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Barbara Walters, Legendary News Anchor, Dies Age 93; Suspect Arrested in Idaho Student Killings; House Committee Releases Trump's Tax Returns. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired December 31, 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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LAILA HARRAK, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Laila Harrak.
Ahead this hour, TV news mourns the passing of a legend. We'll take a look at the life and legacy of Barbara Walters.
Plus --
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These murders have shaken our community and no arrest will ever bring back these young students.
HARRAK (voice-over): The long-awaited arrest in connection to the murders of four University of Idaho students. How the community is reacting after this months-long ordeal.
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HARRAK (voice-over): And a never-before-seen look at Donald Trump's taxes. House Democrats making six years of the former president's financials public.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Laila Harrak.
HARRAK: Trailblazer, pioneer, ground breaker: however you label her, Barbara Walters was an American original. Late Friday, we learned that legendary newswoman had passed away peacefully at the age of 93.
It is easy to forget what it was like six decades ago, when women were rarely, if ever, seen as serious journalists in the U.S. But she proved them wrong, becoming the first to co-anchor an evening TV newscast and that was just the beginning.
It wasn't easy. Barbara Walters faced powerful headwinds from the very start. Yet it was her fight and determination that helped turn her into a world-class journalist and, in the process, inspired countless others to be like her. CNN's Richard Roth looks back at her extraordinary career.
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RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Barbara Walters was one of the most fascinating people, of any year, in the television era.
BARBARA WALTERS, AMERICAN BROADCASTER: I know that I've done some important interviews. I know that I have been a part of history.
ROTH (voice-over): Was she ever.
WALTERS: Are you sorry you didn't burn the tapes?
RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, I think so, because they were private conversations.
WALTERS: We read that you are mad.
ROTH (voice-over): From murderers ...
WALTERS: Why did you kill John Lennon?
ROTH (voice-over): -- 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 (voice-over): Before people revealed all on social media, Barbara Walters was the interviewer to open up the stars.
WALTERS: Does he hit you?
ROBIN GIVENS, AMERICAN ACTRESS, MIKE TYSON'S EX-WIFE: He shakes. He pushes. He -- he swings.
WALTERS: I am me 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.
ROTH (voice-over): And which interview was her most important?
WALTERS: The first and, at that time, the only -- they didn't want to have interviews -- Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin.
MUHAMMAD ANWAR EL-SADAT, FORMER PRESIDENT OF EGYPT: You are always like this, Barbara.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She said her 1977 interview with Cuba's Fidel Castro was a news coup.
WALTERS: A man who runs a country?
FIDEL CASTRO, CUBAN DICTATOR: (Speaking foreign language).
WALTERS: A man who allows no dissent?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Castro didn't make it easy.
WALTERS: Blowing Cohiba, you know, the cigar that he smokes, I had smoke in my face for 3.5 hours.
I didn't mind it. It was a different time.
ROTH (voice-over): 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, AMERICAN ACTIVIST: Mommy made a big mistake.
ROTH (voice-over): She got a reputation for making her interview guests cry.
PATRICK SWAYZE, AMERICAN ACTOR: He never got to know.
GOLDIE HAWN, ACTOR: And you won't feel so big.
ROTH (voice-over): 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 (voice-over): It didn't take long for Walters to become part of pop culture.
GILDA RADNER, COMEDIAN: Hello, this is Baba Wawa.
ROTH (voice-over): 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 (voice-over): But she was not permitted by her co-host to ask a question until he posed three.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Harry Reasoner.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Barbara Walters.
ROTH (voice-over): It got worse when Walters, to the surprise of many, was named the first female co-anchor of a network evening newscast.
HARRY REASONER, AMERICAN JOURNALIST: I've kept time on your stories and mine tonight. You owe me four minutes.
ROTH (voice-over): 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 am Barbara Walters.
ROTH (voice-over): And launched a legendary career at ABC, kept 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.
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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 (voice-over): 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.
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HARRAK: Well, as you would expect, the reactions of Barbara Walters' death is pouring in, especially from fellow journalists. ABC's Deborah Roberts tweeted out her sympathy along with her memory of Walters inviting her to join the news program, "20/20".
Walters' one-time co-host on "The View," Michelle Collins, described the process of interviewing for the show and her introductory lunch with Barbara.
And Joan Lunden, the long-time host of ABC's "Good Morning, America," shared her thoughts, saying the death of Barbara Walters was a loss of a trailblazer in the industry.
Connie Chung, a long-time colleague of Walters, spoke with CNN earlier to reflect on the broadcaster's legacy and how Walters landed all those interviews.
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CONNIE CHUNG, JOURNALIST: Barbara was one of a handful of women who was in news business at the time that I started.
But beyond that, she blazed a trail for the men, too. In other words, the men were sitting back there, not aggressively going after interviews, one-on-one interviews and they were not picking up the phone, frankly. She did everything she could to get an interview. She was indefatigable.
I first met her in 1969 when I was working at a local station in Washington, D.C. And she was just -- she was bigger than life. She met me at her limousine at the southwest gate of the White House because I wanted to interview her and she -- I hopped in the limo and I sat there in the back with her.
And she had assistants sitting in the front and she was giving instructions of what to do about this, what to do about that. And I thought, oh, my god. This is like a Katharine Hepburn movie, which the executive is not barking orders but saying it so definitively, this is what I need to do.
And I thought, oh, gosh, if I ever get there, how likely would it be?
Well, we -- I met. That was the first time but then we had a long relationship, because there were times when I was competing against her for interviews.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And what was that like, Connie?
When you're competing against Barbara Walters for the get, what was that like?
CHUNG: Oh my god. I mean, I thought it was against Mount Rushmore. I thought, I'll never get this. But if I ever did -- and I did a few times -- she would write me a note. She would -- I mean, I can just see her.
She would wear a -- she had this stationery that was blue. Sometimes, it was white with the blue lettering but it had her -- her handwriting was kind of slanted, not school teacher handwriting.
It was -- and every time she would write me a note, it was heartfelt. I mean, it really was so sincere, I thought, oh, my gosh, this is how she gets people into her close confidence.
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HARRAK: Well, we will have much more on Walters' legacy and the tributes coming in throughout the morning.
In Idaho, people gathered on Friday to remember the lives of four university students killed last month. The murders of the students, stabbed to death in their off-campus home, shocked the small community, which hadn't recorded a murder in seven years.
Now police have announced the arrest of a suspect found through DNA evidence, a public database and tracing a car spotted near the scene of the crime.
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HARRAK: CNN's Camila Bernal has the details.
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CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A call to the public. Authorities in need of any information regarding Bryan Kohberger.
CHIEF JAMES FRY, MOSCOW POLICE DEPARTMENT: What we still ask is for people to continually send us things in the tip line.
BERNAL (voice-over): His DNA and white Hyundai Elantra linking him to the case according to two law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation but more evidence is needed for a successful prosecution.
FRY: We are still looking for more information. We're still trying to build that picture just like we've stated all along. We're putting all the pieces together and that will help --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bryan Kohberger.
BERNAL (voice-over): The 28-year-old graduated in May from DeSales University in Pennsylvania, with a master's in Criminal Justice.
MILLER: This is someone who has been delving into the innermost sanctum of criminal thinking, who is now accused of a particularly horrific crime.
BERNAL (voice-over): In Reddit posts removed after the arrest was made public, a student investigator named Bryan Kohberger thought participation in a research project associated with a DeSales University study. It was to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision making when committing a crime.
The post set the study sought to understand the story behind your most recent criminal offense, with an emphasis on your thoughts and feelings throughout your experience.
Most recently, he was a graduate student at Washington State University's Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology.
CASEY JORDAN, CRIMINOLOGIST: I am not at all surprised although really disheartened to find out that this suspect is a PhD student in Criminology at Washington State University. From the outset, we had to understand that this was an organized killer.
BERNAL (voice-over): He was studying and living in Pullman, Washington, just a few miles from the crime scene. Police searched his university residence Friday morning. JORDAN: This is a smart guy who is obsessed with crime.
BERNAL (voice-over): He was arrested early Friday morning, giving law enforcement a clear focus for their investigation.
COL. KEDRICK WILLS, DIRECTOR, IDAHO STATE POLICE: This is not an ending but rather a new beginning.
BERNAL: And the chancellor of Washington State University saying that the entire region has been shaken by this crime, adding that she hopes this arrest is the beginning of essentially a healing process in terms of the investigation.
The university confirming that university police helped execute search warrants. This was in terms of his apartment and his office; both of them were on campus. The university saying that they will continue to help with law enforcement in this case.
And finally, confirming that the suspect did finish his first semester as a PhD student at the university just this month -- Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles.
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HARRAK: As you heard, police said they are still investigating the killings and the suspect's possible motive. CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem explains why investigators are still asking for the public's help.
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JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Another point they made in the press conference was that they still want tips. And the exact line was "anything and everything you know about the suspect."
That says to me that they are, in fact, still building a case of motive. They want to know were there connections or they want to strengthen the case about what the connections are.
So they're still asking for tips in terms of what the motive may be. And that may be to build a case. Idaho is a death penalty state. And I would anticipate, if they can build that case, they're not going to be shy in trying to get the death penalty in this case.
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HARRAK: That was CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem there.
No matter how little you are paying in federal taxes, there's a good chance Donald Trump paid a lot less than you in some years. We will explain what is in his tax returns next.
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HARRAK: It will be warmer than normal in the eastern U.S. for New Year's Eve. But there will be rain on the parade of people who will be out celebrating on both coasts.
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HARRAK: Donald Trump's tax returns for the years of his presidency confirm he paid little to no federal income taxes in some years, even while paying substantial taxes to other countries.
His 2017 return shows he paid only $750 in U.S. income taxes, his first year in office, and zero in 2020, his final year. In between there lies a complex web of raw financial data that Trump fought all the way to the Supreme Court to keep secret. And it is not difficult to see why. Here's CNN's Kristen Holmes.
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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Little or no income tax, foreign bank accounts and eyebrow-raising details about loans to his adult children.
Just some of the findings after the Democratic led House Ways and Means Committee released six years worth of former Trump's federal tax returns. The returns spanning from the year Trump announced his first run for president, 2015, through his last year in office, 2020.
REP. RICHARD NEAL (D-MA): The research that was done as it relates to the mandatory audit program was nonexistent. The tax forms were really never audited.
HOLMES: Previous reporting from the joint committee on taxation revealed shockingly low tax amounts paid by the former president, including paying only $750 in 2017 and in 2018 and '19, paying a combined $1.1 million and paying no income tax in 2020, his final year in office.
Trump offsetting his income by claiming millions of in losses, raising questions about the former president's business failures.
And while Trump paid less than $1,000 in U.S. income tax in 2017, the former president's tax bill totaled nearly $1 million in foreign taxes the same year, indicating notable business dealings in more than a dozen countries, including Azerbaijan, Turkey, China, Israel and Brazil, shedding light on where Trump's business interests were while he was in the White House.
The returns also showed Trump maintained foreign bank accounts while serving in the White House, including in China.
Some of Trump's business spending raising eyebrows among experts, including a 2017 claim that one of his businesses, DJT Aerospace, made exactly the same amount spent, zero net, ensuring there was nothing to tax, something one tax expert referred to as a, quote, "statistical impossibility."
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: My personal tax returns would show only that I've had tremendous success.
HOLMES: Trump blasting the release as an outrageous abuse of power, were calling for Republicans taking control of the House to immediately investigate Biden and his family's finances.
TRUMP: It is so sad for our country. It is nothing but another deranged political witch hunt, which has been going on from the day I came down the escalator in Trump Tower.
HOLMES: The release coming after a years-long legal battling culminating with the Supreme Court.
TRUMP: I'm under a routine audit and it will be released. And as soon as the audit is finished, it will be released.
HOLMES (voice-over): With his 2016 election victory, Trump became the first president in decades not to release his tax returns, sparking interest and concern about his foreign business entanglements and potential financial conflicts of interest.
HOLMES: Now this appears to be a significant oversight on the part of the IRS. I spoke to one expert, who said much of this would have been flagged or at least likely flagged, particularly when it comes to those foreign bank accounts, had the IRS actually conducted that mandatory presidential audit program, which, of course, we know now from the House Ways and Means Committee, they did not -- Kristen Holmes, CNN, Washington.
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HARRAK: Well, with us to talk about the political fallout is Natasha Lindstaedt, a professor of government at the University of Essex in England.
So good to have you with us, Professor.
What is for you the standout takeaway?
What have you learned about the former president from these documents from a political perspective?
NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Well, I think the most important thing that Trump was trying to prevent getting out there is the fact that he's not a particularly good business man.
This is the most significant thing of his persona, the thing that he brags about the most, is that he is so intelligent and he is an amazing entrepreneur. What we see is that's not the case at all. He's just suffered chronic
losses and tried to get around it by not paying his taxes. And actually the only thing that was really successful was what he inherited from his father, Fred Trump. He's not that great a business man and that's why he didn't want this to be released.
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LINDSTAEDT: That might be the only thing that might ruffle Republicans little bit, that this is really all fake, this is just a persona, that he is really just marketing himself and that, in reality, there isn't anything, according to the records, to back that up.
HARRAK: How are Democratic lawmakers portraying this?
And I'm thinking specifically about the timing of the release of these documents. I mean they spent years trying to get these returns to be made public.
Was it worth it in the end?
LINDSTAEDT: Well, that's a really good question. I think Democrats have been trying to get a lot released before the new year and a new Congress starts. I think they're trying to highlight some of the things that were unfair.
These are the types of things that matter more to Democratic voters and possibly independent voters, the fact that he didn't pay any taxes in 2020. He just used clever accounting to get out of it.
And the fact that the IRS and whatever the presidential audit program was doing has been completely ineffective and that there needs to be more effort for transparency to ensure that the IRS has the ability, the capability to go after really wealthy members and citizens of the public that are avoiding paying taxes.
This is incredibly important for the strength of this state and to ensure that in the future it is not just a norm that we hope that presidents will reveal their tax returns; that all future nominees are going to have to reveal it.
I think that's something that Democrats want to get behind because they're pressuring for more transparency, which is so critical to democracy. This is a lot of the fallout of all the norm-shattering activity that Trump has engaged in.
HARRAK: Now you referenced the Republicans, Mr. Trump's party.
How do these documents affect Mr. Trump's standing among his party, the Republicans and among his supporters?
And what impact does it have on the Republicans' internal debate about who should be representing them in the upcoming presidential election?
LINDSTAEDT: I think the only thing, as I already mentioned, that could be a factor is that he is not a very good business man and that might be something that potential Republican opponents might try to focus on.
But if we look at the response from Republicans thus far, they are acting like they're outraged, that this is violating precedence or setting a dangerous precedent, that anybody could be -- could have their taxes revealed.
And so they're angry about that. But in terms of how Trump is doing, I don't think this is really going to affect much in terms of support from other Republicans. He has his base within the Republican Party. It is very strong in the sense that there's very little that's going to change that.
If we look at the Republicans in total, Ron DeSantis is the candidate, potential candidate, that has the best chance going against Trump. And in fact, polls that were taken after the November midterms -- so just a few weeks ago -- revealed that DeSantis is almost ahead by 2:1.
A "Wall Street Journal" poll showed that DeSantis was ahead by maybe 20 percent. A Morning Consult poll showed DeSantis was ahead by maybe 15 points. So Trump is in trouble within his own party. This isn't going to change things that much, this big reveal here.
But as I mentioned, it might be something that, if DeSantis does run -- and I think he may announce this in the spring -- that he could use to pick apart at Trump's image, that he is just not as successful a business man as he has led the public to believe.
HARRAK: Republicans are set to take over the House in January.
What are you watching for?
LINDSTAEDT: Well, I think they're going to try to basically overturn all the things that the Democrats have done. But I think in the end what we're going to see is a lot of gridlock and not much happening, because both the Democrats and the Republicans are going to be going after one another, because they're all going to be focusing on what is going to happen in 2024.
HARRAK: Professor Natasha Lindstaedt, thanks so much as always.
LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.
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HARRAK: Still ahead, remembering a giant of journalism, who showed generations of women what it means to be truly fearless.
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HARRAK: Welcome back to our viewers all around the world. I'm Laila Harrak. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Barbara Walters, one of the most beloved and admired American journalists of the 20th century, has died. She was 93. In the early 1960s, she burst into U.S. living rooms as a rare female reporter in a news business dominated by men, while she later became the first woman to co-anchor an evening news program in the U.S.
She never looked back, blazing a decades-long trail as a world renowned interviewer of the famous and powerful. In her final years, she was the sharp and witty creator and co-host of the talk show, "The View," before retiring in 2014.
Tributes for the legendary journalist Barbara Walters are coming in almost endlessly right now. Bernice King, the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., tweeted this message, thanking Walters for her courage and trail-blazing ways as a female journalist in America and having, quote, "difficult conversations that mattered."
Oprah Winfrey shared her thoughts on the loss of Walters on Instagram. She shared a picture of the two and thanked her for leading the way for other women in the field.
John Miller, who is now a CNN analyst, worked with Walters as a co- anchor on the show "20/20." Earlier he spoke with CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota and reflected on what made Walters so formidable.
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JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Barbara Walters didn't just break the glass ceiling, she broke through -- she caused a collapse of the glass building. And she did it one step at a time through her career.
Remember, she was on the "Today" show and then moved to ABC, where she was co-anchor of the "ABC Evening News with Harry Reasoner."
But Harry Reasoner seemed to resent her presence so much on the air that you could tell there just wasn't chemistry; he was almost hostile.
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MILLER: And she moved off and then forged her own path, getting the interviews that other people couldn't get, becoming the go-to person, whether you were a superstar or a villain. And she was very generous.
When her partner on "20/20," which was a magazine show she also pioneered into an entire genre, when her partner, Hugh Downs, retired, she called me in and said, I want you to be my new co-anchor.
And I remember saying -- and this is about generosity and her confidence in her own picks -- I remember saying, Barbara, I've never anchored anything at all in television. And this is one of the highest rated television news shows in history.
She said, well, don't worry. Everyone has to start somewhere. CAMEROTA: That's wonderful and what a great story. She faced resentment from a lot of male co-anchors, I think, not just Harry Reasoner.
But when you talk about the incredible interviews that she did, I mean, so many were record ratings-breaking and they were memorable. So just to name a few, obviously, she did a lot of heads of state.
She did one with the Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat. And I remember she sat down with Michael Jackson, which, you know, basically broke the ratings system. And then I think the highest rated one ever was Monica Lewinsky.
I mean, as you say, John, people, whether it was in the middle of a scandal or it was in the middle of a celebration, she was their go-to. She was the person who had established herself. You just hadn't made it until you sat down and cried through a Barbara Walters interview.
MILLER: Well -- and I mean a lot of this was about her special technique that she forged.
If you were being interviewed by Mike Wallace on "60 Minutes," when the killer question came, it came in the form of a stiletto.
When you were interviewed by Barbara Walters, the killer question would still come. She would ask anything that needed to be asked. She did it in a way with -- not a stiletto, it was a scalpel. I mean, you didn't feel it going in. And she asked it with real curiosity.
I really -- the viewers really wanted to know the answer to this. And it made even a difficult interview, even an interview that might be hostile with another interviewer, seem like the kind of thing where the person just wanted to talk and tell her.
And she got a lot out of a lot of people. You name it, world leaders -- Fidel Castro, she brought me back a box of cigars because she was not a cigar smoker and she knew that that would make me happy. But I mean, it was the way that made people feel confident that she would ask whatever needed to be asked but also get their story out.
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HARRAK: The House committee investigating last year's insurrection has released transcripts of its interview with Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas.
They show that she regretted sending text messages to chief of staff Mark Meadows, encouraging him to overturn the 2020 election.
She said in part, quote, "I regret the tone and content of these texts."
Congressman Schiff then asked, quote, "And what in particular disturbs you in hindsight about the content of the texts?"
She replied, "You know, I would take them all back if I could today. I wish I could have rewritten them. I wish I didn't send them."
CNN's Sara Murray has more on what the transcripts revealed.
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SARA MURRAY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The January 6th committee releasing yet another round of transcripts, this round with a key interview with Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas.
Now previously we had talked about text messages that Ginni Thomas exchanged with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, where she encouraged Meadows and former president Donald Trump to continue challenging the 2020 election results.
In her interview with the January 6th select committee, Ginni Thomas offered something of a mea culpa, saying, I regret the tone and content of these texts and adding, I would take them all back if I could today.
Interestingly though, she still stood by her claims of election fraud in the interview with the January 6th select committee even though she didn't have specific evidence she could cite.
There was another big-name transcript released and that is Tony Ornato. He's a long-time Secret Service official. He was a deputy White House chief of staff in the Trump White House.
He came up in Cassidy Hutchinson's bombshell testimony. She recalled how irate president Trump got when he was told he couldn't go to the Capitol. What Ornato told the committee, he didn't recall Trump's anger, he didn't recall hearing about what happened in the motorcade.
And he also couldn't recall plenty of what happened on January 6th. He cited the fog of war when he was talking to the committee.
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MURRAY: He said it was a very, very chaotic day so I don't recall those specific details. Even though his lawyer said he testified truthfully and cooperated with the committee, the committee said in their final report that they did not view him as a credible witness.
This last revelation came from Jared Kushner's transcripts and emails he handed over to the committee. It was a revelation that, in the days after the 2020 election, Donald Trump had his head on trademarks.
Specifically wanted to trademark the term "rigged election!". In an email Jared Kushner set out to try to make that happen for his father- in-law. The committee has a couple more days ahead to release additional transcripts before its work officially wraps up on January 3rd -- Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.
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HARRAK: Ukraine's president says his country can pull more weight for the sake of fellow Europeans. Still ahead, why he believes Ukraine has a far bigger role to play in the security of the entire continent.
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HARRAK: Welcome back.
North Korea is ending its record year of missile tests with another series of launches. South Korea reported at least three short-range ballistic missiles were fired from a site near Pyongyang. All landed in the sea east of the Korean Peninsula.
The U.S. says they don't pose an immediate threat but they highlight the destabilizing impact of Pyongyang's missile program. By CNN's count this is the 37th day North Korea has conducted a launch this year.
Ukraine remains defiant as it marks the end of a year that brought on a brutal Russian invasion. President Zelenskyy says his country is not only holding the line in the east, where Russian troops are trying to break through, but that Ukrainian forces are also making slow advances in some areas.
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HARRAK: Mr. Zelenskyy's office claims Ukraine has liberated almost 1,900 settlements since the invasion began. But the U.N. says the country paid a heavy price for it in human life, losing more than 6,800 civilians in the conflict.
The U.N. report says almost 11,000 others have been wounded, mostly in strikes that involved heavy weapons.
Well, for more now, Nada Bashir joining us from London.
As the year 2022 comes to a close, Ukraine faces an uncertain future.
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely Laila. It is uncertain as we heard from Ukrainian military officials as well as Western intelligence sources. It is set to be an uncertain beginning to the new year with the anticipation of potential intensification of Russia's bombardment of Ukraine.
Over the last 10 months we have seen that bombardment continue. But despite that President Zelenskyy has remained defiant.
We heard him speaking just yesterday in his nightly address, a defiant tone to the nation, saying that the Ukrainian armed forces are maintaining their positions in much of the eastern front lines and in fact, making some slow advances in parts of the east.
But over the last two weeks we have seen that bombardment continue and heavy clashes, of course, in missile attacks by the Russian armed forces in key areas in the east. Particularly on Thursday, when Ukraine saw one of the largest barrages
of missile attacks by the Russian armed forces that they have seen since the beginning of Russia's invasion 10 months ago, attacking the country from all fronts, from Ukraine, from Kyiv, the capital, and along the eastern front line points.
Clearly we are seeing a doubling down of the effort by Russian armed forces. The message from Zelenskyy has been a continuation of the support from the West.
He touched on the significant developments that the Ukraine armed forces have had in relation to air defense systems, saying this would be crucial going into the next year, not only for Ukraine but for Europe as a whole. Take a listen.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This year, we not only maintained our air defenses but we made them stronger than ever. In the new year, Ukrainian air defense will become even stronger, even more effective.
Ukrainian air defense can become the most powerful in Europe. And this will be a guarantee of security not only for our country but also for the entire continent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASHIR: Now we've already seen the Ukrainian armed forces and military officials said that actually on Thursday, when we saw that large-scale barrage of cruise missiles heading toward Ukraine, Ukrainian armed forces were able to intercept a majority of the Russian cruise missiles.
The Russian military and defense ministry however said, in fact, they were able to successfully target and neutralize all of their targets, which they say were military hardware stores and, of course, military networks.
That is a claim that the Russian armed forces has maintained throughout its invasion of Ukraine. It stands in contrast to what Ukrainian military officials have been telling us and of course, the evidence we have seen on the ground.
President Zelenskyy has over the last two weeks taken to sharing images, often graphic images of the impact of the missile launches, civilian losses and, of course, damage to infrastructure across the country.
He says it is further evidence that Russia is engaging in terrorist activities in Ukraine, calling for further support. There are, of course, concerns that the attack from Russia will intensify in the new year -- Laila.
HARRAK: Nada Bashir, thank you for your continued coverage on this story. We will be right back.
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HARRAK: Welcome back. Let's take a look now at some other stories making headlines around the world.
In the Philippines, heavy rain and floods have killed at least 46 people. The disaster management council says at least another 28 are missing. Flooding and landslides happened on Christmas Day in the southern part of the country.
It is estimated the flooding has caused more than $20 million in damage to infrastructure and crops. About 50,000 people were forced to flee their homes.
And in Bolivia, protesters on a 24-hour strike burned cars, blocked highways and attacked buildings. This is in response to the regional governor, who is a right-wing opposition leader.
Luis Fernando Camacho was held on charges of terrorism and sentenced to four months of pretrial detention. Camacho maintains he is innocent. Prosecutors deny his arrest is politically motivated.
In one of his last acts as Brazil's leader, Jair Bolsonaro has revoked the ban preventing Nicolas Maduro from entering the country. That will allow Mr. Maduro to attend the inauguration of the incoming president on Sunday. But Bolsonaro won't be there, choosing to fly to the United States instead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
HARRAK: And we've got breaking news just coming in here at CNN. The Vatican says that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has died. The former pontiff was 95 years old and had been in declining health.
In 2013 he retired as pope, becoming the first leader of the Catholic Church to do so in nearly 600 years. We'll have much more on this breaking story.
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HARRAK: Up next, CNN is getting ready to bring -- to welcome, rather, 2023 with you around the clock. Our special broadcast, "NEW YEAR'S EVE LIVE" will feature special coverage from across Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, the United States and even the metaverse.
It all starts at midnight in Sydney, Australia, which is 9:00 pm in Hong Kong and 8:00 am Eastern time.
That wraps up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Laila Harrak. I will be back with more on that breaking news story. Do stick around.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
HARRAK: We begin this hour with breaking news: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has died. The Vatican shared the news a short time ago, saying that more information would be provided as soon as possible.
The 95-year-old former pontiff has been in declining health. In 2013, he retired as pope, becoming the first leader of the Catholic Church to do so in nearly 600 years. Benedict XVI was a divisive figure during his relatively brief reign as pope. But his impact on the church was lasting.
