the dow from fox media. i want you to be on top of that. hope you do a good job for me. i have my suspicions where it might go. it is up to you america. get back to me tomorrow, cheryl casone. cheryl: thank you so much, neil. we are waiting right now on white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders. she will address the media amid allegations of white house chaos and dysfunction, outlined in a new controversial book. hello, i'm cheryl casone in for trish regan today. welcome to "the intelligence report." president trump's lawyers issuing a cease and desist letter late last night, yet ad former aide steve bannon and author michael wolff, demand they stop the book's pubcation and personally apologize to the president. all of this happening, a little backdrop we have going on, a massive snowstorm, a

"bomb cyclone", is slamming entire east coast. blizzard warnings are in effect. thousands of flights are being canceled. what you need to know to stay safe. that is coming. dow hit as milestone, 125,000 points and more -- 25,000 points and more today. we have all the intel for you straight ahead. first, let you know, zare are you huckabee sanders will address the media any media now. we'll take the briefing live when it happens at the white house. as we await, there is a lot of political things to talk about always, civic forum chairman ford o'connell joins me. how are you doing sir. >> i'm doing fine, cheryl, happy new year. cheryl: there will be a lot of questions about the cease and

desist order. do they have a case against steve bannon and a case against michael wolff? >> he would be wise to lawyer up. based on nda agreements, we don't know the size and scope. really only penalty spelled out in the contract whether monetary and injunction. that is something that steve bannon faces. the really big question, trump wants to go after him, to after him for defamation for big payday. to do that it is a high burden, he would have to show malice on steve bannon's part. cheryl: depends on what the disclosure in the contract says, if it's a monetary hit, whatever it will be. i want to read the statement from president trump, he as always president trump does, did not mince words and criticism. steve bannon has nothing to do with me and my presidency. when he was fired he not only lost his job but lost his mind. steve was a staffer that worked

for me after i already won the nomination after defeating 17 candidates. steve bannon's comments to michael wolff back in september, there was nothing to the russian investigation, all was well. what do you think changed? >> i will say this though. i think president trump is on to something when he says steve bannon is in it for himself. it is not just the "60 minutes" interview that contradicts some of the stuff he said to wolff. also the "vanity fair" interview. maybe steve bannon has his own playbook. maybe he is out for himself. he certainly didn't help the trump team. one thing that blowses my mind, he wasn't on the campaign when he said the meeting with the russians was treasonous and made other comments. he gave the democrats hail mary, which everyone on the republicans and capitol hill dismantling concerning with the russians. i do not know what steve bannon did today, he not only hurt president trump, and then it is

america. cheryl: first nonsense and how things changed in several months. fox contributor steve cortes joins me on set to talk about all of this. in the middle of all of this you have other statements against the campaign, against the family. it would seem to me a sitting president is going to have a tough time possibly going after somebody for slander, but that, the president is hinting at that, that is where he wants to go but can he? >> cheryl, i have to tell you, to mow this is the political version of my parents are fighting because i respect both of them so much, steve bannon and donald trump but i also say this, donald trump is the president. he is the indispensable man of this movement. as much as i admire steve bannon i will defer to the president and donald trump. but i also say this, i think this is important, while those of us really involved in politics and really involved in media, while we spend a lot of time and effort focusing on this, i think regular he have -day americans living their lives trying to pay their bills, they are not so focused on inside baseball of washington.

what they are focused on are the lives getting better? are they safer? is the border secure? are they more pros pus? are they earning more? is the stock market doing well. these are real-life things steve bannon and donald trump, would join hand to say, yes, we are achieving a lot already in the first year and more to come. cheryl: all of that is true, steve but you know at the same time, ford, i said this earlier this morning on "fbn:am," breakups can be hard. we are seeing that play out. at same time, doesn't this take away what is on the agenda for the trump administration in the new year? that is immigration? talking about a wall. getting talks can fixed? all those things, we're not talking about it right now, we're talking about steve bannon. >> exactly right, cheryl. this book is not helpful. as neil cavuto pointed out earlier what about dow 25,000 as well. there is a lot things here, president's accomplishments from last year, things he wants to get accomplished this year with immigration, funding the

government. the fact we have a mid-term coming up he only has five or six months to make this happen before everyone on capitol hill starts worrying about the their political backside and re-election. this is not helpful. i agree with steve, average americans care about x, y, and z, making their lives better. at the same time this book is not helpful. we know media will jump on this and the questions from the white house press corps will be 10 to one and drive home the narrative. cheryl: before i let you go, listen to what steve bannon just said. you tell me if you think his tone changed a little bit. let's play that. >> any legislation on daca must secure the border with a wall, it must give our immigration officers the resources they need to stop illegal immigration, and also to stop visa overstays, and crucially the legislation must end chain migration. it must end the visa lottery. dangerous, and i think, many of

the democrats agree with this on that now. cheryl: okay. actually that wasn't steve bannon. that is president trump. we all figured that out. steve bannon changed his tone on a radio show. he really sounded very difficult, very conciliatory. this is what he said, the president of the united states is a great man. you know i support him day in dayout. i thought we had audio. that is specifically what he said. >> to me this is the important fight, families fight. the trump movement, populist, economic nationalist movement is having a fight. we have sections and battles as we come of age but the more important point is, we have common goals. by the way one of those common goals, the tape just played of donald trump was securing our border. cheryl: right. >> controlling illegal immigration. there is no room between donald trump and steve bannon on that issue and on almost every issue. let's focus there -- cheryl: mistake we pulled up

wrong piece of film, that is what the president wanted to focus on. he said that in the piece of sound we just played. a lot more coming up from the white house. ford, steve, thank you very much. appreciate it. well we have the washington sorry and another major story we're watching for you right now. a weather phenomenon called a "bomb cyclone" is blasting much of the northeast. this snowstorm has hurricane-force wind that hit up to 60 miles per hour in some areas. we have team coverage for you on all of this. connell mcshane is in boston nice and toasty, jeff flock is toasty in chicago. connell mcshane in boston, 18-inches of snow expected to fall. that is incredible. reporter: that is heat of it, cheryl. we moved down by the harbor. we were on the boston common. it was beautiful, people were out with their kid and dogs.

but here by the harbor, high tide is problem but certainly in the cape and nantucket where there was a 75 mile-an-hour wind gust reported earlier, what happens, right now we get one of these bands. you get the wind coming off, really hits you in the face, takes your breath away for a second. more importantly it takes your sight away of the as if you're standing out in it, tough to keep the ice open, see what is going on, in front of you. if you're driving with it, difficult to keep the windshield clear to see where you're going and see who is in front of you. visibility down to 1/8 of a mile at best in boston. that is what they deal with now. what they deal with later, a deep freeze, cheryl. the temperatures will go down. we're in the 20s. that will be prepared compared to what we get next couple days. tomorrow, maybe 10 degrees. on saturday, they expect temperatures, not windchill, but temperatures to whoever around zero most of the day, maybe even below zero.

power outages, being reported. most at the cape. that will be issue we have to deal with tonight. then the frozing. if they can't get this snowplowed which so are far from what we can tell, we were driving around here a little bit to get to this position by the harbor, they'ring doing their best. out constantly with the plows. there is the hat. hopefully aaron will run to get the hat, it will be a long day. when we get the plows out here, they hope to get streets here tomorrow. otherwise they have a big issue come tomorrow, this will all freeze big time, cheryl. right now pretty tough. like a hurricane. cheryl: that wind is incredible. hurricane-force winds, connell. thank you very much. i saw aaron to run to get your hat. we'll let you warm up. thousands of flightses in the united states canceled thanks to the winter weather. jeff flock live at o'hare international airport. one of the country's largest

transportation hubs and victim of many, many delays, jeff. how is it looking. reporter: as miserable he is i'm a little jealous for connell, that looks like fun for those of us who enjoy the weather but if you enjoy travel not a good day. it is rippling out across the country here at o'hare, all boston flights are canceled. laguardia flights, particularly. kennedy flights i don't know if they get out. they're all in trouble now. the misery map, the folks at flightaware put out, logan at the water, connell talking about the problems at water, at the coast, logan is essentially shut down. you can't imagine flying in that. northeast airports, all of them in severe misery. rippling out to some degree over the country. if you have a flight from

new york leaving l.a., chicago, dallas, you're probably not going. total number of cancellations according to flightaware, 3008. was my last number. delays 1500. they're growing. we have a note, he wily says, they're going up, up. by airline if you're on one of these airlines probably not good. united with 541 cancellations. a full quarter of united flights scheduled today have been canceled. american, 500 plus fights. 16% of their flights. and jetblue, a full third of their flights, 373 cancellations today. cheryl, as connell reports, that freeze that is coming behind is not going to help things. here in chicago we're at 8 degrees right now but at least there is no snow. cheryl: not yet anyway. jeff flock live for us at o'hare. back in new york city we've seen nothing but sideways snowfall all morning long.

this winter storm warning remains in effect until tomorrow morning. gerri willis is outside in new york city, to bring us more on conditions here in new york. cold and snowy here too, gerri. reporter: that is right, cheryl. it is getting a little worse. the temperature has gone down. the wind is picking up. we're starting to see the snow really get tracks here. i want to tell you about this storm what we're seeing, 40,000 people out there, cheryl, without power. 2000 alone on the cape. so we're seeing people really impacted. let me tell you about a really sad number. this a super serious storm, 12 people have been killed by grayson, the storm we're in now. another 17 died in the frigid temperatures. the south pummeled by cold, cold weather. talking a little bit about transportation here. we're standing here at sixth avenue, frank, pan over to see these cars. these cars are slowing down. i have to tell you,

bill de blasio, mayor of new york city, couple hours ago in a press conference, hey, don't drive, stay home. he told people don't be on the sidewalk. i want everybody home. as you can see new yorkers persist, they're out here. these cars and trucks, going slower than they have been going. conditions i think are the getting more treacherous. what de blasio said, you will not see pavement. don't expect to see pavement today. you will only see know. if you say i will not drive, take a train, amtrak having a delays, canceling trains especially in the acela corridor on the northeast. that is happening with commuter trains. spotty delays. conditions here just not good. cheryl, i got to tell you, all the ports in new york, this is a business story after all, all the ports in new york, are closed. and i'm told that the traffic on the g.w. bridge, 35 miles an hour. 35 miles an hour, is what i'm hearing. so really impacting

new york city here. a lot of people hunkered down. nobody is happier than those kid at home, i got to tell you. a lot of kids home from school. this would be fun to play in. it is getting brutal out here i have to tell you. not much fun now. cheryl: love to sit and chat with you. i will let you go, to get back into warmer temperatures. at least the subways are still running. reporter: that's right. cheryl: this is new york. thank you, gerri willis right here in new york city. well, president trump touting another record day on wall street. take a listen. >> we did in fact break 25,000, substantially break it, very easily. so i guess our new number is is 30,000. what it means every time you see number go up on wall street, it means jobs, success, and care cares that are flourishing -- 401(k)s. cheryl: dow, nasdaq, hitting all-time highs. the dow crossing 25,000 for the first time ever today.

it was only a month ago we hit 24,000. here is good news. the private sector hit way above the 195,000 estimate. let's go to the white house. sarah huckabee sanders taking to the podium. >> lower taxes, less regulation, more opportunity for all is already paying off. american families and work remembers the big winners. with that in mind we have message from special guest i would like to share with you. tune into the screens. then i will continue from there. >> thank you for being with us today. the historic tax cut i signed into law two weeks ago before christmas is already delivering major economic gains. hundreds of thousands of americans are seeing larger paychecks, bigger bonuses and higher pension contribution all because of the tax cuts and tax

reform. i want to thank all of the companies that worked so hard to do it. workers at at&t, bank of america, comcast, southwest airlines, american airlines, and many other companies are receiving bonuses of $1000 or more. aflac and others are investing more in employees 401(k)s. cvs announced it will hire three thousand new workers. boeing, another great company will invest in hundreds of millions of dollars in employee training and infrastructure. more than 60 companies announced they are raising wages, including many that have voluntary raised their minimum wag to $15 per hour. i mean they did that voluntarily, which many politicians said could only be achieved by government mandate. investing in the american worker is the most important investment a business will ever make. i want to thank all of these companies for putting their tax

savings to the best possible use by creating more jobs and higher wages for the american family. these great results are just the beginning. when the dreams of the american people are unleashed, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, we can't achieve. we are going to make america great again and it is happening a lot faster than anyone thought possible. thankthank you. >> thank you, mr. president. as he said, this is only the beginning and we're excitinged to see the economic growth and optimism continue to soar in 2018. earlier today the president hosted republican senators to talk about responsible immigration reform. he reiterated our view that any action on daca must come with action on the president's immigration reform principles which were released last year. these include a physical border wall on the southern border, interior enforcement, which includes more i.c.e. an border patrol agents as well as crackdown on sanctuary cities

and reforms to the illegal -- legal immigration system. next week the president invites a bipartisan group of senators to the white house to discuss next steps on immigration reform to continue that discussion. with that i will take your questions. jeff? reporter: follow-up on steve bannon issue, did white house staff, including steve have to sign non-disclosure agreements when they came to work at the white house? >> there is an ethics agreement. beyond that i can't get into any additional details. reporter: does the president want steve's support for anti-establishment political candidates going in the midterm elections? >> the president wants all americans support. hopes every american in this country wants us to do bigger and better things. that is his focus. he is not trying to single out support from any one individual but he wants to bring everybody together to move the country

forward. that is what he campaigned done. that is what we've done for the last year and what we'll do for the next seven years. reporter: white house said there were false statements in the book. the president's lawyer said there were libelous statements. give us a few statements in the book that are false you would like to set the record straight on? >> i will not go through every single page of the book but there are numerous examples falsehoods that take place in the book. give you one, because it is really easy. the fact that there was a claim the president didn't know who john boehner was is pretty ridiculous considering the majority of you have seen photos and some of you even tweeted out that the president not only knows him, but played golf with him, tweeted about him. that is pretty simple and pretty basic. ages of employees which would be super easy to fact check are wrong. there are numerous mistakes but i'm not going to waste my time or the country's time going page

by page, talking about a book that is complete fantasy and full of tabloid gossip because it is sad, pathetic and our administration and our focus will be on moving the country forward. john. reporter: thanks a lot, sarah, i read the cease and desist letter sent by the president's lawyers to the publisher of this book which seeks to stop the sale of this book. did the president as lawyers share with the president the idea that this is a prior restraint, and that prior restraints are generally unconstitutional. i'm not sure about specific details of the conversation between the president and his personal attorneys but i would refer you to them for questions regarding that matter. jordan? reporter: does the president believe in the first amendment? does the he believe in prior restraint contemplated here? >> the president absolutely believes in the first amendment but as we said before the

president believes making sure information is accurate before pushing it out as fact when it is certainly andly is not, jordan. reporter: what is president's reaction growing suggestions in the book and media that he is mentally unfit? >> the same way that we have when asked before. it is disgraceful and laughable. if he is unfit he wouldn't be sitting there to defeat the most qualified group of candidates the republican party has ever seen. this incredibly strong and good leader. that is why we have had successful 2017. why we're going to continue to do great things as we move forward in the administration. john? reporter: thank you, sarah. two yes, sir, first. the book repeatedly says that the candidate trump his family, the top officials of campaign did not believe he would be elected. it was farther theft from their mind. you said yesterday you believed

in this candidate and felt he would win. can you name anyone else who said at the time on the eve of the election they felt he would win and did the president himself believe he would not win? >> look as we have stated many times before, go back to look at some of the interviews, specifically kellyanne conway, she did several leading up to the days just before the election saying directly that the president can win and would win. i know there were a number of other campaign officials that echoed those same sentiments. the president, the first lady, his family, they wouldn't have put themselves through that process if, one they didn't believe they could win, and two, they didn't want to win. this was something they were very committed to and have been committed to since taking office, will continue to do sorry the next seven years. it is absolutely laughable to think that somebody like this president would run for office with the purpose of losing. if you guys know anything, you

know that donald trump is a winner and he is not going to do something for the purpose of not coming out on top and not coming out as a winner. it is just, i mean that is one of the most ridiculous things i think the claims in the book. reporter: my other question is, tomorrow can we expect a major personnel change, particularly ask, is gary cohn going to stay where he is? >> i have no reason to know of any personnel change whatsoever. gary has stated he is committed to being here. we have just come off of a very successful win on the tax cut and re form package which gary was one of the key leaders of that effort and we're move full force ahead in 2018 to make sure we get a lot accomplished. francesca. reporter: sarah i i want to folw up on something, the last time president spoke to steve bannon was december. the president said today i don't

talk to steve bannon. i don't talk to him. how much were they in contact when from the time he left the white house to the early december call that you mentioned? also, how close were they when they were in the white house? one of the claims in the book that he frequently dineed with mr. bannon. >> the book said sidelined by april, goes further to indicate very credible information to give much information after that point which is most of the book is based after that time frame. this book is miss after mistake after mistake. >> were they not quotes by the time -- >> i'm not aware they were ever particularly close. would i certainly say they have spoken a few times since he left. the white house but not like there were regularly scheduled calls or certainly no meetings between the two of them. fred? >> thank you, sarah. this recording -- commission, and the president's tweets that followed that, does the president, does the president favor a national voter i.d.?

>> we're still going to continue to review the best way forward, just because the election commission is no longer in existence, we are going to send the preliminary findings from the commission to the department of homeland security, and make determinations on the best way forward from that. reporter: why on that, the dhs instead of doj which would be more investigative body? >> that is the agency best determined by the administration and we're moving forward letting them take over the process. trey. reporter: thank you, sarah. two questions. does president trump see marijuana as state's issue and or federal issue? >> the president believes enforcing federal law. that is his top priority. that is regardless what the topic is, whether marijuana or whether it is immigration, the president strongly believes we should enforce federal law. the move that the department of justice has made, which my guess what you're referencing simply gives prosecutors the tools to

take on large-scale distributors and enforce federal law. the president's position hasn't changed but he does strongly believe he should enforce federal law. reporter: without getting ahead of the president, the meeting with the rnc chairwoman, is this something he would discuss about the potential run for mitt romney in utah? >> like you said i will not get ahead of a meeting that hasn't taken place and a meeting that has not been discussed. maybe we follow up last time. ashley. reporter: incredibly high bar for a public figure to win a libel case, public figure like the president, could you explain why the president think it is appropriate use of attention and resources to marshall both his west wing and his legal team against the book's author and book's publisher and former staffer? >> in terms after legal argument i would refer you to the president's attorneys but in

terms of the merits, i think it is pretty clear. i don't think we have been tiptoeing around our feelings on this. it is completely tabloid gossip, full of false and fraudulent claims, and i would refer to you the president's attorneys on what that looks like in the court of law. no. reporter: thank you, sarah. will the president go to court to stop the publication of this book? >> again that is something would refer you to the president's attorneys but our position is very clear, that we think it is full of false and fake information. reporter: book will be published on tuesday. how far is the president willing to go to prevent this book from being published? >> he certainly believes it shouldn't be but in terms of the legal process i would have to refer to you his legal team on that front. reporter: sarah, i know we're talking a lot about steve bannon but he is not the only person

quoted in this book. katy walsh -- >> she put out a statement denying those quotes are attributed to her. >> is there any kind of action being taken by the white house against any of these individuals? is there outreach to the individuals who were quoted to verify whether in fact they made these statements or not? there are these reports there are going to be perhaps implications for her potentially being pushed out of groups that would help support the president from the outside. >> i'm to the aware of any specific action being taken. i do know she has come out said the quotes were not attributed to her as have many other people that this has been, that they have been quoted in this book. reporter: take them at their word won't be implications? >> absolutely. particularly people like secretary mnuchin who pushed back on this and self others. you have to look also at this author's track record in which he has had a real problem with this in the past. i think that that is something that is certainly laid a foundation for to us make the assumption that he is

definitely, this is a practice that he used to dog. reporter: no further legal action against any of those individuals? >> not that i'm aware of at this time. kevin? reporter: sarah, thanks, just a couple. i want to ask you broadly speaking what is your level of exhaustion when you have this issue out there, when there are other policy issues you try to get to and communicate with the american people, how do you balance that, i guess obvious would be, did you speak to the president specifically about what has been said or at least has been released about this? >> i have spoken to the president about some of the specifics that have come up but in terms of the level of exhaustion, i'm less concerned with my exhaustion as i am with the people of this country who frankly probably could care less about a book full of lies and would really like to hear more about the booming economy, the crushing of isis, all of the great things that are happening in this country, or all of the big problems that we're focused on tackling. i don't think they really care

about some trash that an author that no one ever heard of until today or, a fired employee wants to peddle. this is the focus of this administration is moving our country forward. hopefully everybody in this room will join that effort and focus on some of the policy components instead on some of the ridiculous lies we have to spend our time here focused on. reporter: very quickly, is it your impression that something will be done, vis-a-vis the wall, and there will be a grand announcement of some sort that the president would like it make on that? >> again, we would like to make sure we have responsible immigration reform. as i said at the front, we would like to have a deal where we have daca as well as those priorities and principles that we laid out last year met. and that is the reason that the president is inviting members from the democrat party it come over next week so we can have that discussion, and see if we can move the ball forward in that process. kristin. >> thank you, as a candidate

president trump threatened 20 lawsuits, follow through with two of them. why should steve bannon and michael wolff be concerned? >> regardless whether or not there is lawsuit, they should be concerned about peddling fake stories. they should be concerned about putting out information that is not true. they should be concerned about the fact we're spending all of our time here focused on talking about this instead of things people of this country care about. that is really sad process. i think that should be everyone's concern. reporter: is the president committed to following through with the lawsuit? >> i think that is question you have to talk to his attorneys about and whether or not that moves forward and what that looks like. reporter: doesn't this run risk of increasing book sales, sarah, drawing more attention to this? >> i think you guys are drawing the attention, every question basically that i have been asked has to do with that. it is not like i came out here and read excerpts from the book. so i don't think that i can be responsible for the questions that you ask. in fact, if i tried to do this,

i'm sure i would certainly be attacked for trying to, because i did that once and it didn't go over very well. mike, go ahead. reporter: response to revelations in this book? >> absolutely not. that is a ridiculous characterization. this is about the security and integrity of the technology systems here at the white house. this is something that has been in process and in the works for sever six months. we were making sure that all of the information and the ability for the government phones to increase their ability for other applications. so that we can comply with presidential records act that was a big piece of making sure this was did not. now that process is completed we can move forward and that will start next week. mike? reporter: how would you describe the president's relationship with -- family? >> i'm sorry? reporter: president's relationship with the mercer family? how would you describe that? >> i believe it is good. haven't heard otherwise.

i'm not aware of anything specific. reporter: you were eager to call on espn to fire one of sportscasters criticizing president trump. >> it wasn't just criticizing. reporter: should bright part part ways with steve bannon after comments in this book? >> i think it is something they should at and consider, brian? reporter: drill down something peter asked yesterday, i profess my ignorance -- >> you said it, not me. if you want to call yourself ignorant i'm not going to argue. reporter: so, next week when he goes to his physical, are there mental acuity tests that go along with that, or truly physical in nature. >> we'll discuss as i said, when i announce that he is going to be doing the physical, we'll have a readout of that after the, that is completed and we'll let you know at that time. reporter: second question i have for you, yesterday you said steve bannon was entitled to his own opinion but not his own facts. this administration has said on

many occasions they are entitled to alternative facts. so how is that different with steve bannon? >> this administration has not said on numerous occasions that there are alternative facts. i know that there was one reference in which they were saying theres were basically two sides to the story. i think that is very different than completely false information and an opinion. dave? reporter: president said today that steve bannon changed his tune about him last fight. does the president feel that the cease and desist letter had veered effect on steve bannon? >> i'm not sure what aspect made him change his tune. i think there was certainly a difference in some of the language that he used for this book versus the language that he used last night. reporter: question on oil drilling, please. rick scott, the governor of florida, expressing concerns about the administration's new oil drilling, offshore oil drilling plan which would allow

drilling on most coastal waters. can the president afford to cross this important political ally? what do you plan to say to governor scott about the whole plan? >> our goal is certainly not to cross governor scott. we have a great relationship with him. we'll continue working with him on number of issues. just because we may differ on issues from time to time doesn't mean that we can't still have incredibly strong and good relationship. we'll continue those conversations with him and hopefully all come to agreement. take one last question. jim? reporter: you were calling the michael wolff book a book full of lies. didn't this white house give michael wolff all the access that he wanted? >> absolutely not. in fact there are probably more than 30 requests for access to information from michael wolff that were repeatedly denied, including, within that, at least two dozen requests of him asking to have an interview with the president which he never did.

he never discussed this book with the president. to me that would be the most important voice you could have if you were looking to write a book about an individual, would be to have some time with him. he never did. he was repeatedly denied because we saw him for what he was. there was no reason for to us waste the president of the united states's time. frankly, since we were unable to -- let you have one follow-up. reporter: appreciate that. should the letter from the president's lawyers aimed at steve bannon and aimed at the publisher be interpreted as threat from the united states government and the administration to not publish this book? >> not from the united states government. it is from the president's personal attorney. i think it is very clear what its purpose is, and there is nothing to add beyond that. if you have specifics on that i would refer you to the president's attorneys. thanks so much, guys. [shouting questions] cheryl: sarah huckabee sanders

not mincing words, fielding majority of the questions on the book, the explosive book by michael wolff that made some pretty rough accusation, tough accusations from his former senior aide, campaign manager, steve bannon. i want to bring in steve cortes and ford o'connell back with plea. you've been both listening to this as i have, besides the taped message, pretty much the entire briefing was about ford, the book and bannon, oh and the president's mental health. what did we learn today? >> obviously the press wants to hit trump every which way possible. they see this as good opportunity to do it. i think sarah huckabee sanders hit back properly. clearly throwing bannon to the curb because she realizes the book is completely connected to bannon and make the case bannon was mouthing off this, has nothing to do with the president, they will see a pr victory over time. the bottom line, the press will not let this go. like a dog with rabid bone, they don't care about america or bettering americans.

all they care about is hurting donald trump. cheryl: there are falsehoods, that he didn't know john boehner was. that is assertion in the book. basic ages of employees. a google search would according to sarah huckabee sanders would make the book somewhat real. >> boehner talked about him repeatedly on the campaign trail. cheryl: played golf with him. >> strains credibility. even more important i would consider that minor compared to the more major assertion which was that the president and his top advisors in the campaign, number one, didn't think they could win, and even more importantly didn't want to win. that is the most asinine, as a veteran of the campaign the idea, are there doubts at time are you going to win? of course there are in any game or sports or contest, tu but did he want to win? the fact he doubts that, this is

charlatan, tabloid journalist, trying to sell books with salacious details largely unfounded, and he should be dismissed. watching that briefing, the american people need to know this, acknowledge it unfortunately, the mainstream media, most of the people in the press briefing room today they are no longer journalists. they are the opposition. they are advocates against the president, and they will question everything possible about the president and they will give him the benefit of the doubt on nothing. here is the good news. that is the bad news. good news for our country is, things are getting immensely better for people, economically, in security terms. the borders are safe. stock market is rallying, productivity is rising. wages are rising. people getting bonuses. christmas season was fantastic. dismiss, as i think it was agnew who said the nattering nabobs negativism. focus on reality of situation on the ground in your life, which things are getting better.

donald trump showing leadership. cheryl: dow 25,000, before i let you go, they talked about obviously the meetings, president, white house staff are holding with congressional leaders, gop senators there, today, talking about the issue of immigration. sticking point still is what happens to the dreamers, and you know, she made it very clear during the briefing, one question she was asked about daca, she made it very clear, look, he wants to see a real wall funded. he is not backing down for it. >> no, he shouldn't back down, because essentially democrats want blanket amnesty. if we give "dreamers" blanket amnesty, all it will do is hurt jobs and productivity of the actual american citizens at this time. frankly the president is absolutely right. it is not just the wall, cheryl. a wall is important. you have to indchain migration. we have 250,000 immigrants right now, because they can attach themselves to anyone they want to claim immigration status. we have to end chain migration,

visa lottery, which democrats willing to get of in the "gang of eight" bill. if democrats come to the table and compromise, if we do that we will get a fair solution to daca. if not this is complete joke. cheryl: she handled herself very well but she was kind of done with questions about the book. we'll see what tomorrow comes. ford, steve, thank you for standing with the briefing. we have a lot more coming up. intelligence will be right back.

jo right before the briefing we talked about the record on wall street. we have keith fitz-gerald. hey, keith. >> howdy, howdy, good to be here. cheryl: we know what this rally has been. it has been on fire over a year. it is about tax cuts, repatriation, it is about corporate earnings and about jobs. can this last into 2018 as we

get another record today? >> i've been doing a lot of thinking about that for obvious reasons. i'm sticking for what works. corporate earnings are going up. a lot of money attracted because jobs are good. a lot of money attractive because tax reform. president ran on few other things. he ran on immigration reform. ran on the trillion dollar infrastructure plan. a lot of money still has yet to come in. if you stick with what works, stick with the big techs, stick stick with defense stocks, i think that will continue through 2018. cheryl: unemployment, we're now at 4.1%. we have the jobs report tomorrow, adp coming in very strong, way better than expected. do you think that that jobs report tomorrow could take us on another rip-roaring rally? >> i am cautiously optimistic. numbers are really hard to calculate. you know, they can be adjusted. everybody has been to the class

in high school, how to lie with statistics. you can make bones about that if you want. reality, look at corporate earnings, look at ceos, look what they're achieving, all of those things are going up, that to me builds higher stocks prices in the month ahead. cheryl: we're in the middle after big storm, the east coast is, one of the side effects, obviously for people to be safe, you don't want loss of life, there is economic effect to all of this. airports shut down or ports in jeopardy right now. with this type of storm, do you think there is a short-term effect on the market? >> i think there is a short term effect. it will come in an area most people don't think about, coming in natural gas prices ultimately translate to the rate-payers, particularly in new england. we will have higher port costs with the labor and clearing it out and hit the electric grid and power demands placed on it not being thought about right now. finally online shopping will take a pretty good bump because

people simply can't get out the door. cheryl: keith, i wanted to ask you about oil as well. wondering if this is the reverse trend for oil for 2018? >> you know, i think it is too early to call on that one. there is a lot of geopolitical events play into that i think supply is generally good. i think opec trying to figure it out. they realize the war they started with u.s. frackers backfired on them. at same time you have alternative energy technology really starting to come into its own. i think 2018 will be confusing year for oil. i don't expect prices to move one way or the other by a huge amount. cheryl: instead of saying volatile you say confusing. i like that. that is a good way to characterize that contract. that is fun to watch. that and bitcoin, those are both confusing to me. >> exactly. cheryl: keith, good to have you on. we'll take a quick break and be right back. holy smokes. that is awesome.

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cheryl: to the extreme weather right now. much of the northeast plunging into a deep freeze as we are hit with a "bomb cyclone." this is a snowstorm with hurricane-force winds. we're learning as adam clots standing by 3800 flights canceled. 5,000 cans he would for tomorrow. how about an update. >> i'm not surprised by the

numbers it is a big snow maker. this is where the system is currently wake making its way up to the east coast. running to portland, maine and farther to the north. the center of circulation basically off the coast of new york city. this will continue to track to the north fairly quickly. as it runs north it gets closer to the shore, means heavier snow farther north and ice. we see heavy know into prove since and boston. and snow in new york and philadelphia. it's a little light in those areas than you're seeing a little farther to the north. otherwise no surprise here. this has been a big one. winter storm watches and warnings,. blizzard warnings, everything you're seeing in the red as the system continues to march up the coast. it will be along the coastline where you see the heaviest snow and strongest winds and high tide among some of those place the visibility also an issue with you talk snowstorms and blizzards. the wind stirs up all the snow

on the ground. that makes visibility low. visibility one 10th of a mile in boston. 1/3 after mile in new york city. d.c., visibility up to 10 miles, but as it marchs to the north, expect visibility out in front of this to continue to be very bad. current wind gusts still running up into the 30 to 40 mile-an-hour range. 24 mile-an-hour recent wind gusts here in new york city. just part of the reason it feels so brutally cold when you step outside because of this. forecasted temperatures as this thing continues to track to the north, do pay attention to the time stamp. by the time late tonight, overnight hours, boston, running up into portions of maine, this will clear out early tomorrow. temperatures are dropping on the back side of this. look at that tomorrow. 14 degrees in new york city. even as this system leaves, we'll be bundling up next couple days. cheryl: at least it is out quick. that is the best part of this. adam klotz, in the fox weather

center. adam, thank you very much. "the intelligence report" will be right back. :

>> history made once again. dow 25,000 intra-day hit today and, of course, you got another hour to go, but it's looking like a great close to the markets. dow pushing through the 25,000 number. tax cuts, of course, the economy and a really good jobs report that we got this morning, adp looking really

good. i'm going to be back here tomorrow, 2:00 p.m. eastern time. you can catch me every day with my colleague lauren simonetti. that is it for me, i'll see you tomorrow. liz claman, over to you. liz: cheryl, you know what we're hearing? we're hearing millions of commuters are using this hour, right now, 3:00 p.m. eastern straight up to try to make it home earlier than normal 5:00 p.m. eastern. don't hit the roads until you see this. dow 25,000 thunder stolen by storm. on your screen, these are multiple live pictures of the so-called bomb cyclone exploding over the northeast and the midwest, with millions in its path. this is the dow cracks the 25 k line for the first time. it will close there? right now it is at 25,086. commuters are braving the near blizzard conditions at this hour. salt trucks battling the snow, sleet and ice