sides here. >> well first of all, institutions are in trouble right? the justice department is not the only one. there are good people on the lines, and the fbi agents but the fbi has to stop wading into political matters like school board fights, all those sort of things. it has to just prosecute the crime and particularly line crime. yeah. >> i mean, megan it's not just republicans. i mean, ask hillary clinton what she thinks of jim comey, right? >> i just think that we are making a lot of this part in here and i think that we we need to take a step back. like you said, american people are not looking at this. they are not into this. this is not that deep for them. they are more concerned about other issues. this is a political issue that we are making a lot of nonsense out of. but i mean, i agree with you that we need to look at these these systems and reform them. but like joe biden, pardoning his son is not the issue here. >> all right. i guess we will find out how much americans are focused on it here in the coming days. thanks to all of you for being with us. thanks to you for joining us as well. i'm kasie hunt. don't go anywhere. cnn news central starts right now

president biden pardons his son hunter, after saying that's exactly what he would not do. >> the ripple effects could be profound and has even some democrats accusing the president of putting family above country. >> snowmageddon. >> millions of americans bracing for severe winter storms as parts of the country dig out from record breaking snow. >> and gird your loins. today is cyber monday. there is a deal out there for you. more than $13 billion could be spent today. sara is out shopping. i'm john berman with kate bolduan. this is cnn news center this morning, new fallout from president biden's decision to do something he had said he would never do. pardon his son hunter. president-elect trump is weighing in, as are

republican lawmakers and democrats. this has the potential to affect the confirmations of trump nominees and possible pardons for january 6th. criminals. hunter was due to be sentenced this month. now he will not nor can he be prosecuted for any other possible federal crimes possibly committed in a ten year period. his father wrote. in trying to break hunter. they have tried to break me no reasonable person who looks at the facts of hunter's case can reach any other conclusion than hunter was singled out only because he is my son and that is wrong now we are waiting to hear from the president this morning on this. he is traveling to angola in africa. cnn's arlette saenz is already there. arlette, what is the white house saying about this well, john, president biden said that he is issuing a full and unconditional pardon of his son, hunter biden. >> a stunning reversal, given the fact that president biden and his senior team had said

for months that he would not make this move, president biden said he ultimately made this decision as a father, but he also firmly believes that hunter biden was maligned by republicans and that the charges against him were politically motivated. in a statement released late sunday night before he departed for angola, the president wrote, quote, i believe in the justice system, but as i have wrestled with this, i also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice. and once i made this decision this weekend there was no sense in delaying it further. i hope americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision. now, this statement in no way references the fact that the president had repeatedly said he would not pardon his son, hunter who had been charged and found guilty relating to some gun charges and was also facing tax charges as well. but take a listen to president biden's denials that he would pardon his son hunter, both before and

after that felony gun conviction in the state of delaware let me ask you, will you accept the jury's outcome, their verdict? >> no matter what it is? yes. and have you ruled out a pardon for your son? >> yes. >> you have. >> i am satisfied that i'm not going to do anything i said. i abide by the jury decision, and i will do that. and i will not pardon him now the president's decision has already faced some criticism from republicans and some democrats for president elect donald trump has spoken out against it but also his team is using this as a moment to try to highlight what they believe is a politicization of the justice department against trump in a various series of cases. >> but for president biden this was a very personal decision. he had reached this decision over the weekend as he had huddled with his family in nantucket massachusetts. i'm told that the president had

started to tell his senior team on saturday evening that he planned to issue this pardon and directed them to start preparing to release it on sunday evening. but for president biden this is certainly something that he has wrestled with at a long time on both a political and a personal level. and this will go down as a key piece of his legacy going forward. as he issued this pardon of his son. >> again, he is on his way to angola, where arlette saenz is. we will wait to hear what the president has to say about this. this morning. arlette, thank you very much. kate. >> and in pardoning hunter biden, president biden sounds a lot like donald trump, both men now seeming to agree the justice department has been politicized and that definitely is not lost on the president elect. donald trump quickly trying to equate the hunter biden pardon to those convicted of crimes from the january 6th riots. cnn's alayna treene is in west palm beach, florida, for us this morning, tracking all of it. and elena, what are you hearing from trump's team about all of this today well, kate, as you mentioned

donald trump moved quickly to kind of capitalize on this moment and use it as, you know, an opportunity to say, well, what about the january 6th? >> people who were convicted for their crimes on january sixth? and it really is going to i think raise expectations for what donald trump will do with that promise that he had made repeatedly on the campaign trail to pardon those who were convicted for crimes for their role that day. i'm going to read for you what he said. he wrote, quote, does the pardon give given by joe to hunter include the jan six hostages who have now been imprisoned for years? such an abuse and miscarriage of justice. now again he mentioned the word hostages. that is a term donald trump used repeatedly as well on the campaign trail, when describing those who were convicted for committing crimes for the january six capitol attack. but one thing that's been very interesting kate, is that i know many of donald trump supporters have really anticipated and expected him to follow through on that pledge, and to, in some cases, grant maximum clemency to those, even those who have committed you

know, a. excuse me, who have committed some of the most violent crimes on that day. but ever since the election, donald trump has not spoken about this and i've asked his team about this. the transition team, and they haven't really given me any indication that they were moving forward. and working on this right now. they said that that's something that will be discussed later down the line. once donald trump were to be sworn in so i think this is kind of providing an opening now to reopen those discussions. and really shining a light on what donald trump will do. now, i will also argue that, you know, we've seen a lot of republicans use what happened with hunter biden and the pardon that biden has given him to really argue that it's the current sitting president who is the one who has weaponized the department of justice, not the former president. and this could also give them an opening to kind of more so embrace kash patel someone who has really argued that he wants to reform the fbi and the justice department because of these types of things. kate and what are you hearing about kash patel and his path through confirmation?

>> now after the. at this point right. >> well, there's no question. and i know from my conversations with trump's team and those working on this, is that he will likely have a very contentious and uphill senate confirmation battle. i was actually talking to the team about this specifically, and they said, you know, donald trump in recent days was actually wavering between two people. he knew that he wanted to remove christopher wray from being fbi director and install someone else. but he was wavering between kash patel and attorney general, missouri attorney general andrew bailey. some people close to the president had argued that, you know they were skeptical of patel, given the controversy surrounding him and also the expectations that he would have a tough time going through his senate confirmation process. but there's also people the people that donald trump views as closest to him, the people he trusts the most that were really pushing patel on him including his sons eric and donald trump jr., as well as stephen miller, the incoming deputy chief of staff. and so

all to say, there were questions before he had selected patel. but donald trump, i was told, really wanted someone who would be his legal pitbull, someone who would try to root out the bias that he sees as permeating the bureau. for the last several years kate. >> elena going to be a busy, busy day. busy week ahead there in west palm. it's great to see you. thank you so much, john. >> all right. record breaking travel and record breaking winter storm. that's a pretty bad combination so what you can expect today closing arguments will soon begin in the trial of daniel penny, charged with placing a homeless man in a fatal chokehold in a new york city subway. and new details on a budding health trend that has people voluntarily piercing monitoring devices under their skin cnn heroes on all star tribute meet and celebrate the honorees. >> then find out who will be hero of the year. plus, a special tribute to michael j.

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control of your coverage by calling plan. enroll today i can't move again. >> you've gotten used to chaos. >> we can get rid of that. >> don't sell. >> oh my gosh, is this our house when leaving just isn't an option. >> the brothers are here to help. thank you you're welcome. you're welcome. don't hate your house. all new wednesday at nine on hgtv snow, snow and more snow. >> friends. we're talking about feet of snow hitting parts of the great lakes, ohio, pennsylvania, new york, getting hammered in places parts are already seeing snowfall nearing five feet. and also it's not over yet. lake effect snow warnings still happening this morning, which means people hitting the roads heading to airports, trying to get home after thanksgiving could be facing some real headaches today, but it's not all headaches. we'll show you as much as 20in of snow piled up in buffalo, new york, as the bills are taking on the 49ers. you can see obviously, the bills one bills head coach and

quarterback made snow angels after their win last night because they also couldn't feel their appendages after playing in that for hours derek van dam is tracking the forecast for us. he does. pete muntean is at reagan national airport. oh, pete, those are not short lines. what's going on you know, today is going to be especially tough, kate, given the fact that so many people are traveling, the travel rush gets longer and longer every year with more people being able to work from home and flex their schedules. >> but it's also mixing with the normal commuter traffic. with so many people going back to work today, this is the rush here at reagan national airport. the morning rush and the tsa numbers say it's taking people about 14 to 17 minutes to get through standard screening here at the terminal two north checkpoint speaking of lines, things are pretty bad getting into the airport today the traffic is pretty tough out there on the access road. getting into the airport and on 3.95 coming in. it's a scene playing out across the country. i just want to show you the tsa numbers because yesterday will

likely go down as an all time air travel record. the tsa predicting about 3 million people at airports nationwide, will pass through security checkpoints today. the number is a little bit lower, about 2.8 million, but it really fits into the theme of so many huge travel days we have seen in 2024. in fact, all of the top ten travel days in tsa history have occurred this year alone won't be smooth sailing everywhere, especially in the new york area. newark has been an especially big pain point for the faa. they have had air traffic control, staffing issues there. the faa moved the facility responsible for that airspace from new york to philadelphia to try and get a better pipeline of new controllers coming in. the faa says there will likely be ground stops and delays. they're put in place by the faa as the day goes on there could be problems in seattle because of low cloud ceilings. also, problems in florida and naples and at palm beach, the faa is saying there could be ground stops there as well. it's a huge driving day. triple a predicted that about

80 million people would travel 50 miles or more over a seven day travel rush. used to be a five day rush. this is the first year they extended it to seven days and triple a says about 70 million of those people will be driving. today will be hard again. it's the mix of normal commuters and those holiday travelers. the worst times are really in the middle of the day. triple a says between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. so if you can get an early start now, that's probably a good idea. or maybe wait until after the evening rush. so many people trying to get home all at once, and it seems like today may be close to an all time record. yesterday will likely be the all time record for air travel wow. >> that is a lot of people rolling through airports and security, but still 14 minutes maybe in security line. i guess we can always say it could be worse, pete. it could be worse. all right. pete muntean, thank you so much derek. talk to me about the forecast now, if you will, my friend. where are things? what are what have things looked like and where are things headed it could be worse. >> you could be in watertown,

new york. this is western new york. and i want to show you how quickly road conditions deteriorate. this is a drive sped up right. time lapse from adams to watertown. keep in mind those two locations are only separated by roughly ten miles. so this is the nature of lake effect snowfall. so we time lapse and kind of sped up the radar over the past weekend. and you can see these bands that set up with the wind that came right over the warm lake waters, and how localized that snow banding is. but where those bands set up, that's where we get the heaviest of snowfall. just south of buffalo. this is incredible. buffalo airport one inch orchard park, about ten miles to the south over two feet. so yeah that is incredible. and you don't want to be traveling along interstate 90. that's where they had stalled out vehicles. interstate 81 over eastern sections just downwind of lake ontario. there is still more snow to come as we continue with this northwesterly wind across portions of the great lakes. with another storm system approaching by the second half

of this week, i'll leave you with this, kate. i mean, can you imagine waking up having to hunt and peck around for your car? this reminds me to the sequel of the ashton kutcher film wow, dude, where's my car? i found it something like that. >> that's when you like, pray for that remote start and put the defrost on for like, i guess maybe for those windshield wipers work. well, the key is, look, i grew up right around lake effect snow you don't turn the windshield wipers on until it is defrosted or that's the last time you're using a windshield wiper. rodeo exactly. derek. thank you. we're going to be tracking this all throughout the day. pete muntean at the airport for us. thanks, guys. really appreciate it. coming up for us megachurch pastor t.d. jakes speaks out for the first time since suffering that health scare. he was. that happened right as he was giving his sermon. we have an update for you on that and tis the season of peace and light. first lady jill biden, just this morning unveiling this year's holiday theme and decor at the white house, marking their final season in the executive mansion this cnn business update is

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>> oh my gosh, is this our house when leaving? >> just isn't an option, the brothers are here to help. thank you. you're welcome. you're welcome. don't paint your house. all new wednesday at nine on hgtv new. >> this morning, the israeli military has confirmed the death of one of the october 7th hostages held by hamas. american-israeli soldier omer neutra. the hostages and missing families forum said neutra was killed on october 7th during the hamas led attack. cnn spoke with olmert's parents just last week on thanksgiving it's been a really, really tough year for us. >> you know, it's not a real holiday. um, all the holidays are just milestones that remind us that omar is not here. um we are still stuck on october seventh. we're in a waiting pattern for over a year right now, and we're praying for his life and for his safety. >> all right cnn's nadia bashir joins us now. so what do we know about how this information came to light today? >> yeah, that's right. we had that confirmation from the israeli military earlier this

morning. >> john confirming the death of omar neutra, the 21 year old american israeli soldier was reportedly killed on october 7th. and his body has since been held captive in gaza ever since. now we have heard a statement from the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu who said that he shares in the family's grief. he went on to say that we will not rest until we bring him home to a grave in israel. we will continue to act with determination and tirelessly until we bring all of our captives back home. now this comes, of course, after hamas released a propaganda video on the weekend of israeli-american hostage edan alexander. now, we're not showing that video, but in the video, he does plead to an appeal to the israeli prime minister and us president elect donald trump to do all that. they can to secure the release of all remaining hostages. and of course, we heard from alexander's mother as well over the weekend. she said she was shaken by the video but also said that she had been assured by netanyahu that the conditions are ripe for a hostage release deal. now, of course, we have

continued to see those large scale rallies in tel aviv and across israel calling on the government of israel to do more to secure hostage release and ceasefire deal. and we've also seen significant protests across the globe as well, calling for a ceasefire in gaza and an end to israel's military onslaught on the gaza strip. in fact, there was a big demonstration over here in london over the weekend. and this comes as we continue to see the situation deteriorate in gaza and continued airstrikes. at least 200 people killed in airstrikes in northern gaza over the weekend and of course, we've been hearing from the world health organization saying now, some 90% of those displaced in gaza are now living in tent shelters as opposed to un schools and other buildings. so of course, exposed to the harsh winter elements as well as the lack of aid and food supplies getting in, john all right. >> nadia bashir, thank you very much for that. all right. quote he put his family ahead of the country. new reaction this morning from both political parties after president biden pardoned his son hunter. and this morning huge fines in college football over the post

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control of your coverage by calling plan enroll today now is not the time to lose faith sisterhood above all doom prophecy. >> streaming exclusively on max the blowback over the hunter biden. >> pardon has been swift. republican lawmakers quick to criticize president biden over this. democrats also some democrats also speaking out about the bad precedent that they fear that this sets incoming the incoming chairman of the senate judiciary committee, republican chuck grassley, weighing in with this, saying, i'm shocked that president biden pardoned his son, hunter because he said many, many times he wouldn't. and i believed him. shame on me. cnn's lauren fox tracking the reaction in washington for us. and there's a lot that we've already heard and likely a lot more to come. lauren

yeah. >> lawmakers expected back in washington this evening. we can expect that a lot of republicans are going to be lashing out after this news broke late last night, but there are a number of republicans who are making the argument that joe biden had said one thing, and then done another. now, there are also republicans in the house who had worked on that impeachment probe. someone like representative jim jordan, the chairman of the house judiciary committee, who said if there was nothing to their probe, why is hunter biden being pardoned? now, obviously these were different issues, but it's important to point out that the republican backlash has been swift. here's another republican senator ron johnson, who said just confirming that under democratic governance, there truly is a dual system of justice, one that protects democrats and another weaponized against their political opponent. but it's not just republicans that have criticized biden. you are also hearing from a small number of democrats, including

representative greg stanton from arizona, saying, quote, i respect president biden, but i think he got this one wrong. he also goes on to say if this wasn't politically motivated, pro hunter committed felonies and was convicted by a jury of his peers. kate lauren thank you so much for that john. >> all right. with us now, cnn political commentator karen finney and cnn's senior political commentator scott jennings so, karen, you just heard democrat greg stanton, democratic governor of colorado. jared polis. there are democrats saying they're not happy that president biden made this decision yeah well, tough. >> the president went ahead and did what he thought was right for him and for and to protect his son. and i think there are going to be democrats who, from a political perspective, are going to feel like they may have to say something, but who probably on the inside understand why president biden went ahead and did this. and i

got to tell you the, you know crowing from republicans and i know my my dear friend scott will have plenty to say about this, but we're talking about, you know, donald trump is a convicted felon who literally had pardoned his daughter's father in law and just made him ambassador to france. so if we're going to talk about, you know, who's using what system and what fashion, let's put it all on the table. and let's be honest about the fact that donald trump doesn't really have a leg to stand on in this one. >> so, scott jennings, what about that steve bannon charles kushner paul manafort roger stone, michael flynn and charles kushner not just pardoned, but also apparently about to be nominated. ambassador to france joe biden is leaving office making the strongest possible case for donald trump that anybody could possibly make it. >> and that's that our government and our justice system is of, by and for the

elites and nobody else he ran to banish trumpism from our political system in this country, and he has left it politically. and now institutionally, the strongest possible political force in this country. it is a complete and utter failure by the head of the democratic party and the president of the united states. never again do i want to hear, oh, donald trump's a liar. you can't believe anything he says donald trump will abuse his power donald trump will only use the system to benefit himself and his family, and so on and so forth never again. i have one question for karen and that is why did he need an 11 year blanket pardon? going back to 2014, when joe biden was the vice president, we are sitting on the biggest cover-up of who knows what crimes. and joe biden amazingly knows exactly, roughly when it started. he knows just about when it all

started. he's leaving office in complete and total disgrace. he is a liar and there is no other way to spin this today. this has nothing to do with trump and everything to do with the character of joe biden. >> let me let me give some context to what scott is saying. just there karen, before you address it, because this pardon i do not believe we have mentioned it not just granting clemency for the crimes for which hunter biden was convicted of illegally purchasing a gun, a tax evasion, but also a blanket pardon for any federal crimes that may have been committed. basically, between 2014 and 2024. so what about that literal get out of jail free card for a ten year period? karen well look, literally, you know, the president recognizes that republicans have been for years now trying to attack the president himself, go after his family. >> and when you have someone who literally ran their campaign on retribution on the

idea of i will be your retribution and getting back at his enemies, i would imagine. obviously, i haven't spoken to the president about this, but i would imagine the president took a look at this and said, i want to make sure this is ironclad, that there is nothing that can be done to circumvent what i'm going to do to protect my son and to try to take the target off of his back. finally, once and for all. so that's my reading of it. but again, i think that the hypocrisy here is astounding. i mean, donald trump has said and done things, you know, said things that he and done other things. and again, he's a convicted felon himself. he has used his power to benefit his friends, his wealthy allies. in this instance we're talking about a man who decided to take care of his son after years of unrelenting attacks. i don't blame him scott, did you have the same concerns over a judge?

>> hang on. a justice system for the elite as you put it before, when it was donald trump pardoning steve bannon, paul manafort roger stone, michael finn, charlie kushner, same concern. then listen, you guys can spend all day long trying to spin this, that this is donald trump's fault that this is somehow caused by donald trump. >> oh, he's appointing the wrong people oh, he did it. oh this is the worst possible thing. a president could possibly do to his party and to the country to sit for a year and say i will not do this. i will not do this. the rule of law is sacred. we have to respect the justice system juries. we have to respect juries. we have to respect the guardrails and the norms of our democracy. these people are liars. inflation is transitory afghanistan. it's a success. the border is secure. robert.

he is a liar. the videos are cheap fakes. biden has a cold. he'll never drop out oh i'll never pardon hunter. it's all a lie. it is all a grift. every american except the most partisan brain rotted people are going to be outraged by this today. he is going to leave off, you think 38, 39% job approval is bad. just you wait. just you wait he's disgraced. disgraced today. outrageous. >> you don't need to put scott. you don't need to hurl names and say people like me are brain rotted. come on, that's a little beyond the pale, even for you scott, listen i agree we can disagree you don't have to defend this. >> he's leaving office. you don't have to defend it you don't have to die on this hill. you can say this is wrong because everybody knows that it is. it's wrong are you fine with the lying? are you fine with him sitting before the election all year and lying to the american people? are you fine with the lying about it i

don't think that he was lying. >> i think he made a decision after the fact. and decided this was the right thing for him. and for his family. period. full stop donald trump decided that it was okay to pardon joe biden. >> karine jean-pierre, how many minutes of tape do we have of both of these people telling the american people this will not happen? it's it's a i mean, we could play it all morning. it's a lie and it's a lie to benefit his own family. and that's all that it is. and everybody who went on tv and said, oh, look how he's the modern george washington. he's drained every ounce of credibility from every surrogate if karine jean-pierre had an ounce of self-respect, she'd get off the plane in africa today where they're going so he can avoid the press and resign. he's drained all of her credibility. and everybody else who's defended this, it's draining draining for them forever well, karen, to be fair, we did joe biden. >> we did play that sound

earlier, did flat out say on multiple occasions. and the press secretary did that. he would not pardon hunter biden. >> he he sure did. and i will tell you that he probably heard from a lot of people who said, you know what, sir go ahead and do it. you should go ahead and protect your son, because who knows what trump and trump's department of justice will do when they say that their number one goal is retribution how could you not take the opportunity to say, you know what, i'm going to? this is one thing that i can do for my child. this is one thing i can do to help get the target off of his back i also, by the way this is politics and again, when we're if we're going to you know, go down and compare list to list, it's you know, it's not going to look very good for donald trump either. and i just don't have a problem with joe biden doing this at all. all right. >> karen finney karen finney, i know a lot of democrats who agree with me. karen finney, scott jennings a discussion that i don't think is going

away anytime soon. so i appreciate you both being part of it this morning, kate let's turn to this continuous glucose monitors have become a game changer for people living with diabetes helping to better monitor sugar levels in the blood. >> well, now these devices are more and more also being marketed as wellness tools for everyone, even those without the disease. cnn's meg tirrell wanted to find out what that means, how they work, what we can learn more. i have tons of questions. what have you learned, meg well, kate, i wore one of these for about six weeks. >> i applied it to the back of my arm. it has a little wire on it that goes in like a needle, and it constantly gives you feedback on what your glucose levels are. after everything you eat. and the idea is that for people without diabetes, maybe you'll see unique insights about yourself. how do you respond to different foods? how do you respond to exercise, sleep, stress? can you see that reflected in your glucose levels and are the are there changes that you can make to improve your health? so as you said, these devices have been available for people with type

one diabetes where they've really been revolutionary before people had to rely on just pricking their fingers to get information about how much insulin they needed to give to themselves this year, they were cleared by the fda for use without a prescription. they're available from companies like dexcom and abbott, and they cost about $89 out of pocket. if you want to try one of these things and you don't use insulin and you don't have a prescription. so i applied one of these back in september. i ended up wearing three different ones over a course of six weeks. kate, i have to tell you the first thing i felt putting this on was anxiety. i didn't expect to feel that way. i was sort of just curious to see what would happen. but then when i was faced with the glucose ramifications of the things i was eating, i constantly started trying to game the system and keep my glucose as low as possible. i learned from multiple experts that is not really how you're supposed to be using these things. you should be eating the way you normally eat. see what then happens in response in your glucose. you can see one day of my glucose readings

there. i had greek yogurt for breakfast that has a lot of protein in it i didn't have any real glucose reaction to that, but later in the day i had an apple you can see there's that second sort of purple spike there just an apple alone sent my glucose up quite a bit, but as you can see, it's within that normal range of 70 to 140mg per deciliter. so i was sort of left wondering, does that kind of spike matter? and what i found from talking with people across the spectrum, from research to medicine, is that there are a lot of opinions about this, very strong opinions, but not a lot of firm consensus on whether glucose spikes within that range are important for your health one thing i did find, though, is i talked with our colleague sanjay gupta about this. he has tried a glucose monitor and he's seen big enough spikes that he's actually changed the way he eats. so for some, it could be really helpful for me cause a lot of anxiety and then kind of apathy. i have to say, kate, a whole lot, a whole lot of feelings all wrapped up in one glucose monitor. >> it's really, really an interesting kind of exploration in your reporting. great to see you meg. thanks so much, john

all right. >> this morning football the way it is meant to be played in the ice and snow. i mean honestly this was something to look at. buffalo bill veteran coy wire here with the highlights. i mean coy you know you played in games like this. >> oh man john, we used to put tape in our ear holes so the wind could get in. we were doctors latex gloves under our football gloves to keep the heat in we're talking freezing temperatures fans were paid and given warm meals to help shovel snow out of the stadium seats. perfect football weather for the bills watch this receiver mack hollins walked into the stadium barefoot. john the 40 niner california boys never stood a chance. they were like fish out of water receivers. they didn't know how to get their footing lineman. they were doing belly flops because they didn't know to click those cleats together to get the snow out but james cook and those bills, they were running like they had snow shoes on with afterburners. cook had 107 yards and a touchdown. these snow games john always make you

feel like a kid again. so how fitting is it that josh allen and amari cooper created a play that looked like it was drawn up on a playground? allen passing to cooper, who pitches allen the ball and allen soars in for the touchdown. amari said he caught the ball was wondering what are you doing there? josh there you go. one of the wildest touchdowns of the season allen gets credit for a passing and receiving touchdown, a complete blowout 35 to 10. the forty-niners fall to five and seven. they lost their star running back christian mccaffrey to another injury as buffalo clinches a playoff spot and their fifth straight afc east title. josh allen had quite the week he got engaged and he became the first quarterback to score a rushing passing and receiving touchdown in the same game. now jaguars quarterback trevor lawrence says he is home. he's feeling better after suffering a concussion during yesterday's 2320 loss to the texans lawrence had to be carted off the field after that hit in the

second quarter from linebacker azeez al-shaair as lawrence laid there on the ground this huge brawl broke out between the teams al-qaim was ejected for the hit along with jags cornerback jaron jones, one of the many teammates who rushed to stand up for their quarterback finally, the consequences of the michigan-ohio state postgame brawl have been announced. the big ten fined the schools $100,000 each for their involvement in the melee. following the wolverines stunning upset over the number two buckeyes on saturday, police used prep pepper spray to break up the players who were punching and shoving. the conference says it considers this matter concluded and no other fines or suspensions will be handed out. >> john yeah, not cool not cool at all. >> also not cool to hit on trevor lawrence but the game in buffalo very cool. >> coy wire thank you for that so just be clear. >> cool not cool, not cool as a as a michigan fan, watching that play out with my daughters cheering cheering cheering on

next to me that was so disappointing to see that brawl i mean it was one brawl between michigan and ohio state then it calmed down. and then they picked it back up. it's just disappointing all over the place. >> take the win. get off the field. >> exactly well and then ohio state also is wrong as well. um, all right. let's move on to this online shopping expected to break records today. cyber monday. why are expectations so high this time around? we'll let you know. and holiday crowds are also breaking records at the box office just close the doors and you're in a world of your own travel

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cyber monday, which means people are looking for deals and they're finding them. and we are also learning that online shoppers are expected to spend a record $13.2 billion online, if that projection holds, this could be the biggest online shopping day in u.s. history. cnn's vanessa yurkovich is tracking what this all means for all of us. i mean sales. they exploded, even online sales even leading up to today. what are the trends that you're seeing here? >> yeah, today is expected to be the biggest shopping day in history, cyber monday. but people are still looking for deals. and we've actually seen that people waited until this past weekend to do their shopping. but look at that number. $13.2 billion projected this year. that is up from last year, but we're still seeing that sales growth year to year is average even though people are spending, because things are a little bit more expensive. but let's look at what we saw on black friday just a few days ago. we saw good spending there $10.8 billion, up $1 billion from the year before. and we're seeing

some trends. also. people are now shopping on their phones, right? we used to see online shopping on desktop. people are on their phones now shopping. we're also seeing a lot of people doing buy now pay later. so this is like the modern day layaway to date. this past month $7.6 billion in buy now pay later. some experts see concerns with this, right? because essentially you keep doing this on every gift you buy. you're accruing debt. and right now, americans are holding about $1.1 trillion in debt. that is a record. also, this season, people might be thinking about tariffs a little bit. what is to come if you want to get some good deals to beat the tariffs, phones vacuum cleaners, hair dryers, kitchen appliances, toys and of course, phones. the majority made in china. >> yeah, but phones and vacuum cleaners, these are these could be i would say definitely go into the category of essentials these days. it's great to see vanessa. let's see what the end i'm very interested to see

what the eventual total is after today. we'll find out. >> john did somebody say tariffs. this morning president elect trump is threatening 100% tariffs on certain countries. cnn's matt egan is here. which countries and why? >> well he's threatening these tariffs on brics countries. >> that's the international group that was originally founded by brazil russia, india and china it has since expanded to include south africa, saudi arabia and iran now this is all about the president elect trying to defend threats to the u.s. >> dollar. i mean, john, there's really no shortage of problems that trump thinks that tariffs could solve, right? >> illegal immigration, drug trafficking and now threats to the dollar. it makes me wonder if i should think about tariffs to try to get my kids to clean up their toys. i don't know, they would probably just think i was negotiating with them. but listen, a couple of things to remember here. the us imports a lot from these

countries, right. and if you put a 100% tariff, which is what the president elect has threatened in this true social post, that would make a lot of things more expensive. for example we import from china iphones, we get a lot of sugar from brazil, spices from india, fertilizer from russia crude oil from saudi arabia. so it is easy to see how perhaps this is just a negotiating tactic from the president elect, because if it weren't, it could cause prices to go much, much higher. i talked to a number of experts over the weekend who were kind of perplexed by this threat. christine mcdaniel, a former george w. bush trade official told me it's confusing because there's no need. she said. there is simply no currency out there in the world that can replace the dollar. it's not even close, john. >> all right. matt egan thank you very much. i hope your kids respond well to the tariffs. we'll see. okay also new this morning, first lady jill biden unveiling the annual holiday theme. >> and decor for the white house this morning. the theme it's a season of peace and

light. the first lady and her team transforming the white house into a gilded winter wonderland. here's some of the video coming in from just moments ago. word from the white house is it took more than 300 volunteers and staff over the weekend to deck the halls for the final time under the biden administration. this year's decor includes a forest of vintage ceramic christmas trees in the library and a whimsical carousel as it's described. decorated official white house christmas tree in the blue room. the white house expects to welcome about 100,000 visitors to the white house this holiday season. dallas megachurch bishop t.d. jakes, with an update now for his congregation after a health scare happened in the middle of him giving a sermon last week. in a video message sunday, jake said that many of you don't realize that you're looking at a miracle. it was a scary scene that played out a week earlier when he was seen like freezing while giving his sermon. the church had said he received immediate medical attention after that. and the 67 year old bishop said he's

recovering after undergoing surgery. but he has not revealed what caused the emergency. the box office beat out the couch and turkey comas over thanksgiving weekend, resulting in monster turnout that we now know includes record setting numbers. the biggest winner moana two. >> can i get a kaiju the adorable animated sequel now has the highest grossing five day opening, bringing in $221 million, setting a record for the largest thanksgiving weekend haul in history. >> it's not just moana. if you add in wicked and gladiator two, these three blockbusters brought in an estimated $420 million, blowing past previous thanksgiving weekend record set in 2018 of just a little more than $315 million. >> john, i saw gladiator two, maybe a little less adorable. all right. this morning closing arguments are set to begin in the trial of daniel penny. he

is accused of putting a man, jordan neeley, in a fatal six minute chokehold on a new york subway in 2023. gloria pazmino live outside the courthouse. what are we expecting to hear today? gloria well, john, the fate of daniel penny will be in the jury's hands today. >> as soon as closing arguments are over. the defense is expected to go first, followed by the prosecution. and this is a chance for both sides to once again reintroduce and reset their case to this jury. the defense has focused on causation and justification. they have said that daniel penny was simply responding to a threat, and that threat was jordan neeley, that he was screaming on the subway car threatening people and that daniel penny simply stepped in to prevent him from hurting others. on the other side is the prosecution. they have said that daniel penny disregarded jordan nealy's life and acted recklessly by ignoring the risk

of placing him in that six minute choke hold and their star witness was the city's medical examiner, who found that jordan neeley had died from compression to the neck. the defense tried to counter that testimony by bringing in their own medical expert, who said that jordan neeley died from a complication of different factors. the fact that he was high on k2, that he suffered from psychotic schizophrenia and the excitement of the struggle between jordan neeley and daniel penny. now, this is a case that has really focused on the city's crisis with people who are experiencing mental health issues as well as public safety. on the subways. there were several witnesses who talked about feeling scared when they saw jordan neeley and relieved that penny had stepped in. this will all be determined by the