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Female Students in Afghanistan Stripped of Education; Biden to Deliver Christmas Address from White House; Once in a Generation Storm Crippling Holiday Travel; Records Contradict Congressman-Elects Claim Grandparents Fled Holocaust. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired December 22, 2022 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: The Taliban are cracking down further on Afghan women's rights. They have suspended now all university education for women until further notice and have now reportedly ordered some schools for girls to be shut down. The announcement led to protests near Kabul University. Women marchers could be heard chanting either everyone or no one, and one for all.

Earlier Secretary of State Anthony Blinken underscored his support for the women of Afghanistan and said there would be consequences to the Taliban if they do not change course.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: What they've done is to try to sentence Afghan women and girls to a dark future without opportunity, and the bottom line is that no country is going to be able to succeed, much less thrive if it denies half its population of the opportunity to contribute. Any prospect that the Taliban seeks for improved relations with the world, with the international community, which is something that they want, and we know that they need, that is not going to happen, if they continue on this course.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CNN's Nada Bashir is here with more. What are the reasons, if any, that the Taliban government are giving for doing this?

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, look Victor, for the first time since that announcement on women's university education in Afghanistan was made on Tuesday, we have now heard directly from the Taliban's minister for high education, Neda Mohammad Nadeem. He spoke a little earlier today giving a press conference on this issue and said that the Taliban had come to this decision based off of violations of the Taliban's Islamic values in his words. Namely dress code violations by female university students and also what we described as unsanctioned interaction between men and women at universities. Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NEDA MOHAMMAD NADEEM, TALIBAN MINISTER FOR HIGHER EDUCATION (through translator): Those female students going to universities were instructed to obey full hijab which was also not implemented unfortunately. Islamic emirate was looking that this may be implementing today or tomorrow, but unfortunately after 14 months, it didn't happen. Girls were going to universities with clothing like women go to wedding parties.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASHIR: Look, Victor, this is not the first time we've seen the Taliban enforcing their strict restrictions on education. In fact, since their take over last year, we have seen women's rights and freedoms being eroded on all fronts. Back in March we saw secondary school girls, that is sixth grade and above being told that they weren't allowed to return to secondary school despite months of closure.

And now in a concerning new development we have learned from three principals from three separate girls' schools in Kabul that they were ordered by Taliban officials to close the schools indefinitely. Now it is worth noting that the schools are currently closed for break until March which is the beginning of the new academic year. But this is a concerning development and it's still unclear how far reaching this policy will be.

And of course, we have seen frustration and anger both within Afghanistan and beyond in response to these new restrictions. We've seen protesters taking to the streets. University students and women activists protesting in quite a remarkable show of opposition on the streets of Kabul.

But we've also seen widespread condemnation from the international community. As you heard there from Secretary Antony Blinken, but also other members of the international community, the United Nations, the G7 nations and the European Union. Human Rights Watch has described this as a shameful decision.

BLACKWELL: Nada Bashir, thank you.

President Biden is getting ready to deliver what the White House is calling a Christmas address just a short time from now. CNN's Phil Mattingly is standing by at the White House. So, what are we expecting to hear from the president -- Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, this will be a little bit of an assessment of where things stand heading into the new year. And I think comes at a time in the wake of a historic day here at the White House yesterday, on Capitol Hill as well, with the visit with President Zelenskyy, as it looks very clearly that his significant $1.7 trillion spending package is on the pathway to passage.

[15:35:00]

We're looking at closing out a year for the White House officials, they viewed as particularly when you compare it back to maybe January of this year where much of the legislative agenda seemed dead. They felt like they were in pretty bad shape economically, and there were very real political questions going into what was going to be a midterm year. The president and his team feel like they're in a much better place right now. Something that was underscored by some of the economic numbers we've seen over the course of the last couple of weeks including the GDP revision earlier today.

We're going to see an element of looking back a little bit, by also looking forward, and perhaps most importantly where things stand right now. And you can just see it over the course of the last two to three weeks at the White House. The fact that people are gathering, and yes, COVID is absolutely still an issue to some degrees. White House officials acknowledge that, but this has been the same White House that's had holiday party after holiday party after holiday party. Something I think everybody after the last two years was looking forward to and something the president may reference here in about 30 minutes -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, we'll look forward to it. Phil Mattingly, thank you very much.

WNBA star Brittney Griner has written a letter to her supporters after her release from a Russian penal colony. She posted a photo of the handwritten letter on Instagram. In it she thanked fans for their support and urged them to write to Paul Whelan. The former U.S. Marine still detained in Russia. Here's a portion of it.

I hope you will join me in writing to Paul Whelan and continuing to advocate for other Americans to be rescued and returned to their families. Russia refused to include him in the deal to free her, calling the deal one or none.

Newly elected House Republican George Santos is facing some serious questions over a multitude of holes in his resume and allegations he lied about his life story. We'll tell you about those glaring discrepancies ahead.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: We're just getting this in. Wisconsin's Governor Tony Evers has signed an executive order declaring an energy emergency in the state because of the winter storm. This nationwide storm is already impacting airports, more than 2,000 flights have been canceled today. CNN's Derek Van Dam is in the severe weather center. Derek, what are you seeing?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Victor, you know, some of the major cities are about to get this kind of a gut punch as this arctic blast literally can moves in. So, let's time it out for people right now. Let's say you're in Nashville. It's about 50 degrees. We want to pay attention to this temperature here, and the windchill that of course, is what it feels like on your exposed skin, and what I'm going to do is advance this here about six hours, just before midnight. There comes the arctic air crashing in, and we drop a whopping 30 degrees, and that's not as extreme as some of the other locations. We had a 43-degree temperature drop in Colorado and in Wyoming yesterday, just incredible.

So, now let's start paying attention to Atlanta because overnight and into Friday morning, that's when your temperatures start to plummet very quickly so you can see how this advances east ward. This is dangerous cold, and when we're talking about windchill values, negative 70 and some locations across the plains, that means that the potential for frostbite exist, certainly -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: Derek Van Dam for us there. Thank you, Derek.

New York's Republican Congressman-elect George Santos says that next week he will address questions about the recently uncovered discrepancy in his resume and the ones discovered in his life story. Santos claimed his grandparents fled the holocaust, changed their names and converted to Catholicism to escape Nazism. But genealogy records reviewed by CNN, they contradict those claims. CNN national correspondent Jason Carroll has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE SANTOS (R), NEW YORK CONGRESSMAN ELECT: Look, as I always joke, I'm Jew-ish.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Throughout his campaign, Republican Congressman-elect George Santos would refer to himself as half Jewish or a Latino Jew, often telling his grandparents' story. How he says they survived the holocaust as Ukrainian Jewish refugees and converted to Catholicism changing their surname to survive. Here's how Santos explained it just last month in an interview with the "Jewish News Syndicate."

SANTOS: I'm very proud of my grandparents' story. My grandfather fleeing Ukraine fleeing Stalin's persecution, going to Belgium, finding refugee there. Marrying my grandmother and then flee Hitler going to Brazil. That's a story of perseverance.

CARROLL (voice-over): It's a story that may not be true. His misrepresentations of his family history first reported by the Jewish publication "The Forward," and his story contradicted by numerous sources reviewed by CNN's K-file. Records from the Holocaust Museum, and the International Center on Nazi Persecution which keeps records on Jewish refugees shows no mention of Santos' grandparents.

One genealogist who helped research Santos' family tree at CNN's request said there's no sign of Jewish and/or Ukrainian heritage, and no indication of name changes along the way.

SANTOS: I'm so proud to be able to keep our family going forward and showing that not only did we survive, but now I'm able to go advocate and fight for other Jewish people.

CARROLL (voice-over): Santos has not responded to CNN requests about his family history, and discrepancies with his resume and biography. SANTOS: People are perplexed. They're asking me, how can somebody

possibly tell this scale of lies and get elected?

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CARROLL (voice-over): Among the seeming representations first detailed by the "New York Times" and confirmed by CNN, Santos' biography has at times claimed he earned degrees in finance and economics from Baruch College and New York University. CNN found he also said in at least two separate interviews he received an MBA from NYU.

SANTOS: Today I stand very proud with a bachelor's and master's degree, all New York, educated Baruch College and NYU for my MBA.

CARROLL (voice-over): A spokesman for NYU telling CNN something different. The university records do not reflect anyone with that name having attended NYU.

While a spokesperson from Baruch College cannot find anyone with his name or birthday ever attending the school. The record of his work history also murky. His campaign bio mentioned stints at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Neither Citigroup nor Goldman Sachs have any records of his employment.

Santos listed on his 2022 financial disclosure, a salary of $750,000 and claimed he made the same amount last year. Income, he says he earned from the Devolder Organization which he says is his family's firm. A search showed the firm was registered in Florida last year. The state temporarily deemed it in active for failure to file required annual reports. CNN found Santos' filed the required report Tuesday.

Santos's attorney said Santos represents the kind of progress that the left is so threatened by a gay, Latino immigrant and Republican who won a Biden district in overwhelming fashion. The Nassau County Republican committee chair all the issues being raised serious. Adding, every person deserves an opportunity to clear his or her name in the face of accusations, and I look forward to the Congressman- Elect's responses to the news report.

SANTOS: My parents came to this country in search of the American dream. Today I live that American dream.

CARROLL (voice-over): Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, thank you, Jason.

So, this historic winter storm is bringing a wave of bitter cold and millions of Americans coast to coast are cranking up the heat, but the price of doing that is going up. We'll break down the costs of keeping warm, next.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLACKWELL: U.S. stocks tumbling today after a stronger than expected GDP for the third quarter. Investors are worried the Fed will continue to raise interest rates in light of the final reading. CNN as Matt Egan is with us now to break down the numbers. So, what's the reaction on Wall Street?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Victor, Wall Street is not happy. And this is a classic case of good news for main street being traded by bad news at Wall Street. That's because the better the economic news, the more that investors fear that the Fed is going to have to keep raising interest rates and that is what investors are most concerned about right now.

I think the good news is, that even though the Dow is down almost 400 points, 1.2 percent, you can see in the chart, we're actually well off the worst levels of the day. At one point the Dow was down 800 points. Look at the Nasdaq now. Nasdaq off by around 2 percent. So, significantly more, but also well off its worst levels of the day.

Let me run you through some of the economic numbers. Because we did get good news this morning. Turns out the economy grew faster than we realized this summer. Q3 GDP coming in at 3.2 percent. That's pretty solid. That is well above the government's original estimate of 2.6 percent. And it is a nice rebound after back to back quarters of negative GDP to start off this year.

And then let's talk about the jobs market, because, you know, you and I have spoken a lot about these layoffs that we've seen in tech and media. But in a lot of ways that's not showing up in the government statistics. Initial jobless claims they remain very low. They're around a two-month low. That is a sign that a lot of bosses, they don't want to let go of the workers they have, because they're worried that they won't be able to get new ones. We have a worker shortage right now. And so, that is a good sign.

And I think if you zoom out it looks like in a lot of ways this economy has been able to take a lot of punches this year, right. I mean, the war in Ukraine, higher inflation, these monster interest rate hikes from the Fed. And yet if you look at today's numbers, nothing about today's numbers suggest an eminent recession.

BLACKWELL: Yes. What Christine Romans calls it the "yes, but economy." We're seeing a lot of that in these latest numbers. So, let's talk about this storm that's here now -- I was going to say coming, but it's here now. And what it's going to cost. A lot of people are going to have to crank up the heat. Where are they and how much is it going to cost -- the storm going to cost us?

EGAN: Yes, well, cranking up the heat is going to unfortunately be a lot more expensive this winter. You know, even before this storm, experts were warning about sticker shock when it comes to heating your home. That's in large part because natural gas prices have soared. And natural gas is the most popular way to heat homes. So, if you look on the screen we see natural gas, if you rely on natural gas to heat your home, the government is estimating that it's going to be 25 percent more expensive this winter than last winter. Heating oil, 45 percent. Now, the key, though, is that that is just sort of the base forecast.

If temperatures are colder, then you're going to see even higher costs here. 10 percent colder winter would mean natural gas, home heating costs, 37 percent more expensive. Heating oil, 52 percent more expensive.

BLACKWELL: Wow.

EGAN: Yes, it's going to be more expensive, but listen Victor, hopefully, we get the cold weather out of the way and we move on to warmer weather.

BLACKWELL: Just keep it moving. Keep it moving.

EGAN: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Matt Egan, thank you.

EGAN: Thanks, Victor.

[15:55:00]

BLACKWELL: So, it's one of the busiest travel days of the year, but more than 2,000 flights already cancelled today as a once in a generation winter storm -- as we just talked about -- is blanketing this country. The latest on bitter cold, harsh conditions just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: All right, so we're not doing doggy bags anymore. There's a more discrete way to take food from parties. You can do it on the sly. Hefty has now designed a snack scarf. Yes, it's a secret little pocket in a scarf there. You can store some food there, has a storage bag to tuck away leftovers. But not really leftovers, you're just taking food from people's houses.

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Hefty says the bags will not leak. They're strong enough to hold heavy snacks and will keep leftovers fresh and the partygoer warm. So, you get your little barbecue meatballs, and you just stuff them in the pocket there and it keeps you warm. There's even a gallon size scarf for people who want to take chicken sandwiches. Thank you, Hefty.

"THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts right now.