Conspiracy, too. Helping donald trump overturn the election, seems to be a bridge too far even for one of the president s most loyal allies. As attorney general william barr breaks with trump with the claims of Election Fraud. The question, will the president fire him too . Plus, new reporting that the president has discussed pardons for his three eldest children, Jared Kushner and Rudy Giuliani. The question is if pardons are for those of federal crimes, what potential crimes have been committed. Plus, a federal investigation into a bribery scheme involving president ial pardons. The question is who is involved . Its way too early for this. Good morning. And welcome to way too early. The show that just has so many top stories to choose from this morning. Im kasie hunt on this wednesday, december 2nd. Lets get right into it. The white house is investigating a potential bribery scheme involving president ial pardons. It was revealed in heavily redacted Court Documents pertaining to a search warrant of several offices. The opinion was entered in late august by the chief judge for the federal court in washington, d. C. , and its now been unsealed. The investigation seems to involve at least two individuals who, quote, acted as lobbyists to senior white house officials without registering as lobbyists. Who to secure pardon or reprieve of sentence for a person who appears to be known for investigators but whose name has been redacted in these newly unsealed documents. The investigation also involves an alleged offer from someone whose name had also been redacted of a, quote, substantial political contribution in exchange for a president ial pardon or reprieve of sentence. The documents do not name President Trump or any other white house officials. Nor do they say anyone in the white house new about the alleged scheme. The white house declined to comment. But last night, the president tweeted, quote, pardon investigation is fake news. Well, theres a lot there. At the same time, multiple sources confirmed to nbc news that in recent days, President Trump has been discussing the possibility of pardons for family members and close associates, including his children and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. The New York Times was first to report the news. Two people briefed on the matter tell the times that giuliani who has been out there promoting baseless claims of Election Fraud talked about a pardon with President Trump as recently as last week. According to the paper, President Trump has said hes concerned that a Biden JusticeDepartment Might seek retribution against him by targeting his three oldest children, donald trump jr. , eric trump and as well as ivankas husband, Jared Kushner. The times points out that a pardon for giuliani is certain that trump add cuizations that trump has used his pardon power to obstruct investigations and insulate himself and his allies. One source tells the news the recent conversations are because trump feels embattled and not because he or any of the family members did anything illegal. When asked for comment, he said, quote, a lie 100 . So get furious at the lying members of your profession. I think despise crooked lawyers. The white house has not commented. Theres all about pardon news. And then theres this, the attorney general acknowledged something that we all have known for weeks that there was no real voter fraud in this election. Bill barr in a rare break from the president told the New York Times that the Justice Department hasnt wouldnt anything that would over current that joe biden won. He also said theres nothing to substantiate any claims about the wide theories surrounding voting systems that trump and his allies keep saying were rigged. Barr was actually at the white house for what the white house insisted was a previously scheduled meeting with the chief of staff. Its unclear if he met with trump who has yet to react to barrs comments here. Although its pretty clear how he feels, if you scroll through his twitter feed. Barrs remarks prompted a swift response, though, from trumps Legal Team Led by the aforementioned Rudy Giuliani who wrote in part, with the greatest respect to the attorney general, his opinion appears to be without any knowledge or investigation of substantial irregularities or evidence of systemic prod. To date, the Trump Campaign has filed 40 lawsuits, so far, none of have found a single incident of fraud. For more on this, were joined by nbc correspondent julia ansley who covers the doj for us. Julia, i dont know where to start but how about we pick up on the last threat about the attorney general and the interview with the associated press. Essentially coming out and saying theres no fraud here, theres nothing thats going to overturn the election. We know how reluctant bill barr has been to break with the president. What do we know about why he decided to do this now . Well, its interesting, kasie, i mean, this is an an interview with the associated press. He clearly picked what he saw as a downthemiddle outlet. Someone he could go to get the message out. It seems the real news he wanted to break is about how hes insulating john durham at the russia investigation, if i can throw more news for you this morning, insulating him. But in the middle of that he was surprisingly asked his opinion about voter fraud. He said to date they have not seen evidence that indicates that the election would have gone for donald trump based on any alleged fraud. Simply, the evidence isnt there to support that. Now, since that, since youve seen that the twitter feed has blown up. The statement from giuliani and how the white house has responded, the Justice Department spokeswoman did say, what the attorney general is saying, so far, we have not seen evidence to date. That does not mean we have ended our investigations and closed shop. This is an important qualifier, and it also follows the statements barr made before the election where he said that he wanted to give the Justice Department more leeway to investigate fraud. Not just wait for the states to do their job as they traditionally would. Yes, it was historic. I think is really means something for people following what this administration is doing, in the wake of this election and where the chips are falling. But i dont think this means that we have an attorney general who is going to now breakaway completely from the president. You can see that yesterday in the way he tried to protect john durham, in a way that would keep his job and his position in that investigation safe in the new administration. Yeah. Lets pick up there, too. Its such an important point that hes still essentially saying, okay, these u. S. Attorneys can look into any upcoming allegations of voter fraud. If we find them, fine. Well look into it. But this john durham question. If he went to the ap to basically put that out there. For people who havent john durham is a much more familiar name to a lot of the conservative news outlets, news max, oaan. Can put this in the context of what this means to the Incoming Biden Administration . Yeah, thats a great question. John durham was appointed by william barr, to be an investigator, to lead an investigation into the origins of a russia probe. Basically to look at whether or not the probe that became the Mueller Probe should have been opened in the first place and whether or not theres any wrongdoing in the process. This is on top of countless investigates, kasie. Youve covered them on the hill. Weve covered them in the Justice Department saying there was no political bias in the early days, in the early fisa warrants, what led to what we know as the russia probe. But john durham was called in by william barr to do a more thorough review. William barr has constantly turned to the durham investigation and say, look, there might be something there. Even after the report, he said, we think this is premature. We think john durham is going to find more. Now, barr didnt get his wish in the fact that durham didnt put out his investigation, even an interim report, before the election. This is his way of saying when the new administration comes in, durham should be safe to continue his work. Oh, boy. We didnt even get to bribery and president ial pardons. Nbcs julia ansley, thank you for getting up on this busy morning at the doj. Thank you so much. Still ahead here, new overnight, the uk becomes the First Western country to approve pfizers coronavirus vaccine, clearing the way for britain to begin mass immunizations. Were going to have that story and a check of your weather, when we come right back. Did you know that your clothes can actually attract pet hair . With new bounce pet hair lint guard, your clothes can repel pet hair. Look how the shirt on the left attracts pet hair like a magnet pet hair is no match for bounce. With bounce, you can love your pets, and lint roll less. Is now a good time enough, crohns. For adults with moderate to severe crohns or ulcerative colitis, stelara® can provide relief, and is the only approved medication to reduce inflammation on and below the surface of the intestine in uc. You, getting on that flight . Back off, uc. Stelara® may increase your risk of infections, some serious, and cancer. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flulike symptoms, sores, new skin growths, have had cancer, or if you need a vaccine. Rpls, a rare, potentially fatal brain condition, may be possible. Some serious allergic reactions and lung inflammation can occur. Lasting remission can start with stelara®. If youve been financially impacted by covid19, janssen may be able to help. Did you try it yet . Comparing plans . Oh yeah. They sure can change year to year. I found lower premiums and lower prescription costs. And those new insulin savings hundreds of plans, 35 a month. Thatll save you money. So uh, mark . On medicare. Gov now. Open enrollment ends dec 7th. Comparing plans. Really pays. Paid for by the u. S. Department of health human services. Welcome back. Time now for sports. The ravens arrived in pittsburgh yesterday, ahead of this afternoons planned matchup against the undefeated steelers. The game has already been postponed three times, but its still on, despite reports that the ravens had yet another new player testing positive for the coronavirus. Before the team left baltimore. According to espn, the player is rookie safety gino stone. While an equipment manager also tested positive and that both were deemed no risk to others. While the ravens have now had ten Straight Days of positive tests in an outbreak thats affected more than 20 of its players, the team has been able to trim the number on the reserve covid19 list down to 16 players, with the possibility of removing two more by game time. The team will be tested again before todays kickoff. While the San Francisco 49ers meanwhile have found a new temporary home at the carolina facility amid covid restrictions that banned Contact Sports in sabt that clara, california, the situation is more difficult for schools Like Stanford University and san jose state. They had to cancel another game, putting the brakes on tara van devers quest on the trophy stanford is apparently sending its team on a road trip to be played in washington and oregon. And the san jose state Football Team will spend some time until paradise, after moving saturdays originally scheduled home game, to hawaii. Not the worst deal. Meanwhile, the university of notre dame has clinched a spot in the acc title game set for december 19th. The irish have the winning edge in all tiebreakers after they cancelled the finales in order to keep them on equal footing of each playing nine conference games. With miami still in contention, a loss for the hurricanes or a tiger visibility other over to Virginia Tech would set up a rematch over the Double Overtime win cleanagainst clemson last m. And the matchups remain with alabama, notre dame, clemson and ohio state occupying the top four spots. Its been a rough season for Michigan Football fans, like me, out there. Lets go now to this story, the world cup champion u. S. Womens National Team has won a partial legal victory, in its battle, legal battle, for equal treatment to the mens team. After they reached a settlement in a suit filed in a mens soccer industry. While the dispute over equal pay is continuing, the federation has agreed to provide the womens team comparable conditions to the mens team, including chaere ing chartered team travel. Venues for team events, Hotel Accommodations and specialized support services. Were not all the way there, but were getting there. Time now for weather. Lets go to meteorologist bill karins for the forecast. Bill, it is freezing in washington. What else you got . You finally joined the rest of the country. I told to you enjoy yesterday, kasie. Lets get into this, all of the snow was in the deep south but the snowiest spot was ohio. Cleveland itself picked up 10 inches of snow. The first snow of the season and it was a doozie. When you see plows off the road, thats not good. The forecast is exiting, were done with the snow in ohio. And were focusing our attention on the next storm. Thats the one moving into oklahoma and texas. Theyre going to see snow in northern texas and western oklahoma and then this storm is going to move to the east coast. Im going to fast forward to friday. Rainy weather on the southeast. Then on saturday, like a noreastertype storm. Looks like all rain for d. C. , philly, new york. Central new england, and Northern New England could get snow out of this in its mountains and then sunday, snow for vermont and new hampshire. Kasie, looks like an allrain event. But for ski resorts that need it, this could be a chance for snow. Well talk about that as we get to the weekend. Well, winter is most definitely here. It seems like a White Christmas may be possible for a lot of folks across the country. Bill karins, thank you, my friend. Still ahead here, a cdc panel make. A recommendation about who should receive the first coronavirus vaccines once shots become available in the u. S. Were going to take a look at who will be first in line. Coming up next. For severe eosinophilic asthma. Not for sudden breathing problems. Allergic reactions can occur. Get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. Infections that can cause shingles have occurred. Dont stop steroids unless told by your doctor. Tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. May cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. Ask your doctor about nucala at home. Find your nunormal with nucala. Welcome back. With the rollout of the vaccine, that is nice to read. According to a tracking project, the u. S. Hit a new record with more than 100,000 people currently hospitalized with the virus. Meanwhile, florida is now the third state to report 1 million cases, with nearly 9,000 new cases yesterday alone. The other states to have reported more than 1 million cases so far are texas and california. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has become the first major western country to approve the use of the covid19 vaccine from pfizer and biontech. This morning, a spokesperson from the uks department of health and social care announced the news of the vaccine approval. Saying that, quote, the vaccine will be made available across the uk for next week. The twodose vaccine is 95 effective and must be stored at basically arctic temperatures. So far, only russia and china have approved vaccines without approved test results and scientists have criticized that approach. United states is going to make its decision on emergency authorization for the available covid vaccines when the fada meets on december 10th to decide on the Pfizer Vaccine and december 18th for the moderna vaccine. Health care workers and nursing home residents will be at the front of the line when that vaccine is made available. Yesterday, the centers for Disease ControlAdvisory Committee on immunization practices voted 13 to 1 to recommend giving those groups First Priority in the first days of vaccine rollout. Health care workers and nursing home residents represent 24 Million People. And current estimates show no more than 20 million doses of the pfizer and moderna vaccines will be available by the end of the year pending fda approval. We have a lot of work to do folks, as quickly as we can. Still ahead here, were going to take a look at where stimulus takes place on capitol hill. Nbcs Leigh Ann Caldwell is joining us with the details. But before we go to break, we want to know why are you awake . Email to way too earlwaytooear. Hughes the hash tag and well read the answers coming up later in the show. Then break it. Every emergenc gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergenc. Tget an iphone 12 with 5g on us on every single plan. Switch now and save 20 on your bill vs. The other guys. Thats right. Iphone 12 on us. Its time to holiday on with t mobile. Just washed laundry doesnt smell. Just washed. Our thats because theres hidden sweat and body soils that cause odors on your clothes. But theres a solution for those secret stinks gain flings laundry pacs gain flings has more freshness ingredients compared to bargain liquid detergents. They have 3 super powered ingred