the day i was shocked in the briefing, our jackie heinrich did not get called on because i'm quite surene reporter asked about that massive report, nearly 50 sources "wall street journal" page after page after page of him not meeting with his cabinet secretaries, people not being able to get in touch with him, no access, him being given preplanned questions. not one question about that in the briefing today. >> that's not shocking, they are complicit. i think it's shameful, what is joe doing? doing the best he can with what he has left. interviewing him as criminal, it's even more criminal to interview him to go down memory lane. it's not a joke, this man, whatever he was, used to be, father time is doing what father time does, he can barely walk, he's not -- we know now that the staffers are making decisions, his legacy is that they knew he was unfit, we were talking during the break -- once they knew if they cared about the country they should have put kamala in two years ago. good, bad, or indifferent she has her faculties together. asking him to talk to congress' criminal. he cannot

. >> trace: there was a back-and-forth today tween jackie heinrich and john kirby and listen to them.>> how can you credibly tell people that there isn't a public safety threat, there's no national security threat, there's no reason to believe a foreign government is involved. >> because the analysis thus far in an investigation that is ongoing has not revealed any national security or malicious intent or criminal activity. i would remind you we are at the beginning here, not the end. >> trace: what analysis? of what? they don't know anything and yet their investigation is finding things that they are not sharing with us. >> you cannot claim or publicly say that we are at the beginning of this thing and that we are investing any yet if you don't know what's going on then you are being completely senseless. you have to treat this because of the fact -- let's talk about drones. they can be weapon eyes, they can conduct surveillance. they can attack vital infrastructure. these are the most actionable weapons in the history of modern warfare and they are low-tech and she. it's not how you

. >> in just a few minutes the story will start with jackie heinrich in for martha. everyone and

. >> you to john i'm jackie heinrich the story with martha begins now. >> martha: get afternoon everyone i am and this is the story. aching right now the accused killer of the united health care ceo brian thompson. this killer the suspect i should say arrived by a police chopper back in new york city a short time ago quite a genetic scene you can see in the upper left now the feds he was brought here on new york charges but now the federal government department of justice has also hit the 26-year-old with new charges on top of that that are likely to supersede those. bows are likely to include the death penalty we understand a few minutes ago he was brought into the courtroom and prosecutors say he stopped thompson writing in a notebook about quote lacking an insurance ceo than cutting him down outside of a hotel in manhattan a few blocks away from here a couple weeks ago but take a look at the look on the face of luigi mangione before leaving pennsylvania as he was getting into this vehicle just to glance over at the press standing by after he really exploded in a rand the last time rep

. >> in just a few minutes the story will start with jackie heinrich in for martha. stay tuned. >> good afternoon everyone and this is the story. with just 25 days until president-elect trump takes office a closer look today and what he's promise to tackle on day one. securing the southern border increasing fracking and rolling back regulations among dozens of other agenda items piled on the list by axial switch rights that trump is preferring an early shock and our campaign setting stage for an explosive day one in office. let's bring in fox news contributor and ben ferguson host of the ben ferguson show and cohost of the verdict with ted cruz podcast. think you both for being here. >> merry christmas. >> jacqui: merry christmas. if republicans don't delay the agenda on their own with a speaker battle democrats are potentially readying some roadblocks. you had an "politico" it was a report that said to washington trump and his allies are serious about the federal government and even the minority democrats won't make it easy for republicans to enact cuts to the socia

senior white house correspondent jackie heinrich in west palm beach with more on the confirmation battle ahead. good evening. >> reporter: good evening trace. publicly president-elect trump is sticking with his nominee to lead the department of defense. the transition team shared pete hegseth's op-ed, a defiant peace that he wrote in "the wall street journal" earlier this evening, sharing that in an email blast with everyone. he framed the controversy that he faces as a manufactured media takedown. but trump also has a plan b if hegseth's confirmation gets further bogged down. we've learned he's eyeing florida governor ron desantis for the position. the two did speak yesterday. senate republicans though have mixed takes on what is most likely to happen here. >> it's not 100% clear to me. >> i think that's probably not accurately spoken. president trump told me he wants to see pete get confirmed and i think there's a path to get there. it maybe a little narrow but i believe we can did him confirmed. >> reporter: hegseth will continue meetings with senate republicans tomorrow. a half-hour

now to the white house, where fox's jackie heinrich is standing by. jackie, what's biden's reaction to all of this? >> well, laura, as this bill heads to the senate, the press secretary put out a statement saying that the president supports this bill. it delivers things that democrats wanted and averts. a shutdown includes things like disaster relief for communities impacted by the hurricanes. and it doesn't have an extension to the debt ceiling, which they viewed as an accelerated vehicle to facilitate the 2017 tax cuts extension. that's a battle that democrats want to preserve for next year. use it as a point of leverage to oppose extending those cuts. but it was not clear this was going to pass. you know, house democrats weren't happy that they lost effectively, some of the ornaments on their christmas tree, bipartisan cr and also, they didn't want to jam senate democrats with a new bill, which is happening right now. hakeem jeffries did not have a vote recommendation when he sent his members to the floor. and that's pretty curious, because he only

what, part of the me yes and no we all pressed the white house many time use see peter doocy and jackie heinrichrent way would there be a pardon and repeatedly being told no it absolutely will not happen but there was this part of me if you're outgoing president of the united states you have a power to spare your son you're going to do it. i think a lot of american people will understand what you've done as a father. i think it is very interesting the wording we have from this released from the white house -- it is as a full and unconditional pardon for offenses against u.s. which he's committed meaning hunter biden or may have and taken part in fact period from january 14th through december 24th including but not limited to all of the offenses charged or prosecuted by special con sill so this is beyond the two cases. this is saying there's anything else in that period, for essentially ten years, i as president joe biden am giving a full pardon for thengs that may not have been charged yet and may still be out there so i think -- >> a fascinating point. >> on a legal, you know, speaking technica

what, part of the me yes and no we all pressed the white house many time use see peter doocy and jackie heinrichferent way would there be a pardon and repeatedly being told no it absolutely will not happen but there was this part of me if you're outgoing president of the united states you have a power to spare your son you're going to do it. i think a lot of american people will understand what you've done as a father. i think it is very interesting the wording we have from this released from the white house -- it is as a full and unconditional pardon for offenses against u.s. which he's committed meaning hunter biden or may have and taken part in fact period from january 14th through december 24th including but not limited to all of the offenses charged or prosecuted by special con sill so this is beyond the two cases. this is saying there's anything else in that period, for essentially ten years, i as president joe biden am giving a full pardon for thengs that may not have been charged yet and may still be out there so i think -- >> a fascinating point. >> on a legal, you know, speaking techni

joining us now, jackie jacqui heinrich, fox's senior white house correspondent. charge even though the other guy's still president. >> and, you know, t not really that surprising that all these world leaders who are trying to gain insight, potentially bolster their relationships as trump comes back into office because they know there's going to be a change in foreign policy. trump has never been someone to be guided by history, precedent. it's more about relationships, cost benefit short term, domestic political concerns, so they're all wondering what's next for them, and they want to get close to him and talk about it. howard: with the syrian rebels in an amazingly short period of time toppling the assad regime, trump issuing one of his truth socials saying stay out of it, and that seems to be the u.s.' position for now. joe biden earlily did interviews as you know as white house reporter before he was pushed out of the race. so you have this strange limbo where justin trudeau comes to mar-a-lago to talk about tariffs with president trump and doesn't even bother

jackie hine reck. griff: here we go, hour two -- jacqui heinrich. griff: but let's begin on capitol hill where congress had to scramble overnight to avert a government shutdown. president biden signing their newly-passed short-term funding earlier today. madeleine madeleine rivera arrive at the white house with reaction. or what are they saying? >> reporter: hi, griff. the white house says the bill doesn't have everything they want, but it is better with than the alternative which is a government shutdown before the holidays. white house press secretary karine jean-pierre saying in part it includes disaster relief that the president requested for the communities recovering from the storm, eliminates an accelerated pathway to a tax cut for billionaires and would ensure the government can continue to operate. the bull funds the government until if mid march. it also adds more than $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion in aid for farmers. it does not include a debt limit increase, something president-elect trump had called for after he pressured

merry christmas to senior white house correspondent the terrific jacqui heinrich live in west palm beach near mar-a-lago. jackie it's great to have you on. reporter: good to see you too, liz. thanks for having me. if pete hegseth's chances at senate confirmation get further bogged down president-elect trump has his eye on florida governor ron desantis. multiple sources confirmed to fox the two of them spoke about it apparently in person yesterday at a memorial for a fallen law enforcement officers, but as of right now, hegseth is not ready to throw in the towel just yet. >> do you have any conversations with th the president-elect about governor desantis? >> i spoke to the president-elect this morning. he said keep going, keep fighting. >> so you're in this all the way? >> i've always been a fighter. i'm here for the war fighters. reporter: hegseth's mother, also defending her son today, after the new york times published an e-mail she wrote to him in 2018, reprimanding him from his treating women. she appealed to female senators specifically to ignore the media, and listen to pete. >> i want people to look at