the good thing is, it is not betsy devos. every educator in america or almost every educator will be thrilled about that. secondly, as a public-school person. he went to public schools. his children go to public schools. he has been in public schools throughout his career. that is a big lust for many people who have been watching the attacks on public education and teachers for the past four and more years. i am diane ravitch, wondering come as you are saying, it was a surprise the miguel cardona pick. many progressives for years have been pushing for democratic presidents to name linda darling hammond, the california educator as secretary of education, but she was on the transition group that apparently pushed for cardona. --elieve cardona maybe spent the first latino to be named education secretary back when you were in the white house or the administration there was president h.w. bush secretary of education but i believe that cardona may be the first puerto hean deaf person apart or can ancestry ever to serve on a preside

miguel cardona getting the nod to replace betsy devos.esponsible for getting kids back into the classrooms safely and efficiently during this pandemic. biden describing him as the man "for this moment." getting american students back to school during this pandemic. joining me, president of democrats for education reform. thanks for joining us on this. really appreciate it. i guess i first want to kind of get the 411 on miguel cardona? >> thank you. >> who is miguel and what do you expect his priorities to be? >> well, dr. cardona is one of the leaders in our country in terms of trieducation equity, a former public school teacher a principal at a public school, administrator at a public school districts and last couple of years commissioner of the state of connecticut department of education. he, himself, his leitch wife wae bawd of the power of education. so in his bones he's rooted, really, in miss soul understanding how critical education is for every young person to have access to, particularly low-income students, who often finds them

it says good-bye to betsy devos who survived by accomplishing almost nothing.ve president-elect biden who has proposed making public colleges and universities free for families that earn less than $125,000 a year. let's take a listen to what secretary devos have to say on fox business this week. >> well, the notion of free college is a horrible idea. period. we know that anything that is free become automatically rationed and it's form of socialism. >> your thoughts on that. >> i don't want to comment. it's not worth it. let me say this. what we need is a new vision. the goal can't be to go back the quote, unquote normal. normal didn't serve far too many kids well enough. we had a k through 12 system that served us well for long time. we need a pre-k through 14 vision. we talk enough about that. how many young kids did not go back to school this fall. we have to get them back in school. we have to find them. and a high school diploma is critically important but insufficient to getting a good job in the committee. pre-k through 14 has to be the new vision of edu

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so take a seat, betsy devos, and some notes. as i school you on your failed legacy. but first, my colleague richard lui with today's other top stories. richard. >> good day to you. some of the stories we're watching this hour. a second coronavirus vaccine has begun shipping this weekend. moderna receiving fda emergency authorization friday. the first doses are expected to be administered as early as tomorrow. this second vaccine follows last weekend's pfizer vaccine's first shipments as well. the federal government hopes to distribute 5.9 million doses of the moderna vaccine this week. >> as of today, there have now been over 17.7 million cases of covid-19, the death toll now surpasses 317,000 americans. tennessee governor bill lee on that topic is expected to address his state this evening. this comes as the cdc this week stated tennessee had the highest number of covid-19 cases by population than any other state in the union. it averages over 129 cases per 100,000 residents. more "politics nation" with reverend al sharpton right after the break. aging is a journey.

much different from betsy devos. he has pushed for schools to reopen during covid.ple w are allies of cardona h say this someone who will be trying to turn the education department back to supporting publicchools. betsy devos, he says, was focused too much on school choice in the private sector an enough for public schools. he says there are tooeiany children left behind in the middle of the pandemic. rsa control idea. there are people --s othy it is just not safe. judy:, finalrning to president trump. he is continuing to push unfounded claims of widespread fraud. today, we see two of his primary allies in the media backing away from that. yamiche: this is pretty remarkable. we saw a really unusual walk newsmax, a smaller conservativee ork. they both backed away from reporting they were doing which nswasuating that votes may have been changed because of voting machines. what we sawertwo companies threatened those companies with -- with legal efforts. we saw fox news and newsmax saying there is no evidence that there has been fraud there. even though he has lost cour

private military contractors in iraq for blackwater, blackwater run by eric prince, the brother of betsy devos. all four men were convicted of murder or manslaughter in the deaths of multiple iraqi civilians in 2007, just a civilian massacre that took place at their hands at a traffic circle in baghdad. they killed 17 civilians in a massacre that had nothing to do with any military operation or any defensive action. they just killed 17 iraqi civilians while working for blackwater. president trump just pardoned them. trump also pardoned three corrupt convicted former republican members of congress. one of them, the man on the left, chris collins, he was the first sitting member of congress to endorse trump's run for president in the 2016 election, which was a difficult thing to do at the time, not least because congressman chris collins apparently had to squeeze that in between his long-running, ambitious, and not that complex inpseudoer trading and securities fraud schemes. and the difficult work of lying to federal investigators about it. chris collins was pardoned by president trump tonight

brian: meanwhile a big hour coming up straight ahead, betsy devos here talking more about schools.ngton? can we all just get along. congressman dan crenshaw will be with us and kathie lee gifford. it was hard for her being on nbc and not being able to see us. we will find out how hard ♪ - [narrator] with the ninja foodi power pitcher, you can crush ice, make smoothies, and do even more. chop salsas, spoon thick smoothie bowls, even power through dough, and never stall. the ninja foodi power pitcher. rethink what a blender can do. your happy place. find your breaking point. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergen-c. can take you to deep, depressive lows. or, give you unusually high energy, even when depressed. overwhelmed by bipolar i? ask about vraylar. some medicines only treat the lows or highs. vraylar effectively treats depression, acute manic and mixed episodes of bipolar i in adults. full-spectrum relief for all bipolar i symptoms, with just one pill, once a day. elderly patients with dementia-related psych

was a company founded by erik prince, a trump supporter and the brother of education secretary betsy devos. and back to that coronavirus relief bill, it passed with overwhelming support in both the house and the senate, so congress could override trump's veto. however, democrats are indicating they might take trump up on his offer to increase the payment since for months they've been asking for $2,000 checks. mona, will. >>> thank you, faith. >>> california secretary of state has been chosen to replace senator kamala harris as she steps up to become vice president. alex padilla, the son of mexican immigrants, will be the first latino senator in california's history. the selection means there will be no black women in the senate. >>> white house coronavirus task force coordinator dr. deborah birx has announced plans to retire. she's been under scrutiny after traveling out of state with family during the thanksgiving holiday despite her own guidelines. dr. birx gave no time line for her departure and said she would first help the incoming biden administration. >>> two health care workers in

for blackwater, a company run by erik prince, a trump ally and brother to education secretary, betsy devoscted in the killing of 14 unarmed iraqi civilians in 2007. "the times" reports that the pardons, quote, appeared in many cases to have bypassed the traditional justice department review process. more than half of the cases did not meet the department's standards for consideration and reflected mr. trump's long-held grudges about the russia investigation, his instinct to side with members of the military accused of wrong doing and his willingness to reward political allies. joining our conversation, ab stoddard and msnbc legal analyst, berit berger, former federal prosecutor for the southern and eastern districts of new york and a former assistant u.s. attorney. good to see you both. berit, i want to begin with you. presidents often issue pardons in their final days. why are these so unusual? >> i think these are so unusual for a few reasons. one, they really seem to have bypassed the traditional process by which the president would get recommendations from the pardon attorney general a

tom con, representative michael waltz, congressman dan crenshaw of texas and education secretary betsy devosant of getting kids back into the schoolroom which is where they are quite safe. we are joined by kathy lee gifford. it will be a great show plus imagine getting golf lessons from a pro golfer. meet the 14-year-old boy who just got the masters champion jordan speaks, something he will never forget, stick around, "fox and friends" starts 17 minutes from now on the channel you trust for your morning news. ninja foodi air fry oven. make fast family-sized meals in the time it takes some ovens to preheat. with ninja's super-heated air, you can air fry for extra crispy, guilt-free, delicious results. and because it's a ninja foodi, it can do things that no other oven can, and even flip up and out of the way. the ninja foodi air fry oven. the oven that crisps and flips away. if ththen i'm not a real potato reciidaho potato farmer.shes, genuine idaho potatoes not just a side dish anymore. always look for the grown in idaho seal. finding the right words can be tough.n it comes to autism, findin

toy of donald trump so why be so brazen about that and a democratic congressman california said betsy devosd apologize by saying i apologize to hammers. you don't seem to have a party on the left the does wants to work with the party on the right and i don't think the media will allow it as well because conflicts, not compromise. todd: let's look at two new york times headline, the first one reads biden pics pete buttigieg for transportation secretary. if confirmed by the senate buttigieg will be the first openly gay person to serve as cabinet secretary. another headline, donald trump names rick grew noise head of intelligence february 9th of this year, quote, mister grenell pushed to advance gay-rights in his current post is also thought to be the first openly gay cabinet member. some people are arguing pete buttigieg will be the first senate confirmed because when rick grenell was serving as acting dni under donald trump he wasn't confirmed by the senate but he was in 2018 when he was nominated ambassador to germany. people have done this with women as well, women serving in joe biden's c

officials to cover up what happened and that ended up not working and he's also the brother to betsy devos, the secretary of education under president trump. most importantly he pardoned these two people convicted in the mueller probe of trump in his relationship with russia. his overarching goal is to escape political and legal accountability for his relationship with vladimir putin for the health that they provided him and whatever he's done in return for that. of course, we're ending his administration on a massive hack of u.s. government agencies and business, which the president has tried to absolve russia of and points to china. but the -- alex van der zwaan and george popolopodus are just a continuation of what happened with the commuting of the sentence of roger stone, with the pardoning of mike flynn. we expect more with paul manafort, his campaign manager, and the president may try to pardon himself. >> we'll have to see. what do you think about these pardons hours before attorney general barr leaves? >> well, that's an indication that this is not just the beginning but these mig

he is not a plutocrat, as betsy devos is. or a political advisor. so he's very different. and because he is not strongly affiliated with either side of the great education debate in this country, between the unions and the reform movement, i think it signals a middle-of-the-road approach that we are going to think about what the needs of laydren are, and try to politics aside as much as possible. in washington, that is very hard to do. but i think that is the message that is being sent. lisa: does anyone want to jump in on that, on what messages is being sent by this election? if not, we are happy to move onto the next question. just want to open the floor to see if any of our experts want to comment on that. ok, we're going to move on and talk about the elephant in the room, covid. obviously it has been a huge disruption to education at all levels. president-elect biden has indicated he wants schools back in session within the next 100, first 100 days of his administration. people be a herculean task to do that. traci, let me go to you to talk about what have we seen abou

. >> that is education secretary betsy devos on the importance of getting kids back into the classroomvaried school lockdowns taking a toll on students mental and physical health as this many months into the pandemic. a family in maine says their 16 -year-old son committed suicide after he said he felt isolated and was struggling to cope with the pandemic. now a group of parents along with the organization called school choice wisconsin are suing the city of racing after it closed public and private schools possibly in defiance of a state supreme court ruling to prevent such measures. let's go deep on this. they are watching to see what happens in wisconsin. jim bender is the president of school choice wisconsin. good to see you, jim. first of all, what power did this entity that close those schools in racine, said that it has come and doesn't really hav the power to do that? can get in wisconsin we've had an ongoing debate, there's really two layers of health departments there is the state health department and then the local units of health departmen underneath that. the statutes gov

. >> some welcome news, betsy devos did announce they will continue forbearance on the student debt foronger. extended that. when nancy pelosi and house democrats passed that bill, senate republican caucus said we don't like it, don't need more money and also, haven't talked about deficit in years but recovered this issue and think it's a real problem. i have also noticed a shift in center of the conversation across the ideological spectrum on the deficit, that you have people who even in the great recessi recession were starting to get nervous saying this is not the time, we need massive support. are you seeing the same thing? >> yes, i have. academic economists are definitely shifting. positions they're taking this time look different from a decade ago, fighting the great recession. everyone understands this economy is not going to recover -- people like jerome powell, fed chairman is telling congress and the world, we don't have this, don't have the tools to lay a foundation for sustainable, rebust economic recovery without the fiscal partners of white house and congress. going to ne

run at the time by erik prince, a key trump supporter and brother of trump's education secretary, betsy devos. but let's go back to the president's threat to torpedo the $900 billion covid relief bill. that taped and tweeted message from the president was a surprise to many of his own aides. cnn's john harwood is at the white house. and john, it appears that this video caught even the president's closest advisers offguard with only chief of staff mark meadows knowing about it. >> that's right, bianna. and the president is choking, psychologically, on his defeat to such an extent that he's just thrashing around, all normal processes of government have been broken down in this white house. you had a case where the white house was advising staffers that -- about their departure from the white house on january the 19th, because, of course, they're all going to be replaced by biden aides. and once the president realized that that story was out there, it was another wound to his psyche and his ego. they then put out another and said, stand by for further instructions. we know the president is not s

i never followed betsy devos closely enough to have a particularly informed opinion. i don't want to mouth off. i spend a lot of time thinking about the dearth of civics education in the united states. when there is a civics education, it tends to be not particularly robust. i mean, certainly not the kind of civics evocation -- education my mom got when she was in the public schools as an immigrant child in the 1950's. i think that's really essential. if there are people listening in who are involved in this work, figuring out, even if it's outside of public schools, but if it's reaching children, how to create, how to make them understand what, not only the united states is and should be about, but what liberal ought to bes and about is a really vital task. i have been thinking about the title of this talk, henry, for a few days. it seems to me that if you just taught five lincoln speeches in toool, you will go very far saving the country and mending the rifts between us. washington'sch temperance speech from 1842 in which lincoln talks about persuasion and the impor

his sister, betsy devos, serves as education secretary.pporters of the blackwater guards refer to the been as the biden four. in 2010, then vice president joe biden announced justice department would appeal the dismissal of a criminal case against the blackwater mercenaries involved in the nisour square sticker. the men would later be tried and convicted. paulore, we're joined by dickinson, served as the lawyer of the family of ali kinani and five other victims of the blackwater contractors who were convicted of killing at least 14 innocent iraqi citizens in the attack. his recent piece in the intercept is headlined "i sued blackwater for the massacre of iraqi civilians. trump just pardoned those convicted killers." paul dickinson, welcome to democracy now! could you respond to the pardon and its significance? >> good morning, amy. thank you for having me. i will admit it has been quite a tole since i have listened that gripping interview with mohammed. i was sitting in the room when he gave that story and explained what happened that day.

betsy devos gutted the civil rights division within that agency.look at the department of justice, we need a department of justice who will aggressively pursue white supremacists and domestic terrorists. this is making sure that no matter who holds the post, civil rights is in the center of the conversation. we want to make sure that all considerations are centered in a civil rights frame. >> this reminds me of a conversation i had just before the election with a democratic voter, a black woman in detroit. let me play you what she told me then. do you think the democratic party takes you for granted? >> absolutely. absolutely they take us for granted. because they know that black women are going to help them get the big wins they needs where it matters but they also know that they can give us the bare minimum knowing that we aren't going to choose the other side. >> do you think that's what's going on here? is that what you're afraid of? >> no, i'm not afraid of anything. this is the classic understanding that political parties are vehicles for age

founder of blackwater, was a trump supporter and is the younger brother of education secretary betsy devos. >> pete williams and kelly o'donnell, a big thanks to both of you. >>> let's turn to evan mcmullen, executive director of stand up republican, a former cia ops operator. also joined by former ambassador michael mcfaul, international affairs analyst and former u.s. ambassador to russia. evan, let's start with you. the pardons of the four security guards, what message does that send? >> i think it sends a message to all our allies around the world and really individuals around the world that america, at least under trump's presidency is not fully committed to its own values, to the rule of law, to human rights. and that hurts us. it hurts us a great deal. i'm sure the ambassador would say something similar. i can attest to it, having served abroad as a cia officer, i can tell you the people we engaged with, the people we depended upon overseas to protect americans here at home wanted to see us living up to our values, wanted to see us certainly at a bare minimum respecting basic human

notab notably blackwater is owned by erick prince, a major trump donor, betsy devos' brother. the second bombshell. >> it really is a disgrace. >> reporter: trump threatening to veto much-needed coronavirus aid from congress. >> the president has indicated his intent to sign the bill. >> reporter: trump blindsiding white house aides and lawmakers in both parties by tweeting a video blasting a long-fought bipartisan bill to fund the government and deliver aid to workers nationwide. >> it's called the covid relief bill, but it has almost nothing to do with covid. >> reporter: trump's taped address laced with falsehoods, conflating the coronavirus relief package with the government spending bill that his own negotiators agreed should be rolled into one piece of legislation. >> increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000 or $4,000 for a couple. get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation. >> reporter: trump deriding the amount of foreign aid in the bill. though the figures closely match what he requested in his own white house budget. and the president's r

got towards the end of the book i wanted to take out the first and last chapters who cares about betsy devos. and who cares about future evaluation. there's a courtroom story about america to tell here. but you cannot leave them out of the story either. i think it is a story of america. that is a story that is ultimately told. it is an important one as we say in the book, talking directly to the reader in a few places i say look about to tell you a story that if you tell anybody else about it they are not going to believe it. we had this narrative about education not being in the federal constitution. and i walked through a history of the conventional wisdom. think that's an important story to get out there so they want us to sort of teach america, i think the story of this book with all of warts and failures is the story of american exceptionalism. we cannot have to whitewash it to make it exceptional. that's another important peace of the book as well. >> i agree. i have to talk a little bit about keeping the. [inaudible] the great history that you lay out as it relates to the debates were

water was a trump supporter and as you know, is the younger brother of the education secretary betsy devos. >> lots of moving pieces for you this morning. thank you for being with us. >>> let's go deeper into how the co-vid relief plans could affect people across the country who need help. for that i want to bring in the mayor of savannah, georgia, mayor johnson. thank you for being on with us. >> thank you for the opportunity. >> i believe you said you were, quote, disappointed by the co-vid relief bill. what do you make of the president's current position now? >> well, it's unfortunate we continue to play the "game of thrones" with the american people. the fact of the matter is winter is here. people are suffering. and this is not a game. i think the president is full aware that he's thrown a wrench into everything. i agree it needs to be more, but he knows this deal will not pass. it would be difficult to do so. people will suffer. congress will go away. this congress will go away, and we have to start all over again, and people cannot take that. >> what's the impact on people in your c

who murdered people in iraq in 2007, their boss at the time was erik prince who is the bore of betsy devosucation secretary. so that's helping another ally there. but the most important one are the pardons for the two figures in the mueller investigation. remember, the arc of donald trump's presidency and political career is russia was his financial benefactor before he was a candidate, then they helped him get elected. the president has helped russia as president by weakening nato. we are ending his administration with a massive hack by russia of u.s. business and u.s. government which he is defending russia on and suggesting it's china. what the president has been trying to do throughout his term is avoid accountability politically and legally for that alliance with russia. so he's trying to wipe out the effects of the mueller investigation, very good chance having pardoned mike flynn, commuted the sentence of roger stone they will pardon paul manafort who knows things about him that he didn't tell robert mueller, he may even try to pardon himself and this fits in that pattern. >> right.

their boss at that time was eric prince, who is the brother of trump's education secretary, betsy devos, so another friend and ally pardoned there. but most importantly, brooke, he pardoned two people who became felons as a result of lying to investigators in robert mueller's probe of his contacts with russia. donald trump's overarching mission has been to absolve himself politically and legally of liability on connections with russia, and we may yet see in that pursuit pardons for paul manafort, his campaign chairman, who, of course, did not give robert mueller all the information he had, so the president would be protecting himself by shielding paul manafort. he also may try to pardon himself. don't know if that would stand up in court, but this president is interested in himself above all other things, and i think no one would be surprised if he attempts to use that presidential power he has for 28 more days to shield himself. >> and we thought 2020 was wild. john harwood, thank you. >>> still ahead here on cnn, the trump administration reaches a deal to buy another 100 million doses

secretary of education has been a very controversial position under betsy devos." is now reporting that after several union leaders were talked about, teachers' names, now there are two lesser known names but they would have a great deal to say for diversity. leslie fenwick from the howard university school of education and miguel furdona. your reaction to either or both of them? >> so not very familiar. dean fenwick is well known in many, many circles. here's what's important at the department of education, like justice, like hud. there say cleanup job that has to be done. you want someone with the gravitas, with the will and passion and skill to do that cleanup job. the department of education has not taken, i think, its mandate to ensure that every child is well educated seriously. i think it's been on a diversion course chasing if you will, privatization of public education, and not its mandate, its important mandate included in the elementary and secondary education act. so those names are, i think, attractive. but what is so important with the remaining cabi

he will have to restore morale after betsy devos's four-year reign. >> he started a decade ago as an elementary teacher, a principal, and the state's top education official in august of 2019. also notable the roles that mr. biden has not filled yet, that includes attorney general, complicated by federal prosecutors investigation of hunter biden's business dealings for china, and picks for cia director, labor secretary, commerce secretary, all jobs that will be vital in the pandemic recovery effort. >>> the top democrat on the senate finance committee says russian hackers broke into mail system used by the leadership of the treasury department. democratic ron wyden says the intrusion started in july, and it full extent remains unknown. but it's part of that massive cyber attack on u.s. government agencies that was revealed earlier this month. though president trump still refuses to admit that russians were behind the hacks, even as officials across his administration made clear it was russia. here's the attorney general bill barr on his way out the door agreeing with trump's own secre

his cabinet, with people like ben carson and betsy devos who have been with him all along and have certainly not at least been outspoken in breaking with the president in any way. >> right. well, there is one member of the cabinet now that might have had an awkward interaction with the president, and that's elaine chao. we saw evidence that the president wasn't happy with what mcconnell said. >> reporter: within the white house, so many people have either left or have just been keeping their head down. we're not seeing really any of the surrogates other than press secretary kayleigh mcenany come out and be defending the president on these issues of election fraud. so, yes, not only is he alone in congress, and, of course, publicly his cabinet members aren't defending him, but when you look at the surrogates within the white house, his chief of staff, you know, peter navarro, you know, larry kudlow, these figures who are on tv all the time, they're not out there now either. elaine chao, great point, we have not heard from her, one of the few survivors from the beginning of this administration

contractors from the firm blackwater which is run by erik prince the brother of education secretary betsy devos. >>> meantime the other big story this morning, the virus, as it has been for months and the president as he has for some time still largely ignoring it. more than 3,400 deaths were reported on tuesday, that is the second highest daily death toll since the start of the pandemic. >> let's begin with the fate of the stimulus bill and what we know about what might happen. joining us john harwood, cnn white house correspondent and seung min kim white house reporter for the "washington post." john, let's start with what we know about what might happen next. is the president going to sign this? >> we don't know, and the question is is this the president just fulminating -- you know, he has been raging in private, mostly in private, because he has been hiding out from reporters, raging against his defeat and, you know, jeremy diamond, our colleague, reported an adviser told him yesterday this is a child having a temper tantrum. i'm reminded of a mother mary trump his niece had in her book, w

disaster of the last four years, at least embodied in the trump administration -- stephen miller, betsy devos, william barr, the whe gaggle of folk, giuliani, the children -- all of those folk will be behind us soon, and, of course, e symbolic significance of kamala harris as the fir black vice president, the first black president of south asian descent and caribbean descent and the like. i was thinking about the national council of negro women. i was thinking about the atlanta washerwomestrike of 1881. i was thinking about the women's political council in montgomery, who were the backbone of the montgomery bus boycott. i was thinking about ella baker and fannie lou hamer. all of these folk are the wind behind kamala harris's back that make her possible, but she's a symbolic -- also the symbolic importance of her, of course. but we must understand that yesterday was a day, and the day before was a day of celebration. today is the day for the hard work. the country is deeply divided, as bree said. and we have to get about the work of responding to the problems we face as a nation at scale and

but just compare this cabinet to who president-elect biden has compared to betsy devos, i mean, come on. you know? these are -- gina mccarthy today. just a great pick. these are great picks here. >> no, i understand. he could pick like the worst republican elected official in the world and it wouldn't be as bad as wilbur ross who is basically mr. burns from the simpson's. biden's picks are adults and human beings but i just feel like it is the attitude that democrats go into governing with which is we're going to find a way to work with them and republicans go into governing with the attitude of let's destroy them. we'll destroy them. we'll destroy them and take all their power. it is a different mindset and i don't know if you believe, you know joe biden. can he actually pull this off? because the other side is not willing to play bipartisan. they just want to destroy the democratic party and take all the power. >> i have to agree with how pernicious the republican party is today and has been for a long time. but i'm not sure there's anything you can really do about that. unfortunat

trump gave them a pass because they had an inside route through erik prince and betsy devos. >> exactlyd you know, what are your thoughts on this wave of pardons, though? do you think this is trump's way of continuing to try to hold leverage over people in his orbit or on the party after he leaves office? >> you know, i always am reluctant to venture into trump's mind and his thinking. i don't see a lot of it in this whole process. one of the things that is apparent to me is, i can't believe he thinks he's going to run again after issuing this caliber of pardons. these are pretty awful. and they're going to be held against him by people in his own party, his own peers, if he seeksz a nomination again. >> and john, there was a lot of controversy surrounding president ford pardoning president nixon. i mean, people said it was like letting nixon off the hook. does this feel anything like that? >> this is a little different. nixon -- what ford did is he wanted to end the nightmare for himself and his presidency so he could get on. he didn't really end it for the country, because nixon's top

time run by eric prince, a supporter of president trump's today brother of education secretary betsy devosose blackwater contractors were moving through a traffic circle in baghdad and opened fire. when it was all over, again, so important to say, 17 iraqis killed, some two dozen war wounded. and the impact on iraq to this day remains significant. already one of the survivors has spoken auto about this, saying it is unjust, what the president has done. the feelings in iraq continue to run deep, a rr deep feeling that this case showed that they believed that the american contractors did not care about iraqi civilians. >> deeply emotional, that have left scars that have gone on for more than a decade at this point. barbara starr at the pentagon thank you so much for being with us. >>> this morning, researchers think the new variant of the coronavirus spreading in the united kingdom might have already infected at least hundreds of people in the united states. what does that mean for the vaccines that are already out there. the directors of the national institutes of health joins us next. when

would love to chart out with kim kardashian or are these all personal favors from anything from betsy devos-law, eric prince who runs blackwater, who mr. kushner who was obviously jared kushner's father-in-law? are there any people who just landed on his desk and got a pardon out of compassion or any above the shadiness line? >> sure. we're getting the list just like you are so i don't have a complete answer for you. kushner, stone and manafort are the ones that jumped out. some of these appear to have come through the normal pardon process. the president we know throughout his time in office he has of course favored his allies and rewarded loyalty with acts of clemency. but he has, as you noted, given some to people who i think a lot of americans deserve, people unjustly prosecuted, who were given far too harsh sentences. and there seems -- and white house aides in the initial few minutes since this came out suggested that m so of those stories are in here as well. but those of course are not the headlines. the headlines are these three big names, loyalists, his son-in-law, his powerful so

one of the biggest applause lines on the campaign trail was about replacing betsy devos in that positionll about this selection is that we actually are elevating somebody into this position who has been, yes, an educator but only recently came into the ranks of administration as the connecticut education superintendent here. but biden who has been trying to balance all the equities here, including having a diverse cabinet, including having people in the positions to enact his agenda settling here as it seems on a person in miguel cardona who has impressed members of his transition team and the conversations i've understood that have been happening. >> it's a big day, an historic day. mike memoli, thanks for joining us. we appreciate it. >>> audioi'm joined by michael steel, former spokesman by john boehner. also karen tumulti, columnist for "the washington post." thank you both for being with us. michael, president trump is turning on every republican who will not defend his allegations of voter fraud. and that's including mitch mcconnell. in fact, trump's special assistant sent an email

when you think how controversial betsy devos' nomination was. republicans were firmly behind him.hink he will necessarily have that with neera tanden. i can see this one being super controversial and maybe even one of those red herrings where if it doesn't work out they can say well we wanted bruce reed but the squad said no. we tried neera it didn't work out. >> martha: like a sacrificial lamb sometimes chosen. maybe that's what they have. serve a stack official lamb down there. all right, thank you, dana. good to have you here tonight and good to see you too. >> dana: you bet. >> martha: more on this and iran tonight bring in tom cotton who serves on the intelligence economy and armed services committee and iraq and afghanistan war veteran who served two tour us frt first off, senator, if you would. your thoughts on neera tandem's selection on omv. >> this is her retweet in 2017. he felt that the election was legitimate and she says why does he lie about this? he knows people have intuitive sense. russians did damage to affect more than 70,000 votes in key states. it was a line

secretary of education betsy devos. madam secretary, good morning and thank you for being here.at appears to be a growing problem with teachers reporting failing grades for their students amid this pandemic. what are we doing about it? >> sandra, it is tragic to see what is happening after months and months of schools being closed down, not reopening again this fall like they had been urged and encouraged to do. we're not -- it is not a surprise we're seeing tragic results among children today. first of all, many children who are not showing up remotely for school. others failing classes they didn't fail before. the conclusion is schools have to reopen particularly for the kids who are most vulnerable. >> sandra: madam secretary, what is your concern about sort of this gap that we're going to see in progress among students? we know so many of the private schools, parochial schools have been able to stay open for full-time learning and it is the public, inner city schools that are shut and those are the kids who are at home in some cases have two parents that go to work that are

last day i heard with education secretary betsy devos about potential loan forgiveness, i have to getke as well. >> yeah. >> to ask taxpayers 2 out of 3 of whom have not gone to college to help underwrite the forgiveness of those one in three that have is fundamentallien fair. not to mention all of the students who have shopped for value, who have saved, who have worked, paid down their student loans and satisfied their debt to then be asked to underwrite the writeoff of other -- again, gunned -- fundamentally unfaired. maria: congressman, what do you think? congressman: i couldn't agree with that more. if you forgive -- believe me forgiving doesn't make it go away. it basically transfers the debt onto people who have actually paid to go to school before and to other taxpayers and disproportionately forgiving dead, disproportionately helps the wealthy because they have gone to private schools, the federal government wrote a nice big check to colleges and universities. in my op-ed, colleges and universities have had money coming in and they have not been good stewards of the money. all

they work for eric prince, prince's sister, betsy devos, the president's education secretary, long timeve george papadopoulos and others who were involved in the russia probe. this is another way of the president trying to signal that he feels that entire investigation was illegitimate, that it was a witch hunt, that its findings weren't fair and it was simply about trying to get him. i would like to ask ben, if i could on that subject, do we expect from the president in the last 28 days, more pardons like this, particularly on the probe, and i'm thinking of one name in particular, paul manafort, should that be a name we're looking for for a potential pardon before the president is done. >> your use of the word should adds a complexity there. i think i would be stunned if the president doesn't at least commute paul manafort's sentence. he obviously should not do so, but i do suspect that he will. and there are other people involved in the russia investigation who you might -- i mean, he's already pardoned michael flynn of course, but there are people like rick gates. there are, you know

betsy devos, any of the -- almost any candidate member. a lot of his other appointees.w, the irony police are doing to be really, really busy over the next couple of months, i think. and they're going to have to build more irony prisons for these republican senators who are just making ridiculous arguments. you know, they spend four years apologizing for the leading twitter troll in the world, donald trump, and they go after neera tanden for her mean tweets and even to say the word transparency while donald trump is still president and to say they're going to demand transparency when they didn't even make polite requests for any measure of transparency, from any member of the trump administration including the president himself who has never released his taxes, by the way. and other pertinent financial data, it's just ridiculous. and i -- they're going to have to come up with, as claire said, they have to come up with something better than this if they want to make a stink about biden appointees because this stuff is just ridiculous. >> it is. as president trump levels

coming up, education secretary betsy devos on a surge in failing grades in america's schools amidst theit. plus, governor fewsome face -- newsom facing backlash for stay at home orders for worshipers. the san francisco a arch bishop says the state is making church less important than holiday shopping. and what the ban means for restaurants struggling to survive. we are live from from america's newsroom, top of the hour. ♪ experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list sales event. sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first month's payment. with zero down, zero due at signing, we have to find somethingust else. good luck!ut it. what does that mean? we are doomed. [ laughter ] that's it... i figured it out! we're going to give togetherness. that sounds dumb. we're going to take all those family moments and package them. hmm. [ laughing ] that works. ♪ steve: our next guest, mayor of flavor town, is known for checking out diners, drive-ins and dives, but he also has a gigantic heart. chef and food network store guy fieri h

blackwater was founded by eric prince, himself a ump ally and brother of secretary of education betsy d de devosw we want to take a deeper look at the implication ofs of blackwater pardons and for that gary solis.by retired colonel he also an adjunct professor of law. colonel, very good to have you on the newshour. ese four men were convicted by the u.s. government for their role in massacring these iraqi civilians, unarmed civilians. do you think that this was an appropriate pardon? >> absolutely not. there is no basis fothis pardon. there is no judicial err ior. th no societial wrong that is cured.e thople were convicted, the primary person in the trial was convicted of murder twice. and sentenced to life twce. the other three were convicted of volume tear lanshter, sentenced to 30 years, there is just no reason that ican see har these pardons. >> bra supporters of these men including some that the invtigation into this massacre was tainted from the start. that the iraqi police did most the initial investigating, that the fbi didn't show up for several weeks, d that in som ways that the cake w