good day, everyone. welcome to weekends with alex witt. here is what is happening at 2:00 p.m. eastern. the breaking news at this hour, we're awaiting a press briefing from investigators at the site of the christmas day excompletion e excompletion explosion in nashville. a spokesperson says they are tracking about 500 leads in the case. let's take a listen in. >> mickey french the special agent in charge of -- sorry, bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms will also speak. also joining us is the highway patrol. following the investigators update, we'll then hear from

mayor cooper. the at this time, i'll turn it over to the united states attorney cochran. >> good afternoon. gone h 2020 has been a tough year for nashville. started back in march with the devastating tornadoes that we had that tore through some of our neighborhoods, continued through the pandemic and the events of this past summer, and now this. the cowardly bombing on christmas morning right here in the heart of our downtown. one thing i've learned about nashvillians, they are tough and we stick together as a team and that's what we're doing now. and i want you to know that is the team that is behind me and the folks that they represent are doing everything we can to find out what happened here to get the answers that you deserve and to make sure that we're all safe. so one of the toughest groups of folks we have here in middle tennessee is law enforcement and first responders.

and nowhere in my experience in law enforcement has that ever been plainer to me than what happened early yesterday morning. 6:15, can 66:20 or so, nashvill police officers just a number of blocks norlth of here, literall ran to danger. a vehicle that was announcing that it was going to blow up, and metro nashville police officers headed torwards that, they evacuated the area. i'm quite confident that theacts are part of the reason that there was less cost of life in this heinous act. starting yesterday morning we had a task force came together, it isn't a one time thing, this is what we do all the time. the u.s. attorney he's office, we work together with our federal partners, state partners and local partners and that is what immediately started happening yesterday. teams of agents grouped together

across agencies started handling leads as our citizens were calling in with that we've had over 500 completes a o00 leads and every one is being fooled up. that is the stage we're at. we're still continuing to follow every lead that we have. and we'll continue to do so until we find out what has happened. we also have national resources here, the department of justice, acting attorney general told me any resources we need we can have. fbi and atf has spent theirpich here doing what they do better than anyone either in the world. and it is quite a challenge having been up there and seen that scene, it is like a giant jig saw puzzle created by a bomb that throws pieces of evidence across multiple city blocks. and they have to gather it,

catalog it, put it back together and try to find out what the picture of that puzzle looks like. but there is no one better to do it than the folks we have on the ground here right now. so that is going on as we speak. the investigations of the leads is going on as we speak. i am confident in the team we have that we will get to the bottom of this, that we will find out the story of this individual or individuals, we didn't know rig don't know right now, but this ultimate scrooge who instead of spreading joy and fear decided to spread devastation and destruction. but we know how that story ends. we'll get back on our feet, get the businesses back up and running, we'll get the infrastructure and cell coverage back unand r back up and running because that that's what we do. thank you for your time. >> and to everyone, let me reiterate that nashville is

safe. we kneel afeel and know that weo known threats. and wehave ramped up other efforts here with the fbi and state and local, which is tbi and tennessee highway patrol and others. we're thanful f thankful for th efforts. to our business owners, know the federal government is conducting this investigation. and as they go through the crime scene, they will try to reduce that as quickly as possible to where we can try to get you back in your businesses as soon as possible. but we ask that you be patient. there are about 40 buildings that have been impacted. so those buildings will have to be cleared. if you have any information pertaining to this, please contact 61 a615-74-crime or

fbi.gov/nashville. thank you. >> good afternoon. i'm special agent in charge of the memphis field office which covers nashville. the fbi, the atf, metro nashville police department officers and tennessee highway patrol and other federal and state partners are working around the clook to make sure nashville continues to be a safe place to live and work. during the past 24 hours, our joint investigative team fielded nearly 500 tips. from those in and around the nashville metro area. we deeply appreciate the ongoing support and cooperation from the community. and wish for it to continue. the first thing i want to reiterate that chief drake indicated is that we have no

indication of additional explosive threats. no other explosive devices were discovered during the secondary sweep yesterday. we've also increased our footprint to work as quickly but as thoroughly as possible. there are approximately 250 fbi agents, analysts and professional staff from at least eight surrounding field offices and fbi headquarters. they are working shoulder to shoulder with our partners. our team is addressing this case on several fronts. first, our investigative team is turning over every stone to make sure that we know as many details as possible to answers question of who is responsible for this and also to understand why did they do this. this includes assistance from our behavioral animalysis group. secondly, our evidence response

teams are committed to documenting and collecting all of the evidence to support the facts learned by the investigative team. we know this effects local businesses and are committed to processing the scene in a timely but thorough way. we are starting from the outer most per rim ter and working our way inward. we hope to have the outer area complete and turned over to the city of nashville within the next day or so. again, i want to thank the citizens of nashville for their trust in the fbi and our federal and state and local partners and also for the cooperation of all of our the partnpartners who st today with me. thank you. >> good afternoon. my name is mickey french, special agent in charge for the

nashville field division. atf has numerous personnel here on the ground working seamlessly with all the agencies represented. specific li ha specifically the national response team. it is the only accredited the investigative forensics team in the country. they are outstanding at what they did. and we are working seamless will i with the metro he nash vl poli police department and all the agencies involved. to reiterate what everybody has said, we've had over 500 leads and tips and our job as law enforcement agency is to make sure that this community is safe and we're marking sure that we're following through with each and every one of these tips and leads seamlessly integrated with no effort at all and no

impact hopefully keeping the community safe. thank you. >> at this time we can answer a few questions. we're mindful that we can't really get into too many details. we know that you have questions, but we'll attempt to take a few at this time. [ inaudible question ] >> we can't confirm any individuals or anybody we've identified. again, we have over 500 investigative leads that we're following up on every one. so there are a number of individuals that we're looking at. so at this point, we're not prepared to identify any single individual. [ inaudible question ] >> at this point we don't have any indication that we're looking for another subject. but again, there are 500 heeds we're running through so all the kinds of individuals we're looking for.

[ inaudible question ] >> that is something that we're vigorously working on right now. [ inaudible question ] >> we did not know at this point, but we're working under that assumes and processing it as such. >> one person acting alone? >> we don't know that. again, we're following every lead and although we do believe there are currently no active threats. >> this seemed so random, out of nowhere. what kind of a person would do this and how confident are you that you will find them? >> i can't answer what kind of person. again, we're engaging with our behavioral analysis unit. >> so how confident are you that you will find the person and find out why they did this? >> i'm fairly confident that we'll be able to identify an

individual. it will just take us some time. but this team behind me and my folks -- our folks in the fiewe very good at what we do. >> you're working on the assumption that the human remains was a person involved? >> we're not working on any assumptions. we're addressing to rule it out or identify it. [ inaudible question ] >> i can just confirm that we have activity going on in that area. >> when will the wireless be back up possibly? >> that is a better question for the mayor. >> any belief that the target was the at&t building, is that something that you are investigating? >> we're looking at every possible motive that could be

involved. >> mayor koocher wa ecooper wans the public now. >> thank you. i'll be very brief. one, i'm grateful to the team behind us. nashville is depending on them do a great job. and our job is to rebuild and find the culprit. i want to thank them, this is several hundred agents, this is our national best stepping forward. and also locally, our emts, firemen, police officers who have been so heroic in this last few days. i want to ask the chief, i heard the question about communications, i know he has been in close touch with at&t and our network communications to answer that question about outages and what we can expect

going forward. but i want to thank the team behind me. count on them to deliver for us and nashville and then our own city to commit to rebuilding. and i'm grateful to governor lee's request to the white house to have a national emergency and get federal help for rebuilding second avenue once that work begins. one other thing is we still have a curfew in nashville and will until tomorrow afternoon. this is an active crime scene. i would encourage people not to come to downtown nashville and let our partners do their work. and let's me. >> chief swan will talk about communications. >> and again, i think it is important to know our role right now in the city is to make sure that we're working closely with our partners, law enforcement partners to ensure that anything that they need logistic-wise we

are providing for them. and as far as the tell communication partners, working closely with at&t to get communication established back safely. they are here to work 24 hours. it is a big operation with the building itself. we're trying to at least get the generators back in order so that the mobile phones will be back in operation and then we're hoping within the next day or if we are fortunate it may take one or two days to get everything back online. but they are here to work with us and we're hopeful that we'll get that back established. one thing to remember, i know he chief drake had mentioned, even though we had this incident took lays, the city still has to go on. we still have to make sure that all emergencies are met. the city is safe as far as doing our regular duties. so that is why we're happy that we do have our federal partners

here. so we thank everybody and ask the patience of nashville. partnership downtown as far as business owners and also residence owners, we're working to make shaurl water is turned off second avenue and we're also turning the electricity off as well to ensure that the safety of people going in and out of the buildings for investigation purposes. thank you. [ inaudible question ] >> absolutely. officers responded to shots fired call and didn't have any idea what else was going on. typical police call. and as they arrived, they saw an rv that was giving out a message saying that it would detonate within 15 minutes. music would play. and instead of taking it as just maybe a threat and calling in and getting resources, they

immediately began knocking on doors, they coordinated the resources to get everyone evacuated and out. and had they not done that, in fact i watched a short video that they had just moved out of the video frame when the explosion occurred and knocked him to the ground. so had they not done that, we'd be talking about people as well with the destruction that we have. so heroic efforts in saving lives. [ inaudible question ] >> as quick as we can, get as many people out safely and get them to somewhere safe and then provide them with services so they are not displaced. [ inaudible question ] >> have you had a chance to talk with your officers? >> i have. i talked to each one of those at the scene. thanked them for their ifeffort. they didn't want the thanks. felt it was just their job.

>> what was that moment like for you knowing that they put themselves in harm's way? >> it is a proud moment when we have our law enforcement officials are selfless. they are not concerned about their own safety but the safety of our city. we love our city. we're invested in it. and it just made me feel good to know that they made the right decision in saving lives and didn't worry about themselves as much. felt good. >> was it just the announcement that was coming from the rv, that was what started the evacuation? >> i can't give it to you verbat verbatim. but it would a countdown and then music. and so they began immediately evacuating. we called for our hazardous device units to respond and just at that time it detonated. >> sorry, thank you, that is all we have time for questions. we'll be back in touch with you. want to thank you for staying with us to help us get critical

information out. you'll hear from us again regularly. thanks for sticking with us. >> okay. that is a wrap, everybody, on the news conference we were waiting for having started on time there. joining me now, frank figuand a jim, our analysts. and let's get in to this. i want you to work with me here as we look at what was said and what was not said. frank, i'll start with you. they executed a very typical news conference when there is still an investigation under way. they were very reluctant to give any details other than that which they knew for sure. they don't want to spill the beans too much. they were in the business of reassuring the public and saying what they had done and really appropriately applauding folks

who had been on the scene there. that said, a couple things. they were pretty certain that they were not dealing with anybody else, that they believed that they had a person only because what was asked in a question is if they were confident that they would find the person. and interestingly, the fbi representative said they felt that they could identify that person. with all this discussion about human remains, that being there, is it possible that this was some sort of a suicide attempt? is that something that you think is being played out as a possibility? >> so alex, you have clearly become an astute observer of law enforcement. and i've led such press conferences as i know jim has.

and so let me translate for you. that degree of confident from both the police chief and the regional special agent in charge of the fbi tells me that they may well have a very strong suspect and i'm going to go a step further and say that when they say that the community is safe, that there is no active threat, that they found no additional explosives, i'm sensing a level of confidence that may indicate we were dealing with a suicide and/or accidental death. the degree of confidence here and reassurance was reassuring to me and for those who are students of law enforcement press conferences. >> so location of this rv, frank, right near the at&t building. we were lucky to have jim on earlier in the broadcast, he is a native of nashville and bloofting from there and here a explained the l-shaped location. i think second street got hit

badly. around the corn i korhe corner 41 businesses have been affected. but there is the epicenter right where that rv was parked. how many do you think given your experience that plays into what ultimately was executed? >> this was planned out, the bomber took the time to put this rv precisely where he wanted it. particularly if this was not an accidental explosion. and it appears not to be because the recording warns us that this is about to happen. so that does point us toward that at&t building. and i said this on previous broadcasts in the last 24 hours. and that is that we sometimes try to apply logic to liunancy.

but we'll likely see that this is a person where this attack made sense to him but perhaps to him only. and so maybe he has a beef real or perceived with at&t or some other occupant of that building or neighborhood, maybe he is into anti-technology because that is what at&t represents to him or some other beef with something in the neighborhood. but again, when we hear about it, we're going to think this makes no sense at all. >> jim, there was something that i could only vaguely hear because the reporter on scene who was asking this question wasn't miced up, but i thought i heard the word kentucky and then question did get a response that they would be investigating that area or that location i think is the word that was used.

does that tell you that maybe they know who was behind this and maybe they have gone to a location in kentucky that could maybe be a home or something associated with the perpetrator? >> you've been anchoring too long and know too much. >> i know. >> i thought -- the question was difficult to hear, but i thought he said antioch. antioch is a large section of the city of nashville and nashville, the city is the county and the county is the city. it is a metropolitan government. one police department, one fire department, it is a giant city. been like that since '62. so antioch is a large center, neighborhood, under thehe jurisdiction of the metropolitan police. and since we're reading the tea leaves here, i think it is possible that -- they said we

don't think there is another. i think they have a person they have identified, probably through video of tag numbers going around that tourist area. you couldn't drive around that block and not have your tag taken, picture taken 15 times. so i think that they have probably got that. you also have citizens calling in saying by the way, harry i haven't seen in two days and he has an rv like that. >> yeah. >> and i don't know what happened to harry, where he went or anything, but he has an rv like that. so there are leads that come in. if agents and detectives are do you know there, they might have a good lead trying to do something. it is possible. and like frank discussed, the at&t building, i think that is very viable. and he talked about setting leads there. we would set it as a major lead category as that could possibly be the target, but you also have to understand if you are trying to make a blast in this area of the city, you want to make it go up real high like a cannon, like

it is in a canyon. this is like the idea spot. i mean, in the tourist district. and if you don't want to killing anybody, you don't want to put it next to an apartment building. drive down broadway, take a left on second. when you get up the tallest building on your west side would be the at&t building. so it could be that the location was chosen for blast effect. >> and how much longer do youen it will be before we know more details? >> they have for the tissue sample and the question i think is timing is whether the tissue samples are headed to the fbi laboratory in quantico or whether a state lab or not. my guess is they are going to quantico. and certainly we'll be able to know that they are human very quickly as opposed to animal. and then secondly so some matching i'd o.d., it depends o whether there is existing dna on

a possible specific that can be compared to what they have got. now, that can happen through a search warrant or family members. that will take a little bit longer. but it won't go more than a day or two so some resolution as to specific. >> frank, jim, you guys thank you so much for weighing in. let's turn now to the other breaking news of the day, the financial fate of millions of americans is in limbo. president trump at his florida resort today as the government funding package, including coronavirus aid, is sitting on his desk waiting for a signature. but the clock is ticking, 14 million americans will lose unemployment benefits by the end of today and the government will shut down next week in the president doesn't sign it. congresswoman dean telling me last hour just how much is on the line. >> we have millions of people unemployed, struggling through no fault of their own because of a virus that is out of control and yet the president has been

disengaged, uncaring. it is sad, but this president is going out the way he came in seoulless a soulless and substance free. and senator lindsey graham backing the call to basilica the payments to $2,000 tweeting i hope congress is listening. josh lederman is listening, he is in west palm beach where the president is spending his holiday. josh, what is the latest on this bill, is there any indication that the president could sign this by the end of the day? >> reporter: there is less optimism as we speak right now than there was just yesterday because for several days president trump hadn't really said anything about his threat not to support this massive covid relief package. and that was fueling some optimism that maybe the president was going it back off. maybe the calls from his fellow republicans for the president to drop this and simply sign the dealit back off. maybe the calls from his fellow republicans for the president to drop this and simply sign the deal, maybe those calls were

getting to the president and maybe he would pick a different course. but then the president spent his time this morning on his virtual home away from home on twitter making clear that he is still very focused on these $2,000 direct payments that he has been calling for. still very much in opposition to this massive relief bill which again would both provide covid relief and keep the government funded. the white house still will not 15i what president trump is going do. and congresswoman contindingle believes this might be the reason why. >> president trump won't tell us what he is going to do because he doesn't really seem to care about the number of americans that are in shear fear and terror right now about potentially being evicted even over this holiday season. about how they will eat, how they will live. yeah, you would like to see a $2,000 stimulus payment. we talked about this since may.

it is not just one thing we talked about. he hasn't been consistent. he will say one thing in the morning, another thing in the afternoon. it is time for him to be clear. >> reporter: president trump is expected to still be here vacationing in florida on monday when the house will try once again to pass legislation that would give the president what he wants, essentially call his bluff, provide those $2,000 payments. now, that is likely not to succeed in the senate. even in the house, that will force a lot of republicans to cast a really tough vote. either they vote for a massive government check to americans that lot of them do not support, or they have to go directly against the president trump, something we haven't seen republicans willing to in the past. >> not to mention the potential of a government shutdown. thank you very much, josh. an emergency room doctor describes how bad the situation is here in california right now. that's next. now. that's next.

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now the latest factions on the coronavirus maenpandemic. there are 18.8 million confirmed cases, more than 338,000 americans have died and in some states hospitals are running out of room. one of the hardest hit is california. the stay-at-home order will likely remain in place in several parts of the state beyonds three week duration. icu capacity is at 0% in the san joaquin valley. and and despite warnings from the cdc, more than 85 million people are expected to travel over the entire christmas and new year's holidays. this is according to aaa. on wednesday more than 1.1 million people passed through airport security. it is the most since the pandemic began. we have reporters covering this pandemic in the hot spots. and scott cohn is in san francisco, brmatt bradley in

paris. let's go to california where they are battling the surge of cases. icus near max capacity, in some places they are out of bed space. let's go to scott cohn, he is live outside of san francisco general hospital. hey, scott, i know that you've spoken with emergency room doctors about how slammed they have been. what are you they telling you? >> reporter: yeah, they absolutely are.they telling you? >> reporter: yeah, they absolutely are. and you gave the icu bed figure by region, but the state does a statewide figure this which is basically a formula to allow space for noncovid patients. but they say statewides it is officially at zero. so the state with the most hospital beds of any state in the country and effectively as far as covid is concerned, there is intono icu space. so here at this hospital, they

have beds but they are not accepting patients from other areas. >> there is room for hope. but this is very real. and it has made a difficult a time as i faced in my 25 years of emergency medicine at busy safety net urban level one trauma centers. this has been the toughest time i faced. and it will get tougher before it gets better. >> just last night, the doctor says they put three patients on ventilators, that of course not a good sign. and they are continuing to face just a dire situation with the hope with the vaccine finally coming in that we may be near the end of this. but we're still as they say in the tunnel. >> yeah, absolutely. okay. thank you very much, scott, for that. let's go over to france, everyone, where officials are reporting their first case of

the new mutated coronavirus strain, that which is believed to be 70% more contagious than the original virus. and hat bradley bradley, what d about this discovery? >> reporter: a man who is a french citizen when had been living in the uk, he came back to france around december 19 presumably for the holidays and then he tested positive. and this was announced late last night. today we heard that sweden, spain and japan also have their own cases of this new variant, so that is very troubling. they join about six european countries who have now registered some case of this virus. and all of these cases, almost all of these cases, have some connection to britain. so all of them have come from the british aisisles which vindicates this notion of cutting off britain from the rest of the world to try to

prevent the new variant from spreading. now it seems that lot of countries have effectively blocked themselves off from britain. but the fact is that just like the original strain of covid, there is really no reversing it. the blocking isn't going to work any more because all of these countries have this virus now. it is just part of the pandemic. and so, you know, as you mentioned, this is spreading so much faster. it spreads about 70% faster, at least that is what is thought by scientists right now, than other versions of the virus. but good news, so far scientists say that the vaccines, the multiple vaccines that have already been approved will be just as effective they believe on this new variant and the other variants that have sprouted up. so here from n. franin france, nationwide vaccination effort. in fact it is across the continent. hungary and germany have already

started vaccinating a little bit ahead of schedule. but this is all really kind of a symbolic move. only a couple people will be vaccinated here in france and it will start in earnest well into january. >> a lot of people don't want to wait that long. thank you, matt, for that. back now to the u.s. and dire scene in california. in ladies and gentlemen, video showing patients lined up in hospitals and being treated in tents. joining me now is a psychiatric nurse. good to see you. we spoke a couple weeks ago question. give me your reaction for hearing patients that are being treated in hallways in some hospitals. is it that bad? >> yes, the situation in california is very grim. we know that our icus have hit 0% across the state as well as

hitting over 2 million cases in california here on christmas. it is incredibly discouraging and really frightening to see our hospitals being so strained at this point. >> yeah, to the point of many of them running out of icu beds. what are you hearing from locations across the state, other nurses in fact, what is it like to try to work in these overcrowded emergency rooms and icu areas when these are officials and people tending care to others and they also have to keep themselves from getting covid? >> it is a horrible position to be put in. it is their worst nightmare to be in a situation where there are patients that you just can't save and you can't treat because there are too many of them. the good news is that most of our hospitals have some surge capacity. that means that we can convert nonicus to icus up to a limit if we have to. and so they are getting ready to do that now. our doctors and nurses will go to great lengths to save every patient we can. but when our hospitals are

squeezed like this, people are going to die and it is really horrible to in that situation. as a nurse or a doctor knowing that you can't save people that you otherwise could have. >> yeah, that's the thing. these nurses and doctors are literally having to play god. they look at these patients and they think that this person has a less likelihood given the constraints we're working under than another patient. that has got to be a nightmare. >> it is. it is a horrible place to have to be in. and i think for a lot of doctors and nurses, they are very burnt out in having to be in this situation and the numbers continuing to rise. >> they have got nurses across the state protesting the conditions they have been in, many saying that they cannot properly care for their patients. so do you have an idea of what it is like on a day to day basis for nurses say in the e.r. or

ichlts icu caring for multiple patients with coronavirus? >> absolutely we are seeing protests happen from nurses. and i think what is really important, the first job of every nurse is to take care of patients, protect their health. there is a direct relationship between the working conditions of nurses and patients' likelihood of dying. when we increase the numbering of patients the nurse has to care for, the risk of dying for all of that nurse's patients goes up. so is this a direct result of knowing that we can't save everyone that we otherwise could have. it is incredibly stressful to have to care for these patients. they require a lot of intensive care and when the patient levels are this high, it means that nurses can't get to everything and that is very distressing for nurses. especially in hospitals where they may not have adequate access to protective equipment. >> discouraging, stressful, any number of things, just exhausting for them. i know that you've talked to some doctors and nurses who say

that they will quit. how worried are you to even hear that, how widespread is burnout? >> i worry about this quite a lot before i talk to a lot of doctors and nurses who say that they intend to leave the profession because conditions are simply inhumane for both the staff and the patient. we know that the u.s. already has a really problematic nursing shortage pre-covid and that will just get worse. we'll be in a very difficult situation if doctors and nurses leave the profession and we're not able to have more enter. it is a concern. and i don't quite know what the solution is given the way conditions look right now. >> the only silver lining i can say that i've read is that i believe medical school applications are up about 18% across the country. perhaps those have been inspired to try to help or had family members fall victim to covid and want to do something. let's hope that helps. but it won't help fast enough. you got four long years ahead of you. >> absolutely. and when we look at nursing

schools, it is a problem there as well. last year nursing schools turned away over 80,000 qualified applicants because there wasn't enough space for them in terms of instructoinstructors. >> anyone who has had to be treated in a hospital knows that it is really the nurses that keep you going in so many ways. kristen choi, thank you so much. glad to see you looking so healthy. i remind our viewers, you did have an extraordinary serious suffering after the covid vaccine. so thank you. 11th hour stand still with millions on the brink of losing benefits. so what is the holdup. >> t is the holdup. >> some people have joint pain, plus have high blood pressure. they may not be able to take just anything for pain. that's why doctors recommend tylenol®. it won't raise blood pressure the way that advil® aleve or motrin® sometimes can. for trusted relief, trust tylenol®.

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right now, the financial sfat fa fate of nearly 14 million americans is in the president's hands. trump is pushing back againsts bill refusing to sign it unless it includes 2 thousand dollars stimulus checks. it is a move congressional republicans have already blocked. joining me now, abby livingston and also sonam chef. unemployment is not the only aid in danger. by the end of this year, millions could face eviction. so what do you think is the president's motivation for holding up this bill when there is so much at stake and a mere

amendment could have been enacted to increase from $600 to $2,000 about. >> some of the congressional speculation is this may be about anger at republicans in the senate who are not validating his false claims that he won this election. but i think that this illustrates one of the problems with trying to negotiate on twitter. anyone who has seen schoolhouse rock knows how hard it is to push a bill through congress. on top of that, you have a dysfunctional congress and you have congress over the holidays and they are all scattered across the country. and so coming in after the fact on something that the democratic majority on the house side agreed with is problematic. just can't come in after the fact and expect an immediate change. >> but these $600 relief checks, they hardly a surprise. lawmakers have been negotiating this bill for months. why do you think the president is choosing now to presses issue? because if abby is right and he is just retaliating against senate republicans who aren't

going along with his bid to try to invalidate the election results, that is pretty extra ordinary at the hands of americans across this country. millions in fact. >> yeah, absolutely. and we've actually seen a lot of reporting saying that this was in fact president trump's way of taking revenge on republicans who he felt didn't do enough to back his effort to overturns election results and i think this president has always put his own personal grievances among above the issues. and so if he refuses to sign this bill, we could see the government shut down as of monday december 28 unless the senate passes another stopgap funding bill to temporarily keep the government open while they try to figure out how to continue negotiating with the white house when the president is perfectly happy to sort of

cannon ball into this process at the last moment and sabotage everything that they have been working on to go against things that his own white house aides and press secretary have been telling the press and the public. so it is entirely up in the air now. we have it's entirely up in the air. we have no idea whether he's going to sign the bill or if he's going to employ the so-called pocket veto while also refusing to sign it altogether. >> in fact, yesterday, abby, lindsey graham -- did you want to say something? >> no. >> sorry. might have been something in my ear. lindsey graham tweeted yesterday, after spending some time with president trump today, i'm convinced he's going to increase stimulus checks to $2,000 per person. both are reasonable demands and i hope congress is listening. it appears he's changed his tune when it comes to stimulus

checks. what is the chance they jump on board with this. >> it takes money to get it out the door. why does this affect me if i'm not unemployed? so much is to stave off future unemployment, to keep the rolls as clear as possible and prevent more cascading decline. this is becoming perilous. the central thing about trump is how long is he relevant and how long do they look at joe biden as a negotiating partner and how willing is biden to engage before he's inaugurated. >> what do you think the american public will blame for the failure? >> you know, it's really hard to say, but it's difficult so see a scenario in which the president is not the one who's taking the blame for most of this because a lot of these negotiations were seen as -- they were going to be

seen as passed, right? that's the stage that the white house had been setting, that's the stage the congress had been setting. it seemed inevitable this new covid relief act was going to be signed. trump had shown support for it and his aids and for him to come in and say he wants $2,000 stimulus checks for people, which is something the house had been pushing for months and the republicans insisted on $600, so for trump to sabotage that process at the last moment, it's hard to see a scenario where he comes out without taking a majority of the blame. >> nine days until the end of this day. thank you so much. ahead at the top of the hour, the headlines coming from a news conference in nashville and why authorities say they are not looking for a second suspect.

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massive money in georgia. you only need look at the record fundraising numbers. when you add it all up the four candidates reportedly raised more than $340 million just over the past two months. jon ossoff is the leader of the pack with 107 million just about. reverend warnock 103 million. the incumbents collected 68 million and $64 million respectively. >> we told them the smear ads were coming, and that's exactly what happened. >> the candidates are parlaying all of that cash into political ads between the campaigns and outside groups. "the new york times" reports that nearly $470 million will be spent total on advertising before voting concludes in just 11 days. according to the average of those polls, it is really close. perdue and warnock leading by

less than a point in their races. that wraps up this weekend. up next, yasim on the cry for help to washington. ♪yo yo yo yo yo yo start your day with secret.

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good afternoon, everybody. merry post christmas. i'm yasmin vossoughian. capitol hill gridlock. unemployment benefits are expiring today, today the day

after christmas. we have a president focused on, guess what, resort life. golfing to be exact. his election loss, of course. this weekend rather than finding agreement to help millions suffering from financial loss. folks that won't be able to pay their rent on the first. explosion investigation and includes an attacker has left behind after rocking nashville to its core. we will go live on the ground near the devastation and the new leads. plus, an out of control new virus. the new rules in place to stop a mutated strain from landing on our shores. in california where cases have quickly surpassed the 2 million mark. we have our team of reporters and experts spread out across the country with the latest for you. let's get started. millions of americans now left out in the cold with no help from the government while a pandemic is crippling this economy.