TONIGHT-00
Military Build Up: Trump Transition; Sanctions Relief; Obama's Russia
Sanctions; 2016 Winners & Losers - Part 1>
Murder; Government; Military; Budget; Barack Obama; Iran; Soviet Union;
Russia; Vladimir Putin; Sanctions; 2016>
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TOM SULLIVAN, GUEST HOST (voice-over): Tonight, a diplomatic opening. Russia decides not to retaliate after President Obama kicks out dozens of suspected Russian spies. Former U.N. ambassador John Bolton says what Mr. Obama really intended is to tie Trump's hands.
JOHN BOLTON, FMR. U.S. AMB. TO U.N., FOX CONTRIBUTOR: The Russians have walked all over the Obama administration for eight years. It's really been a pathetic performance. I do think it's intended to try and box the Trump administration in. I think it will fail.
SULLIVAN: Ambassador Bolton joins us in moments.
Also tonight, a shocking new report exposing the billions of dollars of cash and gold given to Iran under Obama's nuclear deal. We'll have the details.
And Chicago closing out its deadliest year in nearly two decades. A full report on the alarming surge in murders and Democratic-led Chicago next.
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SULLIVAN: And good evening, everybody. I'm Tom Sullivan, in for Lou Dobbs.
President Obama's sanctions against Russia turning out to be all bark and no bite. Just a day after Mr. Obama announced he was expelling 35 Russian diplomats, Russia's Vladimir Putin said he's not going to retaliate.
FOX News correspondent Kevin Corke is in Honolulu with our report.
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KEVIN CORKE, FOX CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a scene that unfolded from coast to coast. From Washington to San Francisco, nearly three dozen Russian operatives working to leave the United States ahead of a deadline imposed by President Obama in retaliation for what the White House called Russian cyber-intrusion during the run-up to the 2016 election
SERGEY PETROV, RUSSIAN FED CONSUL GENERAL: It's all together 11 people, including three kids. And they have to pack and leave within hours.
CORKE: But even as the administration closed Russian facilities in New York and Maryland, Russian Russia Vladimir Putin fired off what could best be described as his own "When they go low, we go high" statement, saying, "Although we have the right to retaliate, we will not resort to irresponsible kitchen diplomacy, but we'll plan our further steps to restore Russian-U.S. relations based on the policies of the Trump administration."
The Kremlin's decision comes a day after the FBI and Department of Homeland Security released a joint report detailing how federal investigators linked the Russians to hacking involving the Democratic Party, the 13-page report describing tools used by the Russians to, quote, "compromise and exploit networks and end points associated with the U.S. election, as well as a range of U.S. government, political and private sector entities."
While the document provided little in the way of forensic proof to confirm the government's attribution, it did lay the groundwork for Mr. Obama's response. But critics worry the diplomatic fallout could have major ramifications on America's standing in the world.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The world looks at our country to have peaceful and a productive and a smooth transfer of power. This type of nonsense is what I would expect from a tinpot dictatorship that just became a democracy and can't make the democratic system work. It's -- America demands better.
SEN. BEN CARDIN (D), MARYLAND: I think it's clear it cannot be business as usual, that this was a serious attack against our country, against our democratic system. I think the president has taken steps. They're still trying to evaluate it to see exactly what impact it will have on Russia. We can do more.
CORKE: Just how the Trump administration handles the Russians and the sanctions imposed by the Obama White House remains to be seen, but White House officials are warning against straying too far from convention.
ERIC SCHULTZ, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: If the next administration wants to lift sanctions against senior Russian intelligence units to make it easier for them to interfere in our elections, he can go ahead and do that. We just don't think that makes much sense.
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CORKE: Tom, interesting story, to say the least. And I can tell you right now that the PR battle continues, and I don't just mean in Russia, I mean internationally it continues with Vladimir Putin playing the game very, very well. He said it was regrettable that the Obama administration would end in such a manner. Nevertheless, he extended new year greetings to both the Obama and Trump families -- Tom.
SULLIVAN: Very interesting. Kevin Corke in Hawaii -- thank you, Kevin.
Well, Donald Trump today responding to Putin's decision not to retaliate against the U.S. over new sanctions, president-elect writing, quote, "Great move on delay by Vladimir Putin. I always knew he was very smart," Trump also hitting the mainstream media, tweeting, "Russians are playing CNN and NBC News for such fools. Funny to watch. They don't have a clue. FOX News totally gets it." Well, nice little plug from the president-elect.
Transition officials say that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have no plans to speak privately until the president-elect receives an intelligence briefing next week on alleged Russian interference in the election, incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus saying that President-elect Trump has not made a decision if he will reverse the sanctions against Russia.
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REINCE PRIEBUS, INCOMING WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: That's going to be up to him, and he's going to sit down and talk to his leadership at the Defense Department and State and in the White House to make those decisions. We agree that foreign governments shouldn't be hacking American institutions, period. However, it would be nice if we could get to a place where the intelligence community as a -- in unison can tell us what it is that has been going on.
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SULLIVAN: Yes, well, joining me now is former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and American Enterprise Institute senior fellow John Bolton. Mr. Ambassador, you said -- we played a little clip of you at the beginning of the hour saying that this is an attempt to box in Donald Trump, but you don't think it'll work. Why not?
JOHN BOLTON, FMR. U.S. AMB. TO U.N., FOX CONTRIBUTOR: Well, because essentially, everything that Obama has done so far is easily reversible. The real issue is what will be done with respect to the cyber attacks, the effort to meddle in the election.
And I think, as Reince Priebus just said, really, you have to give the president-elect a chance to sit down and hear from the intelligence community. And I'm sure he'll want to wait until some of his advisers are in office, as well, and then he can make up his mind -- to get all the facts.
There's been a lot of reporting. I've talked to senators who have seen some of the evidence. They're pretty convinced by it. But the president- elect is entitled to form his own judgment.
SULLIVAN: Well, that's the other problem with intelligence, is that there's not -- the intelligence people always tell us it's not a perfect science, it's an art, at the very least. But at the same time, we've been told by -- Donald Rumsfeld told me a number of years ago that they've been hacking away at us. Cyber warfare has been under way for years! So...
BOLTON: Well, absolutely. No, absolutely, and not just by the Russians, by China, by North Korea, by Iran. The real question that Barack Obama is going to have to answer for history is what took him so long. Why did it take eight years of having China lift potentially tens of millions of personnel records from the federal government and send them to Beijing. What North Korea did with Sony Pictures may seem kind of comic, given the target of the attack.
But what if they were doing the same thing to financial institutions in New York or to agencies of the federal government, as we know the Russians have been doing for a long time?
The fact is that Obama has not done what was necessary in the cyber world both offensively and defensively. We don't have structures of deterrence in place that make it very clear that anybody who tries this kind of thing would face extraordinarily painful consequences. So Russia and others think they can get away with it, and sad to say, so far, they're right.
SULLIVAN: Well, but then that's the question that I'll ask you to answer your own question. Why now? What's going on? I've never -- we -- none of us have ever seen President Obama act like this, ever.
BOLTON: Well, it's still feckless and inadequate, but my feeling is he's certainly trying to box the Trump administration in. But the reason for that is I suspect that he intended to do a lot of things in the transition period after the last election he was ever going to have to worry about, before the inauguration of his successor.
In the American campaign period, you can't do a lot of things because it looks to political and our campaign period is now almost a year long. He thought Hillary Clinton was going to win, just like most everybody else, for a long time. And he thought he could take all these steps, that when Hillary was sworn in, she certainly wouldn't reverse them, she would endorse them, in some cases maybe even go beyond them.
But he could get a lot done in these last few months with zero political consequences for him and minimal political consequences for her. And then she up and lost the election. So now their plans have been completely rendered inoperable, and he's every desperate.
SULLIVAN: This report that's coming out from the FBI and Homeland Security that we heard from Kevin Corke about -- and he said it lacks specifics. Is that because they don't have them or because they can't tell us?
BOLTON: Well, I think it's largely because they worry about making public information that would compromise sensitive sources and methods. That's the intelligence community's typical response.
But given where we are here, I think President Trump, once he's in office, should consider very seriously releasing more information because what we've got now is such confusion and such politicization of the intelligence services by Obama that it's undercutting trust and confidence not just in our electoral system, but in our intelligence, as well.
So that we're going to have to try and do what we can. Whatever the conclusion is that President Trump makes, people are going to want to know more about where this information comes from. And I think that's a reasonable request. And I think starting off his administration, it's something he's going to have to look at very carefully.
SULLIVAN: Very interesting, as always. Ambassador John Bolton, always good to see you. Thank you so much.
BOLTON: Thank you. Happy new year.
SULLIVAN: You, too.
Well, we're coming right back with much more. Stay with us.
Critics are blasting President Obama and his flurry of 11th-hour executive orders.
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RUDY GIULIANI (R), FMR. NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: I don't think there's much of a legacy at all. There's a certain pettiness that I hadn't seen before.
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SULLIVAN: The eight years of failure and disappointment almost over. Fred Barnes joins us next.
And our president-elect promises to transform our depleted military into one of the strongest forces in the world. America's dominance will soon be restored. We'll talk about Trump's push to make America safe again, plus much more up next.
Stay with us.
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SULLIVAN: Well, President Obama stirring up controversy in his final days in office. Several op-eds are blasting him for his last-minute Russian sanctions and failed Middle East diplomacy, The New York Post editorial board writing a piece titled "Obama's ugly bid to snub voters and tie Trump's hands."
Wall Street Journal hitting Obama's Russian sanctions, writing, "Mr. Obama's order amounts to a far too little signaling exercise to underscore U.S. displeasure." And even The Washington Post criticizing Obama's betrayal of Israel, writing, "The Obama administration is ending eight years of failed Middle East diplomacy exactly where it began in 2009."
Joining me now, executive editor for The Weekly Standard Fred Barnes. Fred, are they just mad at President Obama all of a sudden? They've been supporting -- the media has been propping him up for eight years. What's going on?
FRED BARNES, FOX CONTRIBUTOR: Well, not The New York Post, but certainly The Washington Post has. And that editorial that you referred to in The Washington Post is really the toughest criticism editorially that I've ever read in The Washington Post. I get this paper every day and have for years, and it was, and said, Look, he -- he -- as you quoted them, Eight years and he's back to where he started.
But it's really even worse than that because I think people who've been paying attention to the Middle East, after this -- allowing this resolution, this anti-Israel resolution to go through in the United Nations, one the U.S. could have vetoed, allowing it to go through has not -- has not -- hasn't been productive. What it's done is it's made the path to peace harder -- not better, harder -- and made a -- a -- any agreement been Israel and the Palestinians even further away. So I think the criticism is well-deserved.
SULLIVAN: And you point out correctly, yes, New York Post has been pretty supportive, but The Washington Post -- that's a real eyebrow-raiser because...
BARNES: Indeed.
SULLIVAN: ... especially Jeff Bezos and everybody there at The Post have been very supportive of Barack Obama. So...
BARNES: Yes, they really have.
SULLIVAN: You get into so many areas that editorial writers could write about as we wrap up 2016. I look at the economy. That's, I think, the reason why Donald Trump is the president-elect because (ph) of the economy. They try to -- they try to sell us on, Oh, no, it's improving . It's doing -- all these jobs have been created.
BARNES: Yes. Right.
SULLIVAN: And yet people know! People know exactly that the economy has been struggling.
BARNES: Yes, they do. And there have been -- unfortunately, a lot of the mainstream media has bought this idea that the White House is pushing, that, Oh, finally, after eight years, we're getting this great economy. And of course, it's -- it's -- it's the worst recovery we've ever seen in the last 50, 60 years.
And look, Donald Trump comes in, and the stock market explodes. So look, if he can get his tax cut and economic plan through, and I think he can, we're going to see growth 3 or 4 percent, not under 2 percent.
SULLIVAN: Let's throw immigration on the heap, while we're at it, Fred.
(LAUGHTER)
SULLIVAN: That's turned out wonderful, hasn't it?
BARNES: Yes. Gee, look, this is something where -- I think was the key issue for Donald Trump. The economy helped, but immigration was the issue that brought out this vote in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and Michigan and Ohio and states like that. And Trump used it well.
I'd like to point out one other thing, Tom, if I can, and that is that President Obama is breaking precedent the way a president usually deals with his -- a president-elect. I mean, if you go back to 1993, when the first President Bush decided that he needed to send troops into Somalia, he consulted with Bill Clinton, who was the president-elect, to get his approval! And then -- and then George W. Bush in 2009 actually consulted with Obama over the status of the auto companies, which were failing, and Obama asked for a bridge loan to General Motors to keep them around so a pro-auto plan could be put into effect.
What has Obama done? He hasn't consulted with Trump at all! He didn't even tell him what was coming, the sanctions against Russia and the changed policy on Israel. It's really been a reason for Trump to be very upset.
SULLIVAN: Yes, but he has -- and to use the phrase that Michelle Obama gave us, was...
BARNES: Yes.
SULLIVAN: He's -- he's gone high, while Barack Obama has gone low.
(LAUGHTER)
SULLIVAN: So it's amazing how much has flipped around in just the last couple of weeks.
BARNES: And the reason...
SULLIVAN: But this brings up The Washington Post again. They were...
BARNES: OK.
SULLIVAN: There's an editorial writer in there that wrote about the fact that we need one president at a time.
BARNES: Oh, geez!
SULLIVAN: But you're making a very good point. You pass the baton, you both hold the baton so it doesn't fall before you give it to the next guy.
BARNES: Yes. That was a ridiculous column in The Post about one -- one president at a time. Donald Trump's not trying to act like he's president. But he should have been consulted when major decisions are being made, and two big ones have being made just in -- in the last few days, as we've been talking about.
SULLIVAN: Yes, no, it's...
BARNES: Obama didn't do that. Obama's the reason this is not a smooth transition.
SULLIVAN: Well -- and he has -- he's going to stick around Washington and probably take potshots for the next four years, at least. That's one thing. But in the transition part, it does seem rather remarkable. Anyway...
BARNES: It does.
SULLIVAN: ... good points. Fred Barnes, always good to talk to you. Happy new year, my friend.
BARNES: Happy new year to you, Tom.
SULLIVAN: Thanks.
Well, be sure to vote in tonight's poll. Do you believe President Obama is trying to box in President-elect Trump with his Russian sanctions? Cast your vote on Twitter @Loudobbs. And a reminder to follow Lou on Twitter @Loudobbs, and like the show on Facebook at Loudobbstonight, also Instagram there.
And troubling decision by the Obama administration. FOX News has learned that for the next week, there will be no U.S. Navy aircraft carriers deployed at sea, not a one, USS Eisenhower today returning to Virginia following a seven-month deployment in the Persian Gulf, and the USS George H.W. Bush won't be deployed for another week, believe that it's the first time since World War II that at least one U.S. aircraft carrier has not been deployed at sea. Historic.
Meantime, on Wall Street, stocks closer lower on the last trading day of the year, the Dow down 57, the S&P down 10, NASDAQ falling a little more than 48 points, volume a little more than we've seen this week, 2.7 billion shares traded, the Trump rally leading stocks higher since election day. The Dow has gained almost 8 percent, the largest post-election gain since 1952, the S&P up 5 percent, NASDAQ up almost 4 percent. And for the year, the Dow posting the largest gain since 2013, 13 percent gain for the Dow, S&P up 10 for the year, NASDAQ gaining almost 8 percent this year.
And a reminder to listen to Lou's financial reports three times a day coast to coast that are on the Salem Radio Network.
Well, up next, President-elect Trump has vowed to fix our inner cities.
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TRUMP: You know, in Chicago, thousands and thousands of shootings since January 1st. The inner cities are unbelievably dangerous, and I tell everybody, What the hell do you have to lose? I'm going to fix it. We will fix it.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We will fix.
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SULLIVAN: (INAUDIBLE) doesn't he. Well, Chicago needs his help now more than ever. A shocking report on the murder capital of America is next.
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SULLIVAN: Well, Chicago is ending the year with a level of bloodshed not seen in nearly two decades, nearly 800 murders in Chicagoland. That's more -- that's more homicides than New York and Los Angeles combined.
FOX News senior correspondent Mike Tobin in Chicago with our report.
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MIKE TOBIN, FOX CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With bloodshed at levels not seen in decades, Chicago police anticipate violence will increase this weekend when booze is poured over the endless cycle of gangland vendettas. This follows a bloody Christmas, in which a dozen people were murdered.
EDDIE JOHNSON, CHICAGO POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: We now know that the majority of these shootings and homicides were targeted attacks by gangs against potential rival gang members and groups who were at holiday gatherings.
TOBIN: As of Thursday, Chicago police reported 756 people were killed in the city, up 56 percent from 484 last year, 3,525 were shot, up 47 percent from 2,400 last year. Shooters and victims are predominantly black. Most targets are gang members.
GARY JOHNSON, FMR. CHICAGO POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: They shoot each other because they're on other teams. I would say probably 20 to 30 percent of our shootings we can tie to narcotics.
TOBIN: With the heads of the big gangs in prison, the street gangs have splintered. One section of the Gangster Disciples will battle another. The dispute is often petty. Social media puts gasoline on the fire. Former Chicago police superintendent Gary McCarthy says following the outrage over police-involved shootings, policing has become politicized and cops are backing off.
G. JOHNSON: The problem is proactive policing, and not just here in Chicago, across the country, has come under fire. The anti-police political environment that we're in has it that we're emboldening criminals and we're hamstringing police.
TOBIN: Demonstrators intend to take to the streets against gun violence again this year -- 756 crosses, each with the name of a 2016 murder victim, will be carried through Chicago's glitzy downtown shopping district.
FATHER MICHAEL PFLEGER, CHICAGO ACTIVIST: I'm hoping first that we will be shamed by it and say, Oh, my God, this can't happen anymore. But then we'll be shaken to do something.
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TOBIN: This demonstration is supposed to be anti-violence and not anti- cop. However, the organizer, Father Michael Pfleger, says there's always a risk that the message will get diluted when you have a lot of people descend on the demonstration. Tom, back to you.
SULLIVAN: Thanks, Mike Tobin in Chicago.
Meantime, speaking of police, 2016 was also a very dangerous year to be a police officer. Number of police killed in the line of duty went up sharply this year mainly because of the ambushing, targeting police like we saw in Dallas and also in Baton Rouge. From the first of January through Wednesday, 135 police officers lost their lives. Some died in traffic accidents, but nearly half, 64, were shot to death. That is a 56 percent increase in shooting deaths of police over the previous year.
And police here in New York are adopting new security measures to keep people safe this New Year's Eve, the NYPD placing 65 garbage trucks filled with sand in strategic locations around Times Square, all in an effort to prevent the type of terror truck attacks that we've seen in Germany and also in Nice, France.
Nearly 7,000 officers will be on patrol tomorrow night. Some in plain clothes to blend in with the crowd. Nearly 2 million people will be in Times Square to ring in the New Year. We are coming right back with much more. Stay with us.
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SULLIVAN: The outgoing Obama administration is doing everything it can to undermine President-elect Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was disappointed to read in David Sanger's New York Time feds (ph) that he think the allegation or the supposition that perhaps one reason that the sanctions are taking place is to quote box in President-elect Trump.
SULLIVAN: We'll take that up with Tammy Bruce and Dom Giordano. They join me next.
And this tourist is going to extreme lengths to take the ultimate picture- perfect photo. We'll show you his death defying photo shoot up next. Much more straight ahead. We'll be right back.
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SULLIVAN: Well, President-elect Trump is promising throughout his run for office. He is going to strengthen our military and provide for our veterans. He said it repeatedly. And Trump reportedly considering privatizing the veterans affairs department and now taking to Facebook. He writes, "We're going to be building up our military. We're going to make our military so big and so strong and so great, and it will be so powerful that I don't think we're ever going to have to use it. Nobody is going to mess with us, that I can tell you."
And joining me now, WPHT radio talk show host Dom Giordano and Washington Times Columnist Tammy Bruce. Tammy, is that Donald Trump's version of Reagan's strength, the peace through strength?
TAMMY BRUCE, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Yeah, it's true, obviously. And this is the Reagan doctrine effectively. We know and this is also historically what human beings have to do. It's like having a black belt. You have a black belt not -- so you use it. You have a black belt so nobody messes with you.
We've been decimated. The military has been cut down. They've been -- their budget has been taken away. Training has been awful. It -- they had an awful commander-in-chief. All of that is changing. And we know when America is stronger, the world is safe. For this is not selfish. This is about our commitment to other people, our commitment to immigrants, our commitment to remaining the shining city on the hill. And the only way we can do that is to make sure we're strong enough to be able to then focus on our economy and become strong country internally and the rest of the world benefits it always has. Donald Trump is making that clear.
And you know why? It's all the Americans he met in this campaign. He understands what made this nation strong and it's the veterans of this country, our troops.
SULLIVAN: Dom, you've heard the arguments many times. Your callers have told you about the fact that well, you know, the defense budget is so big. We need to cut the defense budget. He wants to grow it. So, is this going to be where you're going to find the left pushing back?
DOM GIORDANO, WPHT RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well, I think the counter is, he's going to put his business acumen and some time think somebody who looks too much small things, I think you have to sweat some of these small things. In other words, I think he's going to rely on people who say there is fat in the military budget that ought to be taken out and it ought to be replaced with money that goes truly into building up the defense department.
I think more serious people will say we should look at every expenditure even in defense to see if this is more of the $700-hour toilet seat, take that money and actually put it into things. I forget which F-35, you know, a new jet that Trump is looking at of replacement that is not as costly but maybe equal or better. And I think he's going to bring that expertise to it. And I'm on board with that. That's exactly what we going to be done.
TOM: And that's a great example. And Tammy, I mean, that's -- you know, we've already seen the $4 billion Air Force One contract, the F-35 contract, all of these. So, he may be building the military. This going to be fun to watch with less expenditures.
BRUCE: We'll let's see, that's exactly yes.
