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LOU DOBBS, FBN HOST: President-elect Trump begins the new year working for hard-working Americans, Ford today slamming the brakes on the construction of a new plant in Mexico and Ford CEO credits Donald Trump and his pro-growth policies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK FIELDS, FORD CEO: When we look at some of the tax and regulatory reforms that he's been talking about, that gives us a lot of confidence. And this is a vote of confidence that he can deliver on those things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Also tonight, the president-elect making good on promises to run a smart government and to drain the swamp, Trump insisting House Republicans back off their plan to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics after a storm of criticism. We're joined tonight by the first congressman to endorse Trump, Chris Collins. He joins me in moments.
And crisis in Chicago, the president-elect making it clear Chicago's runaway violence and record number of murders must end. He insists Mayor Emanuel stop the killing in Chicago. We'll have the details.
Good evening, everybody, and happy new year.
The 115th Congress is now in session, with Republicans firmly in control of both the House and the Senate. But that doesn't mean there's agreement across the board, House Republicans today forced to backtrack on a decision to weaken the independent Office of Congressional Ethics following public criticism from the president-elect.
FOX News chief congressional correspondent Mike Emanuel is on Capitol Hill tonight and has the story for us. Good evening, Mike.
MIKE EMANUEL, FOX NEWS CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, good evening to you. The 115th Congress is up and running, but there was some drama today after President-elect Trump criticized an early move, what some say is an unforced error by House Republicans.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Last night, behind closed doors, Republican lawmakers voted to reform the outside Office of Congressional Ethics as it considered its rules for the new Congress. This morning, Republican majority leader Kevin McCarthy was forced to defend a move he opposed.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), MAJORITY LEADER: First of all, it doesn't get dissolved. So I'm not in favor of dissolving it. I was not in favor of moving forward in the rules package with it because I thought we should take it by itself in a bipartisan manner because there are people on both sides of the aisle that would support these reforms. The Ethics Committee will still be there.
EMANUEL: But the real trouble came this morning when President-elect Trump flexed some muscle on Twitter. Quote, "With all the Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the independent ethics watchdog, as unfair as it may be, their number one act and priority? Focus on tax reform, health care and so many other things of far greater importance. Hashtag Draintheswamp."
Shortly before gaveling in at noon, House Republicans reversed themselves, dropping plans for now on modifying the independent ethics panel.
The Office of Congressional Ethics investigated California Democrat Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who was ultimately cleared by the House Ethics Committee after a three-year investigation and a $1 million legal bill for taxpayers.
Some GOP members called it an unforced error in terms of timing, especially since Democrats have complaints about that outside group.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are members who believe there are needed revisions. I'd say it's a bipartisan agreement, there need to be some changes. As I said last night, I voted against this particular amendment because of the oversight language that I thought was a bit ambiguous and needed further clarification.
EMANUEL: Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi pounced, saying, quote, "Reversing their plans to destroy the Office of Congressional Ethics will not obscure their clear contempt for ethics in the people's House. Once again, the American people have seen the toxic dysfunction of a Republican House that will do anything to further their special interest agenda, thwart transparency and undermine the public trust."
There was no drama on the vote for House speaker, with Paul Ryan being reelected, as expected. And he told members this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The people have given us unified government, and it wasn't because they were feeling generous. It was because they want results.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
EMANUEL: In terms of delivering results, Republicans are getting started on repealing "Obama care" in a hurry. Vice President-elect Mike Pence is due up here in the morning at the same time President Obama will be meeting with Democrats trying to save it -- Lou.
DOBBS: Mike, a lot of action ahead. Thanks so much -- Mike Emanuel on Capitol Hill.
Here now to talk about the reversal from House Republicans and how the GOP- controlled Congress will be working with the Trump administration going forward, Congressman Chris Collins, a congressional liaison to the Trump transition team. Congressman, great to see you. Happy new year.
REP. CHRIS COLLINS (R), NEW YORK: You, too. You, too, Lou.
DOBBS: And not the beginning I think the House leadership would have liked. Did somebody forget that Donald Trump is president-elect?
COLLINS: Well, you know, Lou, Donald Trump pulled our bacon right out of the fire because there's no two ways about it, this would have been a bad move. The politics of it would have been awful. I mean, we saw Nancy Pelosi, even after it got pulled, jump all over it.
You know, Donald Trump, who is the best communicator, and his gut instincts on communicating with the public are so spot on, that quite frankly, him stepping in the way he did and having our conference reverse direction -- which was the right thing to do. This was not something we should have been working on on day one.
So Donald Trump really did save the day for the Republican conference, and I think I certainly acknowledge that. I think most of my other members do, as well.
So good for Donald Trump, good for his tweeting, and you know, as a member, I thank him for making sure this wasn't the message over the next three weeks. It would have been the wrong message, and it would have put us on defense. So he did us all a big favor.
DOBBS: Well, he's doing you lots of favors, and has been from -- from -- from at least his election forward.
COLLINS: Well, starting with the fact that we have a united Republican Party and a unified government. There's only one reason that happened, Donald J. Trump.
DOBBS: You're not going to get any argument from me...
COLLINS: I know!
DOBBS: ... so there's no sense waiting around for it.
(LAUGHTER)
DOBBS: Let's turn to this issue of whether it's going to be "Obama care" or tax cuts as a priority here. Donald Trump ran on -- and I think you would agree with me -- his -- if there is a mandate, and I'm very leery of the word, as I think most Americans are.
But if there is a mandate at all to be discussed here, it would be Donald Trump, the president-elect's mandate, not that of the House or the speaker or the leadership of either the Senate or the House.
COLLINS: Yes.
DOBBS: And how comfortable are you with it being "Obama care's" repeal that is now apparently the priority?
COLLINS: Well, and that is President-elect Trump's. He promised we would repeal it, we'd repeal it quickly. We're going to do that before the end of February, starting certainly next week working with the Senate on reconciliation.
We'll move right into tax reform, you know, sometime in the March-April timeframe. So this is Donald Trump calling the shots. It is Donald Trump who said to our leaders, We ought to get -- the repeal of "Obama care" has got to be number one. Tax reform would be number two, and part of infrastructure may be rolled into that.
But let's be clear. Donald Trump is setting the priorities. Our leadership in Congress is responding to those priorities, and that's what you're seeing happen. So it's, Yes, sir, Mr. President-elect. If this is what you want, this is what we're going to do, and that's the way it should be.
DOBBS: And Congressman, as we sit here right now, after what the president-elect accomplished just today, a phone call from Ford telling him that the company had decided to follow the direction, change direction, follow his direction, support his pro-growth policies and advance their own confidence in those policies by killing the plans to build a $1.6 billion plant in Mexico, to create 700 jobs in the plant in Michigan, invest $600 million there -- I mean, these are big moments for any -- for a president, let alone a president-elect.
COLLINS: Oh, yes. He's accomplishing more as president-elect than I can say Obama has done from day one. And this is part of our agenda, the Trump agenda to get GDP growth at 3 percent or more, something Obama never did accomplish in his eight years.
It's creating new jobs. It's keeping other jobs from leaving. It's bringing jobs back that have left. It's an all-of-the-above strategy, and as we're seeing, people know when Donald Trump says there's going to be repercussions if you move jobs offshore. They're getting it now. There will be, and so good for them.
They recognize that we're going to have a more accommodating tax policy for corporations, which we've needed for a long time. So it's, again, Donald Trump as president doing exactly what America expected him to do, and I think certainly surprising those that were detractors thinking he couldn't get it done. Goodness gracious, he's not even sworn into office for 17 more days!
DOBBS: Yes, I -- I -- you mentioned detractors. I mean, that's part of history now. There's nothing current about it. Certainly, there are none that still exist. Isn't everybody unanimously behind President-elect Trump?
COLLINS: Oh, yes. You know, Bill Clinton's unanimous behind it. Obama's behind it. Hillary's behind -- yes, it is shocking, you know, still those that are living in denial. But you know, they're just going to have to get over it. When? Who knows? You know, I'm still waiting for all the Hollywood elitists who said they'd leave the country. I haven't seen too many of their private jets flying over the ocean, but we'll see if that happens.
(LAUGHTER)
DOBBS: Congressman, who knows. In a matter of months, they may have a profound change of heart. Congressman Chris Collins, great to talk with you, as always.
COLLINS: Always good to be with you, Lou.
DOBBS: Appreciate it.
Well, the city of Chicago is not showing improvement after closing out its deadliest year in nearly two decades. During the New Year's holiday weekend, 55 people were shot, five of them are killed despite a heavy police presence on the streets of Chicago. This same weekend a year ago, 42 people were shot and four killed in Chicago.
President-elect Trump blasted Chicago's mayor, Rahm Emanuel, Trump saying that if Emanuel can't turn the tide on his city's 762 homicides last year, Washington needs to step in and the mayor should ask for federal assistance.
As for President Obama, he hasn't weighed in on the crisis that affects his hometown, which has already -- has some of the toughest gun laws in the country. Not ever (ph).
Well, Ford joining the growing list of companies bringing jobs back to America, thanks to President-elect Trump. Randy Evans joins us here next.
And a massive manhunt is under way for the terrorist in that deadly Istanbul nightclub massacre. How did another Islamic State terrorist kill so many and get away from law enforcement? We'll bring you the latest here next.
We're coming right back. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: A lot of wins today for President-elect Trump. We shouldn't be surprised. He promised a lot of wins. Ford announcing it's canceling plans for $1.6 billion plant in Mexico, instead investing $700 million -- I think I said $600 million earlier -- in a Michigan assembly plant that will create 700 jobs, Ford CEO Mark Fields saying the decision is the direct result of what he called Trump's pro-growth policies.
The announcement came hours after Mr. Trump blasted another car maker, tweeting this. "General Motors is sending Mexican-made models of Chevy Cruze to U.S. car dealers tax-free across the border. Make in USA or pay big border tax."
Joining us tonight, Randy Evans, a former chairman of the Republican National Lawyers Association, and so much more. If it's Republican, Randy's all about it. Good to have you with us, Randy.
RANDY EVANS, RNC RULES COMMITTEE: Thanks, Lou. And welcome back.
DOBBS: Well, thank you very much. Happy new year. And I want to say to you and to everyone again, it's an exciting year already, isn't it.
EVANS: Well, we missed you. You're the best, and we missed having you.
DOBBS: Well...
EVANS: So welcome back.
DOBBS: Thank you so much. Let me -- let me turn to the Republican Congress today getting its signals a little messed up, forgetting to talk to Donald Trump, our president-elect, about the priorities and moving forward to get rid of the independent office of ethics, and then reversing themselves because the president-elect said, you know, Let's think about this. And they listened.
EVANS: Well, Lou, let me just put it this way. Donald Trump...
DOBBS: When say...
(CROSSTALK)
DOBBS: I got to interrupt you already.
EVANS: Sure.
DOBBS: When you say it that way, I know I'm not going to hear it that way. But go ahead.
(LAUGHTER)
EVANS: No, you're going to hear exactly that.
DOBBS: All right.
EVANS: Donald Trump's given the whole the meaning to the concept of bully pulpit, or as just pointed out to me, Twitter pulpit, which is basically the ability to call things the way they are and to make sure the average American is connected to results in Washington D.C.
It doesn't matter whether it's in a Republican-controlled Congress, which was about to do something stupid, or whether it's FORD and GM who want to send jobs ashore -- offshore, he's making the point, I am in control. You cross the line, I'm going to call you out.
DOBBS: And doing exactly that, at the same time, working with corporate America, working with Carrier, working with Ford. And soon, it's very clear, he'll be working with General motors. General Motors may not know that yet, but they'll soon be working together. And he is demonstrating at a stage earlier than any president in my memory, certainly, that he is going to be leading the country in precisely this way, this manner, and this direction.
EVANS: Lou, if you want to win, what's the best way to do that? Build a team of winners. Look at the cabinet! He's literally stacked that cabinet with people who are proven winners, winner in business, winner on the battlefield, winner when it comes to stopping overreach by government regulation. If you want to win, if you want to make America great again, you start by putting together a team of winners, and boy, has he done that.
DOBBS: And it seems that he has also won the hearts and minds of the Republican establishment here. I know there has to be residual resentment. There has to be considerable wariness of Donald Trump, the president-elect, and his policies going forward. But for right now, it seems to me from all outward signs that, actually, there is a detente, a rapprochement, if I can turn to the French for a little help linguistically here. What do you think?
EVANS: Well, I think, you know, what's better than to have somebody who keeps you from doing something completely stupid. I mean, it's nothing -- there's nothing better except for having a father figure or a parent who literally says to you, You don't want to touch that stove because it's really hot and you're going to burned. You're going to get hurt.
He said that today, and you know what? To their credit, the Republican Congress actually listened. And when is the last time you saw a speaker, a majority leader or the leadership in the House actually pause, think about it a minute, and then change direction?
DOBBS: Yes, it has been a while. And it's going to be interesting to see how quickly we see the repeal of "Obama care" and its replacement take place contemporaneously, so that no one is disadvantaged as a result. Do you still think that's possible? Do you think that's the way it's going to come down?
EVANS: I think there are two things that are for certain. He is going to repeal and replace "Obama care," or at least the parts that aren't working, and he's going to build a wall. I think you can count on those because that's what leaders do. Leaders tell you what they're going to do, they do it, and then they tell you what they've done. That'll be Donald Trump.
DOBBS: All right, Randy Evans, good to have you with us, as always. Thanks so much, Randy.
EVANS: Thanks for having me.
DOBBS: Be sure to vote in tonight's poll. Who do you believe on the Russian hacking allegations -- A, President Obama, B, Julian Assange? Cast your vote on Twitter @Loudobbs. We'd like to hear from you on this. Follow me on Twitter at Loudobbs, like me on Facebook, follow me on Instagram at Loudobbstonight.
And breaking news now out of Turkey. The Turkish parliament has voted to extend the government's state of emergency powers following this weekend's terrorist attack at an Istanbul nightclub. As of right now, the gunman remains at large, a massive, massive manhunt under way after the New Year's Eve assault. Thirty-nine people were killed. Police so far have not identified the prime suspect, but they did release a video that he apparently took himself. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.
On Wall Street, stocks kicking off the new year higher, the Dow up 119 points, the S&P up 19, the NASDAQ up 46 points, volume on the big board 3.7 billion shares.
Shares of Ford, by the way, up nearly 4 percent after the car maker announced that it will create 700 jobs here at home, cancel its plans to build a $1.6 billion factory in Mexico after talking at length with Donald Trump. Construction spending, by the way, hitting the highest level in more than a decade.
And a reminder to listen to my reports three times a day coast to coast on the Salem Radio Network.
Up next, President-elect Trump campaigning on bringing jobs back to America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would tell the head of Ford very simply, I'm sorry, sir, but you're going to have to go back to the United States. And then they'll say, OK, we're not going to build the plant. We're going to build it in New Hampshire. We're going to build it in someplace else. OK? That's what's going to happen!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Trump's winning policies the subject of my commentary here next.
And a little later, the Reverend Franklin Graham joins us. He's among six faith leaders chosen to pray at Trump's inauguration. He joins us.
Stay with us. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: A few thoughts now about our formidable president-elect and his manifest leadership. Throughout the campaign, Donald Trump slammed a number of America's corporations for making their products in Mexico to sell in this country, whether Ford cars or Oreo cookies, moving production out of this country, killing middle-class jobs here to take advantage of lower-cost labor south of the border.
Here is presidential candidate Donald Trump telling voters in July of 2015, a month after he decided to run for president, what he would do about Ford.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would tell the head of Ford very simply, I'm sorry, sir, but you're going to have to go back to the United States. And then they'll say, OK, we're not going to build the plant. We're going to build it in New Hampshire. We're going to build it in someplace else. OK? That's what's going to happen!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: And it's what happened today, today Ford announcing it is canceling plans to build a $1.6 billion factory in Mexico, choosing instead to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in one of the company's Michigan factories and hire another 700 American workers.
CEO Mark Fields explained the reasons for the company's change of strategy. He acknowledged Trump's election and the policies that have been produced as a result. There is a more positive business environment now, and the move is a vote of confidence for the president-elect's economic policies.
The president-elect had a very good day, a lot of wins, Mr. Trumps trade agenda getting a boost from usually adversarial big labor. None other than the president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, today pledged to work with the Trump White House to renegotiate NAFTA.
Trump's wins today extending to the swamp known as D.C., Mr. Trump sending a clear message to lawmakers that he's in charge now, Trump slamming a House Republican effort to prioritize a plan to cut the Office of Congressional Ethics. The House Republicans reversed themselves and acceded to the president-elect leadership on what will be their priorities.
Put simply, Donald Trump's already delivering big on his promise that Americans will be winners again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're going to win so much, you may even get tired of winning! And you'll say, Please, please, it's too much winning! We can't take it anymore! Mr. President, it's too much! And I'll say, No, it isn't! We have to keep winning!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Whatever you say, Mr. President-elect! Three big victories for the president-elect today alone, each a big win for the American people. I'm pretty sure we're not going to mind too much all of this winning. And with all is done already, I can't wait to see what Mr. Trump can do when he takes the oath of office and actually goes on the federal payroll.
Our quotation of the evening, this one from Donald Trump, who said, "My whole life is about winning. I don't lose often, almost never lose."
Up next, Julian Assange says President Obama and the left are lying when they claim Russia interfered in our presidential election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS: We can say and we have said repeatedly over the last two months that our source is not the Russian government and it is not...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Ambassador John Bolton joins us next with his reaction.
And this tourist. This tourist right here, where is that tourist? What is that tourist doing? He`s climbing high above Malta. We'll have his derring-do adventure for you straight ahead and you'll meet him personally, not personally, on video. Which is next. Stay with us, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says the Russian government was not the source of the damaging emails from the Hillary Clinton campaign released by WikiLeaks.
In an interview to night with Fox News Sean Hannity. That's 10:00 P.M. Eastern on the Fox News Channel. Assange accuses the Obama White House of having other motives for blaming Russia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASSANGE: Why such a dramatic response? Well, the reason is obvious. They're trying to delegitimize the Trump administration as it goes into the White House. They're going to try -- so they are trying to say that president-elect Trump is not a legitimate president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Well, you can watch the interview tonight on Hannity, 10:00 P.M. Eastern on the Fox News Channel, as I just said.
Joining me now, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, American Enterprise Institute senior fellow, John Bolton. Great to see you, happy New Year.
And Assange, we're going to give you the same quiz that we're giving the audience tonight. Who do you believe? Assange or President Obama?
JOHN BOLTON, SENIOR FELLOW, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: None of the above.
DOBBS: Whoa! We didn't put that in the question. Therefore you have broken the rules.
BOLTON: A voluntary answer. Happy New Year.
DOBBS: Happy New Year, partner.
BOLTON: Look, I don't -- I don't trust Assange as far as I can throw him. I don't think he's going to give an honest answer to the question what your stores was.
But look, let's look at the question and answer. Assange denies that he received the hacked emails from the Russians. That was not his source. Great.
What was his source's source? I mean, I think he's going to be very careful not to get into is it bigger than a bread basket, so he'll deny it. But he's not going to give a categorical denial.
DOBBS: Yes. It sounded pretty categorical to me though, John. But irrespective, you're not going to believe anybody on this issue but yourself and we're going to have to wait for more empirical evidence to persuade the ambassador of anything apparently on this.
So let's move on. And that is to a president-elect who right now is clearly leading the free world. I mean, he is in charge. Obama has evaporated. He's got a final speech coming up the -- what is it, the 10th of January. What is he doing?
BOLTON: Well, I think what he believes like many in the political pundit class believed, was that Hillary Clinton was going to win the election on November the 8th. So he had a whole 2 1/2 months' worth of activity that he was going to put in place to seal his legacy, domestically and internationally.
She wasn't going to roll any of it back. If anything she just extended when she took office and suddenly all of that was thrown into disarray when Trump won. And I think now he's just -- as you say, he's in meltdown and he may do additional things and very worried what may come on Israel after this French peace conference on January the 15th.
But basically he is history and it's just a matter of the calendar turning until we actually see it.
DOBBS: Is there anything that you can formulate that he could do that would be a remedial that would be binding beyond his time in office which now 16 days?
BOLTON: Well, not in domestic terms, because any executive order that he signs can be reversed. This notion that somehow he's taken these offshore federal lands beyond oil and gas production forever is just ridiculous.
What I do worry about is in the international arena. For example, the French peace conference, I use that term loosely, comes up with a declaration, there's a Palestinian state in existence now and they rush that to the Security Council before January the 20th. It's one more thing that we're going to have to overcome.
Frankly, I think they created a crisis in confidence in the United Nations and this country beyond what already exist, but don't ask Obama.
DOBBS: So then otherwise that would be a positive thing.
BOLTON: Well, there is something to be said for, because I think it would bring a real confrontation. But it does endanger Israel, and I think his vindictiveness on that score sadly we've already seen.
