trump administration, russia, russia was trump's obsession and it appears that it is at the end with these pardons denying interference, it is a theme. >> thank you both. "ac 360" starts now. it is a good night to be a corrupt republican congressman or a confessed liar or a convicted murder. john berman here is in for anderson. breaking news with 29 days left in office. the president issued a first big wave of what could be a tsunami of pardons. it includes former republican lawmakers and four military contractors involved in a massacre of civilians in iraq. all this begins of the headline speaking of what else the president is doing when not handing out pardons. trump turns out on everyone from

"the axios," he thinks everyone around him is stupid and disloyaled a disloyal and seeking comfort only on those people egging him onto overturn the election results. top officials telling "axios," the president is raging at mark meadows and mitch mcconnell and also now at long last the vice president. we'll talk about that as well as a potential impact of a new covid strain as we passed the 18 million case mark headed of yet another surge on top of the one we are suffering through now. president-elect biden addressed the topic today. >> one thing i promise you about my leadership during this crisis, i am going to tell it to you straight, i am going to tell you the truth and here is the

simple truth. our darkest days and the battle against covid are ahead of us. not booinehind us. we need to prepare ourselves to steal our spines. it is going to take patience and persistence and determination to beat this virus. there will be no time to waste in taking the steps we need to turn this crisis around. >> a lot to get to in the hour ahead. first the pardons, pamela brown, broke this story for us. this is quite a list. >> there are 20 pardons tonight announced by president trump. george papadopoulos pleaded guilty of his contact with russians. he's the fourth person that the president granted clemency to and clearly sending a message

with papadopoulos and on the list, duncan hunter and chris cold i collins. hunter was sentenced to 11 months of misused of $11,000 of campaign funds will not serve any time behind bars with this pardon and you have collins, inside trading and activities he engaged in while on white house grounds. and other controversial names on this pardon list involved in war crimes, miassacre of iraq civilians. so those are some of the key names that we have been on this list. there are many others of non violent drug offenders that are on here. about half of the list on this pardon sheet are those non-violent drug offenders. >> pamela, collins and hunter

were the first two endorsed. quite a return of investment all these years. >> you have to think about that in terms of the russia probe. now you have george papadopoulos where investigators said was not cooperative, roger stone and of course michael flynn and also alex swan was on here, too. he was convicted in the russia probe for lying to the fbi. this could be seen as a way of the president returning the favor for their loyalty for not cooperating with investigators and as well as you mentioned the two gop allies who were early supporters of the president. they were two people came out early onto throw their support behind the president. what's also interesting in this list and ip want to point out

these two agents sentenced to prison, they were held at heroes basically and right wing media at the time. they're also on this list, that's also a common thread among some of the high-profile pardon on this list that many of them were heroes by right wing media in many of these cases. we know the president is unorthod unorthod unorthodox. he's watched fox news and other outlets to get an idea of who he can pardon and along with rudy giuliani and others. >> this is part conservative tv lineup. pamela brown, thank you so much for being was. appreciate it. more now from john harwood, what are you hearing from the white house about these pardons?

>> well, we are not hearing anything from the white house. the president has not tweeted on that subject. we need to step back a little bit and put this in no contacts of what we have been seeing from the white house over the last several days. there is part of president trump that's delusional and he's psychologically unbalanced and can't process the fact that they lost the election. there is a big part of him which is very laser-focused on abusing government power to his personal benefits. he got impeached for that with respect to ukraine. what we see in these pardons, pam was just outlining is an attempt to erase the mueller probe. he tried to do that with mike flynn and commuting the sentence of roger stone and give stone a pardon as well. in addition to george p papadopoulos, people are expecting he'll try to pardon

manafort. if he can show the russia probe was a hoax, it was not a hoax. if he can show that, that benefits him. especially some of these people especially manafort and stone may know things that are detriment to president trump. by protecting those involved in those russian activities, he's protecting himself. on those pardons of the black water guards. the chairman of the back water of the time those murders took place was eric prince. eric prince was caught up in the mueller probe because of a meeting he had it was about something else. and never the less was part of

it. we are ending this administration with massive hack by russia that the president is trying to abosorb russia for. he's trying to wipe out legal kalss and look at what russia is doing to the u.s. right now. >> he's a convicted murder and all on the same day where he's taking meetings to overturn the election. that's quite an agenda, john. what's the overturn of the election? >> in the house of representatives where 126 republicans signed onto this crazy lawsuit that the supreme court laugheft out of court. he's going to get more than one member trying to challenge the certification of electoral votes on january 6th. there is an open question as to

whether or not he can get republican senators because republicans don't want to be forced into an embarrassing vote. it is not going to change the situation. skr joe biden is going to become president on january 20th. the president is choking on his defeat. he's thrashing about looking for any kind of scheme that any of the cookie people around him can convince him to pursue to try to over turn it. they're not going to work. maggie haberman who's been reporting for weeks now and david gergen and john dean. maggie, i want to start with you.

audacious christmas round of pardons. what's the theme do you see? >> people who are close to president trump or who he thinks will help him of any implication of the investigation between his campaign and russia officials in 2016. so that's the theme overall, on the one hand you have the president talking about -- it is not unusual for the president to wheel their party power of their final days. bill clinton pardoned mark richt, at the end of his term in

2000s. what's different here is number one, the scope of these and the fact that the president on the one hand is talking about draining the swamp but on the other, these are three congressmen who were convicted of corruption charges. he's issuing full pardons and one of them have no time served. >> hunter and collins both pleaded guilty. they were the first two members to endorse him. quite a return on the investment. >> we are not overlooking that at all. where does this all fall on your radar, john dean. >> looking at the statement that came along with the pardons. when you look at the russians investigation part of it, the

papadopoulos, the statements flat out calling it a process crime to lie to the fbi but says the pardon helps correct the wrongs, the mueller team inflicted on so many people. that's quite a remarkable statement to have with this pardon. it is more of a slap, it is an attack, john. >> there is another word for a process crime. that's just crime. it is a crime, right? >> exactly. >> all of watergate was processed crime. david ggergen, the president ha the right to issue these pard s pardons. what do they say to you about where his head is for 29 days left in office? >> that he does not give a damn how he changes our traditions and overrides our norms. the pardon has been seen as

taking one last look at a case that seems to have -- that's not what's going on here. this president is using his pardon power to help his allies. i think it is inclusionary now that the fix is in when manafort and others kept their mouths shut and they were promised. you keep your mouths shut, bewel get you out and pardon you, just protect our president. that's what it is all about. >> underscoring what maggie said, jack goldsmith at harvard law just completed a survey of the 45 pardons donald trump had made up until today. 45 up in until today.

88% were for trump allies and all of them were used for political purposes. >> i read your report on this, it seems like were going to see a lot more. >> yes. there will be a lot more. they are related to non-violent drug offenders or people committed crimes or done near time 50 years ago. it is a little whiplash that you have a little one hand pardon like that. the president has not done trying to chip away from the mueller probe. his folks said over and over again as john said that these are process crimes and these don't really count and i think the president sees it that way, you saw clearly the president is putting a stamp how he uses that

investigation. he commuted roger stone but he can still pardon him. he'll not pardon michael cohen. that's where i see this is going. i see it going to an ongoing mixed of traditional pardons and people going through some form of a process and others coming to various man s of the west wing. >> this is one of the things the president is doing when he's not taking on coronavirus where thousand of americans die everyday. john dean, you brought a process crime here. murder is not a processed crime. these four security agents for convicted murder and the three members were in congress. security fraud is not a processed crime either. republicans are going to run a campaign on law and order. how do you square that with murder? >> i don't. to be specific, the reference to

the process crime are the russia related investigation. there is no collusion was found. therefore fuelmueller proceededh the process. i would remind him all of watergate was processed related crime. they were obstruction of justice. they were perjury. those are all processed related crime. the they're crimes rest assure. >> what do you expect to hear from republican lawmakers? the president has the power to do this. there had been time in history where pardons have been investigated. >> john, we have 29 days now before joe biden is inaugurated. we are entering some kind of dangerous days of donald trump's

presidency. he's erratic and we don't know how he's going to reach oit. pardons are going to be on that mix. you are witnessing a number of things which i think is going to be alarming and increasingly dangerous for military reasons if we are not careful here. republicans need to have an intervention. you need to come down and as with nixon, and barry goldwater led a small delegation from the house and the senate to tell nixon the time is up and nixon resigned the next day. there needs to be an intervention, the time is up, you have to accept that there is a change of power here and it has to be peaceful, otherwise, we'll uphold you the rest of your life. >> jonathan swan reported this

morning that the president turned his attention to mike pence. you and i had a talk about mike pence. he was at this meeting with members of congress who tried to object on the college count on january 6th. what do you think their relationship is and how much pressure is the president putting on mike pence? >> i think he's putting some pressure on mike pence. as jonathan reported that the president turned on everyone who's giving him some answer that he does not want or not going on television or ak no acknowled acknowledging joe biden. mike pence falls on that category and he's certifying the vote in congress in early january. people gotten into the president's head and there is something that pence can do

there but really is not. >> thank you all for being with us tonight. what the president had just done and from congressman jim himes and james clapper and a new covid strain and a likelihood of another holiday surge, that plus more breaking news. the president signaling he may veto the covid relief bill. little girl is lost. friend. she needs to be home. the rules have changed since you rode. how much you want for her? she's not for sale. if they find you... they kill you. jump! johanna! it's hard finding your way home. you can't have her.

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the covid relief bill that he was supposed to sign. what is the president doing here? >> one of the things i wonder of the election and with donald trump having lost, he's choking psychologically on that defeat. he can't handle it. it is a blow to his ego and h p reputation of the idea he's a losers to joe biden. he basically vacated the oval office for most purposes. you finally had both chambers of congress coming together on a $900 billion compromise. the president put out a statement, a video tape completely dishonest and he read a bunch of provision and said they were in the covid relief bill. that's false.

they're in the spending bill which was attacked to the covid relief bill. they move together to one piece of legislation. he was suggesting congress had put these wasteful items in. if he's vetoing it, it is not impossible that congress would alter the bill to his liking. congress may override the veto. if he vetoes it, many republicans and congressman who were so scared of him may not vote to override of the veto of the bill that he just supported it. if he kills this bill, it would be a terrible blow to those candidates in georgia who mitch

mcconnell was trying to help with this bill. the president when he was asking about republicans down ballot, he said all these republicans won and i am the one who lost, that offended him. he embarked on a course where he's trying to take other republicans down with him by criticizing the bill they just voted for. >> jonathan, thank you so much for that. maggie, is not clear that he understands the legislative process. i am not sure if he gets it when he says he wants to see the bill amended. it is passed by both house and just waiting for his signature. put that aside, what are we seeing here? >> what we are seeing is somebody watching a lot of fox news where there were people talking about this bill and the president tipped his hand in this video where he's reading through this list of foreign countries and what they got.

obviously these bills are complicated and involves with a lot of different issues. that's what he's pointing to. i don't know if he'll actually veto it. i think that would be detriment detrimental. i don't share harwood's view that this would in sink the republicans in georgia. a lot of voters are going to do whatever the president says in that race. i do think he put republicans in a bad spot, he voted for this bill and americans are expecting checks. these are not huge checks. this is not an overwhelmingly popular bill but it is the bill that passed. >> the president was not involved in this at all. steve mnuchin was out there. for the president to give this bizarre video address with no

one in the room. calling it late to the game does not begin to cover it. >> it is a theme and frankly of the entire time dealing with congress of the tax bill which he was involved in and failed healthcare repeal efforts. he's becoming more and more distance from the legislation process. he's a pespectator to governing and this reminds people of how uninvolved he is. he's reading all this information and it comes off as he's reading it for the first time. >> john harwood. maggie haberman told me this is a possibility before. right now that the president is going to mar-a-lago for christmas is like 50/50. not sure he's going to leave at this point. so, given that what do you expect to happen here? what's the next step. if the president sticks around, what more is he going to do and

which republicans are going to stand up to him if any? >> that's going to be difficult. maggie makes a good point, there is a chance that the president is perform ng thing in this vid he'll not end up vetoing in this bill but he held out the possible. this is a president who is in a mood to do whatever he wants in the moment, he's an impulsive person. he's very wounded. and so he's lashing out in various ways and lashing out in congress for his bill. when taki talked about the president burning the house down, this is burning the house down for millions of americans who are depending on this relief. the extension of unemployment benefits and the paycheck protection for small businesses, the $600 stimulus payment. the president said in that

video, oh, i wanted to be 2,000 per person. there is no support to do that. his own party will not vote for that provision. so the party is setting impossible terms and why would a person set impossible terms on a piece of legislation that's desperately needed that awaits his signature right now and congress is done for the year. it is difficult to know what his true intention is here. it is not beneficial to the american people. the president is picking fights with republicans and key republicans like mitch mcconnell now. he's attacking mcconnell by now and john thune by name, mcconnell's lieutenant. where do you think this goes? >> i think they are definitely escalating and he's definitely doing the frequency and he st t

started trying the water. mcconnell is someone the president is intimidated by. i don't know where it goes other than the president forcing mcconnell's hand to have to try to intervene in these efforts that are being put in place to try to disruption the ratification in the eruption in early january. it would put his caucus members in a real bind. mcconnell is not going to get back and forth with the president this way. >> there are 29 days left. and everyday -- i am not disagreeing. everyday the volume gets turned up. i don't necessarily see what stops it from spinning more and more out of control. >> what's spinning out of control is tweets. if it spins out of control and signals to noise ratio becoming

closer to something is actually happening. i think that's in a different place. i do think what it comes back to these conversations, this is different of what we are seeing of him is different than what we are seeing before and this is the problem with so many four-alarm fire almost everything he did that were not justified because now he's doing something different. the question is what can he actually do? he's clearly controlling and he's president. there are certain guard rails he put in his own even if he runs over institutions and norms. >> i got to let you both go to sleep because you are both going to be on tv with me tomorrow. >> you too. >> we have breaking news with the virus. hundreds of americans could already have the variant of the disease first acknowledged and noticed in the united kingdom. reserc

reser researchers saying it could have arrived here last month. dr. fauci says unless people are heeding warnings of travels and there could be another imposed. more than 162,000 new coronavirus cases today. almost 3,000 new deaths tonight, more than 117,000 people are hospitalized with the virus. that is a new record. president-elect biden acknowledged all this with some dark worries with the days and weeks ahead and talk about whether he'll impose a travel ban from people coming from the united kingdom. >> number two, when they get home, should they quarantine. that's my instincts but i am waiting to hear from my team right now. >> i want to bring in tom

freedman. how should we treat this strain. dr. freedman, thank you so much for being was. hundreds of the people in u.s. already have the new strain of covid. what do you make of it? >> the frank fact is we don't know. the fact they identified it there first does not mean it started there first. they had it there for a while. there is a lot of travel back and forth. so it is certainly quite possible that it has been spreading here. there is still a lot we don't know about this. it does appears to be infectious and lethal. it does not seem likely it would evade the vaccine. so we are really going to be learning more over the coming days and weeks but certain

things don't change. i would say the three w's, wear a mask and watch your distance and wash your hands and the two v's, increase ventilations and when it is your turn, get vaccinated. i understand that it is more deadly and inherently than we think. the vaccines work against it or we think or we hoped. with record numbers hospitalized and the idea of more people catching this when there is a surge upon a surge. is it in of itself something should be a concern? >> this is the way viruses work. they out numberedous. t the strain spred moad more and they're going to predominantly in society unless we control it. staying in-doors and wearing

masks and getting vaccinated when it is our turn. >> never had the windows opened so much in december. if you were advising president trump or president-elect biden whar, what would you be telling them when it comes to travelers coming from the united kingdom? >> the fact that it was found in united kingdom does not mean it is only there. put in place a whole program where people get tested before they get on a plane so they are less likely to spread it on the plane and they go into some form of quarantine when they arrive so they don't bring it to another place. when people travel, the virus travel and when people share air, the virus spread. do you imagine the results will be positive successful? >> i think we can anticipate that the vaccines will most

likely work well against this virus, this strain. what's interesting about the mrna vaccine is they are highly adaptable. it is possible, not this strain or another did evade that they can tweak it and optimize the effectiveness. we'll have to see. these are new vaccines and new things we are learning. the only slight wrinkle we have seen is eight or nine people with allergic i creactions and that's going to be studiy furtherer. we make sure it is treatable. that's not a small number so that's something we have to treat to track. it is one bump on the road but vaccination is our strongest tool against this and the sooner especially we can get people in nursing homes and work in nursing homes vaccinated to better off we'll be. >> we got to get this process moving quickly. thank you so much for being was.

i appreciate your expertise on this. >> thank you. james clapper joins us after this bumpy day inside the white house. the pardons and where it could go from here. congressman jim heinz joins us as well. ♪ ♪ light it up like dynamite ♪ (this is ah) ♪ light it up like dynamite ♪ so watch me light the fire and set the night alight (alright) ♪ ♪ shining through the city...

the white house is a busy place tonight when it comes to pardons and the president's scheme to overturn the election. joining us now is congressman

jim hines, thank you very much for being with us. i want to get your initial reaction to this list of pardons. what do you think about it? >> well, john, i have a shallow thought and a deep thought. the shallow thought is the pardon suggests that at some level donald trump knows that he's not going to be president in less than a month. the deeper thought is i am appalled. what does the lord require of you that you do justice and love mercy and walk humbly with your god. i love that because it recognize that is the justices are sometimes really harsh and custome merciful. the whole idea of a pardon is we can inject some mercy into justice. when the president does does it, he does it on our behalf. instead of elevating mercy, he has pardoned a bunch of murders and liars, most of whom had

nothing in common other than the fact they expressed their loyalty to donald trump. we knew this was coming. even after four years is disparaging. >> corrupt politicians and convicted murders. the lies are connected to the russia probe. this is a big chunk of your life over the last four years. when you see these two figures including george papadopoulos receiving a full pardon, what's your reaction to that? do you think it will lead to paul man fafort that he'll be next? >> i have no reason to believe that the president will pardon everybody who gives loyalty to him. i can't imagine joe biden ever doing that. but, you know, there is a theory

out there among my republican colleagues because the mueller investigation did not find a chargeable crime. it found all sorts of ridiculous behavior, the president's son meeting with russians to get dirt. the campaign manager sharing polling with known russian intelligence agency and despite the fact that it shows a lot of bad behavior. because there was not an indictable crime, somehow lying to the fbi in those circumstances is okay. imagine the signal that it sends. there is no circumstances in which lying to law enforcement is okay. the president and too many republicans believe that it is and that's a lesson that'll not be lost on our children and other people in public service, it is a terrible erosion and the values this country stands for. >> the president released a video where he seemed the issue a rhveto threat to this

$900 billion relief bill that was passed by both house. how concerned are you that he'll not sign it? >> he's erratic. millions of americans who need the unemployment insurance and $600 and food stamps that's going to make it better. the day he pardons murders and liars, i am going to deny the food and the benefits the american people need. >> john, thank you so much. >> thank you, james clapper, director clapper, you look at this roiund of pardons, wa do h you feel of them in terms of national security given they are people who lied to

investigators. >> i align myself with congressman jim hines. where the president's head really on all this and is not on national security or the pandemic or the cyber espionage but rather on i think the common denominator here is pleasing the base and reenforcing his grip on the base at large and republican political figures specifically. >> it is disturbing but we'll have more breaking news about this sort of thing in the next month or so. >> we are going to see more of this. you think this is the tip of the iceberg? >> oh, i do. i can't see that with these pardons that the president is all done with exercising and abusing the power of his office. i think there are more to come. i can't tell you what it is

going to be. it is going to be a concerning period, no question about it. >> you spent your life in the military before you work for the administration and intelligence capacities, there are these four black water contracts who are convicted of murdering, the president granted pa r dordons them, how does that hit you? >> it is despicable, i am out of adjectives. it is terrible. these are convicted and clearly, they were contractors, abused their availability of the weapons available to them and so someone who spent 34 years of military among civilian capacities, this is a direct

assault on the values of this country that i and many others defended. as i say it is despicable. >> in terms of the investigation, george papadopoulos admitted to lying and now is granted a full pardon. what do you think the president is trying to do in terms of the russia probe. >> he's trying to erase any messages as much as he can of culpability of people kaupcaugh in this investigation. the effectiveness and i think in his mind, he thinks this is a tremendous injustice that by granting these pardons that he's erasing a record of the crimes

these people committed. >> i do need to let you go in about 30 seconds. two of the pardons who confessed their crimes were the first two house members who endorsed president trump. that seems like a return on an investment, does it? >> paying back a favor and as i mention before, the common denominator here is pleasing the beast. i don't think he pardons any democratic members of congress. it is all about the base and keeping his grip on it. >> certainly this time. he did pardon lagovih. james clapper, thank you very much for being was. >> thank you, john. >> the trump organization is under investigation by the manhattan district attorney's office and the new york attorney

general, both agency subpoenaed deutsche bank of its lending relationship with the president. cnn did the reporting on this. she joins us now. what are you learning from these bankers and their relationship with jared kushner and president trump. >> that's right, two long-term bankers for the president, deutsche bank, rosemary and dominique resigned. >> rosemary is retiring from the bank next week. you can't understood how important these two have been to the trump organization. vrablic was sprucintroduced to president and she took over at a time when other divisions in deutsche no longer want to do business with trump

organization, that had to do with delinquencies. the president guaranteed those loan. those loans will begin coming no longer at deutsche bank, there are questions about who will step into that void once the president is no longer at the white house. >> and the state and local investigations are beyond the president's reach. is there any indications of what this could mean? >> both investigations, the criminal one and the civil one, have been ongoing for quite some time. they're looking into allegations made by michael cohen, who said that the president and his executives have inflated the value of certain of his assets when they were looking to receive loans.

the prosecutors in the manhattan district attorney's office interviewed two deutsche bank employees, getting more general information. but a person familiar with the investigation said it's expected the d.a. will want to interview people directly involved with the loans like rosemary. people who know a lot about the communications that have taken place. her attorney said she's committed to cooperating with authorities if asked. we'll have to stay tuned on that one. >> to be continued, terrific reporting, thanks so much. just ahead, the attorney who seems to have the president's ear, sidney powell, facing professional sanctions in michigan. the state's attorney general joins us next.

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paid at least three visits to the white house this in recent days? today, the michigan attorney general said she will be seeking professional sanctions against powell for some of her antics. she joins us now. you announced you're seeking these sanctions against sidney powell. can you explain what you mean, and what are the actions you're taking? >> we made one of the requests in court filings today. firstly, in terms of the cases themselves, which have proven to be meritless and frivolous, and just embarrassing for our profession, undermining in every way the judicial system. we'll be asking for court costs and attorney's fees, but moreover, she and many of the other lawyers involved in some of these lawsuits on behalf of

the trump campaign have violated rules of professional conduct for every state in the union and according to the american bar association. we're asking there is disciplinary action taken against her law license, including potentially disbarment. >> what rules did she violate? >> how much time do you got, john? she's violated so many different rules. firstly, every lawyer in order to become a licensed professional takes an oath of office in which they swear to uphold the constitution, instead, she's done nothing but undermine it. there are so many rules of professional conduct. you can't bring frivolous lawsuits that are not based on fact or the law, you can't have fraud, deceit, misrepresentation, things that

are prejudicial to justice. you can't knowingly bring evidence that is false, or make misleading claims. she's broke each and every one of these in all of her cases. just in the michigan cases alone, she's breached each and every one of these codes of conduct. >> it's not clear who sidney powell is serving at this point and in what capacity. even rudy giuliani says she's not part of the campaign legal team, and doesn't speak for the president or the administration. notwithstanding that she's been at the white house 3 of the last 5 days. how much does this matter? >> the legal team, the representation of the president and his campaign, it's not exactly a well-oiled machine. it's not bush v. gore on either side of the "v." so it's unclear to me.

i don't know if she's doing this at the behest of the president. it's just incredibly unprofessional, and these are lies that ms. powell is sub mig submitting to the united states supreme court in some cases. >> what do you think about this being someone who has been invited to the white house 3 of the last 5 days? >> is it really surprising in light of the other news you're broadcasting tonight? this is a president who surrounds himself by people who are wholly and completely lacking in integrity of any kind. so is it surprising to me? no. nothing that this president does at this juncture surprises me, sadly for our country and our nation. >> we began the broadcast, and you waited patiently to speak to

us at the end of it, with the news that president has issued pardons to convicted murders, confessed liars, and corrupt politicia politicians. your reaction? >> as a prosecutor myself, we have a division where we hold public officials accountable when they breach the public trust. it's incredibly disturbing, and there's no way to overstate that. all i can think about is not even the millions, probably the billions of dollars that went into the investigations and prosecutions of these cases, simply to be wiped away for a president who will do anything and everything for someone who has supported him at some point. >> we really appreciate your time. thanks so much for being with us. >> thanks for having me. >> do not miss full circle,

anderson's digital new show, live at 6:00 p.m. eastern on cnn.com/fullcircle, and on the cnn app at any time, on demand. there is a ton of breaking news tonight, let's go to chris for "cuomo prime time." >> thank you, john. i am chris cuomo. we have breaking news. this is a very bad situation that the president is creating right now. i think he's doing it to look good. but it's about the rest of us. here's the news. okay? it took almost to the end of this tantrum of a presidency, but we now have a moment for this president, an ultimate moment of put up or shut up about being a champion for the american people, okay? the president has just put out a video statement saying he may not sign the relief bill