REWARD-01
Accepting Refugees; President Obama Playing Golf in Hawaii After Being
Briefed on Both the Berlin Attack and the Murder of Russian Ambassador; Tim
Cook Tries to Calm Down His Workers; Bill Clinton Blaming Angry White Men;
Students Agree to Sign a Fake Petition to Cancel Christmas; Christmas Song
Turned Funny - Part 1>
Altman, Brunell Donald-Kyei, Cabot Phillips, Dana Kamide >
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ELIZABETH MACDONALD, FOX NEWS HOST: Germany now on high alert. A manhunt now underway for a potentially armed and dangerous terrorist, he escaped after he rammed a 32-ton truck into a busy Christmas market last night. A dozen dead, 48 injured. ISIS claiming responsibility for this attack in Berlin.
Welcome to Risk & Reward. I'm Elizabeth MacDonald, filling in for Deirdre Bolton.
German police releasing a Pakistani refugee initially thought to be a suspect. Police warning that terrorists who slaughtered innocents last night is still on the loose.
Meantime, the iconic German landmark, the Brandenburg Gate illuminated in the colors of the country's national flag in the show of solidarity and resolve to not back down in the face of terrorism.
This as German Chancellor Angela Merkel faces mounting opposition in her reelection bid for a fourth term. Angela Merkel welcomed more than one million refugees last year alone. Many of whom say they are at war at west. Angela Merkel criticize for making that move without giving her intelligence and enforcement authorities the time to prepare.
Here's President-elect Donald Trump not mincing words about the attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: People are pouring in from regions of the Middle East. We have no idea who they are, where they come from, what they are thinking. And we're going to stop that dead, cold, flat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACDONALD: Let's take this to former republican presidential candidate and Trump supporter, he is former Governor Mike Huckabee. He is with me now. Always great to have you on the show, Governor.
MIKE HUCKABEE, FORMER ARKANSAS GOVERNOR: Well, I appreciate it, Liz. You know, this is another reminder that the idea of just allowing in mass numbers of unvetted people, is an invitation to disaster and sorrow.
You wonder if Angela Merkel is regretting any of it. Although she saw no signs of it whatsoever after 1.1 million have come in, it's really hard to find the bad guys when it's easy to blend in with maybe what could be some good guys after all.
MACDONALD: Governor, let's stay in your point there because intelligence authorities in Europe are now talking about a database to track refugees coming into the country that they were share with each other.
And Donald Trump brings that up here in the United States about Syrian refugees. Remember there is no database in Syria. Intelligence agencies have said that here. He's called the fascist, he's called, you know, the new Hitler. What are your thoughts?
HUCKABEE: Well, I think it's so very unfair, because the primary job of a U.S. president is to protect Americans, it's not to make sure that we allow people in. It's one thing to provide humanitarian assistant, even safe spaces somewhere in the Middle East.
But frankly, the U.S. is not a great place to bring people who don't speak the language, who don't understand the culture, and don't embrace who we are. And we have no idea who they are and why are they coming.
And when all of those refugees fled the Middle East in places it wasn't Syrian and Christians the ones who were being slaughtered. It was a lot of young 20-year-old males, and they were hardly just the typical refugees that were presented to us as children and families what we're being chased out of the country for their lives.
MACDONALD: You know, Governor, is it your sense that U.S. voters, both democrat and republican, is your sense that they are finally agreeing with Donald Trump. That we do need a strong national security in this face of this growing threat?
HUCKABEE: Well, I hope so. I mean how many of these kind of attacks do we have to have? Berlin, San Bernardino, what we saw in southern France, I mean, this happens over and over. And you know, if you don't start learning something from these horrors, then you have to wonder how intelligent are the people who are making decisions?
Because the one thing they have an obligation to do is to say, you know what, we are seeing some things here that establish a pattern, we see the pattern and we're going to stop it.
And I think why Donald Trump is going to be sworn in as president is because he addressed it, he addressed it forcefully and straight up. And when people try to say how come he won the election that's a big part of it.
Because one thing Americans want is to know that their neighborhoods, their communities, their schools, their shopping mall, their Christmas markets are going to be places where they are not going to be murdered because somebody got in here who should never have crossed our border.
MACDONALD: Yes. You know, I also like your, Governor, on what terrorist expert Dr. Sebastian Gorka now describes as a new world that we live in. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN GORKA, TERRORISM ANALYST: This is the reality of the world we live in, there is the front line like there was in World War I or World War II. The front line is when you leave your house in the morning or when you go to a Christmas market in downtown Berlin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACDONALD: There is no front line when you leave your house in the morning, what do you think, sir?
HUCKABEE: I think it's an astute statement, it's spot on. Because historically wars were fought by soldiers who fought for their countries, now the war is being brought to civilians, it's being brought to communities, to neighborhoods, to shopping malls, to places of worship, to places where people gather for entertainment, theaters whatever it may be.
And when he said that the front line is when you step out of your house, that's exactly right. And it's the one thing I think Americans want to be able to say no more of this. You know, if we are going to fight a war, let's fight it with soldiers who have uniforms and weapons and who are trained for this purpose.
Every single citizens shouldn't have to expect to be part of the fighting force because they don't know who came into the country with the permission and even the blessing of the government, given jobs, education, all sorts of opportunities, and then turn around and murder a bunch of Americans.
MACDONALD: Yes.
HUCKABEE: Good heavens. We got to learn from all of this stuff.
MACDONALD: You know, there are trends that we're tracking here talking to the experts, Governor, you know, a vehicle used in the Nice attack, killing 86 wounding 434. A vehicle used in terror attack in Ohio State, now in Berlin. And also this trend as well, major capitols in Europe now the targets.
Paris, Brussels, and Berlin hit with terror attacks. We have seven major attacks in Germany alone this year versus just one last year. Again, this is before German leader Angela Merkel let in more than a million refugees. She's under a lot of criticisms right now over that.
Now the attack, let's just go through some of them. They include a suicide bomber in Germany, he injured 15. Also an Afghani refugee who raped and murdered a medical student, another who stabbed tourists on a train, injuring 5. A teenager who shot dead 9 and a Syrian refugee who killed a pregnant woman with a machete, wounding 5, as well.
All across this Europe this year, 130 people killed, 75 injured in nearly three dozen terror attacks.
President Obama is now being criticized for hitting the golf course in Hawaii after being briefed on both the Berlin attack and the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey.
The president did call Angela Merkel last night to offer condolences and assistance, but the president personally has yet to issue a statement. The national Security Council did however.
Donald Trump again, characteristically blunt and frank saying, quote, "ISIS and other Islamic terrorists continually slaughter Christians as part of their global Jihad. These terrorist networks must be eradicated from the face of the earth."
Two things, Governor. It seems like just the first time we heard a president-elect using the term Islamic terrorist and condemning the slaughter of Christians. Your thoughts.
HUCKABEE: Well, I think it's going to be a very, very significant transfer of power, and there's also going to be a transfer of rhetoric. Donald Trump has been very willing to call out what we really face which is Islamic terrorism. He's also been willing to make it very clear that we're not going to be tolerant of these things.
And you know, look, I think it's pretty evident that President Obama, with all due respect, has checked out. I mean, it's kind of like when you're in a hotel check out tie is it noon but you have your bags out of the room 8 that morning. Technically you are still renting the room but you're really not there.
I think technically President Obama is in office until January 20th, but for all practical purposes I think he has checked out.
MACDONALD: You know, he is saying that, you know, the White House is, the State Department is saying that they are doing drone attacks and they are on -- they are on the offensive in the Middle East where these terrorists thrive.
But you know, the other argument that's coming up again, Governor, and you've been so astute about this, is that you know, President Obama argued that religious distinctions would create more terrorist recruits. And the argument here, Governor, is should the U.S. or anybody be exceeding to emotional blackmail and refusing to use the term Islamic terrorist, what are your thoughts?
HUCKABEE: We're facing a point of reality, we can try to say it doesn't exist. But these people are motivated by a religious fanaticism; they're not motivated because they want a bigger bowl of cheerios and the people next to them. They're motivated because they believe that Allah has put them on earth to kill all the infidels.
If this has nothing to with religion, how come the one common denominator whether they use a truck, a bomb, whether they use guns or knives, the one common denominator is right before they do the killing, they stand up and say "allahu akbar," you know glory to God, and this is -- this is what they believe.
They are doing something wonderful and good, and they are going to be rewarded in their heaven for this. So, if that's the common denominator, a religious threat, why are we so stupid that we can't acknowledge that and accept that whether we bless that religion these are people who in a perverted form of it, are absolutely dedicated to the murder of everybody who doesn't believe like they believe, and they are doing it for a religious purposes.
MACDONALD: Thank you, Governor Mike Huckabee. Always great to have you on the show, sir. Merry Christmas.
HUCKABEE: Merry Christmas, Liz.
MACDONALD: Next up, after the terrorist attack in Berlin that left a dozen people dead and 48 injured, 18 seriously, CNN immediately ran an opinion piece that politicized the attack. The op-ed did not report on the lives ripped apart but instead bashed right.
The editorial headlines doesn't used word "terror" instead it was titled "Berlin truck assault spread -- spreads waves of fear."
Now the central argument here is that the right wing quote, "It's an assault on democracy." It reads, quote, "Right wing candidates are positioning themselves against in Islam defending an ever-tougher stance with every new terrorist assault. Each successive, successful and bloody terrorist attack will further whet the appetite of right-wing politicians and their supporters, feverish to return full control over their nation's security to their own security forces."
Let's take this to my political power panel. The Federalist staff writer, Bre Payton, and democrat strategist, Al Mottur. Let's get to you first, Al on this. What did you make of that editorial? Should CNN be running editorials the morning after a major attack, that's about politics and not the victims?
AL MOTTUR, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, thanks for having me on. I actually was disappointed in the tone of the editorial. I think we ought to be united when it comes to terrorist attacks, and they should not be politicize whether you're on the right, on the left or on the media. And it does seem that that article did try to politicize what happened in Berlin, and that's unfortunate.
MACDONALD: Bre, what are your thoughts? It's important to report the facts as Al has just pointed out instead of ideology, what are your thoughts?
BRE PAYTON, THE FEDERALIST STAFF WRITER: Right. You know, and there's a lot we don't know about the attack, the suspect is still at large and we don't know exactly who he is. But what we do know is that ISIS has been taking credit for this attack. And their rhetoric surrounding this attack in Berlin has been the same as it was surrounding the Ohio shooting and other -- I'm sorry, the Ohio attack and other attacks in that that they didn't direct it themselves.
Like Paris, but individual who were inspired by their radical rhetoric went ahead and did it, and they've been taking credit for it, right. So, at the end of the day whether or not ISIS gave the directive and sent individuals over to specifically do it or if it was someone who was inspired by their rhetoric, at the end of the day it's still terrorism, and ISIS is the threat.
And you know, I do find it rather refreshing that President-elect Donald Trump is going to look the enemy and look this threat in the face, and say look, this is who is endangering our lives and our safety, and I think that change in rhetoric and I think that that change in tone is going to be beneficial in neutralizing that threat and moving forward.
MACDONALD: You know, Al. Yes, go ahead. Go ahead, Al.
MOTTUR: Well, I was just going to say, I don't think the tone really matters. I mean, if you go to Bill Clinton then George W. Bush, then Barack Obama, and now it's going to be Donald Trump. They all have different tones with respect to terrorism.
But what we know over 20 years is that the terrorists are trying to kill us. And George Bush had a great tone, very aggressive, it rallied his troops. It was Barack Obama who had a more muted and diffident tone, some have criticized him for and he got those Osama Bin Laden.
So, tone is important I think for psyche. But in terms of the prosecuting war on terror I believe that all presidents do their very best to stop them.
MACDONALD: Yes, I hear what you are saying, Al. And Bre, to Al's point, you know, the president has said that there is no foreign basically foreign terrorist attack on our soil, Bre. But you're right to point out, Bre, that there have been ISIS inspired attacks, a lone wolf attacks and they have been committed by people who are not basically born here, they came into the country.
And in fact, under the president's term, 400 people have been injured on terrorist attacks, 113 killed. What are your thoughts there, Bre?
PAYTON: Right. I think tone absolutely matters. As someone who grew up in Somerset County and lived very close to that attack when that occurred. You know, it was really frustrating to see Obama take two weeks to come out and visit, and only do so on a stopover on his way to his vacation in Hawaii.
And it was really frustrating to watch him double down on gun control, and it was frustrating to see the media carry water for that line of rhetoric, and blame Second Amendment advocate.
MACDONALD: OK.
PAYTON: And say that, you know, it was the right wing who is fault, is you know, going to perpetuate terrorism, perpetuate that threat, which is absolutely and totally absurd. And I think that tone does matter, and I think we do need to look it in the face.
MACDONALD: OK.
PAYTON: And I think we're the only country on the planet in which our national identity is not centered around where we were born, or as ethnocentric centric idea, right, we are Americans by our ideas and we're Americans by our thoughts.
And I think it's important to make sure that individuals coming into this country are going to have these same ideas that they are Americans in their hearts and in their minds.
MACDONALD: OK. Al and Bre, thank you so much for your time. You will be back with us in a bit. Great stuff there.
MOTTUR: Thank you.
MACDONALD: Let's get the terror attack in Orlando that murdered 49, and injured 53 people. It is the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in American history.
Coming up, we've got a father whose innocent 22-year-old son was murdered that night, he is now joining other victims in the terrorist attack to sue Facebook, Google, and Twitter. The suit says these social media giants aided and abetted terrorists. He will explain after this. Back in two.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACDONALD: Welcome back. The families of three victims of the terrorist massacre in Orlando are now suing Facebook, Twitter and Google, they are saying that the social media giants provided quote, "material support to ISIS." And the June 12 shooting at the Orlando nightclub left 49 people dead, 53 wounded.
It is the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in modern American history. Joining me now, Juan Ramon Guerrero, he lost his 22-year-old son that night, and his attorney Keith Altman, they are suing this social media giants.
First, Mr. Guerrero, we are so sorry for the loss of your son, it's just a disgrace. Can you tell us about him?
JUAN RAMON GUERRERO, SUING SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORK: Yes. And this because I don't want any other family happening again. I know life, and I don't want any other people to happen there. And that's why, to do something like or whatever to not let it happen again.
Everybody is angry with not only what the government do. Because the truth is no -- nobody say the truth with what happening. The man don't kill the 49 people by himself, he got some help, and nobody is talking about one person was killed outside of the club that night, nobody said nothing, not even the media in the investigation.
I don't know -- I don't know why the government what they are covering. I don't know what's -- I don't know what's wrong with this.
MACDONALD: Mister -- our hearts and our sympathy are with you sir, and we are so grateful that you are on the show with us talking about this. Keith, how are social media giants, Facebook, Twitter, and Google, how did they, and according to your lawsuit, how did they aid and abet this horrific shooting?
KEITH ALTMAN, SUING THREE SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS: Well, these companies provide material support to ISIS, they allow ISIS to conduct terrorist operations using their web site as a platform.
(CROSSTALK)
MACDONALD: But they say they don't.
ALTMAN: Well, they do. They know full well that ISIS is using their sites. It's not really subject to much reasonable doubt. And the reality of the situation is that, the practices of the company they take these people down, Twitter is proud to say we took down 350,000 accounts, but they are weed whacking.
What they do is they are taking the top of -- top of the dandelions and they are leaving the roots and the next day you have more dandelions.
MACDONALD: And Keith, let me just - just step in here just for one quick second. The companies are saying that they are protected by a law that says that they are not publishers. They are just basically passed through entities that pass through information.
But I think is your lawsuit alleging that these social media giants that they're making money, that they are profiteering or posting ads in any way that due target terrorists.
ALTMAN: Well, the reality of the situation here is they are information content providers. And what that means is they are creating unique content. Whenever they place an ad they have a posting, they know their viewer.
What they know about the viewer and what the posting is, it's how they decide what ad to place with that posting for that viewer. That is creating content, as unique content that didn't exist before. And they profit from this by first of all, they charge the ad itself, second f all, they charge additional money for targeting ads at individuals.
And at least in the case for, you know, that we know it for Google they share revenue with ISIS, if there is a posting, and ISIS post and they place an ad they share the revenue along with the poster. So, these companies are absolutely profiting, and section 230 does not protect them, that's what they believe the Communication Decency Act. They believe that protects them. It does not protect them so long as they are creating content.
And I think that I challenge people who have read the complaint to show how our allegations that they are information content providers is not true on what they are doing here.
MACDONALD: Quickly, Keith, have you heard back from the companies? I know you are filing a similar suit on behalf of the victims of the Paris attack. Have the companies gotten back to you, Keith about this?
ALTMAN: Well, right now we're in the very early stage.
MACDONALD: OK.
ALTMAN: We've just amended the complaint, and so what they have not, they file a motion to dismiss, they say 230 protect them.
MACDONALD: OK.
ALTMAN: But we don't take it down.
MACDONALD: Mr. Guerrero, I like your final thoughts, and again, our hearts are with you, Mr. Guerrero and the other victims of the attack. Final thoughts, Mr. Guerrero.
GUERRERO: Thank you. I think that people join to us to fight with this because I don't want any other family happen again. That's all I want.
MACDONALD: OK. Keith and Mr. Guerrero, please come back in the show. We are so grateful that you came on the show to say on the case. Thank you again.
ALTMAN: Thank you for having us.
GUERRERO: Thank you.
MACDONALD: Next up, Apple CEO Tim Cook tries to calm down his workers. Why? They are upset that he attended President-elect Donald Trump's tech summit. Hear what Mr. Cook had to tell his workers.
And my next guest says, you know what, meetings with the president shouldn't require an explanation, after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACDONALD: Welcome back. Well, it looks like Apple's Tim Cook felt that he had to explain to his employees why he attended President-elect Donald Trump's tech summit last week.
Memorandum read quote, "I never found being on the sideline a successful place to be. The way that you influence these issues is to be in the arena, so whether it's in this country or the E.U. or China or South America, we engage."
The political power panel back, Bre Payton and Al Mottur. Al, this is Tim Cook saying, you know what, if you not at the table, you're on the menu. What do you make of this argument?
MOTTUR: Well, look, he is the president-elect and whether his employees like him or don't like him, it's kind of too bad. And it's what he needs to do is prosecute the best case for Apple and that includes participating when the president invites him to talk about important issues.
I think it is understandable why he felt the need to talk to his employees, because if go out to Silicon Valley, if he talk to the people out there they mostly supported Hillary Clinton and there's understandably a lot of anxiety among people who didn't want Trump to win.
So, I understand it. But I think it could have been more of a leadership moment for him to say, hey, look, this is what we have to do. Please don't be upset.
MACDONALD: You know, Bre, should CEO's like Cook, do they need to explain to their workers why they are meeting with the future president-elect?
PAYTON: I mean, you and I it seems pretty obvious why he would be going to meet with the president of the United States. But I'm not at all surprised that he would feel like he would need to do that. Silicon Valley, in particular Apple, you know, this has been people and this has been an industry has really doubled down on their kind of stupidity since the wake of the election.
Grubhub CEO told his employers that if they agree with Donald Trump they need to get out, right? So, it's not really a big surprise that he feels the need to do this. I mean, all throughout the election cycle, Facebook, suppressed a lot of news that was of important to conservatives.
So, this kind of behavior is not really all that surprising. And I think that Tim Cook is absolutely 100 percent right, that the way to enact change is not to suppress information or suppress ideas, it's to engage with the political minds of the day, and applaud if you think see something right, and push back when you see something that's happening that you think is wrong.
And that's exactly what he's doing. And I think we should applaud him for acting differently and thinking differently from the rest of his colleagues.
MACDONALD: Al, you know, to Bre's point, Silicon Valley workers have questioned those who attended the summit. And you know, we know that a lot of these companies supported Hillary Clinton. We're showing the breakdown of the money that these tech firms gave to Hillary Clinton's campaign, Google known as Alphabet, you could see the list here.
More than 400 grand there, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple. Each more than 150,000. But here is the question, Al. Won't these companies reap the benefits of Trump policies like cutting the corporate tax rates?
MOTTUR: So, that's absolutely true. But I will say that some of those companies were very engaged with President Obama as well, a lot of them pushed aggressively for the net-neutrality provisions that Obama's FCC put out.
And so they are very vested in sort of the progressive left regulatory space. And some of them are probably unhappy that Trump is coming in, and it's going to take things in a more deregulatory way, because these guys fight and compete with the facilities based providers and the cable and Telco's space.
MACDONALD: OK.
MOTTUR: So, I'm not so sure that they're all happy.
MACDONALD: It's a good point. Bre and Al, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. You guys are terrific.
Next up, Bill Clinton...
(CROSSTALK)
PAYTON: Thank you.
MACDONALD: Bill Clinton now blaming, quote, "angry white men for Donald Trump's victory." Are these the same, very same angry men who got Bill Clinton elected president? Bill Clinton also complained why his wife was not connecting with these voters.
Coming up, not a white man but still fired up. President-elect Trump Diversity Coalition vice chair, she is Brunell Donald-Kyei. She is speaking out. God bless her. Back in a few.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my America.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My America. This is my America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACDONALD: The Bid to get electors to flip, failed. Not only to the majority of electors still vote for Donald Trump, it was Hillary Clinton who ended up losing Electoral College votes, five electors switching their vote away from Clinton and toward Trump.
With me now, Diversity Coalition liaison for the Trump inaugural committee, she is Brunell Donald-Kyei. Good to have you, Brunell.
BRUNELL DONALD-KYEI, TRUMP DIVERSITY COALITION LIAISON: God bless you, and God bless America. Hi, Ms. Liz.