President s opposition could now trigger a Government Shutdown sending the economy into a free fall. That means even more uncertainty for American Families going hungry right now and the homeless during the holidays. Yesterday also saw the second most deaths reported in the entire pandemic, and the president s sudden opposition to the relief bill has white house aides surprised and annoyed, were told. He posted this video an hour after a top aid indicated the president would sign the measure. I am asking congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low 600 to 2,000 or 4,000 for a couple. Send me a suitable bill or else the next administration will have to deliver a covid relief package, and maybe that administration will be me. No, it will not be him. He lost the election to joe biden, even though he likes to live in fantasy land. It would be funny if there werent so much at stake here. Stimulus checks, which could be sent next week, extended unemployment benefits, billions of dollars for Small Businesses that are trying to survive and of course billions for vaccines and rental assistance. The president s demand for bigger checks is actually being welcomed by nancy pelosi, but dont expect the relief bill to be renegotiated in the current republicanled senate. The president already lashing out at the gop leadership for refusing to help him overturn the election. The start of the president s pardon spree. President trump granting full pardons to 15 people with five others getting their sentences commuted. Some people who have been pleading their case in conservative media, others a clear parting shot at Robert Muellers investigation. Cnns pamela brown has more now. Reporter President Trump announced 20 pardons including several of his allies and pasta soesh yates and those include George Papadopoulos who pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about his contacts with the russians. He is the fourth person the president granted clemency to in the russian probe. Also on the list, two corrupt gop allies. Chris collins and duncan hunter. Hunter was sentenced to 11 months earlier this year for misuse of more than 200,000 of Campaign Funds will not serve any time behind bars with this pardon. Collins was september to prison in october of this year for insider trading, activity he engaged in while on white house grounds and there are other controversial names on the list such as four blackwater guards, massacre of iraqi victims. And one sentenced to life in prison. And there are also two former Border Patrol agents who were sentenced to prison in 2005 for shooting an undocumented immigrant. They were heralded as heroes at the time and nearly half of the pardons are nonviolent drug offenders. So we have 20 pardons on this latest list from President Trump before christmas and we expect a flurry of more pardons before the president s term ends. Pamela brown, thank you for that. Researchers studying the new coronavirus variant in the u. K. Think it likely arrived in the u. S. In mid november and that many people in the country may already be infected with it. Scientists have searched genetic sequences in the u. S. To see if any matchup with that u. K. Variant. So far they havent found any, likely because the u. S. Surveillance system is not catching them. Meantime, another new record overnight. More than 118,000 people are currently in the hospital. Back in the spring we heard all about flattening the curve. Remember that . The original idea was not to overwhelm hospitals. Now when you look at that curve you get a sense of whats happening at hospitals and how bad the winter will be. Icu space in california diminishing rapidly. Hospitals are desperate for out of health state doctors and nurses to help out. Theyre expecting the worse is still yet to come after christmas and new years. I think right now we can safely take care of our community but as people gather for the christmas holiday, we are going to be in trouble two weeks after that for sure. Yeah. My concern is that were not near the peak and this is going to continue and that while were meeting the need now, were going to get to a point, like many other hospitals in california, where they cannot meet the need. Overnight, more than 3,000 deaths were reported. Just a staggering number, but keep in mind its the fifth time it has happened just this month. Heres president elect joe biden addressing what lies ahead. Heres the simple truth, our darkest days in the badle against covid are ahead of us, not behind us. So we need to prepare ourselves to steele our spines. As frustrating as it is to hear, its going to take patience, persistence and determination to beat this virus. In Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is reauthorizes use of the World Congress center for patient overflow beds as hospitals in that state face capacity issues. Philadelphia is extending its safer at home restrictions until january 15th. Restrictions on indoor dining, gatherings, sports. Theyre being extended statewide in maine and louisiana. In new york city, mayor bill de blasio is saying widespread vaccinations will not be completed until at least june of next year. Coronavirus is now on every continent with antarctic reporting its first days. Frustration boiling over at Truck Drivers at a stand still at border closures in the u. K. Cnn will take you there live after a quick break. Od pressure. 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Anger boiling over for truckers stranded at the border with france for days now. They havent been able to cross because of a new coronavirus strain in the u. K. There could finally be some movement. Were live from dover, england for us. The u. K. Recorded its highest number of cases just yesterday. What is it going to take for this situation at the border to get resolved . Clearly its not sustainable. Reporter laura, there is absolutely chaos, confusion, tension, anger, frustration here at the border this morning. I just want to lay out what weve seen and what we know. What we know is that french and u. K. Authorities have agreed to reopen this border for anyone testing positive for coronavirus. Im going to let you to pan over to take a look at the actual border. Those policemen have been instructing all Truck Drivers that they cannot cross even if they have a negative test. What theyve been doing is instructing them to go get tested somewhere. The only places they can get tested are an airport thats nearby, where over 4,000 truckers we understand are already in line to get tested. Otherwise they have to go on a website in english, nhs website, most of these drivers are from eastern europe, they have to get on that website and try to book a test somehow. Of course, this has played out very badly. Earlier this morning you saw that footage. Earlier we saw essentially dozens rushing to this border, rushing up to Police Officers angrily demanding how are we going to get in and get tested. We have one of the Truck Drivers. Greg, i know ive been speaking to you all day. Youve been here for two days now, right . Tell me what youre seeing happen. Right. So im stuck here with all of these people since monday and we have no i think there is no food, nothing here, no information when can we leave, what need to be done, where we should go, where we be tested. Do you know how youre going to get tested . Has anyone told you how to get a coronavirus test . No. No. No. You have no idea . Some information that there is testing somewhere, i dont know. But there was information that they will start test 4,000 trucks on airport, but there is information from trucks that theres nothing there. Theres nothing. I understand your family is in poland. Are you going to make it home for christmas . Am i going to make it . Are you going to get home . We still have hope that we are going for christmas, but you see dover is closed. Nobody is going to the ferries. Ferries are waiting. Youve called your family and said maybe i wont go home for christmas . They need to be prepared for that. Yes. Seeing this situation. Im very sorry. Im very sorry. I do hope you find a solution soon. Youve heard it there. Theres already about 7,000 trucks in line to get tested. We have heard two trucks have passed over to the french authorities. We just heard that this hour, crossed over to france. Thats just two trucks. There are thousands more, laura. No food since monday. Its just a mess down there. Thank you so much for staying on top of this story for us. To the middle east now. Israel is getting ready for the fourth election in two years. The government there has collapsed again. The power sharing agreement took only seven months to crumble so what comes next . Lets go live to jerusalem and bring in elliott gotgin. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. Obviously the unity government dissolving over the failure to pass a budget and now it seems for Benjamin Netanyahu there may be a difficult road to maintaining power. He may be challenged from his own side of the political spectrum. Thats right. With donald trump set to leave office, what, in january, theres less than a month to try to throw any gifts netanyahus way in a similar vain to what hes done in the past. At the beginning of this year donald trump presented his peace plan which promotes everything that netanyahu had wished for. We wont see anything in that league this time around as hes saying netanyahu has a tough fight on his hands not from the center but from his own right wing side of the political spectrum. Right now hes in full blown campaign mode. He is promoting his overseeing of the Vaccination Campaign against coronavirus. He actually went to the airport to physically oversee delivery of the first batch of pfizer biontechs vaccines almost as if he was receiving a foreign head of state. He went on Live National television when he became the first person in israel to receive the Coronavirus Vaccine as well. Today hes been tweeting charts showing israel is second in the world in terms of the number of people per hundred receiving vaccinations. Hell be focusing on that for sure and less so on the fact that israel is struggling with coronavirus and cases are rising again. Hes come in for criticism for the way he has handled that. As far as the opinion polls go, they suggest netanyahu will be ahead of the Largest Party in the next parliament but again he may struggle to form a governing coalition. We could have another stalemate. Boris . It looks like this march election is going to breed as much uncertainty as the last three have. Elliott gotkin reporting from israel. Thanks much. Still ahead, the incoming president vowing to do what the outgoing president wont, responding to a cyber attack reaching the highest levels of the u. S. Government. Sprintingk in our softest, smoothest fabric. Shes confident, protected, her strength respected. Depend. The only thing stronger than us, is you. New aveeno® restorative skin therapy. With our highest concentration of prebiotic oat intensely moisturizes over time to improve skins resilience. Aveeno® healthy. Its our nature™. Tocenbut they pack a punch. L, with over 20 essential vitamins and minerals they are the most complete mini multivitamin. So you can focus on punching above your weight. No matter how high you set the bar. Try centrum minis. Damom, look get sare 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. Lelets get fast, accuratell range oresults. Ions. Introducing letsgetchecked Health Testing you do at home. Know your health. Know yourself. Order now at letsgetchecked dot com plus have high Blood Pressure. They may not be able to take just anything for pain. Thats why doctors recommend tylenol®. It wont raise Blood Pressure the way that advil® aleve or motrin® sometimes can. For trusted relief, trust tylenol®. That advil® aleve or motrin® sometimes can. The we have to find just nosomething else. It. Good luck what does that mean . We are doomed. [laughter] thats it. I figured it out were going to give togetherness. That sounds dumb. Were going to take all those Family Moments and package them. Hmm. [laughing] that works. President elect joe biden taking aim at President Trump for downplaying a far reaching cyber attack the United States is blaming on russia, one that has penetrated networks of key federal agencies and u. S. Companies. This assault happened on Donald Trumps watch when he wasnt watching. Its still his responsibility as president to defend american interests for the next four weeks. I see no evidence that its under control. I see none. Ive heard of none. Defense department wont even brief us so i know of nothing that suggests its under control. The president has avoided blaming russia at all costs even though secretary of state mike pompeo and the outgoing attorney general bill barr have done so publicly. Just how quickly will president elect biden get his nominees approved. Biden facing competing factions in his party as he lays the groundwork for recovery from covid. Jeff zeleny has more. Reporter president elect biden is announcing one more cabinet secretary. That is education secretary nominee Miguel Cardona later this morning here in wilmington. Mr. Cardona is the head of connecticuts school system. Hes been talking about the need to return students back to the classroom. That certainly is one of the goals of the president elect, but it largely depends on funding from Congress Next year and that was a central theme of a wide ranging News Conference the president elect had on tuesday. He was praising republicans and democrats alike in congress for passing the 900 billion covid relief bill, but he said that is a beginning, the downpayment. I asked him how thats possible to get more when this was so difficult. Do you believe you will have a honeymoon to get things accomplished . I dont think its a honeymoon at all. I think its a nightmare everybody is going through. Its not a honeymoon. Theyre not doing me a favor. You have a Different Team in town. Im not going to villain niize opposition. Reporter he said they sent a divided government to washington to try to get something done. That of course remains to be seen in the new year, but one thing everyone else is waiting for, if President Trump is going to actually sign the covid Economic Relief bill making some rumblings of vetoing it ending this year in a very tumultuous way. Laura and boris. Thanks for the recording. Less than two weeks to the Runoff Election in georgia. It will ultimately give president elect biden a sense of how much easier or more difficult it will be to govern. 1. 6 million votes have been cast. Thats 1 3 of georgias total vote in november. So what are voters and candidates thinking as election day approaches . Cnns ryan nobles is on the ground in atlanta. Reporter yeah, boris and laura, the ad spending here in georgia is off the chart. The four campaigns spending upwards of 480 million on Television Ads and we have a little less than two weeks to go before election day. Were seeing the campaigns seize on the issue of relief for the coronavirus pandemic. This vote that just passed, the republican candidates who voted for it, david perdue and Kelly Loeffler, telling them they were in washington working for them while the Democratic Candidates saying that relief package didnt go far enough. I would have voted for it because relief is eight months too late. 600 is a joke. A joke. I would have voted for the deal and on day one ill work for more direct Economic Relief for people because people have rent thats overdue, credit cards maxed out, prescriptions they cant afford, College Bills coming due and people are hurting through no fault of their own. Republicans trying to turn things back describing them as obstructionists because of their complaints about the prior aid package. Jon ossoff said he would have supported that original package, but he thought there were issues with the way money was disbursed from the c. A. R. E. S. Act. This is all continuing as voting taking place right now. We are now in the second week of early voting. Election day is on january 5th. Boris and laura . Ryan, thank you so much for that. Some states trying to stop the spread of covid19 is expanding home testing free of charge. Im omar jimenez, as the vaccines provide new hope for covid19, testing is going to cross a new threshold. These are done through saliva tests and are chaperoned by a super advisor and they are sent often to labs for results within 24 or 48 hours. Im jean casarez. Charlie baker is announcing f