but they haven't reached a deal yet. they will keep trying. thank you for inviting us into your home. that is it for "special report," fair, balanced and unafraid. "the story" pi martha maccallum starts right now. are you ready for the weekend, martha? >> martha: almost, almost good to see you, bret. i martha maccallum, and this is "the story." don't go away, late today the fbi minority leader kevin mccarthy joins us in a moment and also speaker pelosi on the investigative findings and the eric swalwell matter. and asking to be brought up to speed on this all week despite speaker pelosi assurance that leadership was in the loop when all of this unfolded in 2015. he learned about it and the press with the rest of the country. a briefing and after he got it, today, just hours ago, he said this. >> it only raised more questions.

and the one thing that was fundamentally answered. >> the intel committee is a special committee that keep secrets. it is a committee that's able to know her secrets. the committee that has a lot of information that congress does not. >> martha: earlier today mccarthy expressed he is quite alarmed that democrats seem, well, not to be especially given very deep concerns about russia's witch relentlessly for four years, >> and what do communists chinese have against the democrats that is so powerful? we have nancy pelosi who last year said it was a diversion to focus on china. you have adam schiff, now chairman of the intel committee saying it was just escalation. it was wrong to close up the consulate and use it. why can't the democrats admitted that china is our adversary? why can't they stand up to them? >> martha: china clearly with a battle plan is to dominate the united states by 2024.

they say get that quite publicly. so today the united states punch back with new sanctions on the prc for human rights, best of trade secrets as well as they are undermining our efforts to counter illicit trafficking of nuclear and radioactive material. also, their aggressive action to dominate the south china sea. dni has warned the people's republic of china poses the greatest threat to america today. and the greatest threat to democracy and freedom worldwide since world war ii. so in the infiltration of the government, obviously, is a serious matter. victor davis hanson and joe concha on whether president-elect biden is up for all of these challenges, but first, kevin mccarthy, fresh from that fbi briefing on the hill this afternoon about congressman swalwell and christine fong. leader mccarthy, good to have you here tonight, thank you. >> thank you.

>> martha: so what can you tell us about the briefing? how long was it? how involved was it? and did you learn things you didn't know before? >> well, i've been asking for this briefing since the story broke publicly. i was not briefed. that is when i first learned about it. i had to code different fbi briefing schedule that were canceled on the day. now it came on friday. we were briefed together, speaker pelosi and myself are more than an hour. i can't tell you about what is in it, but i can tell you this. what i learned today and anyone who was in that room with me and never allow swalwell to be on the intel committee or continue to be on it. i don't know if the briefing before come if they have the same information they have today, but if that was the casee should not be serving. >> martha: what was your impression of the fbi prefers? i mean, how brave of a situation do they consider this?

or do they agree, largely with congressman swalwell who says, look, this happened six years ago. she has long left the country, gone back to china, and he claims the fbi told him, look, thank you for speaking with us. they came to him because they wanted to alert him of the situation. and they say he did nothing wrong. was there anything different in their tone today? >> i can't talk about what's in it but let's talk about what's out there publicly right now. it wasn't that this by known as a spy got to know him as a congressman but got to know him as a city councilman. it was told in the press that she helped raise money to call her a bundler in the press. got into congress and second term one of the most powerful committees. one of the most difficult committees to sit on the pier that is not selected by the peers but by one person. the leader of the democratic party and the leader of the republican.

i think this is quite serious interview. this is also the same man when you asked him a part of this committee, the questions that he raised, what he said about russia and others. many questions he raised and posed two people are made accusations about people. it is actually what happened to him if you read the press. it was the fbi that went to him in the press, not he went to them. and this individual that they talk about, christine fong, she wasn't in the press saying the only person in america that she was getting, making relationships with, getting to know. so i would assume that it would be pretty serious if the fbi came to you and they knew this person was a spy for another country. and then take for a moment, what are the actions that it takes just in this last month? you talk about john radcliffe, the director of intel when he said china is the greatest threat. swalwell didn't say he was corrupt but he said china is

not. now, he's a part of the intel committee so he reads the report that i read all the time of the gang of eight. anyone who reads these reports would never make that accusation would never say that. they would agree with john radcliffe, and they would take action to protect america. >> martha: do you see any evidence that in a relationship with her or with china led him to get the position that he got? was there lobbing involved? what are you hinting at there? >> i'm not hinting at anything. what i'm stating is the fax i know he should not be sitting on intel. what i read in the paper is this individual got to know him as a city councilman, helped him run for congress, and remember what eric swalwell did last year. he ran for president as well. he has raised a lot of questions on other people. i just think from what i know, for what the fbi presented, it is without a shadow of a doubt,

i have no question has a republican leader, would never appoint anyone with that information that i have on them. >> martha: did they share with you whether or not this is a sexual relationship? we know that was the case with two mayors and obviously, that takes it to a new level. did they share that with you? >> i cannot talk about what i learned in there. >> martha: okay. all right. leader mccarthy, thank you. a good to have you here tonight. >> thank you, think is much, merry christmas. >> martha: you too, merry christmas. peter king spent ten years on the intelligence committee and ten of those come out four of those years alongside congressman swalwell. congressman, good to have you here tonight. why specifically -- the whole op-ed why you believe he needs to be removed from the committee. why do you feel so strongly about it? what does the committee know? how does it work that makes this

such a difficult situation for him in your mind? >> martha, the committee is a sequence that virtually nobody else knows. the president and a few people at the top, but other than that, the secrets are not made known to others in congress while future operations being planned, intelligence operations, bout leads we have gotten. the people have been tracked overseas. what we can expect next. these are the crown jewels. these are the top secrets of the united states. the committee itself is down 2 feet below ground level. you have to leave your phone outside when you go in. the room is totally secured. and you can't take any notes in there and bring them out with you. you have to leave them in the room. that is how top-secret it is. and i did serve four years with eric swalwell on the committee. he was arrogant. he was so self-righteous. active member of the trump administration talking about russia. i barely ever remember him talking at all about china.

even if he's the most innocent person in the world, you have to ask, why did the chinese spy him? why did they send is taught spy to get involved with him? why did that person raise money to get him elected to congress? when he was in congress, the second term to be put on the intelligence committee. it is not like he was coming out of the fbi, cia or police department. >> martha: no. >> he has on that committee and access to all the secrets. the most innocent person in the world, he's compromised because china knows, look, kevin mccarthy couldn't say, he knows. but china knows what they know. if you put somebody on the committee having that type of information from a central blackmail that person is inevitably compromised. you should never have put him on the committee. >> martha: all right, i want to switch gears for a moment and ask you about this hacking case believed to have come from russia spy tactics. in here is joe biden saying he will be short to hold him

accountable. i know on the intel committee this is also the kind of thing you worked on. let me hear the response to this very large attack on five or six of our most sensitive agencies. watch this. >> how do you make sure they don't do this again? what is the message? how do you send that message? >> they have to be held accountable. they have to be held accountable. >> could you give us an appetizer of what that accountability might be? >> individuals as well as entities will be fined. >> martha: okay. here is what senator rick scott of florida said about that statement. watch this. >> i have not ever seen joe biden hold one bad actor anywhere around the world accountable for anything. so the way he says these things, people laugh. >> martha: congressman king, you served on the hill with

joe biden. do you agree with that statement from the florida senator? >> listen, joe biden is coming in as the president-elect. in this issue, this cyber attack on the united states by russia, this is serious business. so i hope that joe biden does the right thing. we have tremendous cyber power ourselves. we can reach out against russia without anybody else knowing except the russians. we have done it to other countries when they attack us. we have tremendous power ourselves. so i'm hoping joe biden will use that and he will retaliate against russian and the way that they realize they can't get away with this. again, i don't want to get into the partisanship of attacking joe biden before he is man, but something like this between all americans. the russia comes at us and this is unprecedented cyber attack as far as i know. again the committee i'm not on anymore but this serious attack we have to take action against him and we can do it. again, there's a lot of methods that we have to make life very uncomfortable for the russians

with cyber attacks, our own cyber attacks. >> martha: well put. congressman king, thank you, sir, good to have you here tonight. >> thank you martha, merry christmas. >> martha: merry christmas, go irish to you too, thank you very much. victor davis hanson with a warning for joe biden. the established tactics used against president trump likely to leave washington with him. a new piece for the national review he writes this "biden will enter office with an ethical cloud hanging over his head one that could have been vetted and adjudicated rather than blacked out for most of 2020. his son, brother and perhaps family associates may talk if fbi or irs probes. if not a special counsel investigation. it will not help biden to defeat trump, many institutions were deformed. special counsel is usually never received a blank check 22 months and $32 million to assemble a team of partisans to investigate

a new president a mostly falsely evidence and evidence concocted dossier." victor victor davis hanson and author of the case for trump, media and politics for the hill and fox news contributor fox news contributor. great to have you with the spirit very interesting piece, victor on this and the national review. basically you are arguing that the constructs are kind of broken down and they are not likely to not make things difficult for him, given what we went through over the last four years, explain. >> there was an ancient canon in history that you never want to destroy the processes or the protocol of the government because you may find them in need yourself one day. that is what has happened or joe biden. he does not want ivy league psychiatrist remotely diagnosing him as nonaccomplice meant to take the cognitive assessment test. he does not want a first term

president. we have really done that can impeach for something other than high crimes and misdemeanors, treason and bribery. yet he has compromised. i think the biden family might be compromised by the chinese connections. i don't think he wants a special prosecutor for 22 months. i don't think he wants the republican senate voting in lockstep as they come at the democrats did in judicial nominations and even cabinet appointments, no, no, no if they will the senate a much different consequence and place donald trump even. as far as the collusion goes, they don't want to have this obsession with collusion and obey the democrats tried to really destroy the trump campaign transition presidency. china for a lot of reasons, martha, very quickly, they see a soft spot in democrats and the immigrants. that is why they focus on dianne feinstein, eric swalwell. i don't know if it is the big money in the country and silicon valley were hollywood or perpetual sports or wall street.

as a propensity and naive about china. i don't know if it is the past administration, or if people like anita dung praising the hero. or maybe they piggyback on the race class gender industry in america. every time you criticize china, which wuhan virus labs they say, this is racist. it's inappropriate. they think that designates with the american level. whatever it is, there is a lot of vulnerability. china knows that and take advantage of it. but the point is, that is all we saw and heard the last four years. it would be very destructive if the republicans paid in kind. so i think biden has to be aware of that. >> martha: i mean, you make a great point. the concern here for people who watch and say, this is just turnabout is fair play. now, they are pulling this on joe biden because of what happened over the course of the last four years. this is a serious situation that

we are in with china. as you point out, they are going to these vulnerable spots to try to make inroads. and it's a national security threat for the country to be sure. so let's look at this with joe concha. you know, the problem is that eric swalwell has not answered questions about this relationship. you know, he could shed a lot of light on this. if he is telling the truth about it being over and there was nothing compromised. then he needs to come out to make that perfectly clear. that did not happen in this interview that we are going to play a clip of, joe. >> did you have any concerns about this person before you had what is known as a defensive briefing? >> jim i was shocked. >> are you concerned you shared information with this person before notified before the fbi? >> i know i didn't. >> what did this tell us about the threat from china today? >> they are doing this all over the country.

>> martha: and that was pretty much it, joe. and so you know, this is a difficult situation when you have -- you know, today peter doocy try to ask the question. they took five questions at the biden conference. that is generally what they take. they have reporters outraged and sending messages on the zoom file. you need to answer more questions. you need to give us more access. how long will this go on, joe? >> we can't go on too much longer, it will back already, and these reporters are from a predetermined list, not picked by joe biden but picked by his staff to make sure they keep him in his safe space and don't receive any tough questions. if you go out on the line, you will lose access like peter doocy has which joe biden the most reasonable president we have seen in modern times. in terms of eric swalwell, "the new york times" has not touched this story, even one drop of ink on this. and you have to ask is this a story?

gee, you have a democratic congressman from for my spray and chinese fight and the fbi told him what's going on. and obviously the relationship in turn is put into his office and not before she raised his money for reelection campaign. and then the question not so much for eric swalwell but house speaker nancy pelosi, how do you decide a couple months later that this democratic congressman, this no-name basically, 34 years old, no experience in terms of the intelligence community or foreign policy or foreign affairs, and you place him on the house intel committee? so i want to hear from nancy pelosi more why you would do something like that. by the way, with swalwell, if you are in a relationship with someone and they introduce themselves as -- that is a red flag. you know what commit is not you but me. go back to your tender or whatever else you are doing. clearly that is something that would raise something there. the bottom line is not just "the new york times" martha abc,

cbs, nbc, those newscast 25 million people in total watching that. also we are not covering this story hunter biden, really bad sequel at this point, martha. >> martha: well, christine fang was part of a chinese student organization when he met her and, you know, obviously this is a situation that we need to know a lot more about. it's about national security of the country overall when you put all these things together. they are legitimate concerns from a legitimate stories that absolutely need to be covered by any responsible journalistic organization. joe concha, thank you very much. victor david hanson, good to see you, sir, thank you both. >> thank you martha. >> martha: turn out in georgia senate runoff is reaching presidential levels. thousands of newly registered voters, many with no history of voting in the state before. what that tells us about where this race may be heading. saint g.o.p. chair on his election challenges and how that

is going. and then georgia based pollster who has new numbers tonight on the senate races to share with us. ♪ y? yeah? i respect that. but that cough looks pretty bad... try this new robitussin honey severe. the real honey you love... plus, the powerful cough relief you need. mind if i root through your trash? new robitussin honey severe. strong relief for your severe symptoms. strong relief research shows people remember so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's one that'll really take you back. it's customized home insurance from liberty mutual! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ inflammation in your eye might be to blame.ck, looks like a great day for achy, burning eyes over-the-counter eye drops typically work by lubricating your eyes and may provide temporary relief. ha! these drops probably won't touch me. xiidra works differently, targeting inflammation that can cause

dry eye disease. what is that? xiidra, noooo! it can provide lasting relief. xiidra is the only fda approved treatment specifically for the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. one drop in each eye, twice a day. don't use if you're allergic to xiidra. common side effects include eye irritation, discomfort or blurred vision when applied to the eye, and unusual taste sensation. don't touch container tip to your eye or any surface. after using xiidra, wait 15 minutes before reinserting contacts. got any room in your eye? talk to an eye doctor about twice-daily xiidra. i prefer you didn't! xiidra. not today, dry eye. this on us, on every plan! get an iphone 12 with 5g, and if you're 55 and up,

switch to our essentials 55 plan and save 50% on your bill vs. the other guys. that's right, iphone 12 on us! holiday on with t-mobile. i waited to get treated. thought surgery was my only option.

but then i found out about nonsurgical treatments. it was a total game changer. learn more about the condition at factsonhand.com

♪ >> martha: so late today a federal judge tossed out a lawsuit in the state of georgia. the state republican party and kelly loeffler and david perdue with legal challenges to prevent potential double votes in these upcoming runoffs. that as we learned there is a reported 75,000 new voters registered since the november presidential election. in this is raising questions whether or not some of them came out of state to georgia to vote. more than 1.1 million people have already voted in the

january 5th runoff peer that rivals the rate they were to the presidential race as well. so obviously a ton of the tension on this rates. this will determine the balance of the senate and whether democrats will hold the white house potentially. the house, and the senate. january 5th. the georgia republican david shafer. welcome back to the program. good to have you tonight. i know you have been frustrated with what's going on with these cases, fed up is a fair word when you look at your twitter account. what is going on there? speak with the president and i filed a contest to the november 3rd election on december 4th. it is now two weeks later and yet to be assigned to a judge according to hear it. so no judge has ruled on the merits of that challenge. it suggests to me that our system for considering election contests in a timely manner is broken here in georgia. >> martha: so we all remember the stories about people, even

in new york, encouraging people to move to georgia to become a part of the georgia senate race. is that what we are seeing at the 75,000 new voters that was reported on by the atlanta constitution today that says the majority under 35, most of them have never voted in the state before, and a lot of them just turned 18. is this legit or not in your interview? >> some of this, martha, is normal for good chunk of it. in georgia when you turn 18 you are entitled to adult driver's license. so many 18-year-olds are registered to vote when they obtained that driver's license. but the attorney general has announced he will prosecute any instances of voter fraud. it is a serious crime that carries a 10-year prison sentence. we are doing everything in our power to make sure in this runoff election for every legal vote is counted and every illegal voters rejected. >> martha: there are so many conflicting emotions with regard to georgia and the presidential

election and the way people feel there about voting at this point. i thought this was interesting from jim and politico today. i think trump wants kelly loeffler and purdue to lose so he can blame camp. it is the craziest thing i've seen. if he keeps it up, it is good for us as veins, what do you say to that, david? i don't think that is true at all. he came to endorse enthusiastically vote and kelly loeffler and the vice president was here for two rallies. he's been here two times but for that. i expect they will be back before the runoff election. martha: he has egged on people attacking kemp and the secretary of state. so the question is does it undermine people's confidence in the vote in georgia? there is a lot of, you know, a lot of sentiment out there that people do raise questions about what they think about the presidential election. they wonder if they should do it

again because nothing has changed, none of the rules have changed, have they? speak with the president is frustrated and so am i. we can't get a hearing on the merits of the contest. the president made it clear he supports david perdue and kelly loeffler is vital to the country. that they both be elected. this time we are taking no chances and trusting no one. we filed lawsuits against our own republican secretary of state to make sure that we have eyes on every part of the process. ray recruited 4,000 volunteer poll watchers and doing everything we can to assure people that they can have confidence in the outcome of the election. >> martha: it is so important. i think everybody it will be a microcosm for the presidential election to make sure to watch every single minute of discounting and process. of think it will be quite interesting for the whole country to watch. thank you very much, david, thank you for coming back. also here tonight with exclusive polling on the senate runoff in georgia is pollster and founder,

good to have you back on the program. what is your take on the race and how does it look to be shaping up to you? >> well, we have some brand-new numbers tonight and we have seen a little bit of movement. this is the third polling in three weeks. and we are showing that for the first time in any of our polls, we show a lead for purdue. it is still very, very close certainly within the margin of error at 50.2% to 47.5%. and in the other one, the special, we are showing loeffler maintaining the lead she has had in our surveys at 52.2% versus 45.5% for warnock. and this is kind of a pattern. we have established now for three poles in a row. loeffler has the size of vote -- i shouldn't say sizable.

she has a more significant lead peer that has been between two and 3.5 points the entire time. that seems very stable to spear of the movement from what we can see is more the jon ossoff and purdue race. and the winner is telling us the move is about the training thing. i think the attacks on jon ossoff are working for purdue. >> martha: interesting. before i let you go, use of the president would win georgia. so why should people believe these numbers when they saw what happened in georgia in november? >> you know what, i can only count the vote that makes sense and can be matched to voters. i will say this that we have added into all of our surveys this year since all three of these, we have what we call a margin for unexplainable votes. and it is 3.7%. that is my number we figured out that looks like folks are voting

that we don't seem to have any information on before 2018 when they register to. we seem to have any information for them for them. >> martha: that is interesting. very interesting robert, good to have you here tonight. >> thank you. >> martha: new backlash over the covid-19 ongoing lockdown. watch this. >> i say to the governor come i say to the mayor, get your belief together now. we need our restaurants open, now! >> martha: the man and that viral clip joins us in a moment to talk about it and then charlie looked up, dave rubin and steven hilton as the nursing homes continue to suffer the worst wrap of covid and we rarely hear about that, but we continue to shut down the restaurants. when we come back. ♪ really perfect. let's end the year nailing it. ♪

♪ experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list sales event. sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first month's payment. how did you find great-grandma's recipe? we're related to them? we're portuguese? i thought we were hungarian? grandpa, can you tell me the story again? behind every question is a story waiting to be discovered.

...this one's for you. you inspired us to make your humira experience even better... with humira citrate-free. it has the same effectiveness you know and trust, but we removed the citrate buffers, there's less liquid, and a thinner needle... with less pain immediately following injection. ask your doctor about humira citrate-free. and you can use your co-pay card to pay as little as $5 a month. humira can lower your ability to fight infections.

serious and sometimes fatal infections,... ...including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened,... ...as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems,... ...serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common... and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections,... or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ask your doctor about humira citrate-free. the same humira you trust with less pain immediately following injection. if you can't afford your medicine, abbvie may be able to help. but with walmart's low prices, you still know how to do it up. and keep costs down. let's end the year enjoying more. ♪ you are all i need baby baby to get by ♪

♪ >> martha: so worlds collide as the vaccine rolls out. an amazing thing to watch this week. answer shutdowns continue to roll-on. this week new york restaurant owners out in force in the street of new york city against governor cuomo's move to shut down even and/or dining. >> this city is killing us. and not only hurting the people standing around here, you're hurting a lot of new yorkers. everybody fought to put themselves in a position to open up their restaurants only to turn around and have leadership fail this time and time again. our restaurants are the most important avenues of small business in the city. so i say to the governor come i say to the mayor, get your act together now. we need our restaurants open now! >> martha: despite the band from a today governor cuomo insisting new york can still avoid a total shutdown of the city.

>> we knew a new mantra and the mantra has to be slowed to spread, stop the shutdown. slow the spread, stop this shut down. slow the spread, stop the show down. it is that simple. >> martha: okay, that simple. joining me now the man speaking at the protest, her birth the founder of multicultural restaurants and nightlife chamber of commerce which is pretty much the heartbeat of the city of new york that has been e course of the last ten months. tony, good to have you too nice. tell us why you feel strongly about this. most people that are listening to this don't have the experience that you and i do walking down the street in new york every day enhancing the business and wondering how on earth the city will ever come back to life. >> that is the concern. our nightlife has been shattered by this pandemic. but actually prior to that, we were getting hit upside the head because of the taxing of small

business. to turn around and say you have to close because we feel you are contributing to the high rate, that is a problem here are the restaurants only account for less than 2% of the covid cases that exist in the city. but yet we can open up schools but we want to close restaurants. that is a problem. we can open up gems by close restaurants. that doesn't work the metrics and the math is off but we say to the governor, the mayor, let's not shut small businesses. the restaurants here in new york city are what people come to experience. so why are we taxing them and shutting them down and demonizing them like they are the problem? when all said and done, these people save money to do this. they retire from their companies appear they open up the restaurants and being told you cannot operate a business here any longer. that is a serious issue. we will be on the front of this. i'm a proud member and we will stands shoulder to shoulder with the associations to make sure the politicians get the message because their silence is deafening. >> martha: you know, i think

that some people don't realize the passion and the commitment and the blood, sweat, and tears it takes to open up a restaurant in new york city and make it work. most of them go out of business. it is very difficult but to have this layered on top of it. you point out, the same people who screamed about following the science for so long or not following the numbers with this peer of the transmission rate in restaurants is very low. i think it is about 1.4% is the number that i saw. so have you had any response from the governor to this point about the numbers not adding up and why he has been so targeted at these industries? that really, the only thing that will bring the city back to life? >> you know, what is interesting, i find the governor to his own credit, actually trying to make things work accordingly. it is the mayor i have the problem with. this mayor is so pointed that he

wants to get out there and shut down the government. he wants to one up him and be relevant. he's actually pushing a lot of us into anxiety. that causes a problem when you get misrepresentation and false leadership. you get the bravado match between he and the governor which sends though wrong message to new yorkers. that has to stop. we need leaders to step up. i give cuomo credit to a degree but that will help us to feel better about where new york is headed. >> martha: the point you made in the beginning is also very valid in terms of taxes and the crushing taxes in new york that have owned businesses out. they need motivation as the pandemic to send companies moving to texas, nashville, florida. you know, i just wonder what they are thinking about how they will put the pieces back together. as you rightly point out, the mayor has been a big point of this. last thought, and then i will let you go. >> let's look at it this way. what they need to do to help fix this is stop taxing the business. pull back on the state taxes you

are asking for make that some kind of a contribution back to them so they can have grants to reopen. let's stop taxing them on these taxes and open up these doors and get back to business so people can get back to their jobs. you are not only killing businesses. >> martha: you are so right. it may take someone who thinks like that and lowered taxes to re-incentive by the restaurants and businesses to come back to new york to get things back up and running. i don't know who that person is. tony, good to talk to you tonight sir. joining me now, the journalist charlie from michigan and dave rubin host of "the rubin report" in california, one of those people. steve hilton, who also lives part-time in california. host of the next revolution air sunday 9:00 eastern. gentlemen, nice to have you with us. charlie, you listen to tony but what goes through your mind when you hear him? i think of my friend who is closing his restaurant.

the bank padlocked it and took it back. his collateral was his home here they took that. the only upside of this, he invited me to drink all the beer it. i know so many people like that. so when i hear him, i get it. but the taxes that are paid are not significant enough to fund a restaurant being open. don't forget they were our property taxes coming due come $18,000 a month. they are dying and they are not coming back. i will say this, the government should be doing with the government is supposed to do. i went to a halfway house, a halfway house. they have covid cases, guys out of prison and 150 other guys. the guy i know he has to go to work. guess where he works? a grocery store. so why do we focus on nursing homes, halfway houses, the jails, our sheriff just died from covid. the governor in michigan and in new york and california has done everything except what it is

supposed to do. >> martha: yeah, this is a great point, right? we keep hearing david rubin about restaurants and the schools, right? and we keep hearing from the same people we have learned so much about this terrible virus over the course of this. but then they make the same decisions tend to be based on not what we have learned. listen to this from "the wall street journal." how to end the lockdowns next month. the number of vexing book doses the next two months will be enoh to vaccinate every elderly person who wants to be inoculated as well as health care workers and other vulnerable people within 90% efficacy rate and protecting against covid symptoms. we will achieve near perfect focus protection of that population. at that point, the lockdown should end immediately and forever. does that make sense to you, dave? >> well, first off, martha i want to give you permission from now on when i come on the show to put under my name one of those people as a california

residence. that would be fine with me. of course it doesn't. nothing makes sense. nothing that they say makes any sense. i live in los angeles in one of the most lockdown cities in the most lockdown state. if any of this was working, it is 70 degrees and beautiful out here every day. we can't even eat outdoors. my mayor eric garcetti literally doesn't want me walking my dog. if any of it were working, you would see the rates completely dropping in california which now i think had record high rates of infection. we would see the rates exploding in a place like california, and a place like florida which is basically open. that is absolutely not happening. but to that quote exactly. let's not forget. what were retold in march? two weeks to flatten the curve. now everybody has to be vaccinated and then we will kind of take a look at it. that is sort of moving goalpost

thing, that is why the previous guest is so frustrated. small businesses and restaurants are angry because nobody can live like this. you can't go out there and live and start a business and do something productive with your life if every other day the government will come in and change the rules on you. you just can't do it. >> martha: and i just keep wondering what is going to be said about all of this months and even years from now when people look back at the measures that were taken. look to california, right? they were school system. they have the largest school system and the entire system, 6 million come i think, students appear they have been essentially locked down and accept the rule areas in california have the entire time the universities have been closed. no college boards, no high school sports nothing, right? probably a stronger math policy that most states in the country. and now their cases are skyrocketing. so how do you explain, how do you explain what is actually happening when you look at these

numbers and the policies? >> martha, the thing that makes me think of is actually a sticker that was given to me b by -- >> martha: we just lost him. i was so excited to hear about the sticker that was given to him. charlie can you answer the question about the leadership in the states and nothing is matching up with the policies and reality? >> i didn't care what he was saying. i was just listening to that. i don't understand it. let me put it to you this way. from the april spy, testing and the state has increased by 12 fold. so of course, you will get more cases. the cases have moved up four fold. guests are down 50% from the spike and we know 80% of them ae from the old folks home, whether you give them inoculations were not, we now know about their care. we know that 100,000 people a

year die in the nursing homes from infections. how many, what is the death count in america now from covid, 300, something like that? >> martha: over 300. >> 400,000 a year from infections that were not covid. we will inoculate them and throw them back in the dark and nothing changes. i think my people are upset -- you know, i'm not blaming the governor. she's trying to get this under control, but it is a yo-yo. today we open casinos. today we opened the high schools back up. the colleges wanted to be back up, but not the restaurants. more cases from college than anything else and those are going to be opened. and when it comes to the springtime and every working class in this country of ours, the hourly wage workers will be out and help will come to them, just watch. mark my words. >> martha: we have 20 seconds left but steve is back so we

want to hear about his sticker. >> this sticker says consider the possibility. we are led by idiots. that will be the conclusion at the end of all of this. just one point. i used to own a restaurant. what is so infuriating is that they make these investments. they are responsible. what is actually happening by driving people indoors to socialize, these lockdowns are making the virus worse. they are rising the cases. it is so disgusting. >> martha: all right. gentlemen, thank you. dave rubin, steven hilton, charlie, thank you, see you soon. >> merry christmas, martha. >> martha: moments ago, just moments ago the fda granting emergency use for authorization from moderna, covid-19 vexing. state with the availability of two vaccines for the perfection- the fda there fda with a fight against the global pandemic, vast numbers of hospitalizations and deaths in the united states

each day. that is great news. up next the incredible story behind a company doing their part to stop. next. >> this gives a tangible piece of something that somebody in support of the country. and so sacrifice unto the deplorable. ♪ is the 21st century way to do all three. everyday. preparation h. get comfortable with it.

.. every year, we set out to do one thing help the world believe in holiday magic. and this year was harder than ever. and yet, somehow, you all found a way to pull it off. it's not about the toys or the ornaments but about coming together. santa, santa, you're on mute! just wanted to say thanks. thanks for believing.

we'rewelcome to a -wbetter way to live.s. ♪ welcome to my house the croods are coming home. kinda big, isn't it? that's the mirror. -sorry. and the world will never be the same. what is this? uh, we call that a window. window. dun, dun, dun. make it a croods family movie night with "the croods: a new age". go to watchcroods.com.

♪ veterans and service members in this country have a 50% more likelihood of dying by suicide than adults that haven't served. i find it unacceptable and so does our team. this mission for us ends when we can reduce veteran suicide to match the national average. >> martha: it is an issue that plagues america's heroes. and one that is deeply

personal to the army veteran behind combat flies, which is a company that donates 50% of the proceeds to the non-profit stop soldier suicide. we recently caught one founder dan bari with a close friend and purple heart recipient who went from rock bottom to the top of the highest mountains. watch this. ♪ >> when i left the military, i like to say i packed it away literally and figuratively. i put it all in a box and tucked it away in my attic and i thought i was done with it. but what i found is that i was missing that connection to the military and to the people who were like me. i needed a new mission in life that was more than just me going from job to job. that is where, largely where combat flags came from. the idea of turning old military fatigues to american flags just kind of hit me out of nowhere. i rushed home and i went up in the attack where i tucked my

stuff away and i pulled out my pants and i figured out how to take old duty worn fatigue and turn them in to flags. this comes with the person that wore the material i used to make it. so for the everyday american citizen who doesn't have an affiliation with the military it gives them a tangible piece of something that somebody wore in support of the country. it helps to bring service and sacrifice to the personal level. ben is one of my best friends. he is like my, he is like a brother at this point. he he has an amazing story. but i think what i haven't told him enough is if he really inspires me to try to do more. >> in 2009, i deployed to afghanistan on the first deployment at a cavalry scout. three months in my tour the first i.e.d. i hit is the one that would ultimately end my military career. i hit the pressure plate.

the blast went off underneath me and my lower leg was severed and it would take four years to save my legs. in the first two months of my recovery i was stuck in a hospital bed at army medical center. i had the feeling of being really pissed off at the world that i was taken from my best friends and what i would call now my family. i was to the point where i had suicidal thoughts and tendencies. i was just really fed up with the world. fed up with the pain. the hurting. i was sitting at the edge of my bed with a handgun, seconds away from making that decision to pull the trigger. for whatever reason i was looking to my left and i saw my dog asia. she had a goofy look in her eyes and it really flipped a switch in my head that i wouldn't know what my two dogs were going to do if i were to

make that decision to end my life right there. and then i thought of my family and friends. instead of taking away my pain i'm creating more pain for individuals. i needed to do something with my life. i remember getting "newsweek" articles on fridays in school. mount everest was on the cover of one of them. i wanted to challenge myself. i really wanted to do something with my life. i wanted to show everyone that there is more to me than just being a veteran. and i got in to mountaineering not knowing anything about it. my friend and guide really pulled me aside and he saw what the mountains were doing for me. august 1, 2014, i reached the first of the seven summits in mount everest. i don't know how to describe the feeling to anyone. when you try so hard to achieve something like that. to reach the top of your

mountain. i had the opportunity to go to mount everest again in 2017. i was the third purple heart recipient to reach the summit. i really wanted to dedicate that to all the doctors, nurses, technicians that helped save my leg. i try to pride myself on showing that to them by taking these two legs up these mountains. and i was able to go on. and climb the mountain in argentina for my fourth of the seventh summits. i went to carson's pyramid in indonesia. i reached the summit of that for my fifth of the seventh summit. in december of 2018, january 2019, i went to antarctica and i reached the top of mount vincent for my six of the seventh summits. every summit i bring a combat flag with me. for me, it's a reminder of why i'm climbing. it's not just for me.

it's not just for thought of me inspiring others but it's also for our brothers and sisters that are no longer with us anymore. so each flag that i bring represents all of them that is what keeps me going in the mountains on hard days. >> he had a tough time coming back after that injury. washing him crush life the way he is now is inspiring. it pushes me to do more every day. >> martha: thanks to ben and dan for inspiring all of us. several days before christmas. it's a beautiful story. ben is set to climb the final of the seven summits next year. we look forward to hearing about his success. that would make him the first wounded veteran to do so. his story will be available on the untold story podcast christmas day. so we hope you will listen to that as well. we thank you all for joining us tonight. that is "the story." a lot going on. new vaccine.

good news. friday, december 18, 2020. the story continues and we're telling it all the way. see you monday night at 7:00. good night, everybody. thank you for joining us. ♪ ♪ >> tucker: good evening. welcome to the special edition of "tucker carlson tonight." the first reports of a mysterious new virus spreading through china reached the west last september. they reported it before it had a name in january. that was nearly a year ago. for the past 11 months the world has been waiting with increasing desperation for a cure, for a vaccine. more than 1.5 million people died. now the vaccine finally arrived. a new vaccine just today approved. we should be rejoicing in this. yet, many americans are le lucktant to take the vaccine -- reluctant to take the vaccine. why?