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Republican Congressman-Elect Under Fire; Gas Price Outlook; Southwest Airlines Under Fire Over Cancellations. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired December 27, 2022 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:44]

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: Hello. I'm Abby Phillip in Washington. Thank you for being here today.

The holiday travel nightmare is inflicting more misery and frustration on stranded airline passengers across the country. More than 2,900 flights in or out of the U.S. have been canceled today already. And just one airline is responsible for 90 percent of them. And that is Southwest, passengers stuck in one city, their baggage somewhere else.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANDI ANGELO, STRANDED SOUTHWEST PASSENGER: I am traveling with my son trying to go to a family wedding in Miami. The next flight that was offered was in January. And they couldn't even get us home back to Pittsburgh.

QUESTION: Financially, this is going to take a toll. How much could you guys potentially miss out on if you guys don't get on your flight to Colorado?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, probably 30-plus-thousand dollars for a group of 10.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We come here, and they tell us our luggage is here, but they don't -- they can't give it to us. And I said, I -- we have medication. We need it. We can't pull it. We don't have the manpower.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: And to add to all of that, long ticket lines, hours and hours on hold with the airline company, and the growing reality that many who didn't make it home in time for Christmas might not even make it home for New Year's either.

President Biden moments ago tweeting this: "Thousands of flights nationwide have been canceled around the holidays, and our administration is working to ensure that airlines are held accountable."

Biden also tweeted: "If you have been affected by the cancellations, go to the U.S. Department of Transportation's dashboard to see if you are entitled to compensation."

We have our reporters on the ground. Gabe Cohen and Adrienne Broaddus us are at two of Southwest's operating bases, Baltimore Washington International Airport and Chicago Midway.

Gabe, first to you.

Gosh, these passengers are really dealing with a lot of problems here. How bad is the situation there in Baltimore?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's bad. And it just keeps getting worse, Abby.

Take a look at the board here. You can see just how many cancellations we're talking about; 63 percent of Southwest flights, that's how many they have canceled just today. Most of it was done last night. We're talking about 2,500 flights. And the bad news is, they have already went ahead and canceled nearly that same number for tomorrow, the airline telling me it could be days of this, where they're only able to fly roughly a third of their flights.

And take a look here. This is the reality for thousands of passengers, these long, brutal lines where they are just waiting to get rebooked. For those who are calling the airline, some are sitting on hold for hours just trying to get some answers.

But the reality is, many won't be able to be rebooked for days. Now, the airline, Southwest, has blamed largely winter weather for the issue, saying that, after that major storm last week, flight crews ended up stranded in the wrong city all over the country. But the reality is, Southwest is the only major U.S. airline dealing with these mass cancellations.

And the head of the pilots union for Southwest says, this is not about winter weather. This is about outdated processes and outdated I.T. at Southwest. And in a note, in a memo from the CEO of Southwest sent out on Christmas obtained by CNN, he actually acknowledged that they're dealing with some of these issues and the need to modernize.

So, now the Department of Transportation is getting involved in this, trying to look at whether or not Southwest really needed to make all these cancellations. But, look, in the short term, that is not going to make things any easier for thousands of these passengers who have been stranded.

Some are trying to get home. Some are still trying to see their loved ones for the holiday and get at least what days they can with their family members. But the reality is, they're stuck trying to get rebooked without answers -- Abby.

PHILLIP: And so many of them could potentially be waiting days more just to get a flight home.

Gabe, thank you.

Adrienne, over to you now. The frustration is, understandably, unbearable for some of these individuals, especially when it comes to lost luggage, which is not just about stuff. For some people, it's medication. It's also things that they need essentially right now.

[13:05:02]

What are you hearing?

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have heard from a variety of travelers.

And all of them, Abby, are packing patience. I want to paint the picture for you of what's happening here at Chicago Midway. We have two lines here. You're looking at the longest of the two lines here in baggage claim. All of the folks on the left side of me are waiting to file a claim, so they can retrieve their bags. The folks who were on the right side of me, their final destination was here at Midway.

So they're hoping their bags arrived safely. And they're hoping their bags are on the other side of this perimeter, including my friend who I met moments ago, Ms. Laura. She's jazzy in her bright orange. And she's been waiting for how long, sweetheart?

LAURA CROOKS, FLIGHT DELAYED: Two hours.

BROADDUS: Two hours.

CROOKS: Yes.

BROADDUS: What has your experience been like, and where were you traveling from?

CROOKS: I was traveling from Las Vegas coming home. I have been stranded ever since Wednesday. I got on a flight Saturday and got here Sunday. I was looking for my luggage, and I couldn't find it.

It's on a flight, that I got on a flight. They didn't have a captain, nor an airline steward. We stayed on that flight for two hours in Las Vegas. Then they told us that we had to get off the flight and leave our luggage. So, I don't know where my luggage at.

BROADDUS: You're hoping it's here.

CROOKS: I'm hoping that it's here.

BROADDUS: And then, if it's not, what's next for you and your family?

CROOKS: Well, I don't know. I'm just hoping and praying. And I know the lord will make a way. He made a way for me to get here safe and sound.

So I'm going to just wait it out. They're going to let me in here to see if my luggage is here. And, if not, I will just have to forget about it.

BROADDUS: So that's Ms. Laura you're hearing from.

Thanks for your time.

She has an upbeat, positive attitude. We have seen that throughout the morning. But we also heard from another passenger who was moved to tears because she was not able to get her bags, which had her medication inside. Listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CATHERINE GRIMM, STRANDED PASSENGER: Our flight was canceled.

When we got off the plane, we looked around. We waited two-and-a-half- hours. They told us, assured us that our luggage would be in Albany. My husband and I are both on medication. So we went -- she went to Albany, and they told her, there is no luggage there. And that was 6:00 last night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROADDUS: And so that was that traveler, Catherine Grim, you heard from. She and her husband left a few hours ago. They are now driving. And we were just talking to other passengers moments ago, Abby.

They're trying to find a rental car, but they're saying there are no cars available. And the ones that are available are expensive. That passenger told us it will cost her and her husband $1,600 to rent a vehicle and drive from Chicago to New York -- Abby.

PHILLIP: Really unbelievable stories from these individuals.

Gabe Cohen and Adrienne Broaddus, thank you both very much.

And moments ago, President Biden said that he will ensure that airlines are held accountable. And, as Gabe said, the Transportation Department is also saying it's going to investigate the massive number of Southwest cancellations and how that airline has managed all of this chaos.

Passengers are not the only ones who are angry. The union representing Southwest flight attendants say that the company's treatment of its own flight crews can only be described as -- quote -- "despicable." And it blames this whole meltdown on leadership.

Lyn Montgomery is the president of the Transportation Workers Union Local 556.

Lyn, there is more than weather at play here, despite the fact that Southwest is just telling folks that this is about the storm. Other airlines aren't experiencing the same volume of cancellations. And you have said that this is about management. How have they failed customers and their employees here?

LYN MONTGOMERY, PRESIDENT, TRANSPORTATION WORKERS UNION LOCAL 556: This is a deep failure of management not to have supported its I.T. infrastructure. We're a company that makes billions of dollars, yet here we are today

with an infrastructure that has obviously failed so greatly that the impact is being felt nationwide and by Southwest Airlines customers and flight attendants and Southwest Airlines workers alike.

PHILLIP: And you have described the way Southwest has treated its flight crews as despicable. We have heard the stories of passengers having to rent their own cars, maybe find places to sleep for days.

Give us some examples of what's happening with the flight crews, flight attendants and pilots.

MONTGOMERY: Yes, so flight attendants are having to wait on hold for hours and hours.

[13:10:00]

We have flight attendants sending us their screenshots of their hold times with crew scheduling, and that's taking anywhere from three hours to 17 hours just to get in touch with crew scheduling. And this is how dedicated Southwest Airlines flight attendants are. They have actually been holding that long to find out where their next hotel is, what their next assignment is.

It's been extremely challenging for them. They have had to sleep in the airports. They have had 20-hour duty days. They have not received the appropriate rest that they have needed to receive to go out there and perform their duties as aviation safety professionals.

And it's time that our CEO, Bob Jordan, assured us with an action plan, not promises, not apologies, an action plan of telling us how the I.T. systems are going to get improved, when their go-live date is going to be. And we expect them to get the best people in the world to correct this problem, because we have been telling them about it for decades.

Well, I'm sorry. We have been telling them about it for years.

PHILLIP: And, as you mentioned, I mean, the CEO, Bob Jordan, in a letter that was obtained by CNN, said that he promises to invest in better systems.

But he, as you pointed out, has made those kinds of promises in the past. Do you believe it this time? I also wonder, I mean, is this just a decision that Southwest has made about how they want to operate, packing in more than they can handle and not being able to deal with issues like a big storm?

MONTGOMERY: There's definitely a propensity to put a lot of products on the shelf, right, have a lot of flights, run them full, run the operation hot, make sure that it operates for a sunny day.

But then, when we have this inclement weather, there's no buffers in place to allow rebooking to other flights, because all the flights are full, for example. It just creates a maelstrom of issues that we can't recover from. And there's just no excuse for the nation's largest airline to be so antiquated in its systems.

PHILLIP: Lyn Montgomery, thank you so much for being here.

And there is some good news coming. There's warmer weather on the way for much of the country.

Meteorologist Tom Sater is here to give us the latest on that.

So, Tom, what are we looking at across the country? When can some of these folks find some relief?

TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh, it's already starting to move in.

L.A. had their second warmest Christmas on record at 84 degrees. Today's high is 66, so the adverse weather, in a moment, I will talk about that for the West Coast. Now, in Miami, they had their coldest at 50 degrees. They're at 71. But I want to point out Denver, 62. Look at Rapid City, 58. Last night, Rapid City had a windchill of minus-10, and their high today is 58. I mean, it staggers the imagination.

Look at all the snow. Of course, it's heavy out West. More on that in a minute, Canada as well. Don't forget about the Upper Midwest. They were hit hard with a lot of snowfall. We have been focusing, and for good reasons, on the horrific winds that accompanied the snow. Denver had their snowiest November -- or -- excuse me -- Buffalo, their snowiest November on record, now 100 inches of snow, fastest they have ever hit that.

The governor has opened up the highways in New York, but we still have some travel bans in and around Buffalo, no longer an advisory, except for Watertown, so the warning now downgraded to an advisory for those counties.

You get up above freezing, Buffalo, tomorrow, high of 39 degrees, currently at 24. But you stay above freezing, and that's good news, a lot of belting, but with rain Saturday, Sunday, starting even Friday, could really lead to some problems.

When you have a massive warm up like this heading eastward, as quickly as those temperatures drop, they're going to warm up. We could have ice jams in a lot of the poor drainage areas. And that could lead to some flooding, not to mention the pipes bursting. But this warm up for the Eastern U.S. Look at this, this is January 1 through the 5th, not only above average, but much above for the East Coast.

Now, out West, we have got an atmospheric river. Look at this water vapor imagery. It's a fire hose, not one system, not two. There are several. And, already, about 80,000 are without power in Oregon, because the winds have been so strong, with even an icing event. But now it's down towards San Francisco, and it will drop toward L.A.

Remember, all the fires we have had, not just the last year, but previous years, could really lead to some debris flows, heavy amounts of rain, heavy mountain snows. And it's not just the snow in the rain. It's accompanied by very high winds. So there will be many more, tens of thousands, that will lose power out here. And travel is going to be quite hard you get to the front range of the Rockies and areas to the West.

So you can see all of the wind warnings really bad right now, parts of Washington state, Oregon, but the excessive rainfall from Southern Oregon all the way down to Southern California. So this is going to be a problem, Abby, when you see the amount of rainfall here. Major flash flooding is going to cause some widespread travel problems.

And for the week again from New Year's on, much above out West, a little bit of rain to the south, but least some melting will take place, but please be careful with any refreezing, and, of course, the past problems that could lead to some flooding in around Upstate New York.

[13:15:04]

PHILLIP: There's a lot to be on the lookout for from coast to coast there, Tom.

SATER: Yes.

PHILLIP: Thank you so much for that.

And he admits that he lied about the resume that he ran for Congress on, but representative-elect George Santos still thinks he should be able to serve in Washington. So, do the leaders of the Republican Party agree?

Plus, the Supreme Court could issue a decision today that could make the crisis at the Southern border even worse. We all have details on that ahead.

And why more kids are making more hospital visits for mental health issues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:20:15]

PHILLIP: All right, everyone pumped the brakes on your excitement.

Just when it seemed like gas prices might keep dropping, GasBuddy is now predicting $4-a-gallon gas could be back by May.

CNN's Matt Egan got the exclusive.

Matt, not the news that we wanted, but GasBuddy did offer a little bit of a silver lining for consumers next year.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Abby, yes, there is a silver lining. And that's that gas prices are expected to be significantly cheaper next year compared to this year.

GasBuddy sees pump prices coming in at $3.49 a gallon in 2023. That's down about 50 cents a gallon from this year. That is nothing to sneeze at. It translates to the average family saving almost $300 over the course of a year. Unfortunately, though, GasBuddy is warning that 2023 is not going to

be a cakewalk. They see gas prices going back above $4 a gallon as soon as May, peaking at around $4.25 a gallon in August. That, of course, is way too high. And it would come after what can only be described as an insane year for energy prices.

Listen to what GasBuddy's Patrick De Haan told me about what we have seen this year and what's expected for next year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK DE HAAN, HEAD OF PETROLEUM ANALYSIS, GASBUDDY: You know, basically curveballs coming from every direction I think sums up 2022.

I don't think we have ever seen such amount of volatility as we saw this year. And, hopefully, as we continue to see kind of a new world we live in post-COVID and after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, hopefully, some of the uncertainty, the instability in energy markets will cool off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EGAN: Now, the war in Ukraine set off just shockwaves in energy markets.

We saw gas prices skyrocket above $5 a gallon for the first time ever. That crushed consumers. It raised all of these recession fears on Wall Street. Now, thankfully, as you can see on that chart, gas prices have come back down to earth; $3.10 a gallon is the national average right now. That's actually an 18-month low, which is pretty incredible, given everything that's happened this year.

I think that the past 12 months or so has made plain two really important things. First, people really, really care about gas prices. We see it every day when we drive by and we feel it when we fill up. And, also, it is really hard to predict anything in this economy.

Abby, you pretty much have to expect the unexpected these days.

PHILLIP: Ain't that the truth, but I'm going to go with the glass- half-full version of this; 50 cents less a gallon average is a pretty good discount for the American people after a really tough year.

Matt Egan, thank you so much for joining us with that.

And turning to Washington now, one week from today, a new Congress will get sworn in, and there will be one new face who intends to take the oath who is now admitting that he lied. Incoming Republican Congressman George Santos did not graduate from college, he did not work at Citigroup, and he did not work for Goldman Sachs, despite his resume saying that he did.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE SANTOS (R), NEW YORK CONGRESSMAN-ELECT: Did I embellish my resume? Yes, I did. And I'm sorry, and it shouldn't be done. I'm still the same guy. I'm not a fraud. I'm not a cartoon character. I'm not some mythical creature that was invented.

I'm no Washington puppet. This will not deter me from being an effective member of the United States Congress in the 118th session.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: But there's more. He falsely claimed that his grandparents survived the Holocaust. He also falsely claimed that he ran a nonprofit, and another falsehood, that he owned 13 properties. He also admitted that the Pulse nightclub shooting victims never worked for him, like he claimed that they had.

With me now is CNN political analyst Laura Barron-Lopez and CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen.

Laura, this story is really wild. But what's interesting is that Republican leaders have been kind of silent. New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik endorsed Santos. He still has her picture up on his Twitter page. Kevin McCarthy, who's vying for the speakership, has said nothing.

Is leadership going to address this at some point?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: That's a really good question, Abby.

And right now, with lawmakers gone, they're not in Washington, D.C. They have returned to their homes. They're not in session. All likelihood is that they continue to remain silent for a while. And, really, it's difficult to see Kevin McCarthy trying to take any aggressive action against this incoming lawmaker, because Santos has said that he intends to try to take his seat and be sworn in, in early January.

[13:25:02]

And, right now, Kevin McCarthy needs every vote he can possibly get to become speaker. Right now, Republicans are about to take a 222 majority to Democrats' 213. And McCarthy can only lose about four votes if he wants to become speaker.

And, right now, there are roughly five Freedom Caucus far right members who are saying that they aren't going to vote for him. So he would need Santos' vote desperately if he wants to become speaker. There are a number of Democrats who are already calling for Santos' expulsion, which would require a two-thirds vote majority in the House. They're calling for him to undergo a House ethics investigation or for him to simply resign before he -- before he's sworn in.

But, right now, he's saying he's not going to do that.

PHILLIP: And, Norm, Santos is adamant that he didn't do anything illegal.

But there are some really significant questions about false statements perhaps given to government entities, and also the curious case of his finances. He went from being not that wealthy to loaning his own campaign about $700,000? What are the red flags that you're seeing there?

NORMAN EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Abby, number one, he's filed forms making financial claims with Congress, with the Federal Election Commission.

And if those claims -- we don't know the answer yet, but if those statements, for example, about over $700,000 that he supposedly got from this business of his that he then loaned his campaign, if those are as inaccurate as the other things he said, he faces potential investigation for mail and wire fraud, for false campaign statements -- those are investigated and prosecuted often, false transfers -- so, a variety of federal legal restrictions, as well as those House ethics rules.

You're not allowed to tell these kinds of falsehoods. So those are serious red flags. If, when I was working in the White House or when I was serving as ambassador, we'd have this pattern of lies that have already been documented by any employee, they would have been immediately marched out of the building, Abby, because of the security risk.

And then, finally, myself as the child of a Holocaust survivor and a Holocaust refugee, what a terrible lie that is. What an insult to the memory of the six million that is. So...

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: Yes. Yes. I mean, he says it was a -- that he called himself Jew-ish, not Jewish. But, I mean, that's really extraordinary.

Laura, though, before we go, I mean, it seems like the response to this by a lot of Republicans is, as long as he votes the party line in Washington and apologizes, it's all fine.

I mean, do you think that this is how this could end up, that someone whose background is almost completely fabricated could just be a member in good standing?

BARRON-LOPEZ: I do.

I think that that's the point that the party has reached right now, in terms of -- we have seen in cases where members have done other things, like they appeared at white nationalist conferences, or they have made repeated racist statements, and Kevin McCarthy has decided not to hold them responsible, has actually said that he would reinstate members like that on their committees when they regain control.

And it appears as though that could be the same case for Santos. Now, Norm would know better than I do about whether or not those legal -- the potential illegalities here could prevent him from doing that. But right now, it looks as though we're headed for George Santos becoming a member of Congress and being seated.

PHILLIP: Well, we will see how this all plays out. We will have to leave it there.

Laura Barron-Lopez and Norm Eisen, thank you both.

And any moment now, the Supreme Court could issue a long-anticipated decision that will have a massive impact on the Southern border.

We will discuss with the former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:30:00]