Trump issues series of pardons including to former GOP Congressmen

Anderson Cooper 360

CNN

News

3.7 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 23 December 2020

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Pres. Trump issued a series of pardons that includes two former GOP Congressmen and two men who pleaded guilty in Robert Mueller’s investigation. Among the pardons are former Republican Congressmen Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins and former campaign aide George Papadopoulos. These are the first of what is expected to be a flurry of pardons and commutations in the coming weeks as Trump gets ready to leave the White House. James Clapper is the former Director of National Intelligence and also a CNN National Security Analyst. He joins AC360 to react to Trump’s wave of pardons. Plus, Dr. Anthony Fauci is warning that there could be a “superimposed” surge on top of the current uptick in cases if people travel for the holidays. Dr. Tom Frieden is a former CDC Director and he tells AC360 staying indoors, wearing masks and getting vaccinated will all help control the spread of Covid-19. Airdate: December 22, 2020 Guests: Lt. Gen. James Clapper (Ret.) Dr. Tom Frieden To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's a good night to be a corrupt Republican congressman or a confessed liar from the
0:05.7	Russia probe or a convicted murderer of Iraqi civilians.
0:09.7	John Burman here in Ferranderson breaking news tonight with 29 days left in office the
0:14.4	president issues the first big wave of what could be a tsunami of pardons.
0:19.9	Now this batch includes former Republican lawmakers, two Russia probe figures and four military
0:25.2	contractors involved in a massacre of civilians in Iraq.
0:29.7	All this coming out of day that began with the headlines speaking to what else the president
0:33.9	is doing when not handing out pardons.
0:36.7	Trump turns on everyone, the Axios piece from Jonathan Swan is titled quoting now Trump
0:42.1	thinks everyone around him is weak, stupid or disloyal and increasingly seeks comfort
0:46.9	only in people who egg him on to overturn the election results.
0:52.1	The past is continues.
0:53.1	We cannot stress enough how unnerved Trump officials are by the conversations unfolding
0:57.5	inside the White House.
0:59.4	The top officials there telling Axios the president is raging a chief of staff, Mark
1:03.5	Meadows, White House counsel, Pat Sepoloni, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Senate Majority
1:08.3	Leader Mitch McConnell, and also now at long last the vice president.
1:14.2	We'll talk about that as well as the potential impact of a new COVID strain as we pass the
1:18.6	18 million case mark and head into what Dr. Fauci warns could be yet another surge on
1:24.1	top of the one we're suffering through now.
1:27.0	And it'll like Biden addressed the topic today.
1:31.4	One thing I promise you about my leadership during this crisis, I'm going to tell it to
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