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Thousands More Flights Canceled Amid Airline's Struggles; Over 50 Inches of Snow Pile Up in Buffalo, New York; January 6th Transcripts Reveal New Details; Title 42 and America's Migrant Crisis; Alexey Navalny Says He's Being Injected with an Unknow Drug. Aired 4- 4:30a ET

Aired December 28, 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 has the day off. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is absolutely insane.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The next flight that was offered was in January, and they couldn't even get us home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're optimistic to be back on track before next week.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She saw Mark Meadows burning documents in his office fireplace.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That adds to the accumulation that suggests crimes were committed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Supreme Court said that a public health authority known as Title 42 will remain in effect.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is just a band aid on a broken immigration system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

NOBILO: It is Wednesday, December 28th, 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in Washington.

The massive travel delays impacting thousands of Americans are expected to continue for the next few days causing a ripple effect into the New Year's weekend. Southwest Airlines has already canceled more than 4,500 flights for today and tomorrow. The carrier's CEO apologizing for the meltdown. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB JORDAN, CEO, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES: I want everyone who is dealing with the problem we've been facing, whether you haven't been able to get to where you need to go or you're one of our heroic employees caught up in a massive effort to stabilize the airline to know that we're doing everything we can to return to a normal operation. And please also hear that I'm truly sorry.

With a large fleet of airplanes and flight crews out of position in dozens of locations and after days of trying to operate as much of our full schedule across the busy holiday weekend, we reached a decision point to significantly reduce our flying to catch up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: The Southwest fiasco has left thousands of passengers stranded at airports waiting in long lines for hours just to find out it could take them several more days for them to get where they're going. Mountains of unclaimed luggage is piling up in several airports and the U.S. transportation secretary says he'll be holding the airline accountable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: Meltdown is the right word. This is an unacceptable situation. You look at the number of passengers who are stranded and you look at how hard it is even to get somebody on the phone to address it. From what I can tell, Southwest is unable to locate even where their own crews are, let alone their own passengers, let alone baggage. This really has to do with decisions and choices in terms of the investments that this airline has made or failed to make over the years that seem to be catching up to them now.

What's really concerning here is that while all of the other parts of the aviation system have been moving towards recovery and getting better each day, it's actually been moving in the opposite direction with this airline. Obviously, we'll follow through and we will use our authority to issue fines if that's what it takes to get something done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: We like thousands of others wanted to know why every other airline has been able to recover from last week's winter storms but Southwest is still struggling. So, we sent our Gabe Cohen to find out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The meltdown at Southwest Airlines just gets worse.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a total you know what show here.

COHEN (voice-over): Southwest canceling more than 2,500 flights on Tuesday. More than 85 percent of all U.S. cancellations. Thousands of passengers stranded at airports still hoping to see family or struggling to get home.

PAM SHELBY, STRANDED SOUTHWEST CUSTOMER: They said keep checking back but they said there probably won't be anything until Saturday.

COHEN (voice-over): 72-year-old Pam Shelby has been sleeping at Baltimore's airport since Saturday when her connection got canceled.

SHELBY: And I doze off every once in a while, but other than that, I mean, you know, I really haven't gotten any good sleep. I'm scared I'm not going to get out of here.

COHEN (voice-over): Southwest blames last week's winter storm for the chaos with flight crews stranded in the wrong cities. But the Southwest Pilots Association says there's more to Southwest problems than ice and snow.

MICHAEL SANTORO, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES PILOTS ASSOCIATION: The storm that hit last week was the catalyst to this, but what went wrong is that our IT infrastructure for our scheduling software is vastly outdated.

[04:05:00]

COHEN (voice-over): Southwest executives acknowledge that in a message obtained by CNN, saying, quote, matching up those crew members with the aircraft could not be handled by our technology. Our system today cannot to that.

SANTORO: They don't know where we are. They don't know where airplanes are.

COHEN (voice-over): Travelers stuck in snaking lines or on hold for hours.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Phone calls were busy. You couldn't get ahold of anybody. It was awful.

COHEN (voice-over): Customers also trying to track down their luggage. Pam says she's diabetic and needs the medicine in one of her bags which may be at a different airport.

SHELBY: I'm scared that I could go into a diabetic shock.

COHEN (voice-over): Christmas with family never happened. Now she's just trying to get home.

SHELBY: I love my family. I really had my hopes up that I was going to be able to see them. And it hurts.

COHEN: Now Southwest officials say they are offering affected customers a full refund or a flight credit. They've even created a website to try to make that process a little bit easier. But some of the lines to rebook are still hours long and the wait to reach customer service is even longer in a lot of cases. Some travelers telling me Southwest can't rebook them until January. Gabe Cohen, CNN, Baltimore, Maryland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Passengers flying in the United States have certain rights when their flights are canceled or delayed. We asked the transportation secretary what people are entitled to and how the airline should be responding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUTTIGIEG: Another thing you should know, is that when in the situation and the airline is responsible -- which is clearly the case right now -- then you can get those kinds of vouchers for hotels, restaurants. But what I talked about with Southwest CEO is that a passenger shouldn't have to request that. They need to be proactively offering that. He pledged that they would and again we'll be watching to make sure that they follow through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: It's finally stopped snowing in Buffalo, New York, and warmer temperatures are expected across the region. All this snow piled up will start melting today and officials are worried about possible flooding. This is Buffalo's all-time snowiest start to the season. The city has been smothered with nearly 52 inches of snow since Friday and since October more than 100 inches which is more than 2 1/2 meters.

The big right now is clearing the roads to get critical supplies to those in need and to reach people who could still be stranded by these huge snowbanks. The blizzard has already claimed more than 30 lives in Erie County and that number is likely to grow as emergency crews reach people they couldn't get to before.

One of those victims is a 22-year-old woman who was found dead over the weekend after getting trapped in her car. This is the last known video that Anndel Taylor recorded while still alive. Her family says that she worked as a senior citizen center and was only a six-minute drive from her home when she became stranded in the whiteout conditions. Her family said she called 911 but help did not arrive and they're waiting for answers from the authorities.

Some of those who were saved, whether by emergency crews or good Samaritan snowmobilers, are speaking out about their close calls and so are their rescuers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM KLESS, SNOWMOBILE RESCUER: It was wind blowing. He's got ski masks.

The people that I saved were like this. You couldn't even see them. They onto the back of me and hang on for the ride, you know, and we got them back safe.

EDDIE PORTER, RESCUED BY BUFFALO SNOWMOBILER: And I've been there. I thought I was dead. Where was I going to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: A new batch of witness transcripts reveals more information about the January 6 committee's insurrection investigation. They include allegations of burning documents, discussions of a QAnon conspiracy. An off the books meetings during the presidential transition. Jessica Schneider has this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: We are now seeing the intricate details of all four times that Cassidy Hutchinson testified before the committee. The last time in June 2022 really the most illuminating because by that point she left her Trump world attorney for a neutral counsel who told the committee that she needed to correct some of her previous testimony to clear up the record about what she had previously said. And the details that she gave are indeed damaging.

So, first off, she told the committee that she saw Mark Meadows burning documents in his office fireplace about a dozen times, which she says amounted to about once or twice a week between December 2020 and January 2021. And that at least twice she saw Meadows burning documents after meetings with the Republican Congressman Scott Perry who was ultimately subpoenaed by the committee but never complied.

In addition to that, Hutchinson also told the committee how discussions about some QAnon conspiracy theories really permeated the White House after the election. She said Mark Meadows brought it up.

[04:10:00]

Also, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, she made mention of this far right wing political movement that of course, has those outlandish conspiracy theories.

And then Cassidy Hutchinson said that she had this exchange with White House trade advisor Peter Navarro.

And at one point I had sarcastically said, oh, is this from your QAnon friends, Peter? Because Peter would talk to me frequently about his QAnon friends. And he said, have you looked into it yet, Cass? I think they point out a lot of good ideas. You really need to read this and make sure the chief sees that.

And then when she was asked by Vice Chair Liz Cheney if Navarro was being sarcastic. Hutchinson said, I did not take it as sarcasm.

So, in addition to that we are also getting new details from Deputy White House Press Secretary, Judd Deere, he told the committee that he heard gossip the week after the 2020 election from some of his colleagues at the White House that Trump in fact was considering conceding and even considering inviting the Bidens to the White House. Judd Deere told committee here that he was looped in on this, on these conversations because he is the one who would have been arranging the press access for any sort of visit for the Bidens. So, obviously neither of those things happened. Of course, instead, Trump refused to concede and held onto those claims of a stolen election.

Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Legal experts say former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows could find himself in trouble over those claims that he burned documents in the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN DEAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, that sounds like somebody who wants documents that can never be discovered by anybody. I don't know if they're notes he made. Memos he received. We don't have any idea what they are. But Mark Meadows has been around long enough to know that if this ever came to -- push came to shove and a criminal investigation was launched, he might be in the sights of obstruction for that activity. We'll need to know more before that is apparent, but it's a very dangerous act, particularly since they're government documents.

NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It's not just burning the documents. A couple of those episodes were after Meadows met with Congressman Scott Perry. We know he's in the Justice Department's bull's eye. They seized his phone. That's another bad sign. And then there's keeping the meeting secret. Keeping them on the QT. So, there's a lot of evidence here that is troubling, and it adds to the accumulation that suggests crimes were committed. Meadows is one of those DOJ is making -- receiving criminal referrals from the committee on, and now we know more why.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: And perhaps more legal trouble could be coming from Donald Trump. A source tells CNN the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee will be releasing the president's former personal tax returns on Friday. The highly anticipated release comes after the committee last week asserted that the IRS failed to properly audit the former president's taxes while in office. The committee released a report that detailed six years' worth of Trump's tax returns including his claims of massive annual losses that significantly reduced his tax liability.

The legal wrangling over a Trump era border policy has left thousands of migrants at the U.S./Mexico border in limbo. On Tuesday the U.S. Supreme Court decided to temporarily leave in place Title 42. That allows officials to expel migrants at America's southern border after 19 Republican led states filed a lawsuit. And with no clarity on when Title 42 will be lifted, migrants are wondering when they'll be able to seek asylum. Well then Biden administration had hoped to end the controversial policy, the White House says it will comply with the ruling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The court is not going to decide until June apparently and, in the meantime, we have to enforce it. But I think it's overdue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: The White House is also calling on lawmakers to solve the challenges at the border with bipartisan immigration reform and issued this statement.

Title 42 is a public health measure, not an immigration enforcement measure, and it should not be extended indefinitely. To truly fix our broken immigration system, we need Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform measures like the ones that President Biden proposed on his first day in office.

CNN's Layla Santiago is in El Paso Texas where migrants are reacting to the Supreme Court's decision.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There was a bit of a disappointing mood in conversations that I had with many of the migrants here. There was one mother who told me she was fleeing violence in Venezuela and she took months bringing herself as well as her two young children, including a toddler all the way here. Said that they had been robbed in Mexico and that her intentions have been to cross into the U.S. legally but because of title 42, she was sent back.

[04:15:00]

So, hearing that that remains in place for many of these migrants, not just as mother. Many of them I actually spoke to kind of echoed that same sentiment. Because as you can see behind me, these are migrants that have nowhere to go at this time. The city says that they have capacity at shelters but many of these migrants say that they fear getting on any sort of bus not knowing exactly where they will end up not having trust in any sort of individual who may be trying to help them.

So, the city is saying that this is an issue trying to find a place where they can put some of the migrants that have come up that are refusing to go into shelters and staying on the sidewalk here. Where you will see children and toddlers under blankets sleeping overnight.

The other big thing that the city is also continuing to do, is they are moving ahead with their contingency plans. They are working on two vacant schools to serve as potential shelters in the future. Because despite this decision from the Supreme Court that keeps Title 42 in place, they still expect to have a lot of migrants because of what they're seeing across the border. Seeing a lot of migrants just waiting for their moment to enter into the U.S. whenever that may be.

I did speak to one shelter who said to me -- an organizer at one of the shelters who said that said he, too, was disappointed with this decision seeing this was something that could extend the bottleneck that they're seeing and put unsustainable pressure on law enforcement on the border. But for Republicans, this is a win. The Republican states that escalated this legal fight, this is a win for them. Governor Greg Abbott here in Texas was very quick to tweet when this was announced.

Layla Santiago, CNN, El Paso, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Still to come, analysts predict a summer spike in U.S. gas prices. We'll hear from an expert about how high they could go.

Plus, online returns could cost you more after the holidays. Why some retailers are were charging extra to send things back.

Then a high profile opposition leader is speaking out from prison. We'll tell you about the claims Alexey Navalny is making through a series of tweets. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: Trading gets underway on Wall Street in just a few hours and U.S. markets are looking for some momentum. As you can see an entirely mixed picture there so we'll keep an eye on it for you.

And if you're planning on returning the unwanted holiday gift, you may be better off just keeping it. Retailers like J. Crew, H&R and Abercrombie & Fitch are charging up to $7 to return items that you bought online. And it's all part of a new strategy to cut the cost of returns and get rid of old stock. The U.S. National Retail Federation says customers have sent back $816 billion worth of merchandise this year putting a strain on retailers to process all of those returns.

U.S. gas prices could shoot back up to $4 a gallon as soon as May. That's according to an analysis by GasBuddy. If all goes as expected, analysts say that the U.S. could avoid the wild swings in prices seen earlier this year. CNN's Matt Egan has this exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT EAGAN, CNN REPORTER: Hey, Bianca. There is definitely some good news here. GasBuddy is predicting prices at the pump will average $3.49 a gallon next year. That is a significant decrease from $3.99 this year. To put this in real terms, if they're right, this would translate to families spending almost $300 less on fuel than they did in 2022.

The bad news though is that gas prices could get back above the dreaded $4 level this spring and summer as people drive more and refineries switch over to summer fuel. That summer gas is better for air quality but it also costs more to produce. And GasBuddy is projecting that the national average will climb from $3.10 a gallon today to as high as $4.05 a gallon in May and could even hit $4.25 in August. That is uncomfortably high. Listen to what GasBuddy's Patrick De Haan told me about what people should expect for next year.

PATRICK DE HAAN, HEAD OF PETROLEUM ANALYSIS, GASBUDDY: 2023 is not going to be a cake walk for motorists. It could be expensive and it could be made either better or worse depending on the luck of the draw. That is refineries have been a tremendous story of importance this year. And if anything should disrupt refineries, we could again be seeing prices that are unseasonably high.

EGAN: But beyond refineries, there's a lot of swing factors that we need to pay attention to. For example, if Russia's oil flows gets interrupted, or a hurricane knocked out key facilities, gas prices could surge. On the other hand, if the economy stumbles and ends up going into a recession, you could see gas prices stay low.

Thankfully GasBuddy is not expecting a return to the $5 gas that we saw in June. Patrick De Haan from GasBuddy he told me that $5 gas, that is improbable, though he conceded it's not impossible.

Remember, five dollars gas crushed consumers and it set off recession fears. Of course, since then prices have plunged and they're currently sitting at 18-month lows which is pretty incredible given everything that's happened. Hopefully after a year of painfully high prices at the gas pump and at the grocery store, 2023 brings some lasting relief to consumers -- Bianca.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Thanks, Matt.

The Kremlin is trying to ban oil sales to any country or legal entity where the price cap is directly or indirectly written into the contract for the sale. Russia says President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Tuesday. It's a move seen as largely symbolic. Countries have implemented a $60 per barrel cap on Russian crude have largely already ban the import of Russian oil due to the invasion of Ukraine. The price cap policy is aimed at Moscow's remaining oil buyers and companies that provide shipping insurance and other services.

[04:25:00]

And Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny says he's been injected with an unknown drug while being held in a high security prison. The prominent Putin critic made the claim in a series of tweets on Monday. He says it's part of efforts to withhold medical information from him as he's battles worsening back pain. Joining us now with more to discuss both of these stories is Clare Sebastian. Clare let's start with what Russia has presented in this decree, the response to the Western price. Who is this going to hurt? And what's the intention behind it?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is something that Russia had openly said all along that it was going to do, that it just wasn't going to sell its oil to anyone with the price cap. And now we have the decree from President Putin. I wouldn't say it quite lives up to the rhetoric. There's not a lot of teeth in this one.

The actual wording if you read it says, any contract where the sale is directly or indirectly provided for the use could affect price maybe suggests you could have a contract where it doesn't mention it even if the price is under the limit. Plus, it's temporary, it comes into force in February and expires in July of next year. And there's a clause in the decree that the president any time he wants potentially can grant a waiver, can allow a sale to go through. You know, even if it violates the terms of the decree and goes under the price cap.

So clearly, I think Russia does not want to shoot itself in the foot and cut off its oil exports at a time when it is ramping up its military spending. I think that's clear. And it also shows that perhaps the G7 and the EU plan is working the way they set the price cap at the level in which they set it. It means Russia most likely will continue to produce oil close to its current level.

NOBILO: And now let's turn to the horrifying reports that I just mentioned about Alexey Navalny and his treatment in prison and what he claims being injected with an unknown substance. What do we know about how he is being treated?

SEBASTIAN: Well, we only know what he is saying on social media at the moment. It's been impossible to verify the reports and we haven't had a response here from the Russian government.

But essentially, he's saying they are trying to use his health as a way to pressure him. Have a look at this from a series of tweets that he put out.

He said: See how the system works when you are not allowed to beat up a person but your leadership orders you to hurt them badly. For example, he says, I have a problem with my spine. It is clear what one has to do to make the problem worse, keep me immobile as much as possible.

He reported in November that he had been put in a sort of cell type room separate from the barracks that people usually live in in the penal colony. His daughter, Daria Navalnaya, December saying that he was only allowed to sit on a sort of iron stool when his bed was fastened to the wall for most of the day. So clearly, this is aggravating his back problems. He demanded to see a doctor. He had to file a request.

Then he said he was injected with this unknown substance. No one knew -- no one told him what it was. They said it might be B vitamins, but it didn't help. And then after that he tried to see his medical records. He filed a request. The when they arrived, they were mostly illegible. But he continues to fight against his treatment in prison and he continues to openly criticize the war in Ukraine -- which is of course what the Russian government is trying to stop him from doing.

NOBILO: Clare Sebastian, thank you so much.

Still to come --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She says that she thought that her daughter was going to die overnight because it was so cold. They had just crossed the river. They were wet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Thousands of migrants are wondering what's next following the Supreme Court ruling on Title 42. We'll have more reaction from them coming up.

And the Northeastern U.S. is getting a break from the blizzards but the West Coast is facing a strong new storm and the households are losing power.

[04:30:00]