Visiting a combat zone as president , did just that. Boarding a secret overnight flight from maryland to iraq to surprise troops on the ground there and thank them for spending christmas far far from home. The reason im here today is to personally thank you and every Service Member throughout this region for the near elimination of the isis territorial caliphate in iraq and in syria. Two years ago, when i became president , they were a very dominant group. There were very dominant. Today they are not so dominant anymore. [cheers and applause] ed not so dominant. You hear the cheers, the selfies, the handshakes. Lots of smiles at the airbase of the president and First Lady Melania Trump spent three hours on the ground there. The president also use the visit to take the reins back perhaps on Border Security. Just days ago he seemed to be backtracking about the wall. A barrier, a wall, or steel slats, whatever you want to call it, its all the same. Ed but earlier today he appeared to return to Campaign Mode and was talking tough. How long do you think the shutdown will last. Whatever it takes. Were going to have a wall. We are going to have safety. Ed in moments, congressman peter king joins me live with more on this historic trip and more importantly perhaps what comes next in the showdown over the wall. But first, senior Political Correspondent mike emanuel is live in washington with more on the president s secret visit. Good evening. President trumps visit to iraq as a traditional move by a commander in chief during a holiday. Back to thank our troops for their service a long way from home. The president and first ladys visit was full of secrecy with their security obviously a concern. This president has made withdrawing the United States from foreign wars priority. This location in iraq is significant as u. S. And Coalition Forces have been successful in retaking muzzle and liberating significant territory across the border in syria. The president noted the great job american troops have done in taking the fight to isis. I looked at a map and two years ago it was a lot of red all over that map and i have a couple little spots and thats happening very quickly. The president and first lady are due to make a second stop before heading back to the white house before leaving. If the commander in chief told troops there he does not plan to withdraw from iraq. He says he sees using it as a military base to launch operations in syria and against the islamic state. An important part of the commander in chiefs visit to a combat zone was clearly focused on saying thank you to our men and women in uniform. We came to share our eternal gratitude for everything you do to keep america safe, strong and free. This trip also comes of the president s defense secretary jim mattis is on his way out. Mattis announced his resignation last week it was highly critical of the president s foreign policy. The president bumped up the change at the pentagon to new years day about two months early. If the president s critics like Actress Alyssa Milano tweeted this afternoon he becomes first president since 2002 not to visit troops at christmas time. Too soon . The president was on his way. At after calling troops around the world to wish them a Merry Christmas he went to see some in person. Ed mike emanuel, good job but if you, i appreciate it. Peter king who serves on the House Homeland Security committee. Good evening, Merry Christmas. Thank you, you two. Ed as mike said it wasnt just hollywood stars. You had nbc news, his critics again thinking that got the president corner, look at this headline. Nbc news. Trump becomes first president since 2002 not to visit troops at christmas time. Meanwhile, within hours, he is in the air doing just that. I know President Trump gets angry at the media for their biased reporting but in many ways they are his best ally because they always overshoot. They always exaggerate and they always put him in a position where he ends up on top. Again, this does show the rush to judgment the media always has against President Trump. And again, he planned on going anyway but this, outsmarted the media. If that was not his main motive but that certainly the way it worked out. Ed so congressman, on a more important policy decision, something republicans have been upset about as well, which is about pulling troops out of syria as well as half the troops out of afghanistan. I wonder if his critics as well may be jumped to conclusions at the front and thought this is a huge mistake without hearing the details. Listen to what the president said im sorry, this is actually a quote from a story about what he said on the ground in iraq. He says if we see something happening with isis that we dont like we can hit them so fast and so hard they really wont know what the hell happened, weve knocked them silly. The idea being that the troops that are still there, about 5200 are in iraq and could help in syria. Isnt that an idea that perhaps the critics were overshooting at first again . I think it certainly serves to mitigate some of the concern. I will be honest with you. I disagree with his policy to come out of syria the way it was done but i think if he articulates this and continues, our troops in iraq can be used in syria if they have to be, that would go a long way to alleviate and mitigate some of the concerns that people had about iraq. Because isis still is very dangerous and i dont want to create a vacuum that the russians and iranians can fill but the fact that he shows his willingness to use the american troops in iraq to carry out a mission in syria if they have to, if isis develops again, to me did go a considerable way to alleviating the concern. Ed on the other hand when he talks about the fact that i says, when he took the presidency had territory about the size of ohio, he talked about those red dots on the map and now they have about 1 of that. Is this a victory he has not gotten credit for . Definitely. He has done a phenomenal job in going after terrorism, taking some of the restrictions of the military, giving the generals in the military the power and the authority they need. This is been overwhelmingly successful what he has done against isis. My only question was i think there is still a remnant of isis and it could be resurrected. But having said that, this has been really the great untold story of the last two years, the devastating impact that this president has had on isis. Several years ago isis was the unstoppable force. If they had caliphate. They were marching right from the middle east and they are, again, far far less potent force than they were in the president deserves full credit for that. Ed lets bring it back here at home though. As you know the president also had some in his own party concerned about the policy on immigration. Was he faltering a bit, was he softening on the push for a wall. It did he alleviate some doubts today by saying whatever it takes is going to be awol . Let me tell you where im coming from. I strongly support the wall. I was one of the authors of the bill back in 2006 which passed the Congress Calling for 700 miles of security. And it was supported by Many Democrats at the time. If the democrats are being totally hypocritical. I just have a thing against Government Shutdowns. I think they end up being counterproductive. But now that were in it i think its important for the president and the democrats to come to the table, find a way to negotiate and compromise here but to me the wall is essential. I wouldnt have shut down the government over it but it is shut down now. So lets find a way out of it and it should be done by the democrats conceding that there has to be awol. If the president s about that. Ed congressman i got 30 seconds. Whats next . How does the president get out of this, as you say you support his push for the wall. If you are glad he did that but youre not excited about the government being partially shut down. Democrats dont seem to want to negotiate with him. I think the president , i think Mick Mulvaney sorted into that, they can make some concessions as far as the total amount and i would also suggest perhaps republicans could also do something on daca but in return for that the democrats will have to commit to the wall. Otherwise the president i dont see how he gets out of this otherwise. I dont see the end game without that. Ed congressman peter king, we appreciate you coming in. Thank you. Thank you. Ed here now, jason riley, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute in jessica tarlov. It democratic strategist and senior director of research at bustle. Com. Shes also a fox news contributor. Good to see you both. Hi. Ed good to see you, jason. At the president had some concerns among republicans both in syria policy as just mentioned as well as the wall. Has he alleviated some of those concerns in his own party . Demand with the trip overseas does he alleviate those concerns . s view on the trip, may be changing the subject a bit, but also while over there making it clear that he has had a big victory on isis. It when you look at the territory that they had when he took presidency and where they are now, but also making clear to reporters there after seeming to be on the defensive at the end of the week, homing nomadic home alone. He got out of the white house, he goes over to see the troops but says whatever it takes we are going to have the wall. I think that was the right thing to do. Im glad he went. I think it is a morale booster from men and women in uniform. And in the current context i think it was an important trip too. With the mattis resignation. Mattis is someone at some of the other officials that are leaving who was in very high regard by the rankandfile in the military and i think it was important to reinsure our men and women in uniform that he has their back, he has the best interest of the country in mind and also as the previous interview with representative king showed there is some skepticism about how he handled that pullout, or the announcement, the timing of the announcement and who he shared this information with ahead of time. Its not just in the house. If youve got people like tom cotton and the senate, big supporter of trump. Nevertheless very critical of this move. But i do think he did a little bit to reassure them. But i think there is some more work to be done on this front. Ed jessica obviously one positive trip doesnt erase the fact that he has real difficulties perhaps ahead, finding who is the next defense secretary, dealing with the fact that james mattis left in a very messy way. We cant sweep it under the carpet. On the other hand, dont some of his critics look a little silly by saying hes the first one not to visit the troops when they didnt throw this together in three or four hours because of a tweet. This had to be in the works. I will just admit right up front that i fell for it as well. So im putting that out there. I didnt think that he was leaving. I thought he was all alone theyre ruining christmas for 7yearolds all over the countr country. Ed we are going to get to that later in the show, believe me. Good. It was a great thing for the troops. I do see now that newsweek is reporting that because of a video that he posted has revealed identities of members of seal team five for their own covert operations. Thats something im sure we will hear more about that as the evening progresses. But no doubt this was the right thing to do bringing Melania Trump as well. There arent many first ladies that actually go conflict zones. It seemed to be a very meaningful experience for those who are there. But to jasons point i dont think it alleviates concerns over the pullout from syria when he was addressing the troops. He said i said to the generals who are in syria youve got six months and then i give them six months and i said you got six months and now you just got to get out of there. I dont know what kind of policy that is an jim mattis clearly didnt know what kind of policy that is. So thats outstanding. Ed jason and jessica, i want you to hear something that Maxine Waters said on sunday. Im not surprised at anything that the president may do or say. I have warned america from the beginning that this president is not worthy. He should not be there. That he cannot be trusted. He is a liar. He is despicable. We need to get rid of this president. Ed jason, even if the president did not handle the shut down perfectly, how does he negotiate with the Democratic Party has leaders like Maxine Waters saying hes a liar and he needs to get out . Youre not going to negotiate with Maxine Waters. But she can be a thorn in his side. Shes going to be head of one of these committees that will have oversight duties come january. So she someone he is going to have to deal with eventually. But in terms of the shut down i think both sides still think they have something to gain politically from this. The democrats enjoy accusing people who support Border Security of being racist. They think that helps them with their base. And trump thinks that his base wants to see him continue to be engaged on this issue. So i think hes become convinced that if he doesnt get some of this funding for his wall hes jeopardizing his reelection chances, frankly. Ed lets give jessica lets give you a fair chance to get in here. I realize that pelosi and schumer are the leaders who are negotiating on the shutdown. The committees are incredible powerful. Absolutely. But i would say when you look at what president obama had to do when he was dealing with trey gowdy, mark meadows, devin nunes, et cetera. They dont sound all that different may be in tone and Maxine Waters but the content of what they were saying, people who were out there with the locker up stuff and going after democrats in a very politically motivated way whether it was the irs hearing, benghazi or any of the others i dont think its that dissimilar from whats going on with Maxine Waters. Jerry nadler has said hes not going for impeachment and there are real concerns here about what the Trump Administration members of the Trump Administration, cabinet members and his own family have done in terms of taking advantage of the office and they should be investigated. Ed one persons political hearings is another persons oversight i suppose depending on whos in power. Jessica, jason, i appreciate you both coming in. Thanks a lot. He ed up next, new calls for the president to go it alone to get the wall. Cody was executive power to bypass congress and get the money he needs to just go ahead and build it . The president is committed to making sure that one way or another whether its through congress or other measures that we protect our borders when hes looking at a number of different ways in order to do that. The greatest wish of all is one that brings us together. The final days of wish list are here. Sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first months payment. Only at your lincoln dealer. They seem to be the very foundation of your typical bank. Capital one is anything but typical. Thats why we designed capital one cafes. You can get savings and checking accounts with no fees or minimums. And one of americas best savings rates. To top it off, you can open one from anywhere in 5 minutes. This isnt a typical bank. This is banking reimagined. Whats in your wallet . And then, more jobs robegan to appear. What started with one job spread all around. Because each job in energy creates many more in this town. How long do think the shutdown will last mr. President . Whatever it takes. We are going to have a wall, we are going to have safety. We need safety for our country. Ed President Trump they are to finally deliver on a border wall despite that standstill in washington over how to get it funded. And reopen the government. Some now saying the president should exercise his executive power to bypass congress altogether writing he has the Funds Available in the authority to build a wall in his own. The only question as to whether President Trump will finally start taking advice to those who actually support his goals rather than continuing to trust the internal obstructionists. Joining me now is the author of that piece, bret decker. Assistant professor of business at Defiance College and coauthor of the book the conservative case for trump. Good evening, good to have you tonight. Merry christmas, great to be on. Ed Merry Christmas. Lets explain first, what you believe the president can and cannot do with his executive power . Sure. Thats the fundamental question. A couple weeks ago the white house put out a directive to the executive Branch Agencies asking if they could find pots of money they could use to build a wall and theres money all over the executive branch that can be used. The federal budget, 4 trillion and people are claiming they dont have nickels to rub together to come up with 5 billion. There were all these different initiatives and i think the one i find the most interesting, 200 billion in loans that the department of agriculture gives out for rural development. These are basically like bank loans where they give loans out to Rural Communities to build fire stations, walls, retaining walls. So these get paid back. If they have a superlow default rate so they would be very attractive to be part of an investment portfolio. Ed it may be attractive. You know the congress has to authorize issues and pots of money, as you say and then appropriated. So the president s own acting chief of staff at the white house has said that they cant just move money around that quickly. I do believe that they just dont understand the process or as you say, there are people on the inside who are undermining the president somehow . People who are against the president s agenda was going to come up with reasons why you cant do anything but theres always a fight between president s and congress over how an executive that can spend money thats already been allocated or is already out there. Even George Washington fought with congress over it. I think with the president has to do is just do it. Obama said 1. 7 billion to iran in cash. That didnt get approved by congress. Ed ready to get that . Congress did not authorize or appropriate that. Congress clearly didnt appropriate that cash to go to iran. Sure. And during the Bush Administration lots of war funding was moved around. Lots of secret operations. This is something President Trump was elected to do something about immigration. Congress congress cant even pass a budget let alone do anything on a controversial issue like the wall. I think President Trump needs to just kind of do it and force the issue. Other ash though my president s do this and get away with it so i think this president needs to do it. Ed but should you do it i know we have a difference in the satellite there. Should the president just do it . Thats what some democrats are saying to harry reid a few years ago about the Nuclear Option with traditional nominations and it backfired on them. I seem to remember republicans shouting at president obama about overstepping his executive power on daca and other issues. What does blow up in the republicans face if the president starts moving money around . I think actually its a great question. I think its actually the opposite. I think was going to blow up in republican faces both in congress and the white house as if they dont do something about immigration. Their majorities and President Trump selections were based on addressing this issue. President trump said he would get the wall built in his first two years. The two years are up. It democrats control house in january. No funding is going to pass in the next few years with a divided congress. I think this is the president s only option. Ed you are certainly right with democrats in charge of the house they are not going to be funding the law, at least not to the levels the president wants and there is a lot of frustration in the president s own party about republicans running the house and not getting that job done. We appreciate you coming in today. Great, thanks for having me on. Ed all right, up next, the new poll from democrats showing they settle for just about anyone on the ballot in 2020 except, Hillary Clinton. Former pennsylvania governor and g. O. P. As well as karl rove, they are coming up next. Do you want to run again . No. There was a pause. Well, i would like to be president. Enjoying chocolate cake. Now she can have her cake and eat it too. Nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for allday, allnight protection. Can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn . For allday, allnight protection. Youre gonna love if ythe best of geico. Ercials, its geicos alltime greatest hits back on tv for a limited time. And if you love the best of geico, youre gonna really love voting online for your favorite. You can even enter for a chance to appear in an upcoming geico commercial. This fires toasty, linda but the best of geico collection sounds even hotter. To vote for your favorite geico ad and enter to win, visit geico. Com bestof. Thats geico. Com bestof. Ed 2019 is not even officially here but the race to 2020 already heating up and if Hillary Clinton is considering another run for president she may want to think again. New poll finds a staggering 70 of democrats and independent pluralists do not think she should be on the ballot. A mere 15 would be excited to see her run again. Here now former governor pennsylvania ed. He also served as chairman of the national committee. Good evening, ed. Good evening. Ed pretty direct message to Hillary Clinton, isnt it . I dont think she has any intention of running. I think she would like to be president. So what i like to be president , i just dont want to run for it. If i woke up tomorrow and found it was president i wouldnt resign. Ed theres a lot of people who might feel that way. If something caught my eye today and vanity fair. They posted a story saying that there may be a little trouble in paradise between joe biden and barack obama. Specifically that as you know barack obama has been meeting with beto orourke and others. Obama world insiders describe the former Vice President as upset not specifically by obamas conversation with him but the fact that he has been meeting with a whole series, the former president s willingness to talk to other democratic contenders while joe biden is Still Deciding whether to run himself. So you can see both sides of this. He wants everyone to start sorf freespirited former dnc chair, there may be a dozen, 15 other democrats ready to jump in on their own. Sure. But im not sure that report is correct but even if it is my advice to joe biden, the fact that the president meets with other contenders doesnt mean that hes endorsing them are going to be for them and not for joe. I am sort of the elder statesman of pennsylvania democrats and i meet with anybody who wants to run for office. Even if i know im supporting an opponent. I will meet with that person and tell them what type of campaign i think he or she should run. Tell them how i think they should go about it. How they should plan for the general election if they win the primary. So i dont think you can read too much into that. Ed but as an elder statesman in your party as you say, the party has been moving further and further left. You see people like alexandria ocasiocortez and others, not just her rising in the party won Claire Mccaskill, who was just ousted in missouri saying wait a second, dont forget about white workingclass voters. Right. That is played into joe bidens we will have trouble winning if we dont get back some of those white workingclass democrats who voted for donald trump. The best person in our field without any shadow of a doubt to bring them back is joe biden. I dont want to correct 221degree. The party has elected some people who are on the left far left side of the spectrum. But most of the governors who were elected, democrats took back seven governors each were moderate leftist centered democrats. So i dont think this was a wave of progressive people getting elected. Most of the congresspeople who got elected, who took back republican seats werent far out leftwingers. They were left to center moderates. I dont think the party has moved. I think the party understands that we got to win and there are certain things on the far left agenda that i would love to see happen but im going to happen and we cant lie to people. Ed i want to give you a platform for that. You just wrote an oped where you were talking about infrastructure and other issues. President trump is talked about, Chuck Schumer has talked about and your advice to your party is look, dont get lost in all these investigations but are they going to listen . Youve seen the report in axios and elsewhere that there are literally dozens of subpoenas that when you say your party is not moving to the left, but there are dozens of subpoenas they have ready to go to just go after the president on literally every issue. I dont think thats a leftist hunter issue. If we do that and i heard there were 85 different subjects looking at for possible investigations, we do that at our peril. We have now got control of the congress and the American People say okay, what do you propose to do about the challenges facing the nation . We should legislate more than investigate. We should pass an infrastructure bill. It doesnt even matter if the Senate Passes it on the president signs it. It will be out there saying this is what we do if we get control of the government. We should pass Immigration Reform bill. We should pass amendments to obamacare if obamacare is upheld by the courts as i think it will be. We should pass real legislation directed at real problems. Thats the way to win motors. Investigations, Robert Mueller and a very talented team. We should investigate the things that are not in the mueller probe. Legislate, legislate, legislate rather than just investigate, investigate, investigate. Ed we will see if they take your advice. Appreciate you coming in tonight. Thanks very much. Ed lets turn now to karl rove. A former deputy of staff to president george w. Bush and a fox news contributor. Good to see you. Merry christmas. Ed Merry Christmas to you as well. Hope the family is well. What say you about the Democratic Party and whether they move left or not . I think the governor put a little bit of a gloss on it. Yes, many of the democrats were elected to governorships and purple states were moderate to left of center but even in the house races like kansas, suburban kansas city, seat in kansas was won by a leftwinger. In dallas Pete Sessions was knocked off by a candidate who spent the primary extolling his leftwing views in the general election disclaiming them. I think the jury is get out on how strong that class of 40 is going to be but my sense is yes the Democratic Party is moving to the left. More people identify as liberals, if you were identified as moderate and virtually nobody identifies themselves as conservatives and that trend has been entrained for a while and has only gotten more pronounced. Ed so beyond what it means for nancy pelosi and her caucus in the house as they take power in 2019, what does it mean for 2020 when you got Bernie Sanders talking about running again, Elizabeth Warren and yes, there will be some centrists as a well but it seems like theres a lot of candidates on the left fighting for votes and fighting for the hearts and minds of the Democratic Party. I think youve got to look at it from two different ways. First of all, whats going to be the impact on the legislative process. I think the governors absolutely right. If democrats would be smart to legislate, not investigate. But the left wing of the Democratic Party. And i put this in my column tomorrow in the wall street journal, the left wing of the Democratic Party beliefs that compromise is bad and that anybody who negotiates, democrats who negotiate our potential traders. Theres going to be a real pressure from the grassroots of the Democratic Party to investigate, investigate, impeach, impeach and not legislate and legislate as the governor talked about. But the other one is whats going to happen in the 2028 president ial election in the democratic primary and there could be a moderate democrat, a moderately liberal democrat who emerges who doesnt buy into the leftwing agenda who could become a serious contender because the left could be split up among several a number of highly credible leftwing candidates. So there might be a way available for somebody. I doubt it because there is elected as a mayor of new york as a republican but there might be room for a Mitch Landrieu or maybe even joe biden will pick that lane to running rather than trying to sort of outBernie SandersBernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren or kamala harris. He may say im going to run as a unifier, somebody who will work with republicans and democrats. Im going to serve one term and im going to put the country in the right direction and then retire to delaware. That could be an appealing message because of her buddy else is slicing up the left wing of the Democratic Party. Ed theres one other person, ive got 30 seconds, who seems to already be running an donald trump. Whats your advice to him tonight about the Government Shutdown and whats ahead with the wall . I wrote about it in my column tomorrow. Youve got to have an end strategy and the president , by having that highly visible session in the oval office, highly unusual, made it hard for democrats to sort of wiggle out of those positions and we saw nancy pelosi basically taunt him over the issue if you cant get republican votes weve got schumer in that meeting saying we dont, the wall was ineffective. As you know from watching it, making legislation is sausage making and thats not a pretty sight for the public to see sometimes. Better to try and see if you can cut those deals in the back, in the back room and then bring them out and have everybody explain. I think the answer is both parties are to wake up and realize its to their advantage to find a compromise in which he each side get something. Otherwise the democrats will introduce themselves, the new Majority Party in the house by depicting themselves as unnecessary obstructionist. Ed karl rove, i appreciate your insight tonight. Thank you. Ed up next, an antitrump womens march canceled as controversial ties come to light between organizers and nation of islam leader louis farrakhan. White folks are going down and far conned by gods grace has pulled the cover off of that satanic tand in your garage,son a brand new john deere. Thats not a mirage. With 60 months financing at 0 , say happy holidays to money well spent. If additional offers are what you desire, visit your john deere dealer before they expire. Now, start up your engines and drive out of sight. New john deere equipment for all and to all a good night. See your john deere dealer today to discover more great deals and special financing offers. New year, new deere. Psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis, Little Things can be a big deal. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not an injection or a cream. Its a pill that treats differently. For psoriasis, 75 clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. For psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. And the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. It may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. Tell your doctor about your medicines and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Otezla. Show more of you. Chief correspondent is the story. Good evening jonathan. The split has been building for some time. And this appears to be a result of that split. Although the chicago womens march organizers insisted they are canceling the january 19th march purely because it put so much time and effort into a similar midterm elections march in november dubbed the march to the polls. But cracks in the leadership began appearing in february when one of the founders to make mallory attended the nation of islam saviors day gathering at which louis parker said this. White folks are going down. And satan is going down and farrakhan, by gods grace, has pulled the cover off of that satanic jew. The backlash against farrakhan and mallory for seeming to endorse such statements simply by attending was swift. It mallorys full not come until march when she wrote on her twitter feed it seems i am not being clear. I am it always have been against all forms of racism. I am committed to ending antiblack racism, antisemitism, homophobia and trans phobia. This is why i helped create an intersectional movement to bring groups together. But for cofounder teresa stroke, that was not enough. She called on the entire womens march leadership to resign saying i have followed antisemitism, antilgbt qi a sentiment and hateful racist rhetoric to become a part of the platform by the refusal to separate themselves from groups that espouse these racist, hateful beliefs. Millions around the globe attended the first womens marches in january 2017 following President Trumps inauguration. Marches and rallies are still scheduled to be held in washington, d. C. , and dozens of other cities across the country and around the world on january january 19th. Ed Jonathan Hunt live in los angeles, thank you, jonathan. Still ahead, the New York Times accused of being a gossip rag found in the supermarket checkout aisle. After an uncorroborated report involving resident trumps medical exemption during the vietnam war. It breaks down the story next. The New York Times essentially apologized after i won the election because their coverage was so bad and it was so wrong and they were losing so many subscribers. Confusing. I literally have no idea what im getting. I dont know either. Im just the spokesperson. But thats why theyre making it simple so that even actors, like us, can understand it. Im not an actor. Id love to tell you more but i only have thirty seconds. So heres a dramatic shot of their tagline so youll remember it. When insurance is simple, its surprisingly painless. Whooo want to get a move on your next vacation . 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The doctors daughter says their father left no medical records with the family and a doctor who purchased his practice said he was unaware of any documents related to mr. Trump. If it goes on to say the daughters, both democrats, say they are not fans of mr. Trump. Here now is howard kurtz. Other than that, mrs. Lincoln, how was the play . Donald trump they have like thousands of other come up with medical reasons to dodge the vietnam draft but this story doesnt confirm that. He read some of the key this doctor has been dead for more than a decade. No paper evidence, you read that. One of the two daughters of the doctor who was interviewed says the implication from her father was that trump didnt have bone spurs. I dont know if he examined him. I dont know. I worked in newspapers for a long time, i would have thrown that story back and say you havent got it. Ed it wasnt just buried on the inside. The front page, a foot doctor favor may have helped trump avoid vietnam. Why in the world how in the world does this get on the front page of the New York Times . The critics of the paper would say this reflects the continuing antidrug animus. There is such a thing as a standard of proof that you have to meet particularly involving a president , particularly involving an accusation. Remember george w. Bush, whether he was awol and that turned out to be essentially fabricated. So i just think its a story that shouldnt have been published by the newspaper that talks about only publishing things that are fit to print. Ed why now when the idea during the campaign has been out there, that the president had avoided service in vietnam . Timing a little suspicious to you, a few hours after this hits the front page of the New York Times the president for the first time winds up in a war zone, is that unconnected . I dont think the editors knew that President Trump was going to iraq. I do think this is a period of time when the media are talking about chaos, shut down, stock market plummeting until today, pulling out of syria. Its almost like a pylon effect. I dont know if that was connected but this just seems like it was one more brick to throw the president. Ed it seems like its a good point. Mention this at the top of the show with jessica tarlov. Another media interesting meeting moment, the president has this conversation with some kids, tracking santa claus on Christmas Christmas eve and this is something all president s do. Has a conversation with a 7yearold kid about whether its marginal or not that santa claus is real. The courier down in South Carolina does a mini investigation, track the gold on it says some of her friends are not sure. Im thinking to myself as a media person, why are we even spending time on this . But bigger than that, you can answer that and weave in the nbc news tweets, which is much more serious. Nbc news decides to tweet out the president has become the first commander in chief to not visit the troops over the holidays. If you see it there. Becomes the first president since 02 not to visit troops at christmas time. I tweet the post tuesday and hours later hes in iraq and this is something that was in the works. You cant just throw it together. They were planning this out for some time. Not great time. It may should have waited until new years day but on santa gate, what the president said to the 7yearold was clumsy. But some of his opponents want to put it in the articles of impeachment. If the reaction has been such an overreaction that its just stunning to me. If classic press. If everything is an 11 then nothing is 11. The kid got her gift, she Still Believes in santa and so her christmas wasnt ruined and the journalists have nothing to jump on. That was their gift. Ed hope you had a wonderful christmas and we will certainly be watching your program this sunday as we do every sunday. Good to see you. Up next, alexandria ocasiocortezs christmas message for the American People. The greatest wish of all is one that brings us together. The final days of wish list are here. Sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first months payment. Only at your lincoln dealer. And then, more jobs robegan to appear. What started with one job spread all around. Because each job in energy creates many more in this town. Starts with looking buiat something old,nk and saying, really . So capital one is building something completely new. Capital one cafes. Inviting places with people here to help you, not sell you. And savings and checking accounts with no fees or minimums. Because thats how it should be. You can open one from right here or anywhere in 5 minutes. Seriously, 5 minutes. This is banking reimagined. Whats in your wallet . Ed and coming congresswoman alexandria ocasiocortez playing a little politics on christmas by the democratic socialist weeding out a series of jabs at what she calls antiimmigrant pendants, including this one. Merry christmas, everyone. Heres to a holiday filled with happiness, family, and love for all people, including refugees, babies in mangers and their parents. Robert jeffress as a pastor of First Baptist church in dallas and a fox news contributor. Good evening and Merry Christmas, sir. Thank you can you, ed. Merry christmas to you. Ed how do you react with the congressman elect said . [laughs] this is just the latest attempt by the left to pervert the christmas story to turn into a refugee baby in order to push their no borders, open borders immigration policy. There are two problems with doing that. There is nothing in the biblical text that suggests that mary, joseph, and jesus came to egypt to flee herod illegally. They certainly did not come in a caravan of 5,000 threatening egyptian sovereignty. But the bigger problem, ed, the attempt by the left to demonize President Trump for dealing with the bible says is his responsibility, and that is protecting citizens. I preached President TrumpPresident Trumps inauguration sermon and i use the text about god telling nehemiah to build a wall around jerusalem. I said, mr. President , god is not against welding walls. The bible says that even happen will have a wall around it. Not everyone will be allowed in. Ed pastor, you mentioned people mangling the christmas story. Here is democratic congressman Luis Gutierrez at a hearing, i believe, last week. Watch. During christmas . A time in which we celebrate the birth of jesus christ, a jesus christ who had to flee for his life with mary and joseph. Thank god there wasnt a wall that stopped him from seeking refuge in egypt. Thank god that ron wasnt there and thank god there wasnt an Administration Like this or he would have, too, parish. Ed there it is again, using a story for political purposes. I tell you, he needs to stick to what hes doing. Stop trying to interpret the bible. I mean, even in Elementary School child knows the story that it was god who told joseph to go to egypt. He told him to do it. Ill guarantee you, had there been a wall around egypt, god would have obliterated it or sent to us of someplace else. This is absolutely insanity on the part of the left. Ed last question, mentioned this earlier, democratic al character mike outgoing senator Claire Mccaskill has had i know you dont always get into politics sometimes but she is saying, ocasiocortez and others on the left may be pulling that party a little bit too far to the left. I think they are pulling them too far to the left. I think that will help President Trump. Look, ed, lets be clear. The bible said we should be compassionate to those in need. At my church, we dont those immigration cards are green cards but the government is not a church. God is given to government the responsibility romans 13 says to protect its citizens and we ought to celebrate the fact that we have a president who is willing to keep this country safe and instead of demonizing. Ed pastor robert jeffress, Merry Christmas and happy new year to you, sir. Merry christmas to you, ed. Ed that the story on this wednesday night. Let me know what you thought of tonights show on twitter. I will see see you talk tomorrow night at seven. At 7 00. Tucker carlson is up next. Good evening, everybody, and welcome to the Tucker Carlson tonight program. Im tammy bruce filling in for tucker this evening. President trump surprised he was troops in iraq with a holiday visit today, his first visit to troops serving in a combat zone. Rather, the president briefly touched on domestic politics, saying a Government Shutdown will only end with money for a party wall. How long do you think there shutdown will last, mr. President . Whenever it takes. We will have a wall. We will have safety. We need safety for our country. Tammy mack to mike emanuel is in washington with more. Mike