but weirdly the cross between him and steve stockman, who was just pardoned, is that steve stockman at one point before he went to prison, less than two weeks before he went to prison, steve stockman wrote to elliott brodie to tell him trump should give him an ambassadorship. he wanted to be ambassador to the united arab emirates because he said he had, in his words, quote, many friends there. and he made the ask right before he went to prison on 23 federal felony counts. and now the trump donor, who he asked that favor of, who he asked to convey the request to president trump, he is also now a federal convict awaiting his prison time at least until he gets pardoned by president trump too. that's the trump era. that's steve stockman tonight, who is now enjoying his pardon. he was a trump supporter all the while, regardless of whatever else was going on with him and his criminal record. he's got his pardon tonight too. president trump has pardoned two people convicted in the russian investigation. george papadopoulos on the left. he pled guilty to lying to federal investigations about h

steve stockman of texas convicted on charges of fraud and money laundering. duncan hunter of california who pleaded guilty to misusing campaign funds. and chris collins of up state new york, the first trump supporter in congress who pleaded to lying to the fbi and conspiring to commit securities fraud. he was the one who as a guest at the annual congressional picnic summer of 2017 was caught on camera phoning insider stock tips to his son from the south lawn of the white house according to the feds. also on this initial pardon list four military contractors who worked for blackwater and were all convicted of killing 14 unarmed iraqi civilians in

trump was pushed to commute stockman's 10-year sentence by the conspiracy theorist lawyer sidney powell who has been helping trump try to overturn the november election. she has visited the white house a number of times this week. trump also reduced the sentences of three women convicted of non-violent drug crimes. president trump is expected to grant more pardons in the coming weeks. on tuesday, the u.n. special rapporteur on torture nils melzer urged trump to pardon wikileaks founder julian assange. meanwhile, trump is reportedly considering granting legal immunity to the saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman, who is facing a federal lawsuit over a plot to assassinate a former top saudi intelligence officer who now lives in canada. such a move may provide the legal basis to protect bin salman over the killing of jamal khashoggi. a new report has revealed at least 36 journalists at al jazeera were hacked using spyware made by the israeli firm nso. the hack was uncovered by the citizen lab at the university of toronto, which tracks use of the software known as pegasus that allows users

and of course she performs here too like at the big jazz festival in hamburg stockman's. how different her life is today. but everything she's been through resurfaces time and again in music and lyrics. make me there. in this man in this world. where. down. found her way managing to put a difficult past behind her now she wants to give something back many of her lyrics are political taking aim at injustice environmental destruction and finance. she uses her international natural easy to promote humanitarian projects lending her voice to those who would otherwise go on her. ever ways to condemn the nigerian terrorist group boko haram and back overnight as ations that helped former child soldiers and advance women's rights. the be. i did give me. my. life. life. live. my. friends is a common destination for refugees and migrants from former french colonies in africa. anjali kitchell arrived in paris after fleeing binny's communist dictatorship more than 35 years ago. today she can't walk down the street without being recognized. to. and she's much in demand as an interview

and of course she performs here too like at the big jazz festival in hamburg stockman's. how different her life is today it's love but everything she's been through resurfaces time and again in music and lyrics. take me there. through. in this man this. window where. when i look up in the sky. going. wherever. the. where down. have found a way managing to put a difficult pulse behind her now she wants to give something back many of her lyrics are political taking aim at injustice environmental destruction and finance . she uses her international naturally as he to promote humanitarian projects lending her voice to those who would otherwise go on her. voice to condemn the nigerian terrorist group boko haram and back overnight as ations that helped former child soldiers and advance women's rights. give me. life. life. lived. my. friends is a common destination for refugees and migrants from former french colonies in africa. and chile kidjo arrived in paris after fleeing binning scummiest dictatorship more than 35 years ago. today she can't walk down the street without being

trump commuted the sentence of former republican congressman steve stockman of texas. he's about two years into a 10-year hitch, conspiring to take hundreds of thousands in donations meant for charity and voter education. also pardoned, four blackwater guards involved in a deadly shooting of iraqi civilians. what does this mean? now, look, the pardons, that's about what trump is about in terms of character or lack thereof. if you're good to e him, nothing else matters. he's not about law and order. know that. he just proved it to you. we have the perfect guest to speak to what's happening with this relief bill and what those pardons may portend, what could come next. the chair of the house intelligence committee who led the trump impeachment effort, congressman adam schiff. it's good to have you back in a short window. thank you for responding to the need of the news tonight. >> you bet. good to be with you again. >> now, what do you think about this? do you believe that this is just an ugly bluff, or do you believe this is a moment where trump can say to these guys, i

and of course she performs here too like at the big jazz festival in hamburg stockman's. how different her life is today. but everything she's been through resurfaces time and again in music and lyrics. make me they. throw. in this man. down. nick have found a way managing to put in a difficult past behind her now she wants to give something back many of her lyrics are political taking aim at injustice environmental destruction and finance. she uses her international naturally as he to promote humanitarian projects lending her voice to those who would otherwise go on her. voice to condemn the nigerian terrorist group boko haram and back overnight as ations that helped former child soldiers and advance women's rights. given me. live. live. live. live. my. friends is a common destination for refugees and migrants from former french colonies in africa. and chile kill joy arrived in paris after fleeing binny's communist dictatorship more than 35 years ago. today she can't walk down the street without being recognized. to. and she's much in demand as an interview guest she's b

the president also granted clemency to steve stockman of texas, who was convicted of fraud and money laundering, california's duncan hunter, who pleaded guilty to misusing campaign funds, and the first congressman to back trump, new york's chris collins, he pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi and conspiring to commit securities fraud in 2017. you might remember, collins was caught on camera on the white house south lawn during an event giving insider stock tips to his son. the president also pardoned four military contractors who worked for blackwater, all convicted of killing 14 unarmed iraqi civilians in 2007. the president also pardoning a dentist accused of health care fraud and a moonshiner >> using that power before he has to return it chris, thank you >>> we now know who will fill the senate seat vacated by kamala harris has she steps into the vice presidency seat governor gavin newsom chose california secretary of state alex padilla and chose this video of the moment padilla found out. >> you serious >> this is the official -- this is the ask, brother. >> i'm honored, man. and

steve stockman of texas got his sentence commuted full pardons went to four former blackwater security guards convicted in the deaths of 17 people, including civilians at a busy intersection in baghdad in 2007. the white house said there were problems with the prosecution at their trial a lawyer for some of the iraqi families tweeted a photo of the youngest victim today a 9-year-old boy and said, quote, trump pardoned his killers white house officials say more pardons are coming before the president leaves office pete williams, nbc news, washington. >>> terrifying moments today when an explosion rocked a high-rise in baltimore. stephanie gosk now with the heart pounding rescue. >> reporter: a high flying drama unfolding over the streets of baltimore this morning, an explosion at the baltimore gas and electric building rocked downtown, partially collapsing the roof. >> we have victims on the roof i have at least one victim down. >> reporter: window washers were left dangling from their cables and workers inside were trapped. fire crews smashed windows on the 10th and 11th floor to reach

three former republican members of congress were pardoned, steve stockman, chris collins, and duncanter, who was scheduled to begin a prison term. and also pardoned, four gardens who opened fire on civilians in baghdad, iraq, killing 14 and wounding 17. as for the covid relief bill, both houses of congress passed it overwhelming. and now the question is whether congress will dare the president to veto the bill. chip >> o'donnell: tonight, states are deciding who should get the next wave of covid vaccines, sparking the debate over which groups should receive priority. for example, should it be corrections officers or teachers? cbs' adriana diaz continues our series, "vaccinating america." >> reporter: it's week two with more than 600,000 vaccines administered, including to dr. anthony fauci today. ( applause ) ( applause ) the c.d.c. recommends the next group should be those 75 and older, and frontline essential workers. but that's 49 million people, and so far just under five million doses have been delivered. do you feel like you're almost in competition with other essential workers

and of course she performs here too like at the big jazz festival in hamburg stockman's. how different her life is today. but everything she's been through resurfaces time and again in a music and lyrics. take me there. in this man. where. the sky. down. found her way managing to put a difficult past behind her now she wants to give something back many of her lyrics are political taking aim at injustice environmental destruction and finance. she uses her international naturally as he to promote humanitarian projects lending her voice to those who would otherwise go on her. voice to condemn the nigerian terrorist group boko haram and back overnight as ations that helped former child soldiers and advance women's rights. good swing the ball. give me. my. life. my. life. my. friends is a common destination for refugees and migrants from former french colonies in africa. and chile kitchell arrived in paris after fleeing binny's communist dictatorship more than 35 years ago. today she can't walk down the street without being recognized. to. and she's much in demand as an interv

. >> shannon: it was violent christmas weekend, a violent year in chicago, 30 people stockman eight ofdied, three fatal shootings, in new york, shootings up 95%, and in seattle, homicide through november, the city had 28 in all of 2019. for more violence across the us we are joined by jason rand, talkshow host in seattle. >> i hate to give the update, seattle is at 90% increase in homicides, absolutely insane, we are seeing crime surges all across the country, some folks point to the fact that we are in the middle of a covid-19 crisis and that is playing a role. we've seen an increase in domestic violence, homicides, people who are violence -- victims of domestic violence are stuck with their abusers but we are releasing lots of criminals because prisons won't old people over concerns due to covid-19 and some people they are releasing should not be released and committing a lot of these crimes but the real reason we are seeing a lot of this is we are not keeping people in prison. it is unrelated to covid-19 because we are going down this path that is ideologically driven that is saying

suggestion for you on that, especially looking at not just the mueller folks, but guys with unrelated, stockman, collins, hunter, they're just crooks. >> you're absolutely right, chris. this breaks down on interesting lines. first, the mueller defendants, none of that is surprising to anybody, right? and the simple fact is, he can continue to pardon everybody who was convicted in the mueller probe, everyone who was interviewed. none of that will erase the fact that donald trump is the only american president in history to have been elected -- >> he's even messing with the signal. is preet bharara still there? >> i believe so. >> take up the point for me about what these pardons signal to you. >> you make an interesting point. are other people out there who are still hoping for a pardon, who have enough power, influence, or position to do something favorable to the president? i don't think there's many people in that category. do i think he's laying the groundwork for additional pardons that will be even, i think, more controversial. these are controversial, everyone is talking about them. i thi

what do you say about this wave of pardons, duncan collins, steve stockman, chris collins who were involvedacre in iraq. what is your thought about this? >> well, they've run down the same thread, absolutely, and the reason is because we understand that the pardon power is absolute by presidents, but all-americans understand it is an act of mercy for someone who is believing or knowing that they are repenting or they are seeking forgiveness or their acts were such that they have done things to warrant to be pardoned. we see in blatant colors, a breach of law, a sulking individual who comes now just to take center stage to do things no other president has ever done in the history of the united states. this litany of pardons and more to come is disastrous of people understanding in america who is languishing in prison is a high power, sacred power, done out of sheer mercy and forgiveness where someone offers their own repentan repentance. none of that has happened. i will say if you look at them in the whole, the president ha

and three former congressmen, chris collins and steve stockman. who is next?g us is the special counsel during the watergate investigation and also an msnbc contributor. great to see you, jill. after the first round on tuesday, you warned -- you said watch for the worst. what do you think may be coming next? >> first of all, good morning and merry christmas. and i expect much worse. first of all, president trump has given new meaning to family and friends and i expect many more family members and friends because that seems to be the biggest group of people. he pardons those who he has a personal relationship with. he pardons those he can use to undo the mueller investigation and let's put it frankly, if this had happened during watergate i would have been distraught. it means it was useless to have appointed a special prosecutor. we cannot allow the president to up do the results of the investigation. he's pardoning the corrupt congressmen. remember the first pardon was sheriff joe arpaio who had violated the law. >> jill, what are the consequences here? as yo

steve stockman of texas convicted on charges of fraud and money laundering. duncan hunter of california who pleaded guilty to misusing campaign funds. and chris collins of up state new york, the first trump supporter in congress who pleaded to lying to the fbi and conspiring to commit securities fraud. he was the one who as a guest at the annual congressional picnic summer of 2017 was caught on camera phoning insider stock tips to his son from the south lawn of the white house according to the feds. also on this initial pardon list four military contractors who worked for blackwater and were all convicted of killing 14 unarmed iraqi civilians in baghdad in '07. the dead included two children. just minutes after those pardons were announced trump then posted a video in which he seemed to threaten to veto the massive $900 billion covid relief bill that congress just passed 24 hours ago. >> throughout the summer democrats cruelly blocked covid relief legislation in an effort to advance their extreme left wing agenda and influence the election. the bill they are

duncan hunter who pled guilty to stealing campaign money to spend on personal luxuries and steve stockman convicted of fraud and money laundering and pardoned these four, four private military contractors convicted of killing 17 iraqi civilians including two children. with 28 days to go, how many more pardons are coming? that's the big question. will he follow through on reports of preemptively pardons his family, rudy giuliani and pardon himself. what happens if he does try to pardon himself? >> joining me is nick and jason johnson. nick, your big picture take aways from these pardons, what do they tell you? >> they tell me we have a president who is unleashed, who is basically abusing the pardon power. the pardon power is really a safety valve in our criminal justice system that allows the president to grant pardons to individuals who have committed crimes but yet, have shown through their good deeds or through their past behavior that they've reformed themselves, that they've basically really are in a position where they deserve not to be tagged with the moniker of a convicted felon. i

and he commuted the sentence of steve stockman of texas convicted of misusing charitable contributions. >> what about these blackwater pardons, pete? what more can you tell us about that? four former security contractors with blackwater after being convicted for their roles in the deadly shooting of unarmed civilians in iraq. >> right. they were convicted 60s years ago. this was a shooting in bagdad in 2007 that killed 17 people including a number of iraqi civilians it began when they started firing at a crowded intersect n intersection. they claim they were firing in self-defen self-defense. there was disputed evidence about that. the white house statement said the lead ari kentucky investigator may have had ties to insurgent groups and that additional evidence should have been presented at the trial of one of the guards. by the way, the white house statement on the pardons noted who was pushing for the pardons in all the cases. their case had been champions by nine republican congressmen and, of course, erik prince, the founder of blackwater, was a trump supporter and is the younger

he pardoned steve stockman, duncan hunter and chris collins.u've got blackwater guards who murdered people in iraq in 2007, their boss at the time was erik prince who is the bore of betsy devos, his education 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 manaf

three republican former congressmen were also on last night's pardon list: steve stockman of texawasving his sentence for money laundering and fraud;of chris collins new york was serving his sentence related an insider trading case; and duncan hunter of california was close to starting his jail sentence for misusing campaign funds. colls and hunter were also among mr. trump's earliest supporters in congress. all three received pardons. cording to dang kolbecome organize, a professor at capital university in ohio who studies executive clemency. >> a very heavily disproportioned number of the parties that he-- pardons that he has granted has been to those to whom he has a connection orol is behden or who have lied protect him. >> some of the president's previous bards and come taitions went to other allies like confident roger stone and hiser foational security advisorn. michael flyn both of whom were swept up in the the announcement of papadopoulos's pardon last night justified it by saying it was to "help correct the wrong that mueller's team inflicted on so ma people." wirmally, the

jessica, the three former republican members of congress, duncan hunter, chris collins and steve stockman, serving a 10 year term for fraud and money laundering, this has prompted journalist critics soy what president trump did in the case of these ex-politicians undermines the rule of law. >> it absolutely does undermine the rule of law. even if we take them as individuals and separate george papadopoulos from paul manafort which we can agree should be done, the president is making it clear that laws don't matter. the case of charlie kushner, obviously broke the law. chris christie, no democrat, no liberal-leaning fellow, said it was one of the more egregious cases that he's seen. we're not talking about the fact that on top of that he blackmailed his brother-in-law by sending a woman seduce him, videotaped it and sent it to his sister. this is the level that is going on with some of these people. whatever you want to say about the mueller report which by the way the first book of it did find that the russians were trying to interfere and their interference was welcomed by people in the

collins, duncan hunter both of whom were among the first two to endorse president trump and steve stockman. did any of these partens surprise you and what did they tell you about the president's thinking going forward? >> sadly, lindsey, they didn't really surprise me. nothing really surprises me very much any more. the president's thinking going forward to put it charitably is to take care of himself and his friends and his family and his political allies. that's what this president does. that's what his instincts are. and we've seen it over and over again. look, other presidents have issued what i think are impro r improper, albeit constitutional pardons. other presidents have taken care of family and other presidents have taken care of allies. but no where nearly as often, not at the magnitude of what the current president is doing. and so to josh's point, watch this space because i expect a lot more of this type of behavior from this president. taking care of friends and political allies on his way out the door. >> but, chuck, what about himself. the debate is still out there on whethe

steve stockman of texas convicted on charges of fraud and money laundering.california who pleaded guilty to misusing campaign funds. and chris collins of up state new york, the first trump supporter in congress who pleaded to lying to the fbi and conspiring to commit securities fraud. he was the one who as a guest at the annual congressional picnic summer of 2017 was caught on camera phoning insider stock tips to his son from the south lawn of the white house according to

securities fraud and lying to law officials and steve stockman of texas, who was sentenced to ten years in federal prison for 23 felonies including fraud. trump had pardoned or commuted the sentence of key allies of michael flynn and georger stone and this is not expected to be the last round of pardons before leaving office. paul, let me start with you, there's two thing thes i think of here, one the public corruption aspect of this, i mean, the, there are a number of politicians now of his own party that he has pardoned including these three republican members of congress. that is, what message does it send? what do you think of that as the use of the pardon power? >> this is a cynnacle move by trump, he is laying the groundwork for his -- to come, his pardoning of his family members and maybe rudy giuliani. this is strategic, there's those that will be pardoned that deserve clemency, especially those that receive draconian sentences for drug crimes and turned their lives along and there's people like this who protected or tried to protect president trump in the russian investigation.

we think there are three former members of congress on this list, caollins, hunter and stockman.nk of that? >> i don't think i'm shocked. i think it's wrong but i'm not shocked about it. i know some of those individuals like duncan and like chris. i know what they did. and for them to be pardoned for some of those things, you know, i'm sure they're happy tonight. but for our justice system, i think we should be a little bit shocked. when i look at george papadopoulos. you know, i read the mueller report. when i look that this guy was hired off linkedin with only a three or four day vetting period, you've got somebody that was not there with any type of bona fides to do the job and he was there for the grip. you talked about what was going on and john i was listening to you very closely. i think what he's surrounding himself with is they're making a lot of money, there's a grift going on here. that's what worries me. when you see the pardons, when you see the grift that's going on and the behavior that's happening, all this comes together and when you talk about conspiracy theorie

duncan hunter, chris collins and steve stockman, all convicted of separate financial crimes. >> trying to burn the house of justice down on his way out the door. >> reporter: the president also pardoned four former security guards with the infamous security firm blackwater. they were convicted in connection with the deaths of iraqi civilians in 207. all of these pardons are already fueling more criticism that the president is abusing his power, by one count, 88% of the people the president has given a pardon to have a personal or political connection to him. jamie? >> interesting. chip, thank you. >>> the president's remarks did not mention the recent alarming spike in coronavirus cases. yesterday dr. anthony fauci became the latest high-ranking official vaccinated in public and encouraged others to get the vaccine. u.s. officials reported more than 3,400 deaths yesterday, second highest one-day toll since the pandemic began here. we have a report on the fear that christmas celebrations will make the virus spread even faster. >> if you have travel plans right now, cancel those plans. >

under david stockman back in the reagan administration. i hired bill, i hired the institutional memory of this place dating all the way back to the 98th congress. he has an encyclopedic memory of budget accounts, past appropriations battles, senate procedures, and, yes, also the history of american music. you can imagine some of those conversations that we have had through some of the battles we have had up here. his colleagues respect and admire him, and more than one generation of staffers have sought his advice, guidance, and mentorship. we have all been involved in dropping a bill right over there on the house floor. but very few of us have dropped a bill the way that bill has. kç the legendary bud shuster, bill came running down to the floor with a 1,700-page infrastructure bill to get it ñw voted on. and he literally dropped the bill on the floor. it took some time to put it back together. of course with bill's attention to detail he made sure every page was back in the right place. but he never once dropped a bill for me. bill is a

congress also received a pardon, duncan hunter of california, chris collins of new york, and steven stockmanist, four security guards from black water, the private military company founded by eric prince that received full pardons for their role in killing more than a dozen iraqi civilians, including two children. nicholas slayton has been serving life in prison for triggering the massacre that ended up with machine guns and grenade launchers used on unarmed ara unarmed iraqis, all receiving pardons. let's bring in msnbc law analyst ben wittis, can he pardon himself? >> that's one of the great unanswered questions of american constitutional law, and the reason it doesn't have a known answer is that no president has ever had the audacity to try it. the text of the constitution doesn't say he can't. but the traditional position of the justice department is that he can't, and we have been blessed so far with 44 presidents who haven't forced us to answer that question, and we have 28 more days to find out whether donald trump will break that particular tradition. >> ben, as you look at this list

. >> we will turn to some headlines in this hour, young campaign staffer for senator kelly (stockmanwas killed in a car crash in south georgia. love the remembering a smart, bright, loving, loyal and outstanding young man. brian kemp mourning the loss, the kemp son and brother we never had. a dog is being hailed a hero for helping police tracked on its missing. they searched for fred rapp for hours in the woods after he was reported in new jersey to be missing. not until the next morning to enough to be sergeant noticed a dog wandering along the trail. the officer followed peopley footsteps and felt him after he got lost after crashing to his car. is taken to hospital where he is now recovering. you can now live like kevin mcallister in the home alone movie at a dallas air b&b but remember to watch your step. >> i'm appeared, you morons, come and get me. >> the rental features court tires gathered around the current paint cans hanging from the ceiling just like the movie. it is available through the end of january. those are your headlines and that is a good holiday movie. i always f