we are joined now on the phone by brad blakeman, former deputy assistant to president george w. . brad, any names on the list surprising to you? >> no, they really aren't. look, presidential pardons and commutations and sentences are controversial by their very nature. if we look back at history, barack obama, in his eight years, parted 148 and gave clemency to over a thousand. george bush, george w. bush, 189 pardoned 11 clemency's and commutations, and bill clinton, 396 pardons, 61 commutations. you look, historical terms, donald trump falls way short of his predecessor, in either granting pardons or commutation of sentences. everyone will have their own opinion. the president has the ultimate power, and, you know, in a week's time, nobody will even remember this. bill clinton pardoned a member of his family, his brother, roger, for drug offenses. if we go back in history, we will see, as president leave office, they have a history of either granting or giving commutations of sentences to very controversial figures. >> marianne: brad, also, wanted to talk about the fact that it

bush, brad blakeman. maybe you can solve this mystery.democrat eric swalwell, accused of being entangled with a chinese spy, allowed to still sit on house intelligence, be an impeachment manager, still go on cnn dodging questions about it refusing to answer questions and spill out what his relationship was with this chinese spy who targeted him 10 years ago. >> it is allowed because nancy pelosi is his prediction or. -- protect or. and media is a protecter of eric swalwell, he reminds me of the kid to cry wolf, to stain a president. to hopefully remove a president, that did not happen. now he comes to find out he perhaps, in a grand diversion did this as part of an effort to protect his open scandal, that is a relationship with an alleged chinese spy that lasted for years. elizabeth: he is basically targeted by the alleged chinese spy 10 years ago. and then she became put an intern in his office, he is not answering any questions about. he said fbi signed off. i am in the clear. >> can you clarify how much contact you had with this chines

john: let's check with judith miller, brad blakeman and steve hayes. it is easy to forget some of the things that did happen but one of the things that has been announced is joe biden choosing merrick garland to be his attorney general. i wonder, first of all what you think about the pic and is merrick garland a safe pick for biden to get through the senate? chad was talking about biden's relationship with many senators. >> merrick garland is a safe pick, a strong pick. legal scholars on the left and right have praised merrick garland's experience, background, knowledge of the law and the kind of pic i think unlike joe biden's other pics which catering to the left wing of his party, this is the kind of pic that sends a message at an important time that at least some of what joe biden does is meant to restore order in places like the department of justice and reach across the aisle. i expect merrick garland will get support from republicans, maybe significant support from republicans. john: it will be a 50/50 senate with democrats having the power becau

brad blakeman, former assistant to president george w.h, judith miller, and former wisconsin congressman and fox news contributor sean duffy. good morning to all of you. thank you for staying up so late. we really appreciate it. throw this out to you first. the president has been goading mike pence over the last couple of days, wants us to join the challenge to decertify the electoral college results. take a listen to what white house officials said today. said pence taking a studious approach to his job or he's gone through the electoral count asked several times, he is red legal opinions, consulted with outside experts on the subject matter. the vice president will follow the law. he will act to fidelity of the law and the constitution. so can you read the tea leaves for us? what do you think the vice president is going to do later today, brad? >> i think he's going to do what he is authorized to do and that's to be a presiding officer on what is typically a ceremonial act certifying the election from the states. i think what you are go

brad blakeman is with us. brad was in charge of george w. bush's inauguration in 2001.989 inauguration. all right, brad, do you think 25,000 national guardsmen plus a total lockdown of the entire city, certainly in a city, how does that appear to you? do you think that is justified? >> no, i don't. i think martial law has been declared not only in our nation's capitol but our major cities. it is disgraceful. let this sink in to the american people. we have more troops in our capital preventing americans from participating in our democracy than our borders defending it. i worked with the secret service to facilitate crowds, not eliminate from participating in innaguration. this is not the america that i want to be part of and to remember. we have to change this. this is a cancer on our democracy when you prevent citizens from participating in it and stifling, not only the first amendment rights, but their ability to witness history. this is not the way children should remembering the inauguration of our next president. this is just wrong. stuart: not much we can do about

bush, brad blakeman, and editor and ceo of the dispatch, steve hayes.s to each of you for being with us this morning. steve, let's start with you. it seems like the gathering outside the white house certainly lit the match, and then the mob headed over to the capitol building and try to take out, i don't know, some weird twisted kind of revenge. >> yeah, john, i think that's exactly what's happened here. and look, this is been boiling now for weeks, since the election, with the president in effect misleading his voters, lying to them repeatedly about a stolen election, whipping them up into a frenzy, and then as you say, sort of lighting the match and sending them over to the capitol today. you have rudy giuliani, the president's lawyer, saying he hopes he would see trial by combat. young donald trump jr. saying we will come for you for the people who didn't support the president or don't support the president and his efforts to overturn the election. i think the president is responsible for this. irresponsible rhetoric. we have had irresponsible rhetor

brad blakeman joining us there. stay locked down despite the rise in the number of coronavirus cases. what changed? hot crocs how the pandemic helped boost sales of the footwear, crocs. it's making a buzz this morning. stock is up. back in a minute. ♪ so you're a small business, or a big one. you were thriving, but then... oh. ah. okay. plan, pivot. how do you bounce back? you don't, you bounce forward, with serious and reliable internet. powered by the largest gig speed network in america. but is it secure? sure it's secure. and even if the power goes down, your connection doesn't. so how do i do this? you don't do this. we do this, together. bounce forward, with comcast business. maria: welcome back. governor cuomo's change of heart, despite months of shutdowns and the coronavirus cases continuing to be on the rise, the governor has now changed his tone on keeping new york locked down. yesterday, he tweeted this. we simply can not stay closed until the vaccine hits critical mass. the cost is too high. we will have