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Brian Kohberger Charged With Murdering Four University of Idaho Students; Three NYPD Officers Injured in Times Square Machete Attack; Multiple People Injured in Florida Shooting; Reports of New Attacks on Kyiv; President Putin's Address Makes Clear He Will Keep the War Going; Tennis-star Novak Djokovic is Back in Australia; Bob Costas Looks Back at Sports History-Making Moments in 2022; California Experiencing Severe Storms; Steven Tyler of Aerosmith Being Accused of Sexual Assault of a Teen in 1970s. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired January 01, 2023 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAULA REID, CNN ANCHOR: (Technical difficulty) you are live in the CNN Newsroom.

CNN has learned that Brian Kohberger, the suspect charged with murdering four University of Idaho students was with his father as he drove cross-country from Washington State to Pennsylvania before the holidays.

Police began tracking them at some point during the trip. The four students were stabbed to death in their beds in November. Now, Kohberger is charged with four counts of murder in the first degree as well as felony burglary.

CNN's Jean Casarez is in Pennsylvania and Veronica Miracle is in Moscow, Idaho.

All right, Jean, what else are you learning?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're learning a little bit more about that trip and we do want to say that there is nothing that we have learned that his father knew anything about prospectively what was happening with law enforcement or what had happened allegedly involving his son in Idaho. Nothing.

But it's a long drive from Idaho, Washington, here to Pennsylvania, so common sense would say that sometimes it's better to have two people. But we do understand that his father flew to the West Coast, met his son to drive back with him.

And according to his defense attorney, I understand that it was because it was the holidays. The doctoral courses, school was out and so he came home to be with his parents. But this is what we are understanding, what was driven from Washington to Pennsylvania was that Hyundai Electra (sic) and we are understanding that there was a stop in Pennsylvania, and we have this corroborated by two people and one said that they needed to get some work done on that car, which is an interesting little, small, alleged fact at this point that could become significant, right?

And so, the work was being done and Brian was talking about his doctoral studies in criminal justice in Washington, that he had a master's degree in criminal justice from right here in Northeastern Pennsylvania. And we don't know what part of Pennsylvania this auto repair shop was, how far it was. Because Pennsylvania is a long state. But what we do know is that according to his attorney, he told me personally, that they got here about the 17 of December in that Hyundai, which is now with law enforcement here. It has been taken from the home. Of course, it is extremely important potential evidence in all of this.

But with everything that's going on right now, this is something that just happened very quickly. And I asked his attorney when I spoke with him yesterday, what is Brian thinking right now as he sits by himself in the correctional facility. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON LABAR, MONROE COUNTRY CHIEF PUBLIC DEFENDER: He's doing OK. He's shocked a little bit. Obviously, he's calm right now. You know, we don't really know much about the case.

CASAREZ: Now, your client is highly educated, very intelligent. He has to appreciate the seriousness of what is happening right now.

LABAR: Oh, absolutely. 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Now it was also told by the defense attorney that his parents cannot come and visit him. That he is alone in a cell, protective custody. He called it isolation. He is monitored. And he will stay here until that court proceeding in downtown Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, which takes place Tuesday at 3:00, the extradition hearing. Paula?

REID: And Veronica, in Moscow. Is there a sense of relief now that an arrest has been made? What are you sensing on the ground?

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, Paula, I mean you can truly feel the relief in this community for the people that live here year- round, because, as a reminder, this is a college town and it is winter break, so many of the people that live in this neighborhood near the crime scene and also in this community they've gone home either to the west side or other parts of the country. But there is still a core community and a core group of people that live here. And those citizens that we have spoken with are just feeling such an incredible amount of relief. I mean, the last seven weeks has been tense for everyone, the not

knowing. And the fact that police really did not release a lot of information. They received a lot of criticism around that. And I asked the police chief yesterday what he thought about the, you know, keeping everything close to his vest and not releasing any details. He said he would do it all over again in the exact same way because it let them to this arrest.

[14:05:12]

Yesterday we were at the police department, and we saw people coming in, bringing gifts to those police officers, including one business owner who said his business had been impacted, not just emotionally, you know, the employees and the staff emotionally impacted, but it also impacted the economy here.

Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM LILLY, OWNER HUNGA DUNGA BREWERY: We had two employees leave. The decided that they didn't want to be in the area anymore and, you know, they went home. And we can't really blame them for that. It was a pretty scary time. It was a really scary time for the community and hopefully, there's a little bit of relief now, that somebody is in custody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MIRACLE: In less than two weeks the students will be coming back to school at the University of Idaho. Police say they will maintain strong security presence to make students feel safe.

Paula?

REID: Jean Casarez and Veronica Miracle, thank you.

A violent machete attack near Time Squares' iconic ball drop leaving three NYPD officers injured. Police say the unprovoked attack unfolded just after 10 o'clock outside a security screening zone set up for last night's festivities.

The suspect was just 19 years old. Police say this is the weapon used to strike the officers. At least one suffering a skull fracture. The attack ended when one of the injured officers shot the suspect in the shoulder. Fortunately, all three injured officers were taken to the hospital and are now in stable condition.

We are also learning about a shooting with multiple victims in Florida. Two people were killed, and four others injured at a shooting in Oscala (sic), just south of Gainesville, at around 4:30 am. Police say there was a loud - large crowd, about 100 people gathered at the time of the shooting. The two people killed were 30 and 24 years old. Officials say the injured victims are in stable condition.

And we're getting word of a new attack on Kyiv. Officials say almost three dozen drones targeted infrastructure in the region. That attack came on the heels of a separate wave of strikes the day before.

REID (voice-over): And that's video of a strike caught on camera in Kyiv on Saturday. Ukraine says Russia launched missile attacks across the country killing at least six people and leaving more than two dozen wounded.

CNN's Ben Wedeman was within earshot of some of the strikes on the capitol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: OK, there have been several loud explosions. We see three points of impact. The air defenses are working because we see puffs of smoke in the air where they've gone off (inaudible). This is an ongoing barrage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Saturday's attacks hit schools, businesses and residential buildings in Kyiv. And CNN's Clare Sebastian reports, Putin used a New Year's address as a rallying cry for war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was President Putin's longest-ever New Year's address and made it clear his focus is to keep this war going whatever the cost to his country.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): The optics was significant this year. He delivered the address standing in front of appeared to be soldiers in uniform, on a visit to a military headquarters not far from the Ukrainian border. That was a stark contrast to previous years in front of Moscow's Kremlin.

But Putin said Russia is protecting its people and its own historical territories, a reference to the regions Russia has illegally annexed in Ukraine.

And he accused the west of stirring up the conflict for its own gain.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (translated): The west lied about peace but was preparing for aggression. And today they openly admit it without shame. And they cynically use Ukraine and its people to weaken and split Russia. We have never allowed and never will allow anyone to do this.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): The New Year holiday, the most important of the season in much of the Russian-speaking world brought no let-up in Russia's attempts to weaken and split Ukraine. This is an image put out by the Kyiv region police department showing what it says is a fragment of a Russian drone with the words Happy New Year in Russian.

SEBASTIAN: Ukraine's Air Force said it repelled 45 Iranian-made drones overnight, around the turn of the New Year. Authorities in Kyiv region reported damage to infrastructure.

Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Coming up, the great Bob Costas takes a look back at the year in sports, including some big moments and unforgettable goodbyes. You're live in the CNN Newsroom

[14:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REID: Tennis star Novak Djokovic is back in Australia, nearly a year after the country deported him because of his opposition to getting the COVID vaccine. Now the 21-time Grand Slam champion is opening his 2023 tennis season this week in Adelaide and he spoke about the experience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NOVAK DJOKOVIC, PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER: You can't forget those events, you know. It's one of those things that sticks with you, stays with you for, I guess, the rest of your life. And as, you know, as I said something that I've never experienced before and hopefully never again. But it is a valuable life experience for me and, you know, something that, as I said, will stay there. But I have to move on, as I said. And coming back to Australia speaks how I feel about this country, how I feel about playing here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID (voice-over): Djokovic was initially banned from the country for three years before the decision was overturned by Australian officials.

REID: And the battle over his vaccination status was just one of the notable headlines that came out of the world of sports in 2022.

And here to help us look back at a dramatic and history-making year is the legendary Bob Costas.

All right, Bob, there were a lot of goodbyes this year -

BOB COSTAS, TV SPORTSCASTER: Hi (ph), Paula.

REID: -- in different forms, beginning with retirements.

COSTAS: Yes, and since we just talked about Djokovic, we might as well stay with tennis. Serena Williams, by acclamation the greatest female tennis player of all time, bowed out at the U.S. Open. She didn't win it, but she played better than many people expected to play at this stage of her career. And it was fine way to kind of tie a ribbon around it.

Roger Federer, one of the greatest players of all time, along with Djokovic and Rafael Nadal and a few others, but Nadal and Djokovic were his contemporaries, Roger Federer also stepped aside. You have Mike Shashefski ending an epic coaching career at Duke. The

only coach in college basketball more accomplished than he was John Wooden of UCLA who comes out of a different era, but Shashefski's teams won five national titles, went to 13 Final Fours. He also coached Olympic teams. So, he's one of the great coaches, not just in college basketball, but in the history of American sports.

[14:15:00]

And then you have a story that puts a smile on your face. Albert Pujol's greatest seasons happened with the St. Louis Cardinals and then he left to go to the Angels as a free agent. Played briefly in 2021 with the Dodgers and then came back for one last hurrah with the Cardinals. St. Louis is a great baseball city.

They would have been happy if he just had a few at-bats and tipped his cap, but somehow, he found his old self in the second half of the season. Went on an incredible streak and actually pushed his career total past 700-lifetime home runs, got a base hit in his last at-bat in the playoffs before the Cardinals were eliminated. So, there was a sense of closure there that made everybody feel good.

Now, Tom Brady is still playing, and his team is still in contention. He'd already broken all the norms, Paula, by playing into his mid-40s, but the end is near now. We can see that. Whether he retires or not.

Aaron Rodgers is in his late 30s, one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time and his Packers have played well of late so they still have a playoff shot. But the point I'm getting to is, with Brady and Rodgers closer to the end than the middle, let's say, it's the next generation of great quarterbacks, the Patrick Mahomes, the Joe Burrows and the Josh Allens that will soon have the spotlight for themselves in the NFL.

REID: And there are also a lot of notable passings that happened this year in sports.

COSTAS: Yes, and we're not slighting anyone else. There's some Hall of Fame names we could mention, but time is limited, so we'll go with the following four. Bill Russell is perhaps the greatest winner in the history of American sports.

At the University of San Francisco, his teams won two national titles. Then he was on the '56 Olympic team that won the gold medal. He played 13 seasons with the Celtics in the NBA and his team won the title 11 of those 13 years.

He was also the first Black head coach or manager in the history of American team sports when Red Auerbach of the Celtics named him as the player-coach the last two years of his career. And he closed it out with a title.

So, Bill Russell is a very significant figure. He was also front and center along with many other Black athletes during the 1960s and '70 as part of the Civil Rights movement. Seldom would we mention a broadcaster here, but Vin Scully's career

was so great that I think we should mention him here. It wasn't just his talent, which was awesome. Even other broadcasters stood in awe of his command of the language and how he had a great sense of the pace and rhythm, especially of baseball. But the circumstances of his career, Paula, can never be duplicated.

He starts as a 22-year-old in 1950 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Jackie Robinson Dodgers, the Boys of Summer Dodgers. One of the most celebrated teams in American sports history and then he goes west with them as the Los Angeles Dodgers. And during the bulk of his career, baseball truly is the national pastime. And radio is as important or more important for part of that time than television. And radio is really the broadcaster's greatest canvas.

So, if a 22-year-old Vin Scully came along today he'd still be acclaimed, he'd wind up in every broadcasting hall of fame. But the circumstances of the career he had for 67 years, from 1950 through 2016, can never be duplicated.

Franco Harris was to have been honored just this past weekend, Christmas weekend, on the 50th anniversary of the so-called Immaculate Reception. The NFL had set it up as a kind of reprise. It was the Raiders at the Steelers and only days before he suddenly passed away.

Hall of Fame running back, wonderful person. Can't find a single person to say a bad word about him. And that play in 1972, where a desperation pass from Terry Bradshaw as deflected and Franco seemed to come out of nowhere and pluck it inches off the ground and run it in for a game-winning touchdown, that was voted as the most iconic play in the history of the National Football League and it was the beginning of the Steelers dynasty.

They didn't win the Super Bowl that year, Don Shula's undefeated Dolphins eliminated them the next week. But that really set them on their way. And eventually, that great team coached by Chuck Noll, the steel curtain defense with Joe Greene and Jack Lambert and Mel Blount and the offense with Bradshaw and Franco Harris and Lynn Swann, they won four Super Bowls and one of the best-remembered teams in the history of the NFL.

And then there is Pele passing away only recently. Winner of three World Cups with the Brazilian team. The originator of the bicycle kick. For a very long time, with the possible exception of Muhammad Ali, given soccer's worldwide popularity, not as popular plural (ph), gaining popularity. Not as popular in the United States as worldwide, but globally Pele may have been for a good part of his life the most acclaimed and beloved athlete in the world.

REID: And speaking of Pele, the dramatic ending of the World Cup this year were certainly one of the biggest moments this year. Let's talk about that. And I want to hear your other picks.

[14:20:00]

COSTAS: Well, I could make a very long list. We're going to confine it to three because the clock is ticking. Argentina beat France in the World Cup final. People who are much more knowledgeable about soccer or football, as the rest of the world calls it, than I am tell me that it may well have been the best and most exciting final ever played. A lot of action. Goals scored. Near misses. Hold your breath, edge of your seat stuff. And in the end Lionel Messi finally gets his World Cup. He's one of the greatest players in history. He is in his mid- 30s. That might have been his last crack at it.

So, Argentina walks off with the World Cup. Then there's Aaron judge's 62 homerun performance for the Yankees. Now statistically the record is 73. Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire have all hit more home runs in a season, came during the so-called steroid era, which is connected to the accomplishments of all three of them, unfortunately. But all three of them were National Leaguers.

So, the record that Judge set was 62, is the Yankee record and it's the American League Record. And when you think about it, the only three guys who have hit 60 home runs in the American League, Ruth with 60, Roger Maris with 61 and Judge with 62, were all right fielders for the New York Yankees.

And I should also throw this in here, Steph Curry, probably the greatest pure shooter in the history of the NBA, he and his Warriors won another NBA title, their fourth in eight seasons.

REID: All right, on another issue, a little more serious, Russia. The invasion of Ukraine really undid years of sportswashing efforts to improve Russia's image on the world stage. What's your take?

COSTAS: Well, I think that image was more than sullied to begin with. The sportswashing idea doesn't wash. No real pun intended. The IOC, for whatever reasons, can go to Beijing twice, in 2008 and 2022, but the curtains been pulled back. People understand what's going on there. The Olympics were in Lochi, the Winter Olympics in 2014, and right under the noses of the IOC Putin's forces cheated. They had - the swapped-out urine samples, they routinely drugged their athletes going back decades and decades.

Kamila Valieva in the most recent Winter Olympics, just a 15-year-old, at the mercy of her coaches and the Russian sports machine was found to have had illegal performance-enhancing drugs in her system. They're going to do what they're going to do. And when we talk about sportswashing, for example, that subject came up with the recent World Cup being in Qatar.

And I think the best thing that fans can do is just watch these events for the sports performances, for the quality of the athletes, for the drama of the competition. But no one should be so naive as to believe that that actually washes away any of the realities about China or about Russia, or in this case, about Qatar and its oppression of human rights.

REID: Bob Costas, thank you.

COSTAS: Thank you, Paula. REID: And record rain making a real mess in California this holiday weekend. Roadways turned to gushing rivers, as some areas saw more than 18 inches of rainfall. Some communities even had to be evacuated. Officials were forced to close portions of U.S. Highway 101 and Interstate 80 in both directions, but both have now reopened.

The severe storm also causing power outages for hundreds of thousands of customers across California and Nevada.

CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar joins us now with more.

Allison, what is happening there right now?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, we have some good news. And that's the sense that Central and Southern California are finally starting to see this storm begin to shift east and take a lot of that rain and snow with it.

It's not gone entirely, but now in and the bulk of the moisture is really over areas of Arizona, Utah and now starting to spread off to the east. But again, in the past, look at some of the numbers that we've had in terms of rainfall just since Saturday morning.

You've got Oakland around 5 inches. San Francisco, Lake Tahoe crossing over that 5-inch rain mark. Even Santa Cruz picking up over 7 inches of rain. Remember folks, a lot of this came in just 24 hours. That combined with very strong winds in the valleys, around 40, 50, 60 miles per hour, but once you got on top of some of those summits those winds were crazy high, 99 miles per hour was the measurement up on Heavenly Ski Summit. Mammoth Mountain topping out at 116. So, that kind of explains why you saw such high-power outage numbers over the weekend.

Now one thing to note, as that system begins to spread east it takes that cold air and moisture with it. So, you still have winter weather alerts stretching from California all the way over towards Wisconsin as that system is expected to progress eastward.

[14:25:04]

Most of these areas along that colder section are going to pick up anywhere from 4 to 8 inches of snow.

Obviously, when you get into those higher elevations, now you're talking 1 to 2 feet of snow possible. Here's a look as we fast-forward into Monday. You'll start to see a lot of that winter elements begin to come into play for the Midwest. Not just snow, but also the potential for freezing rain.

On the southern side, severe storms become the main concern. And this is a multi-day event too. So, it's not just Monday, but also Tuesday. Both days, however, do have the threats for tornadoes, damaging winds and the potential for hail.

REID: Allison Chinchar, thank you. And this just in to CNN, the U.S. Geological Survey is reporting a 5.4 magnitude earthquake in northern California, about 10 miles southeast of the city of Rio Dell. Preliminary data shows it was a shallow earthquake with a depth of about 17 miles. We will continue to monitor this and bring you any new developments.

Up next, Aerosmith's lead singer Steven Tyler is being accused of sexually assaulting a teen in the 1970s. Why the woman is filing a lawsuit now? You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REID: A new lawsuit filed in California, accuses the lead singer of Aerosmith of sexual assault in the 1970s. The lawsuit claims Steven Tyler sexually assaulted Julia Misley when she was 16, impregnated her and then coerced her into having an abortion. Tyler was 25 years old at the time of the alleged crimes.

Attorneys for Misley filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles County, under the California Child Victims Act, which allows survivors of childhood sex abuse to file civil cases.

[14:30:10]

Now, CNN has reached out to Tyler's representatives for comment.

And Bill Cosby is planning to go on tour in the coming months. The comedian's publicist told NPR that an upcoming tour around spring or late summer of this year is in the works. This comes weeks after five women filed a new lawsuit against him. The 85-year-old is accused of assault, battery, infliction of emotional distress and false imprisonment dating back decades.

Cosby was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman in 2018 but was released from prison in 2021 after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacated the conviction.

For more discussion on this, Michael Musto joins me now. He's an entertainment journalist with "The Village Voice."

All right. Michael, Cosby's publicist Andrew Wyatt told NPR that the comedian is in high demand. Does that pass the smell test? And how likely is it that this new lawsuit will change any of that?

MICHAEL MUSTO, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST, THE VILLAGE VOICE: I think a comedy tour by Bill Cosby at this point would be about as funny as a funeral. I wonder who the opening act would be. Harvey Weinstein? I recommend people do not get a drink at the concession stand. This is my idea of humor, but it's dark humor.

I must say I don't think there's a huge audience, even people who did love him as a comedy icon I don't think have convinced themselves he is innocent for the many crimes he was accused of. He only got out on a technicality. Let's make it clear. No one is denying that there are over 50 women who accuse him of drugging and raping them. That doesn't spell comedy to me. REID: No, it definitely strains credulity that there is an enormous

demand for this tour. But we'll see once tickets go on sale.

Turning to another entertainment story. A year after the famous Oscar slap, Will Smith is trying to make his comeback. How do you see that playing out?

MUSTO: I think one thing that the public and show business love more than anything is giving someone another chapter, another chance. People were willing to actually embrace him because he did grovel a lot. He has apologized this whole year practically.

He should have apologized to Chris Rock personally at the Oscars. He didn't. But he did afterwards in statements.

I just feel if he had a better movie than "Emancipation" his current film, he might have gotten another Oscar nomination though he wouldn't be allowed to be there to accept if he won again. But I think eventually, the tide will turn and, well, he's not Bill Cosby. If he does want to slap somebody, I would recommend Kanye.

REID: A long road to redemption but is possible. America, as you said, loves a redemption story.

Looking at box office numbers, though, for the holidays, "Avatar: The Way of Water" is dominating crossing $1 billion worldwide. So, what are your -- what are your top picks in flops in theaters right now?

MUSTO: Well, some of the best movies are flops, like "Tar" with Cate Blanchett who will probably win her third Oscar for playing a damaged lesbian conductor. It's a superb film. It doesn't find a huge audience. It's not a Marvel superhero film.

"The Whale" has Brendan Frazier as a gay or bisexual man who is eating himself to death and trying to make amends with his daughter before he goes. He gives a brilliant performance. He's probably going to win the Oscar and, again, it's not a huge hit. There's really a divide out there between quality and superheroes. Steven Spielberg's "The Fablemans" is another excellent film, which, of course, is not "ET" at the box office. People aren't lining up. But it's a very, really wonderfully done loosely based re-creation of his childhood and his adolescence.

REID: Interesting. So, do you want to try to make predictions for 2023 given what we've seen in the past year? Really very unpredictable. But do you want to try to guess some of the things we can expect to see in the New Year?

MUSTO: Yeah. Like I said, Will Smith should slap Kanye, Amber Heard and Johnny Depp should just do a reality show where they keep burying the hatchet in each other. At least they can both make money out of it. Both make money of them.

I think we need to find a new Britney to release because we released Britney Spears and we released Brittney Griner. Maybe Morgan Brittany from the show "Dallas" in the '80s, from the reruns or something.

I think everything -- everything everywhere all at once is going to run the Oscar, speaking of Oscars, for best picture, it was a hit and it was also good. That's rare those two collide.

Michelle Yeoh was excellent as a Chinese-American woman who owns a Laundromat and goes on a psychic journey with her husband and her lesbian daughter. So many things to look forward to. I think we're getting our democracy back, plus, there will be some good movies.

REID: All right. We look forward to it. Michael Musto, thank you.

[14:35:01]

MUSTO: Thank you.

And the late Barbara Walters frequently impersonated for her iconic interviewing skills and forthright demeanor. But some of the most notable portrayals belonging to "Saturday Night Live's" Cheri Oteri. The former "SNL" cast member recounted her memories of the legendary TV journalist to CNN's Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHERI OTERI, FORMER CAST MEMBER, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": She just broke every journalistic barrier for women, and here she is asking me, Cheri, how do you do me? And I wasn't ready for that question.

And I was like, and I just kind of blurted out, I go, well, usually, Barbara, when you give an interview -- do you an interview, you give three compliments and then go in for the kill. You're a "New York Times" best-selling author, you're an accomplished and celebrated concert pianist, and a three-time Academy Award-winning actor. Why the porn?

(LAUGHTER)

OTERI: I feel like when she was leaving "The View", the producers asked me if there was something I would like to do and I said, well, my dream would be to interview her as her, and they said, that's not going to happen. And then a week goes by and they call me, she's in. She's going to do it.

And I was just like, oh, my gosh. I'm sitting there, she's sitting across and we look exactly alike. We're exactly alike, right? She's making small talk with me and then she looks at her monitor and she goes, my hair, my hair, my hair, somebody. And then her hair and makeup people come in and zhuzh her up. They leave.

She's making small talk with me again, and then she looks at her monitor, my hair, why won't someone fix my hair? And I'm sitting there like, fix her hair.

And then, anyway, and they come in, zhuzh her up, leave again, and then we're getting our mics put on, and she looks at our monitor, and she goes on, what a -- I'm a mess, why won't someone fix my hair? Look at me, I'm a mess.

And then they come in and they lean in, they go, Barbara, you're looking at Cheri's monitor.

(LAUGHTER)

COOPER: Wow, that's great.

OTERI: And, well, she just -- I watched Barbara Walters' belly laugh. This woman was all business and to see her belly laugh was, like, one of the best moments of my life. And I was honored that it was at my expense.

ANDY COHEN, HOST, CNN NEW YEAR'S EVE LIVE: We have a clip of the interview. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA WALTERS, JOURNALIST: How do you think that you will spend your time after leaving "The View"?

OTERI: Well, I've accomplished so much in my career, but there are certain things that I feel like I've missed out on, ordinary things, like I'd like to get a Costco card. I'd also like to visit the theme park Magic Mountain with my beloved and trusted companion Chacha.

WALTERS: Thank you, Barbara. I'm so touched.

OTERI: Barbara, I have loved doing you -- uh-oh. Sounds like someone owes me dinner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: That's incredible.

COHEN: So good.

She didn't love the Gilda Radner impersonation. You should consider it --

OTERI: Honey, when I got her blessing, it just meant the world to me.

COHEN: Right.

OTERI: You want to be respectful, and I thought I need to have a totally different take on it. And so, I studied how she was able to let people take the walls down and it was really giving them compliments, honest compliments, like what they've accomplished.

COOPER: The crap she had to deal with early in her career to get where she was and persevered and just outworked, outlasted all these men, she was in an old boys network, not just one network --

COHEN: Yes. You look at the clips of Harry Reasoner when she was co- anchor, he was --

COOPER: He was terrible to her.

COHEN: -- terrible to her, you know?

But watching the clips of all of her interviews, watching them last night, it really showed the Barbara Walters interviews felt so big and important, and she just went in for the kill every time. It's just a joy to watch. I think anyone who interviews for a living can learn so much.

OTERI: She had that ability to peel back the layers, the walls that people had up by making sure they were seen, and their accomplishments were seen, and that's why she could go in for the kill. You know what I mean? The uppercut. They trusted her because she had such integrity and character. She was a professional.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: A spokesperson tells CNN that Barbara Walters passed away peacefully in her home surrounded by loved ones.

[14:40:04]

She was 93 years old.

A quick programming note, Dionne Warwick is, of course, a musical icon with 56 worldwide hits, six Grammy Awards and one extraordinary legacy. She brings her exclusive story to CNN into the new film "Don't Make Me Over" premiering tonight at 9:00 p.m.

And still to come, migrants at the U.S./Mexico border still facing restrictions after a Supreme Court order kept Title 42 in place. We'll go to El Paso, Texas, where thousands of migrants have arrived looking for a chance to enter the country.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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REID: One of the challenges facing President Biden in the New Year, the chaos at the U.S./Mexico border as thousands of migrants remained in legal limbo. It comes after a Supreme Court order leaving Title 42 in place, while legal challenges continue to play out.

CNN's Rosa Flores is in El Paso with the latest.

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ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Four-year-old Ajerde (ph) and his dad Angello Sanchez are in line at this El Paso Catholic Church that turned into a migrant shelter, hoping for a warm place tonight.

Sanchez says he left his native Columbia because his son was hungry.

He says his whole breaks when his son asked for food and he can't give him any food. The wind burn on Ajerde's (ph) face, a sign he injured the recent

frigid conditions out in the elements without a jacket.

So, he describes that this is what his son was wearing throughout the journey.

Sanchez and his son are part of the growing number of migrants who despite the threat of Title 42, which allows border agents to swiftly expel some migrants to Mexico, they are flocking to the southern border, turning themselves into authorities and some are allowed to stay in the United States pending their immigration cases.

Tuesday's Supreme Court order keeps Title 42 in place while the legal challenges play out in court.

[14:45:06]

It's deemed a win for the Republican-led states who want to keep the Trump era pandemic public health rule. But even Joe Biden says its end is overdue.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The court is not going to decide until June apparently and in the meantime, we have to enforce it -- but I think it's overdue.

FLORES: While Sanchez waits, one of the church volunteers allows women with children to enter.

Why did you decide to come to the United States now?

Like many migrants we've talked to, he says he thought the border was open.

He says that he learned about it on Facebook.

1ST SGT. SUZANNE RINGLE, TEXAS ARMY NATIONAL GUARD, OPERATION LONE STAR: You see triple strand concertina wire.

FLORES: The Texas National Guard has erected miles of fencing in the El Paso area to change that perspective.

RINGLE: This sends a clear message it, do the right way or don't come in.

FLORES: The long lines of migrants that were here two weeks ago, all gone. As the temperature dips nearly ten degrees and no word yet if dad and son will gain entry into the shelter, Ajerde (ph) points to the wind burn on his face and says it hurts.

Inside the shelter, the priest that runs it said two weeks ago, 50 migrants needed shelter. Now he has to turn people away, many of them sleep on the street.

FR. RAFAEL GARCIA, SACRED HEART PARISH, EL PASO: We try to do what we can. We're a church, we've got limited resources.

FLORES: Then a sign of hope. There's room for men with children, and Sanchez is next. A prayer answered.

He says that faith moves mountains.

For a father who says he just wants to work to provide for his son.

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REID: Thank you to Rosa Flores for that report. We'll be right back.

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REID: That is, of course, Anita Pointer leading the Pointer Sisters in their 1982 hit "I'm So Excited." Anita's publicist told CNN that the singer died Saturday night in her Los Angeles home after a very heroic battle with cancer. Pointer was 74 years old and was surrounded by family when she passed. They released a statement saying, heaven is a more loving place with Anita there.

She was one of the founding members of the Grammy-winning R&B group remembered for other hits as "Jump" and "Neutron Dance."

After a years-long public battle, the public is finally seeing some of the tax returns that former President Trump fought so hard to keep secret. The returns released by the House Ways and Means Committee spanned six years and show Trump claimed millions of dollars in losses during his presidency, and then he held foreign bank accounts while in office.

CNN's Kristen Holmes has more.

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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 finings after the house ways and means committee released Trump's tax 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 non-existent. 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 dollars 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 a million dollars 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 maintains 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 PRESIDENT: My personal tax returns, which show only that I have had tremendous success.

HOLMES: Trump blasting the release as an outrageous abuse of power and calling for Republicans taking control of the House to immediately investigate Biden and his family's finances.

TRUMP: It's so sad for our country. It's nothing but another deranged political witch hunt which has been going on from the day I came down the escalator in Trump Tower.

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REID: And he's the Democrat who won by the biggest margin in any swing state race in 2022. The now incoming Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro wants the national party to learn from his success at the ballot box.

CNN's Isaac Gobert joins me now.

Isaac, what specifically does he think other Democrats should learn from his successful race against Republican Doug Mastriano?

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Look, Shapiro is coming into office as governor after six years as attorney general. What he did was take on big corporations and small corporations all over the state in addition to things like a major investigation into the Catholic Church. He in an interview told me his sense is people don't think that government will have the courage to take on the powerful and then be able to deliver. He feels like what his record did was show them that he could do that.

I will tell you, Paula, I'm sure you know the same, whether you are at Donald Trump rallies or Bernie Sanders rallies or in between, you see voters over and over say they all feel the same way, that there are people getting away with things there are corporations that are getting rich while everybody else is scraping by.

[14:55:06]

And they also feel like government talks a big game wherever you are in the political spectrum, but not anybody really does anything about it. And Shapiro is saying for Democrats, especially going forward now, thinking what happened in 2022 midterms was important for defeating and a lot of Trump-centric candidates on the Republican side, but that Democrats need to think, what are they going to stand for? How they are going to show people what they are about and not just what they are against?

That this sort of -- you can call this populism, you can call it whatever you want it to be, but taking on big institutions, corporations and figuring out how to show results is a really important part of what Democrats need to do.

REID: But can this so-called Shapiro model, can it realistically apply to all Democratic positions and politicians?

DOVERE: Well, look, obviously, an attorney general has subpoena power, grand jury, all those things. Not every politician has. But there are a lot of things that Democrats in the positions that they have can do to try to show results, real substantive results, talking to other attorneys general to begin with, they say to me, look, we're going to be investigating more pharmaceutical companies.

We're going after crypto. We're going after security and privacy online. That's what's happening in the attorney general -- you will see attempts like that for governors and state legislatures all over the country. We will see what the Senate Democrats are able to do with their position of power and, of course, Joe Biden, too.

REID: Isaac Dovere, thank you.

DOVERE: Thank you.

REID: And coming up, we are learning more about the suspect in the Idaho college killings, including a cross-country trip he took with his father around Christmas.

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