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Thousands of Flights Canceled After Monster Arctic Storm; Multiple U.S. Cities Buried in Snow After Winter Storm; U.S. Congressman-Elect Admits He Lied on Resume; New Revelations From House Select Committee Evidence; South Korea to Expedite Launch of Military Drone Unit. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired December 27, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo live from London. Max Foster is off just for the week. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hundreds if not thousands of Americans who are stranded all across the nation are unable to get home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have no clothes. I have nothing. I want to get home. I'm beyond frustrated. It hurt because I can't see my dad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've lived here my entire life. I remember the blizzard of '77. This was worse.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anyone who declares victory and says it's over, it is still a dangerous situation to be out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

NOBILO: It is Tuesday, December 27th, 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. on the U.S. East Coast. Where thousands of people are stranded at airports after a monster arctic storm that pummeled much of the country over the holiday weekend. And if you're planning to travel into the New Year holiday, you could be impacted. Right now, the flight tracking website FlightAware shows more than 2,700 total cancellations occurred in the U.S. today and of those about 90 percent are Southwest Airlines flights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unfortunately, our next available seats for rebooking are the 31st and beyond. Once again, our next available seats for booking customers at this time are the 31st and beyond.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: That message was broadcast at a Houston airport alerting passengers that the flight was canceled with no clarity of when they would be able to reach their destinations. The Southwest meltdown left thousands of passengers stuck in major airports the day after Christmas. The chaos compounded by baggage delays, flight changes and calls for refunds. Southwest is blaming the winter storm for the mess but also admitting to issues in their operations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY MCVAY, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES SPOKESPERSON: So, with winter storm Elliott starting on the West Coast and sweeping across the East Coast, the biggest challenge that we faced was incredible delays to the point where we had to cancel flights due to snow. People getting to the airport, people leaving the airport. As the storm continued to sweep across the country it continued to impact many of our larger stations. And so, the cancellations just compiled one after another.

First and foremost, we absolutely apologize. Hospitality is I'll say number two behind the safety aspect as it should be. But we do apologize to our customers. We will do everything that we need to do to right the challenges that we've had right now. Including while we are, you know, willing to offer hotels, flight assistance, vans, whatever that looks like, rental cars to try and make sure these folks get home as quickly as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: The U.S. Transportation Department is also growing concerned and looking into the matter. Causing massive disruptions by Southwest unacceptable. Here's what the lines looked like in Atlanta on Monday as hopeful travelers checked in for flights, many of which were canceled. CNN's Carlos Suarez spoke with frustrated passengers stranded in the world's busiest airport.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The airline has canceled nearly 70 percent of the flights from Atlanta. In fact, this line behind me, these are folks that were on board one of these flights that was canceled. And I'm about to walk with you to show you to give you a sense of just how many people are in line. Just about everyone that we've talked to out here has been here for several hours. We're talking about anywhere between two to three to even four hours.

My photographer here is going to show you just how long this line goes. We're going to take a bit of a walk. It goes all the way towards that north checkpoint, makes a left and then goes right back around to the Southwest Airlines terminal. Folks here as you can see on the look on their faces, they are not happy, they are very frustrated.

MARY MENARD, STRANDED TRAVELER: My mom is in the hospital and I wanted to be there for her once she like got discharged. Unfortunately, because of the situation they are saying that the closest flight is the 29th. The call line is busy so it's giving you a busy tone. So, not being able to communicate with a single person about what you're going through or how you can fix the situation, I think that has to be the most frustrating part.

[04:05:00]

SUAREZ: She told me she traveled to take some medical exams and that she was hoping to get back well in time to spend the holiday -- the Christmas holiday with her mom. However, she was not able to.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: CNN's Lucy Kafanov has more on the frustration Southwest passengers are feeling.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wasn't anticipating a nightmare but it became a nightmare, it did.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Christmas may over but for thousands of passengers the travel nightmare goes on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They canceled our flight and they said they can't help us. So, we don't know what to do.

KAFANOV (voice-over): Southwest Airlines at the top of the list for cancelations. The airlines ticketing counter at Baltimore's BWI Airport a zoo, Denver Airport's lines for the Southwest ticket counter even longer.

JESSICA SOKOLOWSKI SOUTHWEST PASSENGER: And we have to wait in a line that was four hours and we're still in line and nobody is giving us any direction on what line to get in. It's a total you know what show here.

KAFANOV (voice-over): And for those trying to call to rebook, well, good luck getting through.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Calling Southwest, calling the airlines, they're nowhere to be found. I actually got hung up on multiple times.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The problem is that Southwest, they don't give any answer, they don't answer the phone.

JASON FRIEDE, SOUTHWEST PASSENGER: There's no option to rebook anything online. Oh, I've also been on hold for 5 hours and 43 minutes.

KAFANOV (voice-over): Passenger Jason Friede, shows us the proof.

In a statement to CNN, Southwest Airlines said it is experiencing disruptions across our network as a result of the winter storm's lingering effects on the totality of our operation.

In the wake of dangerously cold temperatures and winter weather across the nation, airlines canceling thousands of flights on Monday -- MICHAEL JUSTICE, FAMILY'S FLIGHT CANCELED: They were scheduled to fly out on Saturday and canceled flight after canceled flight until this morning now it's stand by hoping they'll get on to get home.

KAFANOV (voice-over): -- thousands more flights delayed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just delay, delay, delay, rinse and repeat.

KAFANOV (voice-over): At airports across the nation, long lines, chaos, frustrated passengers and luggage piling up.

AZIZA MUSTEFA, FLIGHT CANCELED: There is a lack of communication. There is no transparency. There's no honesty. I don't know what is going on. There's no staff. It's OK if there is no staff but we just want them to be honest with us and I could just go home. But we can't go home because we don't know where luggage is. Is it here in Atlanta, is it in Chicago? We have no idea.

KAFANOV (voice-over): Some passengers choosing to look at the bright side.

JESSICA GRAY, FLIGHT CANCELED: It was like super stressful. But, I mean, just happy that I got to see my family for Christmas, and, hey, I'm off this week, so I'll be good.

KAFANOV (voice-over): Others finding creative solutions for their journeys home.

JOHN MCCONVILLE, FLIGHT CANCELED: Instead of waiting on a maybe flight and paying through my proverbial nose for a rental car, if I'm able to get one, I called a friend of mine. I'm driving a car -- a rental cargo van down to Nashville, Tennessee.

KAFANOV: Southwest issuing a statement on Monday saying, quote, with consecutive days of extreme weather, across our network behind us, continuing challenges are impacting our customers and employees in a significant way that is unacceptable. The airline adding, quote, we recognize falling short and sincerely apologize.

But that is cold comfort for the hundreds of passengers stranded here in Denver and across the nation.

Lucy Kafanov, CNN, Denver.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: The president of a flight attendants union says the winter storm isn't to blame for all of the cancellations. Instead, she says, the problems with Southwest Airlines have dated technology.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LYN MONTGOMERY, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES FLIGHT ATTENDANT UNION REPRESENTATIVE: The same thing is happening to Southwest airlines flight attendants and flight crews. The phone systems that the company uses is just not working. They're just not manned with enough manpower in order to give the scheduling changes to flight attendants and that's created a ripple effect that is creating chaos throughout the nation.

This is not a staffing issue, this is a systems issue. Southwest airlines was staffed. Its employees were ready to go to work, but when they chose to take flights into the middle of the storm or not preemptively cancel enough flights, their systems have not been able to keep up with the rescheduling, the cancellations, the notification to crew members about those cancellations and changes in flights.

We've had flight attendants on hold for up to 12, 17 hours in some cases and unable to get hotel rooms. They've been sleeping in airports and we've also had issues with being booked, rebooking. There were some issues with the rebooking systems. This is a systems failure led by the executive leadership of Southwest airlines and it's time they make it right.

We need to see an action plan of what Southwest airlines is going to do to make sure that it can operate under a regular operations, during inclement weather, storms, hurricanes or they should make better decisions when choosing to cancel flights. We all hate to cancel flights. Nobody wants to cancel flights.

[04:10:00]

We all need to get to where we go, but if you cannot handle it and the result is that thousands of people, including customers and crew are going to be waiting hours and hours on end to find out what to do, then you should cancel preemptively.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Parts of the Northeastern U.S. are struggling to dig out from the deadly winter storm that's been tormenting the region for days. The blizzard blamed for the death of at least 27 people in Erie County, New York. Brings the nationwide death toll from the extreme weather to 49.

More than a meter of snow is smothering areas of western New York and the U.S. president has issued an emergency declaration. For Buffalo this is the snowiest ever start of the season with almost 100 inches of snow recorded since October -- that is 2 1/2 meters. State police say there are hundreds of abandoned or stranded vehicles clogging up the roads. And authorities are going car to car and door to door looking for people who need the help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER SCANLON, COUNCILMEMBER, BUFFALO, NEW YORK: I think when you're talking about the storm that hit here this week, the only word to adequately describe it is catastrophic. If we were only to receive the four or five feet of snow, if we only received a blizzard like condition or hurricane force winds, we might have been able to handle it. Only received the freezing, frigid temperatures we may have been able to handle it. But when you mix it altogether, you have a deadly storm. And as you mentioned, unfortunately, that's what we're dealing with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: In the days ahead, temperatures are expected to rise significantly across the United States. And as time Seder reports, that could lead to a new set of problems for those already hard hit in those difficult areas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM SATER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Weather wise when you look at record books of major winter storms that have had an impact on humanity. Not many in the U.S. can hold a candle to this -- 49.2 inches, that's 125 centimeters. But it wasn't just the snow, it was the winds. Low pressure equivalent to a category 2 hurricane. The whiteout conditions. 50 fatalities across the U.S., 27 in Buffalo Alone. 250 centimeters for the year, that's 98.9 inches. That's more than you typically -- they typically see in an entire year.

The Great Lakes are still warm. Once they freeze over this winter, no more lake-effect snows. So again, with that arctic surge across these lakes deposited all this snowfall, look at Ontario, they've got a larger amount of real estate covered in heavy, heavy snow.

Now everyone wants a warmup. But as fast as the temperatures drop, we don't want to see them rise. Already waterlines are breaking in every state. We've had main waterline breaks in Memphis, South and North Carolina. But with temperatures not only above average, much above, well, this is going to lead to some major flooding. And it's not just river flooding.

You toss in rain on Saturday, Sunday and Monday on top of that heavy snow with a dramatic warmup and temperatures in the 50s we're going to have water in businesses and homes. Could be a disaster. It's the last thing anyone wants.

Now out West here comes the next storm. It's an atmospheric river. It's a fire hose. Not one system, but several are going to bring in heavy amounts of rainfall, heavy mountain snows measured by the meter and the amount of rainfall that we will see will drop into southern California. Yes, we need it but this is going to lead to some major flash flooding. The hits keep on coming at least the first major winter storm in this region. A generational storm is coming to an end for now. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: The Republican Party is set to retake control of the U.S. House in just a week, but it may not be a smooth start. Kevin McCarthy struggled to secure the House Speaker position has delayed the naming of members to top committee posts. CNN is keeping a close eye on any new developments.

Republican leadership has been noticeably quiet since Congressman elect George Santos admitted that he lied about multiple parts of his resume during his campaign to become a lawmaker. Santos now confirms claims that he lied about attending university and his work experience that was published in "The New York Times." CNN's Melanie Zanona has more on be this from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Well, embattled Rep. George Santos is coming clean for the first time and admitting that he lied about two details in his resume. In interviews with both the "New York Post" and a local radio station, George Santos now says he did not work for Citigroup or Goldman Sachs even though he previously claimed he did so on the campaign trail.

Now Santos is saying he only worked for them indirectly through his companies and said it was a poor choice of words to suggest that he worked for them directly. Santos is also now saying that he never attended any college or university after previously claiming he received degrees from both Baruch College and NYU. Now he's saying he's embarrassed by this and that he basically was just embellishing his resume and that everybody does it. And he said he is not guilty of any crimes. Take a listen.

GEORGE SANTOS (R) REPRESENTATIVE-ELECT, NEW YORK: I am not a criminal. Not here, not abroad, in any jurisdiction in the world have I ever committed any crimes.

[04:15:00]

To get down to the nitty-gritty, I'm he not a fraud. I'm not a criminal who defrauded the entire company and made up this fictional character and ran for Congress. I've been around a long time. I mean, a lot of people know me. They know who I am. They've done business dealings with me. I'm not going to make excuses for this, but a lot of people overstate in their resumes, or twist a little bit or ingratiate themselves. I'm not saying I'm not guilty of that.

ZANONA: Now Santos did not address a number of other questions including about his charities, including claims he made about his heritage and questions about his financial disclosures and whether he followed proper protocols. So, there is still a lot unanswered for. He is going to face calls to not serve in Congress. And so far, GOP leaders are silent. But it's going to be difficult to avoid the topic when Congress swears the new members on January 3.

Melanie Zanona, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: The U.S. Supreme Court could rule this week on whether to keep the controversial Trump era border restriction known as Title 42 in place. The policy which allows border officials to quickly expel migrants to slow the spread of COVID was due to expire last week.

But the courts Chief Justice stepped in to put its termination on hold. And despite this, a source tells CNN that border agents in El Paso encountering as many as 1,600 migrants a day and Mexican officials say there are about 22,000 migrants sleeping in shelters, on the streets and in make shift encampments across three northern Mexico cities. And that number is only expected to grow as Title 42 remains in legal limbo.

Meantime, a new study by Syracuse University shows more than 1.5 million asylum applications are pending in U.S. immigration courts, the highest number on record.

And still to come on CNN, new revelations are emerging as we dig into all the evidence released by the January 6 Select Committee.

Plus, thousands affected as four power stations were vandalized in Washington state. We'll have the latest on the investigation.

And a new study that highlights an intellectual skill in which women tend to outperform men no matter where in the world they may live.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: The House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol attack has released more transcripts from interviews conducted during its investigation. As CNN's Sara Murray reports the latest batch of documents reveals how a key member of the Trump White House found out about the riots.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, TRUMP WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Of the entire White House --

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump's former White House press secretary --

MCENANY: The violence we saw yesterday at our nation's capital was appalling.

MURRAY: Didn't realize the full extent of the violence at the Capitol until she settled in to eat a turkey sandwich for lunch on January 6th. Kayleigh McEnany telling the January 6th committee: I initially went back to my office to eat lunch but I eventually turned up the volume on Fox News.

McEnany saying she was still piecing together what was playing out at the Capitol, not merely sitting by as the attack unfolded.

I in no way, shape or form would eat a turkey sandwich if I thought the Capitol Hill was being sieged.

How White House officials learned of rioters storming the Capitol on January 6 just one of the details emerging as the House Select Committee releases new batches of transcripts from roughly a thousand witness interviews.

REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS): The Select Committee intends to make public the bulk of its non-sensitive records before the end of the year.

MURRAY (voice-over): A separate transcript revealing how the White House crafted a press release in December 2020 calling for the firing of anyone who accepted the election results. Hours earlier, then- Attorney General Bill Barr had told the "Associated Press" there was no widespread voter fraud.

According to the draft press release: Anybody that thinks there wasn't massive fraud in 2020 election should be fired.

The press release was never sent and Barr resigned from the White House later this month. Since then, he hasn't held back in criticizing Trump's election lies.

WILLIAM BARR, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL: I was somewhat demoralized because I thought, boy, if he really believes this stuff he has, you know, lost contact with -- with -- he's become detached from reality. And I went into this and would, you know, tell him how crazy some of these allegations were. There was never -- there was never an indication of interest in what the actual facts were.

MURRAY (voice-over): The trickle of transcript revelations coming after the committee recommended that the Justice Department bring criminal charges against former President Trump.

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): There was a conspiracy to defraud the United States, to exchange an honest to goodness presidential election for a counterfeit election.

MURRAY (voice-over): Trump's legal team downplaying the committee's findings.

TIM PARLATORE, TRUMP LAWYER: The report itself is not of much value. You know, it's written by politicians for political purpose.

MURRAY (voice-over): And dismissing its criminal referrals, even as Trump faces scrutiny from a DOJ special counsel that is now investigating his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

PARLATORE: I think the referral itself is pretty much worthless. You know, the Department of Justice doesn't have to follow it.

MURRAY: When it comes to the committee, they have released their criminal referrals, they have released their final report. But so far, they have only scratched the surface when it comes to releasing all of that underlying evidence. They've released fewer than 100 transcripts and interviewed roughly a thousand witnesses. So, we have many days of more transcript revelations ahead of us.

Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Thousands of residents were impacted in in Washington state after four power substations were vandalized on Christmas day. The Pierce County sheriff's office tells CNN they haven't been able to identify a suspect or motive behind the attacks. However, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe says attacks like these aren't new.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:25:00]

ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER DEPUTY FBI DIRECTOR: Now we're looking at a domestic violent extremist community that is considering attacks on substations as a way to strike back against the government, to strike back against corporate America, to strike back against really anything that they harbor a grievance for and with the goal to kind of generate civil unrest. Right now, we just don't have any indicators on any of these recent attacks. They don't have suspects that we're aware of. We don't know if there's been any claims of responsibility or even online kind of credible claims of why these things are taking place. So, right now, they're really at ground zero in terms of the investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: In Arizona Democratic Governor elect Katie Hobbs and Maricopa County are seeking to sanction defeated candidate Kari Lake following her attempts to overturn the election. On Saturday a judge rejected the Republican candidate's lawsuit that aimed to overturn her defeat. Concluding that there wasn't clear or convincing evidence of misconduct. Last month Lake lost to Hobbs by about 17,000 votes.

And South Korean president says his country will speed up the launch of its military drone unit which will monitor North Korean military installations. The drone unit -- or ready in the works -- is getting this extra push after North Korea flew several drones into South Korean air spaces on Monday. The South Korean military tracked them for hours and one of the drones made it all the way to Seoul.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is covering this live from the South Korean capital. Paula, what more can you tell us about this and the concerns in South Korea and this particular type of warfare coming from the North?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT Well, Bianca, what we heard in the cabinet meeting this Tuesday from the President Yoon Suk Yeol was that he believed the military was not prepared, that there was a lacking of readiness when it comes to dealing with this kind of threat. And that's why he said that he wants to make sure that he speeds up the launch of this drone unit. He also managed to blame his predecessor for not having prepared against this kind of threat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YOON SUK YEOL, SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I think our people have just witnessed how dangerous it is to have North Korean policies solely relying on the North's goodwill and military agreements.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: It all started at 10:25 in the morning on Monday. That's when the military first started tracking these drones, five of them. They say that they tracked them for around five hours. Now as you say, one of them did come very close to the capital Seoul. It was just in the northern area of the Seoul metropolitan area. The other four were flying around an island off the west coast.

So, what South Korea did is they scrambled fighter jets and attack helicopters. In fact, one of those fighter jets crashed during this operation but the crew was safe according to the military. And they also sent what they called reconnaissance aircraft to the border area and into North Korean airspace to photograph some military installations.

Now also the two main airports in and around Seoul, Gimpo and Incheon stopped all takeoffs for about an hour on the military's command as this was all unfolding. So, there is concern here in South Korea.

It's not unprecedented but it is certainly unusual. It was 2017 the last time that this happened or the last time it is known to have happened. That's when they discovered a crashed North Korean drone which appeared to have been filming and taking photos of a U.S. built missile defense system in the country. A similar situation in 2014 when they found a crashed drone. Those were fairly basic drones. They were a fairly crude sort of camera taped on to a drone.

We're waiting to hear how much more sophisticated they may be now. We understand from the military they're less than two meters long. But certainly, that is something that will be concerning South Korea if North Korea is making great inroads into their drone technology -- Bianca.

NOBILO: Completely concerning. Paula Hancocks, thank you so much. Always good to hear from you live in Seoul.

And still to come on the program, stranded at the airport with nowhere to go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard someone say over the intercom not to expect to get a flight within the next four days. So, that's definitely not what I wanted to hear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: It's the reality for thousands of travelers across the U.S. We'll have the latest on how winter weather dealt a blows to U.S. airlines the day after Christmas.

Plus, after nearly three years of restrictions, China is easing entry rules for foreign travelers. Details on the major COVID policy shift.

[04:30:00]