14 Million People may miss very vital aid, the unemployment checks that would have been on their way if not for trumps delay. As you can see, Speaker Pelosi has called a vote on the extended expanded payments. Well let you know what happens. Meerbl, as people were facing reallife problems here, donald trump spent the time that he was delaying this very bill by golfing in florida. Vice president pence on vacation in vale. The backlash to all of that has been bipartisan. I understand he wants to be remembered for advocating for big checks, but the danger is hell be remembered for chaos and misery and erratic behavior. What the president is doing right now is unbelievably cruel. To play thissole switch a roogame which is like i dont get the point, unless its just to create chaos and show power and be upset because he lost the election. Chaos and punishing regular innocent americans for losing the election. That was a republican saying that. Heres a conservative outlet, im sure you know it, the tab loit New York Post, which has been so supportive of trump for so long, says mr. President , stop the insanity, and suggesting after losing the election, he gives it up to save his legacy. Lets get right into it. Im joined by Washington Post reporter libby casey and Rutgers University professor britney cooper. Good to see you both, and happy holidays. Happy holidays. You, too. Libby, here we are. And there is a type of breakthrough, as covered, but at what cost, i ask you . The only person who seems to think this is a victory for President Trump is lindsey graham, who is saying President Trump eked out some concessions, but he didnt. He didnt get anything. All he did was hold this up, and youre right, this jeopardized the payments for 14 million americans who are hurting so much right now in the worst way. Dealing with unemployment, and now the federal government during a holiday week is having to try to scramble and get checks cut. And so President Trump got nothing. All he did was hurt the American People who are depending on aid. What he also does is put republicans in a tough spot right now because as you mentioned, the house voting tonight on this 2,000 aid, increasing the payments from 600 to 2,000. President trump had said that this 600 was not adequate. He called it ridiculously low. Nancy pelosi said great, lets have that vote. Lets bring it to congress. And lets see how Congress Weighs in on this. Now, House Democrats let me bring your point to the house floor, in fact, i think we have live pictures we were just monitoring this moments ago. If we look at the house floor, we have them Going Forward, and you can see the vote totals here, libby. Your view on what it means for folks catching up here between the holidays, what is Speaker Pelosi doing here, what does this vote do as we track it . So, the house has passed it. So they had to get a two third majority here. They have eked that through. So that is now through the house. The question is, what the senate will do. This puts Senate Republicans in a tough spot because they now have to go on the record, either saying they support this 2,000 check or they dont support the 2,000 check. If youre, for example, two republicans running for senate in georgia with a vote in just a handful of days, youre going to have to go on the record about this. It makes me think, ari, with friends like these, who needs enemies, because President Trump is putting republicans in a very tough position. Yeah, and that goes, what libby is saying goes to where the politics meets the reality. The reality is all of the pressure people are facing, what has been such a tough year and holiday time for so many, and again, this breaking news coming here right here at the top of the show. We came on the air, we were monitoring the floor. Now, as libby mentioned, jow the house passing this. It is not like the rest of the bill where its gone through both chambers yet, but the house is a major step. And britney, the politics are donald trump continuing to be willing to blow things up to the point that the New York Post these other republicans as well as Even Stronger voices in private saying, wow, hes really not about anything other than chaos. Look, we know this. This is a person who lacks empathy, and who i think unfortunately takes real pleasure in making folks, you know, live on the edge of, you know, chaos, of worry, of despair. He is upset with the American Public because hes been defeated, and so because of that, he has decided he has no responsibilities of leadership. But let me say im actually more incensed with the gop. Its very rich of them to come out now at this late hour and pretend to be upset with the president that they elected, that they backed, that they allowed to create this kind of chaos for our country over the last four years. And so they have created the monster that is donald trump. And now, what is happening is we as a country have to figure out how to last through these last 23 days. The other thing about him creating chaos is he stays on our minds, which is the thing he wants. Hell take any kind of attention, so negative attention is perfectly fine with this man, because he wants folks he wants to impose maximum chaos, despair, and destruction before he leaves office, and the gop really has to have a soul reckoning about why that kind of leadership or lack of leadership was so attractive to them for the last four years. And they so i dont care that theyre in front of the American Public and theyre in a tough position. They have put the American People in a tough position for the last four years by allowing this man to get in office, refusing to stand up to him, and refusing to take care of the American People throughout this pandemic. And so whatever may befall them befalls them, but what we have got to do is give folk s immediate relief, and i hope that happens. You say the Republican Party is responsible for creating, as you put it, this, quote, monster in donald trump. I have known you enough and worked with you enough to know that you mean this in the literal negative sense of monster, not in the nicki minaj positive sense of monster. Nicki minaj kills her verse on monster. Donald trump has no bars. And all that i hope for him is that he lands behind bars. Nicki has bars. Trump doesnt. Britney came ready to play. I dont know whats in the eggnog, but youre all here, from no bars to behind bars. And the legal point is valid because whatever federal immunity the doj has recognized for president s, that ends on january 20th. Now, we dont know whats going to happen, but that certainly ends. The other point in the New York Post editorial i wanted to read to you is everyone understands and we have more on this later in the program, that the election is over. The results are certified. Theres no way to end or reverse that. But there is a concern that even Going Forward with this scam has other damages. So again, the New York Post is not the first to criticize donald trump, but they say here, mr. President , its time to end this dark charade. Youre cheering for an undemocratic coup. Libby. The New York Post is giving him advice. This is his hometown paper. Its also owned by rupert murdoch. The wall street journal was nudging President Trump along to reality. Now we see the post doing it, will fox news get to that point . Were all still watching because we know how motivated President Trump is by fox news, how thats a bit of an echo chamber, but also all of the people who watch fox news and consume this news. Were seeing polls come out that have a shocking number of republicans in this country believing that something was wrong with this election, that something was rigged. Believing these falsehoods. Now you can see the New York Post saying look, your legacy is secure. Thats what they have said a couple times now to him. Stop what youre doing. And theyre really warning him that listening to someone like michael flynn, who has called to impose martial law, would be tantamount to treason. And you know, those words, youre cheering for an undemocratic coup, coming from the New York Post, has to ring among President Trumps, you know, sort of staunchest supporters there in his inner circle, but are the people playing golf with President Trump today talking about this with him . You know, is this saturating President Trumps mind . And you know, its been interesting to see what the bar is for republicans. When will they admit defeat for the presidency . What will it take to get to that point . So now, the New York Post hathas reached it. President trump is looking to this event next week, this usually pro forma event when congress certified the electoral results as the next linchpin, and hes telling americans on twitter to watch for that to be a big day. And so theres a real question of whether we actually get to that date, if it will make a difference. Yeah, whats striking as well is the election was not close enough for these kind of tricks to get anywhere. Donald trump was also very late to this. Whether thats because his heart wasnt fully in it and its only a scam and a fundraising mechanism or if its because hes just disorganized, a closer election and someone willing to plan this way earlier, you might have had a much bigger constitutional crisis, which i think people need to keep in mind as they make up their own minds about what we want to do coming out of this era. Appreciate both of you kicking off the coverage tonight. Thank you. My pleasure. Thank you both. When we return in just 30 seconds, we get into this year of reckoning on justice, a special report on how our culture and music have gotten us through tough times. Thats in tonights program. Also, trump insiders speaking out, a former aide saying the white house has turned into a total, quote, crazy town. But first, michael cohen, live. Back on the beat on trumps pardons in 30 seconds. [lea] im a retired art teacher. [steve] we met online about 10 years ago. As i got older, my hearing was not so good so i got hearing aids. My vision was not as good as it used to be, got a change in prescription. But the this missing was my memory. I saw a prevagen commercial and i thought, that makes sense. I just didnt have to work so hard to remember things. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Were joined now by Donald Trumps former attorney, michael cohen, author of the book disloyal the host of the podcast, mea culpa. Hes asking for Early Release from his home confinement, making some waves with a new clash with the Justice Department that he has been across purposes with under bill barr over the last several years. Thanks for joining me, michael. Good to see you again. Welcome back, ari. Glad to be back. Lets start with that news in your situation and case. Tell us what youre asking for and whether you think you can get a fair shake at a time when people who have been less critical of the president than you have found themselves bestowed with all kinds of pardon gifts. Right, so first of all, what i had filed on this past wednesday were two writs. One is a writ of habeas corpus and the other is a writ of mandamus. What im asking for is in the habeas corpus, which deals directly with me, is that pursuant to the first setback, which is really the only bipartisan thing donald trump accomplished, by signing on the executive order, which again, was bipartisan, they have done absolutely nothing on. And theres earned time credit. Now, i did the mandamus because i made a promise to guys back at otisville and others like my buddies tony meatballs and big minty i wasnt going to stop once i got out, once i was put on home confinement. The writ of mandamus will affect 153,000 eligible federal inmates who will be able to receive their earned time credit based upon programming credit as well as work credits so they, too, can be released to either home confinement or supervised release. Im going to slow you down because we got statutory codes, we have the first step, we have tony meatballs. A lot to track. But what youre saying, sir, is that you have advocacy thats not only for yourself but also is for other people who are incarcerated . Thats correct. Thats on the mandamus. And so this is you in a way calling out something that many have observed and you have lived it personally, michael, of course, which is that donald trump has tried to at times invoke or exploit the Justice System for his own political benefit. There was a lot of talk about clemency, for example, at the republican convention. You seem to be suggesting in part of your filing here that theyre not doing everything they can to live up to that, that that was more window dressing. How about that they have done absolutely nothing so far . It was remember that President Trump signed the executive order in 2018. Two years have gone by, and they still cant produce a resitivism guide in order to make the determination how many hours equals how many days. Its despicable and another piece of paper that donald trump signed very much like the kind he used to throw on my desk when he had something that he did but he didnt really want to do anything with it. Other than take credit that he is a Prison Reform guy and has done more for Prison Reform than any president since abraham lincoln. Lets get into the pardons, michael. If someone were watching this period we have lived through, four years ago, if there was a pardon to be given out from donald trump to a close aide, whether they did anything or not, i think we would all agree at one point in time, you would have been one of those people he would have been musing about pardoning because you and him did have a close relationship, professionally, for a long time. We all lived through how thats changed, but take a look at other folks who like you were senior aides to the president in one capacity or another who have gotten pardons. Flynn, manafort, stone, pop papadopoul papadopoulos. When you look at all that, what do you think of these pardons thus far . I think its like make it rain, right . Thats all hes doing. Hes taking political favors and money. By people, for the sole purpose of giving them pardons. He has usurped the fact there are people who should be receiving pardons. Do i think any of these people should be receiving pardons . Absolutely not. I think that trump has just taken over the entire country. He wants to run it the same way that he ran the trump organization. As if he owns the company. As if he owns the United States of america. I mean, there are people who worked in that Pardon Office all year long putting together documents, speaking to prosecutors, making sure that the person who receives the pardon is actually entitled to a pardon. Otherwise, basically what youre doing is youre giving the president the ability, you know, like his old trump monopoly game, a get out of free jail card simply because youre a friend. Youre right, i would have received one had i agreed not to come out, not to speak truth to power. Do you believe that this list we have looked at is about where this ends or do you think donald trump has more pardon surprises before he leaves office . Oh, i think theres more pardon surprises. What i call this in the book disloyal and on mea culpa is this is trump fatigue. Hes wearing the entire country down so that each and every time that the media keeps talking about this 20 people, this 20 people, another 8 people, another 10 people, all of a sudden by the end, were all going to be like, please, enough. Please just go away. Theres 23 more days. So thats when hell probably try to drop the pardon power for jared, for don, ivanka, isselbe thinks will get a federal indictment. But again, something i talked about on your show, ari, this produces a very significant problem for donald trump in the fact that once you receive that pardon power, once you get that pardon, youre no longer able to invoke the fifth amendment, your right against self incrimination because you cannot be charged. So all of these people may ultimately be his downfall, simply because theyll be testifying against him, either for a court or a tribunal. Yeah, as you say, thats a legal paradox that lawyers like yourself sometimes warn clients about whats around the corner, depending on what happens. Of course, youre not there warning him perjusonally about this anymore. I wish i was. I wish i was there, because heres what i would be telling him right now. Why dont you knock off the nonsense with the pardons . Why dont you turn around and think about all of the americans each and every day who are dying. Were having a 9 11 event every day based upon this coronavirus. Why dont you instead, the way that he came out acting like a fool, why dont you invoke, for example, the production defense act, and why dont you, since we have some of these inoculations, these vaccines that have an 85 , 90 , 95 efficacy rate, why dont we just invoke the production defense act and make sure all manufacturers are manufacturing it so were not at 2 million dosages. We would be at the dr. Anthony fauci expert 20 million doses. I mean, i dont understand why were waiting for companies to come up with their own. If we have a company that produced an efficacy rate of 90 , as far as im concerned, mandate that everybody manufacture it. Thats what they should be doing. Thats some of the Straight Talk from what we could tell hes not getting. Hes g