seem to understand they just don't care about what the american people actually want. good news is we have donald trump becoming president and on january 20th that will change. >> julie: thank you both and merry christmas to you. thank you for coming on. >> griff: teamsters are expanding their strike against amazon. will have a significant impact on holiday deliveries? holiday shopping gets underway. many wonder did this administration kill the middle class? ♪

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>> the suspect use what we believe to be a lighter to ignite the victim's clothing which became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds. the suspect stayed on the scene and seated on a bench on the platform just outside the train car. the body one cameras on the responding officers produced a very clear, detailed look at the killer. >> bill: horrific story. police say the suspect deliberately targeted a woman sleeping inside the train. out of touch new york governor kathy hochul patting herself on the back over the success of her subway safety plan hours after this incident just before 4:00 p.m. she tweeted this. in march i took action to make our subways safer for the millions of people who take the trains each day. since deploying the national guard, new york to support nypd

and mta safety efforts in adding cameras to all subway cars, crime is going down and ridership is going up. many slamming hochul over her lack of awareness for that. we'll continue to follow the story. >> julie: just in time for the holidays a new study shows the middle class getting scroogeed by the biden economy. fewer gifts under the tree this year thanks to inflation. wealthier families will spend slightly more this year middle class families are spending a lot less this year compared to last. we have the chief market strategist for slate stone wealth. thank you very much for talking to us. this is sort of what i think donald trump was calling the trump effect. hopefully come next year people will be spending more money once they know the economy is more stable. what does it say about our economy when middle class families have less gifts under the tree this year?

>> i'm not sure it says anything that we don't already know. middle class has been suffering through this with inflation eating away at their ability to live every day. is it a little bit depressing or sad to hear to have this story that middle class families aren't able to have the christmas they want? look, at this point some are making a choice between food on the table or presents under the tree, right? when you think about all the costs how they've gone up. utilities, cost of food, the cost of energy. so they have to make a choice. i think it speaks right to the fact of what has happened over the last couple of years under the biden presidency. >> julie: it gives you an idea what families are going through. some families, some thoughts from them who are pinched by inflation. here they are on the screen. marcy from baton rouge. budgeted to the cent this year. try to throwing together one gift for each of us. we're cooking a nice dinner together, baking cookies and

playing board games. this author is from minneapolis. if it wasn't for credit cards we wouldn't have christmas this year. we might hit up the dollar store and everything else will have to take a back seat. nichole from detroit. it doesn't feel like the holidays for us. that is from the "washington post." that is so sad. again obviously christmas is not about the gift, it is about love, about unity and giving. i can only imagine the parents out there really feeling the pinch this year wanting to make it special for their children and not being able to by, like you said, having to choose between christmas gifts and putting food on their table. >> right. the first woman marcy said they will spend this christmas cooking as a family, playing board games and having an experience versus unwrapping presents under the tree as in years past. a sad statement but a reality for a large part of america. >> julie: it puts more people in

credit card debt. not getting out of the hole anytime soon. even with the new president there could be suffering for years. >> that's right. those credit card debts will come due in january and february when the credit card hits and then it will be how do we pay for this? if they've wracked themselves on credit card debt they can't afford it will be the fight trying to get out. >> julie: kenny, thank you very much. merry christmas to you. >> merry christmas to you as well. thank you. >> julie: missing in action. texas congresswoman kay granger has been absent for months and nobody knew why until now where she was found and how it's reigniting the debate over congressional age limits. plus this. >> i don't think we're witnessing the start of an oligarchy. i think we're fully here. we are going to witness very unprecedented moments come

january. >> julie: ocasio-cortez with a warning about billionaires claiming they're turning america into an oligarchy. is she right? >> i campaigned on an agenda deliver change to washington. last month the american people voted for change like they have never voted before. ha ha. haha! then he switched to mucinex nightshift. mucinex is uniquely formulated to leave your system faster, so you wake up ready to go. uhh, hank! try mucinex nightshift and feel the difference.

>> griff: what a day of football yesterday. joe burrows had a great pass. >> we played eight minutes. stumbling and just masterfully gets it to higgins. just other worldly for burrow.

>> last night's game against the browns burrow was tripped by a teammate as he fell and somehow still managed to throw the ball off for a touchdown pass to higgins, the bengals beat the browns 24-six. >> i don't think we're witnessing the start of an oligarchy. i think we are fully here. you literally have a completely unelected billionaire who has just taken over and paused government funding. you have billionaires who run news outlets like jeff bezos and the "washington post." the "l. a. times."enter completely interjecting into their editorial boards and manipulating what is being written in them.

>> griff: alexandria ocasio-cortez tearing into doge co-chair musk. clay travis joins us. what was your reaction when we heard the really ranting of aoc about the oligarchs? i spent a week last week at mar-a-lago with billionaires coming through, not just to include the tiktok ceo and bezos but you had japanese softbank ceo coming and pledging $1 hundred billion. the economic center of the universe is running through mar-a-lago, not silicon valley. aoc upset about the influence of billionaires. >> did she mention george soros? maybe i missed it, the bill air influencer is the primary funder of so many democrat campaigns including in particular his

ability to take control of so many different district attorney races all over the country because he recognized a pressure point there that could be massively influential that wouldn't cost very much money to alter the way they handle criminality in this country. i think the violent crime wave is soft of crime policies by george soros and people he advocates for including aoc herself. here is my big take on this in general. musk decided he wanted to be better at building cars than 100 years of car history based on the combustion engine and he did it with an electric vehicle. that seems pretty impressive. the marketplace has rewarded his ingenuity for that. he also decided i think i can send rockets to space better than nasa can, which a 70 or 80 year head start on him and he

has done it more efficiently, affordably and such an extent we have astronauts trapped on the international space station that we have to rely on elon musk to rescue them. he has done better at redefining the car and rocket ships. i trust him to be able to handle a media company. she talked about the owner of the "l. a. times."enter you can also put in there jeff bezos, the owner of the "washington post." what's the point of owning a media company if you don't actually advocate for smart profit imperatives either for your shareholders or for your individual board? these are not trusts designed to just give salaries to everyone. i actually trust capitalism and the marketplace far more under the leadership of these individuals than i do the government trying to get involved with somebody like aoc who has never created an actual job in her entire life. >> griff: you raise a great

point. thinking outside of the box from tesla to spacex and pay pal on the list of things he did. it is funny because the thought of someone advising president-elect trump to come to washington and do things differently has a lot of democrats already trying to get under trump's skin calling musk president elon musk. began coldman, jayapal and others. do you think it will work that democrats can get under trump's skin by trying to suggest that musk is really in charge? >> no, i don't think it can and also let's remember i haven't heard aoc talk about the fact that kamala harris raised 1.5 billion in 100 days or so. far more billionaires actually support democrats than republicans. if she is upset about their influence, maybe she should stop taking all their money herself as opposed to complaining about their influence on donald trump. >> griff: great point.

clay travis, thanks for coming on and have a merry christmas. >> merry christmas to you and everybody watching as well. thank you. >> julie: breaking right now the house ethics committee just released its report on matt gaetz. let's get to chad pergram on capitol hill. >> good morning. a 37-page report and the committee claims that there is quote substantial evidence that gaetz violated house rules. they say he was involved in prostitution, sat tore rape and the use of illicit drugs. he had sex with multiple women at a party in florida in 2017 and paid them as prostitutes. committee says that gaetz also had sex with a then 17-year-old girl. the report says that victim received $4 hundred from gaetz. the committee says she did not tell gaetz how old she was. she had just completed her junior year in high school. now gaetz is suing to block the

release of the report. his effort for an injunction says information in the report is quote false. it adds that the reputation of gaetz quote would be immediate, severe and irreversible. some gaetz allies criticized the ethics committee. >> it is a report. it is not a court of law. it's vindictive in nature and i don't see the point. a couple of old timers will cackle about it and again it hasn't been proven. this is just a report. >> house speaker mike johnson opposed releasing the report since gaetz is no longer a member. the house twice rejected two democratic motions to force the release of the report. now the feds cleared gaetz of wrongdoing earlier this year. gaetz admits to what he termed embarrassing behavior. >> julie: thank you very much. on strike, amazon workers expand their work stoppage just before christmas and hanukkah.

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>> julie: amazon delivery drivers remain on the picket lines just two days before christmas. thousands of workers in four states walking out. they are demanding higher pay and better working conditions. madison all worth is at an amazon distribution center in new york city. hi, madison. >> good morning, julie. it's been warming up here and now hit 20 degrees. but this protest has always been warming up and grown in size today and really across the last five days. i want to show you this map. when this protest and strike started on thursday we had seven locations. this weekend it expanded to nine across the country. thousands of teamster drivers have walked out demanding that amazon sit down with their union recognize them and negotiate a contract. amazon has been firm. they have said they will not meet with the teamster union

because no one that they directly employ is a teamster. they have not budgeed on that. the strikers and protestors say they'll keep going until their demands are met. of course, we're two days away from christmas. i want to bring one of those drivers in. you have been here since thursday since this started, two days out from christmas. amazon says they aren't meeting with anyone from the teamster union. are you hopeful that will change? >> i'm hopeful for that but we're out here for however long it takes. the vibes are good, people are happy and we're doing the right thing. we are spreading this movement. we're in other locations around the city and other stays. we're ready to keep fighting. >> there has been support here but people watching and wondering days to go until christmas, hanukkah, wondering if their presents will get to houses on time. what is your message to those folks at home?

>> i hope everyone has a great holiday. we are out here fighting for our families and your families. millions of amazon workers across the country. likely you know one of them. help support this fight so they can have a good christmas, too. >> thank you so much. they say they'll be here until their demands are met. we'll bundle up and keep you posted. send it back to you. >> julie: warming up to 20 degrees. i hope you can go get warm now. thank you very much. >> griff: we wind things down with this new survey which is fascinating. it reveals democrats are five times more likely than republicans to scale back time spent with family members who don't share their politics. that's crazy, just come together, folks. great to be with you. >> julie: great to be with you. let's do it again tomorrow. we'll see you then. "the faulkner focus" is next. >> julie and griff thank you so much.