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GOP-Rep.-Elect's Finances & Resume Lies Now Under Investigation; New Weekly Jobless Numbers Rise, Stock Markets Going Up; Vatican: Pope Emeritus Benedict is "Lucid and Vigilant". Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired December 29, 2022 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:34:23]

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: Today, the list of lies is growing as incoming Republican Congressman George Santos now faces two investigations. One into his finances and the other into these false claims about his background.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has all of the details.

Sunlen, we'll get to all of the new lies in a moment.

But first, what do we know about these investigations?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: These investigations, Abby, could potentially be a big problem for him legally.

These are two investigations in the federal and local level. And specifically federal prosecutors in New York are looking into his finances.

[13:35:00]

The big question here is over how and where he got his money and that $700,000 that we know he loaned his campaign.

Legal advisers tell CNN there's a possibility that he tried to evade campaign finance laws by funneling his own money from his own company to his campaign.

And locally, the probe from the Nassau County district's office have launched that as well and they called these numerous fabrication and inconsistencies saying it is nothing short of stunning.

While he pushes ahead to come to Capitol Hill next week and take his spot in Congress, the legal path ahead for him could potentially be a huge issue as well.

PHILLIP: And as you mentioned, next week, he could be sworn in, is likely to be sworn in. But today, CNN has uncovered even more lies, which is really extraordinary considering.

What are the new revelations from the "KFILE?"

SERFATY: There's three new big fabrications that CNN's "KFILE" team uncovered. Fabrications previously unreported.

Now, first Santos claims that he attended an elite New York City private school called Horace Mann Prep. He said he had to leave when his family's real estate assets fell on hard times.

But that claim is false. According to the school district, they have no evidence that he attended their school.

Santos also says he represented Goldman Sachs at a financial conference. He says he spoke out there at that conference against the company for investing in renewables. That is also false.

As we previously covered, he did not ever work at Goldman. And there's no record of him appearing on a panel there. But also no record of him even attending that conference that he claims he spoke at.

There are also new additional false claims he's made about his family history. Santos said that his mother had a historically Jewish last name.

But genealogists found -- that CNN worked with, found no evidence of that name, no evidence of Jewish or Ukrainian heritage at all in his family tree.

The scrutiny intensifying around him, all the while it is notable it has been absolutely complete silence from Republican leaders on the Hill -- Abby?

PHILLIP: The lies just keep coming.

Sunlen Serfaty, thank you for that.

Let's discuss more on this with CNN political commentator, Errol Louis.

Errol, you are the guru of New York politics and interviewed Santos twice now. Or I'm sorry, you've interviewed Santos now once.

Two investigations are now under way. What do you think is the biggest risk to him from a legal perspective?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, the two areas that you talked about are going on.

There's a third investigation going on, Abby, as well by the state attorney general, who said she was looking into some things.

Based on the jurisdiction of the state attorney general, it's likely that it involves George Santos' claim to have run a pro pet or pet rescue charity for which he publicly raised money.

And there's no particular record of that charity actually existing and it's unclear what happened to the money. So he's got three different law enforcement agencies looking into his past.

All of these are going to be real big trouble for him because any one of them could lead to serious criminal penalties or civil penalties, which could, you know, really persuade the House to take action. That would be really adverse action.

As you mentioned, he is likely to be seated when the time comes next week.

On the other hand, his life as a congressman, his career as a congressman could be very circumscribed and ultimately terminated if any of these legal claims turn out to work against him?

PHILLIP: But how long do you think Republican House leadership can continue to push this to the side? This is a person who it seems now almost nothing he said about himself is true.

LOUIS: That is true. I mean, there are -- there's even more to tell you the truth. I mean, on social media, people are showing posts where he claimed that his mother died in 9/11.

And then there's another post saying he misses her because she died in 2016. It's unclear what we're going to find out.

There's going to be a lot of confusion and a lot of contradictory statements.

But to be fair about it, Abby, whether Republican leadership speaks out or not, members of Congress do not have the power to simply stop him from being sworn in.

This has been litigated. It went all the way up to the Supreme Court in the 1960s.

If he meets the basic requirements, meaning he's at least 25 years old, has lived in the country for -- been a citizen for at least seven years, and lives in the state where he wants to represent his district, there's nothing that they can do to stop him from being seated.

They can expel him with a two-thirds vote but that's a big task and that's a little further down the road.

PHILLIP: Yes, you know New York as well or better than anyone. How is this playing back in Long Island? We've seen now two others of his Long Island colleagues speaking out against him. Are they worried about this blowback?

[13:40:14]

LOUIS: I don't know if they're worried so much, Abby. But it is notable. And both are in the same class. They're both freshmen. They both won on the same day George Santos did. And even a third Republican who also won. Part of what happened in New York was that Republicans did quite well in some of the down-state seats.

All three of them said they want answers. The chairman of the Republican Party for Nassau County, his home county, has said he wants some answers. He's not happy about any of this. So people are distancing themselves.

Again, they can't stop him necessarily but they can certainly pressure him. They can shame him.

They can demand answers, which he ultimately is going to have to provide if not to his political colleagues, then certainly under oath to the law enforcement entities that are looking into his past.

PHILLIP: Yes, I think that this is going to go on for some time.

Errol Louis, political anchor for "Spectrum News." Always good to see you. Thanks for joining us.

LOUIS: Thank you, Abby.

PHILLIP: Coming up next, how a rise in jobless claims is actually fueling new optimism on Wall Street. You see those numbers there going on up. We'll have more after the break.

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[13:45:42]

PHILLIP: After a brutal year of recession fears and high inflation, new jobless claims today are fueling some optimism on Wall Street, as you can see there.

CNN reporter, Matt Egan, is with us now.

Matt, the jobless claims ticked up higher last week, according to this new data, but the Dow is up. What's the deal with that?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Abby, I think the good news here is that despite all these recession fears and despite the layoffs that we've heard about from tech companies and media companies, jobless claims do remain still pretty low.

I mean, initial claims did tick higher by 9,000 in the latest week to 225,000, but that is historically low. Almost exactly where claims were a year ago.

And this is a sign that a lot of companies, 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.

And claims are still well below the level that would cause economists to be alarmed about a recession.

In fact, Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody's Analytics, thinks jobless claims are, quote, "one reason to be optimistic that this economy can skirt a recession."

That's because, if layoffs stay low, consumers can keep spending and consumer spending is the main engine of this economy.

One thing to keep an eye on is continuing claims. That is how many people are filing for unemployment on an ongoing basis. That did tick up to a 10-month high, a sign hiring has slowed down.

But, Abby, there's nothing in today's numbers that screams out imminent recession. That's good news.

PHILLIP: Yes. And the Dow, though, is up now. It's up today. But 2022 has been a brutal year for stocks.

What can we expect going forward? Have we perhaps turned a corner or just a reaction to those numbers?

EGAN: Well, Abby, you know, trading volumes are pretty low right now. A lot of people are on vacation. It doesn't take much to move it up or down, either direction.

Despite the big gains today, though, markets are still deeply in the red for the year.

The S&P 500, it's down by about a fifth so far this year. The NASDAQ has lost a third of its value. Those are big losses. This would actually be by far the worst year for U.S. stocks since 2008.

And some of the household tech names, they've lost just staggering amounts in their market value. Tesla also $800 billion in market value down this year. Alphabet, Amazon, more than $800 billion. Apple, more than $900 billion.

Now, clearly investors are worried about next year. They're worried about the economy and worried about the Fed and what it's doing to fight inflation.

But, Abby, thankfully, this year is almost over for the stock market. We start with a clean slate next week.

And if investors end up being too pessimistic here, right, if the economy can avoid a recession, if the Fed can chill out with some of these massive interest rates hikes, then maybe markets could rebound early next year.

PHILLIP: Maybe next year also, Matt, we'll get economic clarity about what the economy is really doing. Are we going to have a mini recession or none at all?

Matt, thank you again.

Legendary vocal artist, Dionne Warwick, has brought us countless hits over the decades, all while breaking racial barriers and shining a light on important issues.

And now the CNN film, "DIONNE WARWICK: DON'T MAKE ME OVER," tells the intimate stories behind the singer's rise to global super stardom.

Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIONNE WARWICK, SINGER: Shows were completely sold out every night. There was one side which was white where they were seated. And the other side was a ballroom-type setting where everybody was standing.

Blacks were on this side. Whites were on this side. The stage was straight ahead.

And I remember Sam saying, Dionne, do not turn your back on the white folk. I said, well, why not? He said, do not turn your back on the white folk. I said, OK.

First thing I did when I went out there, I walked straight to the band and turned my back and played to the ones that looked like me. Everybody could hear me. Everybody could see me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:50:05]

PHILLIP: Be sure to tune in. The all-new CNN film, "DIONNE WARWICK: DON'T MAKE ME OVER," premieres on New Year's Day at 9:00 p.m., only here on CNN.

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PHILLIP: A short time ago, the Vatican provided an update on the condition of retired Pope Benedict. Over the last several days, the 95-year-old's health has rapidly deteriorated. And today, his condition is described as stable, but serious.

CNN's Delia Gallagher joins us now from Rome.

Delia, what are you hearing from the Vatican?

[13:55:03]

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Abby, relatively good news today from the Vatican. They say that he rested well overnight. That his condition is still serious, but stable. And they say that he is absolutely, they say, "lucid and vigilant."

So this update, Abby, compared to what we heard yesterday, seems to me to want to calm some of the concern that was raised yesterday about his deteriorating health.

At the same time, of course, we're still talking about a 95-year-old man who is frail and in deteriorating health.

But we are in this position now, Abby, of waiting because it seems that, as anybody knows whose dealt with an elderly person, sometimes there are ups and downs in the decline. So, we are waiting for further updates. But certainly this one today,

Abby, suggests that the pope emeritus is doing OK -- Abby?

PHILLIP: Delia Gallagher, thank you for that update.

And that does it for me. More breaking news right here on CNN, after this break.

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