- Well, merry Christmas from Congress
to the American people,that's a switch, isn't it?
A massive bill, includes$900 billion in COVID relief,
is expected to pass today.
Yes, it includes a $600 stimulus check
for millions of Americans.
With lockdowns devastating our economy,
is it too little or too late?
Dale Hurd.
After months of failed negotiation,
congress finally has to dealon a COVID-19 stimulus package,
and yes, it includes anothercheck for many Americans.
- We can finally report what our nation
has needed to hear for a very long time.
More help is on the way.
- [Dale] The $900 billion package
is expected to include 300billion for small businesses,
$300 in weekly federalunemployment benefits
and a $600 stimulus checkto millions of Americans,
half of what the governmentsent back in the spring.
The earliest people couldsee those checks is January.
- After a long and arduous a year,
after a year full of bad news,
finally, we have some good news
to deliver to the American people.
- [Dale] In a poll bythe website Alignable,
85% of small business ownerssaid additional funding
is very important for thesurvival of their businesses
for the next six months
and that half of minority-owned businesses
are not able to pay their December rent.
Single mom, Renee DeCarlo,forced to close her business,
says any help is welcome.
- Every dollar matters to me.
The more they give me,the more ability I'll have
to get my life back in order,a little bit at a time,
because right now there isn't enough
to support myself or my kids.
- [Dale] But for manyout-of-work Americans
the relief package is too little too late.
- $600 is nothing. It'slike a slap in our face.
- [Dale] Lisa Mistretta, a hospice nurse,
suffers from health conditions
that make her too high risk to work.
- You know, I'm behindabout $6,000 in bills.
You know, it's not ourfault that we can't work.
- [Dale] Today, a newCOVID vaccine from Moderna
joins Pfizer's in the nationsarsenal against the pandemic,
but a poll shows half of Americans
either won't take it or aren't sure.
After reports of severeallergic reactions,
the CDC now says that anyonewho reacts to the vaccine
should not get this second shot.
And governments around the world
are banning travelersfrom the United Kingdom
after officials reported anew more contagious variant
of COVID-19 has emerged.
The UK is now under lockdown
with some accusing the government
of effectively canceling Christmas.
Dale Hurd, CBN News.
- Listen, I don't want to go on record.
I gave you the other day a full report
about the devastatingimpacts of these lockdowns.
It is a bureaucratic nightmare
that has no basis in science whatsoever,
to shut down restaurants,to shut down hotels,
to shut down various types of travel.
It is just insanity.
I know the hospitals are full,
that there are manypeople that have COVID,
but what they don't show you
is that the restaurantsare the big spreaders.
They're not, there are other places,
but what's happening by lockingall these businesses down,
we are destroying people's lives,
and it isn't based on science.
It's based on bureaucratic ability
to control the lives of people.
And when it's all over,you're going to have a wreck
of business after business after business.
People unemployed, and it'smaking it much, much worse,
whatever's going on.
It's wrong.
What they should do isput definitely quarantine
around the elderly people
who have these pre-existing conditions,
people who are ill for some ofthem who whatever they have,
metabolic syndrome or whatever it is,
but beyond that,
the young people should beallowed to go back to school.
They should be allowed to play sports.
And as far as I'mconcerned, open stadiums.
If you wear a mask or something,
there's no reason they can'tgo out and watch football,
baseball, and all the rest of it.
But we are, we're notbasing all this on science,
and we are hurting tensof millions of people.
And I was so sad when I sawCalifornia tried to open,
and then lo and behold, a federal judge,
who had given an order toallow opening, he said,
"Well, you could have strip clubs
because strip clubs don't cause COVID."
well, that's nice.
And then the next thing you know,
every restaurant who wouldhave a dancer, it was,
it was instead them,
the appeals courts said that's tough luck.
We shut the whole state down.
Listen, millions of people are suffering,
and it's the wrong science.
Well, in other news, who's behind
the month-long cyberattack on our government?
Was it Russia? Or is it China?
And senators are callingfor a counter attack.
George Thomas has more.
- That's right, Pat.
Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo
and Senator Marco Rubio,
Acting Chair of the SenateIntelligence Committee,
say Russia is clearly behind the attack
that breached several government agencies,
including the StateDepartment and the departments
of Treasury, Energy and Homeland Security.
Senator Mitt Romney said theattack shows the Russians
have the capacity to cripplevital infrastructure,
including electricity,communications, even water.
- This is the same sort of thing
one can do in a wartime setting.
And so it's extraordinarily dangerous,
and it's an outrageousaffront on our sovereignty,
and one that's going to have to be met
with a very strong response,
not just rhetorical, asimportant as that is,
but also with the cyber response
of like magnitude or greater.
- By the way, Senator Rubio also called
for a strong response in a tweet.
President Trump disputedthe scope of the attack
and suggested that Chinaactually maybe responsible.
Pat, no doubt, this wasa devastating attack.
It's horrible.
You know, the thing thatI have been talking about
so, so long, it would cost so little
to harden our infrastructure.
And yet if the power grid is knocked out,
and it could be very easilyby some type of cyber attack,
suddenly a you don't have any power.
And then we would bein desperate condition.
And it looks like, by the way,
one of the scientistsis looking at the sun,
and he said it seems
we're going to have aheightened sunspot activity.
And solar flares may be comingout at the United States,
which in turn couldknock out our power grid.
So it is so important thatwe harden the power grid.
We waste money on everything.
And yet this crucialthing is so inexpensive,
but it is absolutely crucial to be done.
And yet I don't thinkanybody is listening.
George?
- Pat, in his fight tooverturn the election,
the President is taking anothershot at the Supreme Court.
Sunday, his campaign filedsuit asking the justices
to overturn three decisions
by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Those rulings ease to the state's rules
on signature verification,
election day observationand mail-in ballots.
A favorable ruling by the high court
could invalidate more than2 million mail-in ballots.
So far though, the Supreme Court
has turned away the campaign's challenges.
Pat?
- You know, I really don'tthink, ladies and gentlemen,
that argument before thecourt's going to prevail.
I had prayed and hoped
that there might be some better solution,
but I don't think it's,I think it's all over.
I think the Electoral College has spoken.
I think the Biden corruption
has not totally been brought to fruition,
but it doesn't seem to beaffecting the Electoral College.
And I don't think the Supreme Court
is going to move in to do anything.
And I think we're goingto see a President Biden,
and I will also think we'll be seeing
a president Kamala Harris,
not too long after theinauguration of President Biden.
So just keep your eyes on the future.
I'm not saying I have anythingparticularly from the Lord.
That's just my own opinion,
but I think that Biden is notcapable of handling the stuff
that's going to be thrownat him, but our country
is now going to be facinga tremendous challenges.
China may well try to invade Taiwan.
They're talking about it.
In the South China Sea,
there is tremendousopportunity for the Chinese
to exercise sovereigntyand to challenge us.
The Iranians want the challenge us
at the Straits of Hormuzand these other waterways.
You looked around the globe,
and the Turks are talkingabout an invasion of Israel,
and he goes on and on and on.
What are we going todo in this interregnum
when these dictatorsbegin to challenge us?
It's going to be happening.
And I think, I don't knowthat the Biden people
at this present time are ableto handle this challenge.
It's going to be too much.
And by the way,
there's something that Itotally disagree with it,
but I'll let George giveyou this next story,
about President Trump.
- That's right, Pat.
President Trump is openly talking
about running for president in 2024
if he loses this fight in the courts.
The plan could complicate,as you can imagine,
the lives of other Republicans
with their eyes on the White House.
Senior WashingtonCorrespondent Tara Mergener
shows us why it is becoming a conversation
on both sides of the aisle.
- Many experts agreeDonald Trump is unique
in the strength he wouldhave as a one-term president.
The question will he use it topursue the oval office again
should efforts to claim the2020 election fall short.
- We will win it. We will still in.
- [Tara] Rallying support
for two critical Georgia senate races,
President Trump insists hiscampaign can still prevail.
- We've never lost an election.
- [Tara] Despite reassurancesabout ultimate victory,
the President already hintinghe's ready to run again,
from an aggressive fundraising effort
to remarks at a WhiteHouse Christmas party.
- It's been an amazing four years.
We're trying to do another four years.
Otherwise, I'll see you in four years.
(audience cheering)
- He controls the loyalty
of a very significant portionof the Republican electorate,
particularly the Republican electorate
that votes in primaries.
And he obviously has theability to finance a race.
- [Tara] And while the idea
may delight the base for the moment
(crowd chanting)
there's concern it willfreeze the GOP field
of potentially strong up and comers.
- He sucks all of theoxygen out of the room
for every other single candidate,
was thinking about running.
For example, Mike Pence obviously,
Nikki Haley, Tom Cotton wasthinking about getting in,
Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota.
And there's a whole long list.
- [Tara] Instead of the usual activities
like planning fundraisers,building support
and courting early voting states,
GOP hopefuls would have little choice
but to wait and watch for fear
of turning away Trump'slarge and loyal base.
Republican strategists Tom Ras says though
there is an appetite withinthe party for new blood.
- I think there's built upenergy in the Republican party
to move generationally, butnot just generationally,
but also ideologically.
- [Tara] Still, underthe U.S. Constitution,
President Trump has the rightto pursue the oval office
again for a second term
if he's sent packing after the first.
- The degree to which they are intimidated
and frightened by thispresident is unbelievable.
- [Tara] How much of thespotlight and influence
a former President Trumpcan keep remains to be seen.
- I think Democrats aregoing to see Donald Trump
potentially running in 2024as a sideshow, I really do.
I mean, I think they're notgoing to pay much attention
to it until they have to,and that could be in 2024.
- [Tara] And as Biden preparesto take the helm next month,
Democrats insist they are toodisciplined to be distracted.
- Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, you know,
they're walking into areally challenging situation
with the economy, with this pandemic.
I think they've got so muchon their plate, the last thing
that they're going toreally be worrying about
is what Trump is tweetingfrom, you know, Mar-a-Lago.
- There's talk, Mr.Trump will try to steal
some of Biden's inauguration day thunder
by skipping the swearing in
and announcing his bid on January 20th.
Meanwhile, president Trumpwouldn't be the first
defeated president to win asecond non-consecutive term.
That honor belongs to the22nd and 24th president
of the United States, Grover Cleveland.
In Washington, I'm TaraMergener, CBN News.
- Thank you, Tara.
Pat, what do you think?
Should Mr. Trump run again in 2024?
- David Brody, I think it's a sideshow.
I think it would be a mistake.
My money would be on Nikki Haley.
I think she'd make a tremendous candidate
for the Republican party,
but I, you know,
with all his talent andthe ability to raise money
and draw large crowds,
the President still livesin an alternate reality.
He really does.
People say, well, he liesabout this, that and the other,
but no, he isn't lying.
To him, that's the truth.
He had the biggest crowdon inauguration day.
He had more people than ever.
He was the most popular of people.
He saved NBC, but with "The Apprentice."
You could go down the line of things
that really aren't true.
And you know, peoplekept pointing to them,
but because they loved him so much
and he was so strong for the evangelicals,
the evangelists were with him all the way,
but there was somethingabout him that was good
and that God placed him inthat office for the time.
He's done a marvelous job for the economy,
but at the same time, he is very erratic,
and he's fired people.
He's fought people, andhe's insulted people,
and he keeps going down the line.
So it's a mixed bag.
And I think it would be wellto say you've had your day,
and it's time to move on.
But at the same time, Iam very, very concerned
about the trends toward socialism.
And it would be terribleto see this country
go into some type of socialists decline.
And don't think that Bernie Sanders
who is a socialist and people like that
aren't going to be verydominant in the Republican,
I mean the Democratic party.
And if we have a socialistthat suddenly takes away
many of the things that Trump has put in,
if they raise taxes, theystart to confiscate money.
They don't know what to do with the debt.
They start to pay all the tuition
for people at big universities,et cetera, et cetera,
this stuff will bankrupt America
and America can't stand for it.
So what do they do if theystarted confiscating money?
I mean, it goes down the line.
When you look at what happenedin the socialist countries,
they first did everything they could.
Then they began to take dominance,
and we don't want that in America.
We don't want it in America.
So if there was a time to pray,
this is the time to pray,
but I certainly don't thinkwe need a sideshow for 2024.
I think right now, oh,we better do some praying
about those Georgia electionsbecause they are crucial.
George.
- Pat, if you haven't noticed,
today is the first day of winter,
and forecasters are predicting
a strong winter storm this week.
Heavy rain hitting the West coast today
likely turning to snowacross the Central Plains
and Midwest on Wednesday.
By Thursday, the East Coast
will be seeing heavyrain and thunderstorms,
and in the Northeast,snow on Christmas Day.
Well, a rare cosmic eventlights up the night sky tonight.
While some are callingit the Christmas star,
experts say that's not quite the case.
CBN reporter, Wendy Griffith explains.
- [Wendy] December 21stis the winter solstice,
the darkest night of the year.
And in 2020, Saturn and Jupiter,
the two largest planetsin our solar system,
will nearly kiss!
The closest the two planetshave aligned in 800 years.
The phenomenon has many talkingand even singing about it.
♪ And a Christmas star appears ♪
♪ First time in 800 years ♪
♪ You'll see it next Monday night ♪
♪ You get that's the bright side ♪
- No, seriously, Jupiter andSaturn are going to align
by less than a 10th of a degree
in the night sky on December 21st.
Last time it happened was March 4, 1226.
It's the Christmas star.
- [Wendy] Star of Bethlehemexpert, Rick Larson,
says while that's true, you'dhave to go all the way back
to the Middle Ages tosee a closer convergence,
it's not going to resemblethe Christmas star
that led the wise men to the baby Jesus.
- What's happening on December 21, simply,
as beautiful as it is, it'snot the Star of Bethlehem.
The Star of Bethlehem is a conjunction
of Jupiter and Venus.
The conjunction, which justmeans a coming together,
and visually, was so close
that they basically stacklike a figure eight.
And so they didn't obscureone another's brightness.
And the result was the brightest star
anyone alive had ever seen.
- The Bible speaks ofthe star the wise men saw
in Matthew 2.
"And lo, the star, whichthey saw in the East,
went before them, till it came and stood
over where the young child was.
When they saw the star,
they rejoiced with exceeding great joy."
Many Christians believethe Star of Bethlehem
was a miraculous sign tomark the birth of Jesus.
And while the 2020 starmay not be as bright,
the fact that such a rare cosmic event
is happening so close toChristmas in a year late 2020
is giving many hopethat the God of miracles
is still shining his light from above.
Wendy Griffith, CBN News.
- Incidentally, the besttime to see this event
for those in the Northern hemisphere
will be about 45 minutesafter sunset this evening.
And as Wendy said, you know,
the last time thishappened was 800 years ago.
So if you don't want to miss it,
because this time theysay that this could,
this phenomenon could occur in 2080.
Pat.
- Thanks, George.
I'll make a point to bethere to watch it, okay?
- I think you'll bejoined by a lot of people.
- A lot.- Not on your patio.
- 2080.But on theirs (laughs).
You know, that whole thing,
but it happened after the birth of Jesus.
The wise men came several years later.
I mean the whole thingwas converged together.
It makes it a wonderful story, you know,
but, anyhow, they werewise men from the East.
You know, anyhow, it's interesting,
but Jupiter and Venus coming together.
800 years. All right.
