>> ♪ >> hi everybody. making the grade. supporters say the president gets high marks for using executive policy to enact policy changes. >> as you can see from the run down this is one of the stories we're following at 6:30. now according to yahoo finance and the year since donald trump won the presidency, earnings have crept upward. employees have added 1.8 million jobs and the stock market has soared. that's enough to boost trump's grade economy to an a. >> what about everything else. let's bring in the associate professor at howard university. good to see you tonight. >> good to be back with you. >> let's talk about this. i know there are many different trains of thought on this. the president says the media is not giving him the credit he deserves for year one. let me just get your take on it.

executive action at the beginning and here is where one of the big ironies is. the president campaigned against the use of executive action but when you look at the things that he has been able to accomplish the overwhelming majority of them are through regulatory reform as he calls it and appointments and those things aren't laws and so to me you have to look at the president in the context of everything and depending on where you fall on these issues, is the way in which you'll grade him. you know, some people are going to look at, for example, his response to as a result of charlottesvilleand that's goings positions on him one way. but there are others who are going to like what he's done in terms of the economy notwithstanding much of the context for that is the continuation of growth that began under his predecessor. >> overall we've seen his approval ratings but is there really a grade that can encompass these past 11 months for president trump? >> well, listen, i think if you're going to grade him again it g

you saw him in the beginning. i think that there's some conservatives who are disappointed with the president in terps of his sort of social media activity but as long as they get the jumps that they want i think they'll be fine. conversely i think it's very difficult to look at the other things that the president has done and give him anything near a passing grade. >> well, and by the way we'll talk about that social media coming up in a moment but when you talk about the president and trying to broaden that base, i mean, let's be honest, the president won a lot of areas, the democrats used to control we're talking about michigan, pennsylvania, but the reality is we haven't seen this president going out into a lot of areas that he didn't win trying to bring people back onto his side so it looks like his strategy is fortify your base. >> that's the only strategy you can use at this point. he hasn't done anything from a policy standpoint that would give an opening in that regard. you know, the president's approval ratings have been in the low to mid

of the last half of a year and it's difficult to see how he can do anything other than try to motivate his base. conversely, though, it's many of those in the base who are increasingly disappointed by some of what they're seeing. and i think that there will be some long term efforts, some long term blowback from his decision to give a full throated endorsement to roy moore in the alabama senate race from a few weeks ago. some people just don't get it. >> when you start looking at 2020 a lot of these candidates once they get the seat they start going more towards the center. any advice to the president how he can -- he's got his base but how does he start getting all those other people from the right that are more center. >> well, you know, it's funny you posed it that way because i think -- because the president doesn't really have an ideological core he may be able to make some in roads on certain things like a big infrastructure project. >> sure. >> a build that could be attractive to democrats.

>> i think the far right would have to go along with that. and so there's a real test and a challenge and a fight within sort of the ideological camps within the republican party that has to be sorted out before the president can move forward toward 2020 strategy. >> i think we just wrote president trump's 2018 resolution. >> i think you may have it right there. good to see you today. happy new year. we'll see you in the new year i'm sure. >> likewise. >> could president trump's tweets be used in court cases related to robert mueller's rush probe. >> today he tweeted in part the fbi cannot after all this time verify claims in dossier of rush-trump collusion. isome analysts say he could be acknowledging the intelligence community investigated. let's bring in alex schwarer. good to see

we talk about tweeting. the president has been very vocal but is he building a case against him inadvertently. >> i think the answer to that is yes and no. it depends on the judge really. we saw his tweets be used against him in the ninth circuit with the travel ban case in regards to the investigation whether or not there was russia collusion and the dossier i think that it really is going to depend on which way the judge liens, how they want to read the law. now, believe it's a foya lawsuit and within foya there are several exceptions. the government doesn't have to hand over information if it meets one of those, i think it's nine of them and some have to do with if it's a danger to national security, it can also be information related to somebody that would damage them financially. so you could see the government trying to make an argument there that the dossier information recording that shouldn't be leaked or i guess not necessarily leaked but also provided in the court of law to the public because it could dam

country's national security or the president's security or even donald trump as an individual's financial situation. >> but alex, bottom line there's really no clear law on this. this could really be argued either way. you get an attorney on one side, an attorney on the other side and you just take it to court and argue it, right. >> exactly. sometimes the law it can be black and white. you can say something is illegal or something is not but here i think it's really going to depend on the judge. you've had some legal analysts say tweets will be given a lot of weight while others say that it will not. i think what does hurt the administration is about six months ago when sean spicer, the then press secretary for the president said that his tweets should be used as official statements from the president. and i think that, you know, that does give some lawyers advocating that the tweets do show intent for whatever purpose, that it does give them merit. >> i tell you too when we started talking about twitter and the presidency, the fact that there are two accounts, there's the at potus account, there's the at real donald trump account. one can make the argument that was his all along.

potus account. but again, this is -- this is totally uncharted waters for us. >> you're right. that's one of the defenses that the administration is using in another lawsuit where some people who have been blocked by at real donald trump have sued saying that the president is violating their first amendment right, that they aren't able to read the tweets and so it's very interesting case because the government of course is defending the president and saying that's a personal twitter account, the at potus is the government one. however, twitter itself is a private business. you know, they are able to viewpoint discriminate. it's not the government. so, a first amendment claim there is very questionable as well. >> hm. alex sawyer, interesting point. thanks so much. >> all right. doug jones officially declared the winner of the alabama u.s. senate race. first democrat to win in 25 years beating roy moore by about 20,000 votes in that special election. now, last night moore filed a lawsuit claiming there were irregular are th

>> this one's done. >> yeah, you know, i think it was roy moore's last effort and he wanted probable to have the last say and he did so at 10:30 last night with dozens and dozens of papers and the judge said, yeah, okay, great, certify doug jones. bye. >> i think that's the exact legal argument there, too. >> i think that's what happened. homeowners lining up to prepay their property taxes before the new year and the new tax laws kick in. >> but the i.r.s. now says not so fast. for details on what you need to know jerry lynch the founder of jfl total wealth management skyping in with us. how are you. >> i'm doing terrific. >> let's break this down. we know in arlington county here there were a lot of people going over and saying okay should i pay now, pay later. what's the best advice here? >> it's a tough, its a tough call because first of all there's a few issues. first of all very if you have an issue which many people in high tax states do there's no benefit

liability. the second thing if you don't have an issue with the alternate minimum tax it's very likely that when you pay this tax that you will bump yourself into the amt so you'll get a very limited benefit. the other issue is that in order to do it the i.r.s. came out with a ruling or notice saying you have to be assessed for these taxes. what do you think the odds are that there are people in municipalities in the tax office that haven't taken this week off? and it's very difficult to get that assessment now and be able to have the assessment so you can actually pay the taxes. >> good point. >> it's going to be very difficult to do. but i think most of the people that are being impacted by this already have issues with the amt. if you don't have an issue with the amt give eight shot. you have noing to loss. >> it seems like this is probably a bigger headache than it's worth to stand in line and get this done ahead of the new year. >> again, you're not going to know the exact number. you just can't write a check for $10,000 and prepay your taxes. you have to be assess

on the i.r.s. notification and you write a check for that amount. you just can't write a blank check. that's i.r.s. guidance right now. it's kind of up in the air but my attitude is you got nothing to lose. if you write a check and you bump into the amt or you can't deduct it. most people pay their taxes through their mortgage coach icompany. it's going to take months to get your money back. you're have to fight with your mortgage company they'll have to go back and reassess it. i don't think the mortgage companies are set up to have the capacity to do this. >> almost out of time but i want to ask you the property stuff aside, in your position, in your job are you getting calls from a lot of clients right now saying -- concerned about this or are they looking forward to this? what's been the tenor of your clients? >> it's -- you know, again, i live in new jersey so everybody in this state pays more than $10,000. i think the average tax liability is about $21,000. so, they're all being hit by this. they're concerned to try to see what they could do

reality is it is what it is. you got to take a look at this entire tax package in its entirety see what's positive, see what's negative and at the end of the day it is what it is. you really can't do much about it. but i would say sit down, talk to your cpa after they get through april 15th, say based on the current rules what's going to happen for next year, what do i need to be doing. again, most people really don't have a crafted tax plan and they just send over their receipts to their cpa. they get money back, they're happy. >> all right, jerry, jerry of jfl total wealth management thank you so much. >> have a great night. >> you, too. >> the d.c. region braved the coldest december day in nearly a decade. >> caitlin is standing by with a look at that. we can't overstate it. it's cold but we're people in warm studios telling people it's cold. >> i know but. >> ycomputers and stuff. >> don't make me do the forecast outside. i am the messenger but i don't want to show you the temps from the source,

any time you even stepped outside it is biting. we look to be a little less harsh come tomorrow afternoon but that's just a little bit. we may have a few flurries flying but i'll tell you what, this is a cold but dry air mass so our snow chances are very slim. we may have a few showers around saturday morning so you could wake up to a bit of a sugarcoating but that looks to be it. back to the cold as we head into new year's eve and new year's day. a bitter start to 2018. let's get straight to your seven-day forecast. i'll show you all those numbers. so, 35 for tomorrow. and then 37 on saturday. that's in the afternoon. of course you can take all day to get above freezing but that is at least progress for two days. snow showers most likely in the very early predawn hours of saturday. that could coat the ground so we'll be watching that. it just looks like a few snow showers right now. pretty minor however anything that falls would stick very quickly. everyone will be below freezing at that point. new year's eve, 27 for the high temperature but we're back into the teens by the time you're ringing in the new year. single digit wind

year's day. it will be the coldest new year's day we've had in decades with a high temperature of 25. hasn't been that cold on january 1st around here since 1940. so that's some perspective for you. it remains frigid as we go through tuesday, wednesday, even into thursday of next week where temperatures are running 15 to 20 degrees below normal. hopefully we'll have the light at the end of the tunnel coming soon but as of right now not just quite yet. going to be cold through the next seven days and that's an understatement. jim and marina, back to you. >> looking forward to 37. >> that's right. dear president trump coming up next on 5 at 6:30 your advice for the president in the new year. stick around. >> ♪ >> ♪♪

>> ♪ >> welcome back. president trump new cover to d.c. and a swirl of chaos that followed the administration. our viewers here at fox5 have advice for the commander-in-chief going into 2018. >> ronica here with the pulse of the people.

>> hey, jim and marina. you know what is not very easy or fun to get. people to chat with you when it's about 20 degrees outside but we did not give up. we went out on the streets to bring you the pulse of the people. and today we just posed the question, what advice would you give to the white house in 2018, good or bad, no right or wrong answer. we certainly didn't go in with an angle that we were looking for but we did even in this frigid bitter cold, we had a lot of fun. take a listen. >> can i ask you a question? what advice would you give the white house in 2018. >> oh, my gosh. >> wow. that's a great question. >> oh, my god, i have no advice for 2018 whatsoever. i hope it's a better year than it was for 2017 but that's about all i have. >> do the right thing. >> i would say to listen to the people a little more. i think there's a lot of people in this country that want things to go in a different way and so i would just say to make sure that they're paying attention to the people. >> i agree with that. making sure that the ppl

i think that's most important. >> be good or bad, what advice would you give the white house in 2018. >> oh, gosh. resign. >> stop tweeting. >> smile from the heart. >> what do you think? >> i guess to care about us poor people more. since this new tax bill got passed, i feel like a lot of benefits for us are going to be taken away. so, if trump could just care about us a little bit more that would be good. >> um, to think about how we look to the world, not just think about this country but how we appear to the rest of the world for the future. >> the biggest priority that should be is about taking better care of this planet. because if we don't have a place to live, none of the other issues are going to matter. >> what advice would you like to give the white house for 2018? >> tell the truth. donald trump find the truth. from. >> little cameo there from rm

holder who we just happened to see in tenleytown today. and it was nice enough to give fox5 a minute of his time. he said what's the question? as soon as i told him, he was certainly game to give that advice. but. >> i looked up at the tv and i go is that eric holder? >> yup. >> there you go. you never know. it's washington, d.c. you never know who you're going to find. >> that is true. >> i'm more surprised -- i know he's not working right now or at least not working in the government. this town's dead, you know that this week. there's nobody around. >> well, you know, there's chick-fil-a right there. >> that's true. >> i don't know if that's where he was going but that's where i wanted to go. >> exactly. >> thanks ronica. >> well done. >> kanye west got his wife kim kardashian a lot of stocking stuffs so to speak. west got creative when he gave kim a box. inside was a gift card to netflix and amazon, some adidas socks and pair of apple phones and a mickey toys. he purchased $100,000

gifting them all to his wife. must be nice to have a millionaire. >> doesn't adidas make the yeezys. >> all those stocks are up. >> that's not a bad thing. coming up turn down for what? >> rapper littlejohn. >> not how he says it. >> spokesman for papa john? 5 at 6:30 after the break

>> according to a new poll americans have very different views on what exactly constitutes sexual harassment which of course makes it difficult to actually police the workplace. age race and gender can make all the difference in perspective. a lot of adult agreed intentional groping or kissing without your consent qualifies but they disagreed about things like unwanted compliments about appearance. your hair looks great. >> i'm sure that's not appearance they're talking about. >> 40 percent of adults say comments doesn't amount to harassment. 52 percent of people from

they considered nonconsentual hugging to be harassment compared with 35 percent of whites. >> nonconsensual hugging. >> i'm not a big fan of when somebody comes up and like -- that's happened. i mean -- >> does it really. >> yeah, yeah. it does. >> i guess no one wants to hug me. have you heard this one. >> the secret service and the palm beach county sheriff's office is denying it used a white box truck to block cnn cameras from recording president trump playing golf at his course. mr. trump has spent the past two days golfing. c therenn set up cameras on a private property and according to cnn a white box truck drove up and obscured the view of the course through the trees. now, the white house has not commented on these reports. >> all right. papa john is out. papa lil john is in. >> the rapper has informally agreed to step in for the company's former ceo who stepped down from his position at the pizza chain after weeks of blaming poor sales on nfl

best choice. were untwitter user tweeted quote now that papa john isn't the ceo of papa johns i think the only valid choice for ceo is lil john and the turn down for what artist says i'll humbly accept the position as your new ceo. i can start immediately and a senior recruiter for papa johns responded saying still waiting on your resume. is it a deal breaker if we won't rename the company papa lil john. maybe he'll get some commercials out of this. >> i think anything is good publicity for papa johns. >> i'll be honest i'd rather watch that than just see peyton manning, you know, try to sell pizza. he does a bunch of commercials already for papa johns. >> i'll look at peyton manning. >> we're back after this.

annual poll barack obama and hillary clinton voted the most admired man and woman in the united states. obama has been given the title every year since he was elected while clinton was named the most admired woman for the 16th year in a row. now, current president trump came second place for men while former lady -- first lady michelle obama came in second place for women. >> yeah, it's -- that's always a fascinating poll. >> i was surprised when i kept reading the list when i saw president trump number two i was surprised. i didn't think he would make it that high up on the list. >> yeah, comes out every year and you see -- i think also it speaks to the fact in really you talk about when you leave office president bush did not have great approval numbers when he left office. gop was ready to move on. in the case of president obama he didn't leave on terrible numbers. >> and whether you like his politics or not he's such a charismatic person i think that's why. and

trump. >> it works many different ways absolutely right about that. we'll talk about that and a lot more coming up on the final five tonight. it's our last final five of, well, the last final five of 2017. >> you have a special there. >> special is tomorrow night but tonight we'll have some fun with people coming in and we'll talk about the highlights and low lights of 2017 and then we'll wrap things up. >> lots to talk about. >> uh-huh. >> the news continues on digital at fox5dc.com. >> marina and tony back at 8 o'clock on fox5 plus. you can watch them at 8:00 and w'll see you the 10:00. make it a good night everybody and we'll see you back here on f5 at 6:30 tomorrow night. >> ♪ >> ♪♪

z2momz zi0z y2momy yi0y

announcer: today on "tmz" -- harvey: j.lo and a-rod had a taco party, and you were all invited, assuming you were a kardashian or otherwise famous. >> this is just the most posh taco night though. they came in fur and sequins. >> how many tacos do you actually think got ate at their party? they possibly didn't eat anything. >> ok, we're having 46 people. let's get 30 tacos. [laughter] >> meghan markle, her photo was taken with what's being called the royal fab four. this photo was not taken by any of the professional photographers that were there. it was taken by a single mom. before you know, she gets an agent. >> i have never been so popular all of my life. >> and now paparazzis are taking photos of her. harvey: what? >> yeah, i just got an e