comments. you can email us at mediabuzz@foxnews.com. we'll be back sunday with the latest buzz. gregg: a manhunt intensifying for a gunman allegedly dressed as santa claus who opened fire inside a packed turkish nightclub. a new year's eve party in istanbul is being turned into a killing field. hello, welcome to america's news headquarters. i'm gregg jarrett. authorities are starting the first day of 2017 with an investigation on who may be responsible for this deadly attack. john huddy following the latest

developments live in our middle east bureau. reporter: turkey's prime minister said investigators have a key piece of evidence, that being a gun. the manhunt for this attacker continues, and the hope is they get him before he carries out something else. we heard maybe an ak-47. but we are waiting for more details on that. the massacre happened at 1:15 this morning in istanbul. a popular area. a lot of bars and restaurants, a lot of shopping. it was very packed there. police $say a man shot a civilian outside then stormed the club. in the panic some people jumped into the freezing river and some

hid under couches and tables. that number can certainly go up. turkish prime minister denied reports that the attacker was wearing a santa claus outfit. the surveillance video shows him wearing a santa had inside the club. he was seen carrying a black backpack. it appears according to officials that he may have changed once he was inside the club in order to escape. so far no group has claimed responsibility. but as we have seen, the most vicious attacks in turkey were carried out by isis or kurdish militants. today pope francis condemned the attack in his new year's message. world leaders reporting into turkey from other world leaders including russian president vladimir putin.

the white house called this a horrific terrorist attack, the first terrorist attack of 2017. gregg: new fallout from russia's alleged interference from the u.s. election. the plane has finally left taking the 35 expelled diplomats back to russia. lawmakers from both countries are speak out about the cyber attacks as well as the u.s. response. reporter: the russian diplomats are somewhere over the atlantic on their way home. they headed out along with about 60 dependent on the russian plane. the deadline was 10 minutes ago, but they beat it by a couple hours. their expulsion was the most

harshest of the sanctions. they also locked up two of their luxury compound friday at noon wet u.s. blocked access to them. the obama administration says they were used for intelligence gathering. some republicans say the sanctions weren't enough. >> vladimir putin is kgb. he has has been, he always will be. president obama has consistently looked the other way from russia's provocations and aggressions. the dnc hack is only one miner hack in hacks that have gone on for years. reporter: he says the focus needs to be on the kremlin. >> they were careless. yes it got them in the door, but russia and putin and the kremlin, they made a decision to dumb and weaponize that

information. >> senator mccain has has set a hearing on the hack on thursday. gregg: mr. trump expressing doubt about the security of online communications in general during this annual new year's eve bash last night. peter doocy is following that story from palm beach where the president is spending the weekend. reporter: the president-elect made some big news on his way into the new year's eve party at mar-a-lago. he says the reason he's kept cal of russian involvement with the election is the intelligence community is pushing the line. he says they were wrong about weapons of mass destruction and they could be wrong about this as well.

he says ultimately computers aren't that safe. >> it's very important. if you have something really important, write it out and have it delivered by cower yert old-fashioned way. i'll tell you what, no computer is safe. i don't care what they say, no computer is safe. i have a boy who is 10 years old who can do anything with the computer. if you want something to do without detection, where it out and have it sent by courier. reporter: this morning, the president-elect's chosen press secretary sean spicer said they think the current president has let others get away with much worse. >> in 2015, china took over a million record of sensitive data. classified our personal information where we live, things we had written down on our applications and security clearances, and not a white

house statement wasn't initial youd. no action was taken. when millions of people had their private information including information on security clearance that was shared. so not one happened. so there is a question about whether there is a political retribution versus a diplomatic response. >> the president-elect has a few more hours here at mar-a-lago then it's off to new york where he will receive that intelligence briefing in the next couple days. that's not all he has on the schedule. we were told to expect a flurry of activity as mr. trump races to complete his cabinet before inauguration day. gregg: peter doocy live in palm beach, florida thanks. north korea ringing in the new year with an ominous development. north core we rian leader kim

jong-un suggesting the regime is in the final stages of testing and icbm. marking a breakthrough in their nuclear weapons program. reporter: north korean leader kim jong-un hinted his country is close to test an interballistic missile and the tests have quote reached the final stage. >> the development has become active in the test fire preparation got to the final stages. reporter: he did not explicitly say whether these tests are imminent. but he has birthday on january 28. in 2016 the communist nation reportedly carried out nuclear tests while conducting 20

ballistic tests setting an annual record. in a statement it says the international community will note tolerate its development of nuclear weapons. ban ki-moon expressed deep concerns as well. >> i'm deeply concerned about that news that north korea is continuing to provoke the international community by testing missiles. the u.n. has taken five sanction measures. it's important that all international community members fully cooperate. reporter: north korea has been under saitions since 2006.

the sanctions were increased in 2015 after a large test in november. gregg: let's get reaction to all of this from ambassador john bolton. senior fellow at the american enterprise institute. north korea close to test an icbm. the trick is miniaturizing a nuclear war head that would hit atop of it. if they do, they are a clear threat to the united states, are they not? >> i don't believe it's because kim jong-un says it. but i do believe it because of what the commander of korea has been saying. that the north core rans are close to being able to miniaturize a nuclear device and they expect shortly, maybe early 2018, that that package would be able to hit targets on the west

coast of the united states. once you can put. >> ballistic missile into earth orbit, you can put it pretty much anywhere if you have the quiedans to do it. it's note simply a threat to the united states from north korea. northt korea will sell anything to anybody for hard currency. that means iran quite likely cooperating on the nuclear side may be a lot closer to a nuclear capability not to mention knot iter rogue state with loose change. gregg require's a dire scenario you are laying out. imposed sanctions never worked. they never deterred north korea from their nuclear ambitions it doesn't deter their provocative threats from the united states. what should the u.s. do?

>> i think we have had failure in the last two administrations. under secretary of state condi rice north korea was taken off the u.s. list of state-sponsored tear terrorists. sanctions were reduced. that was a mistake. the bawnl administration had what it called strategic patience with north korea. north korea said fine, and they advanced their ballistic missile program. we are in deep trouble because of north korea's progress and the potential collaboration with iran. the trump administration should follow through on what the candidate said and restore america's missile defense program well beyond what it was even in the bush administration. we have to be able to protect

our civilians. the goation of negotiating with north koir ria was -- north korea was wrong 25 years ago. and james clapper the director of national intelligence said that. go the china and say, look, we have got to eliminate north korea by merge the two koreas into one state and eliminate that nuclear capability. gregg: what would we suggest china do? >> china has the ability to bring the regime down. they provide enormous humanitarian aid. china is worried about a potential catastrophic chance in north korea. this division of the peninsula is unnatural. as long as north korea survives,

that ballistic and nuclear capability will continue. gregg: a coup, create the conditions for earnt a regime that would be more friendly to the u.s. >> it needs somebody to give it a push. i think it only acceptable outcome long term is the merger of the two koreas. the two koreas will be one. the only question is whether we do it sensibly or it happens cat some ofically. gregg: at the istanbul nightclub, 59 people murdered by what appears to be a terrorist attack. 70 people wound. does this stunned score the murderous and menacing threat isis andetter terror groups pose? and what's your take on it?

>> we don't know if it's service or some other terrorist group. isis has been attacking in turkey. and it under lines why incoming president trump should follow through on another of his campaign commitments which is to destroy isis as soon as possible. as long as it has a sanctuary and can train terrorists, they remain a threat. the slow roll approach of the obama administration i think has allowed isis to continue terrorist activity in the west and the sooner its safe haven is eliminated the better. gregg: turkey is an ally of the united states.

president erdogan survived a bloody coup in july. since then he has consolidated his power. will he use this event to do more? >> i think there is little doubtered ganls pursuit of authoritarian power -- i think there is little doubt that erdogan's pursuit of her t powe. vladimir putin is preying on this trying to slice turkey off from the nato alliance. i'm worried about the direction of turkey. not because i think erdogan has a majority base among the citizenry. but because it's hard and getting harder to oppose him in turkey now. the military has been purged. it's a very, very whom us in situation in turl ski.

gregg: ambassador john bolton. happy new year to you. crews continue to scour the lake erie area searching for a missing plane. russian diplomats leaving washington after president obama orders them out of the united states. how will this effect relations between the two countries as a new administration prepares to take office? >> hacking is hard to prove. sow it could be something else. i also know things other people don't know. they can note be sure of this situation. >> with don't you know that other people don't know? >> actual find out tuesday or wednesday.

gregg: pope francis touting peace in his new year's day remarks at the vatican. telling the crowd of 50,000 gatherers that 2017 will be a good year for those who reject hatred and do good. a long held tradition for the queen of england. the rest of the royal family is attending a church service on the royal estate. it has long been a part of queen elizabeth's new year's tradition. she missed the christmas service for the first time in decades. >> it's a pretty serious charge. if you look at the weapons of mass destruction, that was a disaster and they were wrong. i think it's unfair if they don't know. i know a lot about hack and hack

is a hard thing to prove. sow it could be somebody else. i also know things other people don't know. so they cannot be sure of this situation. >> what do you know thatter people don't know? >> actual find out tuesday or wednesday. gregg: donald trump agreed to meet with intelligence officials on claims of the hack of our intelligence system. the barack obama administration expelled 35 russian diplomats. so what's next in our u.s.-russian relations. the writer of the book "warrior diplomat" is with us. you heard donald trump say no computer is safe. why would he not believe that

russians hacked our computers? >> you know, i'm happy to see president-elect trump taking the issue of our computer system vulnerability seriously. everything from our critical infrastructure to the thermostats in our home are online, and it's incredibly vulnerable. there are two types of computer systems. those that know they have been hacked and those that don't know they have been hacked. i'm thrilled to see him going out and talking to our intelligence professionals, most of whom are military members and dedicated civil servants to get into the details of what happened. gregg: the dnc was warned that your system was awful and there are all sorts of ways your security can be breached. when 17 intelligence agencies

including the f.b.i. all conclude the same thing, the russians hacked it, we have seen the evidence, why the reluctance on the part of the president-elect? >> this could be couched in a broader kind of joe omi -- a brr kind of geopolitical deal. '. president-elect trump has made it clear we have to get tougher with isis and china, and they may believe they need russia to take those other serious goes on. a deal could look something like acquiescing or acknowledging the russian annex of crimea in exchange for taking a harder stand on the iran deal and getting the russian's acquiescence to doing that. i think there could be some

holding back. and more importantly there is a distinction to be made in knowing the russians did hack or tried to hack our system and proving it influenced our election. that's the distinction the trump team is trying to make. gregg: as our reporter caroline shively reported, the plane has left with the 35 diplomats that were kicked out. that was the principle punishment by president obama. that's hardly that, you kick out some diplomats, and you freeze some assets. that probably don't really exist. is that an embarrassingly tepid response by president obama? >> i think president obama and his administration's foreign policy at large, including the russians have been tested for 8

years. we are on the heels of a change in the administration. after crimea and ukraine and working with the assad regime that barrel bomb, the largest genocide since world war ii we have seen in syria. we'll have finger wagging at the very end. i think it's way too little and way too late. i'm glad he did something in response. but i don't think it's nearly enough. gregg: lott colonel michael walsh, thank you very much. a terror attack in you are question is our top story stoking fears around the world. a manhunt is under way. the latest on the breaking news after this. put under a microscope, we can see all the bacteria that still exists. polident's unique micro clean formula works in just 3 minutes,

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let's talk about this with the u.s. congressman, who is on the house, republican caucus, and travel we had a delegation to the middle east. you visited multiple countries, under central command operations. what is your reaction to the events of last night in the turkey. >> turkey has faced a lot of terror attacks. it was a rough year and this isn't a good way for them to start 2017. still wait to go find out, who is going to claim responsibility. it could be isis or p.k. k. >> you have syria and the kurds

and turkey doesn't want the kurds to have their own country and, the alignment, turkey, and working with assad, so there are a lot of different groups, individuals, threatening the take builtive turkey, and, they need need to figure out better control, we see a lot going wrong. >> because you're on the committee involving israel, i want to ask you about john kerry's speech. 70 minutes lodge. john mccain called it a pintless tire raid. and he said it was wrong. there were doesn't seem any purpose other than to embarrass israel. are they right and kerry wrong. >> no question. you're quoting a lot of

important sentiments, i think the american public feels. the speech could have been 80% shorter. in fact it should have been 100% shorter. he paid lip-service to the violence on the part of the palestinians. israel is our nation's greatest ali, and we should be standing shoulder to shoulder with them and they're plaque along with in propalestinian and anti israel. >> that's to cleanse the area. so for the secretary on his way out the door to be giving this kind of speech legitimizing a lot of illegal murder terrorizing of innocent israelis, it's unfortunate. >> kerry's speech entirely

criticized israel. almost no criticism of the palestinians. he failed to criticize the palestinians for refusing to recognize israel, and, still vow eddiestruction of israel. kerry fail knowed cite palestinian incitement, and, you know, he continues to refuses to even meet with netanyahu. not at word board that from secretary kerry. was he clueless on all fronts. q.you know, i wish i could say that. it would be better if the answer that was he is clueless. the problem is, that i mean there's a growing element, that is anti israel. as we saw from you senator schumer, and engel, it's a

element, within the democratic party. when they have a hearing, we see half the crowd wearing pink shirts and bring leaders up on war crime charges. i met with the the prime minister of the palestinian authority, and he said, they will not recognize israel as a jewish state. hamas would win the election and they will not rest unless israel is wiped off the map. it still wouldn't bring peace. >> hamas controls all of gaza, and, is beat political but a terror organization. you mentioned chuck should mer, he said i fear secretary kerry has emboldened, good -- extremist's both side.

>> you're doing with the college campuses where college students are being exposed. i'm jewish. i grew up in new york. when college law school, active duty i never experienced anti-semitism. and now, but, even more so than that is the economic b.d.s. effort to target t. so, when it relates to what we see here at home or what we're seeing around the globe, when israelis get murdered and john kirby accuses both sides of terror or when they reward terrorist families what was, a military graduate. our fax dollars go to the

palestinian authority. >> the united states continues to be the largest contributor of financial aid to the palestinians. that may change sometime soon. >> i sure hope so. >> all right, good to see you. welcome back. >> thank. >> lots of major events happening, from the war on terror to an unprecedented presidential election year at home. chief news anchor shepard smith takes a look back at the stories. >> 2016 saw instability around the globe and an historical presidential election here at home. >> those stories and more dom anyone nateing the headlines. >> the year kicked off with armed militants took over a wildlife refuge, it came to an end in mid-february.

>> president barak obama declared a state of emergency, in flint michigan. a year later still not safe to drink. >> in north carolina signed the state's law to limit bathroom options and major companies announced their plans to take their businesses where. the biggest shakeup, after donald trump won enough delegates to clinch the presidential nomination and he announced mike pence, and hillary clinton secured the democratic nomination after a tough challenge from bernie sanders. >> she later chose the virginia senator tim kaine. >> and a gunman opened fire in a gay nightclub in orlando. he died after a shootout with

police. >> britain shocked the world when it voted to leave the e.u., and, financial markets plunged and, nasa flew into jupiter's orbit and giving us our best look yet. >> james comey announced his decision not to the file criminal charges against hillary clinton. just days before, he said they were reviewing thousands of newly discovered e-mails. after reviewing it, he said he is still not rimming any charges against hillary clinton. >> the year also saw major attacks targeting law enforcement officers. the deadliest happened in dallas. shot to death five officers, ambush style, during a protest. officials in florida announced

the first cases of zika virus and they have warned pregnant women to avoid parts of miami. >> here, series of attacks, a suspect stabbed ten people in a mall until minnesota. a off-duty cop killed him. that same weekend, hand made bombs exploded in new york city and new jersey injuring nearly 30 people. police arrested that suspect after a shootout. >> donald trump pulled off the biggest political up set in history. winning the election to become the 45th president. the billionaire won the electoral college but lost the popular vote to hillary clinton. >> fidel castro died at the age of 90, he ruled cuba for half a century. >> no threaten to reveres it and

the year closed out, dozens of people died after a fire broke out in a warehouse in oakland california. >> and they said they were investigating it for code violations. looking ahead, president-elect trump begins his first year in office, see hoev he follows through on his promise to make america great again, and drain the swamp of corruption, in washington, dc. we'll keep close eye on isis and syria. we'll be here for all of it. i'm shepard smith. >> , sadly, saying goodbye to william christopher has died at the age of 84. he played the father, on mash. his agent says he dieted after 5

this morning, at his home. he was diagnosed with cancer more than a year ago. he had been in hospice care. >> president barak obama set to meet with fellow democrats. can he salvage any of his healthcare law and vandals hit the sign, and yes, you can read that, we'll be right back

>> recovery efforts resuming for a small plane that vanished. the coast guard launching boat questions and dive teams, and u.s. marine corps. no sign of any wreckage or survivors, since it disappeared. the twin engine plane carrying, six people. >> president barak obama making

a final push to protect his signature healthcare law. he'll meet with democrats on capitol hill to safe obamacare. as republicans vow to refeel and the rest of his agenda. >> let's bring in john, a column knit for national review. happy new year. >> in the senate, he needs, all he needs is 50 votes they can get rid of obamacare to beat the filibuster. does he stand a chance of saving obamacare. >> it'sit's easy to refeel, andh 20 million people, it's harder to convince them that their insurance is going to be safe or get coverage. so democrats can terrorize the senators, into thinking maybe we should take another look at

this. maybe we should delay repeal and, i think it's a mistake. you have to, if you're going to honor your promise, repeal it, and take, put down principles, saying for the next two years, no changes, but these are the principles we're going to move towards, to have a more competitive system, and better care. >> what is that going to look like. >> over 60% of the new people, are on medicaid. it is substandard medicine. i think medicaid should be block granted and, states can have a more effective system. mike pence did this in indiana. getting it back to the states so they'll be on medicaid and, rest i think, if you expand health insurance policies and make it make it easier to sell across state lines and not have every

plan, and right now you have to be covered like for pregnancy provision. i'm in no danger of giving bird anytime soon. >> on major legislation, past presidents have been smart enough to realize they needed bipartisan support. medicaid and social security. because they knew it wouldn't last long. president barak obama didn't do that. hewanted obamacare, and could have done it, but he refused to compromise. is it no wonder that it's heading for destruction? >> it is understandable because, he didn't build the consensus. trump has to say even though

he's trying to repeal t. he has to say get some of them to vote for dismantling part of obamacare. >> there are ten who up -- >> in states that trump carried. they'll be under a lot of pressure. some of them like west virginia, may be amenable. effect get some democrats who may not want to get rid of it but willing to work on the compromise that might be a consensus measure. >> all right, it's not just obamacare. it's part of the legacy, it's environmental orders, executive orders, on the environment. on immigration. dodd frank regulations if all of that gets repealed oreviceed or diminished, what legacy does president barak obama have left?

>> he was a historic president pal pick. >> that would be it. >> he put into place a lot of things that were not part of executive orders. regulation that's you can't go back, 3, 4 years. he changed the tone for a lot of issues. for example, we are talking about transgender bathrooms because of president barak obama. >> that's a good thing? >> no. but, it's a major thing. >> he was tempted by the use of executive orders in ways that are unconstitutional. so when he rolls back the executive orderers, there's going to be moments and say you can solve this with an executive order and the supreme court will back you up. i hope he resists that, because what is making our countryspic

is the rule of law. presidents have too much power, we shouldn't have them mean as much as they do. >> if we allow trump to do what president barak obama, we won't have change, but transfer what kinds of orders. >> they resist to do easy thing. the hard thing is working with the opposition. >> good to see i. >> a new year's eve performance does not go as planned for mariah carey ♪ ♪ just don't get any better. >> what happened last night? the swing and the miss that got everybody talking ♪ ♪

>> for those who were asleep. there it was, counting down the end of 2016 ushering in a new year. in times square. among them was brian, he joins us now, from our newsroom, the funny glasses and hats. hey,. >> well happy new year to everyone at home recovering. 1 billion people tune in to watch the ball drop. it did not disappoint. a ton of confetti falling on more than one million people who

braved the cold, some for more than twelve hours. kisses hugs and tears, and speaking is of dropping the ball. all the talk is about mariah carey. who addis as trust singing performance last night just before the ball dropped. technical difficulties, plagued her performance, unable to hear her track just stopped singing. but her music kept playing, making it clear she was lip syncing, and realize just how bad things were going, she did the best she could to save face. >> well, happy new year. >> we can't hear but, i'll do a flip ♪ ♪ we didn't have a set for this song, so we'll just say, and, that's what is it is.

>> yikes. 3 350,000 people celebrated in vegas, where a dazzlings fireworks strip. and in seattle washington, fireworks, fired from the space needle lit up the skies, and by the way, back to mariah carey, she tweeted, blank happens, here's to making more headlines. good for her, starting with a positive attitude that. performance was, so 2016. >> yeah, we're over it already. >> thank you. and we'll be right back

fine lay prankster striking overnight vandalizing a popular sign, it reads holly we'd, and they are now investigating who did it.

california formally legalized the use of marijuana, in november. light them up. that the does it for me, i'll be back at 7:00 eastern for the fox report. >> chilling images of the suspects, in turkey the killer still at large. no group has publicly claimed responsibility. we'll have extensive coverage on the manhunt. >> president-elect donald trump brand new message to america, we're live outside his mar-a-lago estate. >> and, we'll be wrapping up all the new years, from coast to coast and pay round the world, ushering in 2017. ♪ ♪