Fox News Sunday 01-05-2025
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There's a day. I'm Jackie Heinrich in for Shannon Bream. Speaker Mike Johnson holds on to his job and gets straight to work trying to unite Republican control of Washington. Working together, we have the potential to be one of the most consequential congresses in the history of this great nation. Ushering in the next Trump era with tomorrow's election certification and...

We're blessed to be alive. You're grateful, but you're not happy. The New Year terror attack in New Orleans puts the Biden administration's policies under the microscope, raising concerns over the government's ability to secure upcoming large-scale events. Don't just respond to the last attack.

Anticipate the next one. We'll talk to Adam Smith, the top Democrat on House Armed Services, and ask Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy what this means if Trump's defense picks are not confirmed swiftly. Then... Jimmy Carter lived a life measured not by words but by his deeds. Our Sunday panel reflects on the life and legacy of our 39th president as lawmakers recall his humble beginnings, deep faith, and life of public service. All right now on Fox News Sunday.

And hello from Fox News in Washington. A look at the headlines. Millions of Americans are dealing with a major winter storm moving across the Midwest right now along the Interstate 70 corridor. It's heading for the mid-Atlantic states, bringing heavy snow and blistering cold temperatures overnight tonight. Several states have declared states of emergency.

Here in Washington, Congress says it will still convene despite the storm. A congressional joint session will count the 2024 presidential electoral votes, and then Vice President Kamala Harris will certify her own loss to Donald Trump. Congress tightened and clarified the rules for that procedure after the events of January 6th, 2021.

While that's going on, President Biden and the first lady will visit New Orleans four days after an ISIS inspired terrorist plowed a rented truck into pedestrians early on New Year's Day, killing 14 and injuring dozens more. In a moment, we'll get reaction from Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy. But first, we have team coverage with Nate Foy covering the Trump transition from West Palm Beach and Lucas Tomlinson covering the White House response to the terror attack. Lucas, let's start with you.

Jackie, President Biden and the First Lady will travel down to New Orleans tomorrow. In his 15 days remaining in office, Biden has pledged to keep up pressure on terrorist groups. We're going to continue to relentlessly pursue ISIS and other terrorist organizations where they are.

and they'll find no safe harbor here. After the ISIS-inspired rampage on Bourbon Street that killed 14 people and wounded dozens more, critics say Biden, for years, downplayed the threat posed by Islamic terrorism. According to the intelligence community, terrorism from white supremacy is the most lethal threat to the homeland today. Not ISIS, not al-Qaeda.

White supremacists. Poison that's for too long haunted this nation. What is that poison? White supremacy throughout our history has ripped this nation apart. It's not clear if Biden has changed his mind. I wanted to talk.

Thank you, everybody. Does the president still consider white supremacy the greatest terrorist threat in the United States? Hours into the new year, the FBI says 42-year-old U.S. Army veteran Shemsudin Jabbar plowed his rented pickup truck with an ISIS flag attached through Bourbon Street before being shot by police. Prior to the massacre, Jabbar placed two bombs in ice chests along the route. On his way to New Orleans from Houston, where he lived...

Jabbar recorded a message to his family saying he joined ISIS earlier this year. He divorced for the third time in 2022. Louisiana's attorney general says New Orleans must bolster security before hosting the Super Bowl next month. The city is going to have to be answering a lot of hard questions while it also gets ready for a Super Bowl.

Security has been beefed up around the White House ahead of Jimmy Carter's state funeral and President-elect Trump's inauguration. A second layer of fencing has just been added to Pennsylvania Avenue this weekend. Jackie? Lucas Tomlinson at the White House. Thank you, Lucas. Now to West Palm Beach and Nate Foy covering the Trump transition. Nate.

Hey, Jackie, President-elect Donald Trump hosted Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Maloney at Mar-a-Lago last night alongside his pick for Secretary of State, Senator Marco Rubio. And with just over two weeks until Inauguration Day, the president-elect is already working to ensure the leadership apparatus that he wants is in place in Washington, D.C., and ready to implement his agenda.

In coordination with President Trump and his administration, we are going to create a leaner, faster, and more efficient federal workforce. House Speaker Mike Johnson won re-election Friday. After President-elect Donald Trump made phone calls on his behalf while golfing in West Palm Beach. President Trump was hitting a five iron about the time we talked. We had a very good discussion about how to advance the Trump agenda.

Trump posted on Truth Social, quote, Mike will be a great speaker and our country will be the beneficiary. Trump warns of looming Democratic attempts to block his cabinet picks. Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth will face the Senate Armed Services Committee on January 14th, while Trump's pick for Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, will meet tomorrow with Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. I think we have great nominees today.

very highly, just about all of them. So I think we're going to do very well. Incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz says it's important to get Trump's cabinet picks confirmed, calling the presidential transition a moment of vulnerability. The terror attack in New Orleans raises additional concerns. Trump blames President Joe Biden for rising radical Islamic terrorism and violent crime in the country.

In New York, Judge Juan Merchan indicates Trump will avoid prison time at his upcoming sentencing on Friday. Trump disputed his criminal conviction on Truth Social, writing, quote, I never falsified business records. It is a fake made up charge by a corrupt judge.

Trump can attend his sentencing virtually or in person. He has not said which one he will pick quite yet. His team is looking forward to what they're calling a victory rally at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., which holds 20,000 people. It's going to happen on the eve of the inauguration on January 19th. The next day, Trump will be sworn into the White House for a second term. Jackie. All right. Nate Foy reporting from West Palm Beach. Thank you, Nate.

Joining us now is Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy. Senator, thank you for being here. Thank you. Senator, the FBI, DHS and National Counterterrorism Center warned of potential copycat attacks after what we saw in New Orleans. There are several large scale events coming up from the Super Bowl in New Orleans to inauguration in D.C. Is enough being done to prevent something like this from happening again?

I can promise you everything is going to be done that they can imagine is going to be done. They don't want to look bad, first. And two, more importantly, they want to protect the American people. But we have to recognize wherever there are so-called soft targets, wherever there's a street festival in a big city, there's a potential for something bad to happen.

So I would encourage the American people to be alert, to report things that look kind of like it shouldn't be that way, but to also live your life bravely. The thing that terrorists want to do is they want to terrorize us, which is to say, I'm too afraid to live in freedom. No, you've got to be bold and live in freedom. And that's the best way we can counter terrorism.

Senator, the city of New Orleans spent $2.3 billion to harden infrastructure after the FBI warned in 2017 that the French Quarter was vulnerable to a mass casualty event. But the mayor said the steel bollards malfunctioned shortly after they were installed and they were down for repairs ahead of the Super Bowl. They're being replaced. So when that attack happened, there were police vehicles acting as barricades. Listen.

It indeed have a plan, but the terrorist defeated it.

Well, the very next day, that police superintendent you just heard from admitted there were additional barriers on hand, but she didn't know they existed. Forty eight Archer barriers designed to stop a fifty five hundred pound truck going 60 miles an hour. The police superintendent didn't know what resources she had to protect the most vulnerable site in the city. Should she face consequences for that?

If everything as you laid out is as you said it, absolutely. There has to be leadership at the top. And if the leadership failed as you describe it, then absolutely there has to be consequences. Period. End of story. Now, I think we're going to have a kind of complete review of everything from top to bottom. And if that's the way it ends up shaking out completely, she should be replaced.

Yeah, police put out those Archer barriers the day after the attack to reopen Bourbon Street. Meridian Rapid Defense Group, the company that sold them to the city in 2017, said that they're the strongest mobile barriers in the world. But the CEO said, quote, not only did they not know they had them, they didn't even know how to describe them. And even now, in the pictures I've seen, the barriers aren't even set up properly because the wheels are still down.

What's your reaction to hearing that?

Obviously, we're preparing now for a Super Bowl, and there's going to be a Mardi Gras before then. Very quickly, the city needs to implement everything it needs to do in order to take it to the next level. Now, I will say that our governor, Jeff Landry, has had the state police going down, and there's also a multi-task, multi-perish, multi-regional task force, which is going to provide security. So I feel comfortable that when the Super Bowl comes...

there will be it'll be an incredibly secure environment. I went to the sugar bowl search kind of as an act of defiance. Should the state take over the French quarter? You could not believe.

I'm sorry. No, I don't think I don't think you have to take it over. But I do think that you need to have a plan which is credible, reviewed by outside entities. And they say, yes, this is good. And then you do everything you can to make sure that it's implemented correctly with a third party guaranteeing implementation. And I think that's very doable. President Biden will be visiting New Orleans tomorrow to meet with the victim's families. What are you asking for in terms of federal support?

Yeah, so first, you know, my gosh, how can we not feel for both the families of those who died but also those who've been injured and their families? And so in terms of federal support, I think, one, I've learned in medicine

as I'm a doctor in medicine when something bad happens the family wants to know that it doesn't happen again that the loss or the terrible thing that happened at least contributes to a greater good the best thing that the city the state and the federal government can do is do their best to make sure that this does not happen again and what we can do as a people is to make sure that we don't live our lives in in fear or in terror but live our lives bravely and with liberty

and then support those families however they need support. By the way, I'm very proud of the medical teams in New Orleans. They're going to be providing first-rate care to all those victims. So we also have to take care of that, which is immediate and practical.

Sir, the terror attack in your home state has renewed focus on the need for swift Senate confirmations, but delays we're hearing might slow that down. Republican sources told The Hill, quote, You got to get the ethics paperwork and the FBI background check done, and that's taken longer than it should have. They should know better. This has a lot to do with the way the transition team has set itself to operate. Is this potentially a self-inflicted problem for the Trump administration?

I do know there was delay in getting the documentation signed in terms of allowing the sharing of data. Now, it's always easy to look back 2020 and say, oh, my gosh, things should have been different. I can't comment on the exact process, but I will emphasize that to get this done as quickly as possible, getting the right person in the right position clearly is important. And I would say that's not just for domestic issues, but also it's a dangerous world out there, also for the international environment.

Pete Hegseth's confirmation hearing is next week. ABC's reporting that the Senate Armed Services Committee is requesting additional information from a veterans organization that he previously led and also from the California DA who declined to bring charges following a 2017 sexual assault accusation. Are you aware of any delays that might bungle his confirmation timeline?

I'm not. But by the way, this is the due diligence. The Senate has in the Constitution an advise and consent process. And the fact that this is being requested isn't in of itself necessarily anything bad. It's something good in the sense that the Senate is supposed to look at the qualifications of the person who's nominated and then consent as if they agree that these are good people. So if the Senate's doing its job, that's a good thing. You've already met with Hegseth. Are you a yes for him?

You know, I still have to see that process. One, we had a great interview. He presented the issues that that we all know about in the press and he and he had a response for them. He was there with his wife. He explained how, you know, went after the war, after he served in the war, his life was messed up and now it's better. I get that. But I'd also like to review the data, the information which is being requested. That is part of fully vetting someone. But Pete did a great job in his interview with me.

Your committee is going to be overseeing RFK Jr.'s hearing, and there are some reports that Democratic Senators John Fetterman, Bernie Sanders might be getting giving him a nod of support. How is RFK Jr. faring among Democrats on your committee?

I haven't spoken to him about it. I just don't know. I will meet with him this coming week. I look forward to the interview. I agree with him on some things and disagree on others. The food safety, I think the ultra processed food is a problem. Vaccinations, he's wrong on.

And so and so I just look forward to having a good dialogue with him on that. OK. And then yesterday, Speaker Mike Johnson made clear to House Republicans that it's Trump's preference to do one reconciliation package rather than two to get the 2017 tax cut extension done along with the border piece because of those narrow margins in the House. Are you on board with that approach?

Well, I better be. If the president says he wants it and Mike Johnson says he's going to do it, all spending bills originate out of the House. So I think that they will dictate the action. And as regards to strategy, absolutely true. There's very narrow margins. And so we've got to get it right. I suppose after they've looked at the votes they have in the House, they figure that is the best way to get it through. I'm not going to dispute Mike Johnson. I think he's doing a great job. That is a little bit of a reversal. Usually it's the Senate that dictates what happens in the House.

No, no. You know, spending bills once more begin in the House. It's probably it's whatever chamber is having the greatest problems. And when Mike has a margin after three people leave for the Cabinet of one, he's he's I don't know if there's ever been a House with that strict of a margin. Now, by the way, if we only do one reconciliation bill, those three people who are leaving to go to the Cabinet will be replaced immediately.

And his margin will be at least a couple more and not much, but a couple more. So there also may be something very practical in mind there, too. It always comes down to the math. All right. Thank you, Senator Cassidy. Appreciate your time this morning. Thank you, Jackie. Thank you. Well, that horrific attack in New Orleans sparking questions about the Biden administration's homeland security strategy. Democratic Congressman Adam Smith joins us live to discuss if the White House put enough emphasis on terrorism. That's next.

Type 2 diabetes? Hey, I'm Trey Gowdy, host of the Trey Gowdy Podcast. I hope you will join me every Tuesday and Thursday as we navigate life together and hopefully find ourselves a little bit better on the other side. Listen and follow now at foxnewspodcast.com. Domestic terrorism from white supremacists is the most lethal terrorist threat in the homeland. The most dangerous terrorist threat to our homeland is white supremacy.

President Biden's longtime claims under new scrutiny in the wake of that horrific New Orleans attack. As critics argue, the president has downplayed the ISIS threat and put an outsized focus on white supremacy concerns. Joining me now, Washington Congressman Adam Smith. Thank you very much, Congressman, for being here this morning. Well, thanks for having me. I appreciate the chance. Thank you.

So, sir, throughout his presidency, Biden believed that white supremacy was the greatest threat to the homeland. But two months before those last remarks that you just heard, the U.S. intelligence community released its annual threat assessment report. It painted a much different picture. The document mentions Russia 98 times.

China, 93 times. Iran, 46 times. North Korea, 25 times. There were 15 mentions of racially motivated violent extremism, but white supremacy was mentioned only once. Did President Biden have his priorities wrong? No. I mean, that was President Biden's intelligence community that issued that report.

Whatever couple of clips you may have picked of what the president said, I think the emphasis of his Justice Department, of his intelligence community, of his Homeland Security Department, was always on precisely what that report you just read said it was. It understood the broad threat environment that we face and did its best to try to confront that threat environment. Well, the FBI told Congress that the suspect in the New Orleans attack,

Shamsa Dindjabar was not on their radar. They didn't have any intelligence on him. He was not someone that they were watching. Do you believe at all that the president's belief that white supremacy is the greatest threat to the homeland impacted directives that were sent down to federal agencies? No, I don't. I mean, look, this was an individual.

OK, who had no links, no public links to ISIS. He was radicalized just in the space of the last nine months, primarily by stuff that had happened in his first is a long time. Right. But he wasn't publishing, didn't join a group. I don't believe this. So there was a terrorist attack when Trump was president by a radicalized Islamic terrorist in Florida at a military post.

Okay, do I believe that Trump wasn't paying attention? No. What I hope this makes clear to the incoming Trump administration is the depth of the threats that we face from a variety of different radical organizations. Again, all outlined in that report that you read from Biden's intelligence services, saying we got threats from a whole bunch of different places. And also the lone wolf attack, which has been talked about a long time, an individual who isn't on anyone's radar. So

So what we need is we need to support local law enforcement. We need to support the FBI. We need to support the Justice Department to do their level best to try to find as many of these as possible. Understanding, and you've heard this quote before, you know, the terrorists only have to be right once.

That's the huge challenge that we face. I hope we'll come together as a country to meet that challenge and not try to turn it into a ridiculous partisan argument based on who's the president. It happened under Trump. It happened under Biden. Let's work together to try to make sure that it doesn't happen again. Well, the attacker's brother told Fox this week that Jabbar joined the military to try to find some direction in life. He spoke to us off camera. Listen to this. I'm being in the military with more.

trying to find something, something to set him straight, to ground him. He was looking for some type of guidance to help, you know, in his life.

Both the New Orleans attacker and also the man involved in the Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas had military backgrounds. You're the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. Are you concerned at all about a problem with our service members falling prey to radicalization?

I'm concerned with the problem of the radicalization of people in our country in general. I think it has happened to people who did not serve in the military. So I think to sort of paint a broad brush of service members as uniquely vulnerable to this type of thing, I think that's somewhat denigrating to the people who serve in the military. But do you believe there are enough services supporting them?

See, that's why I was going next. Just give me a quick second. I don't want people to say, oh my gosh, the military, it's full of all these people, because I think that's an exaggeration. That's wrong. It's not fair to the military. We do have to do a lot more, I believe, to deal with the mental health issues that people in the military face, PTSD and other issues. A lot of advancements have been made in recent years, a lot of new treatments, certainly, but it is something that we need to emphasize to make sure that service members get our support and help.

Because, you know, for the terrorist attack, the number of suicides that are done by people in the military are completely unacceptable and need greater attention. It's a terrible issue. Moving on, though, the first FBI spokesperson who addressed the public after this attack gave wrong information about the case. Take a listen to this. We'll be taking over the investigative lead for this event. This is not a terrorist event.

We now know that that junior agent, Alethea Duncan, was only speaking because her boss, the special agent in charge of New Orleans, was on vacation. FBI headquarters was so upset they sent the deputy assistant director from D.C. to take over this.

Do you believe that Duncan's statement eroded public trust in investigators? Should she face any consequences for that? I don't know about that. It was clearly a mistake. This happens all the time in speculation. Something comes out, people reach conclusions like that. An experienced investigator should know better than that, without question. So I'm not in charge of discipline within the FBI, but clearly that was a mistake that should not have been made.

At a minimum, should policies be changed to ensure that senior officials are on hand during major events like New Year's Eve, the Sugar Bowl, Super Bowl? Yeah, no, that that is quite, quite possible, particularly when you have a period of time when you can suspect a threat. Absolutely.

Do you believe that the federal government's doing enough to secure large scale events that are coming up like inauguration? I mean, Trump also plans to hold a rally in D.C. the night before inauguration. Is there sufficient security for that? Yeah, I believe there will be sufficient security. We see it going up all the way around here or

uh, but look, it's a huge challenge. And I think we need to take it very seriously because regrettably we live in a time when people are radicalized by a wide variety of different things. And also as the threat assessment that you read earlier, you know, Russia, uh,

in particular, has really stepped up their hybrid attacks in a variety of different places across the country. So, yeah, we need a heightened level of security for all of these events. The new Congress has been sworn in. Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries made some headlines with this. Take a listen. It's OK. There are no election deniers on our side of the aisle.

But in 2018, Jeffries wrote, the more we learn about 2016 election, the more illegitimate it becomes. America deserves to know whether we have a fake president in the Oval Office. And then he doubled down in 2020. He posted to Trump, keep pouting. History will never accept you as a legitimate president.

What changed? Well, I think a lot of Democrats made mistakes in terms of complaining about the 2016 election. I remember vividly I was on this network like a month after and this issue came up and said he won. He won the election. Let's get over it and stop talking about it. There's a lot of people in a lot of different places. I do find it interesting that Fox News is only concerned about Democratic election deniers.

You know, it seems like the Republicans took that whole thing a little bit more seriously in terms of storming the Capitol, in terms of doing all kinds of efforts to actually stop the election, as opposed to just issuing a couple of comments. So, yeah, people will get emotional about elections. Nobody should try to stop.

an election for being certified. In fact, tomorrow, snow willing, we will be certifying President Trump's election. You will not see Democrats stand up and protest that. You will certainly not see them storm the United States Capitol to try and stop that certification. We accept the election of President Trump and

We will do our best to work with him going forward. I would argue that this network covered all sorts of election deniers across the spectrum. But do you expect any of your colleagues to put up any challenges tomorrow when the election is certified? I don't know. I mean, there's a lot of us. I don't think so. But gosh, go back to 2000 and I think 2016, there was, I think, one House member Democrat who protested the election that didn't have a senator, so it didn't go anywhere.

But there's a lot of us, but I can tell you 99% of Democrats, this is the way the election went out, and we're going to go work with the new government. Finally, with just 30 seconds left, the speaker held on to the gavel, but it did take some muscle from Trump. How are Democrats going to work with the incoming administration to make sure that bills get passed and government functions? Yeah, it's going to be hard. And look, the biggest challenge is going to be on the budget reconciliation process. House Republicans are meeting this weekend to try to figure that out.

you know, promising to cut taxes, not cut spending balance. But it's going to be tough. But we'll work with them. Congressman Adam Smith, thank you very much for being here. Thank you. President Biden honors more than a dozen people at the White House with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. We'll ask the panel if the president was trying to send a message with some of his selections next. Here's to getting better with aid.

Former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, one of 19 Americans that President Biden awarded the Medal of Freedom last night.

Another was controversial Democratic donor George Soros. It's time now for our Sunday group. Fox News contributor and OutKick columnist Mary Catherine Hamm, former State Department spokesperson and Fox News contributor Marie Harf, Doug High, former RNC communications director and founder of Douglas Media, and Mario Parker, Bloomberg managing editor for U.S. Economy and Government. Thank you guys for being here. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning.

All right. So these recipients, Mary Catherine, I mean, there was a long list, but a number of them were prominent critics of Trump. Do you think that Biden was trying to send a message with this list? Yes, but I think that most presidents do. And I'm going to surprise everybody by saying that I think it's good that Hillary Clinton got this award because not a lot of novelists and fiction writers get the award. And yet the Hillary Clinton campaign financed and created one of the greatest works of fiction in living memory in the Steele dossier.

And despite it being total fiction, it enthralled the press and the intel community and federal law enforcement for years. And so I applaud her for that work of fiction. I'm excited about the work she does in the future on her totally fictional presidency. I was going to go somewhere else, but I got to let Marie say something. You really came in hot this morning. I love it. My friend, Mary Katzner, brought the 2025 energy. You know, all

presidents do this. Donald Trump gave the Medal of Freedom to Miriam Adelson, one of his top donors. He gave it to a bunch of sports athletes and people like Tiger Woods. This is what presidents do. I think there were a number of people, people like Jose Andres, across the political aisle who may be a critic of Trump, but

people admire for his work providing food in places that have gone through natural disasters in the U.S. and around the world. So a lot of people that we can applaud on this list. I think Joe Biden was nice in the way he did this. Presidents do this. All of them do. Well, Doug, I mean, the president also gave Liz Cheney and Benny Thompson the Presidential Citizens Medal for their work on the January 6th committee.

Do you see a jab at Trump on his way out the door with that? Potentially so. Again, this is what presidents do. Mayor Madison being a good example of that. We could go back to Obama. Certainly a lot of Obama supporters. He gave awards to donors as well. So a lot of this is business as usual. And I was just in Asheville, North Carolina, over the break. I saw the work that Jose Andres' World Central Kitchen did up close. It's still really bad out there. I was thrilled to see him honored. But the

What I saw also was the president who made the first Trump administration or the candidate who made the first Trump administration happen be decorated by the person who made the second Trump administration happen. And there was a certain poetry to that.

All right, we're moving on. Poetry is one word for it. All right, moving on. The president is drawing some bipartisan criticism for blocking the sale of U.S. steel to Japanese company Nippon. The CEO blasted this decision, saying, quote, President Biden's action today is shameful and corrupt. He gave political precedents

payback to a union boss out of touch with his members while harming our company's future, our workers and our national security. He insulted Japan, a vital economic and national security ally, and put American competitiveness at risk. The Chinese Communist Party leaders in Beijing are dancing in the streets. Mario, did the president play right into China's hand with this decision? What could the impact be?

I'm not sure. This is one of the rare instances in which Biden and Trump agree on, right? Trump has also said that he would be opposed to the deal. A couple of things going on here, both domestically and in foreign policy wise. Pennsylvania, right? It's a key battleground state. Unions are involved. Both parties are vying for the affection of the unions. Joe Biden has called himself the most pro-union president of all time. So there's that.

The other thing is that the national security apparatus for the current president, soon to be former president, they were split on it, right? So there was a school of thought that this undermines a key ally. Japan is one of the biggest foreign investors in the United States, right? We've got 50,000-some troops there as well.

Business is business. And there's a risk. And COVID highlighted this. Well, we don't have the onshoring of our supply chain where anything can happen and steel is a vital material for us. Well, Mary, excuse me, Marie, I mean, I ask you because of your experience at the State Department. How much is this going to hurt the U.S. relationship with Japan?

This is one of the areas I actually disagree with President Biden. And if we can believe the reporting that Mario just alluded to, so did Jake Sullivan. So did John Feiner. The top national security officials said this could really hurt our relationship with Japan. There's reporting that the prime minister of Japan actually weighed in, sent a letter to President Biden.

asking him to approve this. That's a very rare step for a prime minister to take and a president to disagree with. A lot of the workers also wanted this deal to go through. Nippon promised to spend almost $3 billion shoring up U.S. steel, which has had a lot of problems. They pledged to adhere to the United Steel Workers, their latest contract. So I think this is one area where Joe Biden's personal and political feelings about unions, about the steel industry really took hold.

over the national security argument, which I don't like when national security threats are used to justify these kinds of decisions, because I just don't think that that threat is there. And neither did the national security team. Marie highlights something that's an interesting dynamic here. You know, typically what we've seen with the Biden White House is they are incredibly disciplined on not having leaks. Obviously, the fact that every White House staffer thought that Joe Biden was capable of doing the job for years is a good example. But we've heard a

lot of dissension from within the administration on this, from the secretary of state to obviously Rahm Emanuel, the Japanese, the ambassador to Japan. That's really rare in this situation. And it shows, you know, I think what a political mistake this might have been for Biden. I want to ask you, Mary Catherine, one specific question, because U.S. Steel and Nippon both accused Biden of manipulating the CFIUS process.

In pursuit of a political end, the Wall Street Journal editorial board said this could really have some far reaching consequences. They said Mr. Biden's essentially redefining national security to include economic nationalism, which will introduce many new gates for political interference, unions and corporate governments.

competitors now know they can use CFIUS as another political lever to block investments that they don't like. Is this going to send a chill to foreign investors? I think it rationally would. It's sending the message that it's going to be much harder to get through this process and that you're not looking at the normal barriers and the normal things that might stop you. And when it comes to the economic security part of this, one of the things CFIUS report

cites as a possibility of less U.S. steel output. You know what else would cause less U.S. steel output? Is if they don't get an infusion of capital that they need to survive as a company, and then you get much less U.S. steel output. There is a concern now from investors and economists that U.S. steel could be sold off

piecemeal and a bankruptcy. Do you believe there's any argument, Mario, that could win in court because you've had Nippon and U.S. Steel both vowing to challenge this? I think what the other panelists have alluded to is something that it's quite a possibility, right? They both threatened to have some type of legal action. We don't know what comes out in discovery at all. And the fact that CFIUS had before this point had been a black box in previous administrations

So we're not sure what can be unsurfaced in emails, communications, et cetera, on how this came about.

Doug, I want to ask you, you know, to the point made earlier, you know, both Trump and Biden oppose this. Do you think we're witnessing sort of a swing toward protectionism in the U.S.? Yeah, it's also a bit of horseshoe politics, you know, on a lot of issues. The more to the right and the more to the left you go, the more you sort of meet at that at that place. So, you know, Donald Trump got a lot of labor support, as we've seen. Joe Biden has positioned himself as the most pro-labor president that we've ever had.

Not terribly surprising that on an issue like this, they'd be in agreement. Marie, you know, at what cost is this happening? Because as Mario mentioned, the other company who was bidding for this came up short. And now, you know, U.S. Steel is sort of in the lurch.

This is something that Donald Trump and future presidents will have to deal with. I mean, Mario also alluded to COVID and the fact that there was this idea in the last five years that we wanted to bring more of our supply chain, more of these critical industries back to the United States. I think most of us agree that in general, that's a good thing for a number of reasons. But the world is globalized and this company, U.S. Steel, needs cash.

And there have to be ways for foreign companies to invest in American companies to continue to do that, to have all boats rise together economically in our country and around the world and to protect American workers and our supply chains. There has to be a way to thread that needle. And it felt like this deal was possibly one of those ways with U.S. steel, excuse me, with NAPOM pledging to maintain some of the guardrails that we care about in this country. Union contracts, for example.

pledging to invest in this company. So this is something that future presidents, that Congress, that all these folks are going to have to deal with. And this idea that we just go back to protectionism and that we sort of close our doors and shut out the rest of the world, it's just not reality. And American companies and workers will suffer if we try to do that. And one of Joe Biden's core promises was...

hey, allies, I'm with you. I'm a rational actor and you can work with me. This really puts a damper on all that talk that we've heard from day one from the Biden administration. It was surprising. And it seems like they they knew that because they signed off on an arms deal the same day that they killed this.

the sale here. So we'll be right back, panel. We'll leave it there for just a moment. But up next, a Washington Post cartoonist calling it quits after the paper refuses to publish her drawing that was critical of her employer. We'll discuss that decision. Eat delicious every day.

Welcome back. President-elect Trump learned this week when he'll be sentenced in his hush money case in New York. And we're back now with the panel. All right. Mary Catherine, Judge Juan Merchan denied Trump's request to dismiss the charges against him, setting up sentencing for just 10 days before inauguration. He signaled that the sentence will be unconditional discharge, meaning no jail time, no fine, no probation. Why go this route?

It feels like at this point that everybody's just sort of making the donuts on this case. Like they're showing up to do the thing, but the thing actually wasn't to serve justice. The thing was to interfere with his ability to be elected president. I do not believe it was about the former was about the latter. And so this part is just like, let's go through the motions and finish it out. And as and he can't put him in jail, which is like probably the great dream. But it didn't work out. Right.

I think that the judge in this case, and when you read what he said about it, makes clear that he was convicted unanimously by a jury of his, quote, peers of 34 counts.

and that those shouldn't just go away. And so he's trying to thread the needle here again of sentencing him, not saying we're going to get rid of your sentence because you were convicted, but making clear he can't put him in jail. He needs to do things because he is president. And look, I think a lot of the American people feel like there should not be a get out of jail free card that you can do anything as president.

You can commit any crime and that if you're reelected or if you're president, they just go away. I think that sits uncomfortably with people. So I think the judge did the right thing here. Doug, how do you think people are going to digest this?

By and large, I don't think they're going to pay much attention to it. There's so much else going on. And Donald Trump has benefited from so many charges happening at once that people find it tough to keep track of what's going on with which. And one thing that Joe Biden or that Hunter Biden and Donald Trump have in common, there's not a lot, is that they both can, I think, fairly say the only reason this happened is because of who I am and my last name. And a lot of the public feels that way for both of them. And it's one of the things that's an advantage for Trump here.

Mario, what do you think the likelihood is that Trump can stop the sentence from happening or successfully appeal it or somehow prevent it from going through? Well, as of right now, it looks like that's what they're deliberating on, right? Whether or not to appeal the sentencing, to get a stay somehow, maybe to

punt it a little bit further down the line. Maybe it makes its way to the Supreme Court. A lot of this, to Doug's point, I mean, I don't think Americans are really paying attention to this at this point anymore. He won a popular vote. He got all the things in this election, and he didn't get in the previous one that he won, actually, at this point as well. So now it's just about whether or not he wants to expunge his record, whether or not he wants to...

spend that time in a courtroom, have some of his attention divided with his executive responsibilities. Mayor Catherine, don't you think, though, that, you know, in some way the judge is trying to deliver on, you know, an image of Trump being sentenced? I mean, that is that's really something to happen. He is. But again, his power is somewhat limited in this area. I think to the extent that it could be politically damaging and that people would pay attention, it would be if Mershon went too hard on

on Trump and this became an issue as he continues in his presidency. It would be a damage to Democrats, not to Republicans or to Trump at this point. What's your response to that, Marie?

Look, I think there were a lot of Democrats who felt like how could so many Americans vote for someone who had been convicted of a number of charges, who had been accused of many more things, election interference, sexual crimes. I mean, these were things that, you know, Doug is right. Voters didn't appear to care about them. They reelected him. I still think that it should matter, even though voters don't seem to care about it. The judicial process should not be different wholly because he's president.

I think if you commit crimes, you should face consequences. And we have a system in our country where presidents, there are rules, there are norms, there's guidance at DOJ about that. But I think that a lot of people are actually frustrated that he has been accused and convicted of so many things, and it just has never broken through publicly. But I think American voters, to American voters, they clocked that...

The thing that was different was the last name. The thing that was different was a novel charge that was a felony created out of all these non-felonies that were past the statute of limitations. So one of the reasons people didn't care about this is because they clocked that this was what was different. And Democrats also have gotten their own way on this a little bit. We often heard, you know, Donald Trump should not be reelected because he's a sexual predator. Okay, fine. The next sentence was, and coming at our rally in Philadelphia, Bill Clinton. Voters heard that.

And then the last part of that, I think, is just the packaging of this particular case, as opposed to some of the other ones that were dismissed. Right. When I speak to Democratic strategists, the fact that it was labeled as a hush money case. Right. That kind of gives the inference that this is a personal matter, whether or not you agree with the behavior that was alleged there, that this is a personal matter and shouldn't be played out in the court of

in court, right, as opposed to election interference, which is what Bragg tried to say that it was at a certain point.

On a much lighter note, the Washington Post cartoonist, Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist, quit her job saying that the paper has refused to run her drawing that depicted Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who owns the paper, groveling to Trump. And Telnase said it's the very first time in her career that she has had a drawing killed because of who her pen was aimed at.

Mario, most employees wouldn't publicly criticize their boss, you know, the person who cuts the checks. But should it be different for the press?

We've seen this kind of play out. And I'm a member of the press, obviously. We've seen this kind of play out over the last, I don't know, call it six to eight weeks, maybe a little bit longer, actually going back to the Washington Post decision not to endorse a candidate with some of these philosophical questions being raised. The.

I mean, the cartoonist said that she's this has never happened before. Right. If you take her editor at his word, he's saying it. Well, it was duplicative of some other coverage that they had or other opinions that they had as well. So not sure where that shakes out. Yeah. To your point, Doug, you know, the editor, David Shipley, said that he made that decision himself because he wanted to avoid repetition. He said that a story had been published on the same topic already. Are you buying that?

Look, anytime your boss, especially if your boss is Jeff Bezos, who everybody in America has probably bought something from, an enormous influence that he wields, there are going to be questions about this. One thing I find interesting in this is we see so many stories about newsrooms being decimated throughout the United States, whether those are big newspapers or small newspapers. So I admire anybody who has the courage of their convictions to say, I'm out of here. But

Editorial cartoonist doesn't really seem to be a growing industry in America right now. So it may be really tough to find that next phase of employment based on that. I would say for me, if I were in charge of this editing process, which I'm not like, even if it is duplicative to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, I think they've sort of blown this up into something people are paying attention to, Streisand affecting it when they wouldn't have paid attention to the cartoon in the first place. And it gives you more sort of credibility. Right. So many people have seen the cartoon now. Right.

And look, I don't believe the editor's excuse. I think we've already seen The Washington Post, other media outlets and other business leaders preemptively try to kiss up to Trump, try to Mark Zuckerberg is getting a lot of criticism for this, going to Mar-a-Lago, trying to prime the pumps before he becomes president, which is what happens often when there are leaders who want Trump

business leaders and the media to give fealty to them, to not criticize them, to be on their team. We've seen this as part of Trump's M.O. And so I think there's a disturbing trend where we see people preemptively giving up their voice or power to try and please Trump.

And not be that independent voice and not provide that other point of view. And I think that is a very concerning trend for the next four years if it continues. All right. It was just less than 30 seconds left. We are beginning the week long funeral services for a 39th president. Mario, your final word for the panel on his legacy and achievements.

Well, he criticized for maybe his record as presidency, maybe not having the best presidency, but also just many of the things he did, minorities, for example, getting them positions in the federal government, elevating them, putting more of a lens on Africa. His humanitarian deeds after he left the office hold so much weight. Very important. We'll be remembering him this week. Thank you, panel. See you again next Sunday. Thanks.

Well, you're looking live at the Carter Center in Atlanta as America prepares to say goodbye to its 39th president. We'll have the latest on preparations for his services. That's next. These days, the dollar just. Welcome back. Jonathan Seri is live at the Carter Center in Atlanta, where former President Jimmy Carter is lying in repose. Jonathan.

Good morning to you, Jackie. Inside the Carter Center, the atmosphere is quiet and yet joyful. After all, this is the celebration of a 100-year-long life well lived. In fact, we spoke with one woman who traveled all the way here from Minnesota.

Everything from his work in the Boundary Waters to work for people with disabilities and really just defining what you do after the presidency, I think is pretty amazing. So I wanted to come and say thank you.

On the drive from the former president's hometown of Plains, Georgia, to Atlanta yesterday, the motorcade carrying the casket made a brief stop in front of the Georgia Capitol building where Mr. Carter served as governor in the early 1970s. But when planning his own funeral, the former president was very intentional about having his body lie in repose at

the Carter Presidential Center, which houses his international nonprofit that monitors elections, moderates peace talks and eradicates disease. On Tuesday, the former president's remains will travel to Washington, D.C., to Lyon State in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda until a state funeral on Thursday morning at the Washington National Cathedral.

Later that day, Mr. Carter's body will return to his hometown for a private service at Maranatha Baptist Church, where he used to teach Sunday school almost every week. And then later that day, his body will be interred next to his beloved wife, Rosalyn, of 77 years, under a willow tree on the property where the two had lived for many years. Jackie?

We're grateful for his service to our nation. Thank you very much, Jonathan Seri. Certainly. And be sure to tune in for our live coverage as the nation says goodbye to our 39th president. We'll bring you all the key moments from the Carter Center, which you see on your screen, as well as the U.S. Capitol, where the late president will line state on Tuesday. That's all for this Fox News Sunday. We'll see you next weekend.

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