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Zelenskyy En Route To Washington, First Trip Since War Began; Official: Biden To Announce $1.8B In New Aid To Ukraine; House Committee To Release Six Years Of Trump's Taxes. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired December 21, 2022 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[02:00:28]

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to your viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong.

From the front lines to the White House. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is on his way to Washington for his first foreign trip since Russia's invasion began. A U.S. House committee votes to make six years of Donald Trump's taxes public. We'll discuss what this means for the former president.

And 70 million people are under winter alerts in the United States as a phenomenon known as a bomb cyclone develops.

For 10 months, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has delivered messages of determination and defiance from inside his country amid Russia's unrelenting assault. But at this hour, he is traveling outside Ukraine for the first time since the war began and is headed to Washington. I was visited in the hours ahead will include a meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House, as well as an address to a joint meeting of congress.

The White House says Mr. Biden invited his Ukrainian counterpart to underscore the United States enduring commitment to Ukraine. In a tweet Mr. Zelenskyy confirmed he is headed to the U.S. to "Strengthen resilience and defense capabilities." The visit will coincide with an announcement by President Joe Biden of another aid package for Ukraine totally almost $2 billion which will include the highly advanced Patriot missile defense systems.

CNN's Oren Lieberman has details from the Pentagon.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: In the next Ukraine security assistance package that we're expecting when Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits Washington, visits the White House. We're expecting the U.S. to announce two crucial systems that fill two different roles. The first is the Patriot air defense system. One of the most advanced U.S. systems for aerial defense and crucially, and long-range system. That will sit almost like a dome on top of the systems the U.S. has already provided. The medium range NASAMS system and then some of the shorter-range systems such as stingers and MANPADS that the -- that Ukraine is already used for aerial defense. And that's on top of what other countries have also provided. Patriots have their challenges though. They are large, complex systems. So, the training, the maintenance, the sustainment, all of that will take time to learn.

And that's part of the process here. The other crucial system that we're learning about, the precision bombing kits, known as JDAM, joint direct attack munitions. That allows Ukraine to turn "dumb bombs" into precision guided bombs. We have seen them use with great effect, precision guided munitions, for example, the HIMARS systems, the Excalibur guided artillery systems.

All of these have been critical for Ukraine successes on the battlefield. So far, this will largely fill a similar role. These JDAMs. They can be used on a variety of different bombs from 500-pound bombs, up to 2000-pound bombs. They're relatively inexpensive according to (INAUDIBLE) about $22,000 per kit, which is a fraction of the price of the GMLRS munitions that are used with HIMARS and some of the other high-end munitions that have been provided to Ukraine.

And yet, they fill that role of precision bombing that can be done at range. So, you don't have to get in very close. The standard JDAMS have a range of about 15 miles and some of the extended range have a range of 40 miles or more. It's unclear exactly what the U.S. will provide at this point. Of course, these have to be air launched, they are launched from fighter jets. So, Ukraine will have to figure out a way to mount these on Soviet era fighter jets that they have so that they can use them and then find a way to be able to control them from a soviet era cockpit.

But crucially, Ukraine has shown that ability already. They did it with the U.S.-provided anti-radar missiles and they'll have to do it again here to make this work.

Oren Liebermann, CNN in the Pentagon.

STOUT: And CNN's Clare Sebastian joins us live from London with more. And Clare this would be and a shaping up to be Zelenskyy's first known overseas trip since the Russian invasion began. What is on the agenda for this very much landmark visit?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it has to be something big to justify this, Kristie. And obviously, the Patriot missiles that are and was just referencing would be that. You'll remember at the very beginning of this conflict when the U.S. offered to evacuate President Zelenskyy he said, I don't need a ride. I need ammunition and that really has been the hallmark of the way he has governed this war.

He has stayed in the country continuing to meet with troops just that visit yesterday to Bakhmut as sign of that.

[02:05:09] I think the timing of this is crucial, 300 days exactly since the start of the conflict coming when the new U.S. Congress is set to take effect on January 3rd. We know that there have been signs from the Republican majority in the House that they may not be as quick to approve new Ukraine aid. So doing this now will be an opportunity for him to garner that bipartisan support to carry out this sort of P.R. exercise.

It also comes at a time when Russia continues to bombard Ukrainian civilian energy infrastructure and civilian facilities and things like that. And when Ukraine is also very worried that this might proceed a new ground offensive from Russia starting as early as in the new year. Now, President Zelenskyy didn't officially confirm this trip until just about an hour ago. But he did, as I say, visit the front line in Bakhmut yesterday where he was presented with a flag by Ukrainian soldiers to give to the U.S. Congress.

Have a listen to what he had to say.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): It is a complicated situation. The enemy increases the number of its troops. Our boys are braver, and we need more sophisticated weapons. We will pass on gratitude from our boys to the U.S. Congress and U.S. president for their support. But it is not enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

That would be quite a visual if he brings the flag that he was presented with -- to the U.S. Congress. President Zelenskyy continuing to be a master of the sort of public relations of this war, Kristie.

STOUT: Yes. It'd be quite a visual and also one wonders what it would mean for the battle, as well. Clare Sebastian, we'll leave it at that. Thank you very much indeed for joining us. We'll talk again soon.

Now to Washington where six years of Donald Trump's tax returns will finally be made public. The White House or the House Ways and Means Committee voted. They voted to release the documents from 2015 through 2020. Now, the panel says Trump was not properly audited by the Internal Revenue Service or to the mandatory presidential audit program. And the company report shows the former president claimed huge operating losses to reduce his tax liabilities to zero.

And it raises questions about millions of dollars in charitable contributions. Our CNN's chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju has details.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now it's been years since House Democrats after they came to power in 2019 demanded Donald Trump's tax returns, went through a court fight that Donald Trump took all the way to the Supreme Court to try to shield those tax returns from becoming public. He lost that fight. Ultimately, those returns turned over to democrats just a matter of weeks ago.

But in a party line vote, the House Democrats in their final days in power, the Ways and Means Committee voted to release those tax returns from six years, six of recent years, as well as not just as individual returns, but his business returns as well. That vote 24 to 16 along party lines for release both a report from the committee investigating this as well as all of those returns. Now, first, on the report. There were two that were released late on Tuesday night.

One of which is the committee's investigation that found that the mandatory presidential audit system or that the IRS employees for all sitting presidents, they say that it was dormant during the Trump years. They say that is an essential program because they need to ensure that a president is not compromised in any way in signing legislation into law. But they said he was not essentially in use until April of 2019.

That is when Richard Neal, the chairman the Ways and Means Committee. A democrat started to inquire about Donald Trump's tax returns. They say at that point that's when the IRS audit program kicked into gear. And they said it never was completed over the six years of returns that they ultimately obtained. Now there's a separate report by the Joint Committee on Taxation analyzing those returns.

It raises some questions about some of the deductions that Donald Trump took suggested that perhaps more investigation might be warranted. It did not make a judgment one way or the other brother got into the numbers of his deductions, his losses in the income that he reported. But we expect a lot more including all details of those tax returns in the days ahead. Right now the committee is trying to redact some of the sensitive security information, some of the confidential information like social security numbers and the like.

Once that is done, they will be released -- it will come out before democrats are no longer in power in the House. January 3rd is when republicans take over. Republicans attacking democrats for misusing their power and releasing Donald Trump's returns. Donald Trump spokesperson also attacking committee democrats but nevertheless they are moving forward and also moving forward on legislation to mandate how presidents are audited under the -- by the IRS.

That is something Nancy Pelosi in her final days of speaker plans to bring to the floor. Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

[02:10:09]

STOUT: Let's discuss with Norman Eisen. He is a CNN legal analyst and the former House Judiciary special counsel in Trump's first impeachment trial. He joins us from Washington, D.C. Sir, thank you very much for joining us. First, we have to address that revelation of the IRS failure to audit. After the vote, House Democrats revealed that the material that they obtained showed that the IRS failed to audit Donald Trump's tax filings during his first two years in office.

This is something that is mandatory for sitting president. So, what happened here?

NORMAN EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: That's right, Kristie. There was a major breakdown of the presidential audit program when it comes to Donald Trump. And I think that's one of the reasons that these returns are being released. The House Ways and Means Committee is putting out a report detailing that there were failures to do the required oversight that the IRS is supposed to do over every president to make sure that they don't have financial conflicts and that they're following the tax law.

And didn't happen with Donald Trump, we're going to need to ask some very serious questions about why did he get special treatment, once he was in control of the government? That's one of the reasons that we need to get these tax returns out in the public to backup this very important revelation and very important report that the committee put out.

STOUT: Let's talk about the decision to release because, you know, republicans had been rallying against it hard saying it would set a dangerous precedent, saying that could be used to target political enemies. You know, let's put this debate to rest. You know, were the returns or at least for political reasons or was there -- is there a legislative purpose? And what is that?

EISEN: I worked up on the hill. I know Chairman Neal and the majority members of this committee. And the chairman and his membership have been extraordinary and careful in how they have handled this with patience and with discretion. The only precedent that we should be worried about is the precedent of an American president taking over the government and then not getting audited as required by law.

Or Kristie, the precedent of a presidential candidate and a president not releasing their tax returns a break by Donald Trump with all modern presidents. When I worked in the White House as a lawyer, my job included releasing President Obama's tax returns. Those are the kind of precedents that we should worry about. I think the committee is doing the right thing by backing up their very important report with the evidence.

That's what we do up on the Hill. That's what they're doing here. It is not partisan.

STOUT: So, years of Donald Trump's tax returns will soon be released to the public. We do have to wait because redactions are being carried out. So, his social security number won't be revealed, et cetera. But it will soon be released to the public. You know, Trump on Truth Social claimed you can't learn much from tax returns. But nor what will we be able to learn and what will you be looking out for?

ESIEN: Kristie, the House of Representatives has released just tonight, a detailed analysis almost 40 pages long of these tax returns and associated papers. It's not just the tax returns, it's other materials that the IRS has turned over under U.S. law. So, those -- that analysis raises questions about what were Donald Trump's actual assets? What was his income? What were his deductions? Did he take more deductions than he was entitled to?

Did he understate his income? And these kinds of questions about whether his deductions were properly documented? Did he follow the law? With Donald Trump it always comes down to that question. Our principle that no one is above the law. In this case, it's tax law. And I will be looking to see whether the law was broken here. His company was already found guilty in a New York court of two tax fraud charges.

And now we're going to ask the question, does that apply to Donald Trump or not? We need to study the actual returns to determine the answer to that question.

STOUT: Donald Trump looking legally vulnerable right now. Norman Eisen, we thank you so much for joining us.

EISEN: Always a pleasure.

STOUT: Still ahead. A major winter storm is growing over the U.S. Tens of millions of people are under threat. We're tracking the dangerous bomb cyclone with our meteorologist Derek Van Dam next.

[02:15:05]

Plus, the Supreme Court could soon decide the fate of Trump era border policy Title 42 of the Biden administration wants it to end but it's asking for an exception. We'll explain coming up.

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STOUT: Now a storm known as a bomb cyclone is developing right now over the U.S. and about 70 million people are under winter weather alerts. And that number is expected to grow over the coming days. Our CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam is tracking the storm for us.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. All the ingredients coming together for a blockbuster winter storm. This is a multifaceted winter storm with the potential for blizzard conditions, flash freezes and an Arctic outbreak like I've never seen before. This storm means business. We have 70 million Americans under some sort of winter weather alert stretching from the Pacific Northwest through the Great Lakes.

Note the blizzard warnings across South Central Minnesota likely to see those expanded coverage as we go forward in time. We have wind chill alerts stretching from the border of Canada all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. 75 million Americans under wind chill alerts as we speak. Here's a look at a term known as a bomb cyclone and we will certainly meet this criteria with the strengthening and deepening low pressure system associated with our storm.

[02:20:00]

Here it is in its infancy, yet it's still impacting the Pacific Northwest. It's going to gather some steam throughout the course of the day today and by the time it reaches the northern sections of Colorado, Denver, you'll see your temperature drop roughly 50 degrees Fahrenheit in a matter of a few hours from Thursday into Friday. Incredible. Cold front, moves east, we'll see our first flakes of snow fly in Chicago by Thursday, midday.

And then we start to see when the storm means business, it wraps up intensifies goes through that bomb cyclogenesis that we're talking about. And it's really the wind that is concerning here and the cold arctic air behind it because both of those are going to factor together, reduce our visibility's to near zero in many instances, we'll likely see more flight cancellations if not complete closures of airports.

This is where we anticipate the heaviest snow. Downwind from Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, Ontario and Huron, but still considerable amount of snow for places like Minneapolis, St. Louis, as well as Chicago. Now check out these forecasts wind gusts, you can spot the cold front right there as it races eastward. We're going to see the wind pickup Thursday afternoon for Chicago O'Hare but then really start to howl overnight into Friday morning.

And that is when we anticipate the worst of the storm. As it sets up shop across the Great Lakes. Temperatures are going to be very, very cold. And this storm means business. In fact, National Weather Service using terminology like life threatening wind chills where you could be outside on any exposed skin and receive frostbite in less than five minutes. 80 percent of the country. Every single state in the lower 48 will feel the arctic air and temperatures below freezing.

About 50 million Americans will actually feel temperatures below zero degrees. That's not a typo. Negative 50. That is the windchill factor. Thursday morning for Billings, Montana. More of the same for Minneapolis, Des Moines, Chicago. Look at that, negative 29. That's what it'll feel like on your exposed skin Friday morning. Do take care if you're traveling. Maybe you want to cancel your plans and rearrange those travel dates if at all possible. Back to you.

STOUT: Now two people are dead after a major earthquake rock Northern California. Authorities say the 6.4 magnitude quake hit early Tuesday morning shaking people from their sleep and damaging roads and buildings. There were also 12 reported injuries. About 15,000 homes and businesses in the area of remain without power nearly 24 hours after the quake. A state of emergency is in place allowing disaster assistance to flow into the affected areas.

The Biden administration is asking the Supreme Court to end a Trump era pandemic policy restricting migrants from entering the U.S. but not for at least a week. It is requesting the top court to reject an emergency bid by republican-led states to keep title 42. But once the policy to stay in place until next Tuesday to have time to wind down the program. Meantime, cities and states on the southern border are preparing for a massive influx of migrants once restrictions are lifted.

The Department of Homeland Security says officials have already moved more than 9000 migrants out of El Paso, Texas in the last week. And meantime, the Texas National Guard has blocked access to parts of the border near El Paso with barbed wire. This is migrants weighed on both sides of the Rio Grande. Now CNN's David Culver has more from Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If the intention of that overnight mobilization building a barricade on the U.S. side of the U.S.-Mexico border was to deter migrants, well, it seems to be doing the opposite. Almost feels like a magnet attracting folks. And it has seemed to push the original crossing which is about a half mile down to just over my shoulder back there. Folks still crossing, this time setting up what's almost going to be like a camp like setting on the U.S. side and coming together in big groups.

And you can see some of the migrants have been interacting with some of the Border Patrol officials, having conversations back and forth trying to get some clarification as to what's going to happen with the processing of those who are seeking asylum, really not getting too many answers though, at one point, one of the border agents did suggest that they get into groups according to their nationality.

Now, that's not to say that they're going to be processing anyone immediately, especially given that title 42 is still in effect and still being enforced. Meaning that the officials on the U.S. side can immediately expel a migrant on grounds of COVID prevention.

Folks, though, are determined. I mean, these are people who have traveled through very, very difficult conditions for many months through jungles, through gang-infested countries at times, and yet they're now facing this barbed wire. And if folks think that's going to stop them, well, they seem determine to go around that in some way. The officials are saying if you want to get crossing and be processed properly, you've got to go to that high bridge over there.

[02:25:02]

That is the formal crossing from Mexico into the U.S. and that's the only way that these agents here on the ground are saying that folks can get processed. A lot of confusion, a lot of uncertainty. And it seems like something that's going to be lingering for some time here. David Culver, CNN, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

STOUT: Still ahead, a polar expansion. Russia is not letting setbacks since war in Ukraine slow it down from building new bases in the Arctic Circle. How NATO's responding coming up.

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STOUT: Welcome back. Now despite the losses and ongoing setbacks in Ukraine, Moscow's military reach is continuing to expand elsewhere including building up new bases in the Arctic. CNN's Nick Payton Walsh reports.

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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Up here in the Arctic, you wouldn't get the feeling Russia's military is crippled by its catastrophic invasion of Ukraine. From Moscow, this ice quickly receding with climate change is vital to its defense and future.

[02:30:03]

These new satellite images obtained by CNN reveal the changes at key military installations over just the past year, and show that despite the damage done to Russia's military from their invasion of Ukraine, they're still expanding up near the Arctic Circle fast.

Towards the East, three radomes have been built up here at Tiksi between this October and last. Work here too over the last year on the runway in Nagurskoye Airfield far up near the Arctic Circle. And one of five new resonance and radars which they claim confined stealth jets emerging out of nowhere here.

And this new building at one radar station near in Norway emerging since June last year.

In an exclusive interview, NATO's chief is aware of the growing threat.

JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: What we see now is a significant Russian military buildup in the high North, as we see Russia reopening old Soviet bases military sites, but also testing novel weapons in the Arctic and the high north. The Arctic is vital to Russia, not only for oil and gas, but also as part of its nuclear defense.

The Kremlin is also urgently launching new atomic icebreakers to ensure it retains influence over a shorter trade route from the Pacific to Europe opened up by climate change reducing the Arctic ice cover.

WALSH: But the war in Ukraine has led to major changes on both sides. Russia sent 75 percent of its Arctic land forces to Ukraine. A senior Western intelligence official has told me, but its navy is almost untouched semi-detached from the war, they added also, after strikes on airfields deep inside Russia, jets have been dispersed around its territory some to the North, boosting effectively their presence in the Arctic. NATO is also sending its messages.

What you're seeing here looks like a normal air drop of a supply palette, but it is an unprecedented exercise over Norway by U.S. Special Forces this year, dropping off a cruise missile on a parachute. Here, it ignites. The U.S. military keen to show it can fire such arms from a cargo plane, greatly increasing its range near Russia.

Shaken by recent sabotage of Baltic Sea pipelines, NATO is now focused on protecting Norway's energy infrastructure. Now Norway, not Russia, supplies about 30 percent of the gas export to Europe.

STOLTENBERG: Since the sabotage in the Baltic Sea, we have doubled our presence with ships, with submarines, with maritime patrol aircrafts in the Baltic and North seas.

WALSH: A change unlikely to calm Moscow or reduce its footprint somewhere so close to home.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.

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KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. And just ahead, disgraced FTX founder, Sam Bankman-Fried is due in a Nassau courtroom in just a few hours for what could be the last time.

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[02:35:35]

STOUT: Welcome back. Now true to his word, Elon Musk is calling it quits as Twitter CEO. He says he will step down and abide by the Twitter poll he created where 57 percent of users voted for him to resign. First though, Musk says that he needs to identify a successor or as he put it, someone foolish enough to take the job.

Now, he also says he will continue to run Twitter software and server teams, meaning, he'll still have plenty of influence. Since acquiring Twitter less than two months ago, Musk has faced backlash over mass layoffs, the silencing of journalists and a variety of unpopular policy changes.

Sam Bankman-Fried's days in the Bahamas look to be numbered. The former CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, is expected to be back in a Nassau courtroom in a few hours for what is expected to be his final extradition hearing before being sent to the U.S.

Patrick Goldman has the story.

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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN HAVANA-BASED CORRESPONDENT: Sam Bankman-Fried is expected to have an appearance at the courthouse behind me on Wednesday, which should be if all goes according to plan, his final court appearance in the Bahamas, at least for the foreseeable future.

There has been an ongoing fight over his extradition to United States. And on Monday, he looked confused as I sat next to him in the courtroom and other spectators in the courtroom were confused as his attorneys, Bahamian attorney appeared to be on a very different page in this U.S. attorneys who had said that extradition was a likely outcome to his case.

But by Monday afternoon, Sam Bankman-Fried's Bahamian attorney said, yes, they had spoken to their client and that he had agreed to be extradited. It was unclear what happened on Tuesday why there continues to be delay. We saw attorneys going in and out of the courthouse behind me, but no clear answers about when extradition will happen until the announcement came that there will be hearing at 11:00 am on Wednesday, and then an attrition could happen as early as Wednesday afternoon.

This is the end of Bankman-Fried's stay in the Bahamas, as someone who was considered at the very top of the cryptocurrency game. He'll be leaving the Bahamas, we expect on a U.S. Federal private plane, something he's used to traveling on, but certainly in a very different manner. And when he arrives in New York, it is expected that he'll -- he will be booked there. He is facing eight charges that have convicted could lead over a century in prison. [02:40:07]

And then there will be a discussion over whether or not a he can make a bail. A judge will decide in the United States if he is a flight risk. But at this point, Sam Bankman-Fried is agreeing to go home. And we expect that an extradition hearing will be held on Wednesday, is what officials here have said. And we'll finally decide whether or not Sam Bankman-Fried will head back to United States to face the charges waiting from there.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Nassau, the Bahamas.

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STOUT: OK. It's time for a quick break. For viewers in North America. I'll have more news in just a moment. And for international viewers, World Sport is next. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.

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(WORLD SPORT)

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the party. I'm Coy Wire. This is World Sport and we've got a celebration of a lifetime happening in Buenos Aires where generations of Argentina football fans have welcomed home their first World Cup in 36 years.

Tuesday has been declared a national holiday. Lionel Messi and the rest of the team had planned to celebrate with the people, the center of the city, but it just couldn't go on as planned. We've witnessed some jaw-dropping scenes throughout Tuesday, millions, it seems, taking to the streets, culminating in absolute jubilation and pandemonium around the famous Obelisco of the Argentine capital.

Just euphoria everywhere you look. People climbing on anything they can see, there's balloons flying in the air, the flags, the shirts, it's in phenomenal, phenomenal stuff. And we believe that is someone somehow got to the top of the obelisk.

Many of these people would have heard their parents talk about the late great Diego Maradona winning it in 1986. Well, now they can say they saw Lionel Messi do it and add a third World Cup to this proud footballing nation.

Let's go now to Buenos Aires to Stefano Pozzebon and Santi Bauza, who've been there for us all week on the ground, bringing us the sights and the sounds of some of the most passionate fans on the planet.

Stefano, let's start with you. You've been out in that sun all day. The team was supposed to arrive at the celebration at noon local, it didn't go as planned. Describe the roller coaster of events and emotion that you've witnessed today. STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: Yes, he did. I mean, it's a day that really felt like a week having lived it through. We had, of course, fans, thousands of fans chanting and jumping from the very early hours from before I woke up today at 6:00 A.M. local time.

And then we had military flight -- military plane flying over the avenue. And then as soon as it was clear that the Albiceleste, the national football team on their open bus would not have been able to stream through that ocean of people behind my back and arrive here and the Obelisco. The security protocol decided to provide a helicopter and the Lionel Messi together with the head coach, Lionel Scaloni, and star, Rodrigo de Paul, flew over with a chopper, a helicopter, over the 9th of July Avenue and that was just the culmination of these a party that has been participated by over four million people.

Just imagine four million people into the streets of Buenos Aires at least even more probably to greet Messi and his teammates. And the party, let me tell you, Coy, is still going strong because I can see from here, from our vantage point, just a few floors below us, it's the floor of the 9th Avenue, and well, there are still hundreds of fans chanting, jumping and singing it and Leonel Messi and their incredible achievement, Coy.

WIRE: It's probably a good thing to players didn't actually make it there because it might be till the next World Cup that they actually were able to get out had they been there.

Santee, we've witnessed perhaps the biggest, most robust celebratory parade for a team that the sports world has ever seen. What does that say about this team, and especially the iconic, Lionel Messi?

SANTI BAUZA, ARGENTINE FOOTBALL JOURNALIST: I mean, it feels like this outpour of joy that this group of players have seen towards them. It's the ultimate signifier, perhaps of the level of connection. And that -- and, yes, just the fact that these fans have never felt so identified with a group of players from the national team, as has been the case with this particular squad.

But it's -- I feel like it's something that has been happening for a long while now. I mean, we've already seen how much the Copa America has meant to these people as well. And the fact that they've already gone on and won the whole thing, you know, the biggest trophy, the biggest price imaginable in football, and to do it for the first time for my generation and a generation above me to see it for the first time. It's something incredibly special, something that -- it's reflected in the kind of people that you saw at the celebrations.

A lot of people under 30 years old, under 40 years old, most -- the great majority of them were, you know, young people who had never seen Argentina win a World Cup before and I had never seen a trophy won by Argentina since last year. So it was a -- it was until last year, so it was -- it was unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable.

[02:50:08]

WIRE: Stefano, I want to go back to you with -- and just basically talk about what Santi has mentioned here. This celebration was a long time coming, 36 years in the making, but it's also a respite, a spark of joy for Argentine people who've been through so much recently. What can you tell us about the adversity that people have been dealing with?

POZZEBON: Yes, it's not a happy time here in Argentina. I mean, the country has been particularly hit by the inflationary spiral that resulted in -- from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Right now, the annual inflation rate here in Argentina is at over 90 percent, and that means that prices double within the year while the salary stay put.

And, of course, that means that most of the families in this country are struggling to get to the end of the month. Add to that, a good level of political polarization as deep as ever, the sitting vice president was just sentenced to six years in jail just at the beginning of December.

You can tell that the country has been divided. I think that one of the things that remained with me out of these -- of these experience of covering this World Cup and jumping into sports coverage from my normal job as a journalist in South America, it's just the sheer power of unifying -- the unification that sports has.

This is a country that is often described as divided between two very different ideas of Argentina, but today, the entire country stays together and celebrate their hero. And if you speak with the people who are still out there partying, but once politics has been swept aside, the usual trouble that every day tiredness of dealing with economic stagnation, and all of that has just been put in there in the background. The forefront is just the sheer achievement of this fantastic national football team. And the fact that they have really made our nation pride. Coy.

WIRE: Yes. As we've seen, sports so much more than just the games we see.

Santi, what has this last month been like for you, for your family, your relatives who've been fans of Argentina football going back generations?

BAUZA: Yes. It's absolutely been something really special. I feel like -- of course, the ones who probably saw the most value probably, you know, whereas the most emotional about this final, the ones that meant to it the most -- well, probably, yes, people around my age. And I'm 23 years old and I only before last year, before the Copa America had only, you know, seen frustration after frustration after frustration with the national team and, you know, a potential that was never -- that was never met. And, you know, even constant criticisms towards the national team.

And that led to a lot of fans. If you ask around the streets a few years ago, a lot of fans, even young fans, they will tell you that they will rather win the Copa Libertadores which is the equivalent of the Champions League with their own club instead of the World Cup with the national team, which is -- I mean, considering the World Cup is as big as it is, it's kind of a damning statement.

But I mean, this month has been incredibly special, not just on the way that they have connected with this team, but also the sheer outpour of joy that you see on the streets, you know, you see arguments that have been deactivated just because of the people reminding each other that they have just bought the World Cup, you know.

Expressions of love, you know, some -- an old man was watching one of the games, the semi-final from a T.V. that was at the store, he was sitting on the street and then the store gave that man a T.V. as a present for that, you know, those shows up, you know, of tightness, those shows up love that you just didn't really -- don't see every day in Argentina.

And that's all because of this World Cup and because of this connection that this national team has generated amongst the fans. It's something incredibly special and a little bit of motion for me to see. It's a -- and it feels like I wanted to have this much -- as much as long as it can, because I feel like we might never see something like this ever again.

WIRE: Well, we are certainly happy to share your joy because you are a microcosm of the Argentine people. Stefano, one last question to you. You have been a rock star there for us all week. As a journalist documenting this piece of history, what will you take from all of this?

POZZEBON: I think, Coy, just you know, as I said, the power of football, the fact that this is not just a game here in Argentina, probably more than anywhere else in the world. It's a very serious thing. It's a religion, but it's something that we have seen all across the world. Yes, there has been a controversy over the Qatar World Cup, of course. And by celebrating the power of football, there's no intention of minimizing the controversies of the day and the things that were done wrong in Qatar.

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But at the same time, you can just feel that every four years, this tournament brings the world a little closer, and in particular here in Argentina, it brought people a little closer. I also think what stays with me is just the remarkable journey off of one man, Messi himself.

I mean, he's not just the captain, he truly -- he is the symbol of this -- of this national team. He's a player that left Argentina when he was just 14, went to learn football in Spain playing for Barcelona. He could have qualified for Barcelona -- for Spain now but remain loyal to his roots and stuck with the Argentinian national team despite criticism, despite all the time that, yes, as Santi was saying, the pressure was too much and the Argentinian team misfired. But somehow they stuck with it. And in that way, they just -- they just triumph today and it makes it just that sweeter.

WIRE: All right. Thanks to Stefano Pozzebon and Santi Bauza from Argentina, troopers for us all World Cup. All right. From me and my team, we hope you and everyone watching around the world, have a wonderful one. I'm Coy Wire. This is World Sport.

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