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Suspect Arrested For Murders Of Four University Of Idaho Students; Journalism Icon Barbara Walters Passes Away; Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI Passes Away; Russian Military Launch Missile Attacks At Ukrainian Targets Including Energy Infrastructure; Six Years Of Former President Trump's Tax Returns Released By Congress; New York Republican Congressman-Elect George Santos Faces Scrutiny Into His Campaign's Financing In Wake Of Revelations Of His Lies About His Family And Professional Background. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired December 31, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:18]

PAULA REID, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Reid. Jim Acosta is off today.

New information on the suspect in the murders of those four college students in Idaho stabbed to death in their beds last month. Twenty- eight-year-old Bryan Kohberger now faces four counts of first-degree murder after his arrest Friday in Pennsylvania on Friday. A law enforcement source says Kohberger drove across the country in a white Hyundai Elantra from Idaho and arrived in Pennsylvania at his parents' house right around Christmas while law enforcement was tracking him every step of the way.

There are lots of new developments in the case, including how authorities identified and arrested the suspect. So let's get right to Jean Casarez. Jean, you just spoke with the suspect's attorney. What are you learning?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This is the chief public defender for Monroe County, Jason LaBar. And he tells me that his client made the decision to waive extradition. He is not going to fight going back to Idaho --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON LABAR, MONROE COUNTY CHIEF PUBLIC DEFENDER: He's doing OK. He's shocked a little bit. Obviously, he's calm right now. He is very intelligent. In my hour conversation with him, that comes off. I can tell that. And he understands where we are right now.

I have spoken to his family last night. I spoke to them for approximately 15 to 20 minutes. They're also very shocked. Out of character for Bryan. They are really in awe over everything that's going on. As you're aware, the FBI, local police, Idaho state troopers were at their house at approximately 3:00 a.m. yesterday knocking on the door and announcing themselves to enter, out of real shock and awe to them.

I believe he arrived somewhere around the 17th of December. It could have been the 18th.

My understanding from both his parents and him is that he was home for the holidays.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Now, one interesting note on a legal aspect of all of this, I understand from his public defender that law enforcement actually questioned him before he asked for an attorney and stopped that interview for about five to 15 minutes, that it was the law enforcement from Idaho and Pennsylvania. I asked him if he was given his Miranda rights. He said yes. He waived them. But at some point, after that short duration of time, he stopped the interview and said I would like an attorney. Paula?

REID: Jean Casarez, thank you.

Joining me now, CNN counterterrorism analyst and former FBI senior intelligence adviser Phil Mudd. Phil, let me ask you about this step that police took to surveil the suspect as he drove across the country from Idaho to Pennsylvania. That can't be easy to pull off.

PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: Boy, that is really tough. Let me take you some of the mechanics of this. I've seen this before, including when I was at the FBI. I remember we lost a guy once. Let's do some of the steps along the way. First, you're on a long stretch of barren highway. You don't want a lot of cars around. An individual might say what are all these cars doing here. That's possibly an airplane surveillance.

Let's say the suspect pulls off at 2:00 into a roadside place to go to the bathroom. You've got to ensure that he's not there alone. How do you get a vacant roadside rest stop surveilled? Let's say he goes into a shopping area where there are hundreds or thousands of people. How do you ensure that you have people around them so that, a, you can ensure their security, but, b, he doesn't make the people who are following him. There's a lot of people involved, a lot of technicalities, and a lot of chances to drop the ball. This is pretty tough.

REID: Yes, it seems so. A source tells CNN that it was genetic genealogy that helped identify the suspect. So basically police entered unknown DNA into a public database to find potential matches or family members. And then police work, they took it over from there. So help me understand two things. One, how does the DNA get in that public database in it first place? And how often do law enforcement avail themselves of this tool?

MUDD: Well, you are talking about people who register on DNA databases, public information, and put in stuff, for example, to identify what their ancestry is. Whether they come from Europe, whether they come from Africa. You look at the size of the house and the size of the crime scene to collect DNA. That's why I suspect one of the reasons this has taken a while. There is a ton of DNA around. Think blood, think hair in a house that has multiple bedrooms, multiple crime scenes. You have got to isolate this individual's DNA, and then say on these public DNA websites is there a match that is two steps away, three steps away. I know there could be a lot of questioning about why that testing took so long and why the match took so long.

[14:05:03]

You've got a big crime scene, and it's not clear to me that the DNA tests got them one stop away from the suspect. It might have been somebody who was a third cousin once removed or something. Then you have to back in and figure out who around Pullman, Washington, around the campus matches that. Pretty tough.

REID: And how often do police use this kind of tool?

MUDD: This is becoming increasingly common. I think there are questions occasionally about privacy. But if you put your information on a public database, and obviously an increasing number of people are trying to determine their ancestry through public databases, it's like Facebook. As soon as it's out there on a database, investigators, analysts like me are going to say if you put that stuff out there, we're going to take a look at it. I don't understand why I can't access that stuff. I think there would be questions here about privacy, I don't know. But I'd say, you want to put your stuff on a database, I'm going to look at it. Sorry.

REID: Interesting. So the student -- the suspect is a graduate student in criminal justice and criminology, and someone with the same name on Reddit for help in a research project about how emotions and psychological traits influence decision making when committing a crime. What do you make of this?

MUDD: I'm going to give you the wrong answer. Probably less than you think. The reason is the public conversation right now is different from the conversation I would have been having with colleagues when I was back at the bureau. The public conversation obviously, as soon as the person is picked up is, what's their motivation. My first question would be, how confident are you that you can understand the motivation on someone who committed an act like this. You could jump to a conclusion and say he wanted, for example, I don't know, but he wanted to commit the perfect murder and he was researching stuff to get there.

But the private conversation I said might be a little surprising and why I'm not that interested. A private conversation to me goes strictly to how confident are you that he did it. I don't care why. And how confident are you that you could prove that in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt, which is why authorities are saying we still want more tips. We want to make sure there are no gaps in the timelines so the defense attorneys can't punch holes in our argument here.

REID: I think that's a perfectly fair answer. But another question that is out there is the murder weapon. We don't have a murder weapon yet that we know of. What do we do if he just threw it out the window while on that cross-country drive. How hard is it going to make the case without the key piece of evidence?

MUDD: I think -- I don't see that as particularly key. I'm not that's not what a prosecutor would say. But if you take a knife like that, and we're talking about six weeks he's been gone, how do you go into a courtroom as a defense attorney and say there's no way you prove this without the knife. I think the more interesting questions and the harder questions, we have already seen hints of this, are going to be questions about ensuring that the prosecution can say, a, he's in the area. He was in the area. I think he was only living a few miles away. They're going to be able to prove that.

There's going to be questions about the DNA in the house. Can you prove that was from that night? Can you prove he was never there for a party? Can you prove that he was actually there at the time in the house? I think that's the question that will come up. And it's not whether we think we can prove that. I'm pretty confident they got the right guy. It's whether, remember the O.J. trial, it's whether you can convince a jury that there is no doubt. And that's why the authorities, again, are still looking for tips.

REID: This is a trial, if it goes to trial, that everyone will be watching. Phil Mudd, thank you.

MUDD: Oh, yes. Thank you.

REID: An icon in American television news has died. Barbara Walters, the anchor, reporter, and talk show host was 93. She always acknowledged she had a legacy, but she pointed out that it was more than just all of those famous people she interviewed. CNN's Richard Roth looks back at her trail blazing career.

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RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Barbara Walters was one of the most fascinating people of any year in the television era.

BARBARA WALTERS, NEW ANCHOR, REPORTER, AND TALK SHOW HOST: I know that I've done some important interviews. I know that I have been a part of history.

ROTH: Was she ever.

WALTERS: Are you sorry you didn't bring the tapes?

RICHARD NIXON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Yes, I think so, because they were private conversations.

WALTERS: We read that you are mad.

ROTH: From murderers --

WALTERS: Why did you kill John Lennon?

ROTH: -- to movie stars. WALTERS: Are you a changed man since the illness? Did it affect you very much? Did you mind being thought of as sex, sex, sex?

I think that what is important is to have curiosity. Follow that curiosity. I'm a great believer in homework.

ROTH: Before people revealed all on social media, Barbara Walters was the interviewer to open up the stars.

WALTERS: Does he hit you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He shakes. He pushes. He swings.

WALTERS: And I hope that they think that I'm fair and that I can be penetrating without being a killer, and I am, I hope.

[14:10:02]

ROTH: And which interview was her most important?

WALTERS: The first, and at that time the only, I only did one after interview, that Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin gave.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are always like this.

(LAUGHTER)

ROTH: She said her 1977 interview with Cuba's Fidel Castro was a news coup.

WALTERS: A man who runs a country? A man who allows no dissent?

ROTH: Castro didn't make it easy.

WALTERS: Blowing a Cohiba, the cigar that he smokes, had smoke in my face for three-and-a-half hours. I didn't mind it. It's a different time.

ROTH: About 74 million people, the most viewers for a news program, tuned in to see Monica Lewinsky, the White House Intern involved with President Clinton.

WALTERS: What would you tell your children when you have them?

MONICA LEWINSKY, FORMER WHITE HOUSE INTERN: Mommy made a big mistake.

ROTH: She got a reputation for making her interview guests cry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He never got to know --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you won't feel so big.

ROTH: After Katharine Hepburn said she felt like an old tree, Walters was cut down by critics for asking this.

WALTERS: What kind of a tree are you? ROTH: It didn't take long for Walters to become part of pop culture. The same network that made fun of her was where she got her big break, NBC's "Today" Show.

WALTERS: I was not a television suffragette. I kicked the door open because after being there 11 years, I was named the first co-host of a morning program.

ROTH: But she was not permitted by her co-host to ask a question until he posed three.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Harry Reasoner, Barbara Walters.

ROTH: It got worse when Walters, to the surprise of many, was named the first female co-anchor of a network evening newscast.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've kept time on your stories and mine tonight. You owe me four minutes.

(LAUGHTER)

ROTH: She later described it as drowning without a life preserver.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Barbara Walters Special.

WALTERS: The specials saved my life.

Good evening, I'm Barbara Walters.

ROTH: And launched a legendary career at ABC, capped by creating and co-hosting "The View."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When did you first learn about sex?

WALTERS: Well, I didn't learn about sex until I started to do this show, and now I know more about sex than I ever wanted to know.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

WALTERS: The chemistry of it and the fact that it's live, that it's outrageous, that you never know what you're going to hear.

ROTH: When she left "The View" and ABC, they named a building in her honor, a lasting monument for a woman who changed TV.

WALTERS: I'm so proud of the women today. There are so many of them that are wonderful. That's my legacy.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

REID: Joining me now, TV host and podcaster Melissa Rivers, daughter of the late John Rivers, another television icon. She's the author of "Lies My Mother Told Me, Tall Tales from a Short Woman." Melissa, I want to begin by showing this photo you posted of your mother and Barbara Walters together. When you went through your mom's belongings after her death, you found some letters from Barbara Walters. Tell us about those.

MELISSA RIVERS, PODCASTER, T.V. HOST, AND AUTHOR: Yes. I found some letters, specifically one sticks with me, which was, I think it was from the early 70s where Barbara had written a note to my mom talking about being a parent and being a public figure. And it was talking about something you would not expect these two women to talk about, that it was tough to balance. And that was a very forward-thinking conversation back then.

REID: That's really interesting, because earlier when we were talking to some of our other guests, someone shared a story where Walters told her never sacrifice or skimp on your personal life. It is really interesting that that's been a theme throughout these conversations she's had over the decades. Melissa, talk about your favorite memories of Barbara Walters.

RIVERS: Oh, my favorite memory. There is one that really sticks out. My mother was a constant presence on "The View," and then later on I was as well when we were promoting our shows together. And it was one of Barbara's last shows. And my mother and I were both on. And my mother shared a theory as to why Barbara and David Letterman were retiring at the same time. I think you guys have a clip of that, because I can't --

REID: We do, indeed. We do, indeed. Let's play it. Here we go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOAN RIVERS: America, figure this one out. She retires and a week later David Letterman retires. It's time America knew. They --

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:15:00]

REID: She was clearly using a pretty colorful term to say they were more than just friends. What were you thinking in that moment.

RIVERS: Oh, it was just hilarious, especially because I did not know that was coming. Rarely did I not know what the material was going to be. And that was one. And to watch everyone and knowing that America just fell off their chairs, and to have Barbara laugh, that's a way to send off someone who is a legend. It's just with a smile.

REID: Absolutely. And you're the daughter of a trailblazer yourself. Tell us about the impact that Barbara had on the industry.

RIVERS: I was thinking about that last night. And I think one of the things when you look at women like Barbara and my mother, they didn't kick open doors. They created the doors they had to kick open. What they were doing in their time wasn't even a thought. It wasn't even something anyone would think of. Not only did they have to kick down doors, they had to create them to be able to kick them down. And I think in the long rung that's really the legacy.

Neither one ever let themselves become dated. You look at creating "The View." She did that in her late 60s, early 70s, and had the foresight to know there was a women's audience out there that was not being served. And I think that is what kept women like my mother and Barbara going. They stayed current. They stayed relevant. And I think that's a huge part of their legacy that they didn't even realize.

REID: It's a great point. Both women legends, but also innovators. She created "The View." She had these celebrity specials, creating these doors. When they wouldn't open, they would create a door for themselves. And what did that mean for the next generations of women? What have your seen of this legacy, how have you seen it play out?

RIVERS: You know, women are so expected in the news and entertainment industry. And the opportunities that are afforded to them were, especially in news, were not afforded to Barbara. And especially you look back now, just that heavy political, the Castro interview. That, you said in the piece, she couldn't ask a question until the co-host asked three questions. And now you have got women like yourself and all of these women anchors who are given the hard interviews. And I think that's a big part of Barbara.

REID: Absolutely. Now, while many people may feel like they know Barbara, not everyone got the opportunity to meet her in person. You have. So what was it about her that was so magnetic and that got people to open up?

RIVERS: I think there was a sense of kindness. I think there was -- you mentioned in the piece curiosity. And on a lot of levels a sense of humor. My mother, Barbara, Judge Judy, and Cindy Adams, you have got three war horses right there. We're friends. And they would go out to dinner or to lunch. And always I was like, did people's heads blow open with when they walked into a restaurant and saw these four women sitting there? And not being aware of the impact they're having on the rest of the restaurant. I would have gotten whiplash.

(LAUGHTER)

REID: Me too. Melissa Rivers, thank you for joining us and sharing your memories of this legend, this innovator.

RIVERS: Thank you for having me.

REID: We'll be right back.

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[14:21:51]

REID: Former Pope Benedict XVI has died at the age of 95. Today dignitaries and religious leaders, including Pope Francis, are paying tribute. And Benedict's funeral will be held in Saint Peter's Square on Thursday. CNN's Delia Gallagher joins us now from Vatican City. Delia, talk to us about the former Pope's legacy and the reaction to his death. DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, in terms of

his legacy, we should separate his legacy as Pope and his legacy overall, because, of course, he was cardinal and professor and theologian for many years before he was Pope, which I think is probably the more important legacy in his writings and in his discussions about faith and the importance of keeping faith in God in the world.

But in terms of his legacy as Pope, one of the outstanding things, of course, was that he was Pope during -- when much of the sex abuse crisis came to light. He had to deal with that. He had to deal with it for a few years under John Paul II when he working under him at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. And he was the one who set up the first sex abuse office to handle those cases here at the Vatican. He worked towards a zero-tolerance policy, and indeed as Pope, laicized 400 priests, 400 or so priests during his tenure as Pope.

So he, by his own admission, said that he wasn't a very good manager. He didn't like those kinds of things. So I think his larger legacy, Paula, is this one of being a theologian of being an intellectual, all the hundreds of books and articles that he wrote to really shore up Christianity in the world.

In terms of reaction, of course, we have had people coming down to the square, but it's not the same reaction that you would see, perhaps, with the death of a sitting Pope, of course. However, we have had a wonderful evening because we've had Pope Francis in the square to visit the nativity scene, and indeed before that in St. Peter's Basilica. And he gave his own reaction. Let's take a listen to some of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE FRANCIS (through translator): We are moved as we recall him as such a noble person, so kind. And we feel such gratitude in our hearts. Gratitude for God for giving him to the church and to the world, gratitude to him for all the good he accomplished, and above all for his witness of faith and prayer, especially in these last years of his life. Only God knows the value of his sacrifices for the good of the church.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: And one of the interesting things about this is the relationship between Pope Francis and the Pope emeritus, because, of course, I think for Pope Francis, having somebody who had been Pope, who knew what the challenges were, knew what the difficulties were, was something that helped him. He visited him a lot. And so he spoke about his kindness and his nobility of spirit -- will also be missing the Pope emeritus tonight. Paula?

REID: Delia Gallagher, thank you.

And Russian missile attacks kill at least one person in Ukraine's Capitol Hill city of Kyiv this New Year's Eve's. These are pictures of some of today's damage.

[14:25:00]

The city's mayor says 20 more people were injured as Russia launched a barrage of missiles at several cities across Ukraine. Our Ben Wedeman had a rooftop view in Kyiv as missiles exploded in the city around him. Let's take a listen.

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(EXPLOSIONS)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: OK, there have been several load explosions. We see three points of impact. The air defenses are working. You've also seen puffs of smoke in the air. This is an ongoing barrage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: CNN's Ben Wedeman joins us now from Kyiv. Ben, we can see it's dark there now. What is the situation at this hour?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At the moment, it's quiet. The streets are largely empty. The daily curfew is approaching. There's no sense here that this is a holiday, that this is a New Year's. Many Kyiv residents spent this last day of 2023 (ph) in bomb shelters, in basements hiding during these fairly intense strikes. According to the Ukrainian military, around 20 Russian missiles were fired from Russia proper, as well as Russian warships in the Black Sea. They said they were able to intercept 12 of them. But they did cause perhaps the debris -- it's not clear whether there were any direct hits or the damage that occurred can in Kyiv was caused by falling debris.

As you said, one person killed here in Kyiv, 16 people wounded. The other cities in Ukraine were also hit during this missile barrage, including Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, and elsewhere with more than a dozen people wounded in those areas. We heard the Ukrainian prime minister say that the goal of this Russian onslaught today is to leave this country in the dark for the new year. Paula?

REID: Ben Wedeman, thank you so much.

Still ahead, six years of former President Trump's tax returns are now available for public scrutiny. So what now? Well, we'll break it all down next. You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

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REID: Six years of former President Trump's tax returns are now available for public scrutiny. He fought for years to keep them secret. But on Friday a House committee released them. And they're raising a lot of questions about his finances, like why did he pay little or no federal income tax in some years? Take a look. In 2016 and 2017, Trump paid only $750. In 2020, the final year of his presidency, he did not pay a dime in federal income tax. Trump offsetting his income by millions of dollars in losses, raising questions about the former president's business failures. The returns also show Trump maintained foreign bank accounts while serving in the White House, including in China.

Joining me now, CNN contributor and Trump biography Michael D'Antonio. He's the author of the book "The Truth about Trump." Michael, we know Trump famously fought hard to keep these returns from being made public. Now that they are out, what does he do?

MICHAEL D'ANTONIO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it seems to me that he's got both an image problem and maybe a legal issue, although others can speak perhaps to the legal problems better than I might. Politically he has got two sub issues here. One is that it suggests, these returns suggest that he isn't the great businessman that he claims to be, and certainly all these losses would cause many of us to think so. On the other hand, he might argue that these are paper losses and they're not really a sign that he wasn't doing well or that he wasn't living well or that his personal wealth was suffering.

That explanation actually leads to the other political issue that he has, that being that someone who lives so lavishly and who claims to be worth up to $10 billion or $11 billion in net worth should be paying some sort of tax for the system to be fair or were he to be a good citizen, because paying our taxes is part of participating in our society. Actually, you might say it funds the defense of democracy both internationally and at home. So he's got big political issues here. And I think it only further erodes an already wounded presidential campaign ambition that he has.

REID: He has argued and likely would argue that the tax system is inherently unfair, but he has argued that he took advantage of the laws as they are written because he is, quote, smart. Your take on that?

D'ANTONIO: Well, I think he's got dozens and dozens of people around him who are smart when it comes to taxes. This is another case, just as with his claims to knowing more about the law than most lawyers, where he's just making stuff up. He doesn't exhibit intelligence himself when it comes to tax policy. He only knows enough to hire people who know all the tricks. So none of these methods are new. What's I think remarkable is that he uses every single one of them.

And I've noted this before in other arenas of his life, and that is that he will grab, as aggressively $1,000 as he will $1 million. We have all heard of stories of people that he's decided not to pay, small contractors or people that he's interrupted transactions with just to make new demands. So, sure, he's hired a bunch of smart people. But if he were truly smart, he would have paid some taxes knowing that eventually all of this would come out. And for him to imagine that it wouldn't come out I think was really foolish.

REID: It did take a very long time to come out.

[14:35:00]

But what do you make of the fact that his charitable contributions in 2020 were zero?

D'ANTONIO: Well, isn't that remarkable? He, in the past, used parts of his organization to appear to make charitable donations, although it was often for his benefit. And in one case that's noted in these audit -- or in these papers that have been released, he claimed a far greater value of a donation of land that he made many years ago in order to reap the tax benefits of this excess valuation. And the committee has identified this as a serious problem. And it's part of why the state of New York went after his businesses.

So I would imagine, too, that the people overseeing the operation of this business now that it's been convicted are going to look at these tax records, look at the practices that maybe the remaining executives would like to repeat, and disallow them.

REID: I also want to ask you about some revelations that came out of new transcripts from the January 6th committee. This was in testimony from Trump's former press secretary Stephanie Grisham, quote, "I heard from several people in the West Wing, more on the military aid or Secret Service side and then a couple just people, that he was sitting in the dining room, and he was just watching it all unfold. And a couple of his comments, some of his comments were that these people looked very trashy. But also looked at what fighter -- looked at -- looked like fighters." What is your impression of that?

D'ANTONIO: Well, I think that day, January 6th, was in some way a culmination of all the dreams that Donald Trump has ever had. When he was a very young fellow, he went to a military academy where they did pretend soldiering. And I think that was something that instilled in him this idea of being a leader of a violent organization. Later he would say that the movie "Patton" about a general who abused his troops was one of his favorite movies and that Patton represented the kind of leader that he hoped to be.

So now we have on January 6th him watching what is essentially a mob with both some revulsion because he's actually someone who looks down on ordinary Americans, but I think also some real pleasure because he's activated people to risk their lives and to risk almost, I guess, in one case take the life of someone in the melee. And this was something I think that delighted him.

REID: Michael D'Antonio, thank you.

D'ANTONIO: Thank you.

REID: And coming up, we'll take you around the world as crowds gather to mark the arrival of the new year. Stay right here.

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[14:41:15]

REID: A little more than nine hours to go before 2022 comes to an end on the east coast of the U.S. People have been gathering in New York's Times Square all day waiting for the chance to welcome 2023. Tens of thousands of people will be there for the world's biggest New Year's Eve party. With more than a ton of confetti cascading down upon the square as the 11,000-pound ball made of Waterford crystals drop, counting down the final 60 seconds of the year. Millions more will watch and countdown across the country.

As the western world waits for 2023, the new year has already begun in eastern parts of the globe. People from Hong Kong to Sydney said goodbye to 2022 in recent hours with lavish fireworks displays and boisterous celebrations.

We have got reporters out covering celebrations around the world. Scott McLean is in Turkey, Elinda Labropoulou is in Athens, Greece, and Larry Madowo joins us from Mombasa, Kenya. All right, Scott, let's start with you. Istanbul is a little more than an hour away from 2023. So what's happening there?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It is cold. It is mid-40s right now, feels a little colder than that, I have to say. But that has not stopped anybody from coming out to try to get on the edge of the Bosporus and see the fireworks tonight. This is one of the few places on earth where you can celebrate New Year's Eve in two continents. So right now at the moment I'm in Europe, but just. Like, literally if I took three more steps, I would be in the Bosporus Strait.

And the light that you see over there, that is Asia. That is the Asian part of Istanbul. The tower there you see is the Camlica Radio Tower. And then you can also see further on in the distance the Martyrs bridge, and that's where we expect the fireworks to get going tonight. And then if you look over this way, you can see the crowds have really started to pick up here right along the waterfront.

And you will notice that there is still a lot of decorations up right now, Christmas decorations up. And this is one of the curious things that I found about being in Istanbul is that Christmas in this country is really synonymous not so much with the birth of Jesus but instead with New Year's Eve. People have little trees in their houses that they don't call Christmas trees always. They call them New Year's trees. And so people are doing all of the things that much of the Christian world would be doing on Christmas. Here in Turkey, they are doing it on New Year's.

And one other thing to point out to you, and that is that the other popular thing to do in Turkey is to buy lottery tickets. And I have done exactly that. And so this is the chance to win 200 million lira, which I think by my rough translation is about $11 million. So if you any spare cash in Turkey these days, chances are you have gone out and bought a couple of these. It's a popular New Year's tradition here.

REID: Scott, I wish you the best of luck with the lottery.

And Larry, I want to bring it over to you. A little more than an hour to go in Mombasa. What are you seeing?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are seeing a lot of people coming out here to Mombasa. This is on the east African coast. We're just on the Indian Ocean. And I want to introduce you to my new friend. This is Ali (ph) the camel. And it's one of the ways people are ringing in the new year. A lot of kids out here with their parents and families to celebrate new year. There is going to be a big fireworks display in about an hour and 15. When Mombasa strikes midnight, all of east Africa will be celebrating. Around this region there's a lot of food and family around this time. People will be around televisions waiting to see the president's traditional New Year's message, but also celebrating the end of the year and the start of a new year.

[14:45:02]

A lot of Kenyans think it has been a really difficult year. One poll out today said more than half of Kenyans said it was a bad or terrible year in 2022. And they are hoping, 82 percent, for a much more optimistic 2023.

But right now I'm surprised by how many kids are out here, Paula. Considering it's almost midnight, I'm seeing a lot of kids, families, eating ice cream even though it's almost midnight. And taking in this moment, this is one of the few times when they close out the roads and allow people to come out and celebrate and look forward to a new year. So they say you should never work with live animals on television, but what could possibly go wrong? Move, Ali (ph). Move, Ali (ph). OK. Ali (ph) is not paying attention to me, so I'm going to send it back over to you. OK. There we go.

REID: Ali (ph) wants some ice cream before he is going to move. Very brave doing a live shot with a camel. Thank you so much, Larry.

Elinda, it's 9:00 in Greece. How is Athens celebrating? It's going to be hard to top that report. Kids, ice cream, camels. What do you have going on in Greece?

ELINDA LABROPOULOU, CNN REPORTER: Well, Athens is not celebrating with any camels in the heart of the city, which is where we are right now. But there is a big live concert that's about to start in about an hour. And then there will be a countdown, lots of traditional songs until we reach midnight, and then a large fireworks display.

And what the city of Athens has promised this year is that the party will go on throughout the night. A lot of deejay sets, a lot of lives taking place across the city until the early morning hours. And there is this tradition in Greece very often to usher in the new year with going for breakfast. So the idea is you stay up all night and then you book a very nice table at a very nice hotel or restaurant that serves breakfast, and you go there at 5:00 a.m. with your friends. And that's how you usher in the new year. This is something a lot of Greeks and visitors alike will be doing in Athens once again.

The hotels are full. There are people from all over the world in Athens this year. It is a city that's becoming increasingly a year- round destination. It's not hard to see why. And especially for New Year's, when you're looking at the Acropolis, you are thinking of a landmark site that's been there through the millennia, the passage of time, what it has survived through. Just this idea of time, resilience, and basically human history coming together makes it an incredibly important place to come and visit on New Year's.

REID: All right, well, thank you so much to all our reporters, and of course Ali (ph) the camel. Tonight, Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen are back for another global celebration. Join them for New Year's Eve live from Times Square. All the action gets started tonight at 8:00 on CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:51:16]

REID: More scrutiny for the Republican congressman-elect already under fire for lying about his education, work history, Jewish heritage, and claims that his grandparents survived the holocaust. Now, there are questions about whether George Santos lied about his own mother's death. In July 2021, the congressman-elect tweeted, quote, "9/11 claimed my mother's life."

Five months later, Santos tweeted that December 23rd marked the day he lost his best friend and mentor. Santos's campaign website also makes reference to the story, but claims his mother survived the attacks and passed away a few years later from cancer. An obit says she died 15 years after 9/11. On top of all that, federal investigators are looking into his finances and how he was able to loan hundreds of thousands of dollars to his own campaign. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has details.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

CHUCK LAVINE, (D) NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY: We stand here today watching this slow George Santos train wreck take place.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: New York Congressman- elect George Santos facing continued scrutiny after he admitted to lying about key parts of his biography.

GEORGE SANTOS, (R-NY) REPRESENTATIVE-ELECT: Now it's going to be incumbent upon me to deliver on those results. And I look forward to serving --

TULSI GABBARD, (D) FORMER HAWAII REPRESENTATIVE: You're exactly right.

SANTOS: -- serving my district.

SERFATY: "The New York Times" reporting late Thursday night details found on Santos's campaign disclosure forms. One of them is a company called Cleaner 123 which received $11,000 from his campaign and was listed as an apartment rental for staff. But the address listed is a home on Long Island, "The Times" reports, where neighbors say Santos and his husband were regularly seen coming and going. Also reported, dozens of expenses of $199.99, one cent below the amount at which federal law requires receipts. And travel expenses exceeding more $70,000. It's not clear if the spending was allowed under campaign finance rules.

An attorney for Santos tells "The New York Times" campaign expenditures for staff members, including travel, lodging, and meals are normal expenses of any competent campaign. The suggestion that the Santos campaign engaged in any irresponsible spending of campaign funds is just ludicrous.

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Where and how did he get this money?

SERFATY: A source tells CNN federal prosecutors are investigating the finances of the incoming Republican congressman. Santos has faced questions over his wealth in loans totaling more $700,000 he made to his successful 2022 campaign. In a 2022 financial disclosure, Santos listed a salary of $750,000 for the years 2022 and 2021 at the Devolder Organization, a family firm that was described as handling $80 million in assets. The firm, which is registered in Florida, has no LinkedIn profile or website, and it was temporary deemed inactive by the state. But now records show that it was reinstated on December 20th.

SANTOS: I'm not a criminal. I committed absolutely no crimes.

SERFATY: In an interview with Semafor, Santos said he made his money through capital introduction and deal making for high networth individuals.

HONIG: If you intentionally make a false statement about your assets or anything else that matters, that too could be a federal false statements crime.

SERFATY: The legal road ahead for Santos could be treacherous, and there are already calls for him to resign from Congress.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's going to so much pressure on him to leave.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

REID: Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much.

[14:55:00]

We have been showing you New Year's celebrations from around the world, so let's show you the spectacular scene in New Zealand this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Beautiful. New Zealand is among the first in the world to ring in the new year with a light show over the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

And Dionne Warwick is a music icon with 56 worldwide hits, six Grammy Awards, and one extraordinary legacy. She brings her exclusive story to CNN in the new film "Don't Make Me Over," premiering tomorrow, New Year's Day, at 9:00 p.m.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dionne Warwick, one of the great female singers of all time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dionne was the first African American woman to win a Grammy in the pop category.

(SINGING)

DIONNE WARWICK, SINGER: The music I was singing was nothing like anything any of them were singing. The legacy of my family, music. Pure and simple, music.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Dionne Warwick, Don't Make Me Over," premieres New Year's Day at 9:00 on CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Reid in for Jim Acosta. As we wait to welcome the start of the new year here in the U.S., around the world they are already celebrating the start of 2023 in style. Let's take you live to Dubai. These are live pictures of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest tower in the world and home to a breathtaking lightshow and fireworks display every year. Let's take a minute to watch as they count down.