i'm in new york in the midst of a pandemic that has devastated the country. president trump is spending this holiday in south florida, arriving late yesterday and then proceeding to announce another round of controversial pardons, including his former campaign chairman, paul manafort, and his long time confidante, roger stone. both key figures in the mueller investigation. and while congress can do little but react to news of those pardons, lawmakers must respond to the president's other major announcement this week. his threat to veto the covid relief bill they spent months negotiating. nancy pelosi announcing today that the house will vote monday on increasing direct payments from $600 to $2,000.

that is what president trump is actually demanding. will house republicans go along with it? that remains to be seen. even if the house does approve the measure, it likely won't have enough support to pass in the republican controlled senate. and with this congressional term winding down, here's a look at what is at stake and what is on the line for millions of americans if nothing gets done. in a moment i'll talk with one member of congress facing these challenges but let's kick things off with garrett. he is with the president this hour. that's where we find josh letterman and with me, sam stein, editor at the daily beast and an msnbc news contributor. great to have you all with us for this hour. garrett, let me begin with you and talk about the republicans. you know them on capitol hill. do republicans have any clue about what the president is thinking right now? >> no. they've been trying to avoid a

situation like this since early in the president's term when house republicans backed a health care repeal bill the president turned around and called mean. this is why for the last eight months or so, mitch mcconnell has largely delegated all the negotiating with speaker pelosi to the treasury secretary. he has said repeatedly the point was to get to a law, to something the president would sign and he would not move forward on anything that he was not assured had the president's support. now, he and all his republican colleagues in the house and senate are left in a lurch. they passed this bipartisan package that is the covid relief bill and government funding deep into next year with overwhelming bipartisan majorities, vast majority of republicans signing on. and now they're left holding the bag, wondering if the president is making a serious veto threat or campaigning on twitter or what they're dealing with here. it is a debacle from the congressional republican perspective. >> there is some political

analysis that he threw mitch mcconnell under the bus by threatening to blow up this deal just to get back at mitch mcconnell for acknowledging joe biden's victory. any truth to that analysis? what do you make of it? >> well, the president certainly is not very happy with mitch mcconnell. we know that because he directed one of his aides a found days ago to send to house republican lawmakers a graphic that the president says shows that mitch mcconnell owes his re-election to efforts that president trump took to endorse him and to encourage people to support him. but i don't think it is just about the senate majority leader. i think it is broader than that. the president according to conversations he's had with associates as well as what he's been saying on twitter is very upset at what he feels is insufficient loyalty from republicans who are refusing to go i know what this ploy to try to overturn the results of the election. who are recognizing president-elect joe biden's victory. and that's why you see this really unprecedented rupture

between the president and republicans who have been staunchly loyal to them. now you have the president going after them, making them take this extremely difficult vote that they now have to explain why the president is on the other side. and you have some of his republican members in congress who had previously been very loyal to him now accusing the president of throwing them under the bus. >> before i get to sam, i want to ask about another angle to this story, particularly regarding voting systems. they've been the target of donald trump and his allies, alleging widespread voter fraud. it has been happening for a couple of weeks. it seems dominion- is fighting back. >> dominion voting systems putting everyone who has been in their view defaming them in the last several weeks on notice that they plan to pursue imminent legal action. what we believe will be defamation lawsuits that could target people like rudy giuliani, sydney powell, the

appellate attorney the president has been considering for a special counsel, as well as a number of news organizations that have echoed those claims. so dominion has sent letters to those individuals that i mentioned warning them that legal action is coming and urging them on pre serve legal documents that might be at play in those cases. according to plers have been obtained by nbc news, dominion has sent letters to a long list of those mostly conservative news outlets including fox news, one america news, news max, as well as individual hosts such as sean hannity and lou dobbs. >> all right. stay with me for a second. let me bring into the conversation some analysis about mitch mcconnell if at all possible. he's being tablattacked by the president. the covid relief deal is being criticized by the president and none of this helps republicans in the two georgia runoff races that will determine whether or not mitch mcconnell has power going forward.

is this mitch mcconnell's worst possible nightmare? >> well, first off let me apologize. i had a fake west palm beach back drop for just this moment and i forgot to deploy it. we could have had continuity across the screens and i screwed up. >> to your point about mitch mcconnell, i think this is about as bad a development as he could have anticipated. for a while, it seemed like he had gotten a good shakeout of these negotiations. if you remember, we were talking before the election about a $1.8 trillion deal. he put his heels in the dirt. he said no way. and we ended up around $900 billion. he didn't get his legal liability protection provision that he wanted for businesses but he got a lot of what he asked for. then when trump comes in and he says, i want $2,000 checks to each american, it completely

overthrew all the politics that were going behind this with mcconnell. and in particular what will end up happening is that either trump doesn't sign the bill and then we have a whole host of different scenarios, or he does and the house passes a stand-alone order, an amended version that says we'll change the $600 to $2,000 and then it goes to the senate. then mcconnell has a difficult choice. does he go against the president's will? if he does, what about the loekss january 5th. they have been facing an immense amount of pressure to get stimulus checks out to the public so mcconnell is in a tough bind here through no fault other than the president. he had a decent hand and decided not to use it. >> in most situations like this, you would expect that the president would stay in washington, roll up his sleeves, help get this deal done. help be the bridge between sides. what we saw is that president

trump peaced out. headed to mar-a-lago. what message does that send to congress? >> well, are you surprised by that? >> no. the short answer is i'm not surprised. >> trump has never been one for legislative minutiae. despite his reputation as a great wrangler, negotiator, i think we've had four years of evidence that he doesn't really do deals. he in fact deputyizes people to do them for him. and he likes to play the role of spoiler or a bit of drama in the end for these types of negotiations. so everything he's done has followed script, except it is coming against this back drop of his presidency coming to this tumultuous end, the possibility he will not respect the results of the election. his anger toward republicans acknowledging reality, and a fourth thing which is playing a role. the very real likelihood that in the near future, he announces a 2024 candidacy.

we can't really separate these two things from the possibility that if trump runs again, he wants to run, he would run as a populist, and it does make some political sense for him running saying, look, i wanted to get you all $2,000 checks. but my party and the democrats couldn't deliver. i need to get another crack, a bite at the apple, so to speak, pardon the cliche, running again for office. >> let's come back down to reality and talk about something that affects millions of people. in addition to the prospect of no covid relief, there is the real possibility that the government could shut down. how does that play into the equation? >> yeah. to put a button on sam's point, it would be such a bad faith argument for the president to will could that out and say he was fighting for all this during the time it was being goeshld, he wasn't fighting at all. he was on the sidelines and out of the legislative process. to throw himself in now is completely disingenuous.

that said, there is a series of cascading bad options if he doesn't sign the bill when he has the opportunity to today. there are providers that will expire the day after christmas. that's some of the expanded unemployment provisions go away. other provisions start to expire at the end of december if it isn't signed. the obvious delay. and sending out any stimulus checks of any kind. the eviction moratorium that will expire. and by the way, the possibility of a government shutdown which would happen on the 28th, and very little clear path to get out of that if we stumble into that. >> an absolute trifecta of disasters for the ordinary american at home. thank you, all of you for starting us off this hour. with me now, congressman john gary mendi from california. a member of the armed services committee. i appreciate you taking the time to be with us on this holiday afternoon.

what is more important to you, getting bigger direct payments to your constituents or getting them relief sooner by getting the president to sign what already exists? >> we have to get the bill done and then if the president thinks he has all that awesome power, he should be able to persuade the republicans to come i know what the additional money of $2,000 per person, or $4,000 per couple or family. this president is leaving office with chaos, corruption, and confusion. it's an avalanche of chaos, corruption and confusion. the republicans need to get on board with the $2,000. the president needs to sign the bill. we'll see on monday. we will probably pass the additional funding for the checks to go up to $2,000. it would be up to the senate who return on tuesday. but the government may very well

be shut down if the president doesn't act. first things first, keep the government operating, sign the legislation for covid and then let's get the $2,000 for each family. >> it must be extremely frustrating for you and other democrats in the senate and the house. on the one hand, you are listening to mitch mcconnell saying he was not going to approve a deal that the president won't sign. now president is saying it is $2,000 that he wants despite that his representative mnuchin was at the negotiating table throughout all of this. who do you genuinely believe? how do you negotiate with people who do not keep their word at least as we just saw it play out, and who do you think ultimately is calling the shots here? >> well, let's go back to the very first day the president was inaugurated. president trump on that day, lied. he lied about the size of the crowd and he's lied every day since then. so if you want to know who to believe, do not start with president trump. he is simbly not believable. he holds to nothing. whatever comes to his mind at

that smoemt where he is. that's the confusion and the chaos that he has sowed into this entire four years. beyond that, mcconnell has been very clear about what he wanted but he was dependent once again upon the president's minions to signal what the president would agree to. one of your guests just a moment ago spoke the truth, which is the president was on the sidelines. he didn't personally engage. perhaps he planned all lining the create more confusion with regard to the corruption. how much more do we need from this president? so here we are, the issue is now on the president's desk. if he signs that bill, then we'll come back on monday the 28th. we will increase the funning to $2,000. the republicans, we'll see what

mitch sxlol the senate does. and we'll see if the president has all that awesome power we all talk about. if he's so strong and he wants $2,000, he can get the senators on board. >> let me ask you something as a member of the armed services committee. it is about the defense authorization act. the president just vetoed that defense spending bill which nancy pelosi has called an act of staggering recklessness. in his announcement, this is what the president wrote. my administration has taken strong actions to help keep our nation safe and support our service members. i will not approve this bill which would put the interests of the washington, d.c. establishment over those of the american people. your reaction to that? >> i said a moment ago, you can't believe anything the president says or tweets or writes. the fact of the matter is this is an excellent piece of legislation for the security of the united states. we know that we've had a major hack by russia. we know that in this

legislation, there is very important authorizations and funding to deal with cyber attacks. to ramp up our total american security to prevent cyber attacks. with regard to the president's boastfulness, shall we talk about north korea, syria, pulling the troops out of afghanistan when negotiations are underway, removing the leverage of the united states in those negotiations. it is one failed prospect after another that this president has totally failed with regard to our national security. and here as he is run out of office, he vetoes a legislation that has been signed into law 59 straight years in a row. until trump leads in chaos, confusion and corruption. >> incredible. the president critical of defunding the police, here he is by some analysis, defunding the military. thank you so much for your time.

>> to all your listeners, take a deep breath, enjoy this christmas as best you can. merry christmas to you and your listeners. >> thank you very much. still ahead, travel hits a pandemic peak as cases of coronavirus continue to climb. first the self-professed law and order president hands out, tax evasion, tax fraud and tampering with witnesses among other crimes. stay with us. es among other crimes stay with us welcome to silversneakers, are you ready to get moving? our new virtual classes were designed for you and millions of seniors like you. you can now choose from thousands of live virtual classes every week. get moving wherever you have an internet connection. and when you're ready, enjoy access to thousands of locations nationwide.

with silversneakers, you're free to move. enroll today at no additional cost by visiting the website on your screen. want to eliminate odors without heavy, overwhelming scents? we get it. introducing febreze light. it eliminates odors... with no heavy perfumes... in light scents you'll love. new febreze light. essential for sewing, but maybe not needles. for people with certain inflammatory conditions. because there are options. like an "unjection™". xeljanz. the first and only pill of its kind that treats moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, or moderate to severe ulcerative colitis when other medicines have not helped enough. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. serious, sometimes fatal infections,

cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra may increase risk of death. tears in the stomach or intestines and serious allergic reactions have happened. needles. fine for some. but for you, there's a pill that may provide symptom relief. ask your doctor about the pill first prescribed for ra more than seven years ago. xeljanz. an "unjection™".

yeah. i mean, the point is that pardoning manafort would be seen as a political disaster for the president. there may come a day down the road after the politics have changed that would you want to consider an application for him like everybody else but now would be a disaster. >> all right. lindsey graham may have warned the president not to pardon paul manafort a year and a half ago, but that warning has apparently gone by the wayside. with the president pardoning his former campaign chairman as well as long time confidante roger stone late yesterday, both were key figures in robert mueller's russia investigation. with me now is the former federal prosecutor and current msnbc legal analyst. great to have you with us, cynthia, i appreciate your time. here's the wording of some of last night's pardons on these two men. today president trump has issued a full and complete pardon to paul manafort, stemming from

convictions prutd in the course of it. premised on the russian he collusion hoax. mr. stone was treated very unfairly. pardoning him will help right the justices. what do you make of that language? >> well, it's trying to be as broad as possible to protect the president. i mean, he's like, akin to the mob boss who use this is tool, this power of the pardon, which is very hard to review, and he's using that tool to protect himself and reward his friends, and he withholds it from his enemies. and finds other tools to punish them. he very much, like a mob boss. what we know about manafort and stone is, they're the guys in the room. manafort is the guy who met with the russian operative and he had the connections to the russian

oligarch. and during the entire investigation, they were dangling a pardon to him and he actually had some communication with gates who said, don't worry. we'll be taken care of. and from jump street, you could tell the game was, if you're quiet, you'll get a pardon. and now that's exactly what happened. it is unclear to me why anyone studying this or even paying a slight bit of attention is surprised that he's pardoning everybody, and i would guess that he continues to do so until his very last moment as president on the 20th. >> you bring up a really good point that i wanted to drill down on. "the new york times" put it this way. of the 65 pardons and commutation that's mr. trump had granted before wednesday, 60 to have gone petitioners he who had a personal tie to mr. trump or who he helped his political aims and objectives, according to a

harvard law professor, jack goldsmith. in your expertise, have we ever seen this type of cronyism being practiced with pardons? >> no, we haven't. and this group really pardoned so far are either a way to cover up his russia connection, through mueller probe or through the actual crimes in the election crimes, murderers, friends of his like duncan hunter who is from my home town district, a guy who stole a bunch of money, spent it on his mistresses and travel and then blamed his wife. one of the lowest americans around. and of course, those murderers in iraq. and there are some decent ones. but generally these are a terrible use of the pardon power. we've had in the past the pardons that are controversial like the clinton one when he was going out the door. but we've never had pardons that so protect fundamentally the president. that are so personal in nature

to help him like a mob boss, to use these pardons to protect himself. you have to think of him that way to understand what is happening. and recognize, there is a lot of time between now and the 20th and there are more pardons to come and it is very dangerous, what will happen in the justice department without any leadership there. and we'll wait and see what terrible things are up his sleeve but you can always stoop worst. >> yeah. we are in for a very long 28 days. i appreciate your time. happy holidays to you and the family. >> you too. happy new year. israel is heading into a third lockdown as covid-19 cases continue to climb but israelis at least have access to vaccines. the same can't be said for the palestinians. we'll explore the vaccine haves and have-nots. and america's new ground zero for the coronavirus. california. the state is the first to surpass 2 million cases of covid-19. n cases of covid-19 when our daughter and her kids moved in with us...

our bargain detergent couldn't keep up. turns out it's mostly water. so, we switched back to tide. one wash, stains are gone. daughter: slurping don't pay for water. pay for clean. it's got to be tide. and now with q4 wrapping up, the north pole has to be feeling the heat.

it's okay santa, let's workflow it. workflow it...? -uh-huh. just picture it... with the now platform, we'll have the company you always imagined. efficient, productive, seamless. ok, i'm in. whatever your business is facing... let's workflow it. servicenow. each febreze car vent clip gives you up to 30 days of fresh air.

so, you can have open window freshness... even with all the windows up. enjoy fresh, any time, with febreze.

this christmas eve, covid-19 is raging out of control but the virus isn't stopping many americans from traveling. we've seen packed airports with some americans ignoring warnings

from public health officials to stay home. california just becoming the first state to top 2 million cases. icus are nearly 99% capacity and hospitalizations have more than doubled there since november. gadi schwartz is with us. so covid patients will spend christmas eve in hallways, conference rooms and parking lots. any sign there that it is slowing down in california? >> reporter: not at all. so many people are at home getting ready for christmas. los angeles and the front line health care workers are headed into uncharted territory. the icus are stretched to the max. ambulances are having to wait hours for beds to open up. in some places there are lines down hallways. conference rooms are being converted into more spaces. we've heard of nurses doing blood transfusions in those hallways and what health experts say we're seeing a surge on top of a surge from thanksgiving.

so just to put that into perspective, early in november, before people gathered for thanksgiving, here in los angeles we were seeing about 12 deaths a day. in the weeks after that, when people, after they gathered for the holidays, the number of deaths shot up to about 70, 80 deaths a day. that was a couple weeks ago. approximately one death every 20 minutes. then yesterday we saw our highest number of deaths in los angeles at about 140. which works out to about one death every ten minutes. that is all before the christmas gatherings that are likely going to be happening over the next couple days. so now front line health care workers are bracing for a surge on top of a surge on top of a surge, which each gets exponentially worse. take a quick listen to their plea before christmas. >> this is one christmas where large gatherings shouldn't happen. if it does happen, people that you love may not be there for

the next holiday. >> reporter: over 300 health care workers a day have come down with covid-19 in los angeles. that mean we're seeing the highest number of deaths, highest number of hospitalizations and highest number of health care workers sick, happening almost every day in california. this is playing out all across california. back to you, ayman. >> thanks. an emergency physician and managing director of opportunity labs, the former pandemic and emerging threats coordinator during the obama administration. great to talk to you again. let's talk about what we just heard. a surge on top of a surge on top of a surge. how much worse is this going to get after the christmas holiday? >> after the thanksgiving holiday, we saw quite a significant uptick in cases. and already it looks like the travel population is about 30 to 40% higher than what we saw

around thanksgiving. so my concern is that we'll see something that looks like twice that amount coming back into the e.r.s in seven to ten days, an unfath wiomable volume. >> and it is backing up what joe biden said, our darkest days in this fight are ahead of us, not behind us. you used to work for the hhs. the cdc said more than 1 million vaccinations have happened over the last two weeks and more than 9 million were distributed nationwide. why is there such a gap between these numbers, between who is getting vaccinated and those being distributed? why can't we make that more tighter, so to speak? >> i think it just takes time. and i think it will get tighter as we get further into this. we're that 12 days since the vaccine rolled out. and i think there have been a couple of stumbling blocks that we went through.

a little mention, being clear about when doses are cleared from the fda and when they become available. i think it takes that amount of time and i think folks in hospitals are just starting to understand how you sign up, how you get there, how you get your vaccine. i'm confident we'll see those numbers come closer together as we get further into this. >> let me see if i can ask it in a slightly different way. operation warp speed said they won't make their goal of 20 million vaccinations by year's end. from your experience and vantage point, what is a realistic time line to get the 20 million vaccinations? because again president-elect biden, he wants 100 million vaccinated by the first 100 days in office. if do you the math, that's a million vaccines per day being administered in this country. >> yeah. that's an ambitious goal. i think we're probably going to police that unless something significant changes. i think a realistic time frame is probably mid to laid january before we have that first 20 million doses in.

but there are spines supply will increase significantly as we get through january. so if we can sort out the kinks in the process issues that go into distributing the vaccine quickly and getting folks to sign up, into the clinics, i think we can catch back up. >> it is as if our excite bmt the vaccines and more coming online has been blunted by these new reports of virus mutations in the u. cak., nigeria, south africa. is there a concern that the vaccines currently being used might not work against them? >> i think that's a concern that everyone shares. i would try on temper people's fear about this. i think it is certainly something that we see. the evolution of viruses with time is something that occurs naturally. it happens in viruses, human beings' dna. so we expect it. that's why we have to reform late the flu vaccine every year. and these vaccine that's have

been produced are designed to combine the spike protein in several different areas. so what i think is more likely is that the vaccines may be slightly less effective. maybe they're 80 to 85% effective. that they may become useless or ineffective is very, very low. we'll need more time to know just how effective they are. there are a lot of scientists working the figure that out but overall, we should have high confidence this vaccine will make a big difference. >> all right. thank you so much for your time this afternoon. happy holiday, sir. >> happy holiday. how are politicians reacting to the president's demand for larger direct payments? we'll ask one. she's about to start her first year in congress, congresswoman-elect marie newman. but first, israel is earning high prays praise for vaccinations. but the same shots getting to palestinians? o palestinians 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. and i'm taking her home.

[♪] life is band sometimes odors can sneak up on you. for a convenient life hack. try febreze unstopables fabric refresher. with 2 times the scent power of regular febreze, unstopables fabric finds, neutralizes and eliminates tough odors trapped in hard-to-wash fabrics, like couches or smelly sports equipment; leaving an irresistibly fresh scent. and for a tropical burst of freshness, try new paradise scent. stop sneaky odors from lingering in your home, with febreze unstopables.

the mayor of bethlehem says christmas will go on there but as the holiday begins, it is clear the effects of the pandemic are cutting deep in the city christians look to for comfort. a city in israel and the west bank where the spike in cases is prompting a third lockdown. that goes into effect sunday afternoon. the foreign correspondent matt bradley is following all of it for us. christians flock to the region every year at this time. what is the situation there in bethlehem? >> reporter: well, as you know very well, bethlehem is no stranger to war and deprivation. even throughout all of that, pilgrims and tourists still come to the city every year to see it. it took a global pandemic to empty those sacred streets. this little town of bethlehem is where christians believe jesus was born 2020 years ago in a

manger because there wasn't room in the inn. but for this first time, the streets are empty, souvenir shops, restaurants, even churches. >> christmas for us this year is so sad. there is no christmas at all. >> reporter: she and her family are tour guides. this is normally their busiest time of year but she says she hasn't worked in ten months. here in bethlehem, christmas isn't just a holiday. it is a livelihood. >> the people depend on tourism. now, those people. >> reporter: christmas isn't canceled. palestinian officials say they'll still celebrate. they say the world needs christmas now more than ever. >> bethlehem is going to celebrate christmas and christmas will not be canceled. >> reporter: the city went ahead with its annual christmas tree lighting ceremony complete with fireworks in historic manger

square early this month. the crowds were thin. despite the hardship, some people here see a kind of sa sanctity in the silence. >> many this will open eyes for many people. many don't believe. maybe now they'll believe. >> reporter: and like 2,000 years ago, maybe bethlehem can offer a light to the world just when the world needs it most. well, israel and the palestinian territories have seen a spike in covid over the past several months. israel has started its vaccination effort but the palestinians, they don't have the vaccine yet. so they'll have to wait for their relief from the pandemic. ayman? >> all right. thank you. i want to bring into the conversation james zogby, president of the american institute. we just heard israel faces its third lockdown. the vaccine already being distributed there.

palestinians not yet getting it. i want to read to you from the "washington post," reporting about this. next door in the west bank and the gaza strip, the prospects for vaccinating palestinians are far less certain. hurdles could delay inoculations for months. talk about that situation on the ground and how bad is the fact palestinians will not be getting this vaccination as quickly as the israelis? >> well, it's very bad. and frankly, the west bank and gaza itself are paralyzed by the pandemic and not getting relief and support and services. and the most irritating part of that article that you read is the israeli authority quoted, saying, it's not our responsibility. well, it is their responsibility. international law that governs occupied territories and humanitarian law that governs

occupations very specifically stipulate that israel has the occupying power, has the obligation to care for the public health, safety and security of the people under occupation. they don't just have 9 million people. there are 15 million people under their control. half of them are palestinian arab. some are citizens, 2 million. the other are living under occupation. they're not caring for them. they're not doing what is their required obligation to do for them. so palestinians are suffering. they have no income, no money. the authority doesn't have money. they don't have the physical capability of getting the vaccine and being able to store it and distribute it, and that is obligation of the occupying power to do. >> you brought up a good point. i wanted to ask but that. the senior health official announced earlier this month that 4 million doses of the

russian vaccine would be coming by the end of the year or early 2021. what has happened there? ultimately, even any medicine that arrives in the occupied west bank would have to come with israel's approval. >> and israel is not saying they will approve it. they want to go through a testing process first. they haven't approved that particular vaccine. here's the interesting thing. israel claims they're not the occupying authority. that it is under the control of the palestinians but they can't import. they can't import medicines, products, unless israel approves them and they have not given the approval for this vaccine. the problem is not only getting the vaccine in but if this vaccine is anything like the pfizer one, and requires sub zero storage, really quite frigid cold. >> right. >> there's no capability in the

west bank and certainly none whatsoever in gaza to deal with that. so these people are literally victims, double victims of the plague of the pandemic, and the other, the plague of occupation and an authority that doesn't give a hoot about their lives. >> before i let you go, ask you about what we are reporting there, the fight of palestinians in bethlehem. it is unlike anything in the modern era we've seen, and that city has seen a lot. >> i was working vice president gore on a project to promote economic development in the west bank in the 1990s, we were focused on bethlehem because of the craft industry that was literally the occupation destroyed it. the inability to import and export on their own without going through israeli middlemen has killed them. now there is tourism going on, but the problem with tourism is that they come on israeli tour buses. they stay one day and they leave. they don't stay in palestinian

hotels. they bring them boxed lunches and they eat. they don't frequent palestinian restaurants and they don't stay and meet palestinians directly. they're under an israeli umbrella as they go in and out. so the character of bethlehem has changed. it is largely dependent on tourism but it is tourism that they don't always control. and that is a difficulty. what has bothered me is that, i think you may have seen it. i served on the u.s. commission on international religious freedom. we tried to get the commissioners to speak out about bethlehem, about christians and muslims in bethlehem. conservative christians wouldn't touch with it a ten-foot pole. they see palestinians as a burden, an obstacle, a people who are encumbering their concern for israel proper. they don't want to deal with palestinians. so silent night, holy night, yes. silent suffering night, silent suffering night.

>> thank you for that and so much more. good to talk to you. >> up next, new to washington. what is first on her agenda? we look at how much you've saved, how much you'll need, and build a straightforward plan to generate income, even when you're not working. a plan that gives you the chance to grow your savings and create cash flow that lasts. along the way, we'll give you ways to be tax efficient. and you can start, stop or adjust your plan at any time without the unnecessary fees. talk to us today, so we can help you go from saving...to living.

talk to us today, ♪ then the back ms, safeguard hand soap with micellar deep cleansing washes away germs and impurities down to the pore. leaving hands hydrated and cleaner than ordinary soaps. safeguard against germs. some things are good to know. like where to find the cheapest gas in town and which supermarket gives you the most bang for your buck. something else that's good to know? if you have medicare and medicaid you may be able to get more healthcare benefits through a humana medicare advantage plan. call the number on your screen now and speak to a licensed humana sales agent to see if you qualify. learn about plans that could give you more healthcare benefits than you have today. depending on the plan you choose, you could have your

doctor, hospital and prescription drug coverage in one convenient plan. from humana, a company with nearly 60 years of experience in the healthcare industry. you'll have lots of doctors and specialists to choose from. and, if you have medicare and medicaid, a humana plan may give you other important benefits. depending on where you live, they could include dental, vision and hearing coverage. you may also get rides to plan-approved locations; home delivered meals after an in-patient hospital stay; a monthly allowance for purchasing healthy food and beverages; plus an allowance for health and wellness items. everything from over the counter medications and vitamins, to first aid items and personal care products. best of all, if you have medicare and medicaid, you may qualify for multiple opportunities throughout the year to enroll. so if you want more from medicare, call the number on your screen now to speak with a licensed humana sales agent. learn about humana

plans that could give you more healthcare benefits. including coverage for prescription drugs, dental care, eye exams and glasses, hearing aids and more. a licensed humana sales agent will walk you through your options, answer any questions you have and, if you're eligible, help you enroll over the phone. call today and we'll also send this free guide. humana, a more human way to healthcare. life doesn't stop for a cold. [man] honey... [woman] honey that's why there's new dayquil severe honey. it's maximum strength cold and flu medicine with soothing honey-licious taste. dayquil honey. the daytime coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever, power through your day medicine. so ten days from now, the 117th congress will be sworn in and president trump's threat to derail the stimulus bill all but

ensures the incoming class will have a lot to deal with. thank you for joining us, congresswoman-elect marie newman. if congress kicks the can on the pandemic relief package, passing only a stopgap measure, will you support a stimulus bill will the current $600 direct payments or will you try to leverage the president's demand and push for more money? >> look, we've been working on this for eight months, and we have met with no response or obstruction from the other side, which is really troubling. all of a sudden president trump comes in and decides he wants to help at the 11th hour when he knows his colleagues are not interested in a higher amount

than the $600. what this amounts to is more obstruction and preventing checks from getting to people that desperately need them. and i'm in food lines every day, and food giveaways and more that are two and three miles long in my district. we were buoyed by more getting out the door and now we're stuck again. >> you've sided with the progressive camp throughout your campaign yet you're replacing a moderate, outgoing dan lipinski. do you feel your win gives you a manda mandate, that your constituents elected someone that wouldn't agree with a watered-down stimulus bill? are you willing to buck the leaders of the democratic caucus who just want checks going out the door now? >> of course we wanted much more for everybody. of course we did. and we had to agree to this because that's the only deal

that we could make, right? so my constituency needs checks and needs money in their pockets as soon as possible. we're hoping that by getting some money out now, it will be helpful for those who desperately need it. >> i'm cures ious to get your thoughts on the president, he's already vetoed the defense bill and we'll find out whether house minority leader kevin mccarthy whips up enough support to override that veto. what's been going through your mind about what's happening in washington on all these issues? >> yeah, i think that once we're free from this current administration, that cooler heads will prevail for sure. i believe that once trump is gone, that moderate republicans will be open to having discussions and being productive in congress, and i'm very much looking forward to that. we need to quickly crush this virus as quickly as we can. and i know there's a good plan under president-elect biden. but we also need to get to the

business of getting a green stimulus package together to ensure that we recover from this horrifying economy. so i'm looking forward to working with folks on small business, transportation, infrastructure, i will be on that committee, and building a build back better process that will include infrastructure, transportation, green jobs, green union jobs. >> can i ask what you learned from the campaign trail about the messaging that you're going to bring to the democratic caucus? because the president says he wants $2,000. he celebrates that as being a populist president defending the rights of the people. democrats or progressives ask for that and they're labeled as socialists. what do you make of that double standard? >> first of all, when you're name-calling, you're not winning. the continuation of name-calling isn't effective, isn't productive. i say stop name-calling, get down to business and get the work done and we'll do better

for the american people. what i learned from the campaign trail, when you center it on what working families need, which is better paying jobs, $15 an hour, universal childcare, health care for all, and jobs, jobs, jobs, remember, the democratic party has been the party of solutions every single time we get into a recession or depression. we dig our way out using practical solutions like investing in america. what mcconnell has to remember and all the republicans that keep obstructing us is that it is not their money. it is not their money. it is the american people's money. so let's invest in the american people. >> congresswoman-elect marie newman, thank you so much for joining us and happy holidays to sxh you and the family. >> happy holds to you. >> thank you. that wraps up the hour for me. up next, the best of "deadline white house."

[ engines revving ] ♪ it's amazing to see them in the wild like th-- shhh. [ engine revs ] for those who were born to ride, there's progressive. yit's more than just a house. [music playing throughout] it's a kitchen that's been passed down, along with the recipes.

three generations on the wall... with room to grow. the rhythm of home... the smells, the sounds, the flow... the feeling of owning a home is not black or white. citi is working across our business to make home ownership a reality for more black americans. honey honey? new nyquil severe honey is maximum strength cold and flu medicine with soothing honey-licious taste. nyquil honey. the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever best sleep with a cold medicine. tremfya® can help adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis uncover clearer skin that can last. most patients who saw 90% clearer skin at 28 weeks stayed clearer through 48 weeks. in another study, the majority of tremfya® patients saw 90% clearer skin at 3 years.

serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. tremfya®. uncover clearer skin that can last. janssen can help you explore cost support options.

hi, everyone, i'm nicolle wallace. when president-elect joe biden is sworn into office, his new attorney general will face a big question, whether to pursue the prosecution of donald trump. once trump leaves the white house on january 20, he will be a private citizen and he will have any and all protection from pending and potential legal cases stripped away from him. but senior mueller prosecutor andrew weissmann says biden's attorney general should investigate trump and if