Immigration arrests up, deportations down under Trump

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Immigration arrests up, deportations down under Trump

President Trump's focus on cracking down on illegal immigration was a hallmark of his campaign; reaction and analysis on 'The Five.'

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," December 28, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

BRIAN KILMEADE, GUEST CO-HOST: Hello everyone. I'm Brian Kilmeade along with Kennedy, Marie Harf, Katie Pavlich and Tom Shillue in any order. It's 5 o'clock in New York City, and this according to my rundown is "The Five."

President Trump's laser focused on cracking down on illegal immigration. I'm sure you've heard that before. It was a hallmark of his campaign making America safe again. In fact, border crossings are down. Yet, a new report suggests he sent fewer Mexicans back to their country between January, December of this year compared to President Obama did during the same time in 2016. Now, President Trump, as you know, is working hard at keeping Mexicans from crossing over illegally in the first place, he hinted last week he'll make a trip soon to our southern border over to San Diego to look at prototypes for his proposed wall. He's going to ultimately make the choice. They're going to be about 30 feet high. And then we'll see if they're going to do something below, because we have a little tunnel problem. Kennedy.

KENNEDY, GUEST CO-HOST: Yes.

KILMEADE: . what does the study say to you that we've actually had less Mexican apprehensions in 2017 and 2016?

KENNEDY: Well, you've also had fewer illegal border crossings, so the president did some very good messaging, it's very effective, good marketing when he was running for president in that, you know, fewer people came into this country illegally. And also, it shows that the president has a much bigger heart than President Obama who is absolutely awful about deporting people and ripping families apart. And it's laughable that he reached out to the Latino community the way he did, because he was incredibly heartless with his deportation. And President Trump is actually softened there and look for other ways to try to solve the immigration crisis we've face in this country.

KILMEADE: Marie, it turns out -- I chance to go to the border two weeks ago, and they do think that the beginning of the wall will be built in the Rio Grande Valley sector area where it is indeed the worst. But the word came out in the first half of the year that we're cracking down and it slow down. And the second half of the year when we didn't do anything policy wise because congress couldn't get their act together, it picked up again. And then, you have these numbers overall, what does it tell you?

MARIE HARF, GUEST CO-HOST: Well, I think we will see how big President Trump's heart is when as we deal with DACA in the New Year. I mean, if we look at 2018 that's the biggest immigration fight we're going to have, I think, pretty early on. The numbers are interesting, I'm not sure exactly what to make of them. I think fewer people are coming here. They've arrested more immigrants, but they have deported fewer back to Mexico, so I think we'll see. When it comes to the wall, though, I do not predict that President Trump will be able to build a wall across the entire border. I think he will find places where he can put up a structure, so he could go take a photo with it, say he's kept his promise, because in some of these places I think the land owners aren't going to want -- aren't going to want to give up their land. You know, they very much don't want the government coming in, in some of these places, and taking their land to build a wall.

(CROSSTALK)

HARF: Exactly. This is going to be an eminent domain battle, but I don't think everyone is focused on that.

(CROSSTALK)

TOM SHILLUE, GUEST CO-HOST: why would -- they want a wall? Wall up there, I mean, they don't people illegal crossings on the property, right?

KATIE PAVLICH, GUEST CO-HOST: But if you go back, Texas, especially, this is an issue because there are families who are actually property owners, land owners before Texas became a state and part of the United States of America. So there are -- the culture there is a little bit different on how they deal with the issue. However, that does not mean that they don't want border security. That they don't want border patrol to be on their property, working with border patrol to make sure that people aren't crossing back and forth, but that doesn't necessarily mean they want their ranches divided by a big wall. So, there is going to be a very big battle there.

In terms of the numbers, not all illegal immigrants in this country are Mexicans. In fact, only 50 percent of them are. The rest are other than Mexican. And one of the big problems we have too is the visa overstay. There're 54 million people who come into the country every year, 700,000 of them tend to stay behind. Interior enforcement is an issue. And under Obama, he was called the deporter-in-chief. But the way that they measure that number was you catch people at the border and immediately deport them, and they counted that as a deportation. That's not going in the community and revving people up and deporting them, they were counting people coming across, turning themselves into border patrol and then getting kicked back out as a deportation. And that's why that number was so high.

KILMEADE: That's great point. And I think this -- Tom, one thing is also clear, it's not just Mexicans, in fact, Central America and South America, depending on where the poorest areas are. Mexico is going, yeah, you can keep going.

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: So, it's truly not Mexico right now that it is the problem, that's among the border patrol. But keep in mind too, the fear of drugs, pethanol, in particular, coming across the southern border is very real. They think that is picking up, too.

SHILLUE: Yeah. Well, the fact that you have fewer people being deported should be celebrated. The headlines in the paper, Trump sends home fewer Mexicans despite deportation talk. Another headline, Donald Trump deported fewer people, and then it says rhetoric versus reality.

PAVLICH: And he just targeting Mexicans for deportation.

SHILLUE: Yes. And the fact that it's empty talk, it's not empty talk. If you're tough talk makes fewer people come across the border the headlines should be Trumped immigration policy working.

KILMEADE: Right, absolutely. The other thing they're working on, I believe it's going to happen in January, Kennedy, they're going to start talking about -- if they're going to come together in anything it's going to be immigration. Evidently, there's a bipartisan committee in the senate meeting right now that are attacking chain migration because I believe the sentiment on both sides to attack it, the lottery as well, and DACA. You mix it up with border security. Could this be our first joint legislators since the early '20s?

KENNEDY: Yeah. It's interesting because people's feelings about immigration tend to evolve with some of the facts, reality and news that happens. And, you know, whether it's Kate Steinle's death, which certainly galvanized on the right, or some of the terror incidents which, you know, reach across party lines and people starts to go, well, I'm wondering about the kind of people that are in my community, and how do we keep the country safer? Well, still attracting the very best people in the world to come and work at businesses and help take care of families and participates in the economy. I mean, that's ultimately what you want. So the question is how do we fix immigration to keep bad people out without compromising our civil liberty? And that's a big goal. It's the ultimate goal. But I think, actually, Republicans and Democrats are much closer on that, because people essentially want the same thing. They want the country to be safe. They want the best and brightest people here. And they realize that the system is broken on several ends. You know, visa and visa over-stay that Katie talked about, we have to fix the visa system. And Democrats have to live up to the promises that they made on border security 11 years ago.

KILMEADE: Marie, tell me where the no-go zone is? And I believe -- I have not heard it yet, except for build a wall, which Senator Schumer does not want to give President Trump his victory. He might give in. But I have not heard him object to chain migration and the lottery system being re- examined. So, in DACA, of course, the president is saying, listen, I'm kind of interested in getting this done by March. So, do you think that they're actually -- we might be two-thirds of the way there or am I dreaming?

HARF: No, I think we actually -- you're wide-awake. You're not totally dreaming. I think we might be close. Just like tweeted that he -- that there will be a dock of a bipartisan bill come to the senate floor after the New Year. I think that that was something he got in exchange for being a yes on tax reform or as part of a conversation. Chuck Schumer was part of the gang of 8 who talked about ending chain migration. This is something that Democrats are absolutely opening to talking about. If that's the package that gets put together earlier in the New Year, the closer you get to November, the harder it becomes. If we can do that, I absolutely think we can get a bipartisan.

KENNEDY: I think she's right. I think if you are able to tackle DACA and the dreamers.

HARF: Yes.

KENNEDY: . and take care of things like chain migration and the lottery system, and you don't fold amnesty into it.

PAVLICH: But that's going to be a really big challenge, because the details of DACA's are going to be hard to work out. What is the threshold in terms of the timing from when they were brought here, do you get to stay? Sixty six percent of the illegal immigrants in this country have been here for more than ten years, which means the rest of them have only been here for five. That's a lot of people we're going to be looking for some kind form of amnesty. And it ultimately doesn't solve the question of what do we do with people who are here, because they're not all dreamers. And let's not forget that Barack Obama's dreamer policy caused an influx of unaccompanied minors, caused a huge crisis, and that is a potential to happen again if they aren't careful about the way that they debate the legislation.

KILMEADE: Tom, you're in a tough spot, because you're going to use chain migration and bring more Shillues across the border.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: What happens to the other Shillues.

SHILLUE: Shillues are just going to be fine, because they do have merit.

KILMEADE: You do?

SHILLUE: Yes.

KILMEADE: You bring something to the table?

SHILLUE: We don't need chain migration. The Shillues can come here because they're highly skilled.

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: And plus, you can sing and dance.

SHILLUE: Triple threat.

(LAUGHTER)

KILMEADE: I think it's true in the big picture. This is the one thing I fear because I think we're all tired of this. Conservatives will say, you've better not do a deal on DACA, and Democrats say you can't do a deal with Trump. We've got the Republicans on their back. If you let Trump stand up and look like a consolidator, a dealmaker, there goes the midterm election.

HARF: But we need -- I think we're confident enough in what we're running on. We need DACA. And, actually, to Kennedy's point, the fact that so many Republicans have come out in support of DACA and getting it fixed and done is good.

KILMEADE: But not alone. But not alone.

Maria: No, no, no, but not alone. But it's such a sea change from where we were even a year ago, two years ago, three years ago, that's why I think this is going to get this done. To the 800,000 dreamers, I do think both sides of the aisle want to find a compromise. They don't want to get kick out.

PAVLICH: Can I just say though that the illegal immigration system in this country is also severely broken.

HARF: Legal.

PAVLICH: Legal.

HARF: Yeah.

PAVLICH: Right. And I believe that it is unfair that we are focusing on the illegal immigration reform of this problem before we are focusing on the legal reform, because people wait 5, 10, 15 years to come to this country legally, and pay thousands of dollars, and they're currently using the fees that the legal immigrants are paying for DACA and the dreamers that were here before. That is the money that was use under Obama, and that's how he got away with doing it and not going through congress. So, I do think that we have to rethink our priorities, DACA is one that a lot of people can agree on, but there are bigger immigration problems putting Americans first that the president campaign on that I think should be kept first.

KILMEADE: I'm a part of the -- community which prides itself on internationals. And they are kind of angry at the whole talk of DACA, because they go through the green card system for the most part.

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: Paying their fees and they'll say, wait a second, what about us?

KENNEDY: But there's a difference. And this is where I give people credit for having a more subtle and nuanced conversation about immigration, because they realize it's really heartless to deport people if this is the only home that they've ever known. And that's the basis for the argument for protecting dreamers. But also, at the same time, having said that, then you don't create the influx, you kind of close the door, and that's when you fix the immigration system. And I don't think that you shut down the number of visas. I think you do a better job of vetting people and allow people in who are going -- good people who are going to work hard. What is the metric for that, how do you vet that? I don't know. I don't know if anyone has the answer.

(CROSSTALK)

PAVLICH: This is another big question, too. You look at DACA and the dreamers, right? We've talk about not breaking up families. Well, guess what, dreamers all have families. And if their parents are illegal immigrants, which many of them are, because ICE has delivered children to their parents in this country that's been living here illegally for years, what do you do with their families? Do they automatically get amnesty? Do they get to stay? What is their status? And so, that's a very tough question because you can argue if you pass through DACA, the entire family by default gets to stay because we're not a heartless country that deports and breaks up families. And that is something that's difficult to deal with, because that is amnesty for everybody.

KILMEADE: Do you guys know what I'm doing right now?

KENNEDY: What?

KILMEADE: I'm crossing out the A block. We've just done it.

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: And all the pressure.

KENNEDY: You would make such a good teacher.

KILMEADE: Thank you very much. And all the pressure is about to go on your show, young lady, to match that. OK? Hey, coming up next to 12 minutes after the hour, President Trump still getting slimed by many in the media, but it doesn't seem to matter anymore. Why? We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KENNEDY: We've all got Saturday night fever on a Thursday. President Trump has been fighting a long war against the media, as you know. He's convinced the press is out to get him. A new poll does seem to support his conclusion. A pew survey determine media coverage in his first 60 days in office was about three times more negative than President Obama received about two times more negative than President Bush and Clinton. Mr. Trump's approval rating, however, is on par with Obama in his first year, so the people may not be so influenced by the negative press. Does it surprise you, Brian, that.

KILMEADE: Done.

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: Give me a second to compose myself.

(CROSSTALK)

KENNEDY: Because the president is a huge fan of (INAUDIBLE) where you broadcast every morning from 6 a.m. - 9 a.m. on Fox News channel.

KILMEADE: Right. And 90 percent.

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: Thank you very much, Kennedy. You've been on before too, wearing something totally different.

KENNEDY: No, I wear the same drab gray dress every day.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: So I will say this, there's no doubt about it, the negative coverage has been so overwhelming it's almost comical. I'm fact, they use those last few days when I had time off to reflect, I flip channels, and I listened on Sirius and I listened. I'm amazed at how the president is actually programming three other networks by his tweets. They are so outraged by what he says they book guests around what he's tweeting in the morning and threw their whole rundown in the street about it. So he is playing into it. I get that. But it's so overwhelmingly negative. What they're not understanding is they have never come across, either of I, a fighter like this. He fights every story that he doesn't like and feels as incorrect every single day. That's what people say. I'm exhausted.

KENNEDY: But the danger is, Marie, that he can come off as thin-skinned.

HARF: Yes.

KENNEDY: But at the same time, if Brian is right, it doesn't seem to hurt him. You know, as much as the press tries to subtly and avertedly take him down, and sort of miss produce the coverage. It doesn't really have the intended effect.

HARF: Well, we'll see, right? I mean, his poll numbers, the approval rating, all of his numbers are historically low for a first term president. They're lower than anyone else, as we've started modern polling. He has kept his base which is about 30 to 33 percent, but that's not enough to win election. So, we will see if all of the negativity surrounding his presidency.

KENNEDY: Does he cause the negativity?

(CROSSTALK)

HARF: Both of his own making and some of the media coverage. We'll see if that has an impact in 2018 when he's not on the ballot, but his party is. And we'll see how that impact senators who he needs to get legislations past that are also running this year. We'll see. I think it's still an open question. But he does bring a lot of it on himself, and he likes that. He likes the fight, I think.

SHILLUE: I think people like the fights, too. He is like Toto pulling back the curtain, and the entire establishment -- everything has been pulling the rains and pretending they're wizard of Oz. And now we're seeing that they're not. That the media, the establishment, they're all -- you know, there's nothing there. And so, he exposes them for what they are. Including this 5 percent of positive stories for Trump where headlines like, president wins the election despite losing the popular vote.

(LAUGHTER)

SHILLUE: The positive as a guess. But now we trust the mainstream media less, and I think that ends up being a good thing.

KENNEDY: Well, Katie, it's interesting because we were reading some articles this morning before Outnumbered, when the three of us were on the couch together joyfully, and it's interesting because even when you have a story from The Hill or Politico or the New York Times that talks about some of the economic success that the president is enjoying right now, it also points out that, you know, Wall Street is not correlated with any sort of presidential edict or influence. And, you know, that's when it kind of go subtly out of the way to say, but Obama during his first term, he was so magical. Everything was wonderful. He fixed it with presidential superglue.

PAVLICH: Yeah. As someone who has a journalism degree, I will say as I said earlier, there's always going to be a tension between the government and the press, that is the entire purpose of an unbiased media. However, that being said, that's not the territory we're playing in anymore. Every headline is politicized. Everything is a fight. And honestly, it really is lazy journalism for them to throw all of their headlines to focus entire newspapers around tweets, means that they're not actually doing the digging. They're not doing the real investigative work that they need to be doing on big topics. We've seen them really screwing up big reports with anonymous sourcing about major Russia bombs that have repeatedly had to be retracted or corrected. So I think that they need to take a step back. They've said this many of them themselves to just -- try to regather themselves, think about what their priorities are in the story, and take back their liberal bias a little bit and not let their positions on the policies affect the way that they go after the facts.

KENNEDY: OK. One of the comments that you made earlier today, Marie, was -- you know, and being a spokesperson at the state department and for the former president, it doesn't feel like the press is fair. From where we sit, the New York Times and other institutions, very kind and glowing towards President Obama and Secretary Clinton. But do you think that the way that the press covers the president now, is it going to be the same level of scrutiny for the next Democratic president?

HARF: Probably, I think so.

KENNEDY: You really think that they're going to.

(CROSSTALK)

HARF: But Hillary Clinton, certainly, got much scrutiny. Let's look at all of the Hillary Clinton stories we've talked about over the last year. I do want to give one little shout out to the reporters that who have done a good job this year. And we have had stories that have broken major news whether it's on the Russia investigation or other topics. There are reporters who are doing a good job. The problem is when news outlets don't when they have to retract stories and they have to correct stories that make it harder for everyone else. So let's focus on the good journalist and try to make the bad ones better.

KENNEDY: Will there be a healing of this rift between the presidency and the press, and is that necessary? Or should the press be as harsh with every administration as they are with this one?

SHILLUE: Well, it would be nice if they were. But, you know, President Obama, he got treated with kid gloves, but he still wants to go back to the old days of Walter Cronkite. Did you see him the other day with the prince? He said I wish.

(CROSSTALK)

SHILLUE: Three networks. Then he said we were on the same page. Yeah, of course we were.

KILMEADE: There're two things the president could do to change things subtly and get over 50 percent this year. Number one, do something bipartisan even if it ticks off Republicans. And number two, let other Republicans do some of the fighting for them, because he has not had anybody in his corner early. But really, from August on, more and more lawmakers are getting into, including Mitch McConnell, fighting for him and saying that was unfair, let me do this, let me be at the tip of the spear for a while. If he can back off and let some other people take some of the fire, he'll begin to get closer and closer.

KENNEDY: I think you're right, but I also think it run so contrary to his nature.

PAVLICH: I agree.

(CROSSTALK)

KENNEDY: That's hard for him to delegate. I think he's good, and this is why he like having so many generals around him, because he's good at delegating the policy stuff, the foreign policy national security that may not be as natural to him at some of the economic stuff, but when it comes to fighting and picking fights I think he feels that he does it better than anyone else.

PAVLICH: With the media it's a strategy, because the media is highly unpopular, and he knows that when he attacks them, there are a lot of people who like it because it's unpopular.

KILMEADE: Sometimes he backs off like Eminem for example. For sure he's going to go after this kid.

(CROSSTALK)

KILMEADE: If Eminem mad, I'm mad.

(CROSSTALK)

KENNEDY: Now we call him 8-mile Kilmeade.

KILMEADE: Right. It's a longer nickname than my name, which a nickname should be shorter by nature.

KENNEDY: President Trump not happy with China today, he says the country has been caught red-handed doing something not good with North Korea, what is that? How nefarious, w99e'll tell you next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAVLICH: Well, as tensions heighten with North Korea, the Trump administration has step up pressure on our international partner -- with the rogue regime. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson notes on a new op-ed, our peaceful pressure campaign has cut off roughly 90 percent of the north export revenue, much of which is used to fund the development of illegal weapons. But China could and should do more he says. Our spy satellite had captured photos of Chinese ships illegally selling oil to North Korean boats, more than two dozen times since October. China has decline to confirm it, but President Trump did today, tweeting, caught red-handed, very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea, there will never be a friendly solution to the North Korea problem if this continues to happen. Marie, isn't a lot of the basis of why we can't come to a solution with China on the North Korea problem based on a lack of trust between China and the U.S.?

HARF: I think it's a lack of trust, but also a lack of interest that are on the same page. China doesn't have all of the same interest that we do. Sure, they don't want North Korea to be able to launch nuclear weapons all around the world. But they also don't want war on the peninsula. They don't want it totally imploding North Korea where there's refugees flowing across the Chinese border. They have economic interests as well. So, part of the goal has to be convincing China that our interests are the same and really putting some teeth behind this to get them more onboard, because at the end of the day, sanctions are not going to end North Korea's nuclear program. It is going to take much more pressure from countries like China, like Russia, and others to really get some better solutions.

PAVLICH: You talk about not wanting war on the peninsula, which is true. They see this as an expansion of U.S. power in the peninsula as well. But I was in a meeting, Kennedy, two weeks ago, with a senior national security adviser at the White House who made it pretty clear that we're on a path to war if things don't change soon. I mean, the diplomatic options now are pretty limited.

KENNEDY: Yes, and tonight on my show, I'm going to interview Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters, and he's going to talk about their biological warfare, and anthrax-tipped missiles.

You know, it's really scary that they have all of these capabilities. What's really tragic is the North Korean people are the ones who suffer. Because, you know, cheap, filthy oil is actually quite expensive.

PAVLICH: Right.

KENNEDY: And they're taking all of the money they have to buy all of this stuff on the black market. China is a state-run economy. You know, this is not a truly free market economy.

Therefore, if they want to crack down on some of these banks and ships and companies who are supplying North Korea with this kind of oil, they absolutely could do that, and they're not. And, you know, we need to force this to more of a diplomatic head with China, because no one wants what has happened in the past.

KILMEADE: And the plan's in place.

KENNEDY: Absolutely no one.

KILMEADE: The plan is in place to do that. The sanctions are going to come down and trade restrictions are going to come down on China, and our goal right now between the scenes -- we're working on it -- to get Europe involved. So you've got to get Europe and the U.S., and there's going to be some blowback that we're going to feel in our prices in some of our trade and some of our corporations and companies are going to feel this when it comes to it, but we have to go ahead and do it. And that's going to be our clampdown.

And on top of that, you -- the more you build up our military presence there, the more uncomfortable China gets. This is the last thing they want.

KENNEDY: Can I just say something really quickly to that point? There are a lot of our allies in western Europe, you know, when we talk about the North Korean deal -- or sorry, the Iran deal. They want us to stay in the Iran deal, and if they're going to back us on more North Korean sanctions and putting pressure as an allied block against China, they're going to, I think, force this president to stay in that Iran deal, because I don't think you can have it both ways.

PAVLICH: Tom, China is doing what China does, and they're actually saying that this didn't happen at all, even though we have photos of them selling oil.

SHILLUE: China lying to us? I don't believe it. Maybe it's their unelected leadership that's known for lying. Maybe that's it. We shouldn't be surprised.

I just love that -- this is a modern presidential. Remember when President Trump tweeted out, "I'm not presidential. I'm modern presidential"? I mean, when you think about this, it is...

KILMEADE: I missed that one, actually.

SHILLUE: He said -- well, this is his Twitter. He says his Twitter is modern -- he's redefined the presidency. He's telling us that.

This is amazing, that the president is tweeting out, "Liar, liar! Look, he's showing" -- and he's calling them -- what did he say, "caught red- handed"? I love this. This is the presidential Twitter that I like.

KENNEDY: Double entendre.

KILMEADE: The problem is the U.S. Treasury released the pictures. So he didn't have to wait for the South Korean newspapers to publish them, I hope. I hope he got at least a glimpse of them last week.

PAVLICH: I'm sure he did.

HARF: If we're going to have some sort of diplomatic talks, which everybody agrees has to still be an option, because nobody wants war, I do think that the president just needs to be careful, because they're so sensitive. Rex Tillerson writes this very well-crafted op-ed. And then Donald Trump tweets, and it's almost like who's really speaking for the administration here? They've just got to get on the same...

PAVLICH: What about those talks, though? Because the Chinese government argues that North Korea and the U.S. should be speaking directly, that we are asking China to do too much when it comes to political influence they don't have in North Korea while also asking them for economic sanctions on North Korea.

What about opening up that door?

HARF: OK. Let me -- let me ask you...

KENNEDY: If Canada were popping off and threatening us with biological weapons and, you know, pointing missiles at us, would we be asking China to run point? Absolutely not. Ad it's the same thing geographically with China.

I understand they want regional dominance. I get that they want global dominance, but it's going to be really hard if they do find themselves in a trade war, and I think in this instance, the United States economically, certainly has the upper hand. We just passed -- you know, Rex Tillerson is great. Sexy Rexy, I get it.

PAVLICH: Ooh, hello!

KENNEDY: But Nikki Haley has done a better job as a diplomat.

KILMEADE: Right.

KENNEDY: And we need somebody who is more aligned with the president in this arena if we are going to actually solve this problem with China. I don't think Rex Tillerson can do it.

KILMEADE: But real quick, I think that if Canada was threatening China, China would ask us to help them with Canada. We are asking North Korea -- we are asking China to help with North Korea, because they are closest and have a diplomatic solution.

HARF: We should be talking directly. This is such a pressing national security issue. In 2018...

KILMEADE: They have to earn it. They have to earn it.

HARF: ... it's going to be at the top of the list.

KILMEADE: They can't be trusted. For 40 years, they couldn't be trusted.

HARF: If they can't be trusted, we need to sit down face-to-face with them and not just rely on China to do it. We need to be at that table. That's how you have leverage and pressure people directly.

KILMEADE: We can't trust what they do or what they say. That's the problem.

HARF: But you won't negotiate with your friends. You negotiate with your enemies.

KENNEDY: I think we solved the problem on North Korea. It's all good.

PAVLICH: Mark it off. The U.N. tomorrow. Getting some new sanctions.

PAVLICH: It's all good. More sanctions. High drama again in Alabama, Roy Moore still refusing to accept the outcome of the Senate race that he lost officially today. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARF: Well, it's official. Democrat Doug Jones is, indeed, the winner of the long drawn-out Alabama Senate race. The contest was certified today, despite an attempt by Roy Moore to stop it.

A circuit judge denied Moore's request for a restraining order, alleging mass voter fraud.

Alabama's secretary of state defended the end integrity of the election on FOX News this afternoon. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MERRILL, ALABAMA SECRETARY OF STATE: People are entitled to their own opinion, but they're not entitled to their own facts. And the facts today by the time I came on the air with you, we'd had 118 instances of alleged voter fraud or fraudulent activity or irregularities that have occurred in this election. We have currently adjudicated 85 of those which means that 33 are still outstanding. We will follow through until they've all been properly adjudicated.

We want people to know that their votes have been counted and that the election process inside the state of Alabama has integrity and credibility, which is what they expect and that they should be demanding and what we are providing.

(END VIDEO)

HARF: Well, a spokesperson for Jones calls Moore's action a, quote, "desperate attempt" to subvert the will of the people. Jones will be sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence next Wednesday.

OK, Katie, I'm coming to you on this first. Doesn't it feel like the Senate election that will never end?

PAVLICH: It's like, OK, so he's officially the loser today. He was officially the loser on election day, and he should've conceded a long time ago. And him not conceding is the most Roy Moore thing that Roy Moore can do. If they want to talk about voter fraud. Voter fraud can be an issue in elections. That is true. However, it's not the case here.

Twenty-two thousand eight hundred people wrote in other people that weren't for Roy Moore.

KILMEADE: And that was the difference.

PAVLICH: That was -- it was a larger margin of write-ins than there was between Doug Jones and Roy Moore. Get over it. You're making everybody look bad. You're a sore loser. And go home.

HARF: Absolutely. Kennedy, this -- so in January Mike Pence will swear in Doug Jones, and Mitch McConnell will have a one-vote margin.

KENNEDY: Of any of the Democratic senators that are more likely to cross the aisle and vote with the president, I would say, in order to preserve his senatorial perch, Doug Jones is going to do just that. And some of these states, like we have talked about, infrastructure, and I would have been with disappointed if Roy Moore had conceded.

HARF: Should you ride out on a horse like he rode in on one?

KENNEDY: Absolutely. I mean, he should have an entire stable of crazy horses to ride around the state on, because this election has been a huge distraction for both parties. It's been absolutely insane. And hopefully, there are other parts of the country and other states where they've looked at this and sort of internalized and said to themself, "We have to run different types of candidates." And you know, a lot of the issues that he's raised, about, you know, voter fraud, and "fraud experts say," it's like, what are you, an infomercial for the mentally ill?

KILMEADE: Right. I'll say there is something stranger to come out of this, by a portion of the election. And that is that Roy Moore chose, post-election, his loss, to go get a polygraph to prove his innocence.

HARF: Right. Yes.

KILMEADE: And then he says, "Let's have -- now that we're done, let's have a polygraph. Turns out I don't have it with me, but I passed." So he passed his own polygraph and he goes ahead and accuses...

KENNEDY: In the same style as O.J.?

KILMEADE: Possibly. I have not -- it's amazing that O.J. got out of prison and we have not heard from him, more controversial things have happened since he has gotten out.

PAVLICH: Yes, we might want to check in on that.

KILMEADE: But I do -- I do understand about what happened.

HARF: Do you think, Tom, going to Kennedy's point, do you think the Republican Party or the Democratic Party will look at this and say, "Hey, maybe we made need to make sure that we don't nominate people that are crazy"?

SHILLUE: Listen, I just hope that other politicians, they don't refrain from riding their horses to the polls. I think that's a great way to get to the polls.

KENNEDY: It's eco-friendly.

SHILLUE: I mean, we don't want to slander people who like to ride horses to the polls, OK? That wasn't his main problem.

KILMEADE: That's a good point.

KENNEDY: Nobody is anti-poll horse riding here.

SHILLUE: Yes. You know what the good news out of this election was?

HARF: Oh, please tell us.

SHILLUE: All these hard, draconian voter laws, voter I.D. laws, they're going to -- it's going to tamp down minority turnout was huge. These laws are fine, minorities have no problem getting to the polls. They should stop complaining about these draconian laws, because Alabama has some of the toughest motor laws. So they were just fine, and they don't repress voters.

KILMEADE: A lot of people who know Roy Moore say he's a great guy, a principled guy, so I don' t mean to be negative towards him.

HARF: Go ahead, you're allowed to be.

KILMEADE: You know what? Because I've never met him, never interviewed him, he didn't do any interviews the day -- the weekend before. He's out of our coming you do not go to the football game, you have to sit there and work 23 hours over the last 36. Doug Jones did it and he lost by 1 percent coming you cannot leave anything in the bank.

Look at what President Trump did. He outworked Hillary Clinton until the end. His only disappointment was "I didn't know it was so close in Minnesota." He said, "I would've went there one more time. I would've had Minnesota, too."

That's the attitude you have to have. You can't run from interviews either. He ran from interviews.

HARF: You're right, and Doug Jones, give him credit. He ran a good campaign. He was a candidate like -- I always say, Democrats need to find candidates who match the district or who match states.

KENNEDY: Does he match Alabama? It's a very Republican state.

HARF: Yes.

KENNEDY: So you agree with me that he's more likely to flip and cross the aisle then people like Joe Manchin, Joe Donnelly, Heidi Heitkamp, and some of the other Democrats who are in, you know, red states.

HARF: Red states. Yes, I think he's in that camp, absolutely, because they found a candidate who was credible. He was respected in the state, and he was able to run a good campaign.

SHILLUE: Not that much.

HARF: Well, I think Doug Jones was respected.

KENNEDY: They kicked them out in 2020 when his term is up.

HARF: I think as we look to the end of 2017, one of the stories that we will be very happy to never talk about again is the Alabama Senate election. Can everybody agree on that?

PAVLICH: And it's a lesson to Republicans see that no seat is too red not to keep. It was Jeff Sessions' Senate seat, and now it belongs to Democrats.

HARF: And states can flip. States can flip in not a long length of time. I mean, Bill Clinton won Louisiana, so I think that everyone going into this election needs to keep that in mind.

KILMEADE: Right. The only thing I would like to add to Virginia and Alabama, everyone says, well, they're aberrations, whatever. The only thing that keeps on coming through is turnout. Democrats are getting the turnout, because they're motivated. Republicans have the money, and they think they have a candidate, if they don't go out to the polls and motivate, they're going to find themselves losing.

KENNEDY: Turns out voting wins elections. Weird.

KILMEADE: You have a pen? Write that down.

HARF: Write it down.

KENNEDY: Write it down. It's a fact.

HARF: Switching gears, coming up to an interesting new gadget for those in love and thinking of popping the question, maybe on New Year's Eve. Shillue here knows a thing or two about proposals, so he'll fill you in next. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW HOST: You hear about this thing? There's a new iPhone case called the RokShok that's actually a secret engagement-ring box so that you can propose and record the reaction. I think there are a few flaws that they have to work out, because check out their latest commercial. Watch this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Introducing RokShok, the cell phone case with a built-in ring box. Now when you get down on one knee to propose, you can cherish your fiancee's reaction forever. Never forget the beautiful moment she said I do. And share it with everyone on social media. RokShok, the best moment from the worst angle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHILLUE: The reactions you can now capture, when you pop the question to your squeeze. A new device brings convenience to your big moment, the company called RokShok makes the phone case that can hide your engagement ring and when the time is right, you just get on your knee, press record and show her the bling.

Let's just hope you can get -- that you can get the answer that you want. I think it's a -- I love technology, Kennedy.

KENNEDY: I do, too.

SHILLUE: I think that this is great. It's a great item that it's old the second you get engaged. You can toss it in the trash.

KENNEDY: Exactly. Hopefully, it's not too expensive. Hopefully, it's not, like, $250.

SHILLUE: It's like $39.95.

KENNEDY: But lord knows young men these days, they tend to spend a lot of money on that ring. Because it is going on social media where everyone is going to contrast and compare.

PAVLICH: And judge.

KENNEDY: And with -- absolutely. And with so many people, it doesn't go on Instagram immediately, it didn't happen.

SHILLUE: That's the shame. I think that there's too much, Brian, you know, the -- they -- everything is online. I'm a traditionalist. You know, when I proposed, it was -- it was in complete darkness. I didn't want to see her expression.

KILMEADE: We know it was an arranged marriage.

SHILLUE: I did it by the moonlight. It wasn't late at night.

KILMEADE: Let me put it this way. To your thing, people spent on average $5,000 on a ring, OK? So you had to be ready to spend $5,000.

KENNEDY: At least.

KILMEADE: No. 2 is, I've never seen something so scripted about a spontaneous moment. I think it -- this is something, I think this is -- I thought this was half a joke, half real. I wasn't sure if this was a mockery. Is this really happening?

SHILLUE: I think it's half joke, half real. I think it is half joke. I think it's half real.

HARF: I can look on Amazon right now and see if it's available.

SHILLUE: It is. You can buy them. It's a real thing.

HARF: People propose at baseball games or football games and they put you up on the Jumbotron. And it's like, oh, God, please say yes. Like, there've been times -- you should not do these things.

KENNEDY: I went to a fancy restaurant overlooking Lake Tahoe, and it's just a beautiful location. It was in one of the casinos, so it was pretty high up, and the view was just stunning, the food was fantastic. And I asked the waiter if people very proposed. He said, "Yes, we had a man who invited his family and his girlfriend's family. He got down on one knee and proposed in this beautiful setting, and she said 'no'."

HARF: There's also men who put it in food. If you buy me a diamond, I don't want it in ice cream.

KILMEADE: Or mashed potatoes.

HARF: Right, or mashed potatoes. The common engagement food.

SHILLUE: Do you want your face -- a big close-up of your face?

PAVLICH: You never do an upshot on the iPhone. That's just a really bad idea.

And I think, to be a little bit sentimental here, some things should be private and between you and your significant other. And I think that people forget now in the days of commercialization, which is not a bad thing. However, it's not about the wedding. It's not about the proposal. It's about the marriage, and I think too many people forget about that.

KILMEADE: Yes, Tom, he's still focused on his wedding. Focus on the relationship, Tom.

And this is why our producers are brilliant. Do you know that more engagements happen on Christmas Eve and Christmas than any other time? That's why this talking point is...

(CROSSTALK)

SHILLUE: And they'll happen more this year, maybe, because of that infomercial we just did for that dumb device. OK, "One More Thing" is up next!

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KILMEADE: "One More Thing," up to my rundown. In fact, it's called "One More Thing." Let's begin with Katie. What have you chosen to tell us?

PAVLICH: Country music star Luke Bryan may have already won his wife, Caroline's heart, but he also wins the award for best Christmas present. So what did he give her? Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUKE BRYAN, COUNTRY MUSIC STAR: Here's your purses. Two purses. Take your blind folds off.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God! Oh, my God!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAVLICH: Yes, those are two baby kangaroos. They're names -- they're baby roos, and they're named Margot and Todd and are the latest addition to his wife's project, Bret's Barn, which is a tribute to their niece, who sadly died at seven months old, which is very sweet.

Their barn is full of rescue animals, and they plan to partner with local charities to have kids visiting the animals. So Margo and Todd are now part of the Luke Bryan family. And they look very, very happy.

KILMEADE: But I will say, kangaroos tend to be dangerous. They grow up and punch you.

(CROSSTALK)

KENNEDY: Very tall. And they kick you with their feet. Not punch with the little T-Rex arms.

PAVLICH: I have a friend who has a wallaby, actually.

KILMEADE: T-Rex arms. Kangaroos have T-Rex arms. Still breaking news here.

Tom. SHILLUE: It's -- the hashtag "ItsSoCold" is trending on Twitter. It's trending almost everywhere these days. But check out how this father and daughter dealt with the cold. They hop out of the hot tub. Take a look at this video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SCREAMING IN FUN)

(THROWING SNOWBALLS AT EACH OTHER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHILLUE: I love that video. Kennedy...

KILMEADE: That couldn't be more unhealthy.

SHILLUE: Everybody is saying, "That's dangerous. What a bad dad!" It's great fun. I bet you do that, Kennedy.

KENNEDY; What a good thing for your lymphatic system.

KILMEADE: That's fantastic. OK, good. I'm going to think about doing that. Kennedy.

KENNEDY: Well thank you very much, Brian.

You know that women in Hollywood are planning on making a social statement at this year's Golden Globes. Many of them, including Academy Award winners Jessica Chastain and Meryl Streep plan on wearing black to the awards ceremony. And their very, very brave male counterparts, including Dwayne Johnson and Arne Hammer, who played the Winklevoss twins in "The Social Network." Just one guy played both. They're all going to -- listen to this -- it's so brave. The guys are going to be wearing black, too.

SHILLUE: For women.

KENNEDY: Have you ever heard of a man wearing black to an awards show? What a brave, incredible man.

PAVLICH: Profiles in courage.

KENNEDY: Wipe the sentimental tears.

KILMEADE: Take that, Martin Luther King and Gandhi.

HARF: Haven Smith was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in June with a $5 million signing bonus. Smith wanted to thank his parents for supporting him all the way and decided to pay off his mortgage in appreciation. Take a look at this video when they found out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you for raising me in a great home filling with love. Because of all the sacrifices you made to get me where I am, I want our family -- I want our family home to be yours. You can't do that!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: He paid off their mortgage.

HARF: He did. And the family appeared this morning on "FOX & Friends" with Brian. If you missed it, check it out. It was a good interview.

KILMEADE: Really cool. And finally, special thanks to a magnolia tree, over 200 years old. It was in front of the White House. Churchill and FDR talked about it. Nixon walked by it. Herbert Hoover ate under it. And it was planted by Andrew Jackson in honor of his wife, who passed away...

KENNEDY: Old Hickory.

KILMEADE: ... during the campaign, 1828 to 1837. They're only cutting out part of it. Don't blame Melania. An arboretum expert or a tree expert told her to do it. And Andrew Jackson lives on. Just not as big. Pieces of that are being taken off, and they're going to be planted elsewhere on the property.

KENNEDY: Oh, thank goodness.

KILMEADE: So don't panic, America!

KENNEDY: And read Brian Kilmeade's great book.

KILMEADE: Also made of wood.

KENNEDY: On Andrew Jackson.

KILMEADE: Based on paper. Thank you very much.

Hey, don't ever miss an episode of "The Five," because there's a quiz at the end of every day. And make sure to use your DVR, because what else would you use it for? Now it's time to go to Mike Emanuel. He's my only friend.

MIKE EMANUEL, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Hey, Brian, aren't you usually taking a nappy-poo this time of day?

KILMEADE: Yes, I really am. That's why I didn't make much sense, Mike.

EMANUEL: Well, thanks for staying awake, buddy. OK.

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