>> ♪ >> hello fitz. >> good evening. >> thanks for join and you on this thursday night. >> i'm playing the role of jim lokay tonight in your program at home. >> we appreciate it. fres

reform republicans are focused on another potential crisis, a government shutdown could be looming on the horizon. >> that's right. it's all because of the fact that they have not passed the spending bill as you can see on the side as much your screen here tonight this is one of our top stories here on 5 at 6:30. the clock is ticking down. you hear that. >> we hear it. >> just like that. they want to avoid this government shutdown. they say they want to avoid this but it is still not avoided at this moment. but just about an hour ago the house narrowly backed a short term spending bill. this is the first step in avoiding a shutdown which is going to hit if they don't do this by midnight on friday. the bill will fund the government through mid january. it would also cap the current spending levels where they are. now, the push over items like obamacare, subsidies, legal protections for dreamers, these all factor into this big fight that is shaping up for 2018. >> i have been hearing they're going to try to leave that stuff alone so we can just get this clean, the clean resolution passed and then move on. >> the word on the hill r

a clean cr, get all of these, you know, argumentative topics off the table, just get to the point where they can push this down the road, at least until the middle of january come back after the holiday break and then work on it some more. >> we know the american people don't want the government to shut down. hopefully they can get it passed. president trump still celebrating that legislative victory following final approval of the gop tax reform bill. he called it an incredible christmas gift for hard working americans. >> while there is still no word and when the president is going to sign all of this, there is plenty confusion about the pros cons of what exactly all of this means for the american people. >> once signed into law the corporate tracks rate drops 14 percent. small businesses will also see a big reduction in taxes. >> we'll bring in david williams the present of taxpayers protection alliance. david thanks for joining us. >> good evening. thanks for having me. >> now, you say tax reform is a bill that moves us in the right direction. it's not

tell us at least if the short term what are the benefits going to be for people that are going to be able to see right away with this. >> well, i think we've already soualreadyseen the benefits. we've had comcast at&t make great announcements they're giving a thousand dollars bonuses to their people. ooh we've heard from small businesses saying finally i can expand. i don't have to fire people anymore. i can expand and these are small businesses, 28 million across the country that are struggling that are barely getting by from day to day week to week month to month so we're really excited about what it's going to mean for small business and the middle class. >> david let's talk about the benefits for the middle class. we've heard critics will say that this benefits corporations, this benefits the upper income brackets. the upper class. how will this benefit the middle class. >> okay, so let's look at a few scenarios here. if you are a married couple with no children and you make $49,000 a year. you're going to get a 720-dollar tax cut

it's not a lot but it's a tax cut. it's more money in your pocket. >> sure it is but it's not a whole lot and as i understand this correctly, these -- the money that you're going to bet back it's only for a couple of years so what happens after that? >> well, that's the question. and that's what congress has to address in the next seven years is that these tax cuts expire for the middle class and i think this is probably one of the weaknesses of the bill. >> doesn't that mean you're going to get a tax hike in 2027. >> i wouldn't want to be the member of congress that votes for a tax hike for the middle class. yes, that's the possibility but i don't think any member of congress republican or democrat is going to do that. and that's why, you know, let's celebrate this victory for people next year that will -- i mean, they will literal have more money to spend and when seven years comes around let's make sure we keep that money. >> all right. well, we want to continue to follow this and one of the questions is what is this going to mean as far as this money winding back up into the economy. we keep hearing this story that these companies are going

jobs, i know you mentioned the bonus but what proof do we have that this money doesn't just so right back into the pocket of whatever bigwig got the tax break. >> when we have a high tax structure companies leave. look at pharmaceutical companies that have left his country because of our corporate tax rate. they will be coming back. how many? who knows. but we know we are now competitive with the rest of the world and we're hearing from other taxpayer groups around the world saying uh-oh, our country has to do this now because you took the lead in cutting your corporate rate. this is tax competition and this is what drivers the economy. >> david williams we appreciate and i know a lot of people like the idea of hearing they're going to get more money right before christmas but i guess most people the polls show people aren't particularly thrilled or happy. >> they'll get more money trust me. >> it will can you remember down the node. >> next year, gentleman and and february. >> david we'll bring you back in 2027 again to talk ab

these cuts. >> awesome. >> thanks for joining us. developing tonight the united nations general assembly approving a resolution that condemns the u.s. decision to recognize jerusalem as the capitol of israel. >> member states voted 128 to nine with 35 abstentions to declare president trump's declaration of jerusalem as israel's capitol null and void. now today's decision came shortly after un ambassador nikki haley delivered a very stern warning to the world body. take a listen. >> the united states will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the general assembly for the very act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation. we will remember it when we are called upon to once again make the world's largest contribution to the united nations. >> yemen's un ambassador introduced the resolutionly he called the president's move, president trump's move a "blatant violation of the rights of the palestinian people and the arab nations and all muslims and christians of the world." it was int

fiery nikki haley was when she delivered that. critics say we get the way the president and the white house's response to this but you can't get what you want sort of by bullying people who are supposed to be your allies. >> and part of the problem this administration has is that difference in tone versus when nikki haley is that able to articulate something about an administration policy and when sometimes that comes in either the briefing room or the president of the united states you do not have the same kind of clarity that you get from the un ambassador here. if they can even up the tone at some point that might help make the case although this is an incredibly controversial subject. >> indeed it is. all right. well, control of virginia's house of delegates you may have heard is deadlocked. another controversial topic. the winner of a key house race will be decided randomly by drawing names out of a glass bowl . the winner will determine which party controls the house of delegates. >> this is going to be wild. this is next wednesday on december 27th. they'll do this in richmond. this is all over

district. nobody knows -- you don't know where the 94th district is. >> i had to look it up its in newport news down near virginia beach. this is going to be real old school. the plan is -- remember those film canisters, they're going to put the names into the film canisters put those into a glass jar. whoever gets picked out of that will be the winner. >> two canisters. >> the reason they're doing this is because this race is deadlocked. 11,608 votes for each candidate. they thought they had a democratic winner yesterday. turns out they omitted a ballot they didn't think was valid. that ballot went for the republican in the race. here they are deadlocked. democrat shelley simons thought she had won this yesterday. it was going to be a historic vote. turns out republican delegate david yancy his lawyers successfully argued that judge to count that ballot. it was originally marked in such a way that they weren't quite sure, shawn whether or not they had voted for

voted for the republican. turned out when they looked at it, they realized that there was a mark on it and it did indicate that it was actually for the republican, not the democrat so here we go, next wednesday, richmond, you're going to pull out the glass bowl and they'll be figuring this out. >> i'm grateful for the justices for the time that they took to deliberate and i'm really grateful that every vote has been counted. >> simons had a mark through the little bubble and mr. -- delegate yancy's had the bubble filled in. >> it's really amazing that 2017, we're going to decide who runs the house of delegates. >> and it might not be over is that correct? because if they pull it out and whoever wins doesn't like the way it came out -- >> yeah. >> can ask for a recount. >> i think a hamster race is next after that. we'll just go down the line until we reach a conclusion. we did reach out to the simons campaign today. they were not able to get back to us but on election night the r

by 10 votes. that evaporated as they continued to do these recounts so this has been -- that word fascinating gets overused a lot. this one really is. when was the last time you saw an election decided by a random draw. >> going to be very interesting. history for sure. let's check in now with sue palka. sue, so today is officially the first day of winter. >> how did you like it, shawn. >> you know, i'm -- the jury is still out. >> it's beginning to feel a lot more like christmas. >> most definitely. >> though it's not looking like christmas. >> i'm having a hard time getting the hamster race out of my head right now. thanks for a he will beltway laugh. tonight we'll see more clouds coming in tom and shawn and most of the day tomorrow, if you're traveling tomorrow, and this is certainly from the looks of skyfox it looks like everybody is traveling tonight, but if tomorrow's your travel day, you're in good shape here up and down interstate 95. the farther west you go, you may run into some showers. we will deal with those showers here in the local area on saturday and they may come in

but most of the daylight hours and most of the nighttime hours i think pretty much going to trend dry for us. we are going to be turning colder. that there arrive on christmas eve and late in the day christmas eve into the first part of christmas morning, there is another quick little disturbance passing on by that could be producing maybe a few morning snow showers christmas morning. it doesn't look like anything that would cause any problems so we're a little bit up and down. looks like the next couple days are going to be pretty mild and then we're trending colder for christmas eve and christmas day and much of next week looks like it will stay in the arctic zone. we'll talk more about that coming up in later newscast. i'll send it back to you guys now. >> thank you, sue. >> coming up, a verdict finally after those violent inauguration day protests almost a year ago now. we'll tell you about that. 5 at 6:30 coming right back after this. >> ♪

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ it all starts with a wish. the final days of wish list are here. hurry in and sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down and a complimentary first month's payment. >> ♪ >> welcome back. six people facing serious criminal charges stemming from

the 2017 inauguration day protests got a second chance. >> now up probably remember this was back on inauguration day january 20. d.c. police arrested almost 200 protesters as violence broke out across streets in d.c. especially around dupont circle. fox5's kristyn leon tonight on more of what came out of that courtroom today. >> reporter: it was a victorious verdict today for the six defendants, the supporters and also in this case the first amendment. but before we go into more detail about what happened inside that courtroom today, i do want to show you video now of just how excited the defendants and their supporters were the minute they walked out of those doors. [cheers and applause] >> reporter: right there, you can hear the excitement and the emotions in their voices. many of them told me they were shaking right before the verdict was read. others couldn't help but cry once the verdict was read. again, the six defendants facing felony charges of destruction of property and misdemeanor charges of engaging in rioting. they wer

of those charges. now, they told us how it's almost been a year of not knowing their fate and also questioning their decision making that day. >> i feel like all the hard work and sacrifices that went into getting us to this moment was worth it. i was anxious. but a certain part of me was certain that the right result would happen. >> i think that a lot of people have been scared away from voicing their opinions. they don't want to get arrested. they don't want to get pepper sprayed. they don't want to have a stinger grenade thrown at them. >> reporter: if you remember that day on january 20th, hundreds of protesters took to the streets near dupont circle. some of them smashing and breaking nearby store windows. others throwing bricks at police. and setting cars on fire. bottom line, though, their attorneys say, the ones representing the six defendants today, there was no evidence that their clients took part in violence that day. they say there was no criminal intent behind their protesting. >> when you're putting a

have to make tough decisions and draw lines and decide, you know, between those who are engaged in constitutionally protected activity and those who are engaged in criminal activity and prosecute the latter and not charge the former. >> reporter: the u.s. attorney's office also put out a statement today in light of the verdict saying and i quote, "the u.s. attorney's officers for the district of columbia believes that the evidence shows that a riot occurred on january 20th 2017. during which numerous public and private properties were damaged or destroyed. this destruction impacted many who live and work in the district of columbia and created a danger for all who were nearby. the criminal justice process ensures that every defendant is judged based on his or her personal conduct and intent. we appreciate the jury's close examination of the individual

defendant during this trial and respect its verdict. verdict. in the remaining pending cases with look forward to the rigorous review for each defendant ." there are 188 protesters who face a similar fate and also have serious charges against them. of course we will keep a close eye on those trials as we go into 2018. at d.c. superior courthouse tonight, kristyn leon fox5 local news. >> get over there, get over there now. >> remember this scene? update to that protest outside the turkish embassy earlier in the year which turned violent back in the spring. now, the incident happened during a visit by the turkish president erdogan back in may. at least 11 people were injured when they wound up in a confrontation between demonstrators and pro erdogan's security and erdogan's security forces who poured out to the street. two

felony assault charges. they are one man in mclean and another from new jersey. sentencing now is set for march 15th. that was quite a scene. >> it was. a car slams into a cloud of people and hurt nearly 20 of them and police say it was no accident. we'll be right back. >> ♪

whatever you were about to do just became whatever you're about to do after you get coffee. nothing comes before coffee. that's why we're introducing a new line of café-quality espresso drinks from mccafé. get a small peppermint mocha for just two dollars. >> frightening attack in australia. melbourne police say a vehicle rammed into pedestrians on a busy street. that crash seriously wounded more than a dozen people. fox's kitty logan has the latest tonight from london. >> reporter: a driver rammed into a crowd of pedestrians on a busy commercial street in melbourne australia on thursday. wounding at least 14 people in an attack police say was deliberate. it happened on flinder street a busy shopping area in the center of the city. witnesses describe a chaotic scene when the attack happened. >> car just drove through people crossing the

>> this is just terrible. things like this shouldn't happen. >> reporter: the driver of the car is now in custody. officials say he's a 32-year-old australian citizen of afghan descent who was taken into custody after a brief scuffle with an off duty police officer. they say he's known to authorities in the area and could be suffering from a mental illness. he has no known connections to terrorism and police say he was acting alone. >> we've reviewed footage and at this stage we're satisfied that he was driving the car without anyone else present at all. >> reporter: but his motives are still not clear and the investigation is now ramping up. security is increasing throughout the city but local officials say there's no ongoing threat and they're urging melbourne residents to carry on with their holiday plans. >> this is horrific. it's evil. but we are not defined by these sorts of incidents. i'm confident that we will go about our business and we will celebrate christmas. >> reporter: this is the is the

in the process of installing concrete blocks in the hope of preventing future attacks. in london, can kitty logan, fox news. >> two more americans identified as victims in this week's deadly tour bus crash in mexico. jodi and andy fritz from olympia washington were among the eight americans that were killed in crash on tuesday. authorities have identified three other victims. from lorton, virginia. a total of 12 cruise ship passengers were killed in tuesday's crash. the accident now sparking concerns about the safety of those cruise line excursions. >> ♪ president trump spent part of his day today at walter reed national military medical center up in bethesda visiting with wounded soldiers. white house chief of staff john kelly accompanied the president during this private visit. the president said he wanted to personally wish all of them a merry christmas. that's a good thing to do. >> it is and i know they certainly appreciate that. i mean this time of year especially after everything they've gone through and they are stuck there in the hospital recovering, i

someone. >> it's also a good reminder for a lot of people this is not over yet. we still have service men and women dealing with the wounds of war and it's a good thing to do to stop during a very busy time of the year and say thank you. >> exactly. we'll be back everybody.

>> ♪ >> this is better than a selfie. a soldier came up with a pretty unique way to surprise his wife while she was on a christmas lights tour. >> he photo bombed her literally. >> look. >> terrence clark an infantry specialist in the united states army spent the last six months serving in afghanistan, serving our country. in that time he says he's only talked with wife once. >> what. >> how do you do that. >> my gosh. >> anyway his wife carries around a very large cardboard cutout with terrence's face on it and she likes to take pictures to send to him while he's off on his deployment. so surprising her with a photo bomb was a bit

no-brainer. >> i wanted to do something for her that would be a big deal to her, something that would be really memorable. it's incredible. it's ridiculous. >> one of the best feelings in the world. >> that is great. >> okay, i'm crying. >> are you crying. >> yes, because that -- did you see her face when she looked in there. >> lit up. >> she was like no, that can't be right. >> like magic. that is amazing. picture perfect surprise obviously. terrence is going to be home for two more weeks. he has to return back to work. couple says the only thing they have planned is to spend some time together. how does he get away with one call. >> that's a little bizarre. i would be a little angry. >> she didn't look angry. >> i know he's got stuff to do. >> i mean that i hadn't talked to him only one too imin six months. what a great surprise. a d.c. area gold star family received a special christmas surpri

the believe with me charity and its volunteers delivered food and gift to the jordan family in northeast. as you can imagine the holiday surprise meant a whole lot during a very difficult and emotional time for this family. >> this is was amazing. this was such a great blessing and i am so grateful. >> thank you. >> aww. don't they look -- such a surprise. each year believe with me partners with american gold star christmas to provide christmas for gold star families who have recently lost a parent who has served our country. >> yeah, it's a difficult time of year for people but when you see things like that it reminds you there's last good out there. >> absolutely. >> in this world. a lot of people doing good things for people who need good things done for them. so, that's great. >> and it not only do we we appreciate our service members around the world who are doing it but we appreciate their families who are also making a sacrifice. this time of year has to be hard for them. >> put some smiles on some faces tonight. thanks for joining us tonight. >> fox5 news at 8:00 will be

we hope to see you then. in the meantime, bye-bye. >> ♪ >> ♪♪

announcer: today on "tmz" -- there are 30 people who just date every famous person. there's somebody now who is at the top of the hall of fame. >> evelyn lozada is the greatest all time. right now she's linked to french montana but before this, her dating record is amazing. athletes and money. harvey: you're insinuating she's kind of gold-digging a little bit. >> i don't know what someone would have to do to prove to you they're a gold digger except date very, very wealthy man. >> would she have to be a prospector planning? [laughter] >> alex rodriguez got a brand-new private jet, a gulfstream iv. >> if your girlfriend is jennifer lopez, you have to do a lot more to impress her. >> i think he's just planning