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U.S. Lawmakers to Release Trump's Tax Returns; Panel Releases Transcripts from Trump Jr., Fiancee; Southwest Airlines to Resume Regular Service on Friday; Buffalo, New York Returning to Normal after Deadly Storm; Remembering Football Great Pele. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired December 30, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

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BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo live from London. Max Foster has the day off today. He'll be back soon. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After a year's long legal battle, the House Ways and Means Committee led by Democrats will release Trump's taxes on Friday morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eight days in and finally Southwest is planning to return to normal operations Friday.

PELE, SOCCER LEGEND: God gave me this gift. This was a gift from God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The mood is very much somber here outside the hospital Elbert Einstein in Sao Paulo where fans begun to come to pay their respects and to say good-bye to the king of soccer.

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

NOBILO: It is Friday, December 30th. 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in Washington, D.C., where we're expecting a House committee to release six years of former President Trump's tax returns. It's set to happen in the coming hours following a years' long legal battle. Trump refused to make his tax returns public when he ran for the White House, breaking with the presidential tradition going back decades. And he fought every effort to get them released calling it abuse of power and a witch hunt. But a Congressional committee led by Democrats is now forcing their release saying Mr. Trump was not properly audited while in office. As Kristen Holmes reports, the former president has a lot at stake here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: After a years' long legal battle the House Ways and Means Committee led by Democrats will release Trump's taxes on Friday morning. So, here's what we are expecting to see. These are going to be returns for six years, from 2015 to 2020. These are going to be his personal federal tax returns, as well as the returns of some of his businesses. It will include IRS audit materials.

This is a big deal for a number of reasons. Trump himself has built an entire brand on being a wealthy and, therefore, successful businessman and in that process, he has done everything are in his power to protect that image. And that meant shielding his finances for decades. That includes his net worth, who he did business with, how exactly he made his money. And a big question now is what this pulling back of the curtain is going to reveal. Will it have a political impact?

One thing to remind you of here is that when Trump ran for office and when he was president, he became the first president in modern history not to release his tax returns. Now we do have some information. There was an analysis done on these taxes from the joint committee on taxation. They talk about his income tax. In 2017 he paid only $750. In 2018 and 2019 he paid 1.1 million and in 2020 he paid zero dollars in income taxes.

Now this same group also raised questions about his charitable deductions particularly in years where he made deductions that were over a million dollars, most of them in cash. So, we'll see what comes out of these documents. But again, a big deal. We're already hearing from Republicans saying that this is setting a bad precedent. The former president himself has said that when Republicans take control of Congress, they should immediately start investigating Biden and his family and get them to turn over their tax returns.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, Washington.

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NOBILO: The January 6th committee has released a new collection of transcripts including interviews with Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle. The former president's son and his fiancee repeatedly told investigators they couldn't recall key details about their speeches at a rally before the riots started. The latest transcripts also provide interesting details about Melania Trump's role in the White House. CNN's Paula Reid reports.

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PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: This latest batch of transcripts released by the January 6th committee has big names including Donald Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, Stephen Miller and also former White House Advisor Stephanie Grisham.

One of the common themes that's become clear across all these transcripts, both from this batch and the previous ones over the past week, is that former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was really at the center of a multi-faceted plan to try to undermine the results of the election.

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In this most recent batch of transcripts the committee presses Donald Trump Jr. on a series of text exchanges he had with the former White House chief of staff including some around November 5th when Donald Trump Jr. Shared ideas for how to keep his father in power by subverting the electoral process.

Now under questioning for investigators, Donald Trump Jr. said he didn't know who the author of that plan was. He could not remember but he said he shared it because it looks to be the most plausible. Now Donald Trump Jr. is also texting Mark Meadows two months later on January 6 urging him to get his father to hold an oval office address. To do something more forceful to denounce the violence that was taking on the Capitol.

We're also learning in another transcript from an interview with a Trump attorney Christina Bobb that Senator Lindsey Graham and Mark Meadows discussed ways that Graham could help them amplify these false claims of election fraud. Graham told Meadows he only needed, quote, five dead voters. He just needed a little bit of information that he could latch on to and then go amplify these claims.

Now there's also additional testimony from Stephanie Grisham, a top aide to former President Trump and also to his wife Melania. Stephanie Grisham testified that the first lady did not trust Mark Meadows . She was concerned that he was not giving her husband the best advice. That he was telling him what he wanted to hear. She also had concerns about some of his attorneys, including Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, and also Rudy Giuliani. Now two years later based on what we've learned in this investigation and from these transcripts, those concerns appear to be well founded.

Now all of these transcripts and the evidence gathered by the committee will go to special counsel Jack Smith will to determine if any criminal charges are warranted.

Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

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NOBILO: A looming U.S. government shutdown is now in the rear-view mirror after U.S. President Joe Biden signed a $1.7 trillion spending bill on Thursday. He was vacationing at the time in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Lawmakers pass the measure after weeks of political wrangling while the government operated on temporary funding. The bill includes more aid for Ukraine and NATO allies, as well as an overhaul of the federal vote counting law and a ban on TikTok from federal electronic devices.

The colossal holiday failure of Southwest Airlines operations may be nearing an end. Passengers are getting notices that the company expects to run a full schedule Friday. So far there have just been 39 cancellations compared to more than 2,300 on Thursday. This capsule week of chaos that left tens of thousands of travelers abandoned, exhausted and outraged. The company was forced to cancel nearly 16,000 flights since last Thursday and on Thursday Southwest issued a new apology and new ways for customers to get help.

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RYAN GREEN, COO, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES: First, my personal apology on behalf of myself and everyone at Southwest Airlines for all of this. Second, a pledge to do everything we can and to work day and night to repair our relationship with you.

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NOBILO: The U.S. Department of Transportation has warned Southwest Airlines that it will face consequences if it fails to compensate passengers left stranded and inconvenienced. But it's too little too late for some customers. CNN's Lucy Kafanov reports.

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LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eight days in and finally, Southwest is planning to return to normal operations Friday.

Issuing a statement saying: With another holiday weekend full of important connections for our valued customers and employees, we are eager to return to a state of normalcy.

But today, it's still chaos for Southwest passengers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The anxiety level has become crazy.

KAFANOV (voice-over): One of the country's biggest carriers canceling nearly 2,400 flights Thursday, capping a week of travel misery that stranded thousands more.

KATIE DEMKO, MISSING WEDDING UE TO SOUTHWEST ISSUES: It is very devastating. Southwest actually booked me on a flight for January 2nd. My wedding is tomorrow, December 30th.

KAFANOV (voice-over): Soon to be married, Katie Demko was scheduled to fly out of St. Louis with family for her own wedding. But Southwest cancellations meant she had to miss meeting her fiancee at the altar in Belize. But for some customers, the most emotional reunions seen at airports have been between people and their bags.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just haven't had this bag in a week. I've been wearing other people's clothes.

KAFANOV (voice-over): Southwest first placed all the blame for stranded flyers or lost bags, and it's an ability to get people new flights on bad weather. But airline CEO Bob Jordan admitted the company's systems were too outdated to deal with any big disruption.

BOB JORDAN, CEO, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES: The tools we use to recover from disruption service us well 99 percent of the time.

[04:10:00] But clearly, we need to double down on our already existing plans to upgrade systems for these extreme circumstances so that we never again face what's happening right now.

KAFANOV (voice-over): Southwest Pilot and Flight Attendant's Unions say they've been ringing the alarm about the outdated system for years.

MICHAEL SANTORO, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES PILOTS ASSOCIATION: We've been harping on them since 2015-ish. Every year we've seen some support of meltdown happen.

LYN MONTGOMERY, PRESIDENT, TWU LOCAL 550: This executive should have committed to ensuring that our IT infrastructure would be able to handle that growth and change in the way we operate our flight.

KAFANOV (voice-over): Southwest has promised to reimburse customers, but good luck reaching an agent on the phone, let alone in person.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're still in line and nobody's giving up any direction.

KAFANOV (voice-over): Southwest is busing some passengers from airport to airport in order to bring some relief amidst a total meltdown.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm still stranded. I need to drive nine more hours. My feet are swollen, I'm upset, I'm stressed, I'm tired, and I hate them.

KAFANOV: Southwest operated roughly a third of its schedule on Thursday. The airline says it's planning to return to normal on Friday with minimal disruptions but the cascading effects are still being felt. Take a look behind me. This mountain of luggage -- mountain of suitcases here at Denver's airport. Now I have friends who are in town who have yet to be reunited with their bags. Now Southwest did hire extra staff to help sort through all of these pieces of luggage. But of course, even though the airline's planning to return to normal by Friday, it's probably going to take days for all of these bags to be reunited with their rightful owners.

Lucy Kafanov, CNN, Denver.

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NOBILO: At least 39 people lost their lives in the historic blizzard that hit Buffalo, New York, last weekend. Officials say that that figure is likely to continue to rise as snow melts and more bodies are found. CNN's Athena Jones reports.

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there. The city of buffalo is getting back to normal. City hall opened on Thursday as did a nearby courthouse and the Erie County executive offices. The driving ban has been lifted. And Mayor Byron Brown tweeted that as of Friday morning the regular trash pickup will resume and so things are certainly getting back to normal as the city continues to dig out from the storm. They've made a lot of progress, a lot of clearer roads. And you can

see the work going on behind me, that will continue of course until all of the snow is clear.

One bit of work that is still going on is about the death toll. The medical examiner for Erie County has confirmed some 39 deaths as of noon on Thursday. But we expect that number to rise. Listen to what the county executive Mark Poloncarz said about that death toll.

MARK POLONCARZ, ERIE COUNTY EXECUTIVE: There are additional bodies that have been received that are believed to be blizzard deaths, but they do need to have an autopsy and additional worked up, including a four month old who died on Christmas day. But the medical examiner's office is still trying to terminate the death.

JONES: So, when it comes to counting the deaths, there is a lot of concern that more bodies could be found perhaps under snowbanks or in vehicles or houses yet to be checked. So, that is something we'll be keeping watch on.

One piece of good news we learned today, is that authorities are no longer quite as concerned of the issue of flooding. Remember that was going to be an issue because of the fast snow melt as temperatures reach around 50 on Friday. Today a county executives said that's not as much of a concern. Now we should note that if flooding does happen, Governor Kathy Hochul has already dispatched equipment and personnel -- things like sandbags, 800,000 sand bags, more than 300 pumps and generators to deal with any overflow of water should that be a problem. But right now, county officials say that there may be some waterways that crest but they don't expect flooding to be a major issue.

Athena Jones, CNN, Buffalo, New York.

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NOBILO: Higher than normal temperatures and rain are forecast for much of the U.S. this weekend. This as Denver, Colorado, deals with the impact of about half a foot of snow. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar has that and New Year's Eve forecast.

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ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That same system that dumped all of that snow in Colorado now exiting that area and pushing into portions of the Midwest all the way down towards the Gulf coast. That's where the focus is going to be from that system as we head into Friday.

But on the other side of the country back into the West Coast, we're looking at another system that will be pushing back in. And this is going to be one of a series of systems that makes its way into the West Coast over the next week bringing a tremendous amount of rain as well as snow to several Western states.

Here's a look at the forecast radar. So, by Friday morning many of these areas already dealing with very heavy rain across Northern California, areas of Nevada and very heavy snow across the intermountain west as well as the Sierras. You'll notice this is not a very fast-moving low pressure system. So, just the very next day, 24 hours later, that low pressure system really has not moved all that much.

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But where you will notice is that shift southward. And that's going to bring some heavy rain even to areas of Central and Southern California. In total, widespread amounts, about 4 to 6 inches but not out of the question for some of these areas to pick up in excess of 7 or 8 inches of rain in California.

Snowfall wise, very widespread across the intermountain west. A lot of these areas picking up at least 6 to 10 inches, some picking up over a foot.

Temperatures are expected to stay mild in the eastern half of the country. But we'll start to see some things change in the western half of the country next week.

Now the big question, what about New York on New Year's Eve? Unfortunately, while temperatures will be mild and well above the average of 41, we do unfortunately have rain in the forecast for Saturday evening. Not necessarily enough to ruin the plans but maybe just to have that umbrella handy.

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NOBILO: Thanks, Allison.

He reached the pinnacle of football greatest. His death unleashing a wave of tributes around the world. How the great Pele is being honored and remembered.

Plus, a web of lies unraveling. The latest falsehoods from the U.S. Congressman-elect George Santos and how Republicans leaders are now reacting.

And later on, Ukrainian forces are experiencing heavy losses on the eastern front lines just a day after Russia launched a massive wave of attacks across the country. We'll have the latest on the fighting.

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NOBILO: Three days of national mourning are now underway in Brazil after the death of football's first global icon Pele. One of the greatest to ever play the game and one of the most famous athletes of all time. Fans of his electrifying career have been gathering outside the Santos stadium in Sao Paolo state. That's where he got his playing start. And that's where his wake will be held starting on Monday. His coffin will be placed at the center pitch and then on Tuesday a funeral procession will carry it through the streets of Santos. Pele passed away after a battle with colon cancer. He had been

hospitalized in the past month with complications. And his daughter posted this photo that appears to show family members holding his hands. The caption: Everything we are is thanks to you. We love you endlessly. Rest in peace.

World Sports Amanda Davies is here with a closer look at his brilliant life on and off the pitch. Amanda, what made Pele so special? And then talk us through some of the reactions that are pouring in from around the world.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: Of which there are many. And there was an amazing video doing the rounds on social media a couple of weeks ago, which was entered cutting Pele with -- as it was dubbed -- your favorite footballers doing the skills that they are known for but Pele did it first. And that is essentially summed him up. From the word go he was doing it first, from making his debut first on age 15 when he would then billed as set to become the greatest footballer of all time. To becoming the youngest Brazilian player at a World Cup. So then becoming the only man to win three World Cups.

He is a man that could create emotions with a football unlike any other player in history. And that really the sense of the outpouring of emotions that we've seen in the last 15 or 20 hours or so, very much mirrors that. And we've got a sense of it over the last few weeks. When I was in Qatar at the World Cup were there were those reports of his declining health -- that we'd see the Brazilian team, fans in the stands starting to send their well wishes. And I really put that emotion through.

So, very quickly we're seeing more and more people speak out and share their memories. We saw in France last night ahead of Marseille's game against Toulouse. Their players lined up and paid tribute. That's something you suspect we'll see over the coming days of these English Premier League games later today, La League matches there in Spain as well.

But I always think you get a real sense of just how great, legendary, these sportspeople are when other top sports people from different fields obviously are in awe of what they did.

Usain Bolt paid his tribute saying: A sporting legend, rest in peace King Pele.

Barack Obama, former U.S. president said: Pele was one of the greatest to ever play the beautiful game and is one of the most recognizable athletes in the world. He understand the power of sports to bring people together. Our thoughts are with family and everyone who loved and admired him.

And that is much what he did off the pitch as on it. The first black global sporting icon. Yes, he played the majority of his career in Brazil but he then spent the last couple of years of his career playing in the United States and was a huge part of growth of soccer in the U.S. in the NASL. And people say where Pele went, others followed. You had the likes of Franz Beckenbauer, Bobby Moore going To the States after Pele.

And I just want to bring up one photo because it's a photo that actually means a lot to me and my family. On the right there is another one of those people who went to the States following Pele. He used to play for Manchester City. A man called Dennis Tueart. He went to New York Cosmos , actually replaced Pele at New York Cosmos and he is there with his wife Joan and in the middle my mom and dad, David and Susan.

And when Dennis moved to the U.S., he sold his house to my mom and dad. It was the first house that I grew up in and they were very excited to go to New York and Dennis, Joan and meet Pele. I remember growing up hearing Dennis's stories of training alongside and then the flare in the charisma and his famous white suits as well.

NOBILO: Amanda Davis, thank you so much and for sharing that memory and that photo as well.

Now sports broadcaster and author Ian Stafford is founder and owner of the Sporting Club and he is with us now live from London. Ian, tell us about your reaction to Pele's passing and what he leaves behind?

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IAN STAFFORD, SPORTS WRITER, BROADCASTER AND AUTHOR: Well, we knew he was ill and I had been working on a project with Pele and his management for some time. So, well we knew he was slipping away. It doesn't make it any less sad, of course, because you pray for a miracle and -- but hopefully he's in peace now.

I think it's reawakened people's memories and thoughts and standings on Pele. We've just come out of a World Cup which was Lionel Messi's World Cup, and everybody is saying, well there we go, there's prove he's the greatest of all time. You know, that's a modern thing to say. Anybody under 40, under 45 may not fully appreciate what Pele did. But for those of us who are older or any sort of sporting historians or those who know their football, then what Pele achieved -- first of all, what Pele achieved, Pele was the first to do anything and everything. Pele was the first to do that. His stats are better than anybody else's. He will always be -- he may not always be but up till now, he's the only man ever to have won the World Cup on three occasions and in two of them he was massively influential on the players and tournament.

So, on the pitch he was the greatest, but I always feel it has to be more than that. Rather like Mohammed Ali, whenever you see the fact you see them now, but who's the greatest sports person of all time. Ali is often up there at number one. Pele for me, Pele is the second greatest sportsman of all time -- or sportsperson of all time in the greatest footballer of all time. It's what you do as well. Pele because of Jesse Owens who was before TV, the world didn't quite appreciate Jesse Owens at the time -- they do now but they didn't then.

So, Pele was pretty much the first global black sporting superstar, and he became the greatest name in South America let alone Brazil and he had to carry that burden on his shoulder at a time when, you know, Brazil was -- especially in the mid-60s onwards politically very difficult to be there and there was a coup, that was an army takeover. And everybody wanted Pele on their side. So, we had to deal with all these pressures as well. And rather like Diego Maradona, he was a boy born in the slums. He used a sock as a football. He had no boots and yet from those extremely humble beginnings he became at the age of 17 don't forget, he went to Sweden. He had never left Brazil in his life. He went to Sweden in the 1958 World Cup. Scored a hat trick -- just think about that, a hat trick in the World Cup semifinals and then two goals in the final at the age of 17 and from that point onwards, the legend that was Pele was born.

So, his -- I mean, he'll stay in the annals of history forever. Very hard to see anybody emulate what the man achieved, and I think when you look into all the responses, even from the likes of both Ronaldo, Messi, and any other living great, all they bow and fall to the feet of the footballer who they still look up to and say, yeah, we were good but he was the best.

NOBILO: Ian Stafford, thank you so much for joining us.

The queen of punk fashion Vivienne Westwood has died. Her eponymous company announced the British fashion designer had died peacefully on Thursday at home in London with her family at her side. Westwood began her career in the 1970s rising to fame designing clothes worn by the group the Sex Pistols and creating what became the look for the punk scene. Westwood's brand would eventually go global with her designs ending up in museums all around the world. Vivienne Westwood was 81 years old.

CNN and other media outlets are exposing even more lies from U.S. Congressman-elect George Santos. New questions about now about his mother and the 9/11 terror attacks just ahead.

Plus, the number of dead is rising after a fire at a casino in Cambodia as rescuers search the burned building.