Transcripts For CNNW CNN Tonight With Don Lemon 20201224

Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com breaking news, President Trump announcing another slew of pardons, 26 just tonight alone. It includes big names like his former Campaign Manager Paul Manafort, longtime trump ally roger stone, and charles kushner, the father of trumps soninlaw Jared Kushner. Republican senator ben sasse summing up trumps 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 president ial historian, timothy neff tally. Im 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 maralago . Of course. Look, this is what is going to define the end of Donald Trumps 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, hes trying to deny it, spitting out all these crazy, delusional, dishonest conspiracy theories about what happened. Its been shot down in court. Now hes trying to get republican members of congress who are scared of him to do his bidding and try to get them to challenge the certification of electoral votes on january 6th in congress. Thats not going to go anywhere, but hes going to keep lashing out and trying to push that. That is related to whats happening on the covid relief bill and the omnibus, the threat of the veto. That reflects the president lashing out at Mitch Mcconnell, who sheparded that deal, Mitch Mcconnell having acknowledged a few days ago that joe biden is the president elect and were going to move on to deal with the new administration. Thats on one track. The other track, which is not delusional, is the president laser focused on using the pow thaer he has, in particular the pardon power, to shield himself Going Forward. So, he has pardoned multiple figures forget the friends and family and allies. Thats one category. But the big category is people related to the russia investigation. Hes been trying over the last several years to absolve himself politically and legally, and hes now pardoning people who participated in his activities with respect to russia who are lied about it, who have withheld cooperation from prosecutors, withheld information that could be damaging to donald trump. Hes pardoning them and i expect before the end hes going to attempt to pardon himself. Well see if it sticks up in court if he does. So, john, whats the white house saying about all these pardons tonight . Any word from them about it, or is he just gone . No, i mean, the only word that matters in this white house comes from donald trump. Hes the only person who can speak for himself. But the white house is a complete mess, chaos. Most people are normal people in the white house are going on looking for other jobs. There are some people there who are enabling the president in his fantasies. But this is a oneman show. Its donald trump and its going to be on stage whether hes at the white house or whether hes down in maralago. Well, ken, set the stage for us here because you know the Mueller Report noted that trump dangled the idea of pardons for people like, coincidentally for people like roger stone, Paul Manafort and he has not just dangled them. Hes pardoned them. Anything illegal about connecting those two dots . Well, laura, attorney general bill barr, whose last day was yesterday, when asked by vermont senator Patrick Leahy as his confirmation hearings whether a promise for silence in exchange for a pardon would be a crime, bill barr answered that question, yes. But like all things trump, the question isnt so much if its illegal. Its what can he get away with . And in this moment, we have a United States congress who essentially, knowing that the Mueller Report mentioned pardons 64 times, didnt do anything about that and then also decided not to even really hold an impeachment trial, saying that the whole thing can be resolved in the election and then we have over 100 republicans in the house of representatives essentially signing on to a brief to take away lawful votes in four states. This is really damaging to the United States constitution because its setting up a precedent, particularly if the president goes forward and selfpardons, whereby theres essentially no accountability for committing federal crimes potentially in the oval office. President s Going Forward, its a green light for fullon crimes in the oval office because theres really no accountability in the office because you cant prosecute a sitting president. The Congress Wont impeach. And no Accountability Office out of office potentially because of these pardons. You make a fascinating point about the timing that people should be aware of, kim. This idea that these pardons came down today. Bill barrs last day was yesterday. Is there some connection, people should be wondering about why yesterday was the last day. None of these pardons all of a sudden sprung up. It wasnt as if Paul Manafort or roger stone or kushner were convicted this morning. This was probably in the makings. Tim, i want to go to you. Think about what kims point is here about the green light. I know you are a historian. You are a marvelous one at that. Im thinking about the green lights Going Forward. But im also thinking from Historical Context here. I want to hear from you. Trump has now pardoned at least five people charged in connection to the russia probe. But no matter how many pardons he issues, he will leave office as an impeached president , right . Well, there will always be an impeached president. There were two restraints on donald trump. One was impeachment, and he got acquitted. The second was his reelection or his attempt at being reelected. He was not reelected. There were two constraints. Theyve both gone away. Hes a little less than a month in order to issue a series of bad pardons. But whats at stake here is not simply trumps legacy. Whats at stake here is Going Forward whether the Republican Party will continue to enable crimes committed in the oval office. I want to be very frank about this. It wasnt simply the Mueller Investigation that highlighted the what manafort and stone did. The senate, majority Republican Senate Intelligence Committee also made clear that manafort and stones unwillingness to share information vital to u. S. Counterintelligence undermined our ability not only to learn about what happened regarding russian hacking in 2016 but to protect ourselves in the future. We have just had another russian hack. U its a Major National security challenge. Our president has just pardoned people who could help us protect ourselves from russia and sent a signal to moscow that their secrets are his secrets. And the idea here that that cyber attack is not yes. Ruling the day, knowing how important it is. And its because of all the chaos thats been happening. Its not for lack of concern or interest on the part of the media. This is one of many things that have happened. And i think to myself, kim, about that notion, but i also think to myself about the idea that here we are seeing a pardon after a parent of somebody who was the soninlaw of President Trump, but who could be next . I mean, are there preemptive pardons for trumps own children, perhaps, his adult children, perhaps even preemptively his own soninlaw Jared Kushner or even himself . Well, there are actually a few limits on the pardon power. For example, he could not pardon anyone for future crimes. So, the minute he leaves office, anything in the future couldnt be touched. But sure, you know, theres a little bit of ambiguity as to whether the pardon actually functions as an admission of guilt. I think its really different from actually as you know also as a former prosecutor taking a guilty plea before a court. That being said, i do think the kushners and ivanka would have to think twice about accepting Something Like that in terms of their own political futures. But for donald trump himself, this is a man who came into office and is beloved by his supporters for his willingness to smash norms. And he is he is on his way out the door, taking a baseball bat to every piece of glass that remains in the white house and in the sanctity of the oval office. I would not be surprised to see a selfpardon. The problem there is theres no way to get the constitutionality of that before a court unless the Biden Administration were to prosecute him and he decides after the fact to basically raise it as a defense to a prosecution. I dont see a Biden Administration using its Political Capital to do that. So, again, this is what my concern is as a constitutional scholar, he could be creating a precedent for essentially bullet proofing crimes in the white house. And thats no longer government by we the people, its government by we the politicians, we the powerful. And thats not the premise on which this country was founded, whether republican or democrat in 2020. Absolutely. Its not. I mean, youre describing sounds like the person who is a monarch and autocrat, a dictator and said we dont have this system there for a reason. There was a rejection of that. Tim, you know this. In your new piece, you write about frankly how vulnerable this country is, not only to what kims talking about, but to bad pardons. Why has this tool of pardoning, how is it possible it has been left unchecked . Well, after bill clinton pardoned mark rich, whose exwife had given a lot of money to his foundation, there was a lot of talk in congress ant amending the constitutions to restrict 11th hour pardons. In fact, barney frank, a democrat, came up with an idea for a constitutional amendment. The problem is its very hard to amend our constitution. Its a good thing normally, but generally speaking there are a number of things that ought to be amended, and its very hard to do so. Amending the constitution would require, of course, threequarters of the states and twothirds majorities in both houses of congress. Thats what it would take. This issue of the problem of 11th hour pardons when president s are on their way out the door, when they no longer have to worry about public sanction, thats actually been talked about for a number of years. The problem is weve got a constitution that opens up the possibility for bad pardons because our framers concluded in the end that the fear of impeachment and the fact that americans are unlikely to elect corrupt president s would enough of a check on the pardoning power. And sadly that turned out not to be correct. Indeed. And of course well keep looking at this issue. It goes from the hypothetical esoteric discussions and law School Classrooms to now here we are in 2020. John, kim, tim, thank you so much for your time tonight. I appreciate all of you so much. Thank you. Thank you. You know, President Trump is vetoing a massive deference spending bill today. Hes putting pay raises for troops and equipment and upgrades and Cyber Security ding, ding, ding, Cyber Security upgrades and a whole lot more on the line. So, what happened to the president who said this . For our military, i just want to let you know, theres never been a president that has your back like i do. President trump vetoing the National Defense authorization act, which passed congress with wide bipartisan support. Its a 740 billion defense package that includes pay raises for troops, equipment monetization, and provisions for increased Cyber Security. A version of the bill has become law every single year for 59 years. Here to discuss, cnn military analyst general wesley clark, former nato supreme allied commander, the perfect person to speak to this issue. Welcome general clarke because, you know, earlier in the day before this pardon spree, the president vetoed the defense bill. So, can you please describe to us what is this message to the men and the women in the military . What are they hearing from this action right now . Well, on the one hand they might hear it as business as usual. They know theres a lot of conflict and strife in washington. On the other hand, its not business as usual. This was a very solid bipartisan defense bill. It passed the senate with overwhelming majority, a vetoproof majority. It had a pay raise in it for the military. It said that we need to really carefully consider and think again before we pull troops out of europe. It had important measures for military research and development. And it gave us the foundation to continue to be able to prepare ourselves against both russia and china. So, it was a very well thought out and long anticipated defense bill. President trump vetoed it. For the people in the know, this was a shock. Shocking and the fact that trump singled out section 230 of the Communications Act in his veto, calling it a very dangerous National Security risk. Its really about, frankly, his social media grievances. So, what do people in the military think about the commander in chief holding up funding, holding up pay raises, equipment modernization, cyber attack beefing up the security because hes got beef with twitter . Well, most of the the people in the military are going to be loyal to the United States constitution. So, when President Trump gives a lawful order, theyre going to obey it. Theyre not going to be talking publicly outside the chain of command or within the chain of command about the president of the United States. But i think its clear that in their hearts, especially the people who are in the upper echelons of leadership, they know this president for what he is. Theyre not supporters. Theyre not surprised. They know hes cynical. They know hes not patriotic. They know hes not a supporter. And so i think theyre looking forward to the next administration coming in. And theyre worried about whats happening in the white house over the next 30 days. Theres a lot of whats happening as well about through looking back and symbolic gestures as well and about the idea of acknowledging that america has progressed in many ways and changed in still others and has more work to be done. But the president is also against the bills requirement to change the names of military insulations that are named after confederate soldiers and slave owners. Now, its 2020 and the president is standing up for the confederacy in a way that many cant wrap their minds around. Does that make any sense to you . Doesnt make sense to the people in the military, i can tell you that. Most of the military people when they come in and go to fort bragg, fort benning or fort hood, they hadnt really thought about the names and most of them didnt know who general hood was or who Braxton Bragg was. After it became popular in the newspapers to talk about it and read about it, i think its common sense youre asking why are these forts named after confederate generals. Not only were they confederate generals, losing confederate generals, they were traitors to the United States of america. So, it raises some profound questions. So, the secretary of defense, mark esper, the chairman of the joints chiefs of staff, the Senior Leaders all agreed, lets put the past aside. Lets move forward. Lets get names on these forts that all americans can respect and reflect our country. Unfortunately, President Trump doesnt want to do that. Hes appealing to a certain part of the Republican Party he believes. I think hes mistaken. Meanwhile, the military serves us all. And i want to hear your reaction to President Trumps decision to pardon four American Security guards who were involved in the nowinfamous blackwater massacre. I mean, 17 unarmed iraqi civilians shot to death in 2007 including 9 and 11yearold boys. I mean, this is egregious, is it not . It is. It is egregious, and it should not have happened. And its going to have significant repercussions in iraq. People are already theyre outraged about this. It shows that american justice doesnt really mean what we believe it means. We always take pride. Were the nation of laws. We do whats right. We would never kmcommit a war crime, and yet look at this president. This president pardons war criminals. So profound and it makes you shudder to think about the repercussions of this abroad. Thank you. Thank you for your time and your service, as always. You know, tonights pardons are coming on the back of the president vetoing a defense bill, upending a covid relief package his own white house had a hand in, and calling for a special counsel to investigate his false election claims. 28 more days of the Trump Presidency will come next. Fighting cancer doesnt start here. Not in tubes or bags. Not in scans or scribbles. Fighting cancer doesnt even start in a lab. The truth is, fighting cancer starts with you. Covid has devastated our funding for lifesaving research. Help us help patients. Donate today. Our breaking news, President Trump issuing 26 pardons tonight. Some of the big names getting this early christmas gift. Trumps former Campaign Manager, Paul Manafort, longtime trump ally, roger stone, and charles kushner, the father of the president s soninlaw, Jared Kushner. Joining me now, former republican congressman charlie dent and ron brownstein, Senior Editor at the atlantic. What a night, gentlemen, what a night to behold, and i suspect not the last of a series of pardons. Ron, first on these pardons, you are say we didnt end up here in one day, that theres a reason we ended up here. Tell me what is that reason. Look, you dont get here in a day, laura and you dont get here on your own. The only way that President Trump got to the point of undertaking actions that were so egregious and so flagrantly violate the rule of law and the traditions of the american presidency is that step by step, week by week, month by month, year by year, republicans in congress have enabled and abetted him. Not one republican in both pg chambers of congress thought it was worthy of sanction when he openly extorted the government of ukraine. There was no objection when he tried to weaponize the Postal Service. There is no objection as he tried to tilt the census, interviewing in criminal cases. They have gone step by step with him and now we are in this place where it is simply embarrassing. He is turning the u. S. Into a parody of a dictatorship and all those republicans, marco rubio and Mitch Mcconnell and lindsey graham, they look like the hangers on in the last days of an addaled and erratic dictator who have traded their dignity for momentary selfadvantage. You must have reaction to what charlies saying. Do republicans own this the way hes talking about. Ron is correct. There has been far too much enabling of a man who has been unfit for office for a very long time. Sadly many of these actions that weve witnessed over the last couple of days are unsurprising, shocking, disturbing, alarming, violating the rule of law, yes. But we are where we are. And im sad were going to have to do this, this chaos until hes gone. And im so saddened that more in my party have not stood up much earlier in bigger numbers and pushed back on so many of these outrages over the last few years. Explain why though. I mean, why do you think it is they havent though . Thats always a question. I dont mean it rhetorically. I really am wondering, why do you think they havent . Well, i think its simply out of fear, fear of primaries, fear of losing their power, being defeated. I think its really just about that, maintaining power, having access to power. I dont think theres anything more than that. Many of these, my former colleagues, they are every bit as alarmed and outraged by his behavior and terrified by it. And frankly many are going to be glad when hes gone. I wish more had spoken up in bigger numbers. Some have stood up at various times but not enough have and i think thats been the problem. If more people speak up in congress, they can help move the base. Ive always said that. Its about pressure. Move the base. By the way, many people you named arent even staying in office so perhaps theres some rise or reason to the idea of not speaking up even though i dont condone it. Its been seven weeks now, seven weeks since the president lost the 2020 election. And suddenly it seems like hes coming out of some sort of a stupor all of a sudden. Why do you think hes deciding to now to now throw his weight around . Well, the clock is ticking and i think he sees his options for, you know, trying to find some way to overturn the election dwindling. And he wants to use the remaining weeks of his presidency to sow as much chaos as he can. I have a slightly different view. I think that it isnt only that they fear him. I think that theres more to it. I think, one, that they are dependent on the same voters as he is. The entire party now has reoriented in a way that is losing ground in urban centers and inner suburbs and dependent on massive turnout of the trump base. You see that in georgia with perdue and loeffler endorsing a lawsuit to disenfranchise their own voters because they thought it would help keeping in the good graces of President Trump. And i also think a shocking, really, and discouraging number of republicans basically are willing to go along with these violations of the rule of law if they think it will allow them to keep power. I mean, the question is how many republicans would have stood up if President Trumps efforts to subvert the election were showing more signs of success. Mitch mcconnell and mccarthy said wait a minute, this is too much. Im not going to overturn democracy just to keep four more years. I dont think theres a lot of evidence from over the last four years that the answer is yes. Were talking about a deeper spread in the party that is going to be something were going to be living with for a few years now. What you both describe makes the case that president elect biden has his work cut out for him if thats the case, if the idea the college having all these votes already issued still isnt enough, this hopefully will not be sis thee yan presidency. Hes signaling he may not sign the covid relief bill. He issued waves of controversial pardons. He vetoed the defense spending bill. And now hes calling for a special counsel to investigate his baseless voter fraud allegations. I mean, just think what the next 28 days are going to look like. Well, yeah, laura, hes been wrong on all counts. I mean, as a guy who was a former member of the appropriations committee, i am not surprised he has stood up and said he is going to veto the covid omnibus spending bill, which hes had a hand in. Hes done this before. Its sad. It speaks to his unfitness, erratic and chaotic behavior and not operating in good faith. Its horrible. To think theyre talking about special counsel now. It just never ends. Vetoing the National Defense authorization act because hes concerned he doesnt like the idea we might change the bases name or confederate traitors or hes not happy about the size of the stimulus checks, which his people agreed to at 600. Now he wants 2,000. I mean, this man, hes on a wrecking ball mission right now. Hes on a rampage and he doesnt seem to be concerned whatsoever about the needs of the American People or our men and women in uniform, frankly. This is what were dealing with. And if youre not going to if youre not ochded by this behavior now, youll never be offended. Well, one gop official i hear you. Sorry to cut you off. Excuse me. One gop official is venting now about trumps veto threat on the covid relief bill, talking about what representative was speaking about. And the bill says he has nothing to do with the size of the checks to americans or spending the veto has nothing to do with that. The official says its all about Mitch Mcconnell and john thune acknowledging the inevitable. You think thats really the motivation here . Is he right . I think it probably is a lot of the motivation. And i think in that way the erratic 11 59 intervention of the president throwing thunder bolts at the republicans is a good preview of what they have to look forward to in the next few years as they try to set their course in the biden presidency with trump disparaging them from the sidelines. And they really have put themselves in this position where they ensured theyll be under his thumb by so many of them failing to stand up to these baseless claims of voter fraud, theyre allowing him to walk away with threequarters of the Republican Base convinced he didnt lose, it was stolen from him. And it obviously gives him a lot more leverage in the party. They have made this bed, laura. They have made this bed, four years of diligently abetting, enabling and looking away from all the ways he has reduced the rule of law, demeaned the image of american democracy in the wool and now they are getting a final blast of what the cost is on that. But its not the final bill. I think theyre going to be paying it for years to come. Well, you know, unfortunately the American People write those checks. So, that bill will be against all of us and well have to pay in the end. Gentlemen, thank you for tonight and happy holidays. Happy holidays to you. Thanks, laura. You know, relief cant come soon enough for millions of americans. Hospitalization hitting record highs for a third day in a row. Millions unemployed worried about food and housing. And my next guest is just one of them. Shes a mother of seven facing eviction. Stay with us. It all as you possibly can, and the din and hum of Technology Fall away. Thats pure gold. [narrator] as many of the nations most trusted hospitals, we all know this. The science has not changed. Masks slow the spread of covid19. Every one of our Healthcare Professionals is asking you to do one very simple thing. Lets keep it up. Lets mask up. solemn orchestral music ends tonight coronavirus hospitalizations hitting record numbers for the third day in a row. The cdc is now projecting as many as 93,000 more deaths in just the next three weeks alone. As americans hit the road, traveling for the holidays, by the way, and the tsa is reporting close to 1 Million People travel through airports just yesterday alone. And thats got a lot of experts and everyday people worried. Joining me now cnn medical analy analy analyst dr. Jonathan reiner. You have sounded the alarm. Dr. Fauci has sounded the alarm. Doctors and experts across the country are warning about this making the pandemic worse. A Million People alone yesterday . What do you have to say to people who are traveling right now . Dont travel. Stay home. Look, why is this happening . Its happening because we have no leadership in this country. You know, large parts of the uk are locked down because the british leadership understand whats going on in that country. But what do we have here . Well, you faknow, the mad king s just gone down to florida and the Vice President of the United States who is the head of the Pandemic Task force is going skiing in colorado, is going skiing. Our hospitals are flooded with patients. Our frontline workers are barely keeping their heads above water. And our pandemic chief is going skiing in colorado. I love skiing. I would love to be skiing now. Im not skiing because were in a pandemic. We need leadership in this country. People need to stay home. Its the only way to stop this pandemic from killing, as you said, laura, about 90,000 more people in the next few weeks. Stay home, mask up and hunker down. Vaccines are on the way. We vaccinated a Million People last week. Its a great start. But we cant pretend like nothings happening but thats what our leadership has had us do. We dont have the leadership. A lot of people in this country may not be skiing, but theyre going downhill. And the wind they feel in their hair is because theyre standing outside in food lines trying to get some semblance of normalcy of food or in their cabinets and let alone people are trying to get this vaccine. And you talk about leadership, dr. Reiner, here and some states are disregarding the guidance on who should get vaccines first. You can see Health Care Workers and nursing home residents are clearly in the first Group Recommended to get the vaccine. But leadership in, say, the state of florida, where the president is today, Florida Governor ron desantis doesnt agree with that. Just listen, dr. Reiner, to what he said today . Theyve now said, well, you should do essential workers and 75 and up at the same time. The problem is people that are 73, 74 would be in the back of the line for a young 21yearold worker whos considered, quote, essential. That doesnt, i think, makes sense. Doesnt make sense. I mean, what impact could it have if more states start to follow suit here and decide their own priorities for who to vaccinate . Is there a consequence to this . Yes, this is what happens when the cdc is pushed to the side and when the federal government outsources all this to the states. You get basically, you know, what ive called darwinian federalism, survival of the fittest. And what the governor of florida doesnt understand is that if you dont vaccinate the Health Care Workers first and they get sick, you have no one to take care of the people who are filling our hospitals. If you dont vaccinate the people who deliver the food or who process the meat or protect, you know, the streets or put out the fires, you have no people to do that when they get sick. So, theres a rationale for doing this, and unfortunately the governor of florida doesnt quite understand it. I mean, theres that old saying when we can go on a plane again, the idea of put on your mask before securing others, and the idea of just saying ill do it without guidance with no Real Foundation for saying so other than preference is just beif you had lg to many people. And the uks Health Secretary says they have now found a second covid variant there. He says this ones even more concerning than the other one. So, do you think this is just the tip of the iceberg on these variants . How concerned should we really be about not only these variants, but whether its here in the u. S. And whether the vaccines that are out now and more than forthcoming, will they be able to counteract them in some way . Well, ill answer the last part of the question first. It looks like the vaccines will be effective against these current variants. But the more important longer term issue is making sure the United States has the kind of genomic Surveillance Systems that were really lacking now. And again, this is the kind of information that the biden team needs to understand as they come in. This is where the transition and the lack of cooperation from the Current Administration is so important. The incoming cdc and the incoming Pandemic Team needs to understand what needs to be fixed first and what needs to be repaired in the first months of the administration. And they dont have that kind of data. Im not so, you know, worried about each individual variant. Weve had a lot of variants and sort of different strains since the beginning of this pandemic. You know, these particular variants do appear to be significantly more transmissible, and that is concerning. But it does look like our current vaccines will neutralize them. But we need to be prepared Going Forward. Dr. Reiner, thank you for all that you do, for the clarity, for the information, for the service. I appreciate it. My pleasure, thank you laura. 900 billion covid relief bill is in jeopardy tonight as we speak. Lawmakers are concerned that President Trump could just torpedo the deal that they have agreed on. This is after months of pain staking negotiations. And that stimulus is desperately needed by many americans, people like ms. Walker, a single mother of 7 whos facing eviction of her two bedroom apartment. She was planning on moving to a bigger home earlier this year, but then the pandemic hit and she lost her job as a counselor at a rehab center in march. Now she is struggling to buy the basic necessities her family needs. She joins me now. Thank you for joining the show today and for sharing your personal journey and the experience of your family. You know, its really unbelievable to think about what you are going through, what so many are going through. Youre facing eviction. Youre even even buying soap is a struggle. Can you tell us how you and your kids are getting through all of this. People need to hear from you. First, id like to say thank you for having me, and its been a very rough year for all of us. How we get through it is not something i can say is for everyone. But we are very strong in spirit. Were a family that loves heart and prayer is everything. Thats all i can say as far as thats concerned. But as far as my logic, i save everything. So, its a good thing that i might have saved a soap from a trip that i might not have used. If i didnt find it, i wouldnt have soap. So, i have to choose between buying toilet paper, if its available, and paying my bills. I have to shout at tmobile and say, hey, if you turn off my phone, i cant look for a job. If i cant look for a job, whats the point. Same thing with spectrum. Spectrum turned by service off december 10th no, december 11th. I explained to them on the 12th that i would have called the day before because i actually just started working. So, im slowly starting to pick myself out of the hole that im in now, thank god. So, i called them to tell them, you know, a popologize that i didnt make the payment the day before but i just found out my father passed away. And my older children may not be children but theyre still young adults and theyre learning their way. And they were trying to manage it so i wouldnt be burdened. And spectrum refused to help them and turned off my service and made me pay 354. My children didnt get to go to school that day. They didnt get to do any of their assignments, on top of knowing they cant go to their grandfathers funeral. And i had to overdraw my bank account. So, now i have a negative account because of this. And i told spectrum, you know what, im going to out you out because this is ridiculous. Its inhumane. You know what is necessary for everybody to continue on, but you need that check so badly . Really . Theres got to be something when the c. A. R. E. S. Act stops, everything stops. The rent, people, lights are about to get turned off, phones getting turned off, internet getting turned off. Its overwhelming. Im not running from this. Youre not. Youre not running for it. You are not asking for a handout. None of this is your fault. And yet the burden is resting on your shoulders. Im so sorry to hear about your father. We have to make changes and to protect us all and he decided to make a joke about it instead. Its not a joke. Now whos the joke on now . No ones laughing. This is something that is happening all across this country. What youre having to endure, what it puts your family through, i mean the strength of a mother, the strength of you having to be strong for everyone and your children you know are watching you, and i hope that you know what they see is what i see, which is somebody very strong and resilient, and i pray that you will get through this along with so many other people. And im very sorry to hear about the loss of your father. And thank you for taking the time to tell the world what its like for everyday people, every one of us every day trying to make ends meet, and theres no rope. I appreciate it. I had someone else asked me how to make it feel when you couldnt get out. Its thank you. Thank you. Well be right back. kids laughing dog barking sanctuary music its the final days of the wish list sales event sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first months payment. The only thing a disaster cant destroy is hope. Donate now at redcross. Org so, christmas is upon us. And i have some bad news for anyone waiting for packages to be delivered. The u. S. Postal service is overwhelmed by a crush of holiday packages, this year, and is experiencing a significant backlog. Is there a link to the big changes made to the u. S. Postal service, this year . Well, here is cnns christina aleshi. We just dont have enough rooms in the stations. Reporter postal Union President Jonathan Smith says the post office is handling more mail than ever, before. This year, 3 billion parcels will be delivered during the peakholiday season by all major carriers. Thats 800 million more than last year. Its an Impossible Task to keep up. Reporter and impacting christmas mornings around the country. Things i ordered never came on time. I ended up cancelling, or they said they were delivered and they werent. Reporter the backlog also affecting Small Business owners, like alicia, in michigan. She refunded 800 in sales of her wreaths because of postal delays. She is getting messages, like this one, from customers. The wreath is not here, yet. Can you, please, find out where it is . Im not counting on them because i had to shut my shop down because i cant rely on the flowers to get there before christmas. Reporter alicia is not alone. These photos show thousands of packages piling up at a postalprocessing center in philadelphia. A lot of anger directed at postmaster general, louis dejoy, appointed by trump earlier this year. He faced criticism earlier this year for removing mail sorters and post office hours, leading to concerns that election ballots would not arrive on time. He reversed course, before the l election. I think the American People can feel comfortable that the Postal Service will deliver this election. Reporter dejoy was even questioned about christmas during a congressional hearing, this summer. Do you have capacity, now, for christmas and mothers day . Yes, we have capacity for christmas and mothers day. Reporter but some postal workers feel like dejoy made promises, without supporting the monumental challenges theyre facing now. All of the decisions that dejoy made is affecting the way that we are able to do our job. Reporter in a statement, a postalservice spokeswoman told cnn, unlike last year, we are managing through a historic record of holiday volume, this season. Compounded by temporary employee shortages due to the pandemic. Private carriers, like fedex and ups, are also feeling the heat. Both have issued their own warnings about delays. Ups even placing shipping limits on some of its largest retailers, including nike and the gap. A luxury, the United States Postal Service does not have. It does not impose limits, and the agency often has to absorb the packages these private carriers turn down. What kind of stress have the ups and fedex restrictions put on the u. S. Postal service . Were receiving 6 million packages a day, more, than what they would have, otherwise, handled if it was not for those restrictions. Reporter on top of the crush for demand, the impact of the coronavirus. As nearly 19,000 postal workers are in quarantine. Thats more than double the 8,000 workers before thanksgiving. I understand the frustration of the american public. Were doing the best we can. Dont confuse a comma for a period because we will get you your packages. Thank you, christina. And thank you for watching. Our coverage continues. Some hot cocoa . Mom, look are you okay . Head home this holiday with the one you love. Visit your local mercedesbenz dealer today for exceptional lease and financing offers at the mercedesbenz winter event. Think you need to buy expensive skincare products [ ] to see dramatic results . Try olay skin care. 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