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CNN This Morning
Federal Prosecutors Investigating George Santos' Finances; Alaska Man Missed Out On Chance For New Heart Amid Cancellations; Columbus, Ohio Seeing Largest Measles Outbreak In 20 Years. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired December 29, 2022 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL)
[07:33:42]
HARLOW: Welcome back to CNN THIS MORNING.
So we've learned that federal prosecutors are now investigating incoming Republican congressman George Santos as more lies that he has made have been revealed about his education, his work history, his heritage, names he used.
A source tells CNN that investigators in New York are looking into his finances as well amid real questions about the more than $700,000 in loans he extended to his 2020 campaign -- 2022 campaign.
He is now being labeled as a con man in a new piece published by a former congressman who represented his district in Long Island, the same district that has now elected Santos.
Democrat Steve Israel writes, quote, "Politicians embellish resumes. If that were a crime, every candidate in America would be in prison. But Santos' lies are an assault on democratic norms.
The Republicans should have vetted Santos. The Democrats should have checked him out more thoroughly. The media should have as well."
So, Steve Israel joins us now. He is the director of the Cornell Institute of Politics and Global Affairs. Good morning, Congressman. Thank you for being with us.
STEVE ISRAEL, (D) FORMER NEW YORK CONGRESSMAN, SANTOS ELECTED IN DISTRICT HE ONCE SERVED, DIRECTOR, CORNELL INSTITUTE OF POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS (via Webex by Cisco): Thank you.
HARLOW: I think you're right to point fingers at a whole host of folks and institutions on this. The question is now what it means for the constituents -- a lot of the same people that you represented.
And you wrote that your district -- your former district will tolerate a lot but they will not tolerate dishonesty.
[07:35:03] He's going to be seated in Congress next week, so now what?
ISRAEL: Well, he most likely will be seated. Kevin McCarthy cannot afford to lose a Republican vote in his speakership contest -- a very, very slim majority. And so, in one of the great ironies of January 3, this huckster, this grifter will take his oath of office.
And what will happen is the triggering of multiple new investigations. There will be a congressional Ethics Committee investigation. There is likely to be an Office of Congressional Ethics investigation in the independent professional office.
The real tragedy here is that the people of Long Island and, honestly, the American people expect that a member of Congress will be sworn in and immediately begin thinking about constituents' problems. This guy is going to be sworn in and the focus on his legal problems -- he'll be focused on a Nassau County district attorney's investigation, New York State attorney general investigation, federal investigations. And that, ultimately, is such a disservice to the people who voted for him and even those who didn't. They want a member of Congress focusing on them; not how he's going to get through his legal problems.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And it seems like it just gets worse every day for him. I mean, CNN's KFILE now --
ISRAEL: Yes.
COLLINS: -- has a new report that says he claimed he was forced to leave a New York City private school. The school says they have no record of him attending.
He claimed that he criticized Goldman Sachs. Had this private equity conference as an employee even Anthony Scaramucci says there's no record that he attended the conference.
He claimed his mother's family historical Jewish name was Zabrovsky and he later appeared to use that for fundraising under an alias -- something that was taken down, I should not, after KFILE asked about it.
But I wonder, do you think Democrats made a mistake -- his opponents -- in not finding any of this when they were running against him?
ISRAEL: Well, they did find quite a -- quite a lot of it. Look, let's agree that the ultimate responsibility lies with Mr. Santos. He's the guy who wrote this --
COLLINS: Sure.
ISRAEL: -- fiction of himself, so it begins with him.
The second problem is a Republican Party, quite honestly, that gave this guy a nomination without any vetting at all. They make decisions on candidates based on how extreme they are, and Mr. Santos fit that bill, without any consideration for their basic qualifications and fitness for office. Then you have the issue -- your very good point -- about whether
deficiencies in Democratic opposition research. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which I chaired for four years -- they did the opposition research. They found the red flags.
They turned it over to Mr. Santos' opponent, Robert Zimmerman. He did try and raise those red flags with many in the local media, and that's where complacency comes in.
The judgment was we're not going to report on this guy because he can't win. This is a Democratic district. Biden would have won it by eight points. So he's just not a story. Well, it turns out he's a big story.
COLLINS: Yes, one of the biggest.
HARLOW: What's the lesson from this now? Because this Fox News interview that Santos did -- he said, "My constituents didn't send me here to waste time. They sent me here to work." What is the lesson in all of this going forward?
ISRAEL: The lesson is, in my view, if democracy is -- has a hope, we've got to go back to the days where we nominate candidates not based on how whacky they are, how deranged they are, how extreme they are, but based on their basic qualifications to serve.
The second lesson in this is that we have to begin to reinvest in local journalism. We need to make sure -- democracy depends on transparency and transparency depends on making sure that journalists have the resources they need to do investigations when those red flags are -- when they emerge.
HARLOW: That is such a great point about the importance of local journalism and how much happened at the state --
ISRAEL: Exactly.
HARLOW: -- level.
Thank you very much. Appreciate it, Congressman.
ISRAEL: Thank you.
COLLINS: All right.
Also this morning, a new migrant processing center is being built in El Paso despite a Supreme Court decision to keep a Trump-era border policy which allows the U.S. to expel migrants remaining in place for now. We're live at the border, ahead.
HARLOW: Also, a man from Alaska missing out on a desperately needed heart transplant because his flight was canceled. He is going to join us next.
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[07:44:04]
HARLOW: We have been talking a lot about the airline chaos and, especially, the storms that have crippled so many operations. But this story is not about Southwest Airlines. It's a different airline, but with significant consequences because of the storm.
A man in Alaska was waiting for a heart transplant. After only having been on the transplant list for a few weeks, Patrick Holland got a call that a donor match had been found and that he was getting a healthy heart. But things quickly turned when the flight he was on couldn't make it from Alaska to Seattle because of the storm.
His wife writing, in part, on Facebook -- quote, "The past 25 hours -- the most traumatic, difficult hours of Patrick's life. Numerous times his hopes and dreams were lifted to astounding heights, and then left to tumble down to the lowest depths of nightmarish proportions, often in the blink of an eye. This cycle repeated itself over and over."
Patrick Holland is with us. His canceled flight meant losing a chance for that heart transplant. And I want to be clear, this -- what airline was this?
[07:45:08]
PATRICK HOLLAND, MISSED OUT ON HEART TRANSPLANT BECAUSE OF CANCELED FLIGHTS (via Webex by Cisco): It was Alaska's air -- Alaska Airlines.
HARLOW: OK, and it's because of the storm, correct?
HOLLAND: Yes, because of the storm.
HARLOW: I'm appreciative --
HOLLAND: Alaska Airlines -- they -- to -- they jumped through hoops to get me -- to get me there --
HARLOW: I'm so -- I'm so glad and --
HOLLAND: -- and it didn't happen.
HARLOW: -- so sorry it didn't happen.
Can you explain to people -- we just heard what your wife wrote -- what it has been like for you because you couldn't get to Seattle to get the transplant.
HOLLAND: It was -- it was excellent -- it was terrifying news to hear that I was going to get a transplant. To be honest with you, I was terrified, and then I was excited. So we caught the first flight out. We got to the airport and it was -- it was packed, which is unusual. It was -- it was packed because flights were being canceled and I didn't realize that until I went to the kiosk and my flight was canceled.
And after waiting in line for an hour, panicking and realizing my flight was leaving in a half an hour, I waved down a woman that works for Alaska Airlines and I -- and I told her the situation. I said hey, I'm on a heart transplant. This is crucial.
And she waved me to the front of the line and she said yes, your flight has been canceled. And then I -- and then my heart sank. And she said I will get you on a plane, and she did. She got me on a plane.
And from there we were -- we were diverted about halfway through. I didn't know that because -- they had announced it but I guess during my excitement of getting a heart was --
HARLOW: Yes.
HOLLAND: -- overwhelming. So --
HARLOW: Yes.
HOLLAND: But we were in flight for about four hours and I heard the pilot say that they, welcome to Anchorage. And I thought he must be really tired because we've been in the air for about four hours --
HARLOW: Oh.
HOLLAND: -- and it doesn't take four hours to get to Anchorage.
And a lady overheard me tell my brother that and she looked over and she said my phone says Anchorage. And then I started to panic. And then my phone said Anchorage.
HARLOW: Yes.
HOLLAND: And all my worst fears were overwhelming me.
Because when you -- when you hear that, you're like there's somebody donating a heart and they don't -- I don't imagine they can wait that long because the longer it waits, the longer the tissue decomposes. So she said don't worry. She said this heart is for you and we're going to wait and catch the next flight immediately.
And I -- so I said OK, great. Then I was -- I was lifted again. I was like this is -- this is going to happen. And we got -- we got another flight scheduled for like 45 minutes later.
There was a gentleman, Roy, there who just accommodated us like -- I mean, I was impressed. I was amazed. He checked on me every 10 minutes. And he brought back with very bad news that the flight was canceled again.
So then I called the heart transplant coordinator and she explained to me that let's not give up. Let's keep trying. But I realized in Anchorage, at the time, there was also a storm going on. I mean, it was crazy to watch it from out the windows.
HARLOW: Yes.
HOLLAND: And then the second flight got canceled, and then the third flight got canceled. Then -- and then I knew -- at this point, I knew. I told my brother -- I said the next phone call is not going to be good. And just as I was calling her, she was calling me back to tell me that they were going to give the heart to somebody else.
HARLOW: I cannot --
HOLLAND: So --
HARLOW: I can't imagine getting that phone call. I mean, you're only 56 --
HOLLAND: Yes.
HARLOW: -- years old. You look younger.
HOLLAND: Yes.
HARLOW: You're only 56 and you have a 3-year-old. I think we have some images --
HOLLAND: I do.
HARLOW: -- we can show of you and your child, and your family to our viewers because this is what the heart means to you --
HOLLAND: Yes.
HARLOW: -- right? This is about -- look at that.
HOLLAND: Yes.
HARLOW: This is about being able to run around --
HOLLAND: That was --
HARLOW: -- after your 3-year-old.
HOLLAND: Right. It's tough to have a body that wants to run but not to have a heart that will let you. So, it's -- it takes away a lot. But on the same side, I believed that somebody else was going to get a miracle --
HARLOW: Yes.
HOLLAND: -- gift. So we just prayed for them. So --
HARLOW: There are --
HOLLAND: -- much -- somebody else was going to -- yes.
So you've got to look at the bright side of things. On the bright side, I got to go back home to my family and have a good Christmas with them again. And there is a big part of me that feels like I let them down by not being in Seattle, so I blame my -- I blame myself for that part. For not --
[07:50:07] HARLOW: Hey, Patrick -- no.
HOLLAND: Because I -- once I heard I was active, I could have immediately made plans to be there. And I just had no idea it was going to happen so fast because I'm -- I was near the bottom of the list -- number six -- so I had no -- and we -- from all the stories we watched, it takes months --
HARLOW: Yes.
HOLLAND: -- and it just happened to be a miracle to be -- get an offer after two and a half weeks.
And I just -- I feel like I should have been more proactive in being there. So I'll be there next week --
HARLOW: Please don't --
HOLLAND: -- if things work out with --
HARLOW: Please don't blame -- please don't blame yourself.
HOLLAND: Right.
HARLOW: This is not your fault. And let's -- can we end it on some good news? That you've had some pretty amazing people --
HOLLAND: Yes.
HARLOW: -- reach out to you from Seattle where you need to be --
HOLLAND: Yes.
HARLOW: -- and offer some pretty great things for you.
HOLLAND: Yes, that's true. Yes. It's been -- it's been really great.
I've had -- I've had plans with three different people that I know that live in Seattle. One was met with foul play and two others -- it just family members moved back in and it was just -- wasn't working out.
So I was actually looking through my churches that I'm involved with to come up with an idea, and we were working on something and then it -- that's when I got the call. So I just wish I could have been there and it's -- they work miracles nowadays and someone got a miracle. So --
HARLOW: Yes.
HOLLAND: -- that's what my hope was --
HARLOW: I think it shows what --
HOLLAND: -- that someone else got to appreciate the extra time.
HARLOW: It shows what a -- what a big heart you have. And we are all praying for your new heart when that's to come.
HOLLAND: That's right.
HARLOW: Patrick Holland, good luck.
HOLLAND: That's right.
HARLOW: And come back and keep us posted, all right?
HOLLAND: Thank you, we will -- yes, definitely.
HARLOW: OK.
HOLLAND: Thank you for having me.
HARLOW: Thank you.
COLLINS: I mean --
HARLOW: Talk about a big heart, right?
COLLINS: And what an amazing perspective after being through that much trauma and disruption over thinking you're getting that and then you don't get it.
HARLOW: We've sort of seen the worst of so many things this week, and then the -- like, yesterday, with Shykira and Yvonne (PH), and then him, and then the bride with you.
COLLINS: I know.
HARLOW: The best --
COLLINS: Katie and Patrick, we're rooting for both of them --
HARLOW: Yes.
COLLINS: -- especially Patrick there with that.
We'll be back in a moment. We've got more on Southwest apologizing for its cancellations and more on just the chaos travel -- the travel chaos in general.
(COMMERCIAL)
[07:57:22]
HARLOW: Welcome back.
Well, a measles outbreak in Columbus, Ohio is causing concern -- real concern for public health officials there. They say parents' resistance to vaccinating their children not just for COVID, for other deadly diseases could be triggering the spread of measles.
Columbus has seen the largest measles outbreak in 20 years. They have 82 cases there and all of them involve those younger than 18. A majority of cases are in children under the age of three. Forty percent of the children infected are currently in the hospital.
So I'm glad to be joined this morning by the Columbus public health commissioner, Dr. Mysheika Roberts. Dr. Roberts, thank you.
I wanted to do this story because as a parent of little ones, I was terrified when I saw these numbers. Why is this happening there?
DR. MYSHEIKA ROBERTS, HEALTH COMMISSIONER, COLUMBUS PUBLIC HEALTH (via Webex by Cisco): Well, we've always had a population, or a segment of our population that has been resistant to vaccine -- childhood vaccines. Many of them just don't want to put chemical -- or what they are concerned about chemicals in their children's body.
But a lot of them feel like it's not needed because they don't see those infections in our community. But what they don't understand that we don't see those infections in our community because our vaccine efforts have been so successful. And so, when one family chooses not to vaccinate their children, they put the rest of the community at risk.
HARLOW: One really concerning thing is the decline in the number of parents across the country getting their children vaccinated. The MMR vaccine is like one of the most critical ones. And from 2019 to now, the amount of people who are saying children should be required to get the MMR vaccine -- for example, who go to school -- is down 11 percent.
Do you believe, Doctor, this is tied to mandates for the COVID vaccination for many or just fear, in general -- unfounded, but fear of the COVID vaccination among some? Is that making this worse?
ROBERTS: Unfortunately, I do. What we saw during the height of the pandemic when we rolled out the COVID-19 vaccine is we started politicizing vaccines, and that should never be the case. Vaccines are a public health measure. They're a safety measure for everyone in our community and they're not a political issue.
HARLOW: OK, speak to the parents who are listening and watching this morning as they're getting their kids ready, as they're making breakfast. What is your message to them about MMR vaccines, flu vaccines?
ROBERTS: The MMR vaccine, the flu vaccine -- all of our childhood vaccines are safe, they're very effective. And we need everyone to get their children vaccinated on time, according to the schedule that is set by CDC and the American College of Immunization Practices. They've been around for years. And this is why our country has been so successful in eradicating so many of these infectious diseases.
[08:00:00]
