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he politicizes the doj for his own end? plus, testing the republicans' red line. more controversy and more criticism for some of trump's cabinet picks, notably pete hegseth as defense secretary and his choice for fbi director kash patel. could new allegations sink their nomination? and a special legislative session happening in northern california that could provide a road map for democrats on how to win the next presidential election. 1,436 days away. , but we begin with president biden's decision to pardon his son hunter which is already reframing the political debate around law and order in this country. the pardon for hunter for crimes he hasn't even been charged with, just what he accused of donald trump doing. politico calls it, quote, a rich gift to those who want to blow

up the justice system as we know it and claim the government is a self-dealing club for hypocritical leases. now biden is exist -- is exiting a presidency he insisted about save democracy delivering an ostentatious vote of no confidence in the institutions his successor intends to attack. republicans are having a field day blasting biden as a hip toe poe krits and liar. only a handful of democrats have commented that includes michael bennett who tweeted, quote, president biden's decision put personal interest ahead of duty and further erodes americans' faith that the justice system is fair and equal for all. i want to bring in mike memoli from washington, d.c., ali vitali on capitol hill gathering reauction greg brouwer a former u.s. attorney and doj official in the bush and obama administration and elise jordan served in the state department

and white house under george w. bush and an msnbc political analyst. welcome to you all. i want to remind everyone of what joe biden has previously said about his son hunter and a pardon. >> i have no comment on any investigation that's going on. that's up to the justice department and that's all i have to say. >> will you accept the jury's outcome, their verdict, no matter what it is? >> yes. >> and have you ruled out a pardon for your son? >> yes. >> i'm not going to do anything. i said i would abide by the jury's decision and do that and not pardon him. >> the president had been adamant he wasn't going to do this. what changed? >> well, the question is, did anything actually change? yes, you heard the president in those clips all of which i should add took place when he was still a candidate for re-election, denying publicly at least that he would give a pardon to his son, but privately according to the great reporting from nbc's carole lee and sara

fitzpatrick breaking the story last night the idea of a pardon was something that the president never took off the table. we know that the final decision was made just in the last week when the president was with his family, including hunter, his wife and son, as well as his daughter ashley and the first lady, in nantucket for the thanksgiving holiday. this would have been a time in which the family, hunter and the president, would have had the most face-to-face, one-on-one time to discuss the sentencing appearances he was scheduled to make one in a delaware court and one in a los angeles court for those two convictions -- one a conviction and one a guilty plea. something that was weighing on the president. it was interesting to hear one of the people part of those discussions the first lady of the united states, as she was kicking off the holiday season at the white house asked her view on this. take a listen to that a moment ago. >>. >> dr. biden do you support the

pardon of hunter? >> do you support the pardon of hunter? >> dr. biden, what changed on the pardon for hunter? >> of course i support the pardon. >> the choice the first lady made she could have dodged that question. you see her mingling with the children of nationals guardsmen and chose to respond the way she did because she, too, denied the possibility of a pardon when i asked her specifically about whether she wished her husband could take this burden off her son. i had the conversation with her in june after that conviction in a they're court and the first lady at the time said she and her husband respects the rule of law. this is driving intense questioning of the white house we heard it the white house press secretary engaged with reporters as the president arrived in angola. listen how the press secretary tried to explain the change of

heart. >> this is a decision that the president made himself. again, he wrestled with it. he made his decision this weekend, and we've laid out pretty clearly of what he was thinking, his statement lays out pretty clearly. he believes in the department of justice but he also believes that his son was singled out politically and so he made this decision. >> and so, chris, let's talk about one of the other variables here, one of the things that has changed since those repeated denials on the part of the white house a pardon was coming, the election of president-elect donald trump. clearly the concern -- you see this in the breadth of the pardon, not just on two specific charges he had faced, but on any potential offenses he would have committed over a decade -- whether the president's election -- the president-elect's election was a factor in the decision, something karine said yes, but then she backtracked to say she wasn't going to engage in

hypotheticals. with the president traveling overseas a lot to digest and learn more about in this decision making. something that is really changing a lot of views of the president as he approaches his final time in office. >> yeah. last couple months. so hunter biden was found guilty by a jury on gun-related charges and pleaded guilty to tax offenses. i wonder what you make of president biden's argument this was a miscarriage of justice? >> well, that argument has been made by others, some have argued that a different defendant, perhaps, one named hunter smith would have been approached and handled differently by doj given the same sort of facts. i think at the end of the day that argument is a loser. this is problematic for two obvious reasons, as has been mentioned the president repeatedly himself through surrogates said he would not do this, and then, of course, turned around and did it. that's not a great look. secondly, to criticize doj as

he's doing it, also not the best way to explain a decision like this. granted, the prosecutor in this case was the trump u.s. attorney in delaware but he became merrick garland's special counsel so it's hard for the president or anybody else to accuse prosecutorial or alleged prosecutorial misconduct in this case, so you put it all together and despite the fact that the last four years for president biden in many ways have been good and productive, a success story for the country in many ways, this is not a great way to be going out for him and as we see, he's receiving criticism from both side of the aisle and it's unfortunate. >> mike just played that video of the first lady and she did answer a question she didn't have to in saying she supported the pardon of her son and as she was leaving the room asked another question of whether or not she had spoken to her son hunter biden, that she chose not to answer, and she left the

room. we don't know the answer to that. let me follow up on something you said, greg, and i wonder, do you think that leaning into his role as a father there was a way for joe biden to grant this pardon without suggesting a selective and unfair prosecution? >> well, there certainly was. one relatively simple way to do it -- and i think something many people expected -- was that he would not pardon hunter biden, but he would perhaps commute any sentence he would receive. that would be, in effect, a way of acknowledging his guilt, acknowledging his guilty plea in the one case and jury's verdict in the other case, but ensuring he wouldn't have to spend time in prison. that would have been criticized, no doubt, but a full pardon and as broad as this pardon was, albeit within the president's constitutional discretion, obviously, is what is raising eyebrows and could have been avoided while at the same time

doing something to help his son move past this chapter in his life. >> so, what more are we hearing in capitol hill, particularly from democrats? >> look, lawmakers coming back to town today after their thanksgiving recess and certainly we've heard from some democrats online, on social media platforms, but also some who have spoken out saying they understand the contours of this from a family perspective, many of these lawmakers actually know joe biden, he was ubiquitous on capitol hill for decades certainly, mike spoke to the family dynamic so beautifully because of his depth of knowledge here, but for lawmakers they have the knowledge of the unique role hunter biden plays in biden's universe and certainly they understand the context of it but that doesn't mean they are all-out in agreement and some have been silent. here's, for example, democratic congressman connelly speaking about this pardon.

watch. >> i have a mixed response as a father myself and someone who knows joe biden, i can sympathize with her perspective that his son was, you know, subject to vigilante justice. having said that, what other father in america has the power to pardon their son or daughter if they're convicted of a crime? i really think we have to visit the pardon power in the constitution and at the very least i think we've got to sir comdescribe it so that you don't get to pardon relatives even if you believe passionately they're innocent or their cause is just. >> perhaps a new legislative assignment as this power could be looked at, but certainly from a political perspective, i imagine more democrats, once they are back here on the hill and within range of reporters, microphones and recorders, many more of them are going to have to make that juxtaposition you saw from connelly there, saying

that while they might understand they have concerns what the implications could be here for law enforcement norms and the way and the role of a president of the united states. certainly even if you think back to the ways that hunter biden has been a central figure here on capitol hill from an investigations' perspective, democrats were always quite clear they thought that hunter should not be treated any differently. i imagine that's going to start coming out in their statements and reactions. >> i think it's also true that, obviously, joe biden's political career is over. there are no per se immediate implications for him, but for democrats, peter baker put it this way, mr. biden's pardon will make it harder for democrats to defend the integrity of the justice department and stand against mr. trump's unapologetic plans to use it for political purposes. is that the danger here? >> chris, i completely agree. joe biden has left the american

rule of law system in a perilous position on the eve of the transfers of power. he has proclaimed and professed to care about protecting and upholding institutions, and with this move, it just looks corrupt. it looks like he cares more about using his political power to protect the powerful in this case his son, and it's -- you know, this is just in a nutshell exactly why so many americans think the system is rigged and politicians are corrupt and they conflate what biden did and trump did. whether right or wrongrs that's why one of the many reasons the election went the way they did, donald trump and many americans, after all of donald trump's convictions to give him another chance because they think the whole system is rotten. i would be shocked if president trump now does not give blanket pardons to the january 6th rioters for what they did on january 6th.

>> well, he has suggested he's going to give widespread pardons for the january 6th rioters, but let me -- we're going to talk about kash patel nominated or picked by donald trump to head the fbi in just a minute, but he is among those who have made it very clear on the republican side that they would like to go after not just hunter biden but the -- they have questions about the biden family overall. they have suggested very publicly that it's a crime family without anything to back it up. with these two developments coming after another, the pick of kash patel, the pardon of hunter biden, do you think -- what do you think the message is for the american people about the rule of law? about the distribution of justice in this country? >> chris, i think that the elite play by a different rule book. that's the answer americans get from this episode.

it's incredibly disturbing our justice system is now seen as a political weapon against the other side depending on who is in power. it wreaks of banana republic style governance and it's a sad chapter, and i hope there's going to be some course corrective, but i'm in the exceedingly optimistic. >> greg, do you see any possibility of course correction here? >> well, this is -- it's an unfortunate reality we face right now. with this more than anything, does is give critics on the right a process foul to point to, something to say well, you know, see this just proves what we've been saying about biden and the democrats, and it gives those critics another what about. what about the e-mails. what about joe biden's pardon. it doesn't help the situation. there's a lot of misinformation out there about how doj operates, how the fbi operates, but this sort of episode doesn't help clarify those

misconceptions so we'll see. >> greg, mike, ali, thank you. elise, you're going to stay with me. up next, the new controversy for two of trump's more controversial picks and how they could impact the senate confirmations. we're back in 90 seconds. ♪ (animatronic santa) ho, ho, ho! (vo) time to move? make it easy with opendoor. sell your home in any season, for any reason. (animatronic santa) look at me! i am festive!

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controversy. kash patel, trump's choice to run the fbi was compared to a secret soviet police chief by trump's former national security adviser john bolton who says patel should be rejected by the senate 100-0. our justice and intelligence correspondent ken dilanian called him the personification of maga rage and trump's pick for defense secretary pete hegseth is the subject of a piece in "the new yorker," indicating that hegseth was forced to step down by both of the two nonprofit advocacy groups he ran in the face of serious allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety and personal misconduct. "the new yorker" reports a previously undisclosed 2015 whistleblower report that says at one point hegseth had to be restrained while drunk from joining dancers on the stage of a louisiana strip club where he brought his team and said

hegseth who was married at the time and other members of his management team, sexually pursued the organization's female staffers they divided into two groups the party girls and the not party girls. hegseth's lawyer gave the magazine this statement, we're not going to comment on outlandish claims laundered through "the new yorker" by a petty and jealous disgruntled former associate of mr. hegseth's. nbc news has not seen the whistleblower report cited by "the new yorker" and the magazine says the report compiled by former staffers and sent to hegseth's previous employer. hegseth's attorney declined to flns and the trump transition team has not responded to requests for comment. jake sherman, founder of punch bowl news and national security editor david rohde with me in studio, elise jordan back with us. so jake, if democrats all but know pete hegseth can only lose four republican votes and get

through, correct me if my math is wrong, how are republican senators weighing a report like this? i wonder if you're hearing anything? it's early. >> well, if he loses four he's done. he cannot -- on the floor at least. if he loses four votes on the floor he would not be confirmed. number one, you could just see -- you could name pick your -- take your pick of who might vote against him, not only based on these allegations, but based on the fact that a lot of people don't think he's terribly well qualified to lead the several million person defense department. again, these people have not commented directly but you can think of a mitch mcconnell, susan collins, lisa plur cou ski, todd young, john curtis, bill cassidy. we don't know, there's just a universal of people in the 53-seat senate republican majority that could vote no. that's the reality of it. now, senators are filing back

into town tonight where they will be undoubtedly asked about this, about joe biden's pardons, but importantly, asked about this nomination, tulsi gabbard's nomination, kash patel's nomination. three nominations that face rough waters here on capitol hill and these are nominations that will be -- that people care a lot about, the fbi, defense department, national security adviser, are three of the most important nomination for any incoming president. >> so on top of all this, "the new york times" obtained an e-mail pete hegseth's mother sent him in 2018, quote, you are an abuser women. that is the ugly truth and i have no respect for any man that belils, lies cheats sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego. nbc news has not obtained the e-mail sent in the middle of a divorce from hegseth's second wife and in an interview on friday, penelope hegseth

regretted the e-mail and apologized to him. lease, when you put these accusations about hegseth together some of which overlap how do you think some of the folks that when we just talked about a susan collins, lisa murkowski, ni ernst would view this? >> this is going to be a loyalty test to trump. will they let a grossly unqualified candidate become the leader of an agency that governs over billions and billions of dollars and millions of personnel. i had heard for years in national security right wing circles murmurs and gossip about pete hegseth and how he ran the nonprofit and fwros spending and just say he had a reputation. i could not have dreamed that the allegations were going to be so bad, just from the nonprofit sphere, and then from his

personal life with the most recent that letter from his mother, just, you know, admonishing her son for his behavior and then the report the nonprofit that he was running at one point had a thousand dollars in the bank account and that hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. someone who cannot run a small nonprofit, certainly is not going to be able to cut and manage the defense. >> let's talk about kash patel. you've been reading his memoir. i heard you talk about this morning and talking to sources, obviously, about their concerns. what is it about him that makes him singularly troubling to any number of people who are speaking publicly about it? >> there's -- people afraid to be named but there's a current federal law enforcement official who worked with him in the past, patel in the past, and said he was shocked at this choice, he's not in any way qualified for

this position. essentially he is 44 years old, worked as a public defender in miami and three years as a low-level prosecutor in the justice department and to run the fbi is, you know, he's not prepared for that. the bigger concern is that he has talked about purging the fbi, and he wants to go back and relitigate the battles of the first trump term. he wants to, you know, clean out the fbi and look at the 2017 trump russia investigation. there was a special counsel john durham pointed during the trump administration by bill barr who spent four years investigating the fbi's conduct in 2017. no senior officials were charged. there were problems found with how surveillance warrants were handled. one fbi lawyer accepted a guilty plea to dur last ham. john durham did not find the deep state conspiracy that kash patel says exist and argues the

2020 election was stolen from donald trump. it's a step backwards. many of the people he's talking about aren't in the fbi in terms of the senior officials, but all of this would lead to sort of legal battles, division and chaos and paralysis. >> donald trump has talked very publicly about retribution and when you talk about kash patel and the deep state, is it clear from his memoir or elsewhere the kinds of people he might be looking at or want to look in? >> there's an appendix b in his memoir i've looked through parts of it and lists of people he says are in the deep state. >> literal lists. >> like john brennan, the former cia director invested by the special counsel and not charged with anything. jim comey, who was investigated by the special counsel and not charged with anything. it's a group of democratic politicians and some intelligence and law enforcement officials who were seen as close to the democrats. so the book is, you know,

it's -- it's a very dark picture that every federal bureaucrat or most federal bureaucrats are corrupt and lying and they are like secret kabulls plotting to unseat donald trump. there isn't definitive evidence i found, sort of new blockbuster evidence in the book published last year "government gangsters" that blames all -- many, many problems on government officials. you can cut government and say there's too many bureaucrats but this is different. they are a threat to democracy and i don't see it in what i've seen in his book. >> jake, we talked about the criticism, but listen to what we're hearing from some republican senators. >> all of the weeping and nashing of teeth, people pulling their hair out, are exactly the people who are dismayed about having a reformer come into the fbi and clean out the corrupted partisans who have bureaued in

senior positions in the fbi. >> there are serious problems at the fbi. the american people know it and expect to see sweeping change and kash patel is the person to do it. >> do you know of any republicans opposed to patel, whether publicly or behind closed doors? >> it's early. yesterday on the sunday shows mike rounds said that he thought wray -- chris wray, the current direct of the fbi, who trump appointed to a ten-year term not ten years ago, was doing a good job. i think it's early to make proclamations about where you are on patel, at least until he starts doing meetings on capitol hill and has his hearing and follows the kind of normal course of events you see a nominee do. i will say that it will be a tough nomination and -- but i think also what elise said is absolutely right. this is effectively a loyalty test for donald trump. are they willing to throw caution to the wind and out of

loyalty to the president and put somebody in the fbi to run the fbi who is, you know, a conspiracy theorist who believes that there is some sort of vast conspiracy within government to take down donald trump and to cheat on elections and do all sorts of other things that patel has indicate good. >> thank you. and coming up, syrian president bashar al assad facing threat to his hold on pour in years as rebels captures swaths of the country. what it means for the balance of the power in the middle east. what officials say set off a deadly stampede at a soccer game in guinea. you're watching "chris jansing reports" only on msnbc. you're watching "chris jansing reports" only on msnbc why take s throughout the day when you can take 1 prilosec. for easier heartburn relief, one beats ten. prilosec otc. one pill. 24 hours. zero heartburn. want a next level clean? swish with the whoa of listerine. it kills 99.9% of bad breath germs

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at least 56 people have been killed including children and many more injured during a stampede at a soccer match in the west african country of guinea yesterday. media reports suggest it was touch off by a disputed penalty call in the final match of a local tournament. chaos escalated after security forces reportedly used tear gas to try to calm the crowd. some of them were hoping to escape climbing a high fence. government officials say an investigation of the tragedy is under way. syria's allies rushing to defend president bashar al assad against rebels who have captured broad stretches of syria including most of the city of aleppo. today russia and syria continued

bombing rebel targets and a senior iraqi security official tells nbc news that 27,000 iraqi troops are estimated to have crossed into syria. iran has pledged to support assad. hala gorani is reporting from jerusalem. "the wall street journal" calls this the most serious challenge to assad's grip on power in nearly a decade. help people understand what's happening there. >> i was not able to hear you ask me a question there but i'm going to go ahead and give you the latest on syria here. the lightening advance by the rebel groups took everyone by surprise, what you were showing our viewers there on the screen were air strikes conducted by the russian and regime military on rebel held positions. you see a map of syria there. what the rebel units did and these are constituted of islamic factions as well, one that was known as the nusra front known as hayat tahrir al sham, they

gained control of aleppo in a matter of days. this really unfroze the very sort of frozen battle lines that had been in place since 2016 when the rebels were driven out of syria by syrian forces. why is this significant? it is because syria has been the playground, the proxy battleground, of so many countries of interest over the last ten plus years. iran on the one hand, that supports the regime. you have, of course, israel that has been bombing targets inside of syria as well to try to disrupt hezbollah supply lines from iran. you have russia that has supported the assad regime now preoccupied with ukraine and not been able to come to help the regime forces that are trying to defend their positions in big cities like aleppo and what

about u.s. involvement as many of our viewers know, the u.s. has troops inside syria and they support some rebel faction called the sdf instituted -- made up of kurd factions that have been fighting isis in the eastern part of the country. very complex situation shifting battle lines and a very high risk moment for a country that has gone through over a decade of war, chris. it's something we're going to have to be watching very carefully. back to you. >> you will do it for us. hala gorani, thank you. still to come democrats are plotting out a path for the road 2028 but can they come to an agreement on what that looks like? we've got that next. like we've got that next. liberty mutual customized my car insurance so i saved hundreds. with the money i saved i thought i'd get a wax figure of myself. cool right? look at this craftmanship. i mean they even got my nostrils right. it's just nice to know that years after

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so here's the strablg strategic questions facing democrats who hope to chart a path for a presidential run. do you lead the anti-trump resistance or take the focus away from him. california's gavin newsom called a special session of the state legislature designed to shield california from trump administration moves on things like abortion and environmental legislation. "the los angeles times" described the challenge newsom faces as, quote, a delicate balance between the political brawler that his democratic base

admires and a more measured national leader capable of winning back voters who backed trump in the election. christopher is the california bureau chief at politico, cornell is the democratic strategist and pollster and msnbc political analyst. good to have both of you here. christopher, politico reports that governor newsom, quote, rhetorical posture vis-a-vis trump embodied resistance. in fresno last week he was combative and conciliatory often in the same breath. take a listen. >> we know what happened last time donald trump was president. he vandalized our progress, vandalized our programs, he broke the law. we reacted to the assault it was a proactive litigation strategy, it was a reactive strategy. i hope there's not one lawsuit with the trump administration. as i said, open hand not a closed fist. >> hopes there's no lawsuit,

right, but let's not kid ourselves, last time trump was president there was like 120 lawsuits filed by california against the federal government. so give us a sense from the ground in california of the line newsom is walking for someone widely considered to be a 2028 contender. >> i think you set it up well when it comes to how newsom is planning to approach trump. one thing we need to say, a lot of this is not theoretical. there were 122 lawsuits to be xakts last time and newsom dealt personally with trump on the phone throughout the couple years where they overlapped. a lot of that had to do with disaster relief. i've spoken with newsom about what that was like and trump trying to withhold money to negotiate for things he wanted, california, to back off on its climate policies and again, this is not something where he's

coming in fresh and has not had these dealings with trump. look at how trump has dealt with newsom. new scum, the nickname trump used for newsom, a throughway line in almost all of his rallies down the stretch. hess -- he's familiar with newsom. newsom trying to be proactive. the purpose of the special session put away $25 million in an account, last time i think they spent $42 million on the lawsuits. the argument that newsom and the state are making is, that so much money is on the line here for the state and the investment to spend 25 on lawsuits you free up or basically make available to the state a bunch of money from the federal government, whether it's on climate issues, on health care, whether it's on disaster relief, even on issues of grants for local law enforcement who don't want to

participate with the federal government in deportation rates and that money could be taken away by the trump administration. so there's a ton of money at stake here. 2028 looms, and certainly newsom is walking that fine line now. we'll see once trump takes office, once trump is there taking these actions, there may be -- this is the most anti-trump state in the union, there is going to be pressure on newsom to fight trump on these things. right now we're not seeing that because trump is not in office and we have to factor that in too. right now we're in kind of the post-election, postmortem phase were people are looking at trump supporters and what democrats might be able to do. some might go out the window once trump is in office and taking actions that are deeply unpopular with democrats. >> cornell, it's not just newsom. there are quite a few blue state governors who have a group they

are putting together doing a balancing act that vow to fight the trump administration when needed. attorneys general have gotten together, democratic attorneys general as well, but if you are serious about thinking about running for president in 2028, do you have to start figuring this out now? >> well, chris, it's crazy that we're talking about 2028 right now, but that's how -- >> you know they're thinking about it. >> you're right. it never stops. and people will start to position themselves now to do it. look, i think a lot of -- before 2028 i think there's going to be a midterm, and a midterm that's important for democrats. look, i've seen this cycle back and forth like, you know, he won in 2016 and then democrats had an overwhelming victorious midterm election and look, i think you'll see some state races coming up as well as midterm races coming up and

you'll see positioning. but, yeah, i'm not surprised at all that democratic governors and a.g.s are putting together policies and plans to fight for their values. what the opposition party has to do -- democrats are the opposition party now -- is, you know, lay out what our values are and then go out and fight for our values. so i don't begrudge any of the governors or a.g.s for doing that because they're doing what opposition party should be doing, taking a stand and fighting for their values. >> i wonder how deep you think the problem is? there was an interesting article in the associated press one of many saying the democrats can't agree if there is a problem. look, i mean there is no leader in place, right. i mean kamala harris lost, joe biden on his way out, now in the middle of a pardon controversy. but is there any consensus you hear among folks that there is a

serious problem? are they looking to a new dnc chair to start paving the way? what's the path toward a successful midterm? >> there's no silver bullet, right. i think people who are looking for a sill vert bullet -- a lot of them hot takes and -- that you see out there, analysis it's one thing, democrats did this one thing we would have won or this messaging tweak we would have won -- i've been doing this a while. my hair is gray, i've been doing this a while -- >> mine too. >> after every bad election if we just had a better economics message we would have won. i worked for a guy named howard dean who in 2004, republicans were talking about a permanent republican majority and howard dean came in and we had an idea of a 50 state strategy where we should engage voters on the ground and fund grassroots

programs and not all of the centralized out of washington. what happened after the strategy, we had a successful midterm election where we took back the house and then we followed that up with barack obama and hisser toic victory. there's no permanent anything in politics. it's all a hurricane and being eroded and falling apart as we put it back together and no silver bullet. >> we've got a lot of conversations we will have between now and the midterms. you got me thinking about letting my hair go. you're laughing in the studio. that's not going to happen. okay. anyway, christopher and cornell, who looks great on you, thank you both for being here. appreciate it. up next, the multibillion dollar sales bonanza expected to break cyber monday records. you're watching "chris jansing reports" only on msnbc. reports" only on msnbc and i'm from flowery branch, georgia.

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- we've spent a lifetime crafting them. harry & david, 90 years and still sharing. right now an arctic blast is blowing record amounts of snow in the northeast, the great lakes, and the midwest. a weather nightmare for a record-setting number of post-thanksgiving travelers. some 5 million people are now under winter weather alerts including a weather emergency in upstate new york where some areas have been buried in nearly five feet of snow creating dangerous conditions for drivers. >> sometimes i shovel the steps off.

>> it looks like a whiteout. you couldn't see anything in front of you. the roads you couldn't see. nothing. >> nothing. well next hour we'll have a live report from erie, pennsylvania, where there is another emergency in place after at least 30 inches of snow. >> the holiday shopping blitz continues and cyber monday is expected to reach $13.2 billion this year. that's according to retail researchers. nbc's brian cheung is live at an amazon fulfillment center in new jersey. brian, i want to know what are shoppers buying this year and how are the deals looking? >> yeah. chris, experts tell us the best things to buy on cyber monday are electronics and apparel, specifically fall apparel. lot of retailers trying to get that out of the door before they bring in the cold winter gear. those are the places you are likely to get the best discounts. all those spends could be part of a $13.1 billion day of sales.

that would be a record if that does happen. it bodes well given that we've seen records broken for both thanksgiving and black friday in terms of online spend, also according to adobe analytics. maybe that points to a record day on cyber monday as well. at the peak hours of 8 to 10:00 today there could be online orders $15.7 million per minute as people go out and seek those deals. again, as you go out, tips for you, try to use price matching apps like camel camel camel and honey to make sure you're getting the best deal and take advantage of price matching policies at stores as well, chris. >> brian cheung, thank you for that. as we see them roll over and over again. all those fulfillments. still ahead, what changed president biden's mind? why he's granting his son hunter a sweeping pardon. stay close. more "chris jansing reports" right after this. ght after this

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