charles kushner was prosecuted for these crimes by a u.s. attorney at the time named chris christie. yes, that chris christie. something jared kushner has reportedly been holding a grudge about ever since. but tonight jared's dad gets a full pardon, which i believe is trump's first foray into pardons for his own family, in this case family by marriage, but could blood relatives be far behind? also on tonight's pardon list, roger stone. and i know you're thinking, hey, didn't trump already pardon him? no. first he got bill barr to intervene in the prosecution of roger stone to try to get stone a shorter sentence. then he commuted the prison sentence that roger stone did get. remember, he was convicted of lying to congress on the russia investigation. but, you know, when you lie to protect donald trump in the russia investigation, a commutation of your prison sentence is apparently not enough of a reward for that kind of loyalty. so in addition to bill barr intervening to try to get him a lighter sentence, and in addition to trump commuting th

kushner who was obviously jared kushner's father-in-law?ny 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 son-in-law's father, and these two long term aides. you're correct to note that stone and manafort are not just peopl

and real estate tycoon, charles kushner. charles kushner is jared kushner's father. paul manafort, the president once tweeted, quote, unlike michael cohen, he refused to break, make up stories in order to get a deal. family values, if the family's last name is cor leone. evan, again, these pardons were close to the president. what can you tell us? >> list of 26 pardons and three commutations are the president's campaign associates. these are people, who were sentenced to prison for essentially trying to protect the president. that's according to special counsel robert mueller's prosecutors. in the case of paul manafort, he was sentenced to seven and a half years for bank and tax fraud and witness tampering. he's been in home confinement, since earlier this year, because of the coronavirus pandemic. and the president has now kbrantkbran granted a pardon to him saying, essentially, he was mistreated by special counsel robert mueller as part of the hoax, as what the president calls the investigation. in the case of roger stone, he lied to congress, to the republican con

charles kushner is jared kushner's fathere president's campaign associates. these were people who were sentenced to prison essentially trying to protect the president. that's according to special council robert mueller's prosecutors. in the case of manafort, he was sentenced for 7.5 years with bank and fax fraud, he tax frau. the president granted a pardon to him saying he was mistreated. in the case of roger stone, he lied to congress, to the republican congressional committee that was investigating russ russia's involvement with the 2016 election. one of the things the judge said in his sentencing was that he tried to protect the president and now he's got a pardon as a result of what he did for the president. charles kushne convicted in 2005. chris christie was the attorney at the time. he's the father of jared kushner, we have been told by white house officials that jared kushner did not play a role in this pardon but obviously this is something that's on everyone's mind for some time to come. another name that stood out margaret hunter who's the wife of

>> in 2017, apollo loaned the kushner company $184 million? >> i was not aware of that. >> i may have read it in the press at some point, but i'm not involved nor did i take that into consideration, nor prior to you asking me that, would i have known that. >> briefly to finish up your, mr. secretary -- here, mr. secretary, can i ask for on the record, did mr. kushner or anyone from his staff reach out to you about providing a loan? staff,and nobody on his

charles kushner, father of jared kushner. by the way, he was put away by chris christie when he was u.s. attorney in new jersey for tax

charles kushner is jared kushner's father

so what did charles kushner, jared kushner's dad do, you might be asking this morning. 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, margaret, so we had some loathsome and disgusting crime going on there. but i just laid out the facts. and any objective person who looks at the facts knows, confronted with those facts, i had a moral and an ethical obligation to bring that prosecution. >> i don't think there's anything more to add to that, josh. that sort of sums it up when it comes to charles kushner. i want to turn and focus on what is coming next. magg

kushner. the answer to that was no. >> are you willing to turn over the documents? >> you have to ask me what is the question. you're asking a different question. >> any response -- documents with jared kushner or his staff, which is none, i'd be happy to turn over because it doesn't exist. >> the white house? >> i will discuss with the legal department. >> thank you. this is a loan that puts nearly $1 billion of public money at risk with minimal protections. that helps a private equity giant sitting on its own money. at worst, i think this was rushed into place to benefit a firm with close personal ties to the president's family, and this warrants further investigation. i want to think -- look at loans other than the yrc loan. none of them are as big, but the gao report that came out raises concerns about the process. as you noted, the defense department certified 20 companies as critical to national security. you have provided, -- loans to 11. i want to understand why you chose to support th

the case against charles kushner was prosecuted by then-u.s. attorney chris christie, the long-time trump friend and former new jersey governor. here's how christie described the crimes that charles kushner went to prison for just last year. >> i just think it was so obvious he had to be prosecuted. 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 any more justification than that? i mean, it's one of the most loathesome, disgusting crimes that i prosecuted when i was u.s. attorney. i was u.s. attorney in new jersey, margaret, so we had some loathesome and disgusting crime going on there, but i just laid out the facts. any objective person who looks at the facts knows confronted with those facts, i had a moral and an ethical obligation to bring that prosecution. >> one of the most loathesome, disgusting crimes. feign shock with me again to the continued benefit that undeserving men, and they're a

jared kushner's dad, who carried out a sordid crime received a pardon as well. joining the murderers, corrupt congressmen and dozens of others now benefiting from donald trump's unrestrained use of executive power. the president, meanwhile, is at his estate in florida where his schedule according to the white house includes many meetings and phone calls. good god. back in washington, he's left his party in utter chaos after blowing up the covid relief deal, vetoing the military spending bill, and risking unemployment aid to millions of struggling americans. in other words -- merry christmas, everybody. >> it's beautiful. ♪ it's beginning to look a lot like christmas ♪ >> how many more days? >> i think it's tomorrow, dear. and -- my, is it just me, or -- is it comcast commerce stream looking a little bit like charlie brown's christmas tree? >> i wasn't asking you how many days until christmas. >> oh! look at that. that's beautiful. yes! >> hmm. >> that's beautiful. ♪ toys in every store >> bewell, willie geist -- >> good morning, everybody. >> merry christmas eve

trump pardons charles kushner the father of trump's own son-in-law and white house aide jared kushner. the elder kushner was convicted in the early 2000s of tax evasion. retaliating against a federal witness, and lying to the federal election commission. he was prosecuted by trump's long time friend chris christie who was u.s. attorney in new jersey at the time and said this about charles kushner's crimes years later. >> i just think it was so obvious he had to be prosecuted. 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 any more justification than that? it is one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes that i prosecuted when i was u.s. attorney. i was u.s. attorney in new jersey so we had loads of disgusting crime going on there but i just laid out the facts and any objective person who looks at the facts knows confronted with those facts i had a moral and ethical obligation to bring that prosecution. >> obvious. obligation. ethic

father of donald trump ‘s son—in—lanared kushner. father of donald trump ‘s son—in—law jared kushnerrison for preparing false tax returns, witness retaliation and making false state mints to the federal exchange commission. but these will be seen, certainly by critics of the president, as very controversial pardons indeed. and there is already shocked and upset at what the president has already done with pardon with an acidic democratic presidents issued many pardons, barack 0bama andjimmy presidents issued many pardons, barack 0bama and jimmy carter. but mrtrump barack 0bama and jimmy carter. but mr trump has already pardon people engaged in questionable activities who had admitted what they did. absolutely. that is right. this makes a9, the number of people to whom president trump has granted clemency in the last two days either through pardons all through sentence commutation with an acidic and it is a indication of the fact that the president intends to wield this very controversial ability that he has two the benefit of friends, to people who have been loyal to him over the yea

, charles kushner. mr. trump arrived in florida last night where he's spending christmas. his departure from washington, d.c. comes as the covid relief bill remains in jeopardy. debra alfarone is live in washington. what is happening today with the stimulus package? >> the president wanted to have $2,000 stimulus checks instead of the $600 ones. this set up an early christmas gift for democrats. they are going to set up new legislation aimed at those $2,000 checks but that puts republicans between a rock and a hard place. >> president trump pardoned some two dozen people. including some long-time political supporters. >> roger stone was treated unfairly. >> convicted of lying to congress and tampering stemming to the russia investigation. >> my trial was a soviet style show trial. >> former campaign manager paul manafort was convicted by special crimes brought by muller. also receiving a pardon, charles kushner, the father of his son in-law. former new jersey governor chris christie was the u.s. attorne

who, as you know, is jared kushner's father. let's discuss, now, with anne milgram, and elie honig. i'm just guessing we may share some similar viewpoints. let's flush it out. elie, let me begin with you because these pardons, they don't have anything to do with justice. when you look at these pardons, please, tell me what do you see? >> laura, what i see is the injustice and the abuse of power getting deeper, literally, by the day. it was 24 hours ago, you and i were on this show having a conversation about how outrageous yesterday's batch of pardons were. and now, we have got two dozen more. and i think it's particularly painful for dedicated and proud doj alums, like you and anne and me, to see what's going on here. now, there is a pattern emerging that i think is hard to ignore, and it's disturbing. if you look back at the mueller investigation, the four main players who refused to cooperate or lied to prosecutors. manafort, flynn, papadopoulos, and stone. they've all, now, been pardoned. and the two significant defendants,

also on the list, jared kushner's father, charles kushner. you have paul manafort and roger stone, went to trial and convicted by juries of multiple crimes. investigators say manafort broke the cooperation agreement. roger stone never cooperated after lying to congress. both men are being rewarding for their loyalty. the president says he thinks his advisers were treated unfairly. the mueller report detailed in the obstruction of justice part how trump's team dangled pardons as a way to protect the president, how trump himself did that, and we're seeing the president's plan play out with these pardons. charles kushner, the father of the president's son-in-law, jared kushner, he was convicted of illegal campaign contributions, and served a 24 month sentence. jared did not advocate for his father to get the pardon because it was the unspoken word between him and trump that this would happen. the story emerging from these pardons is that the president is using his pardon power to reward those close to him, some of whom would likely not meet the

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 president's plan play out with the president. charles kushner, the father of president trump's son-in-law, jared kushner, he was convicted of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering and served a 24 month sentence. jared did not advocate for his father to get the pardon because it was the unspoken word between him and trump that this would happen. this is what sources have told me and my colleague. overall, the story emerging from th

they include charles kushner, real estate developer and father of trump's son-in-law, jared kushner.r longtime associate roger stone. his sentence had been commuted. also, former campaign manager of 2016, paul manafort. 26 people have been pardoned today. gunmen have attacked the townn

, the father of trump's son-in-law jared kushner. republican senator ben sasse summing up trump's pardon spree as, quote, rotten to the core. the president is becoming increasingly i radic in his final days in office, vetoing the defense spending bill, upending the spending package, and even threatening iran. i want to bring in cnn white house correspondent john harwood, kim whaley a former federal prosecutor, and cnn presidential historian, timothy neff tally. i'm glad to have you all here tonight. this is chaos. the president's behavior is becoming increasingly erratic. should we expect more of this insanity over the next few days while he is at mar-a-lago? >> of course. look, this is what is going to define the end of donald trump's presidency. there are two different things going on at the same time. one is he has blown a gas get ov gasket over the fact he lost the election to joe biden, very difficult for him to accept that blow to his psyche, blow to his reputation. so, he's trying to deny it, spitting out all these crazy, delu

correspondent: among them was the father of his senior advisor and son-in-law, jared kushner.rles kushner was sentenced to two years in prison for tax evasion, witness tampering, and making unlawful campaign donations. the white house cited kushner' charitable work since completing his sentence as the reason he deserved clemency. but it is the pardoning of paul manafort and roger stone that sparked the most outrage. both men were convicted under the investigation into ties between the trump campaign and russia. trump has now pardoned four people convicted in that investigation. mr. president, my family and i humbly thank you for the presidential pardon. words cannot fully convey how grateful we are. metaphor 10 stone are not conventional pardon recipients, in part because both seemed to show a lack of respect to the criminal justice system. paul manafort was convicted of witness tampering and stone was convicted of lying to congress. republican senator and ss -- ben sasse called the pardonings rotten to the core. with less than a month in office, more pardons are anticipated f

basically who got the loans and how, in fact, would both kushner and trump benefit from them?great questions, yasmin. so what we have here is the paycheck protection program, it's designed to keep small businesses running through the pandemic, through the economic crisis that everyone is experiencing in this pandemic. and in this program, for the first time we're able to see who's actually getting the money from the smallest loans to the largest. and we've been going through the public records that we've had to fight for, file freedom of information act requests to get, go to court to receive, and now we're actually seeing who is getting them and we went through the records, so far we have found about 25 companies that are tenants, inside properties owned by the trump organization, and by kushner's property organizations. and we have found that, for instance, one company is a -- is a restaurant inside trump international hotel in new york. and it got more than $2 million in paycheck protection loans. we don't know how many jobs, if any, were saved by the dollars that were rece

kushner's dad who was locked up for tax evasion and lying to the fec. joining me, chuck rosenberg, now an msnbc contributor. good to see you, chuck. let's start big picture. look. controversial presidential pardons are not new. marc rich comes to mind. but a harvard count has 60 of the 65 trump pardons before wednesday going to someone with either a personal or a political connection to the president. have we ever seen anything like this? >> not in this volume, chris. the harvard study is a professor named jack goldsmith who pointed out that overwhelmingly, trump pardon goes to political allies, to friends and family. you're right. we have seen troubling pardons in the past from other presidents. it's not new. what is new is the volume -- the volume of these types of pardons from this president is stunning. it's absolutely stunning. if you want to get a pardon from donald trump, it's good to either be related to him or to have supported him politically. those seem to be the two paths to pardon success. >> yeah, and andrew weissmann, who was a lead prose

the first one, charles kushner that's jared kushner's father, who served a 24-month sentence after being convicted of illegal campaign contributions as you well know, jared kushner is the first son-in-law and in charge of, well, a lot of things, including mideast peace and on and on. his father had long time been thought of as a potential pardon target for the president and sure enough, he's just been pardoned another name you'll know, paul manafort paul manafort, of course, was a republican campaign consultant and then went on to chair the presidential campaign team back in the day in addition, he often lobbied on behalf of foreign leaders. in addition, he was convicted and sentenced. he served as an adviser to presidential campaigns all along the way. at any rate, he was convicted and has now been pardoned after being indicted in the u.s. court for the district of columbia on multiple charges arising from his consulting work for the pro russian governor victor yovanovitch. that came at the recommendation of robert mueller's special counsel. all of the convictions therein have now been

kushner.convicted as part of the special counsel probe into russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. mr trump had earlier commuted the criminal sentence of roger stone, who was convicted of lying to congress under oath. i think it underlines the president's determination to basically eradicate the prosecutions that resulted from the special counsel robert moeller‘s investigation into allegations of russian into —— interference in the 2016 presidential election. mr trump has railed against that enquiry consistently, calling it a hoax and now he has announced pardons of more people prosecuted as a result of the muller investigation. you mention paul manafort, the former campaign chairman, one of three that donald trump had and mr manafort a short time ago tweeted this saying that he and his family thank the president for the pardon bestowed upon him, words cannot convey how grateful they are. you mentioned roger stone. his sentence had already been commuted. he is a long—term ally of

father, charles kushner, what he did.nd i just want to explain it using the words and sound of chris christie, former governor of new jersey, and former u.s. attorney. because governor christie sums it up better than anyone can. 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, margaret, so we had some loathsome and disgusting crime going on there. but i just laid out the facts. and any objective person that looks at the facts know, confronted with those facts, i had a moral and ethical obligation to bring that prosecution. >> i really, genuinely don't think there's anything to add there, andy. let me just ask you, given wha

and kushner, i'll give you the thumbnail. he pleaded guilty to tax evasion and retaliating against a federal witness and lying to the fec. he was prosecuted by chris cristie and christy of course became trump transition chair. what's so bad about that? it's his son-in-law's brother. isn't that the right thing? kushner is no ordinary white collar criminal. this man set up his own brother-in-law with a prostitute and then sent the video to his sist sister. that is the kind of thing that only trump would see a pardon available. he commuted stone's sentence, threatening a witness earlier this year before he was set to surrender. we know why he did it. roger stone is many things, but one of them is royal to those that he sees as on his side. this is no mercy pardon. these are the wars. you notice what manafort never did, right? never talked about manafort, not a word. republican senator ben sasse put out a statement tonight calling it, all rotten to the core. welcome to the party, brother. welcome to the party. time is over for yo

, the father of his son- in-law jared kushner. >> i have found manafort to be a decent man. >> reporter: manafort served two years on tax and bank fraud charges in connection with mueller's russia investigation. >> roger stone was treated unfairly in my opinion. >> reporter: roger stone was convicted of witness tampering and lying to congress. the white house said wednesday stone's conviction was result of prosecutorial misconduct. the president also pardoned jared kushner's father charles who pleaded guilty to witness retaliation and tax charges in 2005. a trump ally and former u.s. attorney chris christie prosecuted the case refer the pardons came the same day the president vetoed key defense funding bill. he also continues to stand in the way of the covid relief bill unless stimulus payments go up from $600 to $2,000. >> reporter: house democrats tried to boost the payments. >> 600 is certainly not enough for individuals who have been struggling these past seven months. >> reporter: republicans blocked the move. it's up to the president to either sign or veto the original relife bill

donald trump, eric trump and ivanka trump, as well as her husband, jared kushner, a white house senior adviser. the white house hasn't commented on the reporting and a source tells nbc news trump is considering the pardons because he feels embattled, not because he thinks his family has done anything illegal. each has faced potential exposure in at least one criminal investigation since trump's presidency began. we should all keep in mind that this is the very president said to be operating like a criminal begrade by andrew mccabe, then the number two at the fbi who was so alarmed by the conduct he witnessed in trump's earliest weeks in office that he opened a counterintelligence probe into the president of the united states. mccabe in his book likens the vibe inside trump world to the russian mobsters he'd investigated. the message, quote, this is a dangerous business and it's a bad neighborhood. if you want my protection, i can protect you. and it is in that vein that another bombshell drops since we were last on the air. a court filing unsealed yesterday revealed for the very first

kushner is no ordinary white-collar criminal. this man set up his own brother-in-law with a prostitute and then sent the video to his sister. that is the kind of thing that only trump would see a pardon available. he commuted stone's sentence for obstruction of congress, threatening a witness earlier this year before he was set to surrender. we know why he did it. roger stone is many things, but one of them is loyal to those that he sees as on his side. trump returned the favor. manafort has been home serving confinement after covid, but this is no mercy pardon. these are rewards. you notice what manafort never did, right? never talked about trump, not a word. republican senator ben sasse put out a statement tonight calling it all rotten to the core. welcome to the party, brother. welcome to the party. the time is over for your delicate dance. sasse, you've got a great future in your party. you have a potential future in this country. you should have been saying that all along. and by the way, sasse has been one of the most ratio

, father of trump's son-in-law jared kushner the elder kushner, a multimillionaire real estate developer, pleaded guilty in 2004 to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations the president also pardoned paul manafort, his former campaign chairman, convicted of hiding millions of dollars in income from political consulting that he did for the pro-russian government in ukraine. and the president gave a full pardon to former campaign adviser roger stone whose sentence he commuted in july stone says he's relieved >> any reasonable person who looks at my prosecution would understand that this is all about politics >> reporter: manafort and stone were both prosecuted by robert mueller's special counsel team looking into russian election meddling the white house statement called manafort a victim of, quote, perhaps the greatest witch hunt in american history. but those pardons especially issued after the president left for florida drew bipartisan condemnation congressman jerry nadler, a new york democrat, said the president is handing out rewards to his co-conspirators senator ben sasse,

>> one name pamela and i are reporting on is jared kushner's father. charles.been convicted of a felony and served for things including tax evasion. we are told, two sources are telling us that jared kushner is not raising this in these meetings. in fact he is in some of these meetings about pardons. but he himself is not raising the issue, that there are side groups for example who worked with him on justice reform that have said that he deserves this kind of pardon. and we're also told that he doesn't have to raise the name, that the president understands that jared would like this for his father. but -- so jared doesn't have to bring it up. >> gloria, thank you so much. and now elie honig is with us. and so if trump does do this, first of all what is the message he'd be sending out to anyone else in hinner circle? >> so get ready, because this administration is going to go out in a blaze of corruption, a blaze of self dealing. the image that gloria is reporting is such a disturbing one because what we're seeing is people inside the white house considering wh

some of those go back to those connect with the trump and kushner properlies. that is next. beautiful. but when i started cobra kai, the lack of control over my business made me a little intense. but now i practice a different philosophy. quickbooks helps me get paid, manage cash flow, and run payroll. and now i'm back on top... with koala kai. hey! more mercy. save over 30 hours a month with intuit quickbooks. the easy way to a happier business. did you try it yet? comparing plans? oh yeah. they sure can change year to year. i found lower premiums - and lower prescription costs. and those new insulin savings! hundreds of plans, $35 a month. that'll save you money. so uh, mark? on medicare.gov now. open enrollment ends dec 7th. comparing plans... ...really pays. paid for by the u.s. department of health & human services. ♪ ♪ anywhere. relax your shoulders john. each member and every instructor here to lift you up. so join in now. breathe in breathe out. and see your best self in the mirror. >>> it was a corner stone of the first round of federal covid relief. the paycheck pr

now, we don't know that jared kushner has asked the president for that pardon.erstand, according to our sources, that other people have lobbied the white house for a pardon for charles kushner. beyond that, of course, there are preemptive pardons for the president's attorney rudy guiliani and even discussion about preemptive pardons for the president's children, that, of course, will be highly controversial. >> it certainly would be, jeremy dimon at the white house, we will get back to you as well. let's discuss this with our senior attorney for the southern district of new york. the president said considering all these preemptive pardons, including for three of his children, ivanka, don, eric, son-in-law jared kushner, his long-time friend and attorney rudy guiliani, how would that actually work and what concerns potentially does that raise? >> well, the first thing is he almost certainly has the legal constitutional authority to do it and that might surprise some people, the pardon power in the constitution is one of the most broad and unfettered powers the pr

. >> also on the pardon list charles kushner, the father of the president's son-in-law jared kushner, he was convicted of tax evasion and witness tampering tied to a family scandal. within hours of the pardon list being released there was outrage from lawmakers including nebraska gop senator ben sass who in one sentence statement wrote, quote, this is rotten to the core. we are still waiting to see if the president may issue more pardons. as for congress on monday the house is working to override the president's veto of the national defense authorization act. the house speaker says the house will be working on whether to increase stimulants payments with a roll call vote with payments the president says he wants. mike: mark meredith starting is often west palm beach, many thanks. stocks were up today, the dow gained 70, the s&p rose 13, nasdaq jumped 34. a massive russian 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 a new warning from the federal go

dad, charles kushner. he also vetoed a defense bill, leaving in limbo things like pay raises for the military. and in doing so, the president is ignoring the millions of americans who are hurting and are going to be left in the lurch if, to add to this, the covid relief bill isn't signed into law. it's estimated nearly 5 million people could be pushed into poverty if benefits are allowed to expire the day after christmas. then the government shutdown that threatens the livelihoods of millions more, which is now a real threat. the president is also ignoring the pandemic that is only getting worse at the very worst time of the year. let's start with the mess that president trump continues to create, starting on capitol hill. they're calling a vote next week to call the president's bluff on payments. they tried to pass the bill meaning it would pass if no one objected but republicans did object. so now a full floor house vote will be happening. phil mattingly joins me now with the details. democrats are sched

let's look at jared kushner.ok at the pardons that we know the president is now considering for his grifter children, for his daughter, for his son-in-law. what is that all about? what does that tell us about the values of this president of the united states? where is the national interest? and what are these pardons about and what have they been about? continuing the cover-ups that have started early in this presidency and are going through the final days of this presidency so that people can't be prosecuted and information cannot be obtained. look at paul manafort. the president's campaign manager, who was in contact with russian agents and we know is the point of contact with the russians. we don't know about his discussions with donald trump, with roger stone. the cover-ups continue, including the financial interests that were pursued by the president while he was in office and his children. so these final days are unique in our history in teermz of the venality, a venal, venal situation and president of the

charles kushner, i can't come up for a defense, why president trump pardoned charles kushner. we heard chris christie say it was one of the worst cases he came across when running the justice system in new jersey. you can make the point that all presidents do this. we should look at them individually. some of them look valid, some of them do not. howie: let me get griff jenkins in, on the four blackwater contractors. they were prosecuted for killing iraqi civilians. it was called a massacre. pete hegseth said they were put in an impossible position. >> well, yes. and remember the prosecution back in 2007 when this happened was at the height of a low point in u.s./iraqi relations, howie. that matters. because while the war had been going on for four years in iraq after the invasion, you had this situation where the blackwater guards are doing what they believed was acting in their best interest but yet civilians were killed. i think that military advisors certainly have a few different opinions. one of which is that they're operating outside of their rules of engagement that ou

the father of the president's son in law jared kushner who is married to ivanka trump. kushner pleaded guilty to tax evasion and retaliating against a federal witness back in 2004. >>those kareen wynter reporting for us tonight now earlier today, president trump tweeted a holiday video message that he recorded with the first lady he touched on the pandemic and what he called a christmas miracle with the distribution of vaccines. here's more. >>we're delivering millions of doses of a safe and effective vaccine. >>there will soon end this terrible pandemic and save millions and millions of lives we grateful for all of the scientists researchers manufacturing workers and service members. this lead to make this breakthrough possible. a christmas miracle. >>no mention of the covid relief bill though so tonight we are still waiting to see if the president will sign it. >>even parking tickets get a day off now and then sfmta release their holiday street parking enforcement schedule for christmas and new year's day take a look at the falling parking regulations will not be enfo

pardoned with them was charles kushner, the father of mr. trump's senior adviser, jared kushner. multiple crimes in 2004, including setting his brother in law up with a prostitute and then trying to blackmail him. news of the pardons came after the president had left

ivanka trump's father-in-law charles kushner., how this automatll being received r now. >> the second wave of president, his choices have been denounced even by republicans. senator ben sass called his selections, quote, rotten to the core. the case of charles kushner, he pleaded guilty in 2005 to tax 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? ♪