Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Every day, thousands of Comcast engineers and technologists like Kunle put people at the heart of everything they create. In the average household, there are dozens of connected devices. Here in the Comcast family, we're building an integrated in-home Wi-Fi solution for millions of families like my own.
It brings people together in meaningful ways. Kuhnle and his team are building a Wi-Fi experience that connects one billion devices every year. Learn more about how Comcast is redefining the future of connectivity at ComcastCorporation.com slash Wi-Fi. I'm Shannon Bream. A rare winter snowstorm hits the South while hurricane force winds fan the flames in Southern California. ♪
Deadly fires ripped through Los Angeles, destroying entire neighborhoods. Everyone has lost everything here. And fueling criticism on the response by the state's Democratic leaders. What are you doing at this point to earn back people's trust? FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell joins us on the recovery and containment efforts. Then...
There's great unity. We're going to get something done that's going to be reducing taxes and creating a lot of jobs. President-elect Trump huddles with Republicans on the Hill planning a path forward for his ambitious legislative priorities, from the economy and looming deadlines on extending tax cuts to securing the southern border.
as Trump's most critical cabinet picks prepare to take the hot seat. Vice President-elect J.D. Vance joins us exclusively one week before he takes the oath of office in his first TV interview since the election. And we're joined live by Senator Shelley Moore Capito, chair of the Republican Policy Committee.
Plus, is there hope for a new era of bipartisanship? Key Democrats vote to advance Republicans' immigration bill and even accept an invite to Mar-a-Lago. Our Sunday panel on the apparent warming up to some of Trump's top policies, all coming up on Fox News Sunday.
Hello from Fox News in Washington. We begin with those disasters across the country. Much of the South digging out after a major winter snowstorm. Millions of Americans dealing with frigid temperatures today in the aftermath and thousands of flights being impacted by the storm in the Southeast and major airline hubs like Atlanta and Charlotte. While out West, the death toll has climbed to at least 16 people because of those devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.
Thousands of homes and businesses have just been simply reduced to ashes. Firefighters are dealing with major increases in wind gusts today, 30 to 50 miles per hour in coastal areas and up to 70 miles an hour in the mountains. In a moment, we'll talk with FEMA Director Deanne Criswell about the federal response to the disaster. But first, we turn to Griff Jenkins, who is there on the ground in Los Angeles. Hello, Griff.
Good morning, Shannon. Street by street, block by block, apocalyptic scenes like the one behind me of homes and buildings charred and decimated as that death toll rises to 16. More than 100,000 Los Angelinos evacuated from their homes. The Palisade Fire at this hour, 11% contained, more than 23,000 acres destroyed. To give you perspective, that's more than 25 times the size of
of New York's Grand Central Park. The other fire they're battling, the Eaton Fire, 15% contained, more than 14,000 acres destroyed. Yesterday, L.A.'s Mayor Karen Bass giving an update saying now is not the time for pointing fingers. We need to stay focused, but I will say that when the fires are out, make no mistake, we will have a full accounting of what worked and especially what did not.
And Shannon lives have been shattered. The emotional component, this building here was a preschool lined with tiles that the children had painted. Parents were out here, a couple, John and Cameron Dale, digging through the rubble, trying to find a memento of their children's artwork to hold on to. Here's what they told us. Listen. All of my girlfriends,
The one thing we said we wish we grabbed, which no one thought this would happen. And we just were in a rush to get out all of our children's artwork. This is the only, this is it. Like, this is it. We have nothing. So finding all of my friends and like each one you find, it's just like a treasure because we have nothing of their childhood artwork left.
And Shannon, there are others outside these areas that have been cordoned off by National Guard law enforcement that want to get in to find out what remains of their homes and their memories. It comes as these winds are starting to pick back up, as you mentioned. We'll see where this firefighting goes today, but they are all hands on deck 24-7. We expect in a few hours.
A press update from L.A.'s Mayor Karen Bass. Shannon. All right. We know you're working around the clock with our teams there to keep us updated. Griff Jenkins, thank you very much. Joining us now, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell. Welcome back to the show. Thank you for your time this morning. We know you are pressed on many sides as you try to help out in California, many other places. What is the federal role at this point in California and where can people get help?
Yeah, I think the biggest thing right now is as the firefighters in California being supported by the National Interagency Fire Center, you know, they are coordinating the resources for the fire suppression, the fire containment. FEMA is now starting to support with the major disaster declaration the individuals that have been impacted. And we want to make sure that they start that process by, one, registering for assistance at disasterassistance.gov.
but also contacting their insurance company because we'll need to know exactly what they are going to cover, but more importantly, not cover so they can be eligible for different programs within our system. I want to ask you because FEMA is pulled in so many directions. You're managing multiple disasters at once. There's still the ongoing situation in western North Carolina. Families trying to recover from Helene there. They just had a winter storm come through there as well. Local, our local affiliate WLOS, actually an ABC affiliate, said this, that the
FEMA transitional sheltering assistance program is ending for about 3,500 households there. The program's provided hotel rooms to thousands of Helene survivors across the mountains. However, on January 3rd, FEMA started notifying those in hotels that they're no longer eligible for the program. I know that's been extended, I think, through the 14th. But what's your message to those families? One woman they spoke to said she has a broken down car. Her home is uninhabitable. She doesn't know where to go next.
Yeah, the Transitional Sheltering Assistance Program is one of our best tools to help people in those immediate weeks and months, in some cases, like we're seeing in North Carolina, with what their initial housing needs are going to be. You know, there's a number of reasons why somebody might have received that notification. You know, what we do is we call everybody. We call them every two weeks to check in on where they're at, what their status is, and is their home able to be occupied again? But
one of the biggest things is when we call them, if we don't hear from them, the only thing we can do is assume that they've been back in their home. And so one of the things I want to make sure if somebody has received that notification, but they haven't talked to somebody at FEMA and their situation is still in need, they are still eligible. We just need them to get in touch with us so we can talk to them.
Everybody's going to have a unique circumstance. Everybody's going to have a unique situation. We need to work with them all individually to make sure we're getting them the right resource so they can continue to stay in a safe place until their home is either rebuilt or it's accessible. Okay, quickly, can you give us the best, whether it's a website, an email, or a phone number for them to use in those cases?
I think the best thing for them to do would either to call our 1-800 number, 1-800-621-FEMA. But more importantly, they can go into a disaster recovery center and talk to somebody face to face. I always find it so much easier to talk to a person, show them where you're at, show them what your status is, and then they can work right there to make sure that you're getting exactly what you need. All right, Administrator, thank you for the information and for your time. We wish you all the best in these fights. Thank you, Shannon.
And this note, the American Red Cross is providing meals and shelter to thousands of people affected all kinds of places, but especially right now, the Los Angeles wildfires. You can help by donating today. Just go to dot Fox forward slash Red Cross. Let me say that again. Go dot Fox.
Fox, then forward slash Red Cross, or you can scan the QR code. It is there on your screen. Lift up your camera on your phone. That's the quickest way to get it done. OK, I sat down for an exclusive interview with Vice President-elect J.D. Vance yesterday, his first since leaving the Senate officially. And we started by talking about the new administration's plans for handling disasters like the ones in California and recovery in the Carolinas.
Well, welcome back to Fox News Sunday. Now, as vice president-elect, congratulations. Thank you. It's good to be here. Okay, so I want to talk to you about the fire situation in California because your administration will be coming in, taking over the reins as the feds are trying to meet that, along with many other emergency situations they have going on. Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, has written to President Trump saying,
Let's not be divisive right now. Come out and visit. Let people see us working together. Any indication the president-elect may do that? Well, I know the president would love to visit California. And first of all, you know, our hearts go out to everybody who's been affected by the storms. I've seen some of these videos of people where, you know, folks have lived in those homes for 25, 30, 35 years and everything is gone.
And whatever your political affiliation, it's hard not to see those images and just be heartbroken for our fellow Americans who are going through a very tough time. And I do think, frankly, the federal government has to do a better job. President Trump is committed to doing a better job when it comes to disaster relief. That's true for the hurricane victims and flood victims in North Carolina. It's true for the fire victims in California. We just we have to do a better job. We need competent, good governance.
Now, that doesn't mean you can't criticize the governor of California for, I think, some very bad decisions over a very long period of time. I mean, some of these reservoirs have been dry for 15, 20 years. The fire hydrants are being reported as going dry while the firefighters are trying to put out these fires. There is a serious lack of competent governance in California. And I think it's part of the reason why these fires have gotten so bad. We need to do a better job at both the state and federal level.
So there are skeptics who worry about what the administration will do when it comes to handing out aid to California. They're they're citing back to something that the president-elect said in September when he said we won't give him money to put out all his fires. And if we don't give him the money to put out his fires, he's got problems. Is there any consideration of withholding?
holding aid to Californians? No, look, President Trump cares about all Americans, right? He is the president for all Americans. And I think that he intends to have FEMA and other federal responses much, much better and much more clued into what's going on there on the ground. You know,
President Biden has been asleep at the wheel for a number of different crises. And I think this this final California fire, as it's really going at getting out of control in Biden's last week and a half, I do think it drives home just again. We've had incompetent governance for so long.
President Trump often says that the coalition that made him the president was just a common sense coalition. There were conservatives, there were moderates, there were even a few liberals. But the thing that united us is just this basic idea that, yes, government should be smaller. But when government government does the things that it should do, it ought to do them well. And that's one of the things that President Trump and I are going to fight to get back to.
So President Biden is doing what he can on his way out the door on a number of issues. And critics would say some of those appear to aim to be able to blunting what you all might have planned. Let's talk first about immigration. Politico has this headline. Biden extends temporary status of nearly a million migrants ahead of Trump deportations.
It says the move allows people from certain countries who currently have temporary protected status or TPS to renew work permits and deportation protections, extending the program for El Salvador until March 2026 and Sudan, Ukraine and Venezuela until October of 26th.
How does President Trump plan to handle these last minute things? And what are his own executive actions planned, especially with regard to the border on day one? Yes. So, Shannon, if you step back a little bit, I do think it's important to reiterate that not just on the border, but on a whole host of issues, President Biden has left us an absolute dumpster fire. Now, we're excited to get to work, but we need to be open and honest about the fact that President Biden has not left the next administration in a good place. Right. FEMA's funds are depleted.
We have a wide open southern border. Oil is going through the roof. Bond yields went from four point one percent to four point eight percent in a month. And that's on top of the fact that President Biden has been running the largest peacetime deficits in the history of this country. So we've got a lot of debt, a lot of problems and a wide open southern border. And thank God that Donald Trump takes office in a week and a half because we need somebody to actually.
Thank you.
To Customs and Border Patrol, you guys are allowed to do your job again. And to illegal immigrants all over the world, you are not welcome into this country illegally. If you want to come through, you've got to come through proper channels. What about the critics who are humanitarian activists and others who are worried about these deportations, saying families are going to be separated, people are going to be put in tents and in terrible conditions? They have real concerns about the way you plan to actually meet out those things you're planning to do.
Yeah, so this term is something you're going to hear a lot in the next couple of months, the next couple of years, Shannon, family separation. I think it's important. That's a euphemism. That is a dishonest term to hide behind the fact that Joe Biden has not done border enforcement. If you say, for example, in the United States,
we have a guy who's convicted of a violent crime and has to go to prison. We want that guy to go to prison. But yes, it does mean that that guy is going to be separated from his family. That is the consequence of committing violence upon your fellow citizens. If you come into this country illegally, you need to go back home. You need to have basic law enforcement. And what the Democrats are going to do is they're going to hide behind this. They're going to say that this is
all about compassion for families. It is not compassion to allow the drug cartels to traffic small children. It is not compassionate to allow the worst people in the world to send minor children, some of them victims of sex trafficking, into our country. That is the real humanitarian crisis at the border. You're not going to exacerbate it through law enforcement. You're going to fix it.
through law enforcement. And that's what Donald Trump is going to do. But fair to say those egregious things that you cite that I would think all Americans are against. Sure. That's a small fraction of the millions of people who are here who have built lives. Many of them have been here for decades. So you do have hundreds of thousands, maybe even a million people who, in addition to crossing into the border illegally, have also committed some measure of violent crime. So it's actually a very large number of people, Shannon. And the
point is that if you want to fix the overall border crisis, you have to engage in law enforcement. We can't buy into this lie really from the extreme left, because I agree with you. Most Americans want common sense border enforcement. We can't buy into this lie that law enforcement at the American Southern border is somehow not compassionate to families who want to cross illegally. Our number one responsibility is compassion to our fellow Americans and
And that starts with enforcing the southern border. You cannot have a country of law and order, of stability, of basic good governance unless you get control of what Biden has left us at the American southern border. And President Trump is committed to doing it on day one. You talk about what he's left on the border. He wants to talk about what he's left you on the economy. There was a robust report out of December on jobs.
Unemployment down to 4.1 percent. President Biden says his policy decisions are finally paying off. Here's a bit of what more he said on Friday. Sure. After decades of trickle down economics that primarily benefited those at the very top, Kamala and I and our administration have written a new playbook that's growing the economy from the middle out and the bottom up that benefits everyone. The new playbook is working.
OK, so the December numbers were good. What kind of credit do you give him? Well, look, first of all, I wish Joe Biden all the best. But the fact is he has left us dumpster fire, not just at the border, but also with the economy. First of all, we know the prices are way too high for many Americans. We have to work every single day to stabilize prices for American families. But Shannon, everything that he's bragging about ignores the fact that he has added taxes.
trillions and trillions of dollars to the federal debt during a time of peace. He has left us with bond yields, meaning how are we going to finance that debt? We have to sell Treasury bonds and the Treasury bonds have gotten more expensive because of Joe Biden's policies. So you go issue after issue. Oil prices are now shooting through the roof in the final two months of Joe Biden's administration, in part because of decisions that Joe Biden has made over the last few weeks.
He actually hasn't left the American people in good economic condition. That's why they made Donald J. Trump the president elect of the United States. So we've got a lot of work to do. I remain fundamentally and, you know, the Shannon, I'll always be an optimist about our country. But I think that that optimism has to start with a bit of realism. And the real truth is that Joe Biden has left us a dumpster fire. Donald Trump is going to have to put it out. But
He's good at doing that. OK, we're going to try to get through a lightning round so I can get to a few more things with you. January 6th pardons. President Trump says there's a process. Where is the line drawn on who will and wouldn't be considered for a pardon? I think it's very simple. Look, if you protested peacefully on January the 6th and you've had Merrick Garland's Department of Justice treat you like a gang member, you should be pardoned.
If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn't be pardoned. And there's a little bit of a gray area there. But we're very much committed to seeing the equal administration of law. And there are a lot of people, we think, in the wake of January the 6th who were prosecuted unfairly. We need to rectify that. All right. The president has talked about the Middle East. You're going to inherit a situation in Gaza that's an ongoing conflict. There are, we think, roughly 100 hostages still in Hamas control. Here's what he said on Tuesday. Echoes what he's been saying.
If those hostages aren't back, I don't want to hurt your negotiation. If they're not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East. And it will not be good for Hamas.
And it will not be good, frankly, for anyone. What does that mean practically? All hell's going to break loose. And any updates, Steve Wyckoff back over in the region trying to negotiate a deal? Yes. First of all, Steve Wyckoff is a great guy. He's doing a great job over there. And I think the president, if you talk to world leaders, it's very clear that President Trump
threatening Hamas and making it clear that there is going to be hell to pay as part of the reason why we've made progress on getting some hostages out. We're hopeful there's going to be a deal that struck towards the very end of Biden's administration, maybe the last day or two. But regardless of when that deal is struck, it will be because people are terrified that there are going to be consequences for Hamas. Now, what does that look like? I think, number one, it means enabling the Israelis to knock out the final couple of battalions,
of Hamas and their leadership. It means very aggressive sanctions and financial penalties on those who are supporting terrorist organizations in the Middle East. It means actually doing the job of American leadership, which Donald Trump did very well for four years, and he's going to do very well for the next four years. What's the deal with Greenland and the Panama Canal? Are we using or considering use of military force in any of those situations? No, look, we don't have to use military force, Shannon. The thing that people always ignore is we already have troops in Greenland.
Greenland is really important for America strategically. It has a lot of great natural resources. My friend Donald Trump Jr. was there a couple of days ago. And you know what they told him? They want to be empowered to develop. The people of Greenland want to be empowered to develop the resources there. We also need to make sure that Greenland is properly cared for from an American security perspective. And frankly, the current leadership, the Danish government has not done a good enough job
of securing greenland i think there actually is a real opportunity here for us to take leadership to protect america security to ensure that those incredible natural resources are developed and that's what donald trump is is is good at he's good at making deals and i think there's a deal to be made in greenland okay quickly uh... your buckeyes headed into the national championship it's the same day as the inauguration you sparked a lot of backlash with your tweet that maybe you're going to skip the inauguration to go to the national championship
Is there some kind of executive power to move the game? What's the plan? Trust me, I've asked. Apparently not. I assure you that was a joke. I will be there doing my constitutional duty and swearing in as the 50th vice president of the United States. But man, I really wish they could move the game until Tuesday. And so if you're watching the show and you have the power, I'd really like to watch the Buckeyes. And I don't want to be at the inaugural ball.
like staring at my phone because we're watching Ohio State versus Notre Dame. So let's move that game. But if not, I'll be rooting for the Buckeyes in spirit. I feel like we're going to get that shot of you at the balls. Mr. Vice President-elect, thank you always for coming by. Thank you. Good to see you. So President Trump aiming for some major legislative wins and quickly. Well, Senator Shelley Moore Capito hosted his meeting with Senate Republicans this week as they mapped out a way forward. But some say it's not so clear. She's going to join us live next.
OK, everyone. Trump is the quarterback of the football team. He's been presented options and he has said his preference is one big, beautiful bill. South Dakota Congressman Dusty Johnson on President-elect Trump's preference for packing numerous legislative priorities into one big vehicle. But can lawmakers get that across the finish line? Joining us now, West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito, also the Senate Republican Policy Committee chair. Good to have you this morning, Senator.
Thanks, Shannon. Thanks for having me on. OK, so not to get too wonky, this two bills versus one bill. This is the way The New York Times spells it out. It says some Republicans have argued they should pass two bills in order to quickly push through legislation focused on immigration at the southern border. But Republicans devoted to lowering taxes have pressed for one mammoth bill to ensure that tax cuts aren't left on the cutting room floor. What are some of the sort of logistical considerations on how you get this done?
I think the most important aspect of it is that we have a wonderful opportunity here with the president coming in and then control of the House and Senate. So we need to seize this opportunity. The American people are demanding it. I think that's what the election was about in November.
So I think we want to have a success here, whether it's one bill or two bill. I don't think it really matters as much as long as we get it across the finish line quickly and that it has the results of border unleashing energy taxes and all of the things that we know that President Trump wants.
and that we want to make sure that we are moving in the right direction. And so I think you'll see this sort of iron out. A lot of it has to do with what the speaker thinks can actually pass in the House. So we're waiting as senators to hear that and to see what the president thinks about that. He still wants a big, beautiful bill, but I think he does see the merits of
a two two bill system where you could push something through very, very quickly and get quick results. So we'll iron this out. It's not as it's not confrontational or anything. It's just how to get us across the finish line. Well, one of your colleagues, Senator Lindsey Graham, a fellow Republican, is worried about potentially the optics of this, too, and saying, you know, if there's a delay on getting the border done because you're trying to hitch a tax cut to it, he worries. Here's what he said.
I'm very worried that if we don't put border first and get it done, it's going to be a nightmare for our national security. If you hold border security hostage to get tax cuts, you're playing Russian roulette with our national security. So what about that when the message has been from the right every single day the border is a national security issue?
Well, there's no question the border is the number one issue. I mean, we have 10 million people here illegally that this has been poured over our borders for the last four years. And the president campaigned hard and on this issue, saying that he knows how to fix it and working with Congress, he will fix it.
So I think you'll see a lot of executive orders at the beginning. But at the same time, we have it within our power to really make sure that his desires and our desires at closing that border actually become effective and efficient. And so I do think and I've said publicly that the two the two bill system makes more sense to me because we can do it more immediately and it could have maybe a quicker and more positive effect.
But at the same time, we have to live in the land of the possible here. And I think we're you know, so I agree with Lindsay that the border is number one and the president believes that as well. And I do believe speed is important here. So I think we're going to pick up the speed. The president isn't even president yet. Once he gets sworn in on Monday, we will be hit the ground running. So one of the things, too, that you're going to have to deal with are all of the confirmation battles over his nominee. So I want to take through a couple of these if we
I know you've met with most of them and many of them. I want to talk about former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard to head DNI. There's a man speaking out who's the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force. It's a nonprofit established to respond to the attacks on
on civilians by the former dictator there, Bashar al-Assad. He had traveled with her to Syria, took her on a trip. He was concerned later that she went on her own without the assistance or notice to the U.S. government, taking pictures with Assad. He's been worried about some of her conversations. He now says this, as an American citizen, it concerns me. If Tulsi Gabbard is running our intelligence services, France, UK, Australia, they would not if I was them. I wouldn't share intelligence with us knowing that it might end up in the wrong hands. As a matter of fact,
He says, I might even choose to share false intelligence, knowing that it could get back to Putin. You've had a conversation with her. What was your conversation like? Are you reassured with respect to past actions and statements regarding Putin, regarding Russia, regarding Assad, Bashar al-Assad?
Yeah, I mean, I think this is part of the Senate's responsibility, which is advising consent. And when Tulsi Gabbard came in, we talked about principally Syria, Russia and her opinions on the intelligence gathering procedures that she's questioned very deeply and at one point wanted to discuss.
have them taken away. She doesn't. She's changed her position on that or clarified her position to satisfy me that that 702 provision is extremely important. I asked her about Syria. I asked her how she got there. And she told me she traveled with former Congressman Dennis Kucinich.
And that originally they were just going to go to Lebanon and then they ended up in Syria. She said that she believes that Syria under that regime is a terrorist nation and that there were deep, deep problems in Syria that could endanger people.
you know, that were not favorable to us. And so she's she's explained, I think, a lot of some of the misinformation that's been out there. But she's getting ready to testify before committee. We'll see how she does. OK, so let's turn to RFK Jr. There's a group in West Virginia. I believe it's called Protect Our Care, an advocacy group that's calling on you not to vote for him. They say that he's radical. They worry about his positions on Medicaid, Medicare, on the Affordable Care Act.
Tell us what you can about your conversation with him and what concerns you may still have or where your questions all answered.
Well, here again, the first thing I asked Robert Kennedy Jr. was about vaccination inoculations. I mean, I come from a generation where my parents took me to the elementary school and we ate a little sugar cube. And my mother was jubilant because she knew that I was going to be protected against polio. And so I believe that to be able to prevent these types of diseases is exceedingly important.
He he came back with he's not anti vaccination. He just is. And he wants to have it science based. And that's what he kept going back to. Let's have basic science to make these decisions in terms of I think he wants a healthy country. I think he wants healthier food. I think he wants a health system that work.
for people that need it and that want it. And so I came away from that meeting really very positively impressed. But at the same time, he will be in front of committee and these tough questions will be asked. Well, we know there are many, many others that you've met with and that will work through the process to Senator will watch as that is front and center center in the weeks to come. Thanks for your time. All right. Thank you.
Okay, President-elect Trump sentenced this week on felony convictions out of New York, but the judge imposed basically no punishment. So what was the point? Our legal experts are here to weigh in. And Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg announces big policy changes while bashing the Biden administration. The Sunday panel is up next to discuss why some skeptics are questioning what they're calling the meta chief's change of heart.
Progressive mechanization of government. They call it lawfare. Never happened to any extent like this, but never happened in our country before.
All right, President-elect Trump sounding off on his New York criminal case. He was sentenced to an unconditional discharge Friday, sparing him any jail time, fines, anything else, really, but cementing his place as the first convicted felon to take the oath of office to the presidency. Time now for legal experts to weigh in. Jonathan Turley, George Washington University law professor and former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Andy McCarthy. All right, gentlemen, welcome. All three of us sat through this trial. So, Andy, what was the point of Friday?
Well, you know, sometimes it's not the destination. It's the journey, Shannon. And I think, you know, you can't judge this
by the bottom line. The bottom line, obviously, is nothing came of it. But the point here was not so much to achieve a certain result, certainly not to put now President-elect Trump in prison. The point was to help the Democrats win the 2024 election. So I think in terms of if we take the
point of this on its own terms, it was a failure because it didn't do that. I mean, it was a terrible politicizing of the justice system, but the objective was to get the Democrats into the White House in 2024. So that's the real failure. And it's not just a failure of this particular prosecution, although this was the worst of them. It's really the whole lawfare effort.
Okay, so the appeals will now begin on the substance of this whole thing. And Jonathan, the Wall Street Journal editorial board says Mr. Trump's lawyers can pursue those appeals they hope will prove Mr. Bragg was wrong about the case all along. The DA and Judge Bershon are now both on trial. Your thoughts?
Well, I think there's something to that. You know, I thought the Trump team did a fine job in the sentencing hearing, but the most spirited defense offered was by Judge Mershon himself to defend his conduct in the case.
And I actually think that the verdict against President Trump is not going to last nearly as long as the verdict against the New York court system and Judge Mershon. They allowed that legal system, which was viewed as one of the great legal systems in the world, to be weaponized for political purposes. And at the end...
It all resulted in little more than a shrug and a soundbite. I mean, that's what what ultimately was the the thrill of this thrill kill case. Right. It was to be able to have this mantra that the president was the first convicted felon to take office, even though that may ultimately be reversed. Right.
But it is ultimately sentencing by soundbite. There's nothing else. He will walk into the White House. And I think that the New York court system will walk into infamy unless they reverse this, which is not there's not a lot of high expectations.
But eventually this peddler's wagon piled high with reversible error is going to rattle its way up in front of the Supreme Court. And then I think we're going to see some different results. We'll all be covering it when it gets there. In the meantime, we have these federal cases essentially for the president elect. They've gone away. But Jack Smith has still got these reports he could release. That's being litigated. Whether they go public, they don't have any legal ramifications for the president elect. But Jonathan, I'll start with you. Your thoughts on this fight over releasing them.
Well, you know, the thing that will not be in the report is the most interesting one, and that is how Jack Smith destroyed his own case. And my friend Andy and I have both written about this, that he had a very clear and easy case in Florida. Not that there weren't controversies, but there were false statements and obstruction charges that he could have moved on. Instead, he loaded it up with classified document charges,
that slowed it to a crawl. And then he brought the D.C. case, which was a bridge too far, that I don't think would ever have been sustained. And so the really interesting aspect is what Smith won't talk about. The rest we've seen because the judge in D.C. allowed much of this to be released in summary form earlier.
So, Andy, the attorney general, Merrick Garland, has said he would release all the special counsel reports on his watch. He did that with the investigation into President Biden mishandling documents. Does he ultimately get this Jack Smith stuff out the door?
He does, Shannon. But as Jonathan just said, it's it's of marginal importance at best. They filed a 2000 plus page submission that was public in court three weeks before the election, which, again, I think underscores that the point here was not so much the litigation of Trump. It was the election itself.
and trying to get the Democrats in the White House. The point of that was to aid the Democratic Party messaging in the three weeks prior to the election. But the point is, it was all out there, 2,000 pages of disclosures. What on earth more could he tell us? And with respect to Mar-a-Lago, that case has been, you know, from here to the North Pole, indicted a bunch of times. There's been elaborate...
motion practice for the last however many two years. So there's nothing more they can tell us in these reports. Well, we may see them anyway. Or maybe not. We'll see where that court battle goes. Jonathan Turley, Andy McCarthy, always appreciate your time. Come back soon. Thank you both. Thank you, Shannon. They push us super hard to take down things that
were honestly were true, right? I mean, they basically pushed us and said, you know, anything that says that vaccines might have side effects, you basically need to take down. And I was just like, well, we're not going to do that.
So Facebook and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg telling Joe Rogan now about his interactions his company had with the Biden administration. And he's also rolling out some big policy changes. It's time now for our Sunday group. See what they think. USA Today, Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page. Molly Hemingway, the Federalist Editor-in-Chief. Fox News Senior Political Analyst Juan Williams. By the way, author of the brand new book out Tuesday, New Prize for These Eyes, The Rise of America's Second Civil Rights Movement.
And Josh Krashauer, editor-in-chief of Jewish Insider. All right, welcome, everybody, and congrats on the book this week, Juan. Thanks so much. Okay, so, Molly, Zuckerberg went on to say that once they started pushing back in earnest that agencies and government entities began investigating and coming after his company, he said, quote, it was brutal. Well, this was a fascinating three-hour interview with Joe Rogan where Mark Zuckerberg goes through what it was like to be subject to pressure from the government to censor American speech and debate on all sorts of issues.
and how any resistance that they put forth against this resulted in different agencies in the federal government coming after them, seemingly unrelated, but clearly because the government really wanted Facebook to be a massive partner in the censorship regime. I don't know if Americans realize how big that censorship
censorship regime has been, how much speech and debate has been affected, or even how much Democrats have benefited from that. It's on all sorts of issues, and Zuckerberg goes through some of them, COVID obviously being one of them, but so many other issues as well. It's been a huge advantage for Democrats and a huge problem for Republicans. So if there is some easing up on this censorship regime, you might see some big political results as well. You know, it's interesting. I think conservatives are
are really focused on this censorship angle. And that's the one that Zuckerberg pitched to Joe Rogan and is pitching otherwise. But I think the reality is that Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg, all these high tech guys know where the gravy train is and who's driving the gravy train. And that's Donald Trump, the incoming president. And they want to keep public funds flowing to their programs. Think SpaceX, for example.
But they're also, I think, concerned about regulation of the Internet. And, you know, the Internet, to my mind, is a cesspool. You think about the kinds of things that are out there. And now he says he's not going to he's not going to fact check anything. Wow. The Russians and the Chinese must be just celebrating. Great. They'll put out nonsense.
So I think you think about the damage the Internet has done to our children, to our lives. I just think it's I just think they have misdirected. A lot of people are being fooled to think it's a censorship argument when in reality we need, in fact, some regulation of what is the wild, wild west on our computers. So, in fact, Mark Zuckerberg said that what they're getting rid of is the left wing so-called fact checking enterprise in which left wing groups censored speech and debate among conservatives.
There will still be moderation, but it'll be done through free speech, through the free market of free speech, where users of these different platforms can themselves check facts and information. But it is interesting that people think that if you want to please Democrats, you engage in massive censorship of American speech and debate. And if you want to please Republicans, you embrace free speech. I think that explains a lot about the last election results.
All right. Quick comments from this side of the table. Well, I think the question is, as Juan pointed out, where do you draw the line? Every social media platform is going to have some type of regulation. And I
Mark Zuckerberg is clearly loosening those regulations. I think it's unmistakable that it's not out of altruism entirely that there's a new Republican president, Donald Trump, coming in. There's a Republican Congress. He's worried about regulation, worried about Trump perhaps putting his finger on the scale for other social media platforms. So that is also part of the dynamic. But the reality is to have a successful social media platform, you have to set the rules somewhere. The
question of where the line is drawn is the key one. And look, it's clear that I think it's almost impossible for these social media platforms to monitor every crude comment, every, you know,
ugly thing that's said on the internet. And I think they found it just easier to kind of have a light touch and let people say what they want to say. I mean, Susan, it's been interesting to watch the parade to Mar-a-Lago and beyond of these folks who maybe had very different positions not that long ago. You know, presidents have hard power. We've seen a demonstration of a president's soft power in the recalibration by these media companies, in the recalibration by Democrats, and in the recalibration by foreign leaders who are trying to get right
with the guy who's going to have power next week. - All right, Susan, I want to talk to you because you talked to the man who was leaving the office, had this exit interview with President Biden, which was fascinating. Again, you talked about regrets and people expect that he's going to say something eventually about Afghanistan, the way that withdrawal went down or other things.
But he said to you, too, this idea that he didn't do a good enough job of combating misinformation was one of his biggest regrets. Yeah, combating misinformation and making the case that his economic policies were helping Americans. So his biggest regrets in the interview that I did with him went to his own communications ability to combat misinformation.
to make his case to the American people. And I think that's one reason he did this interview. He wanted to make his case for his legacy at a time when he's undergoing a lot of criticism on things like his age, his health, his pardon of his son. Well, what about the idea of, in this question, of him pre-pardoning, sort of reparting people before they're charged, people like Liz Cheney or Anthony Fauci? He said he hadn't decided yet, and some of it dintens. He said on what signals Donald Trump sends as he heads
But he says he made that case to Trump in that meeting that he and Trump had a week after the election. They met in the Oval Office. He said he told Trump, it doesn't serve your interest to go after these people you see as your enemies. Now, he said that Trump didn't indicate he was going to take his advice, but he did say he listened.
Well, it was a fascinating interview. Thank you for sharing that with the rest of us out here. In the meantime, we've got folks here on Capitol Hill who are trying to figure out what the next administration will mean for them, how they will work together. And there's a little bit of a meltdown over some of the Democrats being willing to do things like vote for the Lake and Riley Act and talk about working together. Rolling Stone has this headline. Democrats are already rolling over for Trump. Republicans are loving it. They want to say the resistance is over as John Fetterman, Chuck Schumer and many more Democrats signal a new era of enhanced democracy.
Democratic subservience, Josh, is that overstating it? A little bit, but look, elections have meaning and Trump won a pretty decisive victory. And you also have 10 Democratic senators representing states that Donald Trump carried. And a lot of them supported or have supported on record the Lake and Riley Act and are starting to try to figure out ways where they can work with this new administration.
So it's not just altruism. It's not just that they agree on policy, but they understand that the voters in their districts actually do want to see cooperation. And look, 53 Republican senators, 10 Democrats in Trump states. That's a possibility for bipartisanship if Trump chooses to go in that direction. Why?
And what do you think about bipartisanship in this new Congress? I'm all for it. And look who has the power. The power is with Donald Trump, the incoming president. The Lake and Riley Act, though, I mean, it's really about punishing criminals, people who've committed theft and burglary. They're illegal immigrants or undocumented. So they don't have...
legal protections anyway. I think most Democrats and Americans at all would agree with it. And there's all sorts of issues where Democrats are seeing that they're on the wrong side of these 75-25 issues. That's a great example, but there are a lot of other issues as well. They're counting on Trump to overreach. Cooperate on the stuff they can agree on, like this re-immigration bill. Count on him to overreach and then draw some distinctions.
All right, panel. Thank you very much. Always appreciate your insights. We'll see you next Sunday. So the DNC is preparing to elect a new leader as calls for change in the party grow louder in the wake of a bruising election defeat. Ken Martin is campaigning to be the new DNC chair. So what has the party learned in its post-election autopsy? He's live next. Here's to getting better with AIDA.
The DNC will meet next month to elect a new party chair as Democrats try to recalibrate after the GOP's decisive victory in November. Joining us now, one of the frontrunners to fill that position, Ken Martin, the current chair of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor Party. Ken, welcome to Fox News Sunday.
Thanks so much for having me, Shannon. Let's talk a little bit post election analysis. Our Fox News voter analysis folks told us they favored President Trump by nine points on crime, 10 points on the economy, 16 to 17 points on immigration. What has been your assessment about why the message didn't connect better with the American people? And is there any internal agreement within the Democrat Party?
Well, look, I mean, we're still analyzing everything from last year. We know we lost ground with Latino voters, with working class households, with women, with young voters, a whole group of demographics and parts of our coalition that we need to do better with for sure. And as you mentioned, we lost ground on some of these important issues. So we need to really get to the bottom of that.
But one of the things that surprised me last year and should have been a red flag for our party was the perceptions of the two parties actually changed for the first time in American history. It showed that the majority of Americans now believe that the Republicans are best suited to represent the interests of the working class and the poor. And the Democratic Party is a party of the wealthy and the elite. That's a damning indictment on who we are.
and we've got to change that because i'll tell you just from personal experience my mom was fifteen years old when she had me she was raising four kids as a single mom but by herself and if there wasn't a community and a government that cared about those little kids in that family we won't be here and so the reality is our party's gotta stand up and fight for working families again and give them a sense that we give a damn about their lives and you know there's so much we need to learn still and we're gonna get to the bottom of it but i'll tell you what the democratic party needs to do a better job
of showing Americans and, frankly, working families that they're going to stand up and fight to make their lives better. So you are one of several people who are running to become the new DNC chair. Here is how The New York Times spells it out. They say,
Especially when Democrats do not hold the White House. Whoever wins the vote February 1st will be responsible for helping lead a party grappling with why it lost again to Donald J. Trump while keeping peace among a constellation of interest groups, donors, congressional committees, ambitious governors and state parties. So why take on this job?
Well, first off, you're absolutely right. Being a party chair at any level is a political equivalency of being a fire hydrant, right? You get pissed on by everyone. You get none of the credit when you win. You get all the blame when you lose. And the reality is it's a very thankless job. But you do it because you love the party and because we have to fight. We have to rebuild this party. We have to unite our party to win and not just to pat ourselves on the back because we won elections.
but we win so we can improve people's lives and make people's lives easier to afford and easier to live. That's why I'm running. I want to get the DNC out of D.C., focused in partnership with our 57 state parties on a plan to compete in every zip code in every county in this country and contesting races up and down the ballot. It's a big job for sure, but I'm ready to do it. I've led the
party here in Minnesota successfully for the last 14 years. We haven't lost an election here in Minnesota. We're 25 and 0. And I think we can scale that up here with the DNC and bring that same model to our National Democratic Party. Well, your supporters describe you as a workhorse. We know several others are in this race. We're hoping to talk with them in the coming weeks leading up to the vote, too. Big forum yesterday. Folks can go back and watch it on C-SPAN. And you will have several other forums leading up to that February 1st vote. In the meantime, Ken Martin, we appreciate your time.
Thank you, Shannon. OK, up next, a preview of President Trump's second inauguration. You're watching live as rehearsal for the inaugural parade is underway here in Washington, D.C. this morning. Very chilly day, but they're getting it all in order for the inauguration coming up January 20th. Do your dry eyes...
You are actually looking live here in Washington, D.C. this morning. They are holding the rehearsal, the run through for the inaugural parade that's just eight days away. It will be the Trump Vance inauguration here on January 20th. These are live rehearsals underway next week. Fox News Sunday will preview this all. We're going to have a bird's eye view so you can see where all of the action will happen as President Trump is sworn in for a second term special show.
next Sunday. And just a quick note, a brand new episode of my podcast, Live in the Bream, drops today. This week, my conversation with Dr. Bobby Duke. He's chief curatorial officer at the Museum of the Bible. We talked about some stunning new archaeological discoveries and the surprising things that they reveal about the early church and many different religions and their origins. So that's it for today. Thank you for joining us. I'm Shannon Bream. Have a warm, safe week, and we'll see you next Fox News Sunday.
Fox News Audio presents the Fox Nation Investigates podcast, Evil Next Door. Exploring the life and crimes of five serial predators from across the United States. Follow and listen starting February 25th at foxtruecrime.com. Listen to Fox News Sunday ad-free on Amazon Music with your Prime membership or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.