contractor and when i went to one of the supply stores, i went back to where all the guys where you order your materials. the guys were all lined up behind the counter singing happy days are here again. the people that are like your farmers, your construction people, everyone is truly excited to see president trump back in office. and this is going to be a great time in american history. >> todd: today is friday, the parade is monday. better get that tractor on the move there, gary, because you need to head on out. >> i got a little surprise here for you. since we're coming to washington, d.c., i brought my swamp boots. >> todd: there you go. gary loeffler. >> we got the swamp boots ready and thank you so much for having us. >> todd: enjoy your trip. special 4:00 a.m. start on monday. "fox & friends" right now. ♪

>> good morning to you, it's 6:00 a.m. on the east coast. it's friday. it's january 17th. and this is "fox & friends." >> lawrence: so joe biden giving his final television interview as president. >> i really am concerned about how fragile democracy is. that sounds corny but i mean i really -- i really am concerned. >> steve: okay. good to know. plus, a busy week of confirmation hearings wraps up today with the dhs pick. south dakota governor kristi noem on capitol hill under the dome. >> brian: right. she is not corny. and we tell you, the latest. democratic leader willing to work with the incoming administration as he is set to meet with the president today at mar-a-lago. "fox & friends" starts right now. remember, mornings are better with friends. put something on. ♪ holler to hollywood

♪ 700 horses under the hood ♪ but i can't hold you. >> brian: tyler hubbard who played our summer concert series. this is not live. we could not get him up this early. >> ainsley: it's definitely not summerrer. >> brian: have we ever thought about doing the inauguration in the summer. >> ainsley: i know. >> brian: swear himself in now and see new july. >> lawrence: do the festivities later. >> ainsley: one of those things you would have to change the constitution. >> brian: u.s. constitution. >> ainsley: start working on that, brian. >> brian: i don't think anyone is looking forward to sitting out there in the -- it's going to be cold. >> steve: i got the good news. we are going to be on the top of a building. >> ainsley: yes. >> steve: on constitution avenue but it is enclosed. apparently it is a dome. we don't have to wear a lot of warm clothes. but lawrence over here he is going to be outside. >> ainsley: he is going to be

outside. >> lawrence: wardrobe department was able to scoop me an electric vest. >> ainsley: push a button and it heats up. >> lawrence: if i put it on high it will last three hours. so it will last the entire show. >> steve: what about pants? shouldn't you get electric pants? >> lawrence: they didn't have that but they did have -- what do they call those things? >> ainsley: long johns. >> steve: give you hot pants. >> brian: actually had hot lips, right? >> steve: hot lips was m. as.h. >> ainsley: my tows get so cold i can't feel them how do you protect your toes? >> lawrence: ththey have toe warmers. >> ainsley: they don't fit in the front of a high heel. we need come up with dressy

shoes for women that keep your feet warm. >> steve: where some ughs. >> ainsley: they don't look good with my outfits. >> brian: longest goodbye ever. joe biden gist one last interview after only giving 14 press conferences four years. >> lawrence: only 14? >> brian: compared to 44 for donald trump. when he had those blitz, the blitz to try to save his candidacy after his failed debate. since then he just went dark i don't want to pit you through this interview. i got board reading it. we have to watch a little of it because i don't know where this comes from. listen. >> i really am concerned about -- how fragile democracy is. i guess what i'm worried about is that the thing that keeps it on track are the guardrails

that -- there's a supreme court that's independent, but not -- but accountable. there is a congress that you speak your mind but you are held accountable to basic standards. there is a presidency that says you have really limited powers. i mean you're the top dog but you can't dictate everything. and i don't know, they seem to just seem to be chipping away at all of those elements. >> brian: you like when you mocked the supreme court on a daily basis. and you mean when you. >> ainsley: weaponize the doj. >> brian: ignore the student loan payouts when they told you it's unconstitutional. >> steve: when he said the supreme court is supposed to be independent. he would like to pack the court. get more people on there who lean toward his point of view. >> brian: and term limits. >> steve: just the fact that he is talking about -- we have heard a number of times over the past couple months how concerned is he about democracy. the reason is he not going to be president on tuesday is because

he wasn't concerned enough about inflation and the average person, which people are going through. it's really interesting. he kept his eye on the democracy ball but he wasn't really paying attention with what is hurting people. that's one of the reasons there is a great op-ed in the "new york post" this morning by daniel mccarthy. and he talks a little bit about why democrats blew it. and they missed the point. and the headline is elite democrats shunned democracy throughout biden's term and now paying the price. the irony is and read a clip from it the name democrats comes from democracy. but the democrats are not very democratic because the party is run by party insiders and elites and that's why they picked joe and they picked kamala and joe could beat trump during covid. couldn't beat him four years later. kamala harris, who never won a presidential primary vote winds up getting skunked. >> ainsley: you wonder how could president trump win? i thought he was a fascist and a

racist. i thought he was a nazi. i know, that narrative completely disappeared. now all of them are trying to kiss the ring and trying to go down to mar-a-lago and meet with him. but hollywood, the legacy media. the weaponization of the doj. all of that failed. and donald trump ended up winning this election. >> lawrence: i remember back when mccain had just lost the presidential election. obama gets sworn in. and they bring both sides for this working lunch. and mccain starts listing off his points of things that he wants to get done yada yada yada and obama looks at him during the meeting and said john, the election is over. i couldn't help think about that when biden is talking -- everything he is talking about has already been litigated the country rejected your point of view and he continues saying the same old thing. >> steve: there was one other thing he said in that same meeting because we broadcast it live here on fox news channel. he said john, the election is

over. elections have consequences. >> lawrence: exactly right. lawrence. >> steve: we have seen it with our own two eyes particularly the election cycles there are a lot of consequences and that's why things are changing. and i don't know how many people, brian, to your point you didn't know he was on msnbc yesterday. i don't think a lot of people are paying attention to joe biden. they don't care. after the election it's like okay. time move onto the next guy. let's hope he does better than the guy right there in the blue tie. >> brian: realizing president trump, whatever the reasonable four and done, they want to work with him. there is more and more people want to work with him. they are rethinking the stopping trump. even though they have the trump proofing los angeles and met yesterday in new york city to trump proof his immigration plans. i think for the most part people are going to be open. there is a lot of overlap in donald trump's agenda. i think there's an opportunity just to not be on citizen meant and hopefully people take it. maybe go through a period where used to be polarized go through

a period where it's more commonplace to go across the aisle. >> lawrence: i'm hopeful, ainsley, look, there is one thing to just kiss the ring and we know that, you know, businesses they do that. >> steve: every day. >> lawrence: political parties. some of the stuff seems like there is an effort to do more than just visually be supportive. >> ainsley: brian ballard said the stigma of trump donation is no longer there. is he getting so much more money this go around than did he last. tech, okay banking, healthcare, fossil fuel industry. five biggest tech firms gave at least a million. so did the ceos of uber, open ai. g.m., ford each gave over million and so did pfizer. robinhood that stock trading app. it says the writer, daniel mccarthy writes trump put to the test a much debated question and political science. dolsz the party decide, meaning party elites or can voters pick

a winning nominee in defiance of what the political establishment wants? thanks to trump, the republicans became a party of primary voters while the democrats remained under elite control. the results are now in. and they can be seen in both biden's sad job performance and harris' humiliation at the po polls. >> brian: the car industry is not happy about the mandates made them make electric cars that nobody wanted. tech industry was not happy with their foot on their neck you saw mark zuckerberg and other reason jeff bezos leading up to the election results told editorial writers we are not endorsing ninget "l.a. times" donor don't endorse anyone. action behind the kissing of the ring. >> lawrence: zuckerberg did a podcast before joe rogan talking about. so things did he not like. >> got rid of fact-checkers ahead of the election. >> steve: comes back to elections have consequences.

if you pick the wrong horizon in the run-up to the first tuesday in november, you are behind that person. and that person lost. and that person won. and you were behind it. that person who won is going to remember. donald trump is a guy who remembers who is on his side and they have all lined up and a lot of them are going to be on the podium with him on monday at noon to usher in a new president. >> brian: although usher won't be there. >> steve: you don't know that. >> brian: he is more of a song-dance man. i don't think it is much of dance thing. >> steve: did you see kid rock last night on jesse? >> brian: yeah. >> steve: i talked to kid rock is he going to be on our show on sunday. he said he was preparing a big show for the rally on sunday afternoon that we will be at. he said i worked out all the choreography the secret service said okay you are not going to be able to do the fireworks and we can't have the girls on the

poles. >> brian: maybe donald trump will be open. today senate confirmation hearings continue on capitol hill as president-elect trump looks to hit the ground running -- get that sense when he returns to the oval office three days from now. >> ainsley: we are paying attention to trump's pick for homeland security secretary nominee south dakota's governor kristi noem who is set to kick things off this morning. >> lawrence: madeleine rivera joins us live from washington with what we can expect. good morning, maddie. >> good morning, guys, that's right. homeland security secretary nominee south dakota governor kristi noem is autopsying before the senate homeland security committee this morning. border security and president-elect trump's mass deportation plans are likely to take center stage. no o nome plans to say in part securing our home slansd a serious trust that must be relentlessly pursued andner taken foregranted. being safe at border is american right. yet americans feel less safe than they have in decades.

president-elect trump is going to change that nome's hearing comes a day after trump's nominee swore in doug burgum and scott bessent respectively appear before their respective anies. burgum promised to carry out drill more way to counter oil demand from autocratic nations like russia and iran president trump's energy dominance can be america's big stick. prosperity and world peace. the department of interior in cooperation with the u.s. congress, this committee and the states will play a pivotal role in achieving the outcomes to make the world safer and america even better for our children, our grandchildren, and generations to come. >> bessent meantime says one of his biggest priorities is extending trump's tax cuts. >> this is the single most important economic issue of the day. this is pass-fail. if we do not fix these tax cuts,

if we do not renew and extend then we will be facing an economic calamity. >> bessent and burgum are not expected to be in any trouble of winning senate confirmation. lawrence, steve, ainsley, and brian. >> brian: right. thanks, maddie. a little more intellectual yesterday as they talked about inflation and things to that nature. scott has been on both sides of it. he was with george soros for a while. he came out from meager means. his dad lost everything when he was in high school. he went to work. he said first job was at 9. he never stopped working. he said i knew what it was like to be upper middle class in south carolina and absolutely no money and that stress. he is concerned about income inequality. he does see a growing gap. so, a lot of the things that he believes, just like trump, is not much different from what democrats believe. but how they go about it is the difference. and he did make a strong argument for tariffs.

it's intellectual debate rather than who were you dating when you were in 11th grade? >> steve: ultimately, you look at him and keep in mind, you know, he and this shows the uniqueness of the people that donald trump is bringing to the table. this guy used to manage money for george soros. but he is coming to the table. because it's better to be at the table that's doing stuff rather than being, you know, outside the building. same thing with all the tech guys. they are all still democrats. but they know that if i want to get something done, if i want to protect my business, if i want to grow, i got to deal with this administration and the cozier relationships are. if you got a good relationship with the boss it. works. >> lawrence: it's not just if you wants to have a good relationship with him. donald trump is not a partisan. he is not someone that is extremely conservative. there's points where i disagree with him. i wish he would be more conservative on. there is points where is he more liberal. i think this opens the door for

the most bipartisan administration in american history because he is not locked in on, you know, the far right or the far left on the issues. if you have a case to make to him, he will hear you out. >> ainsley: just common sense. >> lawrence: right. >> ainsley: as a billionaire himself surrounding himself with billionaires. wouldn't we love to be in a room billionaires. here are my financials can you help me be a billionaire, too? that's what he is doing for this country i need all of your expertise because you have been so bright and successful and i want to make america successful again. speaking of kissing the ring, mayor adams, 9 mayor-i democratic mayor of new york city flew down to mar-a-lago yesterday and he is meeting with donald trump today. >> steve: that's right. >> brian: one day after the state of the city address. mayor adams, ad corlgd to his spokesperson made quite clear his willingness to work with president-elect trump and incoming administration on behalf of new yorkers and have partnership federal government is critical to new york city's

success. the mayor looks forward to having a productive conversation with the incoming president on how we can move forward with the city and the country. two issues. schools, we pay more pure pupil than everywhere else and they are terrible. we need more charter schools in this city to help. >> lawrence: lower taxes. >> brian: they will not do it in new york. now with the whole sanctuary city thing. he's a one man island. but he is an island. the city council does not want to lift it. they want to fight it just like gavin newsom wants to fight it. >> steve: let's hope that stuff they actually talk about we do know that the mayor pictured right there did sit down with tom homan about three weeks ago in the mayor's office and they discussed how to address the migrant problem. and wow, our producers are great. there is that picture right there. here's the thing, are they really going to -- the mayor's spokesperson said they are going to talk about new yorker's priorities and adams asked for the meeting. it was not announced until he

showed up on a flight yesterday down to west palm beach there are a lot of people who are running for the job of mayor and he is -- he has got a tough re-election ahead of him. currently mr. cuomo is pulling way ahead of him. and all of his opponents are saying, look, the reason he went down there, is to kiss the ring. but he wants a pardon because, remember, he is under federal indictment. and the people are surmising okay, he is just going down there, is he trying to grease the wheel to get a pardon. and trump does like him. >> lawrence: he may not even need a pardon. there is going to be another u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york. the charges could be dropped before it even -- it's fully prosecuted. but this is a guy that had to learn the hardway. he made fun of texas for a while. he accused us of busing people to the city before we were even doing it. it was joe biden that was putting the planes in the middle of the night and shipping them to new york. and after that, greg abbott said okay. you are accusing me anyway.

i'm going to start busing them to new york. and when all the migrants came here and drained the resources, drained the hotels. >> steve: draining. >> lawrence: giving them debit cards with money on them. then he had epiphany. >> ainsley: he realized this was costing american taxpayers so much money and we couldn't afford it. he was critical of the biden administration's immigration plan. and then he is indicted. we were at the al smith dinner and donald trump stood up and eric adams was sitting in the day as behind donald trump. and he said i think that they targeted you. >> brian: do you want to hear it? >> mayor adams, good luck with everything. they went after you. [laughter] >> they went after you, mayor. yeah, boy. i knew that nine and a half months ago you need to say something about the administration. he is going to be indicted any moment. and, guess what happened? but you are going to win. i think you are going to win. i know you are going to win so good luck.

>> lawrence: it is true to put it in context mayor adams was the co-chair of the re-election campaign. the white house wasn't returning his call the moment that he decided to be critical of the immigration -- he just wanted to call at that point. he hadn't even targeted joe biden and kamala harris directly. then after they kicked him off the campaign, didn't return his call and then lo and behold there was an indictment. >> brian: went up the street and took his phone. some turkish building some things that were waived that maybe shouldn't have been. >> ainsley: airline flight. >> brian: mayor adams doesn't follow through with a lot of things. if he did he would be looked at much more conservative. so cool that night donald trump looked at de blasio and said you were the worse mayor ever because you were 100 percent right. mayor de blasio had this great city that bloomberg and giuliani straightened out and he just jammed it into the toilet. and we have been unable to get out sense. >> ainsley: remember when de

blasio walked out onto the day as everyone booed? >> lawrence: because he sucks. >> brian: he is the worst. he is lazy. doesn't know what he is doing. he lost a billion dollars. >> ainsley: brian read an article he take as nap in the middle of the day. >> brian: paper on his face and the door open. >> steve: he lost. the question is whether or not eric adams. will eric adams lose coming up in june when the primary. >> steve: cuomo thing all over. >> steve: way ahead in the polls. we all remember and it was terrible regarding covid. >> brian: he was a good speaker. good communicator. it was what he was saying was the problem. >> lawrence: exactly. >> brian: 20 minutes after the hour. >> steve: fox news alert. at least 27 people killed in the l.a. wildfires in california. now bracing for the strongest winds since the wildfires broke out. >> ainsley: this could pose new challenges for our firefighters who were trying to contain the flames and some residents trying

to pick up the pieces after they lost everything. >> brian: let's check in with senior meteorologist janice dean for the fox weather forecast. janice? january japan for the weekend things look good for firefighters. relative humidity going up that's awesome. the winds are going down. that's going to continue until monday, tuesday, wednesday where we think we potentially could have another santa anna wind event. we got some lead-up time here. certainly firefighters really need to get a handle on things over the next couple of days and then we will have to deal with, unfortunately potential for very strong winds monday through wednesday. a system moving across the mississippi river valley. this is ahead of a very, very cold air outbreak going to happen through next week. a storm system effecting the south including houston new orleans, atlanta, georgia. ice, snow, the mixture of the two that's going to crip tell travel unfortunately this area

of low pressure we will have to watch because it could bring measurable snow to the i-95 corridor sunday through monday and that cold air is going to be in place. we still don't have a handle how much snow. some computer models 3 to 5 inches around new york. even down towards d.c. and then, of course, it's inauguration day on monday. it will be quite cold. not the coldest inauguration in history but certainly up there we'll continue to keep you up to break. steve, ainsley, brian, l.j., happy friday. >> steve: four years ago reagan's second inaugural they did it inside and canceled the parade. >> janice: i don't think it will happen this year it will be cold. >> brian: they already booked 9 garbage truck. they wrapped it. >> steve: just drive truck down the street by itself. >> brian: wouldn't be the same unless it was led by a limo. >> ainsley: i asked melania can you give me a clue what you are going to wear for inauguration? you will have to watch. >> brian: you want to clash? i don't want to be wearing the same thing as you.

>> ainsley: lady from south carolina what she should wear just buy a pretty coat no one will see what is underneath it you need to be bundled we all do. >> steve: great big heaters on the dais as well. keep them very cozy. but it's still outdoors. >> brian: indoors it's carley shimkus. >> carley: good morning to you guys. a fox news alert to get to here. president biden will not enforce fulk ban he signed into law last year leaving the app.'s fate in the hands of president-elect trump app. is required to divest from chinese parent company or go dark in the u.s. by this sunday. the trump team is telling us that he is weighing options to, quote: save the app. once he takes office on monday. the fbi has officially shut down its dei office. but president-elect trump still wants to take a look at what they were working on saying, quote: we demand that the fbi preserve and retain all records, documents and information on the now closing dei office. never should have been opened,

and, if it was should have closed long ago. the agency tells fox news digital the office closed last month but did not give a reason as to why. and check this out. spacex's star ship rocket exploding during seventh test flight. video shows pieces of it streaking across the sky after taking off from texas yesterday. spacex says the fire broke out in the rocket causing it to break apart and fall into the atlantic ocean. wow. that looks crazy. but it wasn't all bad as they were able to successfully catch the rocket's first stage booster. upon its return to earth. and after doing a bunch of these space stories, guys, i learned that booster is something all these companies want to catch and they did it just then. >> steve: it's so big, it's so expensive, if they can reuse it not have to take it out of the water it's a win, win. >> carley: the rocket broke apart. >> brian: remember all these scientists all that's add ventricle turns know how much you have to fail before you succeed and elon musk doesn't

get crazy on situations like this. >> steve: by the way elon musk is going to be speaking on sunday at the president's rally. you will see that right here on fox news. >> brian: all right. straight ahead now. israel could sign off on cease-fire with hamas at any moment. former trump state department official on the details and whether the deal is fair, next.. ♪ ...with my psoriatic arthritis symptoms. but just ok isn't ok. and i was done settling. if you still have symptoms after trying a tnf blocker like humira or enbrel, rinvoq works differently. rinvoq is a once-daily pill that can rapidly relieve joint pain, stiffness, and swelling as fast as 2 weeks for some. and even at the 3-year mark, many people felt this relief. rinvoq can stop joint damage. and in psa, can leave skin clear or almost clear. rinvoq can lower ability to fight infections. before treatment, test for tb and do bloodwork. serious infections, blood clots, some fatal; ...cancers, including lymphoma and skin; serious allergic reactions; gi tears; death;

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>> brian: back with a fox news alert. right now benjamin netanyahu meeting with security cabinet to formalize a cease-fire deal with hamas. this comes a day after israel delayed its vote because they say they were changing the names of the demands of the prisoners that had to be released in exchange forever the hostages. pending the cabinet's approval. phase one of the hostage release is expected to start in two days. ellie conan serves as trump's deputy envoy to combat still joins us now. eli, your thoughts about what we know about this deal. 33 getting out in the first phase within 42 days, nine right away. but over 110 palestinians, many of which have life sentences which means more than likely killed. >> brian, good morning, it's good to be with you. i want to share with the audience that what we are witnessing right now is history

in the making. and this is all due to the leadership of president trump this is something that we have heard directly from hostage families who have told us that for 15 long months there was no real progress and no freeing of these hostages that are held to this day for 15 month with the strong words of president trump warning hamas they pay see release of hostages as early as sunday the day before the inauguration of president trump. so without a doubt sigh the relief of hostages and cessation of some hostilities for some amount of time. >> brian: of course, you have to give up 30 prisonersers for every hostage by definition it's not equal they are used to that.

want to gate woman back 50 hostages, which is insane. national security minister announced if this goes through he is resigning. >> brian, i have to say making deals with terror groups like hamas is a deal with the devil unfortunately this is the predicament israel finds itself being neighbors with a terror organization like hamas priority is releasing these hostages after 15 long months we are in so much gratitude to president trump he made it clear priority for him seeing promise before is he inaugurated in terms of netanyahu's coalition if

netanyahu handles the situation right he should be able to get his coalition through this three-stage deal. >> brian: first stage look at the americans again. these are the ones obviously we want to find out why there wasn't much more emphasis on it tawrkted to chen's dad yesterday, even alexander, these are the americans presumed to be alive and hostage in gaza hopefully they are within that group and their life has just been virtually hell, worse than you can imagine. but my fear is that if hamas is intact, a matter of time if they do it again. even though 17,000 have already been killed, taken off the battlefield. thanks so much, ellie. we will see what happens. and we should be seeing some movement as early as monday. >> yes, brian. historic times and thank you for having me on. >> brian: you got it. meanwhile, president biden giving his final interview as president. that's next.

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ask your dermatologist about skyrizi today. >> lawrence: just in, president biden giving a parting gift to nearly 2500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses, commuting their sentences before he leaves the white house. chanley painter is here with the details. hey, chanley. >> good morning, lawrence. president biden saying the latest clemson action is an cle. commuting the sentences of 2500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses who he says are serving disproportionately long sentences compared to the sentence unless he would receive today under current law with this action i have now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any president in u.s. history. i'm proud of my record on clemency and will continue to review additional commutations and pardons. this coming after the president last month commuted the sentences of nearly 1500 prisoners and pardoned 40 others

including his son hunter marking the largest single day grant in history. democratic lawmakers and advocates pushed him to keep going. >> thanks to president biden a 69-year-old who had a 40-year sentence for a nonviolent cannabis offense no longer has to worryd he should not stop there. this is the right thing to do. it is a moral thing to do. and it is a matter of legacy. >> across the country, people from all walks of life, and at every end of the political and faith spectrum have recognized the crisis posed by mass incarceration and are demanding change. >> this announcement also coming after biden commuted the sentences of nearly all the inmates on federal death row. including at least five child killers and several mass murderers and that announcement just two days before christmas. if you remember. rubbing salt into the wounds of many grieving families of those

victims. anxiously? >> ainsley: chanley, thank you so much. in his last interview as leader of the free world. president biden is reiterating his concern for u.s. democracy. >> i really am concerned about how fragile democracy is. that sounds corny but, i mean, i really -- i really am concerned. so i guess what i'm worried about is that the thing that keeps it on track are the guardrails. and i don't know, they seem to just -- we seem to be chipping away at all of those elements. >> but a "new york post" op-ed arguing that the democratic party is the one that turned undemocratic. saying thanks to trump, the republicans became a party of primary voters while the democrats remained under elite control. here to discuss is town hall.com editor and fox news contributor katie pavlich. good morning. >> happy friday. >> happy friday. made it on to inauguration

monday. >> ainsley: traveling to d.c. this weekend. what do you make of the interview. sounds like is he really bitter. is he concerned about the close association between trump and elon musk and big tech. worried about trump dictating. >> katie: he is at the bottom of the barrel. is he scraping for some kind of legacy. trying to stay relevant as he goes into next chapter of life after the democratic party kicked him out after saying, you know, he was the one lying to the american people about his cognitive state for so long. if he wants to talk about democracy as you just laid out, he needs to look in the mirror and have a conversation as they say with the democratic party. when you look at the people who are maybe left leaning but not -- you know they ever political and vote and pay attention to politics especially in presidential election but think are democrats. even they were saying they didn't like this idea that they just kicked joe biden off the campaign trail. there was this weird letter posted on x that was really never explained about how that came about after the president insisted for weeks he wasn't going to leave his campaign and

was running for a second term. and then they decided, the party, like barack obama and nancy pelosi that they were just going to install the vice president who had never won a primary, got kicked out of the first time she ran for president before she even went to the first vote in iowa she was going to be the one they demanded everybody vote for. people, even left leaning voters are saying this is not democratic. they have been hearing for months that trump is the threat to item criminals and there was a huge red flag and flashing lights in june last year ahead of the election because a poll came out right before the debate with joe biden and donald trump, which, you know, ended biden's campaign that said that trump was the one who was actually trusted on the issue of democracy. and they continue to run with this narrative. and now you have joe biden complaining about big tech, okay, he didn't complain about them when he used them win in 2020, when he was happy with using the censorship regime to

violate the civil liberties of americans by using the force of government to take down factual posts on twitter. he was happy when they did it when it came to the hunter biden laptop, right? which not only indicted hunter but indicted the entire biden family. is he really stretching here and is he looking for something to take him to his next chapter in his political life. >> ainsley: hollywood, george clooney, the obamas, nancy pelosi trying to choose the candidate. so that op-ed is correct. it was the elites trying to choose the democratic nominee. whereas in the republican party, it was a big movement of the voters of working class voters who said this is our guy. and he won by a landslide. so what happened? why do you think america woke up and saw donald trump as a better candidate than kamala harris? >> first, democrats have been doing this for almost 10 years. they did this with hillary clinton in that primary. made sure that bernie sanders had no chance of winning. they rigged their primary for her. the elites in the democratic

party have been screaming about democracy while not having any kind of actual debate. i mean, robert f.k. jr. wanted to run against joe biden. they sued him off a number of ballots. that's not democratic. when it comes to people waking up. it was an easy comparison between trump's first four years and joe biden's last four years. and it goes back to the old ronald reagan saying are you better off today that unwere four years ago? and the biden administration and the biden policies were so detrimental to americans and harmful both domestically and in terms of foreign policy that people just said i don't like what's been happening the last four years. trump was great. i was lied to by the media and everything that happening and experience under this administration speaks for itself. >> ainsley: thank you some trump's treasury pick laying out plans for an economic golden age and stuart varney is going to talk to us about that, next. ♪ dollars, dollars is what i need ♪ i need the dollars, dollars

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>> donald trump's treasury secretary pick scott bessent pictured right there sitting for his confirmation hearing yesterday and revealing the economic top priority for the incoming administration.

listen to this. >> we must make permanent the 2017 tax, 2017 tax cuts and jobs act and implement new pro-growth policies. this is the single most important economic issue of the day. this is pass-fail. if we do not renew and extend, then we will be facing an economic calamity. >> okay. that's his forecast. now, joining us is the host of varney and company on fox business, stuart varney. >> stuart: good morning. >> steve: he made his case at the same time the democrats waiting to talk to him, hey, you want those tax cuts extended to help your rich pal. >> bernie sanders went on the confirmation hearings. scott bessent is absolutely right. if you don't keep the tax cuts in place, that is a de facto tax increase and the consequences of that are a slowing economy. a possible recession. more deficits and bigger debt. is he trying to avoid that.

that's why it's his number one priority. >> but, you know, the tax cuts don't help just rich people. >> certainly not. no. the tax cuts stimulate growth. that's what bess sent is going for. grow the economy. more jobs. better wages. that helps everybody. middle class people. low income people. everybody wins. >> so i think the two top priorities for and things on his radar the tax cuts, obviously, but also tariffs we have heard a million times tariffs are tax on peel, too. you tax 20% china. >> that depend on who swallows the 10% tariff is it passed along to consumers? no, not always it. can be swallowed by chinese manufacturers, swallowed by the importers. it doesn't mean -- tariffs do not mean higher prices for consumers, necessarily. what they do mean is that trump has negotiating ability with china and with other countries

to get their economies, our economy in order. and you can raise money where w. tariffs as well. that's a big part of the plan. >> steve: one of the things i liked about his talk to the senators was the fact, you know, we passed this stuff. we could be in a golden age >> stuart: exactly. >> it's all about goethe. that's what he is aiming for. if you believe -- if you take away the tax cuts. you don't get growth. you get a slowing economy. >> steve: right. >> stuart: bessent and trump are going for growth. that's the only way out of this economy. only way to pay down some debt and lower the deficits. >> steve: you know today, a special day. this guy has been on varney and company for 15 years. you have a special show today. >> stuart: i do. >> steve: so much has happened over the last 15 years. did you think 15 years ago some day have a president i think we should have a lot of tariffs? >> no, i didn't, as a matter of

fact. the biggest story we covered in the last 15 years in my opinion is the growth and dominance of american technology companies. they have become the crown jewels of american business exercising enormous power and now they are operating, exercising political power. >> steve: sure list here. jeff bezos. pichai, tim cook. they will all be seated prominently right near the president on inauguration day. that's political power as well as economic power. that's what we have been covering. >> and of the list that you just named. i can only think of one person, elon musk, who probably voted for donald trump. i know he voted for him this time in the last couple election cycles everybody on that list voted for the democrat. now this is a business decision. >> this is a huge turn around. >> steve: right, exactly. smart businessmen. >> big tech was not in favor of trump for many, many years. now is he going to be the president again. and they're swarming around him.

>> steve: they are going to be swarming around stuart today watch between 9:00 and noon on fox business. congratulations. >> stuart: thank you very much. >> steve: wonderful. we will step aside. more "fox & friends" the golden age for this friday coming up in about three minutes. i was stuck. adding vraylar to an antidepressant is clinically proven to help relieve overall depression symptoms better than an antidepressant alone. vraylar is not approved for elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis due to increased risk of death or stroke. report changes in behavior or suicidal thoughts to your doctor. antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. report fever, stiff muscles or confusion which may be life-threatening or uncontrolled muscle movements which may be permanent. high blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death, weight gain and high cholesterol may occur. difficulty moving, tremors, slow or uncontrolled body movements, restlessness

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