Featured Video

A furious Chris Cuomo opened his Wednesday show by unleashing on President Donald Trump for the latest round of pardons that the president ushered in for friends and allies.

"Just the past 24 hours, this president has vetoed pay for the military, stalled relief for millions of you, and issued the most toxic tally of pardons we have ever seen," said Cuomo. The "26 new Trump pardons tonight, gifts to many convicted criminals that you know well who did horrible things. Many admitted it. And then [Trump]left to go golf in Florida. After vetoing pay for the military, after leaving relief in limbo, millions of Americans don't have food for Christmas, let alone money for heat or gifts. And he knows it. And he doesn't sign the relief bill. And he doesn't veto it. So, he knows nothing will happen."

On CNN Wednesday, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) tried to legitimize outgoing President Donald Trump's continued attacks on the Mueller investigation — culminating in the new slate of pardons — and was promptly knocked down.

"It is true that Robert Mueller did not show or demonstrate collusion or conspiracy between the Trump campaign in 2016 and Russia," said correspondent John Harwood. "However, he laid out and he said Russia helped him and Trump welcomed help, and Trump had taken a series of action that amounted to efforts to obstruct his probe. The president pardons a series of people that were a part of Russia."

On CNN Wednesday, Andrew Weissman, who served as the lead prosecutor in the Mueller investigation, explained why the pardon of outgoing President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort doesn't entirely wipe out the judgments against him.

"The Manafort case was your life," said anchor John Berman. "This was your work for years, and now, with one stroke of a pen, is all up in smoke. Your reaction?"

New York Magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi spoke with MSNBC host Chris Hayes Wednesday about her recent piece that follows the wild ride to the Four Seasons Total Landscaping company and how it became a press conference location for President Donald Trump's legal team. She never fully gets to the bottom of it but, Hayes noted it was quite the story.

But when asked about the Trump team and their future plans and plots, Nuzzi explained that it isn't a genius, Lex Luther-style, criminal enterprise.

On Wednesday's edition of CNN's "The Situation Room," former National Security Adviser John Bolton tore into outgoing President Donald Trump for threatening to blow up the COVID-19 stimulus agreement.

"The president ... blindsided a lot of Republicans, almost everyone, including his own senior staff, by railing against the COVID relief bill at the very last moment? Is it about policy? Is it about punishing Republicans to not give more support to overturn the election?"

A senior prosecutor on special counsel Robert Mueller's team fears that President Donald Trump's new pardons essentially put the president above the law and guarantee that the Office of the Special Counsel is essentially powerless.

Speaking to MSNBC on Wednesday, Andrew Weissmann explained that the rule of law binds the Department of Justice when it decides who to prosecute and not to. The DOJ, he said, doesn't take into account the partisanship of the accused.

On CNN Tuesday, anchor John Berman tore into President Donald Trump's latest flurry of presidential pardons. They included multiple people caught in the Mueller investigation, Republican lawmakers who had committed various financial crimes, four military contractors who killed many Iraqi civilians, and two border patrol agents who shot an unarmed immigrant.

"It is a good night to be a corrupt Republican congressman, or a confessed liar from the Russia probe, or a convicted murderer of Iraqi civilians," said Berman. "With 29 days left in office, the president issued a first big wave of what could be a tsunami of pardons. It includes former Republican lawmakers and four military contractors involved in a massacre of civilians in Iraq."
Pamela Brown agreed with Berman.

President Donald Trump's video rant and veto threat on Tuesday night threw a wrench in the deal between Democrats and Republicans on the government funding package and the next round of COVID-19 stimulus funding.

Democrats have wanted a larger payment for Americans for the last seven months following their passage of the HEROES Act. Despite nine months of negotiations with Treasury Secretary Steve Munchin, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) never participated in the talks. It wasn't until the very end that the White House seemingly bowed out and McConnell took over, reducing the checks to Americans to an embarrassingly low amount. The parties agreed on a $600 check.

Calling it a "bizarre night," MSNBC host Rachel Maddow addressed the veto threat from President Donald Trump along with his slate of pardons for people involved in the Mueller investigation and murderers of unarmed civilians in Iraq.

Maddow noted that along with the names of the people he was pardoning he also added names of those who endorsed the pardon as if to bring them in as accomplices in the pardons.

On CNN Tuesday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel explained her state's new push to have pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell sanctioned for professional misconduct in the election fraud lawsuits.

"What are the actions you're taking?" asked anchor John Berman.

On CNN Tuesday, former Nixon White House Counsel John Dean slammed outgoing President Donald Trump for dismissing the convictions of former aides in the Mueller investigations as "process crimes" in his release pardoning them.

"Looking at the statement that came along with the pardons," said Dean. "When you look at the Russia investigation part of it, the Papadopoulos pardon, the statements flat out calling it a 'process crime' to lie to the FBI but says the pardon helps correct the wrongs, the Mueller team inflicted on so many people. That's quite a remarkable statement to have with this pardon. It is more of a slap, it is an attack."

On Tuesday's edition of CNN's "The Situation Room," reporter Jeremy Diamond revealed that outgoing President Donald Trump's allies are getting tired of his ongoing attacks on the results of the election.

"The president's allies and advisers are continuing to sound the alarm over what they see as the president's increasingly unhinged and delusional efforts to overturn the results of the election," said Diamond. "A senior Republican close to the president is telling me this evening, quote, 'we're watching a petulant child not getting his way throw a tantrum.'

Vice President Mike Pence is slowly backing away from President Donald Trump like a typical politician looking for his next job.

Pence was pretty despised by his own state after waging an all-out war against LGBTQ people that ended with dozens of conferences, concerts, and events being canceled across the state as an ally boycott was announced. It cost Indiana about $60 million. Pence wasn't going to make it through reelection, but he was welcomed into the Trump fold. Four years later, he's looking for an emergency exit.