REPORT-WI-01
Trump Take on Trade; Commuter-in-Chief; Getaway Deal; Syrian Civil War
Wages On - Part 1>
Kevin Corke, John Huddy>
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CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS HOST: This is a Fox News alert. I'm Chris Wallace, in for Bret Baier.
President-Elect Trump nominates another member of his cabinet today as one of his picks comes under heavy fire from the left.
But first: the death of an American hero. John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth died today after being hospitalized for more than a week at a Columbus, Ohio cancer hospital. He was 95.
President Obama called Glenn an icon who spent his life defending our freedom and breaking barriers. Donald Trump described him as a pioneer and hero who inspired generations of future explorers.
My colleague John Scott looks back at the remarkable life and legacy of John Glenn.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN SCOTT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: John Herschel Glenn, Jr. will be remembered for his many roles in America's history. This American icon was a warrior in battle, our first astronaut to orbit the earth, and one of our most successful political leaders on Capitol Hill. In 1998, he added oldest person in space to his roster of achievements.
SEN. JOHN GLENN, FORMER ASTRONAUT: I can't help but stand here today with a real sense of deja vu, some 40-year-old almost sense of deja vu.
SCOTT: He was born July 18, 1921 in Cambridge, Ohio and attended New Concord's Muskingum College. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, he signed up for the aviation cadet program and became a Marine Corps pilot. Long before Senator John Glenn landed in our nation's capital, he served in World War II flying 59 successful missions. Five years later, this leatherneck was ready to fly sorties again, this time over North Korea.
After serving in Korea, Glenn attended test pilot school at the Naval Air Test Center in Maryland. Here he gained early national recognition by setting the transcontinental speed record from Los Angeles to New York in three hours, 23 minutes.
By the late 1950s, the U.S. manned space program was just being conceived. And John Glenn was selected as one of the first seven astronauts for Project Mercury. Three years later on February 20, 1962 he made history becoming the first American to orbit the earth.
GLENN: And (inaudible) was turning around. That view is tremendous.
SCOTT: After a few failed attempts at launching a political career, Glenn ran again in 1974. This time he easily won a seat in the United States Senate. He was re-elected in 1980 by the largest margin in the history of the state.
Political journalist Jack Germond followed Senator Glenn's early political career.
JACK GERMOND, POLITICAL JOURNALIST: My first impression which was when he ran on the primary before '74 was that he had no feel for politics at all. But he had a tremendous appeal to people because he was plain spoken and he was a national hero.
SCOTT: Senator Glenn ran in the Democratic presidential primaries of 1984 but eventually bowed out to former Vice President Walter Mondale.
On January 16, 1998, NASA announced plans to return the 76-year-old legend to space, 36 years after he first orbited the earth. John Glenn's second trip to space took off as planned in October of 1998.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Liftoff of Discovery with a crew of six astronaut heroes and one American legend.
SCOTT: When the mission was over, America's oldest space traveler was given another hero's welcome, his second ticker tape parade on Broadway in New York City.
GERMOND: I'd say he's one of the few legitimate American heroes of our time.
GLENN: I think too often people say, well, I'm at this age supposed to now be a couch potato. I think the thing to do is just get out and work to fulfill your dreams, your ambitions, at whatever age.
SCOTT: Following his retirement from politics and return from space, he and wife Annie, founded the John Glenn Institute for Public Service at Ohio State University. They also served as trustees of their alma mater, Muskingum College.
John Scott, Fox News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: Now to presidential politics.
A headline in a Washington newspaper today asks whether Donald Trump is already president? He is certainly acting like it today.
The President-Elect met with families and first responders from last week's brutal terrorist attack at Ohio State University. The event comes as Trump continues his search for the best fit to be his top diplomat. And on top of that, another celebration with the supporters tonight in Iowa.
Correspondent Peter Doocy is in Des Moines right now. Good evening -- Peter.
PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good evening -- Chris.
It was just a few minutes ago that the President-Elect left the campus of Ohio State University. He headed for John Glenn International Airport there in Columbus on his way here to Iowa. But he did meet for about 40 minutes with victims of that recent stabbing spree on campus and the first responders who stepped in to save them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: We just saw the victims and the families. We were really -- these were really brave people, amazing people. The police and first responders were incredible -- the job done in particular by one young gentleman was incredible.
DOOCY: The President-Elect hosted a pair of potential secretary of state contenders in Manhattan. Retired four-star Admiral James Stavridis and former Ford and Boeing CEO Alan Mulally. Stavridis was actually vetted as a running mate earlier this year for Hillary Clinton and used to be a big critic of Mr. Trump.
ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS, FORMER TRUMP CRITIC: I think he does not seem to have a grasp for the issues that are facing the nation.
DOOCY: But after emerging from Trump Tower's golden elevators, the retired admiral sounded like an admirer.
STAVRIDIS: I found it to be a very interesting and a very informed conversation.
DOOCY: Mulally's invitation is intriguing because his resume includes stints at two recent Trump targets -- Boeing, singled out earlier this week as spending too much on the next generation of Air Force One; and Ford, which Mr. Trump repeatedly warned against building any more of its cars out of the country.
TRUMP: You are not going to have any cars coming across the border unless you pay a 35 percent tax. That's it.
DOOCY: Transition officials are stressing that Ford under Mulally was the only big American car company not to take bailout money. The Trump cabinet room continued quickly filling up today with the announcement that Mr. Trump wants Andy Puzder as Labor secretary. Puzder is the CEO of CKE restaurants which runs Hardee's and Carl's Jr. and the businessman regularly advocates against raising the minimum wage.
That Labor Department pick followed a night of fighting with organized labor, the head of a union representing some Indiana Carrier workers who thinks the President-Elect inflated the number of jobs saved there telling the "Washington Post" this week, quote, "Trump and Pence, they pulled a dog and pony show on the numbers." @RealDonaldTrump on Twitter replied quote, "Chuck Jones, who is president of United Steelworkers 1999 has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country."
There are also new questions today about whether or not Mr. Trump will completely sever ties with his by inauguration day as the "New York Times" reports he may keep a stake. Trump lawyer Michael Cohen responded this morning.
MICHAEL COHEN, TRUMP LAWYER: Everybody is concentrating on what he is going to do with the business. They will find out December 15th.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOOCY: Here in Des Moines, it is very, very cold out. But it's looking like it will be a warm welcome inside Hy-Vee Hall for the President-Elect who will be joined tonight on the third stop of the Thank You Victory Tour by the President-Elect and the state's governor Terry Branstad who the next administration hopes to send to China as the next U.S. ambassador there -- Chris.
WALLACE: Peter Doocy, reporting from Des Moines. Peter -- thanks for that.
We are apparently nearing an end to the presidential vote recounts in a handful of states. Wisconsin reports it is more than 70 percent complete. Hillary Clinton has gained just 83 votes in a state that Trump won by 22,000.
A partial recount continues in Nevada. Pennsylvania's effort is the subject of a federal hearing tomorrow. And a federal judge in Michigan ended that state's activity last night saying Green Party candidate Jill Stein is not eligible to ask for a recount.
Well, environmentalists certainly would like a recount if they could get one on Donald Trump's decision to name a noted climate change skeptic to run the Environmental Protection Agency. Tonight, correspondent Doug McKelway tells us why so many are so afraid of Scott Pruitt.
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DOUG MCKELWAY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: If today was any indication, the biggest fight facing a Trump cabinet pick could be over the choice for EPA administrator, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt who is closely allied with oil and gas interests. In a conference call with reporters this morning, shocked environmentalists and their congressional allies who maintain the science of global warming is settled despite conflicting evidence tore into Pruitt.
SEN. BRIAN SCHATZ (D), HAWAII: This is a full-fledged environmental emergency. We have a person who is not just a climate denier but who is a professional climate denier.
MCKELWAY: Adding to their insults Pruitt's pick came after Trump met with global warmists Leonardo diCaprio and Al Gore.
AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was a sincere search for areas of common ground.
MCKELWAY: Pruitt's pick is seen by many conservatives, EPA critics and Trump himself as an antidote to EPA's regulatory overreach and the cost it imposes on businesses. As the President-Elect told Bret Baier shortly before the election.
TRUMP: We want clean air. We want safety. And we want clean water -- crystal clean water. But we can't give hundreds of billions of dollars away to groups that we don't even know where the money is going. It's crazy.
MCKELWAY: Nowhere is the EPA's overreach more controversial than in its clean power plan which sets a national limit on carbon emissions from power plants. Its implementation is on hold after a Supreme Court stay pending legal challenges.
SAM KATZMAN, COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: That policy agenda is something that is resulting in the destruction of huge numbers of jobs, the destruction of affordable energy in this country.
MCKELWAY: Critics note that even present EPA administrator Gina McCarthy admitted the clean power plan is largely symbolic, after she was confronted by a congressional critic who noted it would reduce temperatures by only one/one-hundredth of a degree.
GINA MCCARTHY, EPA ADMINISTRATOR: The value of this rule is not measured in that way. It is measured in showing strong domestic action which can actually trigger global action.
MCKELWAY: Pruitt was among dozens of state AGs who sued the EPA, the very agency he will head if confirmed. Senate Democrats plan an all-out assault.
SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (D), RHODE ISLAND: We should be prepared to talk about this not just as a matter of bad climate policy but as a matter of corruption of government.
MCKELWAY: One explanation for the left's outrage over Pruitt comes from this Nobel prize winning physicist who also has been demonized for noting how stable temperatures have been over 150 years.
DR. IVAR GIAEVER, PHYSICS NOBEL LAUREATE: Global warming really has become a new religion, because you can't discuss it. It's not proper.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCKELWAY: Pruitt is apparently not as vindictive towards his opponents as they are to him. Writing about his critics in a May 2016 op-ed he said, quote, "We call upon them to press those beliefs through debate, not through governmental intimidation," -- Chris.
WALLACE: Doug -- thank you.
Let's talk more about Trump's pick to run the EPA. Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer joins us now. I think it's fair to say the Democrats' hair is on fire about the pick of Scott Pruitt. How worried should they be?
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: They should be worried because they have overreached now for eight years. And that's about to be stopped in its tracks.
All the coverage has been on the fact that he believes x, y or z about climate change, as if we have a religious test for office in the country, because as we just heard, climate change is a kind of religion.
The fact is, we don't care if the guy believes that the moon is made of green cheese. His job is to administer. That means to carry out the law as passed by Congress. The complaint of the right of conservatives about this administration, it is absolutely trampling the idea of administrators as interpreting the law. They make it up.
And that's why the EPA has been stymied time and again in the courts led by Pruitt and other attorney general when they try to overstep. They interpret the law in a way that gives them absolute dominion over almost everything. If it rains on your farm and creates a pond, the feds -- the EPA claims the right to regulate you. And that's going to stop.
WALLACE: For folks like you, who I think it's fair to say, doubted whether or not Donald Trump was a true conservative, when you look at people like Scott Pruitt at EPA and Andy Puzder today at Labor and Tom Price running Health and Human Services, this is shaping up on the domestic side as a very conservative cabinet.
KRAUTHAMMER: Without question. And each of these appointments appears targeted at a specific thing, like school choice for education, the EPA is going to be on the essentially Obama taking over the energy industry. He tried by legislation in 2009 and '10 when he had control of the Congress with cap and trade and even the Democrats rejected that. And he did, as he has done in a dozen other areas, try to legislate through regulation.
And that's why I think conservatives are very encouraged by these appointments.
WALLACE: We share several passions -- baseball, politics and space exploration. You and I have talked about that a lot. I would love to hear your thoughts about the passing of John Glenn.
KRAUTHAMMER: John Glenn was the most celebrated American adventurer of the century second only to Charles Lindbergh. And he deserves it. He was insanely courageous. Not just a fighter pilot in the Second World War and the Korean War, a test pilot in the '50s in the supersonic and space age where life expectancy was quite short for those pilots. But here he is the first man to go into orbit.
Imagine this. When you are ready to go -- it was postponed I think 11 times. Your colleagues, you're co-workers they strap you in, they shut the door, they go down the gantry and they drive three miles, not one mile, not two, not three because of the fireball that's about --
WALLACE: And you are at the top of that firecracker all by yourself.
KRAUTHAMMER: All by yourself. And your best pals, your colleagues are in a bunker three miles away. That tells you how insanely courageous they were.
And remember -- you do remember, in the early 60s, we were having launch explosions with unmanned flights every day and that's why it was such a chance. It seems all safe now. It wasn't.
WALLACE: No. And I have to say I do remember it got scrubbed. That was the word they used scrubbed over and over again because of bad weather on the Cape. Finally it took off. John Glenn, Godspeed.
Thank you -- Charles.
One of candidate Trump's rallying cries was getting rid of what he called disastrous trade deals and leveling the playing field for American goods and workers. But many Republicans are resisting Trump's ideas about how to accomplish that.
Chief national correspondent Ed Henry is here tonight to tell us why.
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ED HENRY, FOX NEWS CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump has not even been sworn into office and top Republicans are already balking at his push for a massive tariff on companies that ship jobs overseas with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy warning of a trade war.
While Speaker Paul Ryan today tried to brush off Mr. Trump's tariff more diplomatically saying the focus should be on cutting corporate taxes.
REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), HOUSE SPEAKER: We believe that the best way to get at this issue is through comprehensive tax reform.
HENRY: While the President-Elect has warmed the hearts of Republicans with promises of major tax cuts he is upending conservative orthodoxy dating back decades with a thank you tour that sometimes makes him sound more like a Democrat.
TRUMP: The era of economic surrender is over.
REP. TIM RYAN (D), OHIO: The bottom 90 percent, the working class families have not seen a raise in 20 or 30 years.
HENRY: And Mr. Trump is pushing that 35 percent tariff on companies for outsourcing, a move that Moody's warned could plunge the U.S. into recession, shrink the economy by 4.6 percent, put four million workers out of jobs and lead to another 3.3 million jobs not being created. All on top of the Carrier deal that also ran counter to GOP gospel on free market.
STEVEN MOORE, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: We can't be giving special interest favors to businesses every time they threaten to leave.
HENRY: Yet conservative economist Steven Moore noted Mr. Trump could calm the right and make the tariff debate moot by pushing through major tax reform and regulatory relief. And the President-Elect has already signaled 35 percent is just an opening gamut to deal with the fact that in October alone, the U.S. had a trade deficit of $40 billion.
TRUMP: Including more than a $30 billion trade deficit with China alone -- all right. Think we're doing a good job at negotiating? I don't think so.
HENRY: And Moore who worked on the Trump campaign but is not involved in the transition notes there's no denying the President-Elect's success so far.
MOORE: Not only did Donald Trump win with this message, but look at what has happened to the stock market, look at what has happened to consumer confidence, look at what's happened to his approval rating. This is a president who is on a roll.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: Moore did warn that Mr. Trump has to be careful that a whole bunch of companies may now be lining up on Pennsylvania Avenue here in Washington and Fifth Avenue in New York looking for goodies -- Chris.
WALLACE: Ed -- thank you.
Up next, will President Obama pardon Hillary Clinton on his way out of the Oval Office?
First here is what some of our Fox affiliates around the country are covering tonight.
Fox 5 in Atlanta, with the death of a second South Georgia police officer involved in a domestic dispute shooting yesterday. Police in America's Georgia say the 32-year-old suspect apparently killed himself today as authorities arrived at a home where he was hiding.
Fox 11 in Reno, Nevada where a knife-wielding high school student who was threatening other students is in critical condition after being shot by a campus police officer. The chief of police says the officer took the action when the 14-year-old boy failed to follow his commands.
And this is a live look at San Francisco from Fox 2. One of the big stories there tonight, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake rocked the West Coast this morning. The U.S. Geological Survey reports the quake was centered about 100 miles west of Ferndale, California. There are no reports of damage or injuries.
That's tonight's live look outside the Beltway from SPECIAL REPORT. We'll be right back.
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WALLACE: As President Obama's time in office draws to a close, there are questions about whether the President who has shattered records for issuing pardons and commutations will end with a flourish that could include some high-profile choices.
Correspondent Kevin Corke looks at that tonight from the White House.
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KEVIN CORKE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: With over a thousand commutations, President Obama has granted clemency to more people than the previous 11 presidents combined. But how he handles several high-profile applicants in the remaining weeks of his presidency could well be his most enduring legacy.
Accused army deserter Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, transgender military secrets leaker Chelsea Manning and exiled NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden looking each for an 11th hour reprieve before Mr. Obama leaves office.
Pressure is rising to pardon Snowden who is charged with multiple felonies for theft of government property and violations of the espionage act; the ACLU joined by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and calling on the President to grant clemency.
Asked about that very subject last month, the President said, "I can't pardon somebody who hasn't gone before a court and presented themselves. Mr. Snowden raised legitimate concerns. How he did it was something that did not follow the procedures and practices of our intelligence community."
On Capitol Hill a group of House Democrats has also called on the President to pardon about 750,000 young undocumented immigrants who are temporarily shielded from deportation under a 2012 executive order. White House officials today conceded that the President can't protect the dreamers, as they are commonly known, from a change in policy under a Trump administration.
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The President cannot use his clemency authority to legalize the immigration status of anybody. And that is -- that is why we pursued the executive actions that we did.
CORKE: And what of the fate of former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton? Might the President give her a blanket pardon much in the way President Ford offered President Nixon?
JOHN HUDAK, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: It would imply that there was guilt by Secretary Clinton and I think that's something she's unwilling to believe. I think it's something the President is unwilling to believe. And it's likely not something that I think any of the parties would be interested in. And I don't think the President would do it as a result.
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CORKE: Interesting conversation there with John Hudak. By the way, those immigrant dreamers, Chris, gave the government a lot of personal information, including fingerprints and the home addresses of their relatives in order to apply for protection under DACA. And there is concern tonight among Democrats that the government under a Trump administration could use that very same information to deport them -- Chris.
WALLACE: Kevin Corke reporting from the White House. Kevin -- thank you.
Congress is trying to get out of town as soon as possible. But the one thing holding up lawmakers is a spending bill to keep the government running. Republicans are trying to use that leverage to their advantage.
Chief congressional correspondent Mike Emanuel is on Capitol Hill tonight to tell us how. Good evening -- Mike.
MIKE EMANUEL, FOX NEWS CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well Chris -- good evening. That package passed the House easily -- 326 to 96 even though the House Democratic leader voted against it.
It would fund the government through next April 28. It contains $10.1 billion for fighting ISIS and other overseas contingency operations. It has $4.1 billion for disaster relief, including money for Hurricane Matthew victims. And $170 million for contaminated drinking water. 118 Democrats in the House voted for the measure but not their leader.
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REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: Members will do what they do. But the fact is that it's just a missed opportunity. And it's really kind of sad, because there's so many things that we could do to meet the needs of the American people working together in a bipartisan way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
EMANUEL: Two Democrats in the Senate, West Virginia's Joe Manchin and Ohio's Sherrod Brown, are upset benefits for retired coal miners are only being extended four months. They want a full year. They threatened to hold up the Senate but don't appear to have the votes to stop this bill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R), TEXAS: So our friends across the aisle need to face up to the reality that if they somehow prevent us from passing this continuing resolution, it will be on their hands. So I hope they will reconsider because they're not going to be able to achieve the goal that they are seeking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
EMANUEL: With more than 100 House Democrats voting for the measure, many Republicans on Capitol Hill say Manchin and Brown lost their leverage -- Chris.
WALLACE: Mike -- Harry Reid is about to end his tenure as the Democratic leader in the Senate. How is he saying good-bye?
EMANUEL: Well, after 30 years here on Capitol Hill, including 12 as the Senate Democratic leader, it is almost over. And late today, Harry Reid unveiled his official portrait with some Democratic VIPs on hand, including Vice-President Joe Biden and former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in attendance. Today Reid offered some advice in his farewell remarks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: I didn't make it in life because of my athletic my prowess. I didn't make it because of my good looks. I didn't make it because I'm a genius. I made it because I worked hard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
EMANUEL: Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell noted their many battles over the years but says they always tried to keep them professional and not personal -- Chris.
WALLACE: Mike Emanuel on Capitol Hill. Mike -- thank you.
U.N. officials are scrambling to find enough land to shelter as many as 700,000 people fleeing Mosul as Iraqi forces continue to battle ISIS there. So far about 82,000 have left and refugee camps are near capacity.
Meanwhile Iraq's parliament speaker says an air strike targeting an ISIS- held town kill and wounded dozens of civilian. A U.S. military spokesman denies any involvement.
ISIS is calling on its followers to launch attacks in Bahrain and target American military personnel ahead of a visit there by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter this weekend. The threat comes as U.S. and Russian officials continue talks on implementing a cease-fire in Aleppo as the humanitarian situation there gets worse every day.
Correspondent John Huddy has that story tonight from the Israeli border with Syria.
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JOHN HUDDY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: The sound of prayer and the sound of war -- a constant chorus as thousands of civilians remain trapped in war- ravaged eastern Aleppo. But help may be coming.
SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: I can inform you that the Syrian army suspended active military operation in eastern Aleppo today because another one and so far the largest operation of withdrawal of civilian is being conducted.