>> that is about to change. tomorrow the nights will finally stop getting longer and the days will finally start to catch up. things will literally get brighter. starting tomorrow. but in the meantime, there's tonight, i'm sorry. and in totally unrelated news, this is dyoisis the greek god of wine and wine making and some other things i don't feel like talking about on television because my mom's watching. in greek mythology, up with of the less lurid, less scandal is things that happened and d o'nisi, one day he came home after a trip abroughted with friendsch up with of his friend was a very good friend, sometimes described as his mentor, sometimes his father figure. sometime his right-hand guy or best friend. but his name was cylenus. and he was a sader.

half man, half goat and because cyelenus the sader was out with the god of wine, naturally by the time he came home, he was hammered, falling down druchg. in fact, cylenus passed out. he passed out on the king's lawn or in the king's rose garden or vineyard, again, depending on which version of the myth you are reading. regardless, cylenus the sader, he passed out t. king's mignon the king's staffers found him. they found this half man/half goat lying drunk hon the king's property somewhere, they were very alarmed. so they tied him up, tied his little goat feet together and brought him to the king and the king recognized him.

the king did not think this was just some average one of the mill half man/half goat off the streets, who was rampageing through his property. the king recognized him as cylenus, best friend, right-hand man, right-hand goat man of dionisis the almighty god of wine. suddenly he got untied, treated him kindly. in return, he told the king, he told king midas that he would grant him whatever he wanted and king midas came up with a genius idea. he was already a king, but he wanted to be really really rich. so what he wanted in return for his kindness to the half men half goat friend, what he asked for in return was that everything he touched he wanted everything he touched to turn to gold.

and at first it seems like a genius idea, right? you can make anything turn to gold. it also means you can't touch anything without it turning to gold. i'm sure it's great to like turn an apple into a solid gold apple, unless are you really hungry and you wanted to eat that apple. how can you eat something without touching it? in the myth of king mi kda s there is a story, he loved his daughter, he loved her a lot more before he accidentally turned her into a solid chunk of gol. but that's the myth of midas. it's often i think misremembering. it's like an awesome thing. turn everything to gold. the midas story not a good story. it's a cautionary tale. the you want money, in reality, turning everything into money is deadly.

so that's midas. midas is also the name of a computer that the state of michigan brought online in the fall of 2013. michigan elected a new governor. he had been a computer executive in his previous life. he campaigned under the slogan one tough nerd. up with of the things he decided to do is bring on board midas. it stands for the michigan integrated data automation system. michigan integrated automated system. ye. the that sounds like a nonsense tile. it's a totally nonsense tile. i think they just wanted to spell midas. what midas did is it kicked all of the human beings ouof the process of evaluating people's applications for unemployment. so if you get laid off at michigan, you go down to the

unemployment office. you fill out an application, to start rooef receiving unemployment benefits. instead of a human being, midas would do it. and midas had a way of turning the problem of unemployed people in michigan, it had a way of turning that into money. because once midas was put in charge of processing everybody's application for unploichl all of a sudden, everybody that applied for unemployment started getting treated like a criminal. midas, when it took in makes, it flagged 93 percent of them as fraudulent applications. so 93% of the time, people applying for unemployment not only wouldn't get their unemployment check, but they'd have their applications kicked back to them flagged as a fraudulent system it was all automated. it didn't make it clear that people could appeal this finding. people who did sort of fight the system and physical out they

could appeal. nine times out of ten, their appeals would succeed. these applications weren't fraudulent. most people wouldn't know they could appeal. it's an intimidating system. they have been told they might go to jail. they are being threatened with fines up to $100,000. not only did most people not appeal and not get their unemployment, but a lot of people were scared and just started paying the fines. people who didn't pay the fine, they'd get their taxes garnished. their state taxes and federal taxes. you'd be expecting a tax return? no, we took it. midas says you were a fraud. they were supposed to be handleing unemployment application, but stetd, it was doing this very different thing. >> anybody that's lost a job knows what these folks were going through, there is so much anxiety. imagine that you are in those straights and then the unemployment ens system supposed to support you in your time of

need tells you, you have been defrauding the state, basically starts making your life miserable. carolyn hayes was among the 27,000 michigan up employed accused of fraud based on this automated system. >> it has put me through like just so much. they've taken all of my income tax. i can't file for unemployment. >> when the computer system started, the number of fraud cases quinn up theled. >> the workers from the beginning told management that there were problems with the system. >> reporter: carolyn won her two appeals. in fact, a state auditor's generals report of those who did appeal their cases nine out of ten won. that's right, only 10% were found to be cheating the system. >> me and my daughter are living together. we're struggling. >> reporter: because they're holding on to your money? >> because they're holding on to my money. >> this system held on to a lot of people's money. you wouldn't think you could jooez squeeze that much money

out of mostly poor people within they lost tear jobsch it adds up when you start demanding they pay fines to avoid going to jail. people find a way to get you money when you threaten them with that. before rick snyder put this midas pot in place t. pot of money made up of people paid in these fines, that pot of money was about $3 million. then midas was put in place three years ago, that pot has grown to $155 million. all money that was taken in from people who have just been laid off and need help but instead they're paying these bull fines for something they didn't do. but that's midas, right? it turns everything into money. deep hug your daughter. congressman sander levin. he has been all over this. the state auditor in michigan

got involved in this. there are two major lawsuits filed over the state of much over this thing and automatic attention to this midas derrick snyder caused in michigan, it has resulted in a limited review thus far of what that computer system did to people. of the $155 million they took from people, they managed to pile up in state government using this insane scheme, out of the $155 million they paid back about $5 million to the people they stole. michigan government is the most radical republicans in the whole country, because it's michigan, yeah, they passed a bill this past week to allow themselves to take $10 million out of that pot of money, that that pot of money that midas stole from all poor people, even while these investigations are going on, they're taking $10 million to

balance the state bug. my guess is they want to pass it through if it's gone, you can't give it back, right? michigan, the midas touch. at the exact same time that michigan's tough nerd was installing this genius computer system that systematically ripped off and threatened people in the process of losing their jobs in that state, at the exact same, that same michigan government appointed an emergency manager, they don't have a stup acronym like midas. it's a way of replacing the work of humans with a machine. emergency management is a democracy replacement minute. a few states around the country have lighter, saneer versions of this. in michigan, they take their poor towns and cities, very often, majority black, what the governor does is he abolishs

democracy in those cities and towns. i mean, people can go through the motions of pre tending to elect their city counsel or mayor. those votes don't matter. under the emergency management system, whoever people in local communities elect, those elected officials aren't allowed to have any power. instead the governor just designates a city or town as broke enough to need his help. he abolishs the elected official, instead by his own vote of one he just picks one person who will then be in charge of that city. that one person answers only to him, only to the governor. up to residents have no say. local elected officials have no say. local election versus no function and that's sort of forgive ne dictatorial government by fiat on the order of the governor alone, that's

supposed to be magic in fixing the problems of these poor towns and poor cities in michigan. but in the city of flint, michigan, this is how it works in most cities. int city of flint, you know the city was in financial distress when rick snyder's emergency manager got there. it was still in financial distress when he left there. in fact, when he left there, he was replaced by another emergency manager. so this is just what michigan does. this is the imageic. they overi'd democracy for the sake of efficiency. when that doesn't work, they keep overriding democracy, anyway. that's what we do. by now, you mow the story of what happened in flint, michigan. when its local democracy was taken away, instead the city was run by fiat to one emergency manager, who answered to nobody else except the governor, flint for all of it problems, they've

previously gotten their drinking water from lake huron, one of the greatest sources on the face of the earth, nearby lake huron, in what appears to have been an effort to save money, flint, the emergency manager made a decision that flint, instead, would get its water from the local flynnt riff. they made the switch impoerp properly. it's more corrosive even in the best of sessions. but they didn't treat the water before they pumped it into the city. it basically destroyed the pipes and that created a number of disgusting consequences for the people of that city. none the least of which was a legion airs outbreak, with i is thought to have been caused by the water switch, that outbreak killed at least 12 people and, of course, famously, there was the mass lead poisoning of the entire city of flint remembers including thousands of kids who will live with the consequences of having been poisoned by lead in their drink awe when they are

kids. it is something you don't grow out of. it is something for which there is no magic anecdote. even before they knew about the lead poisoning t. people of flint could tell, as soon as it was switched, they besieged their local officials to the extent they had local officials. they confronted the people who they thought ought to be in charge of these things, immediately. that's the beauty of being an mortgages manager. nobody answers to you. it's not a democracy. you are appointed by one man the governor. you answer to one man, the governor. let the peasants "squawk" about whatever it is that's bothering them. it doesn't matter to you, you can afford to be utterly impervious to their need. so it went on for a year-and-a-half the people of that city poisoned every day before finally the activists and the angry moms and the pediatricians and the outside

researchers blew the lid off and flint went into a state of emergency. before today, nine people have been indicted on criminal charges in conjunction of the people of flint by the state of michigan. nip indictments. today the first charges were filed against, the first charges were filed against anybody who is even remotely up the food chain. >> that emergency manager who rick snyder found for flint at the same he was installing midas in the unemployment office that emergency manager todays with charged with four felony counts. as was the other emergency manager who came after him, along with two appointees the emergency managers are charged with fell hone false pretences and conspiracy around those charges. the combination of those charges can put them in jail for 40 years. in addition, one of the emergency managers is charged

with felone misconduct in office for making misleading statements in public the water in flint was okay to drink. he is accused of the flint water ma want to report water for use. the other is charged with the outbreak of the legionaires disease. both of those emergency managers were not voted into office. that were appointed by and were answerable to only one person. me. 's governor. michigan governor rick snyder was the only person they answered to while they were committing these acts that now could put them in jail for decades. one of the other people is charged howard croft. he worked at the department of public works. he may end up having a very interesting role to play on the witness stand in this case, he's on record, on tape, telling the aclu of michigan the decision

about flint's water, they weren't made by the emergency managers operating independently and making up this stuff on their own. he says he was the director of public work. he says he knows those decisions about flint's water were made even higher upch way higher up. >> i think the valuation has gone up aim way to the state level. what would the person be for the city of flint. that was the determination. >> all the what i to the governor's office? >> all what i to the governor's office. >> that man is now facing 40 years in prison. he says decision came from the governor's office. is the governor going to get criminally charged in this case? we do not know. in announcing these charges, there was no indication that the investigation was done. >> i think today you see once again the investigation has continued to go up and to go out. as the attorney general said, we are much closer to the end than the beginning but worry not at

the end. there is an investigation still continuing today. there are some people out there right now who know that they done wrong and they know we're coming after them. they're not going to have a very merry christmas. i don't feel bad about that. but we will continue to follow the evidence and investigate this. we owe it to the people of michigan and pla recall to people of flint smr we take them as we find them t. fact is this is a higher level of responsibility. these are governor appointed emergency managers we are charging with 20-year fem loans. it's serious. as andy arena said we are going up and we are going broader. again, i said this before, nobody is off the table. nobody is off the table. weesh not out to nail anybody. remind you, if you have done something wrong, then you oug to be worried. >> the feel who answer directly

and personally to the governor of michigan for what they did in the city of flint. they have now been charged with multiple felonies for what they did in the city of flint. we do not know if the governor will be charged. we do not know the answer to that him we are living in an era of crazy governance, what's going on at the presidential level is mind blowing on a day-to-day basis. just what happened today with the president-elect's sons, chris hayes spoke about in the last hour. just that today is impossible to believe. at the state level yopd michigan, you know, we have all been watching places like north carolina the outgoing republican governor, he just signed a bill that will attempt to make the incoming governor keep a thousand people in state government who the republican governor gave jobs to. the new democratic governor coming in will not be allowed to fire a thousand people in state government who were hired by the previous guy who is a

republican? what, i'm forcing to you keep a thousand of my appointee itself. hmm, we'll see. we are in a moment where governance has gotten really radical and really creative and crazy, but even in that environment, still, i believe michigan is special. >> it is very ev department during the course of this investigation it has been a fixation on finances and balance sheets. this fixation has cost lives. this fixation came at the expense of protecting the health and safety of flint. it's all about numbers over people. money over health. >> whatever this particular state government thought it was doing, two.5 years into this american disaster, the americans who live in flint still cannot drink their water. 13 people have now been criminally charged.

the state still has its unbelievable meteorologist management law and the two people who directly reported to the governor, under that law, are each looking at for example years in prison tonight for what they did. the longest night of the 84. we'll be right back.

>> i know it's right before christmas and everybody is supposedly going on vacation. there is lots going on in the news, including tonight. today and into tonight, we got our drone back from the chinese government. we don't know the condition it's in, we did get it back. isis claimed responsible for two of the major terrorist attacks that happened yesterday and sunday. up with of those claims is a surprise for a specific reason. we will talk about that later on this hour. in terms of american politic the transition tried to pull off an amazing, oops, we didn't mean that, involving two of the president-elect's adult children.

that's an incredible story. and on this show this hour we have two really great journalists, both will be here, both on two very different beats. the first one of those interviews is next. stay with us.

those were names we were waiting to hear because one of the things people had complained about is they started it low and got low hanging fruit, but they said they were going to continue. those are some of the names people are waiting to hear. because we know they played major roles in what happened here. >> are you going to go high? smr yes. >> the governor's office? >> i think it will go higher. i think they will do what i they said they're going to do, they

are going to continue to investigate. >> that is the mayor in flint, michigan, two of the mortgages mappingers put in charm of her city by governor rick snyder. it was under their watch when the city's water was poisoned. one of the looming questions in michigan and the country is whether or not there may be criminal charges ahead for the governor, himself, those two persons they reported to, while they committed these acts, for which they have been charged with multiple felonies. joining me is brett mikel, thanks for being with us. it's good to have you here. >> thank you for having me. >> obviously, i'm looking at this from the outside, and there the a big looming political question as to whether or not this is going to eventually go to the governor. before we get to that, though, can you tell me about your reaction? this brings to 13 the number of people who have been charged.

>> it's amazing, the fact that we're even here talking about this that, you know, with ep the state puts dollars in front of people and we see what happens, i mean, an entire city poisoned, i don't think anyone is taking glee in this him but i do think that this is encouraging, that we are seeing this finally start moving up the chain and start getting into the people that rally had the power in the state to make these decisions. >> when you look at the charging document, you look at the remarks made today by the attorney general and the other people involved in this, explaining why they brought the charges against the people who they are charging, do you get any sense of the kind of theory of the case they are pursuing and whether or not we should expect it to ultimately knock on the door of state wide elected officials up to and including the governor? >> well, again, i think today's acts brings it right to the governor's door.

now, with what the attorney general has said as far as pursuing this, you would hope to see this open that door ap we can finally get some answers. just today you had elijah cummings was la meanting the fact the governor has responded the subpoenas. in the state of michigan the government is exempt from foya. we need answers. i hope the attorney general continues this pursuit all the way up to the top, so we can get the answers the people of flint deserve. >> on the grounds in flint, we have been following the progress in terms of replacing lead service lines that go into people's homes. we follow the progress of the $1 stept million bill, which may have relief for flint in terms of trying to heal, fix itself, to get safe watt to people now more than two years after this crisis started. what itself the status of the door-to-door bottle of water delivery in the city and what

proportion of the city is able drink their water safely at this point in. >> well, i don't think any proportion of the city by any standard can drink it safely. because you have to have a filler. and the idea that you are putting the honus on the residents to make sure that filter is installed correctly is just incredible to me. the state has fought efforts to deliver that water. they just went to court to try to get out of that responsibility. and yet you have these charges today where the state is effectively being told that they were putting money in front of people's lives and yet they're still fighting tooth and nail to avoid doing even the most basic responsibility. >> it is stunning just over this am of time to know that people aren't getting water delivered to them in flint. j you that one bake fact is almost impossible to absorb from outside city littles.

we prael really appreciate your time. stay in touchch thanks to be being here. >> all right a. lot more to get to. stay with us. xe

>> an expert on terrorism and specifically on isis, whenever there is a as toer that breaks on that beat, if you are a twitter user, you should look at this twitter feed him in our newsroom here, she is famous for

these bursts of information that she publishs in real time as news stories are braking related to her beat. they're basically step-by-step, real time contexttual guides for understanding what we know about breaking news stories as they're developing. it's one thing to be able do that if you are a business reporter or a local politics reporter or a crime reporter. right? she's able to do this real time super accessible, u.p.s.able breakdown of breaking news on her beat, where it's almost impossible to do that, because her beat is isis and she makes more sense out of this area in the news and this quandary in the world. she makes more sense out of it than any other reporter that i know. she's here with us in studio next. stay with us. ♪when you've got...♪

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>> this is a place called curak castle.

they started building it in the 1140. from the 1160 until world war i, this castle was incontinuous use. now it's a big tourist attraction. it's in jordan in the city of ankara, about 90 miles south of the capital of jordan. this castle was also the site of a big complex terrorist sight on sunday. four gunmen fled into the castle, which is full of tourists. it turned into a firefight with police ten people ended up getting killed, including jordan's military special forces, six other jordanian security officers, two civilians and a canadian tourist. four attackers were also killed in that shootout. after the assault on the castle, it was interesting, authorities were worried maybe they had stumbled on a plot that was bigger than the one unfolded on sun. they found more explosives and

weapons and suicide vests in a house nearby where attack starred. today isis claimed responsible for that attack on sunday in jordan. then a couple of hours after isis took responsible for the sunday attack, it all started up again, jordanian security forces got into another big shootout. this was footage from that. it was like a war. jordanian security forces raided a house in kurak, to the attackers that launched the attack on sunday that isis claims t. men in this house they attacked barricaded thems, ultimately, there was a heavy exchange of fire between them and the jordanian authorities. four jordanian policemen got killed in this huge firefight tooth today, tonight, local payments are reporting the raid resulted in the arrests of two men. okay. so that's jordan. sunday big attack, thought it was over, isis claims

responsible and then it starts up again. not such a big deal. then today, isis claimed responsibility for the christmas market attack that happened in ber lip yesterday. >> that attack left 12 people dead, 48 people injured. this plaque semi truck carrying a load of steel plowed into a crowded christmas market in west berlin. we reported last night there has been an arrest in this case. german authorities say they think he was the wrong guy, isis today took responsible for this attack on the berlin christmas market. but there is nobody in custody in conjunction with that attack. the guy they arrested, they let go. is it significant? is it strain him? is it important that isis claimed responsibility for this attack in berlin before we know who the attacker is, before we know he is dead or in custody or escaped? how do we make sense of that, a reporter for the "new york

times" who covers isis, al qaeda and trim. thank you for being here. >> it's my measure. >> so isis did not immediately claim berlin him now they have. >> right. it's taken them about 24 hours, which is starting to be on the long end of isis. they usually take a couple of hours to we feel hours to chal ap attack. 24 hours is when the news cycle is so heavy with news of this event seems like a very long time. >> why is it taking longer? do we know it's taking longer? >> we don't know for sure, generally, that i take credit where the i a tacker has been kill or identified in some way. it's somewhat unusual they've taken credit for an attack who we don't know who the attacker is. there is one example. before it was a hamburg attack in germany, where the attacker remains at large. in general, if the attacker has been taken alive and is in custody, they don't claim it. if he's at large as well, then they also don't claim it.

>> in terms of understanding why they would do that if the attacker is in custody, that i don't want to, i'm speculating here. they don't want to claim it as isis, presumably that gives law enforcement a thread to paul in terms of tracing any links back to isis through that person. >> again, we don't know for sure. the paris attack is a perfect example of that. isis took credit for that in the most grandios fashion. they identified all of the attackers:youing the video clips of them, except for one, the one and only one who was not killed during the paris attack who got away and who end up getting caught, you know, weeks later and is still in custody, in custody, my sources say he has said absolutely nothing. so he has mataedomplete silence and with isis not claiming him as an attacker, we know he is there cctv footage puts him at the scene, it makes it muddier, if they claimed him it makes it more difficult for

police toy arrest him. >> we have the attack in jordan, which happened on sunday and then appears to have started back up with this fight. today with security forces, we've also ha had this attack in berlin. we had the assassination in ankara. the assassination of the russian ambassador in ankara is something i think people are immediately looking for an affiliate for that asass in. do you suspect that that will be claimed? is there a discussion about that attack in isis channels? >> i think it's the number one sources i am speaking toing secondly, if you look at the speech the shooter made right after he pulled the trigger, he said he is doing this for aleppo. he pledged allegiance to the prophet mohammed. isis recruits pledge of allegiance to the leader of

isis, secondly, aleppo, although it's extremely important in the news and a symbol of muslim suffering, that's a place where al qaeda has a foot hold, not so much isis. >> as we head into the holiday season, one of the things that was striking about the berlin attack, it seems like this is maybe the third in a series of attacks in germany that were mostly thwarted attacks, i went in, it specifically happened on christmas market. a couple other attacks targeting christmas markets were caught by authorities. is that the sort of thing where that's just happenstance or those are targets of opportunity picked by locally radicalized folks, or is that the same sort of thing that indicated a direction from above? >> when you see three back-to-back, you think there is some planning. that was seven men in the cities of strasburg and mass eilles.

they were getting training directly from isis. >> they were going to attack a major market in strasburg? >> we don't know for sewer. they have a major christmas market. >> that drawsless of people. in germany, you have just a couple weeks ago in november a 12-year-old boy was tan into custody and arrested for having placed a bomb at a christmas market in his small town and according to german media, he was being coached by isis handler through message at telegram, they taught him how to make this explosionive. pretty incredibility. again, a 12-year-old thwarted. now have you what happened in berlin this week some three attacks on this particular kind of target. you start to wonder, is there some larger plan? >> you can't connect the dots without a reason to check them. there is no reasoning to

ignorant about the fact that they are there. as always, uncommonly clear on a stressful suggest. quick note, homecoming secretary jeh johnson will be here in studio tomorrow. who is another person who is uncommonly clear on this subject, with i is kind of remarkable thing given his job. jeh johnson with us tomorrow night. stay with us. ok! impaciente! manolo! you're so cold, come in! what's wrong? take off your hat! no hey...it's, it's dry... your scalp? mine gets dry in the winter too. try head and shoulders' dry scalp care it nourishes the scalp 3 surface layers deep to help... ...prevent dryness and keeps you up to 100% flake free now we can cuddle the whole winter! head and shoulders' dry scalp care

okay. schrodinger's cat, a hypothetical cat used to explain things. in the rarified world of quantum mechanics, it is somehow both alive and dead at the same time. it's complicated. but that's schrodinger's cat. there's also the crossword puzzle. a schrodinger crossword puzzle, there are two correct answers

for the same clue in the puzzle. whichever answer you pick, it will fit in the puzzle just fine. the puzzles are very rare. "new york times" has published only ten of them ever including the most recent one this summer. the most famous was on election day in 1996. people were heading out to vote for either bill clinton or bob dole. and this was the clue for 39 across on election day. lead story florida tomorrow's newspaper. now, obviously the lead story in every paper was going to be the results of the election. that wouldn't be known for hours so how can anybody possibly -- ah, this is the genius thing. regardless of which name you filled in there clinton elect order bob dole elected, they both worked. with either answer, you could successfully finish the puzzle. it's genius. a schrodinger's puzzle having two opposite answers and both are right. tonight that's happening in politics. tonight the presidential transition team is trying to

feed us twos opposite sides of the same argument at the same time. it would be genius if it worked for them, it's not genius and it's not working but it is really funny. and that story is straight ahead. stay with us. this is more than just a credit card. it's how adventure begins. and with the miles you can earn, it's always taking you closer to your next unforgettable experience. become a cardmember and start enjoying benefits built to take you further...

like group 1 boarding... and no foreign transaction fees. plus, when you fly on american airlines, your first checked bag fee is waived for you and up to four companions. every purchase with the citi® / aadvantage® platinum select card takes you closer to adventure... whether it's somewhere you can see your breath, or a place that takes it away. apply today for a limited time offer and earn 50,000 aadvantage® bonus miles after spending $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. by using the citi® / aadvantage platinum select® card, you can begin to pack more into your adventure. become a cardmember to enjoy these benefits. apply today. visit citi.com/travel, or call 877-359-2291. on a tuesday, the president-elect picked this hedge fund mortgage mogul guy to run the united states treasury. the hedge fund guy got announced for treasury secretary on a

tuesday november 29th. the very next day, wednesday, november 30th, that same hedge fund guy went on tv and said what he thought should happen with a really big portion of the american economy. >> would you move to change fanny and freddie at this point and move to have these. tized? >> absolutely, we've got get them out of government ownership. it makes no sense that these are owned by the government and had been controlled by the government for as long as they have. >> okay. so tuesday, that guy gets picked for treasury secretary. wednesday, he goes on tv and says the government should privatize fannie and freddie. the government should release those two government run mortgage companies back into the wild. and then look what happened after he said that. boing. one of the big jest jumps in stock trieses those companies have seen since the crash, since the government took them over in the crash of 2008.

look at that. you know, when you're the nominee to be treasury secretary, your words can have an effect like that. one person says something, and the stock takes off like a rocket. you know, if you can imagine, right? if you're president or president-elect, could you make a lot of money if you sent your people out to make pronouncements like that while you held investments that could benefit from the impact of their words. you could make a ton of money. you see where this is going? because we don't have the president-elect's tax returns but he did file a financial disclosure while he was running for president. he said he had between $3 million and $15 million invested in a hedge fund that has bet heavily on the expected privatization of fannie and freddy. on the expected privatization of those two companies whose stocks just took a giant leap. and remarkably, now that we know he may be got a huge personal

boost from what his treasury nominee said about those companies, now that we know that, the president locate is not commenting on whether or not he still holds that investment. "the new york times" asked transition about it. the spokesman just said in response "we're not sharing any additional information at this time." maybe the president-elect sold all that stuff months ago. or maybe he made a ton of money when his treasury nominee said that. maybe we are in a situation where the president-elect's appointee is making announcements, proclamations that are massively boosting the president-elect's personal financial portfolio. we don't know. we're not allowed to know. this isn't theoretical. this isn't a potential conflict of interest. there is what is already happening.

until last week, the daughter of the president-elect had been auctioning off the opportunity to have coffee with her. hmm. just a casual get together, a little facetime with the

daughter. bidding was up to nearly $60,000. before they called it off. sometime between launching that thing and people finding out about it, it apparently became embarrassing to be literally selling access to an influential member of the president's family and his inner circle of advisors. maybe got embarrassing. maybe. maybe. because also last week, six days ago, somebody created a new non-profit in the state of texas. it listed the president-elect's sons as members of the board for this new non-profit. then this invitation started circulating. opening day is your opportunity to play a significant role as our family commemorates the inauguration of our father and friend, president donald j. trump advertising a hunting and fishing trump extravaganza, starting the day after the inauguration, for a million bucks you can get did the bald eagle package with access to a vip lounge and private reception and a photo op with the president of the united states for you and 15 of your friends on the day after the new

president is inaugurated. or that's elite hunter's package, a four-day hunting and or fishing trip with at least one or maybe both of the adult presidential sons. access to the president or his sons for a million bucks. today, after that news starred making the rounds, the trump transition released a statement saying these prizes listed on there invitation were just "initial concepts." they also said the trump brothers are "not involved in any capacity." but this is the registration for the non-profit. donald trump junior, eric trump, they're there registered. how is that not involved in any capacity? the transition says that was, a mistake. they're going to try to get the trump sons' names taken off the application that was already filed in texas just last week. raise your hand if you think this stuff is going to stop? once trump is inaugurated.

anybody think this is going to stop? anybody? that does it for us tonight. we'll see you again tomorrow. now it's time for the last word. "first look" is up next. this morning berlin's on high alert with police looking for whomever is responsible for this week's attack at a german christmas market. isis now claiming involvement. plus a deadly chain reaction explosion ripped through a fireworks market near mexico city. the blast killed 29, and dozens of others are injured while sending a huge plume of smoke into the sky. and new questions now over potential conflicts of interest with donald trump's sons, and their involvement in a charity that seemed to be suggesting access to the president-elect.