>> this is our first snowstorm of the year here. so i would like to thank new york city for this beautiful night here. guys? let's cheer. >> so, as you can see, we're having dinner. only four of us are open up breaking the rules. >> unbelievable, with his staff having an outdoor dinner in the snow. thanks, mayor deblasio. that's all the time we have tonight. we have all the latest. a big news night and they take it all from here. shannon? >> shannon: don't you want to go and grab a glass of wine? i'll have dinner with you. they are trying. >> laura: they are but it looks very cold. we all need to get warm and get inside if possible. great to see you, shannon. >> shannon: thanks, laura, you, too. breaking news on multiple fronts. the more we learn about a huge cyberattack on the u.s., the worst it seems to get.

the nation's cybersecurity agency warning tonight of "a grave risk to government and private networks" and experts say all signs point to russia. what you need to know. coming up in a live report seconds away. text messages obtained by fox news show an associate of hunter biden pushing to get "joe" involved, to make a joint centure with a now defunct energy company look like a truly family business. all the details and analysis just minutes away. plus democratic congressman eric swalwell refuses to answer our questions about the nature of his past relationship with a suspected chinese spy. former cia station chief daniel hoffman and host standing by to break down all of these new developments tonight. hello and welcome to fox news. i'm shannon bream in washington. white house correspondent kevin leads us off tonight with details on the whole government response to that wide-ranging issue. kevin, it's been going on for

months. >> really incredible when you figure out how long this has been happening. they have been combing through the networks to determine what they have hacked or the steal, but they don't know the extent of the intrusion and they may not know the full extent of damage for weeks. >> this is nothing short of a virtual invasion by the russians into critical accounts of our federal government. >> the condemnation, at least for washington, was unusually bipartisan, with lawmakers on capitol hill seething over an apparent russia-led hacking efforts that targeted several agencies. according to politico, the department of energy and the national security administration, which maintains the u.s. nuclear weapons stockpile. >> you can't sit here and just say, oh, please don't do it again. you've got to say, what are we going to do to make sure they suffer consequencees. >> a cyberhack of this nature is

really the modern equivalent of almost russian bombers reportedly flying undetected over the entire country. >> while the pentagon said in a statement today there is no evidence of compromise in defense department computer systems federal investigators from the dhs did reveal evidence of previously unknown tactics for penetrating government computer networks. so concerned about the possible impact on u.s. taxpayers, republican senator chuck grassley and democrat senator ron -- requested an immediate briefing from the irs on whether consumer data was compromised in the hack. in its alert, it said it was wear of compromises beginning in at least march 2020. calling it a grave risk to the federal government and state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, adding, and other private sector organizations. organizations like microsoft, which has also been hit by the

massive breach. experts believe the tech giant was likely exposed because it used network manage being software from solar winds corporation, a texas-based i.t. company believed to be at the center of the hack. the fbi and other agencies have actually scheduled a classified briefing for members of congress. that's coming up tomorrow. in the meantime the investigation, as you can well imagine, continues, as authorities look to assess the scope of the breach. shannon, tonight it appears to be massive and very disconcerting from my viewpoint here in washington. all the sources i've talked to are really raising eyebrows and raising the alarm. we'll just have to see how far the breach goes. shannon? >> shannon: yes. it may still be ongoing for folks concerned, too. thanks for digging into that. >> you're welcome. >> shannon: mostly just from fox news correspondent and producers, dogging president-elect biden about his son's financial entanglement, and congressman swalwell about his past ties to a suspected

chinese spy. senior correspondent rick leventhal tracking the latest on both stories tonight. good evening, rick. >> shannon, lots of questions here in california and on capitol hill. at least one answer, joe biden speaks out about hunter and swalwell, doesn't say a word. >> do you plan on stepping down xrt committee >> the democrat back on capitol hill for votes but he had no comment about the scandal. he's been linked to a woman named christine -- who allegedly slept with multiple polices including a couple of midwestern mayors after arriving in the u.s. from china on a student visa in 2011. somewhat well repo-- swalwell c ties, but he failed to reveal he was a possible target of an espionage operation, even as president trump had unproven ties to russia. 17 republicans have asked speaker pelosi to remove

swawell. mccarthy isn't happy about the pace of the investigation tweeting i've asked the rbi for a briefing on swa. >> sean: -- swawell's ties. this is too northern -- important. >> strategize doing get joe biden's help in a deal with chinese energy company cefc to make it look like a true family business. one text from james gilliard in may 2017 says, let's get the company set up, then tell h and the family the high takes and get joe involved. then he writes don't mention joe being involved. it's only when you're face-to-face. i know you know that but they

are paranoid. tonight biden finally opened up about hunter's financial deals as he and his wife sat for an interview with the late show steven colbert. >> we have great confidence in our son. i'm not concerned about any accusations used against him to get to me. i think it's foul play but look, it is what it is, and he's a grown man. he's the smartest man i know. from a pure intellectual capacity, and as long as he's good, we're good. >> president trump says he's steering clear of the controversy calling the whole thing sad but a group of republicans are demanding a special council to ensure a federal probe into his business deals continues after his father takes office. >> shannon: rick leventhal, thank you. newly released peter struck text

messages. senators ron johnson and chuck grassley releasing newly declassified text messages from strzok pointing to the possibility that the fbi was investigating trump prior to the initial start of crossfire hurricane. the fbi's investigation, we're told initially opened july 31, 2016 but one message from peter strzok three days prior mention -- vexs relating to trump's russian connections. in another message, he hints at the steel dossier being used by the media looking at the yahoo article i would definitely say at a minimum, steele's report should be viewed as to influence as well as to inform. a massive cyberattack looks like the work of russia and a chinese espionage complain. let's bring in fox news

contributor daniel hoffman. great to have you both back, gentlemen. >> hi, shannon. >> shannon: it seems the more we're learning about this hack the more concerned people are starting to get. the "new york times" has a headline from tom -- i was the homeland security adviser to trump. here's how he sums it up. the magnitude of this ongoing attack is hard to overstate. the russians have had access too a considerable number of important and sensitive networks for six to nine months. daniel, how would you describe this or classify it tonight? >> i would say this is just a massive intelligence failure on our part. you know, it's so critical for us to detect threats way out left of boom so we can preempt them before they are visited on our shores. similarly to a counterterrorism operation. in this case, russians were able to hack into our state, local, and federal governments and

conduct a massive spying operation. and the forensics are ongoing. we're in an incident response phase still trying to figure out what they are stealing. still trying to deal with the malware that's in our system. there is a lot of work to be done and it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. putin, after all is the kgb operative in the kremlin and this is what he does. >> shannon: steve, one account i read tonight said it could take years to remediate what we've already uncovered. what are your concerns? >> that's exactly right. because they have been there longer. we don't know what we just found out. and we have no idea what they have got and still could get by what they have done through the system. i think one of the lessons i take from it and this is something i've been arguing for many years. we've been overreliant on the centralized digital systems right across the board, in government, in commerce, and so on, and the more dependent we are on these big centralized

systems the more fragile they really are and i think the big lesson we can take from it is actually to try and break up some of these centers whether that's in government, business, distribute power more widely so that it's not all eggs in one basket which makes it easier for us to vulnerable and more fragile. i think that's something we can get right for the long term. >> shannon: there has been an ongoing conversation about the threats to the u.s., a suspected chinese spy has had -- swawell is not accused of doing anything wrong but it begs the question about influence. it's a lesson in how china is undermining us. they say that they are raising and bundling money, placing people in key offices, insisting our big tech companies compromise american values in exchange for access to their

seductive profitable market, sending thousands of students into academics and our universities. that's a pretty broad press through a lot of different avenues. >> i think the most disconcerting part of the story for me is that it's been five years since this happened, and as we used to say at the cia when i worked there, counterintelligence flaps. it's not like fine wine getting better with age. we should have had this discussion when christine was sent back to china in 2015, not now. for sure, our state, local, and federal elected officials are under siege from chinese espionage. we needed to have taken the lessons learned from representative swalwell's experience five plus years ago and used all of that to indoctrinate our officials, our elected officials so they wouldn't be so vulnerable to chinese espionage. you're absolutely right.

the chinese are offering fundraising and volunteers, all the things that young politicians need because they know that they can use that to ingratiate themselves and infiltrate these political networks and campaigns. >> shannon: steve, as we learn more about hunting biden and his potential business dealings with china, a lot of money going back and forth, it's just an investigation so far as we know at this point. regardless of what his intentions are, are you concerned that the chinese were looking to exploit that relationship there? we have the texts that we were just reporting on, saying, let's get joe involved, and others, that suggest there was at least on their side of the equation a hope that the biden name would help them out, get to something. >> 100%. it was an influence operation. and what hunter biden was doing was influencing pedaling, which is the business model of washington, d.c. that's why this scandal, and one point i agree with, joe biden, from his experience on the show

tonight, this is about joe biden, not hunter biden. it's about the family corruption that's been going on for years. not just with china but with his other relatives in another country but the reason it's so important is it goes straight to the heart of two big thicknesses in our system in washington, d.c. one is the degree to which the whole system has been compromised by china, in all the ways you have listed and we've discussed. secondly is the way in which influence pedaling, cash for access, all of that, that's part of this story is the way things work in washington. so absolutely, we need an investigation into this particular case, but it needs to be bigger than that. we need to make sure that all of it is exposed so that we can see what really goes on, and then really advance the case for anti-corruption reforms to stop this from happening in the future. >> shannon: there is a poe essential special counsel and other investigations coming up. thank you both for your

expertise. >> thanks. >> thank you. >> shannon: the fda is on its way to green lighting a second covid-19 vaccine. the moderna won the backing of the advisory committee today and stephen hawn says tonight the fda is rapidly working toward authorizing its emergency use. hopefully it will be out in days. congressional lawmakers will likely be working this weekend as the details of a $9 billion dollar -- deal is finalized. >> progressives have been pushing the idea of wiping out student loans, which is very popular with younger generations heavily in debt but what will it cost the rest of america? tonight we're investigating the big dollar talking point that could have plenty of unintended consequences. >> it would be an amazing start to the biden administration. >> cancel student loan debt for tens of millions of americans.

>> how much? that one is easy. democrats looking at anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000 per person, but who does it help? does it boost the economy? is it legal? for the first question, there are prominent liberals who admit mass forgiveness of federal student loans actually helps those who are already better off. >> i'm more worried about the americans who don't go to college than the americans who do. so i worry that unless it's done carefully, this could be upward redistribution of income rather than downward redisdistribution of income. >> this woman runs a watchdog group. she agrees student loan forgiveness won't do much to help those most in need. >> it's very miss targeted in terms of helping people who have higher incomes rather than those people who have lower incomes. >> single biggest stimulus we could add to the economy -- >> is that true? >> it depends on whom you ask and how you frame the question.

from the perspective of biden's teschry secretary nominee, janet yellen, student loans may get in the way of bigger loans like mortgages. >> the number of young people who are purchasing new single-family homes has been quite depressed. >> but mcguiness says that's not what the economy needs right now. >> it's actually one of the very lowest forces of economic stimulus. there are a lot of things that could help the economy from money and state to local governments to more money to fight the pandemic to unemployment benefits. >> would it be legal for a president to cancel student loan debt? >> just like -- the federal government has the power the issue and forgive a debt but not usually the president. that power efforts with congress. three lawyers from harvard's project on predatory student lending are backing senator elizabeth warren's view that there is a loophole thanks to the 1965 higher education can

act. "the education secretary may carry out your plan to cancel existing student loan debt under a distinct statutory authority they wrote earlier this year." but other legal experts point out that far smaller student loan forgiveness programs require congressional approval. so why wouldn't one costing the federal government up to a trillion dollars? >> if republicans maintain control of the senate expect the student loan to issue be front and center during any confirmation hearings for any secretary of education nominee. how does a decision to disregard key stories involving hunter biden and congressman eric swalwell impact the public's perception in the trust and media. we have some thoughts. he's life next. tums versus mozzarella stick (bell rings) when heartburn hits fight back fast... ...with tums chewy bites... beat heartburn fast tums chewy bites

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>> shannon: as we continue to learn more about the federal probe of biden's financial dealings, the lack of coverage by the media, or lack thereof, continues. while nbc only spent 26 seconds on the story during a report moaning about trump's refusal to concede that was 26 more seconds than abc's world news tonight and cbs evening news, than they give it. let's bring in the hills media columnist and fox news contributor joe. >> how is it going? >> shannon: it's good. not surprising that democrats on the hill also think this is a nonstory. here's democrat senator richard blumenthal. >> the whole focus on hunter biden seems to be a distraction for trump. it shouldn't be for us. >> shannon: joe a distraction or nonstory? >> i don't see how trump has anything to do with this considering that this is an fbi investigation into hunter biden's taxes so this is

independent from trump, right? it's fun to play a game. let's play a game where let's say this was donald trump jr. who winds federal investigation. do you think that the aforementioned media outlets that you just talked about wouldn't be covering this? we have 24-7 cable news. it wouldn't be 25-7. we would have to add an hour to the day to fit in all the coverage. that's how this goes. look, we saw this before the election, shannon, as far as in october, when it really mattered, as far as reporting on the hunter biden story, when it was out there. "the new york post" had emails from an actual laptop from hunter biden. those stories were dismissed by the "new york post." when fox news followed up with it and then from there you had the knockout punch from social media that actually censored the story and locked people out of their accounts for even sharing it. traditional media just. >> dana: -- poo-pooing it.

>> shannon: they seem surprised sometimes. "the new york post," you couldn't retweet their story. they couldn't retweet their stories. this is what their editorial board said. with the election over news media that followed facebook and twitter's lead suppressing the report are finally running but they have taught the public not to trust them. getting caught keeping americans in the dark is an extremely bad business move. but how do you think it will impact these media companies? >> well, you know, i saw a poll from gallup, last month, and it's a stunning number, shannon, it says 84% of americans see the media bearing did blame for the divide in this country because they seem to be picking -- not reporting things that people should hear instead of what they want to hear and you have to wonder in the end, when you look at georgia, and wisconsin, and

arizona, and pennsylvania, all those states that were decided by less than a percentage point in terms of vote what if this story was fully pursued with the vigor of russia collusion, would the result in those states be different and therefore, the result of the election be different? i guess we'll never know, shannon. >> shannon: this is an interesting story. i saw overnight weekend, the nsa security adviser, robert o'brien was taking his wife on a holiday tour of the romantic mediterranean and european capitols, including a private tour of the louvre despite it being closed, i thought, that was interesting president i would like to know more about where they got this information. john roberts find this is out. o'brien never asked for a private tour of the louvre. he turned down a private offer and this is the third time he's declined the offer. i don't know if there will be any follow up reporting or corrections about what we initially heard, that this trump, you know, administration official on his way out the door was taking some luxurious tour

through paris. >> that's the thing, right? it seems every time we hear these stories it's "people familiar with the trip," in this case, reported by axios or someone close to the president or a familiar source in the white house, every time we hear these stories that are based on anonymous sources they always seem to go in one direction, don't they? negative towards the trump administration, so, yeah, it's hard to trust these stories. we don't even have anybody on the record and does it really make sense that somebody, you know, who is a national security adviser, really is going to ask for a private tour of the louvre. you think that might get noticed if you do that in a place like paris? it just doesn't add up and quite frankly this is why people don't trust stories based solely on unnamed sources because frankly, if no one goes on the record, how do you trust? i guess they have to buzz used sometimes but they seem to be overused in this administration. >> shannon: it will be interesting to see how it pans

out in the next administration, blockbusterers to that often turn out not to be true. thank you, always great to sigh. >> great to see you, shannon. thank you. >> shannon: you would expect criticism of joe biden's cabinet picks from republicans but now it's coming from democrats. yep. i'll tell you about that next. if you have moderate to severe psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis, little things can become your big moment. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's 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. don't use if you're 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.

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our conversation, with the co-chair of the hometown value pact, and former house oversight committee chairman, jason. welcome back to you both. >> thank you. >> hi, shannon. >> shannon: let's start with former epa chief gina mccartney. she'll be a climate czar in the biden administration. she came under fire over the flint water crisis. detroit free press, who is supporter of bidens, issued a statement wednesday afternoon noting deep doubts about the choice. he said he had heard from several flint residents who expressed their concerns about this appointment. i remember a congressional hearing when you went toe-to-toe with her. i'm guessing you don't think she's a good pick. >> i really don't. look, i'm a republican, i'm not going to like most, if not every one of the biden picks but to pick gina mccarthy for this position, it's not going to be

senate confirmed. i don't think there is any chance she could be senate confirmed. she was the former administrator of the epa when flint water happened and it was under her watch and her leadership in which more than 100,000 people were drinking lead-tainted water. the epa knew about it for months. nearly a year, never informed the residents. we have multiple hearings about this in congress when i was the chairman. democrats, republicans, we were united going after the governor, a republican governor, but also, gina mccarthy because it was absolutely disastrous. literally more than 10,000 children were drinking lead tainted water and there have been all sorts of studies ongoing about cancer and all kinds of other things. she's not qualified to be leading climate change effort in this new administration. >> shannon: there are democrats who feel the same way that do you and concerned residents from the area. let's turn to bob, formerly with disney, now being floated potentially as ambassador to china in. an opinion piece today in the

"washington post," he should not be the ambassador, and no hollywood executive should be. he says our media moguls have spent years accommodating ping and the chinese communist party. what do you think about his pick? >> i don't have any issue with bob. he wasn't necessarily my first choice either to be our ambassador to china but any comment from anybody on the other side of the aisle is just hypocrisy. tillerson was cozying up to putin and he was named secretary of state which is the boss of the ambassador to china. so look, when you're the studio head you have to placate all your different audiences. you aren't going to alienate a billion dollar audience mart in the world so that's a very different position and he'll fully understand the importance of the role of the chinese ambassador and he served as secretary of state and the president of the united states and the purpose of the united states.

i don't have any issue with this if he becomes the pick. >> shannon: what about the disney and its fawning over the chinese and thanking for letting them use places to shoot, which is not far from labor camps. if you're fawning over the chinese in that respect how can you now be expected to crack down on them? >> it is the most important relationship that we have because it is on ice. it is a very difficult one. there are trade issues. there are expansion issues with china. trade issues. we issue so much debt to china. we have the biden family scandal that's breaking with china. you need a serious diplomat who understands the workings of the government, who understands how to communicate with the chinese. i credit barack obama. he pointed john huntsman to be the ambassador. he had the credentials to do it, but bob iger making disney movies with china is highly the

person who is going to go in there and hold the line hard and put china back in its place. >> i believe mr. huntsman is available, i saw you sharing his head. do you think the biden administration should be looking for republicans that they could plug into the administration, something like a repeat return to china for ambassador huntsman? >> well, i don't think that there is any necessary reason to reach across the aisle. but look, i'm a big believer in finding the best possible person for the job regardless of the political label that's next to their name. but this whole idea that i heard representative -- he brought up hunter biden. so ivanka trump got trademarks when nobody else could get them in china, things like voting machines, and we have an outgoing -- >> shannon: wait a minute. were there attacks -- were there people, though, sending texts that were saying, let's make sure we get donned involved after he had served as president of the united states? or saying, hey, wire us $10

million? just for influence, just for introductions? >> but look, i don't fully understand the question, but if the issue is -- >> shannon: i'm saying -- no, i'm just saying, these are texts now that we've gotten our hands on, they are out there. >> sure, that are related to hunter biden and he's being investigated by the fbi and we all know those investigations actually happened without us really understanding what they are doing. unless you happen to have special insight because of your role on capitol hill. but until that investigation actually reaches its conclusion which is actually tax related, there has been no allegation that joe bide opinion has exerted any influence there so to go that route -- >> oh, yes, there has. >> shannon: okay. we'll leave it there because that's a whole other debate. we'll have you two come back for that, and talk about that but we do have to wait for the

investigations and we should respect that as we do in any case. thank you both. good to see you. >> thanks. >> the new l.a. district attorney has been asked to quit prosecuting crimes and reduce sentences. the man heading the campaign to recall that new prosecutor is next. but first, some scary moments during the first maiming nor'easter of the year. some places got as much snow in one day as they did in all of last winter. wow! woman 1 oc: this is my body of proof. man 1 vo: proof of less joint pain and clearer skin. man 2 vo: proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis... woman 2 vo: ...with humira. woman 3 vo: humira targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. it's proven to help relieve pain, stop further irreversible joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. humira is the number one

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crime. if you don't enforce those laws do you understand what will happen to our communities? people who are already exploiting and loitering and taking advantage, the property values in los angeles will plummet. the streets will be out of control. no one will be safe. >> shannon: let's talk about what's happening on the west coast with keth radio talk-show host in seattle and criminal defense attorney in los angeles brian claypool. welcome back to both of you gentlemen. >> thanks for having us. >> hi, shannon. >> shannon: so we're talking about the new l.a. county d.a. the cbs l.a. local reports it this way. he's taking the death penalty "off the table," and will seek to resentence inmates on death row to life in pri. he goes on to say he won't file enhancement saying it undermines rehabilitation, exacerbates and unnecessarily crowds jails and prisons. i was reading some of the details of these cases where he's considering rolling back some of the sentencing.

they are disgusting and they are terrible and it broke my heart. we can't even really get into all of them on the air. i think people -- their stomachs would be turned. so why would, brian, a prosecutor decide to come in and say, not only am i not going to prosecute hideous crimes but i'm going to go back and change some of the sentences. >> shannon, i'll tell you this. this new district attorney, this is the most catastrophic abuse of power i have ever seen in my entire lifetime. this new district attorney, he does not care about the victims of those who have been murdered. he does not care about the voters in los angeles county. he does not care about the jurors. he doesn't care about judges, shannon. he just issued a directive yesterday, he's threatening judges now that if they don't go along with his program he's going to preempt the judges that don't follow.

lastly, he has tossed under the best law enforcement in los angeles county. i mean, this, shannon, is not criminal justice reform, as he states it is. this is criminal justice carnage. i represent the family of anthony -- you mentioned him, 9-year-old boy, tortured, shannon, tortured, starved, murdered, sexually abuse. his mom to pick him up by the feet and drop him on his head repeatedly. she was facing life without the possibility of parole. boyfriend, murder, and the death penalty and guess what this new d.a. did? he came in and said i'm taking off the table the death penalty and i'm taking off the table intentional murder by torture. so guess what? this guy can walk the streets again now. >> shannon: it is really hard to believe. he says that his decisions are being mischaracterized, that there is misinformation out

there and fear mongering. so that's his side of the story. jason, i know you're also covering a judge in seattle that's release dangerous suspects without bail. what's going on here? why are we tilting in favor of -- listen, if you're a suspect and haven't been tried that's one thing but when you've been accused of certain crimes there is a reason why there is bail in many cases. >> we focus a lot on the d.a.'s and certainly here in king county and seattle we have the exact same problem but the judges have swung so far to the other side in response to a complaint that weaver overincarcerating. i think there is a valid point to be made in some circumstances but you can't go to the point where you're just releasing everyone. just in the last couple of weeks, a judge released two, what i believe to be dangerous suspects. i mean, we're talking in one case a suspected drug dealer who was caught by police with 176 grams of meth, 96 doses of a

drug sold on the streets as heroin. this is a guy that should not have been released. yet not only was he released but there was no bail whatsoever. we've had conversations about where end this up going, because these aren't just about the homicides, right, or murder victims or murderers, but these small problems. these small criminals. they start to escalate, and then before you know it, when you've got someone who has been in the system for very, very long, they start to escalate their own crimes and then before you know it, it does become something very serious because we've refused to get them the help that they need and since they are not taking the help that we're offering, we also refuse to put them in jail. so what are we supposed to do? from a seattle's perspective, people are waiting the become victims and that's obviously not fair to any of us. >> shannon: a quick final word to you, brian, in orange county we have an order to release more

than 1,800 folks who are suspects or convicts. the sheriff says some of them are very dangerous people. >> yes, shannon. the judge made a big mistake there. the judge should have allowed the sheriff in orange county to find a better way to house these inmates. i'll give you an example. they could have used some local hotels. temporarily house some of these inmates. you can't let -- these people on the street. >> shannon: we've got to leave it there so we don't get cut off, but please keep us updated an all of these stories. we'll keep following them. tonight, the government asking state leaders to convince their flocks to get vaccinated. should they be doing that? we dig in next. let's be honest. quitting smoking is hard. like, quitting every monday hard. quitting feels so big. so try making it smaller, and you'll be surprised at how easily starting small can lead to something big. start stopping with nicorette. especially for guys who tend to get razor bumps with ordinarya razors.my shave.g big.

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>> shannon: state and local officials nationwide are calling on faith leaders to encourage and educate their flock about getting the covid-19 vaccine. lauren green shows us tonight. >> the covid-19 vaccine is bringing long-awaited relief from a world darkened by a pandemic and because it's a message of light officials are reaching out to the faith communities to help spread its good tidings. >> we want to thank you for taking the time to join us and for all that you are doing for our great city. thank you.

[applause] >> new york city mayor bill deblasio is making the rounds of houses of worship speaking the language of faith and reason to assuage congregant's fears of the vaccine. >> it's not just a shot in the medical sense but of hope as well because it shows us we will overcome the coronavirus. >> faith communities have been perceived as the most resistant to vaccines. some of it based on conflicting messages on social media about how the vaccine was developed. >> there was a challenge to the faith-based community and our challenge is to make sure we obtain factual and precise information. >> or just how quickly it became available and whether religious community restrictions on certain animal or human byproducts might have been used to develop the life-saving inoculation. >> we have a concern that the

world has, which is, does a fast tracked vaccine developed in the highly politicized and pressured environment, does it meet the standards of safety and efficacy that we would expect when it comes to vaccines? that was where we did our due intelligence along with the rest of the world and we're satisfied, very satisfied, with what we found. >> faith leaders admit there is an anti-vac group in the country but not all are religious, and they say they should not be held up as the only ones. shannon? >> shannon: thanks so much. before we say good night, some good news for you. a florida businessman giving peace of mind this holiday season. he's paying past due utility bills for 114 families. 74-year-old michael started this act of kindness last year helping out another 36 families. in total, michael has donate ed

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♪ >> tucker: good evening, and welcome to "tucker carlson tonight." the coronavirus vaccine is finally here. it's arriving in small bottles, but with a glitzy entrance. it has been accompanied by the kind of corporate image campaign you typically associate with higher end products. like the new iphone, that is what it is like. suddenly the covid vaccine is on the morning shows, touted on celebrity twitter accounts, and the news about it is uniformly glowing. this stuff is just great. a lot of famous people say so. just the other day, the guy who played gandalf in the "lord of the rings" series got the vaccine.