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CNN INTERNATIONAL: Trump's Tax Returns Released; More Countries Announce Rules For China Arrivals; Sam Bankman-Fried Expected To Be Arraigned Today; Broadway Is Back; CNN To Follow New Year's Eve Celebrations Across The World With Special Live Global Coverage; Richard Quest And Anderson Cooper Discuss Grief And Loss. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired December 30, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:43]

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Hello, I'm Lynda Kinkade at the CNN Center here in Atlanta. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.

Coming up, the release of six years of Donald Trump's tax returns raises questions about his business operations and loans to his children.

Spain joins the list of countries putting new restrictions on Chinese travelers.

And I get a sneak peek at the brand new musical devoted to the life of the hitmaker, Neil Diamond.

For the business empire of Donald Trump is under scrutiny today like never before after tax returns he long sought to hide are finally made public.

A US Congressional Committee released six years of returns that includes Trump's time in the White House. They show he claimed multimillion dollar losses that helped reduce his tax burden. In fact, in 2020, he paid no Federal income tax at all.

The returns also showed that Trump held foreign bank accounts during his presidency, and despite a pledge to donate his presidential salary every single year, in 2020, he listed zero charitable contributions.

And that's not all they are learning. CNN's Kristen Holmes has been combing through the documents and joins us now from Washington.

Good to see you today.

So Trump built his political campaign on the fact that he was not a politician, but a wealthy successful businessman. What do these records tell us about his track record in business?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the one thing I do want to point out here, not only did he build his entire campaign on the fact that he was a businessman, but he said that because he was such a successful businessman that he could then successfully run a country. So this is an entire brand that he has built on.

And it's not just the last couple of years that he's tried to shield this from the public, it has been decades that Trump has tried to keep his finances out of public view, which has raised a lot of questions.

Now, when it comes to what we learned about his businesses, let us take a look at what he paid in income tax. As you noted, in 2017, he paid $750.00, then in 2018 and 2019, $1.1 million combined. 2020, zero dollars.

Now, the way he was able to pay so low in income tax every year was because he used these large losses and he carried them forward to offset his income and in one case, obviously, completely eradicated, zero.

But what's interesting about that zero number, and I've talked to a number of tax experts about it is that they say this is the number that starts to raise real questions about his businesses failing, that there are problems with his businesses.

Some of it, of course, as we know, is strategic accounting, carrying those enormous losses over, but a zero number like that means there could have been actual real problems with his business that we are looking into.

Now, the other thing I want to talk about is those foreign bank accounts because again, this is raising a lot of questions and a lot of eyebrows.

You note that in 2015, he had bank accounts in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and China. In 2016, UK, Ireland, China, St. Maarten; 2017, UK, Ireland, China; 2018 to 2020, only the UK. Obviously, there is one country on there that is raising the most eyebrows and that, of course, is China.

The questions being, who were his associates in China? What exactly were his business interests? Was this at any way impacting the decisions that he was making in the White House because he had business interest in China? So that's raising a lot of questions. This also leads us to talk about foreign taxes, because this again, goes to this global question about Donald Trump's business interests while he was serving as President and representing the United States.

While he was only paying $750.00 in US income tax, he was paying nearly a million dollars in foreign taxes. And again, this is not strange. It is not strange to expect him to pay taxes to foreign countries, given the fact that he is a global businessman, but what is interesting is that it is finally shedding light on where exactly his business interests lie, and in a number of countries -- India, China, Turkey, Mexico -- these all mean that he had notable business interests in these countries and he was paying taxes on that.

Now the last thing I want to talk about is something that you had mentioned, those charitable contributions. Essentially what we learned is that over the years that he was in the White House, his charitable contributions significantly declined. [15:05:09]

We saw that in 2017, it was $1.8 million, then $500,000.00 in 2018 and in 2019, and then again, as you mentioned, 2020 zero dollars. That again, starts to raise question about his business dealings, remember that charitable contributions are something that can be written off. So, there is a reason that he did not claim anything here, and yet he still had zero dollars to pay an income tax.

Now, these are just a few of the findings that we had here. And again, it's hundreds of pages, we're going to continue to go through them. We're going to continue to have tax experts look at them.

A lot of what they say is in the details. These extra documents that were provided, not necessarily just the tax returns, but the documents that were provided to essentially prove these tax returns, and that's what we're looking at closely to see what else we can uncover here.

KINKADE: All right, Kristen Holmes for us from Washington, DC. We will stay tuned as you work your way through all these documents, thanks so much.

Well, more countries are imposing new rules on people arriving from China given concerns about a new spread of COVID-19. The UK has announced that passengers coming from China will have to provide a negative COVID test before they travel to Britain, which starts January 5th.

France will also impose mandatory COVID tests for travelers from China and South Korea and Spain have just announced that anyone arriving from China needs a negative COVID test. Seoul also plans to stop issuing short term visas to travelers from China for the next month with some exceptions.

Now, this follows restrictions put in place by Italy, which is calling on the EU to take more action.

Our Barbie Nadeau reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: The list of European countries imposing restrictions on arrivals from China is growing. Italy was the first country in the EU to test all passengers arriving on direct flights from China, and they have found positive cases on every incoming flight so far.

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni insists that the preventive measure will only work if other countries do the same.

GIORGIA MELONI, ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): These measure risks not being completely effective if it's not taken at the European level, because we know that we can do it for flights arriving directly from China, but not for example, from those arriving via stopovers. So I asked Health Minister Schillaci who immediately acted in this sense to write to the European Commissioner responsible for this matter, and asked the European Union to take measures in this sense.

NADEAU: Spain has now joined Italy in requiring negative tests for incoming passengers from China, but they will also take proof of vaccination.

CAROLINA DARIAS, SPANISH HEALTH MINISTER (through translator): At the European level, we are going to push for the need to review the recommendation to request a digital COVID certificate of vaccination or its equivalent for passengers from China as the best security guarantee for everyone.

NADEAU: Authorities are worried that China isn't being transparent about how bad things really are there or if there are new variants emerging.

In Italy a sampling of positive tests from passengers from China shows only omicron so far, but they don't plan to let their guard down anytime soon. The testing directive at airports like this one near Rome, will be in place until at least January 31st.

Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN Leonardo da Vinci Airport, Fiumicino, Italy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Our thanks to Barbie.

Well, Malaysia says it will test wastewater from flights from China. And the US may do something similar with international flights. US Centers for Disease Control is considering the move as a way to detect new COVID variants.

Some experts believe that would be a better solution than new travel restrictions. I want to bring in our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, who joins us now live.

Good to see you, Elizabeth.

So, I want to start first with the US joining a number of countries now asking passengers coming from China to be tested before departure.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This is a strategy that we've seen used before in the pandemic. Here is the concern.

In China, you had a population that was you know, quarantined and isolated often and so there wasn't as much infection as in other countries, and there was a vaccine of questionable efficacy, and then all of a sudden, that isolation ended.

And so the concern is, is that as cases surge there, each time the virus enters a new person, it is another chance for that virus to mutate and there is concern, you know, some mutations are just fine, they don't matter, there is concern that something bad could happen. We could have a bad mutation.

So what the world does is each country monitors the mutations. They swab people's noses, and they do genetic sequencing over and over again. And the more swabbing, and the more sequencing you do, the better so you can catch things early.

So I want to show you, Lynda, some numbers that show you how much sequencing has been done in three countries. It all gets posted to a public website that anyone can access.

[15:10:01]

In the past six months, the US has done more than 576,000; the UK has done more than 123,000; and China has done 412. And of course, China is way bigger than either of those countries. And so that is, you know, a real concern that they've done so little genetic sequencing that it is unclear exactly what's happening there -- Lynda.

KINKADE: That is the big concern, isn't it, Elizabeth, because we have so little information coming from what is happening on the ground in China, it really is difficult to understand if there are new COVID-19 variants coming up.

In terms of what might happen going forward in the next month or two, tell us about what some countries are considering in terms of testing wastewater for these potential new variants?

COHEN: Right, so countries like the United States, for example, have been testing wastewater for quite some time. And now, the US is saying that one of the things they are considering is possibly testing wastewater that's coming off of airplanes that have arrived from China. That's one of the tools in the tool chest that they might use.

But here is what they're doing in terms of travel. So in terms of travel, the US starting January 5th, is saying if you're going to come to the US from China, you need to have a negative test either antigen or PCR, within two days of your departure, no more than two days.

Also at seven US airports, they are offering voluntary testing for select flights. So for hundreds of flights a week from China, when you land, you can raise your hand and say, You know what, test me and it's all anonymous, test me, and if you're positive, then they will also do genomic sequencing to see if it's any kind of new and scary variant.

So you know, obviously, they are not going to get everyone to volunteer, but there actually have been some inroads made with this kind of testing and sort of seeing variants before they take off -- Lynda.

KINKADE: Elizabeth Cohen, always good to have you on the case for us. Thanks so much. Good to see you. And Happy New Year.

Well, still to come, Wall Street wrapping up its worst year since 2008, but crypto had an even worse 2022. Richard Quest and Paul La Monica discuss, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KINKADE: Welcome back.

It is the final trading day of the year on Wall Street and the Dow is headed for a loss down over 215 points right now, and almost 10 percent down on the year. This is the worst since the 2008 financial crisis.

The major US averages all took a beating in 2022 and the S&P is off 20 percent year-to-date, and the tech heavy, NASDAQ is down about 35 percent.

Well, next week, Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the failed FTX crypto exchange is expected to enter a plea to criminal fraud charges. It caps off a dismal year for cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin has lost 65 percent of its value in 2022, other major cryptos haven't fared any better.

Richard Quest sat down with CNN's Paul La Monica, they discussed what popped the crypto bubble.

[15:15:12]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": The markets and the economy and the oil and the energy, but there was one thing that kept us talking and it was Bitcoin -- crypto -- right the way through the end of the year.

Paul La Monica is with me.

When FTX collapsed, how much of a shock was that?

PAUL LA MONICA, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: I think it was a pretty big shock, particularly because it happened in such a rapid fashion. I mean, we all knew Richard that Bitcoin prices had risen to unsustainably high levels, and there needed to be a correction, a bear market, what have you.

But the fact that FTX, which had a more than $30 billion valuation of the private markets, people were talking about it as it is going to be one of the 2023 IPOs of the year, it was that fast that we went from unicorn that was going to make a splashy Wall Street debut to being valued at zero.

QUEST: Okay, so if you put that to one side, and the Courts will deal with SGF in one shape or another, but the actual relevance of blockchain only increases, and that is the contradiction here between the crypto speculative investment world and the blockchain smart contract world, which is growing.

LA MONICA: Definitely. I think that in many respects, the perfect analogy here is to go back to also the late 90s and early 2000s. We had a lot of companies that all of a sudden found religion in e- commerce. They were going to sell things online. Everyone wanted to be the next Amazon, no one wound up being the next Amazon. All of those companies, including Amazon were overvalued.

Now, obviously, it's not a perfect comparison, because Amazon is still around, they weren't a fraud. They didn't go out of business. But there was too much hype and too much enthusiasm about something that yes, it would eventually become a much bigger thing, and I kind of feel the same way about blockchain technology.

We are eventually going to be doing far more transactions than we even do now, and even consumers, probably through the blockchain, we're just not there yet. And companies like Binance and FTX, and Coinbase probably didn't deserve their valuations in either the private markets or public markets.

I mean, look at Coinbase, their shares have plunged like 85 percent this year.

QUEST: What is the difference between blockchain per se and crypto as an investment tool?

LA MONICA: Yes. I think the difference is that blockchain is a technology that makes sense for transparent transactions, that you don't necessarily need to have thousands of different cryptocurrencies all trading on the blockchain, with their quirky niche sort of projects that they might be tied to, and then even things like Bitcoin and Ethereum, yes, they are of value, but the problem is that people got so lost in the hype that they were more -- treating them more like commodities and currencies on steroids, as opposed to something with utility.

The investment case I don't think makes sense even though the use case does.

QUEST: Now, which brings to the point, we always talk about a diversified -- a properly diversified portfolio. All investors should have a properly diversified portfolio. Does that -- is the orthodoxy now that a properly diversified portfolio should include crypto?

LA MONICA: I think a little bit of crypto probably isn't the worst thing in the world, but you just can't go overboard. These evangelists who felt that crypto is the future and that it is going to be all end all, you don't need the dollar. You don't need the euro. You don't need the yen. And then why invest in boring stocks that may only go up 10 to 15 percent a year when you can buy crypto? That's what turned out to be the folly here.

And I think that yes, people talk about how you know, you should have gold in your portfolio, too. But again, most sane people say two to three percent, maybe five, not 25 or 50 percent, and I feel the same way about crypto.

If you want to have two percent of your portfolio in Bitcoin, be my guest, but don't put 70 percent of it in Bitcoin, that's insane, in the same way that anything with that much concentration would be the same. (END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Keys to a diverse portfolio there. Our thanks to Paul and Richard.

Well, high inflation has changed how people date and what they look for in a partner. Matches' Singles in America survey says US adults now spend over $1,500.00 a year on dates. That's 40 percent more than a decade ago outpacing overall inflation.

[15:20:13]

With prices rising, about one in four singles now say they are more appreciative of frugal people, about a third say inflation has them seeking more financially stable partners.

And there are plenty of reasons why the price of dating has gone up. Just look at the cost here in the US. The cost to eat up more than 8.5 percent than a year ago. And don't expect too much relief if you choose a coffee date. The average price of coffee in the US -- any US city -- has gone up about 24 percent since 2020.

And if you want to get your date a gift, jewelry, apparel and accessories have gone up 27 percent since 2021.

Rachel DeAlto is the Chief Dating Expert for Match. She joins us now from New Jersey. Good to see you, Rachel.

RACHEL DEALTO, CHIEF DATING EXPERT, MATCH: Great to be here, Lynda.

KINKADE: So is inflation killing the first dinner date? Say it isn't so.

DEALTO: Well, it has definitely put a damper on it. So people are still going on dinner dates, but they are preferring something more casual. So maybe it is that expensive coffee or a drink or a walk in the park and more than ever, singles are open to something a little bit different than we've seen traditionally, in the past.

KINKADE: You can get creative, of course, I mean, back when I was dating, if someone had said, "Let's not go out on a date, let's Skype instead," I would think he's just not that in to you. But people are getting creative, right?

DEALTO: That has absolutely changed. Obviously, COVID-19 has changed the way that we date and has allowed video to become the norm. So many people are still connecting even though we are so much more open to those in-person connections. We're still connecting via video and saving some possible time and money from connections that may not be there.

But yes, people are just really open to being in a different situation for that first date more than ever. So yes, even if they do say maybe the dinner and the movie isn't going to happen, we are willing to take that walk and maybe go on a hike and just look at it a little bit differently. So I think it's a good thing, but you know --

KINKADE: Exactly. A picnic date is always a good thing, but of course, you at Match surveyed some 5,000 people. What were the key takeaways?

DEALTO: So there are a lot of interesting things. Singles in America always results in some fascinating findings.

I think what really we're seeing right now is this move towards really mature dating. People are looking for emotional connections. They are looking for people they can communicate with. They are looking for true partnership and we have seen that this is the second year in a row where looks have rated less in terms of the qualities that people are looking for behind this emotional maturity.

And so I think that is something that we've seen change because of our experience in the last few years. And so that is something that stands out to me beyond obviously a lot of those concerns about finances and dating and how it is going to affect their lives and their financial futures.

KINKADE: And of course, despite the high inflation here in the US, in many other countries around the world, inflation is much worse. So no doubt this sort of -- the dating trend you're seeing here is being carried across to many other places around the world, and COVID-19 also changed dating habits with people looking outdoors to date.

DEALTO: Yes, we've seen during COVID-19, parks were the most popular date spot. So obviously we've come back inside quite a bit, but we are still seeing where you know, going for a walk, going for a hike is going to be an option. Whereas five, six years ago, like you said before, if someone said, hey, let's skip the meal, let's skip the drink, and let's go for a walk, you'd be thinking. "Huh, that doesn't feel right."

So we've definitely changed our approach to dating, and the great thing is, is that regardless of the circumstances that surround us, people are still searching for their partner. Companionship will never be prevented by any financial situation or any circumstance, obviously, we saw during the last few years.

So I think the good news is people still have hope and they're still looking for their perfect match.

KINKADE: Well, let's hope they find it in the New Year.

Rachel DeAlto from Match, good to have you with us. Happy New Year.

DEALTO: Happy New Year.

KINKADE: Well, over the past few decades, drones have made it work easier for a number of industries from delivery services to entertainment. And as the technology evolves, one city is now using them to light up the sky throughout the festive season.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KINKADE (voice over): In recent years, Dubai has set a number of world records with its impressive firework displays. Now, the city is taking its festive spectacles to a whole new level with a light show featuring over 500 drones.

OLLIE HOWITT, SENIOR CREATOR, SKY MAGIC: We think the sky is the biggest canvas that there is in order to tell stories.

[15:25:05]

KINKADE (voice over): Sky Magic is a drone technology company based in the UK and Singapore.

For more than a decade, they've created 3D animated shows illuminating the skies in cities across the world. Today, they are in Dubai coordinating the longest running drone show in the Middle East.

HOWITT: You see kind of coming out of the world post COVID, the appetite for drone shows has risen exponentially.

KINKADE (voice over): Bringing this all to life is no easy feat as it takes several months of preparations.

SUHAIL, PROJECT MANAGER, DSF DRONE SHOW: We start planning as early as July. We get on site about 10 days before the shows. We run tests in advance. So we start with flying one drone going to five going into 20.

Finally, about three days before the first show, the entire fleet of 500-plus drones go up in the air.

KINKADE (voice over): Several steps go into designing the futuristic show made possible with a team of creative minds and cutting edge technology.

HOWITT: It's all bespoke. So our in-house software which uses a 3D modeling tool, we move from still images essentially into an animation.

KINKADE (voice over): Despite dozens of people involved in the production, only a handful of crew members actually control the show on the ground.

HOWITT: We'd go through all of the liable calculations like safety parameters, then we essentially upload that animation file onto the drone fleet. And then the drone fleet will fly that animation in the sky in real life.

KINKADE (voice over): According sky magic. The drones used in the show are much smaller than delivery drones, and they're specifically made to glide swiftly through the air and change colors.

HOWITT: And they are very lightweight, very agile to move through the sky, we use it as well as it is a lot more wind resistant and rain resistant. The GPS accuracy on them is really strong so makes it really precise when you're trying to make those tidy images. KINKADE (voice over): Aside from entertainment, drones offer a greener alternative to traditional firework displays.

SUHAIL: The key benefit is that it is sustainable. These drones can be used multiple times and I think going forward, more and more cities across the world will be using drones instead of fireworks.

KINKADE (voice over): This year, it is estimated that over half a million spectators will gather in Dubai to watch the drones light up the sky throughout the festive season.

AHMED, SPECTATOR: We're sitting down by the Blue Water and it just took us by surprise.

LENA, SPECTATOR: I just got carried away with the music, the lights, the whole atmosphere. Everyone sort of went silence, so I loved it.

KINKADE (voice over): For now, spectators are enjoying a one of a kind experience, but these displays could soon become the norm as drone technology continues to evolve.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Well, when we return, after a pandemic low, the bright lights of Broadway are back with a bang.

We will give you a sneak peek of a real show stopper. Stay with us, you're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:19]

KINKADE: Welcome back. I'm Lynda Kinkade. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Well, after weary years of pandemic shutdowns and restrictions, the lights are bright once more on Broadway. There is a full roster of shows on tap for theater loving fans, and I had the chance to speak to some of the creators putting on the Neil Diamond musical a beautiful noise, the hottest new show in town.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE (voice over): The life of one of the bestselling artists of all time now set on stage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thirty-nine albums.

UNIDENTIFIED FEFMALE: Forty top 40 hits.

UNIDENTIFIED FEFMALE: One hundred and twenty million albums sold.

KINKADE: Neil Diamond was a kid from Brooklyn, New York who had planned to enter medical school. Instead, he entered the Music Hall of Fame.

Tony nominee Will Swenson stars as the younger Neil Diamond. WILL SWENSON, TONY AWARDS NOMINEE: I think the secret to doing this show is lots of sleep and lots of caffeine maybe.

KINKADE: Another Tony nominee Mark Jacoby plays Diamond now.

MARK JACOBY, TONY AWARDS NOMINEE: I'm still counting.

KINKADE (on camera): So, you play title roles in The Phantom of the Opera, the judging Sweeney Todd, the Wizard in Wicked? What was it like when you heard that you had the role of Neil Diamond?

JACOBY: A bit overwhelming, frankly, because it's not just playing Neil Diamond, the show is about Neil Diamond. It's his life. And in the case of our rehearsals here in New York, in front of that person, seven, eight feet away, but it's so hard not to be thinking about what does he think? And how is he reacting to this? And does he hate me? Or does he love me or something in between?

KINKADE (voice over): Neil Diamond toured for nearly 50 years, but in 2018 he was forced to stop after being diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease.

In a note in the playbill, he says, my heart and soul would tour until the day I die. If only my body would cooperate.

KINKADE (on camera): What input did Neil have in the show? Because I understand you went to his house with a draft of this musical.

JACOBY: Yes. I was kind of misled. They said just deliver it. But when I got there, they invited me in and seated me down at this table and said, can you perform the entire musical for me? And -- what? Here we go, that one, lights up, Neil and do the whole thing. It was kind of terrifying. But at the end he said get your producer on the telephone, so we call the producer and he's spoken to the phone, three words. I'm a believer.

KINKADE: I am a believer. Words from the hit song Neil Diamond wrote for The Monkees, a clear endorsement. New Zealander Anthony McCarten, four-time Academy Award nominee is the show's writer. He's also the screenwriter behind the Winston Churchill drama, the Darkest Hour and the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.

KINKADE: People go for the music but they want a good story, right?

ANTHONY MCCARTEN, NEW ZEALAND WRITER AND FILMMAKER: Oh, absolutely do. Not only want a good story, they want to hear something they've never heard before.

KINKADE (voice over): Four-time Tony Nominee Steven Hoggett did the choreography.

STEVEN HOGGET, TOTNY AWARDSD NOMINEE: With a show like this creating big high energy rock star moments is in the music.

KINKADE: Broadway was battered by COVID.

KINKADE (on camera): For 18 months Broadway shut down went dark. What impact did that have on you and other performance?

JACOBY: There was nothing, literally nothing in the way of live theater. So, it was devastating. You know, I know so many people who left the business and without any intention of coming back.

KINKADE (voice over): The longest running show ever, The Phantom of the Opera is set to close in April. 35 years after opening on Broadway because it was struggling to sell enough tickets to offset costs.

Attendance in January was the lowest it had been since 2003. Now the Broadway leaves this capacity is closer to 90 percent. And shows like Tina, a once more touring.

KINKADE (on camera): Here on Broadway theater goers is starting to return in large numbers after the longest shut down in history. And things never seemed so good.

BROADWAY THEATER GOERS: So good. So good. So good.

KINKADE: So, you're a local New Yorker.

UNIDENTIFIED FEFMALE: I am local New Yorker.

KINKADE: What's it like having Broadway back close to full capacity?

UNIDENTIFIED FEFMALE: It's amazing. It was a really dark two years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEFMALE: Sweet Caroline.

KINKADE (voice over): Remarkably, when the curtains rose on opening night, Neil Diamond willed his body to perform once more.

BROADWAY THEATER GOERS: Happy New Year!

KINKADE: You will have that song in your head for the rest of the day and you can celebrate with us at CNN International. We will feature a special coverage from Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the U.S. and even the metaverse as the world welcomes in 2023.

[15:35:09]

New Year's Eve Live will follow celebrations around the globe starting at midnight in Sydney. That's 9:00 pm Saturday in Hong Kong, 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time. We will bring in the New Year with Oscar winner Geena Davis, Grammy nominee Ellie Goulding. R&B singer Craig David, Emmy winning filmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo and the cast and crew of the Neil Diamond Broadway show, A Beautiful Noise.

I hope you can join us. I'll be anchoring from 4:00 p.m. Eastern. That is 8:00 a.m. New Year's Eve -- news day rather in Sydney.

Well, the New Year is often a time filled with fresh dots and hopes for what the next 12 months might hold. But it's also a time to reflect on the past. Something CNN's Anderson Cooper does in his new podcast, All There Is. It's Anderson's deeply personal look at loss and grief, something that hits home for our Richard Quest to after his godmother died just a few weeks ago.

Well, the two sat down to talk about how examining grief can bring you closer to those who have lost.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The thing that made me want to do this is I just felt this loneliness that I hadn't anticipated. And it's the loneliness of being the last person left from the family that you grew up in and the only survivor of that family and the only one who remembers all those little moments that we all think will remember always when we're living through them but quickly disappear.

And I found myself feeling like this, you know, I said in the podcast like a lighthouse keeper on an island sort of keeping the memories alive.

QUEST: The one thing everybody knows about Anderson Cooper is very private person.

COCOPER: Right.

QUEST: So, this is --

COOPER: Yes. But it has no reality for me that I -- this -- it is still a very -- I'm still very private person but it is -- there's something very intimate about a podcast, you know, and there's -- this was something born of necessity. This was not a, God, I really want to get into podcasting like the world does not need another podcast. I don't think it does. But this was something that -- I get through events, I've always gotten through events by narrating them to myself.

I read in Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, one of the books that's -- one of the most important books of my life. He talks about that, narrating himself from a slight distance, deeply disturbing traumatic events as a way to get through them. And I've always done that. I've approached it like a correspondent. And that's how I started to approach going through my mom's stuff after she died and going through my brother stuff which my mom had kept and going through my dad stuff which my mom had kept, none of which had been gone through.

And so -- and I'm still going through it every -- what I do at pretty much every weekend still and sometimes at night when I get home from work. And that's how I got through it. And so, doing this podcast was just part of that reportorial thing that I do internally. But I realized, you know what, why is there not something like this already and maybe there was that I just didn't know about? I just felt the need to put it out there.

QUEST: Have you found yourself at ease as a result?

COOPER: I'm rarely at ease. I have found myself feeling deeply connected -- I found myself feeling deeply connected to my family that has -- that has died, to my kids in a different way. And deeply connected to all the people who have listened and reached out to me because I've received or received more than 1000 voicemails which we asked people to call in with advice for people going through something.

What our listeners had learned, my listeners have learned and all the people reach out to me on Instagram and are still reaching out to me on Instagram. And I've listened to about now about 800 of the voicemail messages, I still got 200 to go through. And I read every one of the direct messages even though I can't respond to them. But I do respond to a fair number of them when I can.

And I feel -- I feel deeply connected to all these people and to the ocean of grief that is out there. And it -- and it helps, it -- to feel less alone on this road, to feel that this is a road that has been well traveled by generations of people. And people have had it far worse and experience things that are -- I can't even imagine living through. These are conversations I prefer to have more than any other conversation I could possibly be having. More than anything I would cover on any evening newscast.

QUEST: How would you take this forward into next year?

COOPER: I've learned so much about loss and grief from other people in this podcast. I've learned that you can still have a relationship with somebody who has died and that your relationship can deepen and you can get to know somebody who's -- who has died in your life in a deeper way than you even knew them before. And as you age you see them from a different perspective and you understand what they went through from a different perspective and there's incredible beauty in that.

[15:40:09]

QUEST: You know, my godmother who passed actually knew your mother.

COOPER: Really?

QUEST: Yes, yes. And I've got a picture of the two of them, but much -- her name was Freddie Hancock. And she was a very --

COOPER: Oh my God.

QUEST: Exactly, that's the picture.

COOPER: I love that picture.

QUEST: Well, her late husband was a very famous British comedian called Tony Hancock, very famous. Tom (INAUDIBLE) Britain and time. I'm going.

COOPER: I love this.

QUEST: Isn't that 1960s? Her husband.

COOPER: Wow.

QUEST: But she keeps the paper which I'm going through her things. She keeps the paper from 1968. COOPER: Yes, of course.

QUEST: The letters from 90s I'm going through. My point is, I guess that when we start to go through all these things, we start our own voyage.

COOPER: Yes. And I can tell you I have -- I have 300 boxes of these. Yes. And I'm going through each one and I'm reading every letter and it's a lot. It's a lot. I mean, how have you been going through this?

QUEST: Oh, a mess.

COOPER: Yes.

QUEST: A mess. How many boxes you're going to leave your children to go through?

COOPER: That's the thing. I don't want them -- I don't want to leave them. This unorganized thing. I want it to be -- I want to leave them the stories and the items and the legacy of it. But I don't want to leave -- have, you know, I don't want them to be in tune to buy these things. I'm like -- I've said this in podcasts. Like I'm threatened to be like one of those people is crushed by a stack of newspapers in their home, you know, that they've been hoarding.

Because I mean, like, I have all this stuff. So, I want to get it organized and digitize so they can access it without being kind of in tuned by it, and overwhelmed by it.

QUEST: Anderson.

COOPER: Yes.

QUEST: Happy New Year.

COOPER: Happy New Year. Yes.

QUEST: Thank you very much.

COOPER: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Wonderful discussion there. We can hear more about Anderson Cooper's search for solace on his podcast or there is with Anderson Cooper.

And that does it for CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade at the CNN Center here in Atlanta. Stay with us. "LIVING GOLF" is up next.

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