Have very little to do with the negotiating of that hardfought bipartisan bill, now says he wants bigger stimulus checks, 2,000 per person instead of 600. And some of the president s Biggest Senate allies are backing him this morning. Meanwhile, Top Democrats say they wanted bigger checks all along. We heard from spoker pelosi moments ago saying theyre red i do bring this to the floor possibly tomorrow, christmas eve. Pelosi saying, quote, lets do it. The last minute injection of chaos coming as the president goes on a pardoning spree of friends, associates, even convicted killers. It includes two caught lying in the mueller russia investigation. Also, get out of jail cards to a pair of disgraced former House Republicans who were the first to endorse then candidate trump. Kelly odonnell is at her post at the white house. We eerts also joined by our justice correspondent Pete Williams in washington, d. C. Kelly o. , lets start with you there at 1600 pennsylvania. That video put out by the white house last night coming just after a spokesman was on fox business praising the bill saying the president would likely sign the bill. What are we to make of this lastminute move by President Trump . Well, it is certainly confusing, and it is causing chaos here in washington and even inside the gates here at the white house because the president trying to project himself as fighting for the average citizen, wanting more money, is actually threatening the available aid that congress has worked months to try to capture in this deal. It is really a question mark now of what the next steps will be. The president is threatening to veto legislation that took a long time to resolve, and its paired with a separate, but critical piece of legislation, that funds the entire government for the next year. Congress put those two pieces together under one vote in part to increase the urgency, to make certain it would be completed in time because this Current Congress dissolves january 3rd. So they had limited time to get things done. Thats why this covid relief includes other kinds of government funding. The president railed against this in his video, apparently not aware of that important distinction and wanting more money for covid relief. Certainly democrats wanted more money all along. Hes undercutting republicans as well including his own treasury secretary who had been working on this, representing the president through many steps of the negotiating process. As you pointed out, a white house spokesperson came to the cameras to say all the reasons why this was good for the american people, and the president was expected to sign it. What happens next, were waiting. Officials have not responded to our request for an update on where things stand. Behind the scenes, one presumes there are decisions that republicans on capitol hill need to make. Will they attempt to do anything differently, or will they compel the president to sort of stand down with the hope of overriding a veto . There are lots of twists and turns still to come. What matters for Many Americans is things liken hansed unemployment benefits, the covid checks at whatever amount which could have been just days away, are now up in the air. Kelly odonnell at the white house. Lets turn to our justice correspondent Pete Williams with more on the pardons. The president granting full pardons to 15 people, commuted parts or all of the sentences of five others as we understand it. What more can you tell us . He pardoned two more people indicted by Robert Muellers prosecutors after pardoning roger stone and michael flynn. Alex van der zwaan got a pardon and more notably, george papadopoulos. He was a Minor Campaign adviser. Remember it was his comment to a foreign diplomat saying the russians were offering dirt on Hillary Clinton that eventually reached the ears of the fbi and prompted the bureau to launch its investigation of the Trump Campaign in the first place. The white house statement reflected that say saying the pardon helps correct the wrong that muellers team inflicted on so many. The president also pardoned two former republican congressmen convicted in corruption case, Duncan Hunter of california who admitted misusing Campaign Funds and Chris Collins of new york who pleaded guilty in an Insider Trading case. 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 selfdefen selfdefense. 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 brother of education secretary betsy devos. Pete williams and kelly odonnell, a big thanks to both of you. Lets turn to evan mcmullen, executive director of stand up republican, a former cia ops operator. Also joined by former ambassador michael mcfaul, International Affairs analyst and former u. S. Ambassador to russia. Evan, lets start with you. The pardons of the four security guards, what message does that send . I think it sends a message to all our allies around the world and really individuals around the world that america, at least under trumps presidency is not fully committed to its own values, to the rule of law, to human rights. And that hurts us. It hurts us a great deal. Im sure the ambassador would Say Something similar. I can attest to it, having served abroad as a cia officer, i can tell you the people we engaged with, the people we depended upon overseas to protect americans here at home wanted to see us living up to our values, wanted to see us certainly at a bare minimum respecting basic human rights. And if we did that, if we lived up to our values, they wanted to be a part of our efforts, wanted to help us, wanted to be associated with us. The same applies to countries and other partners overseas, individuals and when we dont live up to our values, it harms us, it harms our influence and power on the global stage. And i think these pardons send that message loud and clear around the world which is unfortunate, but hopefully something will change swiftly with the new presidency, a biden presidency. Ambassador, as pete noticed there, two of the president s pardons involve thogeorge papadopoulos who was on fox business this morning. Here is what he said. Im absolutely ecstatic. First and foremost i would like to express how grateful i am to President Trump for pardoning me and correcting what i think and what i think many people now with the overwhelming evidence out there would believe was a tremendous injustice and something that should have never happened, not only to myself, but 2016 president ial campaign and the country as a whole. Ambassador, you know russia better than just about anybody. What do you think russia is making of this . How are they viewing this . I think what evan said is really important which is to say, when youre serving abroad, as i served as ambassador in russia, interacting with government interlocutors, we claim in the United States of america, were a democracy, were a country ruled by law. We claim the higher ground. These actions lower our ground. These actions make it easy for people like putin and his proxies to play the what aboutism game. This happened to me all the time when i was a u. S. Ambassador. We would try to say what theyre doing is wrong and they would say, well, what about this . As this news broke yesterday, i was in the middle of a debate about the poisoning of russian Opposition Leader alexei navalny. Hes been poisoned. The government, it looks like they have now done it. We should rightfully be calling out that gross violation of his human rights. It makes it a lot harder when our president of the United States allows the violation of human rights of iraqi citizens and provides these par documents. It really makes our diplomatic efforts to say were different as a democracy a lot harder. Evan, theres this new reporting in the washington post, reporting that the fbi has concluded that iran is behind an online hit list targeting top officials, publishing their home addresses, personal information online, who refuted the president s baseless Election Fraud claims, including fbi director chris wray, fired security chief jeff krebs. Here is krebs on morning joe. This is crazy were getting these foreign powers, adversaries taking advantage of the threats and the disinformation thats already spreading here in the u. S. And just amplifies it. Evan, what are the National Security implications here . The big picture, craig, is we simply have foreign governments looking at our country and believing that we are vulnerable and they can interfere in our politics without consequence. Thats just something that absolutely must change. I believe it will with the biden presidency. But President Trump has signage to countries around the world they can interfere with our toll ticks and not see any consequences or go even beyond that. Were seeing these massive russian hacking attacks that put our National Security and our industries at risk and theyre not the only ones, obviously. Theyve been obviously a major player in interference in our politics and in our country for years now, and especially over the last five. You see iran and other countries engaging especially now as well. The bottom line is we have to deter them. We have to send a signal to every country around the world that the consequences for taking this kind of action, hacking, foreign interference, trying to divide americans with disinformation targeted at our own citizens, that these things will carry a heavier price than any imaginable likely gain that these countries may think that they can obtain by taking these actions with these hostilities. Weve got to deter these things. There will always be ways in which were vulnerable. We can try to play a defensive game and block the holes and close the vulnerabilities, et cetera, but deterrence is the critical thing and we just have not seen that with this president who has welcomed foreign interference on his behalf. Well have to leave it there. Evan mcmullin and ambassador mcfaul, happy holidays to both of you. We have a big hour up ahead. Up next, fighting hunger this christmas. From a food bank in california to a d. C. Restaurant Group Delivering meals to Senior Citizens and people in need, how americans are really stepping up this holiday. And the case for economic dignity. The only person to serve as director of the National Economic council under two president s, gene spurlg will join me to talk about covid relief and what needs to happen next. A lotta folks ask me how to get their dishes as clean as possible. I tell them, try cascade Platinum Plus the power of oxi. It breaks down food soils to clean up to 99 of visible and invisible food residue for a hygienic clean you can see and feel. Cascade the power of oxi. Craft is reeling from the impact of this covid pandemic. The state has seen nearly 2 million coronavirus cases and some 23,305 deaths. There were 34,525 new cases reported in just the last 24 hours. The pandemic also having a drastic impact on the economic lives of folks in that state as many californians have lost their jobs. Nbcs Gadi Schwartz is outside an l. A. Regional food bank at the Santa Monica Airport this morning. Gadi, this is a scene thats become all too familiar over this country over the last nine months or so. We understand the food bank where you are doesnt open for another hour. What are they expecting there when it does open . Reporter thats right. Were already seeing a trickle of cars come in. Theyre mobilizing here for whats going to be a relatively large operation here. Theyre expecting to give out about 3,000 meals. Youve got volunteers here, and theyre starting to set up. But weve been here since about 7 00, 6 30, 7 00, and people were already lining up then. This is the line of cars that stretches all the way lieu the parking lot, next to the hangars at the Santa Monica Airport. This is a car that we know has been here since 6 30 in the morning. We talked to them this morning. This is the vee ig giegas famil. Earlier you told us about being out of work. When was the last time that you were working. So in march. What happened . I work in the restaurant. You worked in a restaurant. Reporter here in california and in los angeles in particular, weve seen a lot of restaurants close. Hes been out of work since march. [ speaking Foreign Language ]. What are you guys doing to pay the rent . [ speaking Foreign Language ] recycling. He says they had a little bit of savings and now theyre going around and theyre looking for cans and bottles to recycle. This food youre picking up today he says the food theyre picking up here is for their christmas meal. Gracias. Reporter this is just one of the stories. Youve got a parking lot filled with people that are going to be picking up their meals, picking up meals for christmas. Sorry. And the officials here say that here in california and here in los angeles in particular, one in four people throughout this pandemic has had some sort of food insecurity. So they say there has been an increase in donations, but unfortunately the need outweighs the supply. They were still asking for more donations in this difficult time. As you can see, this parking lot is a perfect example of whats going on. Craig. Its heartbreaking. It is. Its hard not to be affected by it. Thank you, gadi. Lets turn to Gene Sperling here for a moment, former director of the National Economic council under president s obama and clinton. Gene, we just saw another gutwrenching report from another driveup food bank in this country in the United States of america in 2020. Gene, how do we get out of this . You talk a lot about economic dignity. For folks who havent been reading Gene Sperling and following, what does that mean, economic dignity . It means three things. It means, one, do you have the capacity to care for your family and loved ones and be able to be there and care for them in lifes most precious moments. Two, can you do you have an opportunity to pursue meaning and purpose in your worklife, and three, are you able to contribute and work with respect as opposed to domination and humiliation. All of those are essential for any of us to feel that we are being treated with economic dignity. What youre seeing here is a violation of the most basic part of that first pillar, the ability to care for your family, your loved ones. Here we are, the United States. Its just a couple days before christmas, and its reported that one in six families with children are experiencing some form of hunger, more like one in five or one in four as youve reported there for often black or brown families. This is disgraceful. We know that theres about 11. 5 Million People who are up to 6,000 or more behind in their rent. If this bill does not pass, they could face eviction in a pandemic in the cold around christmas. You can see 15, 16 Million People losing basic unemployment insurance. So this is almost the very, very first pillar of this. But, craig, this is also for me our Martin Luther king moment on economic dignity. 1968 at the sanitation workers strike, he said all labor has dignity. He also said something very real to us during the pandemic. He said the sanitation workers contribution is as critical as our physicians. This is a year where weve seen everybodys wellbeing is as critical to our contribution. That means that, if we want to honor that contribution, its not just applause. Its not just calling them heroes. Its a way a 15 minimum wage you can live on. Its paid family leave. Its health care. Its the things people need, again, not just to care for family, but to thrive with purpose and to work with respect. Gene, the report on weekly unemployment claims, it was released today, a day early because of the christmas holiday. 803,000 people filed unemployment claims across this country last week. Thats lower than most economists expected. Still, about 800,000 people newly out of work. That is a figure that is thought to be underreported to a certain extent. That doesnt include the underemployed, not unemployed but underemployed. Is this another sign that more and more families are falling into crisis and poverty as the end of the year draws to a close . What we should remember is that before the pandemic there had never been 700,000 in a single week. Now you have 800,000. We cant get used to it. This is over eight months of recordbreaking week by week unemployment. That