FDA advisory panel recommends authorization of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine

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FDA advisory panel recommends authorization of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine

Fox News correspondent David Spunt joins 'Special Report' with the latest from FDA headquarters in Silver Spring, Md.

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report" December 10, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Sorry, Emily. All right, good evening. Welcome
to Washington. I'm Bret Baier.

Breaking tonight, we're following two major stories. We have new
information about the government and the investigations of Hunter Biden,
son of the president-elect but first, the day after the grim milestone of
more than 3,000 Americans dying from COVID in one day. An advisory panel
has just recommended the approval of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine just in
the past few minutes. The Food and Drug Administration now takes up that
endorsement and could greenlight the distribution of the formula
immediately with the first shots in the U.S. soon to follow.

Correspondent David Spunt has the breaking details this evening. He's at
FDA headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. Good evening, David.

DAVID SPUNT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Bret, good evening. This advisory
panel met for about nine hours. They were incredibly thorough. They voted
17 yes's, four no's and one abstention to move this on to the full FDA
career employees.

But during this debate today, they talked about potential side effects from
a mild fever that lasted for about a day, also the debate over the age.

Some of these COVID vaccines Bret talked about nobody 18 and younger. But
this specific vaccine the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine deals with 16 and 17-
year-olds, that was an issue too if the full FDA career employees approved
this. We could see vaccines going out in just a few hours or days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPUNT (voice-over): The majority of Americans won't be vaccinated until the
spring, maybe early summer.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS
DISEASES: That'll get us really on the road very close to being normal. The
sooner we do that, the better.

SPUNT: The new normal will take some getting used to for Americans who want
to get on a plane. IATA, the largest airline trade association in the world
is working on a mobile app that will show that you are COVID free and
vaccinated before you board a flight.

NICK CAREEN, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL AIR TRANSPORT
ASSOCIATION: There is no database. This information is only kept by the
customer, which is key. So, the customer shares it with whomever they wish
to share it with. And if they want to delete it, they delete it.

SPUNT: U.S. health officials believe the international airline industry
will continue to be at risk long after the United States achieves herd
immunity.

DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION:
The pandemic in the world is not going to be controlled for multiple years
and so, most always have a global risk of reintroduction through
susceptibles that they haven't been vaccinated.

SPUNT: Jennifer Haller was the first person in the United States to
participate in the original Moderna trial last March. Nine months later,
she has no problem with sharing her information before traveling.

JENNIFER HALLER, VACCINE RECIPIENT: It would be reasonable for me than I
would hope that it would be reasonable for majority of people when we're
talking about trying to combat a global pandemic and keep people safe and
save lives.

SPUNT: Business owners are also grappling with operating in a post vaccine
world. For some, an app sounds appealing.

JOSH QUINN, OWNER, TIGERTREE: Should that technology exist? I would
certainly (INAUDIBLE)

SPUNT: Josh Quinn owns Tigertree, a boutique shop in Columbus, Ohio. We
first met him in April. In August, he closed his brick and mortar store and
is now online. Quinn hopes to open another physical store after the
majority of Americans are vaccinated.

QUINN: I'm an optimist and I honestly think by the summer between the
vaccination efforts and some maybe increased measures coming our way, I
think we're going to be mostly out of this by next October.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SPUNT: Now, we're waiting to hear from the full FDA to see if they grant
emergency use authorization. Millions of doses of vaccines are ready to go
to nursing homes and hospitals to help those first line workers, Bret.

And next week, one week from today, December 17th, Moderna, that is the
second company to come before the FDA for that emergency use authorization.
Big day, Bret.

BAIER: Big day, David, but quickly, you know, this is the advisory panel,
the full FDA has to greenlight it. I guess there's some people saying why
not just say boom, it's done? Why does it take a few days to do that?

SPUNT: Yes, you know, it could take a few days, it could take a few hours.
That's the process here at the FDA. I asked myself, I said what is the
reason for having this advisory panel and then giving it to the FDA to make
that decision?

But from what we know Bret, this advisory panel deals with pediatricians,
scientists, vaccine developers, they make their recommendation to the FDA
then the FDA career employees that work for the commissioner, Dr. Stephen
Hahn. Those are the ones that make that final decision. And it's possible
Bret, it could happen in the next few hours. It could happen overnight. And
those vaccines could be going into the arms of people just within a few
hours.

BAIER: OK, David we'll watch for that. Thank you.

Again, our other top story, new information about the federal
investigations into Hunter Biden's taxes but sources telling Fox the
investigation is actually bigger in scope.

A Senate Committee report may out -- lay out a blueprint, it describes the
son of the president-elect his business dealings with China and what is
being called in the report the potential for criminal activity. Senior
political correspondent Mike Emanuel starts us off with that part of the
investigations tonight. Good evening, Mike.

MIKE EMANUEL, FOX NEWS SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Bret, good evening.
This investigation according to a source familiar began in 2018. Fox News
has learned not only are the feds digging into Hunter Biden's taxes, but
he's also the target of a grand jury investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMANUEL (voice-over): The federal investigation into Hunter Biden's tax
affairs and business dealings was active in the final days of the
presidential campaign, but it was covert to avoid influencing the outcome
of the election. It's now in an overt phase.

Fox has told his father the president-elect is not part of this probe. But
a Republican member of the Homeland Security Committee notes Hunter
traveled overseas when his father was vice president.

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): What did Joe Biden know and when did he know it?
He needs to answer questions.

EMANUEL: A source familiar says the investigation was established on
suspicious activity reports regarding foreign transactions. Hunter's
business dealings with Chinese nationals, including some flagged for
potential financial criminal activity are outlined in a Senate Committee
report.

The chairman of Senate Finance, one of the two committees digging into
Biden business dealings says their investigation was justified.

SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-IA): The liberal media and members of the other
political party chose to dismiss our work even falsely claim that our work
was Russian disinformation.

EMANUEL: The Senate report notes "Hunter Biden had business associations
with Ye Jianming, Gongwen Dong, and other Chinese nationals linked to the
Communist government and the People's Liberation Army. Those associations
resulted in millions of dollars in cash flow." A point echoed by the
Homeland Security chairman.

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): There have been reports of the Biden's cashing in
the Biden name for many, many years. You know, dating back to when Joe
Biden was a Senator.

EMANUEL: Joe Biden and his allies were quick to dismiss questions about
Hunter's business dealings in the final days of the campaign.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know you'd ask it. I
have no responses. It's another smear campaign. It's right up your alley.
Those are the questions you always ask.

REP. DAN KILDEE (D-MI): I think that's a question that's been pretty well
litigated in the last year as to whether or not the effort to bring Hunter
Biden's history into this whole situation is a smear campaign.

EMANUEL: Fox News was first to report that the FBI opened a money
laundering investigation into a laptop connected to Hunter Biden. It's
unclear if that portion of the investigation is still ongoing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EMANUEL: Some Republicans are now expressing concern that with a change of
administrations on January 20th, a new president and his team could replace
the U.S. attorneys. Now, there's a call that those spearheading this
investigation must be allowed to complete their work without interference,
Bret.

BAIER: OK Mike, thank you.

Hunter Biden is not the only member of the president-elect's family under
scrutiny tonight. Some of the business dealings of Joe Biden's brother
James also being examined. Correspondent Peter Doocy reports tonight from
Wilmington, Delaware.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's more than one
Biden caught up in a federal investigation, Hunter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dr. Biden, can I just ask you one thing on the news, a
reaction to the news of the investigation of your son, Hunter?

DOOCY: And James, Biden's brother whose name has come up in the course of
an investigation into a hospital business he's linked to according to a
report in Politico. This is the same brother who allegedly introduced then
former Vice President Biden to a business partner.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was introduced to Joe Biden by James Biden and Hunter
Biden.

DOOCY: James Biden didn't want to talk about any of that when approached
recently by FoxNews.com.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you Mr. James Biden, I wanted to ask you about the
China deal.

JAMES BIDEN, BROTHER OF JOE BIDEN: Will you please stop bothering me?

DOOCY: Biden has promised distance.

BIDEN: My son, my family will not be involved.

DOOCY: But yesterday, the taxpayer funded transition team sent out a
statement from Hunter Biden who doesn't work for the transition.

Now, Mike Davis, former Chief Counsel for Nominations at Senate Judiciary
wonders, why is Joe Biden using federal government resources to issue
public statements for his son Hunter Biden, related to his personal legal
problems? Is this legal?

That's happening as the Biden White House is filling up with three more
Obama alumni Susan Rice, Obama's U.N. ambassador and national security
adviser will be director of the Domestic Policy Council. Eight years after
infamously blaming the Benghazi terror attack on a YouTube video.

SUSAN RICE, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: We are of the
view that this is not an expression of hostility and in the broadest sense
towards the United States, or U.S. policy, its proximately a reaction to
this video.

DOOCY: Denis McDonough Obama's chief of staff is the pick for V.A.
Secretary upsetting the founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
who tweets a stunningly strange and surprising pick. He is not a vet and
not a post 9/11 vet.

Tom Vilsack, Obama's Agriculture Secretary is Biden's choice for
Agriculture Secretary. Payback for help on the trail.

BIDEN: These folks have helped me more than any candidates have ever helped
me in my whole career.

DOOCY: And using history as a guide, Biden is going to try to talk policy
and not his son's problems.

BIDEN: We want to talk about families and ethics, I don't want to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOOCY: The president-elect is scheduled to introduce Susan Rice and some
other new White House staffers at an event in person in Wilmington
tomorrow.

The closest that we've come to a reaction from him to the Hunter Biden
story is a one sentence statement that was signed by the transition team.
We have not seen Joe Biden since this story broke. He stayed home today,
Bret.

BAIER: All right, Peter, thank you.

The president-elect is asking civil rights leaders not to promote the
defunding of Police Departments. Portions of a Zoom call to supporters have
been posted by the intercept.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: They've already labeled us as being defund the police. Anything we
put forward in terms of the organizational structure to change policing,
which I promise you will occur. I promise you.

Just think to yourself and give me advice whether we should do that before
January 5th, because that's how they beat the living hell out of us across
the country, saying that we're talking about defunding the police, we're
not. We're talking about holding them accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Biden transition official tells Fox News on background. The
president-elect believes in supporting bold and urgent criminal justice
reform while continuing to support law enforcement's mission to keep
communities safe and that he says in public what he says in private.

There are many questions still tonight about why a California Democratic
congressman was allowed to serve on the House Intelligence Committee
despite his relationship to a woman accused of being a Chinese spy. The top
Democrat in the House seems unconcerned by that. The House Minority Leader
calls this the tip of the iceberg. Correspondent Gillian Turner has
tonight's update.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GILLIAN TURNER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Democrat Eric Swalwell
is facing a growing storm of criticism from his Republican colleagues in
Congress over an FBI probe into an alleged Chinese spy he had ties to
several years ago.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): This man should not be in the Intel Committee;
he's jeopardizing national security.

SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): Until he comes forward and has a thorough and
complete explanation for what happened, then he should not sit on the House
Intelligence Committee and have access to classified information.

TURNER: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi waved off the matter today saying both
Democrat and Republican leaders were briefed in the past simultaneously
about this threat.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I don't have any concern about Mr. Swalwell. I do
think that it's unfortunate that Mr. McCarthy is trying to make an issue of
this when his leader -- we all found out at the same time.

TURNER: We still don't know who briefed congressional leadership. At the
time, James Comey was the director of the FBI and a former senior staffer
on the House Intel Committee tells Fox News the Comey briefing would have
been "standard operating procedure"

Swalwell's Republican colleagues on House Intel are lasering in on the role
the alleged spy Christine Fang played in his California political career.

REP. CHRIS STEWART (R-UT): This was a Chinese citizen, who was a hyper
aggressive in developing relationships with politicians. We know that she
helped him get reelected, she helped him raise money.

TURNER: Swalwell himself insists he did nothing wrong and claims the FBI
actually thanked him for helping their investigation. He also said
Wednesday the whole story is just political revenge.

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): At the same time this story was being leaked out
is the time that I was working on impeachment on the House Intelligence and
Judiciary Committees.

They may think that they're going to silence me, they're not going to
silence me.

TURNER: He was one of President Trump's fiercest critics during impeachment
proceedings.

SWALWELL: He's a repeat offender. Crimes against our constitution and yes,
crimes that one day may be prosecuted statutorily.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: Swalwell insists he long ago cut off all ties with Fang though
until Fox News reported it yesterday. He did have family members who were
friends with her on Facebook, his father and brother. They are no longer,
Bret.

BAIER: All right, Gillian, thank you. More on this with the panel.

Stocks were mixed today, the Dow lost 70, the S&P 500 fell five, the NASDAQ
gained 67.

Up next, President Trump wants the Supreme Court to overturn election
results in four states urging supporters to sign on to what he says what is
one large lawsuit. Many legal experts, though, are calling it a Hail Mary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are going to see what
happens. We have tremendous cases right now. A big, big case. 18 states as
of this moment. 18 states.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, issuing a new warning about China's
threat to the U.S. on the ground and in space. And more harsh accusations
and denials in the Georgia's Senate runoffs, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAIER: "BEYOND OUR BORDERS" tonight, Mexico's Senate approves a proposal to
restrict U.S. agents and remove their diplomatic immunity. It requires all
foreign agents from any country to share all information they gather with
Mexican authorities.

A former official with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says the
law would compromise agents and the informants.

ISIS is claiming responsibility for the shooting death of a female T.V.
presenter and women's rights activist in Afghanistan. Malalai Maiwand was
killed along with her driver in the attack on their vehicle in Jalalabad.

The Lebanese prosecutor probing last summer's port explosion in Beirut
files charges against the caretaker prime minister and three former
ministers, accusing them of negligence that led to the death of hundreds of
people.

Lebanon's official news agency says the four are the most senior
individuals to be indicted so far in the investigation which is being
conducted in secrecy.

Breaking tonight, President Trump puts new pressure on the U.S. Supreme
Court over a lawsuit originating in Texas, seeking to put a temporary hold
on Electoral College voting in four states.

He's getting an assist today from more than 100 House Republicans who
joined in a friend-of-the-court or amicus brief in support of the Texas
appeal. Chief White House Correspondent, John Roberts, tells us where
things stand tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the
White House today, President Trump hosting lunch for 12 Republican state
attorneys general. 11 of whom are asking the Supreme Court to overturn
election results in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Texas
Attorney General Ken Paxton leading the effort.

KEN PAXTON, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS: It seemed wrong to us that my voters
are now disenfranchised but in a national election where other states
didn't follow state law.

ROBERTS: Paxton argues that a patchwork of inconsistent rules across those
states harmed voters in Texas by electing Joe Biden. Paxton asking the
Supreme Court to block electors in those four states from voting on Monday.

PAXTON: We're asking that the court basically put this back in the hands of
the state legislature to pick their own electors as was commonly done, you
know, for years in this country by certain state legislatures.

ROBERTS: In total, 18 other states have joined Texas, filing friend of the
court briefs, including Louisiana.

JEFF LANDRY, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF LOUISIANA: There were states under which
non-legislative actors that means like governors, secretary of states, or
state courts, basically modified election law in the midst of the game.

ROBERTS: 106 House Republicans also filed so-called amicus briefs today,
and President Trump himself joined in a statement his campaign saying, "The
president intervened because his rights as a candidate are affected by the
defendant state's failure to follow and enforce state election laws during
the 2020 election.

At a Hanukkah party last night, the president again insisting he won the
election.

TRUMP: So, we're going to see what happens. We have tremendous cases right
now. A big, big case. 18 states as of this moment. 18 states.

ROBERTS: In their response to the Supreme Court, the four states pushing
back on the petition, saying, "The State of Texas has now added its voice
to the cacophony of bogus claims." And adding, "Nothing in the text,
history, or structure of the Constitution supports Texas's view that it can
dictate the manner in which four other states run their elections."

While the majority of the focus at the White House is on the election
results, business is still getting done. President Trump today announcing
yet another normalization of relations agreement. This one between Israel
and the North African nation of Morocco. This part of the deal, President
Trump recognizing Morocco's sovereignty over the disputed lands of Western
Sahara.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Of course, the big prize still remains, a normalization agreement
between Israel and Saudi Arabia. White House officials today told Fox News
that they believe that it is inevitable that such a deal will take place,
it's just a matter of time but no prediction on when that time might be.
Bret.

BAIER: John Roberts live on the North Lawn. John, thanks.

The top U.S. diplomat with some very pointed statements about the growing
threat from China. We'll have details when we come back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE POMPEO, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: What more bad decisions will
schools make because they're hooked on Chinese Communist Party cash? What
professors will they be able to co-opt or to silence?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAIER: The nation's top diplomat issuing fresh warnings about the threat
from China. National security correspondent Jennifer Griffin has details
tonight from the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER GRIFFIN, FOX NEWS NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over):
Their fighter jets look remarkably like U.S. fifth-generation warplanes.
Their hackers tried to steal the COVID vaccine from the U.S. last summer,
and many of the 400,000 students sent to the U.S. from mainland China each
year are actually spies for the Chinese Communist Party.

POMPEO: They want to influence American students as well, professors and
administrators too. Look, they know that left-leaning college campuses are
rife with any Americanism, and present easy targets for their anti-American
messaging.

GRIFFIN: Earlier this year, the head of Harvard's chemistry department was
charged with lying to the federal government about his relationship with
Wuhan University of Technology, accepting $50,000 a month to be a strategic
scientist as part of an aggressive Chinese attempt to recruit scientists to
share their work.

Last summer, the U.S. government ordered the closure of China's consulate
in Houston for its role in economic espionage.

POMPEO: The Chinese Communist Party was using their consulate in Houston as
a den of spies.

GRIFFIN: After a half dozen suspected Chinese spies were arrested last
summer, 1,000 Chinese researchers on university campuses suddenly left the
U.S.

JOHN DEMERS, UNITED STATES ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, NATIONAL SECURITY
DIVISION: Those five or six arrests were just the tip of the iceberg. And
honestly, the size of the iceberg is one that I don't know that we or other
folks realized how large it was when we began down that road.

GRIFFIN: Since the U.S. election, Chinese influence operations targeting
the Biden administration have been on steroids according to the national
counterintelligence chief.

WILLIAM EVANINA, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL COUNTERINTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY
CENTER: We've also seen an uptick in which was planned, and we predicted
that China would now re-vector their influence campaigns to new
administration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Today, the FCC designated China's top telecommunications firm
Huawei as a national security threat. Bret?

BAIER: Jennifer Griffin at the Pentagon. Jennifer, thank you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SWALWELL: It is not the view of the intelligence community that China and
Russia are equally acting in this election. And I can say in open session
that is false. And it's false for the American people to walk away and
believe that there's any equivalence between what Russia and China are
doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell, all his statements about China
now being looked at again after the investigation he's facing. And seeing
now, let's get into more detail about the China threat.

Joining us tonight, Bill Gertz, national security correspondent for the
Washington Times. He is the author of the book, Deceiving the Sky: Inside
Communist China's Drive for Global Supremacy. And retired Air Force
Brigadier General Robert Spalding, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute,
author of the book, Stealth War: How China Took Over While America's Elite
Slept.

Gentlemen, thank you. When I say investigation, the House minority leader
McCarthy wants Eric Swalwell off of the House Intel Committee. The House
Speaker, Bill, saying she doesn't see a problem with this. How do you put
that in context to what we just heard about the threat from China?

BILL GERTZ, NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, WASHINGTON TIMES: Well, first
of all, I think it shows extremely poor judgment on the part of Congressman
Swalwell. Anytime a Chinese national shows up at your office and says she
wants to help you fundraise and place people in your office. Certain --
certainly, you know, the FBI would call that a clue. I think that's what
happened. And also remember, Swalwell for a short time last year ran for
president.

We've seen this playbook in the past. The Chinese funneled cash into the
Bill Clinton reelection campaign back in the 90s, and then there was the
case of Katrina Leung in Los Angeles, who was sleeping with two FBI agents
who were handling her as a double agent.

BAIER: General, I talked to Chris Wray in the summer, the FBI director, and
he told me at the time that the FBI was opening up an investigation,
counterintelligence investigation, somehow tied to China every 10 hours. I
don't think people fully understand the length to which China is trying to
go to infiltrate all elements of the U.S.

BRIG. GEN. ROBERT SPALDING (RET.), HUDSON INSTITUTE: Nor did they really
understand how many are actually operating here. When I got to the embassy
as a senior defense official in Beijing in 2017, the embassy told me that
we had some 4 million 10-year visa holders in the United States at any one
time. So this is a big problem, and I'm glad we're finally starting to pick
at it.

BAIER: Bill, the incoming nominee for secretary of state, Tony Blinken, has
said that it's unrealistic to decouple the U.S. from China, something that
President Trump had talked about. He said recently, trying to fully
decouple, as some have suggested, from China is unrealistic, ultimately
counterproductive. It would be a mistake. As you get ready for this next
administration, how it deals with China is really going to be front and
center.

GERTZ: Yes, the presumptive president-elect has said that he is going to
win the competition. Of course, early on in the campaign he said we can't
compete with China, we shouldn't try, they are nice people, and all that.
Everybody is going to be watching very closely. I think it's going to be
very difficult to undo a lot of the hardline policies that have been put in
place under the Trump administration, and I think we're going to be seeing
more of that in the final weeks as the administration winds down.

They have done some tremendous things. On the intelligence front, I can
tell you a retired CIA counterintelligence official told me that what the
Chinese are doing is an intelligence assault that hasn't been seen since
the Cold War days of the Soviet Union. And I would make the point that we
really, really need a much better counterintelligence system then we have.

Let's go back, this case that we are talking about with Swalwell happened
around 2015, and that's when the FBI was at its worst in terms of what we
found out to be politicized counterintelligence people. We really need to
beef up our counterintelligence capabilities.

BAIER: General, where do you see the biggest threat from China? You have
the military buildup. You've got their cyber capabilities. They are now
really going into space significantly, and we have been talking about the
counterintelligence efforts and intelligence efforts inside the U.S.

SPALDING: It's really on their collection of data. They seek to become the
Saudi Arabia of data. Data drives artificial intelligence. They seek to use
the same tools that Silicon Valley developed to harvest data and then
influence consumers. They want to influence not only our consumption
patterns, but also our social and political beliefs. So it's a real threat
to our democracy going forward when the population doesn't know where the
truth lies, or they're following the dictate of the Chinese Communist Party
that has access to their data through modern telecommunications systems and
can use that data with advanced artificial intelligence, some of the best
algorithms in the world today, to influence them in ways that are counter
to our own interests.

BAIER: Economically, Bill, Republicans on the Trump administration had said
the trade efforts that they have made weekend China. Democrats were saying
it wasn't, it didn't. Do we have a sense of where China is, was, as a
result of the trade actions of the Trump administration?

GERTZ: It's hard to tell. Because of the pandemic their economy has
contracted significantly. But all questioning aside, I think that clearly
it has had a tremendous impact on forcing China to back off. Now, that
doesn't mean they're going to end their technology collection and their
spying efforts. And they may be waiting for a more conciliatory Biden
administration. But clearly, during the Trump administration, they put
tremendous pressure on the Chinese, and they didn't gain economically as
they have in the past.

BAIER: Gentlemen, we appreciate your time. This is a serious subject that
we're going to continue to follow across the board. Thanks a lot.

Up next, star power for the Georgia Senate runoffs and harsh personal
attacks and rebuttals. We'll bring you there.

First, here's what some of our FOX affiliates around the country are
covering tonight. FOX 9 in the twin cities as the Minneapolis city council
unanimously approves a budget shifting about $8 million from the police
department toward violence protection and other programs. It will keep the
staffing levels intact, a condition for approval from the mayor there.

FOX 32 in Chicago as hundreds of firefighters battle a blaze engulfing an
auto parts warehouse on the west side of Chicago, the facility holding more
than 100,000 auto parts. No injuries reported.

And this is a live look at San Francisco from our affiliate FOX 2, the big
story there tonight, General Motors self-driving car company is sending
vehicles without anybody behind the wheel as it navigates its way toward
launching a robotic taxi service. The move by G.M. owned Cruise comes two
months after the company received California's permission to operate fully
driverless cars in the state.

That's tonight's live look outside the beltway from SPECIAL REPORT. Would
you get in that car? We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAIER: The Justice Department says the fund to compensate victims of
disgraced investor Bernard Madoff and the world's Ponzi scheme has begun
its sixth distribution of about $488 million in forfeited funds. That
brings the total distributed to almost $3.2 billion to nearly 37,000
victims worldwide. Madoff was accused of stealing billions from his
clients. He pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies.

Vice President Mike Pence headlined a rally for Georgia Republican senators
today in Augusta ahead of next month's runoffs. That will determine the
balance of power in the Senate. President-elect Biden plans to visit the
state next Tuesday to campaign for John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
Reverend Warnock is fighting back tonight against tough new allegations
from Senator Kelly Loeffler. Correspondent Steve Harrigan has the story
tonight from Augusta.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

STEVE HARRIGAN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: The second time in a week the vice
president was in Georgia to back the runoff Senate campaigns of David
Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.

MIKE PENCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: We're going to keep Georgia. We're going
to save the Senate, and then we're going to save America.

(APPLAUSE)

HARRIGAN: Spending in the January 5th election could top $400 million as
airwaves are saturated with the four candidates attacking each other.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Loeffler receives a confidential briefing on the threat
of coronavirus and immediately starts dumping stocks as Kelly Loeffler
downplays the threat publicly.

HARRIGAN: Democrat Reverend Raphael Warnock accused his opponent Loeffler
of being an out of touch billionaire who profited on insider stock trades
during the pandemic, while Loeffler brought attention to a 2002 arrest of
Warnock for allegedly obstructing police, a charge that was eventually
dropped.

SEN. KELLY LOEFFLER (R-GA): You were charged for obstructing police in the
arrest, in the child's abuse investigation.

REV. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D), GEORGIA SENATE CANDIDATE: I was working and
trying to make sure that young people who are being questioned by law
enforcement had the benefit of counsel, a lawyer, or a parent.

HARRIGAN: Republicans have a strong history of winning runoff elections in
Georgia, but several factors make these races difficult to predict. The
president's criticism of Georgia's voting system as fraudulent has some GOP
strategists worried it could keep Republican voters away. And suburban
Democrats who turned out in record numbers to flip Georgia after 28 years
of voting Republican could stay home with President Trump off the ticket.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

HARRIGAN: Early in-person voting begins Monday. Mail-in voting has already
started. Bret?

BAIER: We'll have full coverage. Steve, thank you.

Up next, the panel on the lack of media coverage about the Hunter Biden tax
investigation or wherever else it goes, plus the latest Joe Biden's
transition, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: The right wing is going crazy with all sorts of
allegations about Biden and his family, too disgusting to even repeat here.

TRUMP: Also insist on transparency from Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We hate to do this, really, but the president isn't
telling the truth.

HUNTER BIDEN, JOE BIDEN'S SON: I'm a private citizen. One thing that I
don't have to do is sit here and open my kimono as it relates to how much I
make.

JOE SCARBOROUGH, MSNBC HOST: I thought Hunter did very well. I never met
the guy. I knew Beau, but you know what, own it. I don't think -- and, by
the way --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here is your daily reminder that there is no evidence
of wrongdoing by the former vice president or his son in Ukraine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The news that the family member of an incoming president
is under investigation is a big deal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Among the things they're looking at is whether or not
income was reported or underreported.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Well, the federal investigation we have confirmed looking into
Hunter Biden, the president-elect's son. Some of the media coverage before
and now after the election.

Let's bring in our panel, former Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford Jr.,
Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at "The Federalist," and Matthew
Continetti, founding editor of the "Washington Free Beacon."

Mollie, we know now there is a tax investigation. We know from sources that
it is broader than that and it deals with foreign exchanges of money, as
well. We know that the FBI had this laptop before the election. Big tech,
other media, weren't covering the story and in fact blocked it from a lot
of social media.

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, SENIOR EDITOR, "THE FEDERALIST": Yes, we hear about the
rigging of the election, and partly what people mean by that is targeted
vote fraud, but partly what they mean is the meddling on the part of big
media and big tech to affect the outcome of the election. We had a Senate
report from the Judiciary Committee and Homeland Security Committees that
showed suspicious money transfers to the Biden family business from foreign
governments or people linked closely to foreign governments. It barely got
any coverage, or it was mocked. When "The New York Post" broke the story
about these emails, even though they were verified and people who were
recipients of these emails verified that they were real, the media
suppressed that story.

And we actually also knew there was an FBI investigation into Hunter Biden
before the election, except that the media suppressed it so, so blatantly
and brazenly. The American people had a right to really have a thorough
discussion of the Biden family's involvement with corrupt foreign
government and how they benefited from that, and this meddling on the part
of big media and big tech, which banned people from even talking about this
on Facebook and Twitter, is a very serious problem and a huge threat to the
republic.

BAIER: Harold, what do you think of this story, where it's going? It's not
even -- obviously Joe Biden hasn't even been inaugurated yet.

HAROLD FORD JR. (D), FORMER TENNESSEE REPRESENTATIVE: Well, I think we
should all probably take a deep breath. Thanks for having me on tonight and
count our blessings on a lot of fronts.

This story is disturbing. From the standpoint that Hunter Biden is going to
have to answer questions, it sounds like there is an investigation
underway, it may be broader than what we think. And I trust listening to
his statement today that he will respond and act accordingly.

I do think some of the reaction around whether this should have been
reported before the election or after the election, to our knowledge I've
not seen any reports suggesting that Joe Biden had anything to do with this
or there was any involvement on his part. So, I don't know how or what
voters would have to have considered about Joe Biden in this story. There
were voluminous stories about Hunter and about some of his personal
challenges and things that he has had to overcome. I thought his father,
the president-elect's statement today about his son was touching and
heartfelt. And it's what a father would say about a son.

But Hunter, and whatever he did, he will have to face whatever comes from
Justice Department, and I take him at his word today that he'll answer
those questions, and he believes he has done nothing wrong. We'll have to
wait and see.

BAIER: Yes, a couple of things, Matthew. Tony Bobulinski obviously
referenced Joe Biden and meeting him, and he was blacked out of media
coverage other than this network and a couple other places. The other
thing, Matthew, is it was interesting to see a Hunter Biden statement put
out on transition, memo by the transition team that Hunter Biden's legal
challenges were going to be talked about by the Biden-Harris transition.

MATTHEW CONTINETTI, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "WASHINGTON FREE BEACON": Right, and
it shows how it does affect President-elect Biden, that they are related.

What I find interesting, though, Bret, is despite the legacy media and the
social media companies trying to suppress this story in the final days of
the election, it seems to have broken through to some degree. You look at
the exit polls, it's actually the late deciders tended to break first
before. And one has to imagine that discussions of Hunter Biden played some
role in that.

And more importantly, the fact that Joe Biden has never had an answer to
what Hunter Biden was doing in China and why he was able to get so much
money from Chinese entrepreneurs, or whatever, connected to the Chinese
Communist Party. He continues to not have a good answer, just giving
outright denials. And I think this is going to really come to hurt him in
the coming months.

BAIER: All right, last, I want to turn quickly, Mollie, to the Swalwell
situation, what the House speaker and House minority leader said about
that. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): At the same moment, you have Republican and
Democratic leaders, and the leadership of the committee were briefed at the
same moment. Make sure you know that, because he keeps going around saying
when did they know. We knew when they knew.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Speaker Pelosi was notified. I was not. I'm
asking for an FBI briefing now. But if she knew and maintained Swalwell on
Intel -- wrong. He's a national security threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: OK, where is this story going, Mollie?

HEMINGWAY: Stunning news that someone on House Intel Committee had this
relationship with a Chinese asset, and that people knew about it and that
he was allowed to stay on this committee. I think there's a lot of concern
that the Democratic Party, that the Chinese have too much control over the
Democratic Party and its agenda, in the same way that they have too much
control over Hollywood and the NBA. This is a big issue for the entire, the
Biden administration, as we are talking about, and on the House side.

I think it's important to note that Devin Nunes and the House Republicans
tried to focus on China when they had control over the committee, and these
Democrats, Swalwell and Adam Schiff, really pushed to change the
conversation to Russia. That they were personally involved and that this is
coming out now makes that look even worse than it did at the time that they
were trying to dissuade House Intel from looking into China.

BAIER: Harold, I guess we do sometimes look at the panel through the prism
of what happens if this was the other way. Let's say Devin Nunes had a
relationship with some Russian. How much coverage with this be getting as
him on the House Intelligence Committee and what we see today? Do you see a
disparity here?

FORD: It deserves a lot of coverage. I think that the panel you had on
prior to us focused on at the right way, though. The increase, the
proliferation of Chinese assets in our country, that's what we should be
focused on. This is not a partisan issue, Democrat or Republican. I can't
believe that any member of Congress, Republican or Democrat, would openly
avow and want to work with a Chinese asset.

Two, on the Hunter Biden thing, let's remember, COVID, the economy, and
other matters are on the ballot, as well, and the president's decency. But
I hope we get to the bottom of the Swalwell thing, and I hope, more
importantly, we focus on the number of Chinese assets here in our country,
and we act as an American government to stop it.

BAIER: Yes. And on the COVID front, the vaccine moving forward. We'll see
if the FDA moves in coming hours. Panel, thank you very much.

When we come back, holiday season firsts and seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAIER: Finally, tonight, some holiday glee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: That's Sergeant Robert Kirby, went viral this summer with his
quarantine quartet videos. Now the Georgia police officer returns to spread
some holiday joy and encourage safety.

And it was a joyful time for Margaret Keenan who was greeted with cheers as
she left the hospital. The 90-year-old was the first person to take the
coronavirus vaccine in the U.K. She departed hand-in-hand with her family,
feeling good. So that's good news.

Thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. That's it for this SPECIAL
REPORT, fair, balanced, and still unafraid.

END

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