i would like to see the mrms, the susan collins, the others, ben sasse.nor thornburg just died today. where are the governor thornburgs? why aren't they standing up for rule of law? engaging with our allies. yes, fiscal responsibility to be sure. but where is the principle, the ethics involved? we had a young congressman-elect who just died at the age of 41 and now a young senator saying it's my chance to stand up. for what, trump or the constitution? i don't know how mitch mcconnell is going to handle it going forward. maybe it's time for a new party. one that abides by the rule of law, abides by a balanced budget opportunities for fiscal responsibility but also faithful to the people of this country, who vote to elect them. >> all right. very interesting. and potential call for a new party there from former republican senator. that is very interesting. >> one final comment. shakespeare said it all. he said beware cassius is lean and hungry. those men are dangerous. those people who are out, jumping to the tune of donald trump are going to be dangerous f

. >> senator ben sasse, another republican from nebraska, he's called it dangerous like you. i'm quoting from a facebook post he put up last night he said when we talk in private -- talking about speaking to his republican colleagues -- i haven't heard a single republican allege the election results were fraudulent, not juan. he goes on to say it's basically fear of the base here. do you hear similar things from your republican colleagues? >> i think fear drives it, no question. i think there's some in congress on the republican side it's more than fear. they seem to have -- it's an ideology of this guy it's disturbing. at least on the republican side in the senate, i think it's fear. i hope that no one else would join senator hawley in this big fraud. but there's a lot of fear. and that's -- there's no question about it. they have to choose here. it's real simple, two choices, you choose democracy and the

i think ben sasse said it well. >> you mentioned others joining. the fact is that others have at least left that possibility open, tommy tubberville, tom cotton, rand paul, do you expect to see others join? regardless you have enough, you just need one senator. what does january 6th look like then? >> i hope not. what happens if he goes through it, he objects it goes to the senate and a debate and vote on that one challenge. it's likely to go state by state. so maybe he'd start with pennsylvania. but i hope that he's the only one, because this is -- this is a -- this is going to be a mark on the record of that individual for the rest of their life. and especially someone in this case, senator hawley, who is a lawyer, who is the attorney general of his home state. it's hard to comprehend that he wants to attach his name to one of the biggest lies in american history. >> let me ask you this finally because there's a theatrical element to this. it's not going to work. it does damage. it feeds the idea -- in fact, most republicans don't believe the ele

. >> senator ben sasse said he won't participate in the stunt by his fellow republicans and urge others to reject this dangerous ploy. adding the president and his allies are playing with fire. if you make big claims, you better have the evidence. but the president doesn't, and neither do the institutional arsonist members of congress who will object. sasse also noted, when we talk in private i haven't heard a single congressional republican allege that the election results were fraudulent, not one. the vice president has a limited role in the process, president trump is demanding mike pence fight harder for him. editorial board is saying trump is putting his loyal vp in a tough spot. the scramble to overturn the will of the voters tarpishes mr. trump's legacy and undermines any designs he has on running in 2024. >>> jake, we also just learned mitch mcconnell this morning held a conference call with senate republicans and on that call he called out for senator josh hawley, first one to explain his reasoning behind that decision, that we are told he did discuss with republican leadership

senator ben sasse ben sasse who in a one sentence statement wrote "this is rotten to the core." >> mike: we are still waiting to see ife the president mayn issue more pardons while he's here in florida. they are working to override the president's veto of the national defense authorization act and also on monday the house speaker says the house will be working or not to increase the stimulus payments once again with a roll call vote.it these are the payments of the president says he wants. stay tuned. >> mike: it should be a busy next week. mark meredith starting us off. here are some good news. the stocks are up to date, the dow gained 70 and the s&p rose 13 and that nasdaq jumped 34. a massive rush massive russia linked cyber attack allowed hackers to spend months mining federal government networks and private company systems across the globe which is proving to have larger than expected implications and now, and new warning from the federal government. correspondent david spent has the latest. >> a christmas eve morning for governments across the country, not even a week after cyber

that is what republican senator ben sass of nebraska says tonight in a statement. it begins laying out how president trump has pardoned what he calls a tronch of felons like manafort and stone who flagrantly and repeatedly violated the law and harmed americans. and his quote, this is rotten to the core. i want to bring in cnn white house correspondent jeremy diamond, evan perez, and senior political analyst john avlon. someone is sounding the alarms as we speak about this very issue because it really cannot be over stated. although this may be predictable we are in yet again unprecedented times. john, let me begin with you. what would the founding fathers have thought about the way president trump is using his presidential power? yeah, he has it. but is he doing it in the right way and should he be doing it? >> absolutely not. the founding fathers debated exactly this kind of context at the constitutional convention. they were worried about a president acting like a tyrant. they wanted to constrain his power. it is a constant theme. one of the debates they had is w

, ben sasse state explicitly he's not for a come solution. mark zuckerberg was asking for regulations around transparency, and the regulations he described which was required the same types of reports with all the extensive data analysis they do in the supports, plus he was hinting may be in addition the transparency itself that there would be a minimum level of so-called effectiveness even with the various types of speech, perhaps even the types of speech that we do not prohibit an hour committee guidelines. if that was put in place that would at the minimum create a barrier to entry that would make it impossible for smaller people to compete, smaller startups to compete, because facebook as this extensive infrastructure in which they have invested a whole lot of money. second, it might make it, if the types of speech that are going to be involved again are going to be hate speech and of the kinds of things we don't prohibit, then they're going to make it impossible to compete in a way that involves a different set of guidelines as to what s

we've started to see that with ben sasse.ll be interesting to see whether any other republicans come out against some of these pardons. >> rick santorum was on with me last night and he was squirming over these pardons. he said he didn't like them one bit. this is not something republicans by and large, except maybe the fox tv crowd are rallying arourally i ing around. so what did charles kushner, jared kushner's dad do, you might be asking this morning. allow me have chris christie, former governor of new jersey, former u.s. attorney who prosecuted charles kushner explain. listen. >> i just think that it was so obvious he had to be prosecuted -- i mean, if a guy hires a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law and videotapes it and then sends the videotape to his sister to attempt to intimidate her from testifying before a grand jury, do i really need anymore justification than that? i mean, it's one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes that i prosecuted when i was u.s. attorney. and i was u.s. attorney in new jersey, mar

and more republicans, beyond ben sasse, need to speak out. interestingly, i was doing some research. when bill clinton caught a lot of grief from conservatives, you know who spoke out and said it was completely indefensible? senator joe biden. >> a democrat. point taken. evan, let me bring you in here because give us some of the specifics of these pardons and the crimes that they excuse away. and just give a nice, little, shiny, clean slate to. >> yeah. i mean, look, it wipes away what these people, especially the two characters here we are talking about. these are the people who are associated with the president's campaign, involved in the president's election campaign in 2016. and according to robert mueller and the prosecutors who worked on that -- on those cases, what these men both did was essentially lied or obstruct. they did not cooperate with the investigation, in order to protect the president. that's the commonality. in the case of paul manafort, he was sentenced to seven and a half years for bank and tax fraud, witness tampering.

and ben sasse said especially he's not for government solutions to solve this problem? zuckerberg was asking for regulations around his fancy and the regulations that he described which would require the same types of reports with all the extensive data analysis that they do in those reports and plus he was hinting that may be in addition to the transparency itself that there would be a minimum level of so-called effectiveness dealing with the various types of speech and perhaps even the types of speech that we do not prohibit in our community guidelines and is that was put in place that would, at the minimum create a barrier to entry that would make it impossible for smaller people to compete or smaller startups to compete because facebook has this extensive infrastructure in which they have invested a whole of money. second, it might make it, the types of speech that will be involved are again going to be hate speech and other kinds of things we do not prohibit then they will make it impossible to compete in a way that involves a different set of guidelines as to what

accused of witness tampering and star and was convicted of lying to congress republican senator ben sasse cold that pardoning rotten to the cole. they make up a fraction of the $26.00 total pardons the president issued on wednesday and with less than a month left in office more pardons are anticipating from the outgoing president. christmas holiday celebrations in much of africa has been dampened by the crown of virus pandemic many countries are saying kovac 19 infections rise forcing governments to impose restrictions on gatherings flourished were reports from lagos nigeria where the economic fallout of the pandemic has made things even worse. christmas is in the lagos is always packed with all kinds of parties festivals and events but this is going to be more quiet than usual because of the recent spike in $1000.00 infections the government has introduced strict shows patsy's can evolve and music shows are now banned throughout the state of another major highlights of christmas shows here in nigeria is the our missing food fortunately nigeria is going through an economic recession as a

what ben sasse has pointed out clearly in my view is that the party has lent itself to the whims of oneever president trump seems to want, that's where they are, rather than establishing their policies based on some core value or principles. so that's really the longer-term problem. we have short term issues here with the georgia election, the peaceful transition of power and longer term for the gop will be what does the party look like post-trump and particularly it's going to be harder as donald trump, you know, tries to keep his hand in the game with his post presidential activities. >> why is that? why do so many republicans still kowtow to the president? you know, is it just because all the votes he got and they're afraid of him, afraid of the tweet? i'm talking to adam kins singer the other day who said he talked to his republican colleagues who basically said they don't want to speak out because they think it's good for them to be on the president's side for the retweets they get. others said he's leaving office january 20th we're going to stay quiet until he goes out the door. w

accused of witness tampering and star and was convicted of lying to congress republican senator ben sasse cole that pardoning rotten to the cole. ok make up a fraction of the $26.00 total pardons the president issued on wednesday and with less than a month left in office pardons are intice appended from the outgoing president. germany a president of france has delivered a message of hope in his annual christmas day address to germany emphasizing the challenges brought on by the pandemic but also how it has brought germans together let's take a listen to our present time i have to say these are going on good. for us. and vince it is very it was a visit from the ones of them laden on that i'm going out playing the do is call it's on time it's a good. we must know of feelers for. foosball them study on kino on consult the eyes in the fire. on feelings under the mia dependent me on the in the file let's leave the mentions invade said that he does is. anomalous leave in. a bad 1st under verse having via. the stark isn't. the envy of a number of the more and. that was president frank there in h

boris sanchez, thank you. >>> one of senator hawley's republican colleagues, nebraska senator ben sasse gop colleagues are worried about how they will look to president trump's base if they don't try to overturn the election results. but sass says that this move is dangerous and he's right. let's bring in cnn presidential historian douglas brinkley. always great to have you on, douglas. senator sasse also alleges that his republican colleagues have entertained claims that the election was fraudulent out of fear of the political backlash from the president's base. this is something we've heard repeatedly throughout this administration. what is your reaction? >> it's donald trump being a joe mccarthy, you know, trying to have loyalty oaths. he wants to divide the republican party into two worlds, people that will do anything for me and everybody else. so he's really just throwing mitch mcconnell out of the bus and hawley is the new guy he's betting on. lindsey graham came right after christmas day to golf and stay behind the president. we're dealing with two distinct republican parties, t

ben sasse believes paxton is looking for a pardon from president trump. president and his legal team are framing this as the big case, their actual case, what they have been waiting for to challenge election results, but if you talk to people internally, they don't believe it has merit behind it. despite what they're saying publicly, that's not what you are hearing behind the scenes, despite what the president is tweeting. >> thank you for the perspective. kaitlan collins, good to see you. let's continue the conversation. my next guest, trevor potter, founder and president of the campaign legal center, a nonprofit group focused on campaign finance and elections, and former chairman of the fec, federal election commission. trevor, welcome back. >> thanks, brooke. good to be with you. >> this texas lawsuit, can you help us understand what the lawsuit is even claiming. they're saying there are voter irregularities. where is the evidence? >> well, to start with, they're not even claiming voter irregularity. it is a very bizarre lawsuit. what they're saying fi

ben sasse said of the lawsuit it looks like a fella begging for a pardon from a pr stunt rather thanawsuit. that's the view of this, even in republican circles how they're seeing the last ditch effort by the president. he is doing anything he can to try to continue to delay results of the election, john. what's notable about this is not that, the president has been doing that for weeks. it is the number of republicans falling in line behind the president, continuing to push this and amplify this, make it look like they're getting behind this effort. >> well, if you follow politics, the job of state attorney general often a springboard to the governor and senate, proof the attorneys general are for getting everything they learned in law school and understanding their party is under the thumb of the president of the united states. kaitlan collins, we will watch as this case, call it a case, as this petition goes to the supreme court. more high profile visits to help candidates in the georgia senate runoffs. biden transition saying he will campaign for the democratic candidates. vice pr

my response is to listen to senator ben sasse, a republican, who says this is playing with fire. i don't understand how you can be a conservative who believes in preserving american institutions, preserving our constitutional system, and vote to override a democratic result. it's really hurting our institutions. and theireopy here is, jim, the very people who are voting to say the election is illegitimate are there in the house or senate by the same election process. so how can you say the president is illegitimate but say your own election is legitimate? >> and have you spoken to any of your republican colleagues about this attempt to overturn the will of the american people? >> you know, i haven't on this topic. i have good relations with a lot of republican colleagues. i have worked with them on bills, but when it comes to this topic, they're reticent, and here's the unfortunate thing. i thought some thought that when trump lost, maybe we would move on in this country and have a new political era. what this is showing is trump's shadow is still very large on the republican par

senator ben sasse saying when we talk in private, i haven't heard a single congressional republican allege that the election results were fraudulent, not one. but one senator has put himself front and center in the effort to overturn the will of the people, cnn's phil mattingly is on capitol hill. >> reporter: it's been apparent for weeks that several house republicans who are close allies of president trump are going to vote to object to certain slates of electors as they counted president-elect joe biden's victory in the united states congress. however, the key missing element of that was they needed to pair up with a u.s. senator for anything substantiative to occur. now they have that u.s. senator, senator josh hawley, republican from missouri says he will join in the objections, at least one objection, possibly more objections, and he cited specifically the state of pennsylvania. his rationale being that he believes certain state rules were changed late in the game. those changes, well, they were made because of the pandemic, and it wasn't just in states that joe biden won. there are

you know, ben sasse is calling it like it is. unfortunately, he's in a class of his own. silence on the other side of the aisle is complicity. people are not speaking up about this. that's the same as supporting it. i think that's the story that needs to continue to be told. and i hope that other people join sasse. >> so, we had chuck rosenberg on earlier and he talked about the different scenarios and, for example, which president trump does pardon himself, leaves office, perhaps the biden justice department wants to pursue federal charges against the president. and that whole idea of whether he could pardon himself would essentially be tried in the courts. how, do you think that would happen in the biden administration because he has been so focused on saying, look, we need to move forward as a country? >> i do think the president means when he says it is more important we find ways to work together to bridge our divides and get things done for the american people. we are deeply divided and in many ways my own family is divided. i have extended family members who are su

put bluntly by republican senator ben sasse this wave of pardons is, quote, rotten to the core. so washington is a mess. and donald trump, he just left town, leaving the chaos behind him to spend his holiday in palm beach. and as of now, there is nothing on his schedule today. cnn's jeremy diamond is keeping watch down in florida. he's joining us right now. jeremy, what are you hearing from the president's team this morning? >> reporter: well, kate, there are always concerns among the president's advisers when he comes down here to his mar-a-lago resort that is because this is the place where mar-a-lago political allies, friends, acquaint nanss have their most unfettered access to the president and it's often where they're seen stoking the president's worst impulses, some of his most destructive ideas. keep in mind, where we are right now. we're at a place in time where the president's behavior is already volatile, already erratic. we are seeing him governing by chaos with these threats to veto legislation, actually following through on vetoing legislation just yesterday. and is

among more than 25 pardons, a group republican senator ben sasse calls rotten to the core. cnn's pamela brown has the details from washington. >> reporter: the president continues his revenge against the russia investigation, rewarding two former advisers, indicted by special counsel robert mueller issuing these full pardons to his former campaign manager paul manafort, convicted for a slew of financial crimes after commuting his sentence earlier this year. also on this list is jared kushner's father, charles kushner. let's tick through these. you have paul manafort and roger stone, indicted by special counsel mueller, went to trial and convicted by juries of multiple crimes. investigator says manafort broke the cooperation agreement by lying to them. roger stone has never shown remorse. both men are being rewarded for their loyalty. the president says he thinks his advisers retreated unfairly. it's worth noting the mueller report detailed in the obstruction of justice part, how trump's democrat dangled pardons as a way to protect the president, and now we're seeing the pre

and i think ben sasse highlighted it, made a very good point about ken paxton.hington post" called it paxton's fight. that is exactly how he wants to frame it. and if you notice, right, paxton versus many of those house republicans, versus many of the ags that also signed on to this brief. paxton is really the only one who's going out on, you know, cable news, being extremely vocal. and look, he's very clearly trying to get the attention of trump and get a multitude -- get one of the multitude of pardons he is reportedly going to issue between now and inauguration day. >> so, the question that was raised is the question that wa raised is also do these house lawmakers who signed on, do they believe their own elections are fraudulent? if they're calling this into question. because obviously the four swing states they didn't just elect presidents. they elected members of the house, members of the senate obviously all kinds of down-ballot races. i mean, at what point -- i understand completely what you mean i from a political perspective they feel like, okay, it doe

accused of witness tampering and starr and was convicted of lying to congress republican senator ben sasse cole that pardoning rotten to the cole. ok make up a fraction of the $26.00 targeted pardons the president issued on wednesday and with less than a month left in office more pardons aren't supported from the outgoing president. or for christians around the world it's christmas eve and in germany as in many countries one of the most popular traditions is decorating a tree millions of young pines i cut down every year to adorn living rooms up and down the land while there's growing criticism over the damaging environmental impact so some entrepreneurs are creating war sustainable alternatives. a tree is cut down. and another. every year we cut down millions of trees just so that we can have one for christmas in germany alone around $30000000.00 trees are sold over the festive season. benedict bruiser is selling christmas trees with a difference to make a difference well the idea of the regions of christmas trees is that we develop a system where we only cut the top off the tree and then

opposed the president's refusal to concede are the folks that we usually hear from, people like ben sassethere's been somebody like john cornyn who said that this whole thing is just kind of puzzling. but beyond that, the pushback from the republicans has been pretty uniform. and i think that that says an awful lot about the stranglehold that this president still has on the republican party because of the way that his voters like him more than they like the average rank and file republican lawmaker. and until that goes away, until they decide, all of a sudden, that they don't really like donald trump as much anymore -- and i don't really see a point at which that comes -- he's going to continue to be the leader of this party and he is going to dictate its future and he is going to dictate how these elected republicans behave, he's going to dictate how people running for office as republicans behave, because they're going to be looking to their right, fearing a primary from somebody who can say, i supported the president, you didn't. and that's basically why you saw these 17, 18 state atto

senator ben sasse of nebraska has put out a statement on the pardons. it reads, this is ross ttten to core. that's the entire statement. this is rotten to the core. adam schiff was appalled when we spoke to him last night about this first round of lame duck pardons of donald trump. tonight he's even more outraged. here he is with rachel tonight. >> he's pardoning people who lie and have no compunction about it. he's pardoning people he can relate to because they're like him. i think, of course, as you indicated, there is more of that. >> joining us now, democratic congressman jason crow of colorado. he's a member of the armed services committee. he was one of the seven house impeachment managers in the impeachment of donald trump. he's also a former army ranger that served in iraq. a number of these matters are relevant to your experience. congressman, good to see you. thank you for joining us. your response, first of all. not a major surprise. i guess the surprise is the degree to which these are now no longer the standouts. these are unusual pardons f

thank you very much. >>> still ahead on "morning joe," republican senator ben sasse is weighing in on the texas lawsuit seeking to overturn the election suggesting that the texas attorney general is leading the effort in order to get a presidential pardon. we'll take a look at the republicans voicing opposition to the suit. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. oh, i will rescue you to fight wrinkles? it's what i use! neutrogena®. the #1 retinol brand used most by dermatologists. rapid wrinkle repair® visibly smooths fine lines in 1 week. deep wrinkles in 4. so you can kiss wrinkles... and other wrinkle creams goodbye! rapid wrinkle repair®. pair with our most concentrated retinol ever for 2x the power. neutrogena®. we made usaa insurance for veterans like martin. when a hailstorm hit, he needed his insurance to get it done right, right away. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa no uh uh, no way come on, no no n-n-n-no-no only discover has no annual fee on any card. if your gums bleed when you brush, the answer is yes. n-n-n-no-no the clock may be ticking towa

republican senator ben sasse summed it up in one sentence.e said, this is rotten to the core. >> and the president, meanwhile left washington without signing or vetoing the stimulus bill. so today house republicans will try to pass legislation that will give americans the $2,000 stimulus checks that president trump lauabruptly insisted on, that's likely to fail. all of this as unemployment benefits expire in two days. look at what is expiring in the coming days. a pause on student loan payments, paid family leave, eviction protections all of that expiring next week. oh, by the way, the government shou could shut down at midnight on monday. and let's not forget that the coronavirus is here and it has not gone anywhere. another 3,359 deaths in this country reported just yesterday. >> all right, joining us now, cnn law enforcement, senior law enforcement analyst, former deputy director of the fbi, andrew mccabe. thanks so much for being with us. this latest but certainly not last, we should say, round of pardons, paul manafort, roger stone, char

nadler, a new york democrat, said the president is handing out rewards to his co-conspirators senator ben sasse, republican of nebraska, said, quote, this is rotten to the core another pardon went to margaret hunter, the wife of former republican congressman duncan hunter both were charged with misusing campaign funds he was pardoned tuesday. many of the pardons issued this week have gone to friends and political supporters administration officials say many more pardons will be issued in the coming days kristen? >> pete williams, thank you. >>> now to breaking news tonight in the case of an unarmed black man killed by a columbus, ohio, police officer his chief is now recommending he be fired from his job, and the community is calling for justice. kathy park reports >> the family of andre hill has nothing to celebrate this holiday. >> reporter: tonight, dramatic action out of columbus, ohio, following the police shooting death of 47-year-old andre hill. the city's police chief making his recommendation >> today, i am announcing action to terminate officer adam coy. >> reporter: columbus officer

senator ben sasse who in a one sentence statement wrote "this is rotten to the core."re still waiting to see if the president may issue some more pardons while he's down here in florida. as for congress on monday, the house is going to be working to override the president's veto of the national defense authorization act. also on monday, the house speaker says the house will be working on whether or not to increase the stimulus payments once again with a roll call vote. these are the payments with the president says he wants. potentially stay tuned, mike. >> mike: should be a busy next week. mark meredith starting us off from west palm beach. many thanks. here is some good news. stocks were up today. the dow gained 70, the s&p 500 rose 13, nasdaq jumped 34. a massive russia-linked cyber attack allowing hackers to spend months mining federal government networks and private company systems across the globe is proving to have larger than expected implications and now a new warning from the federal government. correspondent david spohn has the latest varied >> a christmas e

. >> reporter: but some republicans now say it's over, including nebraska senator ben sasse, who wrotevery american who cares about the rule of law should take comfort that the supreme court-- including all three of president trump's picks-- closed the book on the nonsense." the president also lashed out at attorney general bill barr today over a report that joe biden's son is being investigated for possible tax law violations. mr. trump tweeted, "why didn't bill barr reveal the truth to e pupublic before the election about hunter biden?" he also reposted someone else's tweet that said barr "should be fired by the end of business today," yet again putting barr's job security in doubt. the electoral college meets monday, and it's expected to make joe biden's victory official. but here at the white house, the expectation is that the president will still refuse to concede. adriana. >> diaz: chip reid at the white house, thank you. it was billed "the million maga march." today, thousands of president trump's supporters gathered in the nation's capital, many of them refusing to accept that

republican senator and ss -- ben sasse called the pardonings rotten to the core.h less than a month in office, more pardons are anticipated from the outgoing president. phil: let's explore this further with richard paynter, professor of law at the university of minnesota. he worked as a chief ethics lawyer in the george w. bush administration and is also vice chair of the group citizens for ethics and responsibility in washington and left the party and 2018. welcome. are these pardons rotten to the core, as senator sasse claims? >> yes. certainly the pardons connected with robert mueller investigation into russian interference in the election. several people who were material witnesses in the investigation, including michael flynn, george papadopoulos, roger stone and paul manafort, four who were pardoned and it appears they were pardoned for keeping their mouth shut. none turned over significant evidence to robert mueller. they did not cooperate with the investigation, even though michael flynn promised to cooperate with the investigation. the bottom line is that

ben sasse of nebraska wrote in a statement, this is rotten to the core. skyler henry, cbs2 news, capitol hill. >>> president trump played around of golf earlier today while thing at his resort in mar log over the holidays. president-elect met with his transition advisors was because holiday it is home state of delaware. >>> a live look at roadways around the bay area, pretty quite this christmas eve. aaa does estimate that 15 million fewer people are traveling this season due to the pandemic. and travel is down sharply this christmas eve. tsa is screening 80% fewer travelers this month than last december. this is how the airport looked earlier today. handful people at the counters and passenger loading area. pretty quiet overall. same-store at oakland international. officials seeing a fraction of passengers, 200,000 for the second half of december compared to the 600,000 that usually fly out. >>> here's look at squaw valley where fresh powder is expected but because of the travel restrictions, people who don't live in the area are being asked to stay home

even from republicans like ben sass, who called the moves rotten to the core. >>> once the stimulus billphysically here in florida, the president is able to sign it quickly if he wants to. but even with millions of americans in limbo, the white house still refuses to say what the president will do. paula reid, cbs news, west palm beach, florida. >> a powerful christmas storm has moved to the east coast. people in new york city and surrounding areas could see 70 mile per hour windnds, and att leleast 2 inchches of raiain by enend o of the mornrning. the samame storm system roared throughh minnenesota this week, dumping more than 9 inches of snow on parts of the state. and new video shows just how bad it got in sioux falls, south dakota, on wednesday. a meteorologist reported whiteout conditions on the road as a heavy blizzard moved through the region. >>> the columbus, ohio, police chief is recommending that an officer who shot and killed an unarmed black man earlier this week be fired. chief tom quinlan said he filed two departmental charges alleging critical misconduct against adam coy.

accused of witness tampering and star and was convicted of lying to congress republican senator ben sasse called the pardoning rotten to the cole. ok make up a fraction of the $26.00 total pardons the president issued on wednesday and with less than a month left in office more pardons are anticipating from the outgoing president. well let's explore this further with richard painter who is a professor of law at the university of minnesota he worked as the chief ethics lawyer in the george w. bush administration is also vice chair of the group of citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington and left the republican party in 2018 welcome to day w. are these pardons rotten to the core senator sas claims. yes certainly the pardons in connection with the robert muller investigation are russian and in fairness and the election we have several people who were material witnesses in that investigation including michael fay and george george papadopoulos roger stone and now with force have modified or for all been barking and it appears that their pardon for keeping their mouth shut and none

was accused of witness tampering and stone was convicted of lying to congress republican senator ben sasse called the pardoning rotten to the cole. ok make up a fraction of the $26.00 total pardons the president issued on wednesday and with less than a month left in office pardons are intice a paid and from the outgoing president. chairman a president frank has delivered a message of hope in his annual christmas day address to the nation and for sizing the challenges brought on by the pandemic but also how it has brought germans together a stimulus into what president's trying to say the evil going on burgo rust. and vincent israel's a visit from the ones of them laden on them going out playing the cards on time it's a good. we're most of. foosball them study on kino on consult their eyes in the fire. on feelings under the mia. depending me i don't stand there in the fall let's leave the mentions and there he thus is. anomalous leaving them. at 1st and of us having via. these dark fears and. then be off on and off the mall and. that was a present from voters time i was there in his christm

but the president's choices were met with criticism, even from republicans like ben sasse who called the moves "rotten to the core." once the stimulus bill is physically here in florida, the president can sign it quickly if he wants to, but even with millions of americans in limbo, the white house still refuses to say what the president will do. major. >> garrett: paula reid with the key phrase "if he wants to." tonight, california remains the epicenter of america's covid idrge. the state now has more cases than italy. hospitals in southern california are struggling to keep up with all the patients. all the patients. more now from cbs' lilia luciano. >> reporter: an alarming milestone: california surpassing two million covid cases. in los angeles county, these charts tell the story. hospitalizations soaring, as are the number of deaths, 145 more than just yesterday. >> we have never seen daily death rates this high throughout the course of the pandemic, and the model predicts that the worst is yet to come. the surge that we are in right now was avoidable. >> reporter: health official

republican senator ben sasse with a one-line criticism. "this is rotten to the core." >> senator sasse not mincing words there. rachel scott is with us in washington tonight. and rachel, that covid relief bill flown tonight to the president in florida. the big question now, will he sign it? >> reporter: whit, there are a number of scenarios at play here. the president could sign the bill or he could veto it. that would force lawmakers back to washington to try to override the president. but if he does absolutely nothing over the course of the next ten days, that bill will expire and then it will be up to the next congress to try and pass another round of coronavirus relief to get to the american people. whit? >> something we will all be watching very closely. rachel, thank you. >>> next tonight, the family of an unarmed black man fatally shot by a white police officer in columbus, ohio, speaking out for the first time. body cam video shows that andre hill was shot just moments after police approached him and they made no attempt to render

it is not just from democrats, but from ben sasse. who called this is a loaded gunpointed at the heart of legitimate self government. those are very strong words. but it shows the gravity of this issue if politicians see a political advantage to trying to overthrow the result of an lex. that could have a very significant impact down the road. >> all right, thank you to my guests. we appreciate your time. >> joining me now is democratic whip dick durbin. he is a member of the appropriations committee. thank you so much for joins us today. top republicans, like senator lindsey graham, they're calling for a separate vote and the president supports that. are you surprised that leader mcconnell will not allow an unor down vote solely on these? >> mitch mcconnell knows that he will close this vote. if the office does not have enough republicans joining us, he has to explain to two republican candidates why they are delivering for them. they're not going to get a chance to vote. >> if mcconnell does hold firm, what options do they, having a

ben sasse said it was rotten to the door, but he endorsed him for re-election. perfectly happy not to forgive the republicans who went along with this. as you said, there will be all these people in the white house and in the republican party, oh, boy, it was very upsetting. very alarming. i did a lot to stop him, but it's not clear how many of them really did. >> here's what tom friedman writes, here's what i predict. if trump keeps delegitimizing joe biden's presidency, the gop could splinter. trump may have done america the greatest favor possible, stimulating the birth of a new, principled conservative party. which if true, bill, would be music to your ears, presumably. what are the chances? >> short-term, unlikely. maybe down the road, a little bit more likely. but the veto of the defense bill and the spending bill to which the covid relief is attached, that's hurting trump in congress the way that the pardons, russia, ukraine, they were all happy to excuse. they voted, they thought they would be supported by trump, now they're in a difficult position. i th

host: what do you think about ben sasse, your republican senator out there? ander: we are in kansas there is my timing. if you want to give me more time, that is fine. host: he said, every american who cares about the rule of law should take comfort that the supreme part including all three of is in trump's picks close the book on the nonsense. caller: i thought you said he was our senator. host: ben sasse, yes. caller: he is not our senator. this is kansas. host: you are right. caller: my time is up. if everybody else set a timer, you would not have to interrupt him. --t: eggs for the copyright thanks for the call. tony, republican. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i appreciate the open forum. i'm really disgusted that there was not the continuation of gore -plus being able to be counted to be sure that bush won that election in 2000. i was a republican at that time. i still felt that you've got to continue making sure that the votes are all counted instead of stopping the process. as far as our current situation with trump, i never respected

senator ben sass called his selections, quote, rotten to the core.ax fraud and witness retaliation but prosecuted by chris christie, former u.s. attorney. he has described kushner's case as one of the most loathe some he has prosecuted referring to the allocations that kushner hired a prostitute to approach his brother in-law and had that encounter filmed. the president has the authority to grant the pardon or commute the sentence of anyone he wants. his choices suggest he is willing to use that power for people lawyer to him or very well connected. >> thank you, paula. >> ahead, in their own words, doctors who got the vaccine tell us >>> there >>> much more news ahead. one worker for the salvation army is drawing a tensittention not for using the bell. >> that one voice, that one song stopped you? ♪ silent night ♪ ♪ >> we'll share his inspiring journey from homelessness to hope and how he's inspiring others. stay with us this morning. find your rhythm. your happy place. find your breaking point. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a potent blen

accused of witness tampering and star and was convicted of lying to congress republican senator ben sasse called the pardoning rotten to the cole. ok make up a fraction of the $26.00 total pardons the president issued on wednesday and with less than a month left in office pardons are intice a paid and from the outgoing president. it's christmas eve here in germany and one of the festivals most popular traditions is buying and decorating a christmas tree millions of young pines a cut down every year to adorn living rooms around the country but there's growing criticism over the damaging environmental impact so some entrepreneurs are creating more sustainable alternatives. a tree is cut down. and another. every year we cut down millions of trees just so that we can have one for christmas in germany alone around $30000000.00 trees are sold over the festive season i benedict bruiser is selling christmas trees with a difference to make a difference well the idea of the regions of christmas trees is that we develop a system where we only cut the top off the tree and then have the natural succes

accused of witness tampering and star and was convicted of lying to congress republican senator ben sasse called the pardoning rotten to the cole. ok make up a fraction of the $26.00 torchwood pardons the president issued on wednesday and with less than a month left in office more pardons are intice appended from the outgoing president . german a president of france has delivered a message of hope in his annual christmas day address to germany emphasizing the challenges brought on by the pandemic but also how it has brought germans together let's take a listen to our presidents time i have to say the evil going on burgo vast. and vincent israel was a visit in front of them laden on them going out playing the do is call it's on time insisted the most snow of. foosball him study on kino on comes out the highs in the fire. on fearless under the mia depending me i don't stand there in the fire let's leave the mentions invade separately thus is must be anomalous laden. under verse having via. the stark isn't when they are fine and the more and does it. that was president frank there in his chr

torrez what senator ben sasse said about that. when we talk in private i haven't heard a single republican allege that the results were fraudulent. instead they work worry about how they will look for the president's most ardent supporters. what is your take? >> josh hawley comments is manifest nonsense. he said nobodies has disputed -- well, bill barr, the attorney general. the infrastructure security agency that is in charge of security for the election, 50 secretaries of state, 50 governors, that's who have looked into this and found there -- yeah, of course there are irregularities. whatever it is, 150 million people voting, there are going to be irregularities, but the point is nothing remotely, remotely able to change the results of an election that was won by 7 million votes national lip, or in any of the so-called battleground states. so for senator hawley to say, you know, we need to look into this, well, the president and his allies have had almost two months to challenge the results, bring evidence before the court, and

outrage over the pardons but the outrage for republicans has been pretty muted with the exception of ben sass who said this is rothen to the core. when you look at the broader reaction that doesn't exist, what is that silence telling us? >> when we talk to roy bluount, he said he doesn't usually weigh in on these things because they don't have the power to pardon who they like. you have seen some republicans and local officials come out and we have not even talked about duncan hunter and steve stockton. i think he was accused and i think plead guilty. don't quite remember. he was basically leaving on his campaign account. giving him money that was give ton him to run his campaign and living on it. this is not a deep state conspiracy. these are the crimes that he conceded that he committed. this is a shirts and skins exercise. they're choosing again on this case to be with him. >> holidays is always the time for a little reflection. i pose this restorically about the mueller team. any reflection or regreat about the mueller investigation not asking president trump, not going after president tr

. >>> gop senator ben sasse calling his colleague's ploy to object to the congressional count of electoralege votes dangerous. but missouri senator, josh hawley is defending his choice to challenge joe biden's victory next week. >> democrats have done this for years in order to raise concerns about election integrity. now when republicans, 74 million americans have concerns about election integrity we're supposed to sit down and shut up. somebody has to stand up here. >> one of those democrats he may be referring to is barbara boxer. she objected to electoral college results in 2005. former senator boxer joins me now to talk about this all. good morning, great to see you, happy new year's to you. let's start there. in the 2004 race you objected to president george w. bush's election victory in ohio over john kerry. so explain how this and what senator josh hawley is doing? >> there's no comparison to what we did in '05. number one, john kerry had conceded the race. we have a president here who's orchestrating kind of an overthrow of the election. secondly, we said upfront we have no intere