this all worth it for my family, what we went through, was it worth it? now, my parents would say yes. my father after all he's been through, he would say yes. my mother would say i'm proud of my wounds because she's proud of the life she's lived. but for the family, the families are the ones that pay the highest price for this kind of life. >> thank you. and -- >> nice morning banter, right? >> i was going to say thank you. >> i broke your spirit. >> regardless of what people feel about your mother's politics, she served her country and she did it well. thank you very much. >> thank you for talking to me. >> thank you. >> it is an honor to be on cnn this morning. >> thank you, alexandra. and the documentary debuts on hbo max and hbo tonight at 9:00 eastern. that was quite an interview. >> it was. thank you very much. it was quite an interview.

and it is interesting to get -- we have seen some of the footage. we heard some of the stories and it is interesting to get the behind the scenes of her with her mom. and imagine, listen, you were in d.c. during the insurrection. she just happened to have cameras in the capitol. >> and it is interesting because it is from the view of her daughter's eye, but it is so significant to see this moment and to see this footage that we wouldn't have otherwise. her talking about trump that day and even before the attack had happened. >> tonight. >> yeah. even in all of this, you cannot tell your mom that it is time to -- they're thinking about -- >> mom's in charge, yeah. the toll on the family was interesting too. >> good morning. good morning to you as well. thank you, everyone, for joining us. it is tuesday, december 13th and this is "cnn this morning." we appreciate you hanging with us. we're going to catch you up on the five big stories on "cnn this morning." the founder of and ceo -- former ceo of crypto exchange ftx arrested in the bahamas after federal prosecutors in the u.s.

filed criminal charges against him. now the securities and exchange commission has officially charged sam bankman-fried with defrauding investors. he's now accused of orchestrating a years long fraud to build a crypto house of cards. also from blizzards and ice storms to heavy rain, hail, possibly tornadoes, this monster storm system is crashing through the middle of the united states this morning. and it has it all. 15 million people in more than a dozen states are under winter alerts including blizzard warnings. another 25 million under the severe threat of storms including tornadoes, strong winds and hail. also today, homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas is headed to el paso, texas, after a major surge in illegal border crossings. more than 2400 migrants crossed into the united states near where he's going today. officials are worried that even more crossings could continue as hundreds more are waiting just across the border in mexico. and this moment comes after a judge struck down that trump era border pandemic restriction used

to quickly expel migrants. it is now set to expire within just a matter of days. a little bit later today, president biden will sign the historic and bipartisan respect for marriage bill, that will happen this afternoon on the south lawn. it shores up federal protection for those in same sex and interracial marriages across this country. while this law does not require states to legalize same sex marriage what it does require is that every state recognize any legal marriage. u.s. capitol police sergeant be gonell who was seriously injured in the attack on the capitol is leaving his job. he originally planned another term, but he said his medical condition won't allow him and said returning to the scene of the crime every day became taxing and unbearable. our top story this morning is this, the ftx founder sam bankman-fried arrested in the bahamas after u.s. prosecutors

in the southern district of new york filed criminal charges against him. the new york times is reporting those charges will include wire fraud, securities fraud, conspiracy charges and money laundering. and this morning, the securities and exchange commission just charged sam bankman-fried with defrauding investors by concealing the diversion of ftx customers funds to his hedge fund. bankman-fried suggested he had no idea any of this was coming on a podcast recorded hours before this sealed indictment was announced last night. listen. >> are you worried you might be detained if you stepped foot into the u.s.? >> i don't believe i would be, but i haven't done a, like, deep dive into that. at some point it is something i have to think harder about. >> we have reached out to bankman-fried's attorney for comment and are yet to receive a response. let's discuss now. kara swisher, host of the podcast on kara swisher. we appreciate you joining us

this morning. here's the question, we weren't sure there would be charges because it is not regulated. there was a whole back and forth. were you surprised by this? and just before he was supposed to testify in front of congress, kara. >> no, i've been saying he's going to jail quite a bit. fraud is fraud and you can dress i it up with crypto and saying i didn't know what was happening, but it is fraud. and so i think it is a pretty straightforward case for the government. as long as they have the proof that he was knowledgeable about what he was doing and he moved the money. he can't just say he didn't know especially since he owned everything and was running everything. and had this whole group of people in the bahamas doing such. i assume they have testimony from others there. but they wouldn't do this without some cause that he knew what he was doing. >> kara, good morning. i think it is your birthday soon or it was. happy -- >> thank you. >> let me ask you about this, you it so well and so clearly,

fraud is fraud, but gary gensler the head of the s.e.c. says that bankman-fried built a house of cards and a foundation of deception. this comes at the an environment when none of those folks regulate crypto, which makes this easier to -- i was going to ask you does this leave an actual meaningful change in terms of regulating this stuff? >> well, they were beginning to regulate it. it is a nascent industry. so they were starting to do that. they had put all kinds of recommendations, administration had done it, gary gensler talked about it a lot, but they were just trying to decide how to do that when this happened. is it still is an investor thing. they have laws they can use to apply to this guy and probably they got irritated he was going around talking to everybody and his mother about this situation. and so i think they probably were, like, enough is enough, let's put him in jail. it is not unsimilar to bernie madoff or many of the others who

have been convicted of similar crimes. >> kara, that's what stuck out to me was just in recent days he was saying i don't think i'm going to get arrested, i don't think i'm going to be detained if i came to the united states. he's supposed to be testifying before a congressional hearing today, but he was set to do so over zoom. i wonder how much damage all the media interviews, all he's been doing, could be a factor on top of what the allegations are he's facing. >> mm-hmm. absolutely. he's just convicting himself over and over and over again. and saying he didn't think he was going to be arrested is exactly what you say before you're arrested. and so, you know, his parents are law professors at stanford university. they certainly knew the stakes here. i think he was going -- he was pretending he doesn't know what is happening, little boy in shorts and with mopey hair, i don't know, i was, like, it seems like you are an adult and you know what you were doing, but he was trying for that, this sort of dis -- i found it d

disingenuous. >> i remember after madoff, everyone was going, what were the warning signs, didn't people know? >> so many. >> let me ask you this. "the new york times" is reporting this cz who is the crypto exchange -- massive crypto exchange finance, he offered it save ftx but took a look at the books and backed out of helping, saying i guess he saw issues. so, what could he have seen that may have been a warning sign and then the follow-up is, should he have said something or were people not listening? >> no. it is not his job to do that. he probably saw leverage upon leverage like lots of warning signs that they were borrowing back and forth. and, you know, there is other people here, like kara ellison who ran the hedge fund that bankman-fried owns most of it, 90% of, she was also -- they

were all tweeting this. this is the thing. they were all talking to each other in public, which makes it even more frommteresting. >> that's my point. was anyone listening? >> they're just dropping criming all over the place. >> start listening now. >> interesting to listen to the interviews. >> they are. they are. >> all right. >> thank you, kara. >> thank you, kara. we'll see you soon. we appreciate you waking up really early for us. >> no problem. it's early here. >> thank you. >> really understanding it and boiling it down. >> that's her area there. new this morning, millions of lives saved. in two years since first covid vaccines were approved for use in the united states, that's according to a new study out from the commonwealth fund and the yale school of public health. let's talk about this with cnn medical correspondent dr. tara narula. this is, what, you know, everyone in the -- both administrations, you know, take this, this can save your life, this can save your life, now we have some numbers.

what do they say? >> it is hard to believe it has been two years. 658 million vaccines have been administered and so when you take a look back at what the impact has been and that's what researchers did, you see the massive benefits that have come. so, they used a computer model to estimate the impact and they found that covid vaccines essentially prevented about 18.5 million hospitalizations, saved about a little over 3 million lives, and saved over a trillion dollars in healthcare costs and they say these estimates are probably conservative. the numbers are probably much bigger than this. and that without vaccines we would have had over 120 million more infections. and they broadened that out to say it is not just hospitalizations and deaths, but vaccines got our kids back in school, helped us open businesses, there may have been individuals who we prevented long covid in. these vaccines, many of them, produced in the u.s., were rolled out globally. we possibly change the course of the trajectory of this pandemic

because of the vaccines that were produced here. and then finally when you look at the burden on hospitals, and we talk about this now with rsv and the flu, we decreased that burden with vaccines from covid. so really a big, big impact. >> but i think a big question is where we stand now because looking at the numbers, this gives all the health officials in the biden administration heartburn, only 14% of eligible u.s. population is boosted. >> right. and one in five americans are still completely unvaccinated. let's not forget that just in the past week, there were 3,000, almost 3,000 deaths, 30,000 hospitalizations, so this is still having a real impact and about 14% of americans live in areas where there is still high levels of transmission, new york city, l.a., maricopa county. it is really important that we don't forget. but it is a really monumental anniversary. i remember two years ago when i got the email i could get my vaccine and having lived through

that year in new york city as a healthcare worker, walking by my hospital and seeing -- >> there you are. >> seeing the freezer trucks in the back of the hospital with the bodies, you can't forget how this vaccine changed our lives. i was emotional that day, i remember, in tears, getting that vaccine. >> i hope this sort of blunts -- i hope it blunts the opposition to the vaccine, the misinformation that is out there that people say it doesn't do anything, look at you, you got the vaccine, i hope it blunts it. there is actual concrete evidence. we'll see what evidence means in this environment. i don't know. thank you. >> thank you. >> doctor, thanks so much. all right, the search for an american college student is studying in france is under way now. not a lot of details though. his parents want to know more. they haven't heard from him in over two weeks. we'll talk to his parents about where the search stands. that's coming up.

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this morning, french prosecutors were investigating the disappearance of kenny deland jr. he was studying abroad in france, but family and friends say they have not heard from him in more than two weeks, they're deeply concerned. this is deland caught on a store's security camera on december 3rd. it is thought to be the last known footage of him as he was

entering a store. local police say they have been looking for him after a missing persons report was filed when he didn't show back up at his host family's home or his classes. that store he was seen at is about an hour train ride south of the university of grenoble alpes where he was studying. joining us to talk about this is his father ken and his stepmother, jennifer. thank you for joining us this morning. i know that you have a lot of questions. and so, i know that the fbi is involved in this. what have your conversations been with them. have they been able to shed any light on where he is? >> no. i have given the fbi all of our information. it has gone through the embassy. they're not able to share what's -- what the status is due to the privacy act. >> and i know -- he was supposed to come home for christmas.

is that right? he was supposed to be coming home in a matter of days? >> yes, that's correct. december 17th, which is saturday. >> and when you last spoke to him, did anything stand out? did he say anything? what do you remember of that conversation? >> i would say it is just our normal back and forth. he's asking me how i'm doing, i'm asking him how he's doing, how he's, you know, enjoying his studies and if he had traveled to any, you know, spot. because he had really enjoyed the trip and taken pictures and what not, and he loves to be able to, you know, see france as, you know, it's pretty awesome trip, opportunity for him. so it's been a good opportunity up until this.

>> and i know he's young. i have young brothers around his age. they don't always call my parents every single day but they check in. is it like him to go this long without calling to check in, without telling you where he is? >> no, this isn't characteristic of my son. we were in constant contact. if it wasn't every day, it was every other day. so, this isn't typical for him. it doesn't feel characteristic of kenny. so it is concerning. >> have you -- have either of you been able to speak to the host family where he was staying? >> we have not. we just came to know that information of her name and -- but we have not yet spoke with her. you know, and in all likelihood it would have to be through the organization that he traveled there as a liaison to speak with

her. >> they have been in contact with her and then they -- when all this started, they were updating us and, no, we haven't actually spoken with her. >> and have they given any updates -- i know the cell phone ping, that's a way you can sometimes track where someone is, has their phone pinged off a tower recently. anything on that? >> we have heard nothing. >> just that one time. >> i spoke with the embassy this morning. he can't provide any updates. the embassy. and we kind of feel left in the dark. the addition of the french prosecutor story is something that was new yesterday. i just challenge that french prosecutor. he doesn't know our son. and there was statements made in his statement that, you know, i

feel he's making statements based on a person he does not know. >> and the french embassy, when you spoke with him today, did they -- did they offer you anything? what was kind of their message? >> the french embassy person that i spoke with this morning was surprised by how far this story has traveled in such a short amount of time. i wanted to make it perfectly clear to him to make sure that he looked at the website. we have been trying to keep the website up and updated and the dropdown menu up at the top right has some other stories that have ran and attachments. so i'm trying to make as many people aware of this. so he was complimentary in the fact that it had got tonight

french media outlets and he knew it was moving around france, which he said was a positive thing. so, that's good. >> and i know cnn is an international channel it watched all over the world, not just here in the united states where we are, if your son is watching, if anyone who knows him is watching, what is your message to them this morning? >> tell your kids you love them because you never know, things could go sideways, and if they do study internationally, just make sure the privacy act has an intent, but had i known, i probably would have made sure that the waver was signed, so that in the event something happened like this that we, as parents, could get reciprocation of information because it feels like we're just left in the dark. and we don't know what's

happening and if it wasn't for news agencies like yourself, and some of the others that have reached out to us for interviews, i feel like, you know, it wouldn't go anywhere. so we want kenny to come home safely. and we hope you're all right. and, you know, we love you. >> we miss you, kenny. >> ken, jennifer, you got a fridge full of magnets back there with some family moaphoto. i know this is important to you guys. it is important to us as well. thank you for joining us this morning and we hope you get information on your son soon. >> thank you for taking the time to talk to us. we appreciate it. >> of course. >> we will, of course, stay on that, for them. just ahead, twin sisters accused of cheating on a medical school exam argue their similar test answers were not because of cheating, but rather genetics. we'll tell you who prevailed next. i'd like to thank our sponsor liberty mutual.

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well, we fell in love through gaming. but now the internet lags and it throws the whole thing off. when did you first discover this lag? i signed us up for t-mobile home internet. ugh! but, we found other interests. i guess we have. [both] finch! let's go! oh yeah! it's not the same.

what could you do to solve the problem? we could get xfinity? that's actually super adult of you to suggest. i can't wait to squad up. i love it when you talk nerdy to me. guy, guys, guys, we're still in session. and i don't know what the heck you're talking about.

that was seattle, live pictures of seattle, this morning. welcome back to "cnn this morning." united airlines facing a massive order of at least 100 planes from boeing, the largest wide body jet order on record by any u.s. carrier. we're speaking with united's ceo scott kirby in moments. a debate erupts over the deal that brought wnba star brittney griner home. bomani jones will be live with us. and any moment now, the labor department will release november's consumer price index record, a key measure of how inflation is impacting you. we'll bring you the numbers as soon as it is released. so, we have all heard the phrase great minds think alike, right? does it really work that way for twins? twin sisters kayla and kelly bingham recently won a $1.5 million judgment against the

medical university of south carolina that had accused them of cheating on an exam after they gave identical answers on 296 of 307 questions. the bingham twins argued that identical twins often perform similarly on tests and the science backs them up. the jury agreed. they said they withdrew from the medical school after all this and work at government affairs advisers at the same law firm. i would be hate to be on the opposite side of them in court. how common is it for twins to pursue the same career path? harry enten joins us with this morning's number. good morning. >> good morning. so, you know, this whole story got me thinking of how frequent it is that twins actually go into the same professional field. it turns out that 25% of the time they do at least when they're the same gender. compare that with 15% of siblings who are the same gender born within two years of each other or 9% of strangers who are born within two years of each other. so, far more likely to go in the

same profession if in fact you are twins. let's dig into the data more. this all got me thinking when i saw this story, i think there are more twins than there used to be. the twin birth rate per 1,000 births is way up from where it used to be. it is now 31.3 of every 1,000 births. compare that to 1980, when it was just 18.9 per 1,000 births. the peak was in 2014. we're still pretty close to the peak, well more than we used to be. now, why is it that we have more twin births than we used to have? well, there are a bunch of different reasons, but i think there are a few potential ones i want to point out. there are more older moms. when you're above the age of 45 or even as you climb up, it is not just one sudden jump, more older moms equals higher chance of twin births. also, an increase in in vitro fertilization births and that's more correlated with more twin births. more twin births because of the changing stuff of motherhood. >> that's so interesting.

i care about this, my nephews are identical twins. >> adorable. >> so adorable. but they're bad. they're 4 1/2, they're not bad, but -- >> your sister is going, thank you, kaitlan. >> i have to clarify that. they're so funny. this is their funniest age. when the increase that you're talking about there, are there more identical twins like my nephews or more fraternal twins being born? >> more fraternals. fraternals are going up, identicals are staying the same. fraternals are two-thirds of all twin births. really interesting data, as far as i'm concerned. >> harry, what would we do if there were two of harry? >> oh, gosh. no, no, no. i have to live with the stuff in my own head. no, please no more. i don't have to hear myself double. >> harry enten, thank you for all that. >> thank you. any moment now, the labor department is going to release a key report. it will give you a glimpse into the impact of inflation in the last month. we'll break down the numbers with none other than christine romans. and united airlines just placed a historic and

history-making order for at least 100 new boeing planes this morning. what does that tell you about this economy? united airline's ceo scott kirby joins us next. there's always a fresh deal on the subway app. like this one! 50% off?! that deal's so good we don't even need an eight-time all-star tell you about it. wait what? get it before 's gone on the subway app! think about the best night's sleep you've ever had.

at tempur-pedic, we're dedicated to helping you sleep like that. every night. so you get the deep, comfortable, undisturbed rest you deserve. experience the mattress ranked #1 in customer satisfaction by jd power, four years in a row. merry christmas tosyou may r if jesus christ can make a difference in your life. you bet he can. that's why he came, to save us from our sins. jesus was born to die. he came to earth as a babe, took our sins to the cross 33-years later, he died on the cross, and god raised him to life on the third day. he's not dead, he's alive. if you've never put your faith and trust in him, you can do that right now. just pray this prayer with me, just say, "dear god, "i've made a wreck of my life. "i'm sorry for my sins and i ask you to forgive me. "i believe that jesus christ is your son. "i want to trust him as my savior, "and follow him as my lord, "from this day forward. amen."

if you prayed that prayer, call that number that's on the screen. we've got someone who'd like to speak with you right now. give them a call. god bless ya and a merry christmas to each and every one.

all right, the labor department just released the november consumer price index report, the key inflation indicator. so here to break it down is our key cnn chief business correspondent christine romans. what do the numbers show us? >> 7.1%. that's the lowest reading since december 2021. >> wow. >> so it is good, but it is bad. >> it is still too high. there is nothing normal about 7.1% inflation. let's be clear here. this is what you're paying at the grocery store, prices are going up but going up more slowly. we're seeing the peaking in the inflation rate. when you strip out food and energy you have this core rate up 6%. that's the coolest since in some

time. month to month, only up a little tiny bit. so, again, that's going in the right direction. you look at that chart, it shows that the worst inflation that we have suffered over the past year may be behind us, this could be evidence that the fed's very, very aggressive medicine is starting to work. and i'll tell you, on wall street, they love this number this morning. immediately the dow jumped like 700 points in premarket action because they think this means the fed is on the right track, you can start to see maybe some slower interest rate increases, maybe 50 basis points tomorrow. you'll see maybe a 2% move in the dow. look at the nasdaq, that's rate sensitive. nasdaq 3%. that's a big one-day move if that should hold here. again, i am not ready to declare that inflation has been defeated because whenever you go to the grocery store, you're still grumbling. but we can see maybe the peak is in and the worst is behind us. >> maybe a better indication of where we were this time last year when we were hearing from key officials that they thought it was going to fall, it had not. >> they were so wrong. they were so wrong. which is why we're all so gun

shy about trying to say what is going to happen next with inflation. for now, energy prices down, shelter prices are still up, so people, you know, looking at rent and housing, that's a hot spot in the economy. but overall, cooling, too high, but cooling. >> good but bad. >> yes. >> good but bad. >> less bad. we'll take it. >> good but less bad. >> christine romans, thank you for that. >> you're welcome. united airlines just placed an order for up to 200 boeing planes this morning. united calls this the largest wide body aircraft order ever by a u.s. carrier in commercial aviation history. what does this tell us about the state of our economy? where is that recession so many are fearing? the ceo joins us from boeing, scott kirby. good morning, sir. it is good to have you. >> good morning. pleasure to be here. >> what should we make of this? these are big planes, largely

used for overseas international flights. where these planes? why so many? why now? >> well, you know, this is a really big step for united. but it is just following what we really started two years ago, here in the middle of the pandemic, we thought that we would fully recover, started taking steps for united to take advantage of that. we're coming out of this as the flag carrier of the united states, and the leading airline around the globe. this is just the next step in that path to, one, replace our older 767s that are at the end of their life, but also to create growth opportunities for the years to come in the international arena for united airlines. >> this is a huge vote of confidence for boeing, no surprise they're doing this from boeing because these two planes have been previously plagued with issues. the 737 max was grounded for over a year after two fatal crashes in 2019. the dreamliner had grounded eight of those in august of 2020

to inspect for some concerns. why are you so confident in boeing despite all that? >> we are confident in boeing. we have a great partnership with boeing. you're right, they had a few tough years. but i think that's made us stronger. i am close to the work they have done to really strengthen their process, really focus on quality control. and i think they're coming through this stronger than they were before and better. we always had a great partnership with boeing. they're one of the most important companies in the united states. our largest exporter, great careers here in theit united states. we're proud to be able to support an important american company. >> let's talk about the economy. i wanted to have you on after i heard you on another not to be named but excellent morning show the other week saying where is the recession? i don't see a recession. and we just heard janet yellen the treasury secretary say on 60 minutes inflation will be much

lower by the end of next year, and she doesn't really see a recession either. do you think she's right? >> yeah. you know, look, we're planning as if there is going to be a mild recession next year. a lot of people in the business world are trying to talk ourselves into one. but sometimes it feels like to me. but what i said last week is if i didn't watch business shows or read "the wall street journal," the word recession wouldn't be in my vocabulary. we don't see it in our data. every month we set new records, a lot of what is happening is return to normalcy. people bought hard goods online during the pandemic, couldn't travel, couldn't get their haircut, we're returning back to normal. it feels great to us in the services industry. >> i hope you're right. ed bastion, ceo of delta airlines, came on "cnn this morning" a few weeks ago and said no layoffs, we're hiring, we're still hiring a lot. is united hiring?

>> yeah. yeah, we are going to hire 15,000 people next year, another 15,000 in 2022, another 15,000 in 2023. we create great careers for people. our people mostly stay to retirement. and we're proud of that. we're able to hire and excited to be creating great careers that are more than just a job. where people can support a family. >> i do want to ask you, right, because we're all -- we talk about it on the set a lot, plane tickets are and have been for recent months very, very expensive. and during the pandemic, i know it was to save jobs and keep people employed, but the airline industry got a lot of money from the government, $50 billion bailout from congress. and you look at the consumer price index for airline tickets and it is up about 30% in the last reading. can you help us understand if they're going to go down? why are they so high? >> so, what i tell you is prices

today are still 40% to 50% -- in real terms, 40% to 50% lower than they were just about a decade ago. and, yeah, they went way, way down during the pandemic. the inflation numbers could vary in the middle of the pandemic, probably not the right fee to compare it to. air travel remains a great value. you're frequently going to pay less for your airline ticket than one night at your hotel room or rental car. air travel remains a great value. but i think the ultra low prices that happen, you know, during the deficit, the pandemic, are in the rear view mirror and should be in the rear view mirror. airlines wouldn't be able to survive at that kind of pricing. >> pilot shortages, that's not a big issue for you but other carriers. any impact on holiday travel from here on out? >> this won't be an impact in the near term. united, we're able to hire pilots. we hired 2400 this year, we'll hire another 2500 next year. because we're at the top of the pyramid for pilot perspective. we're able to hire.

it is impacting some of the lower carriers lower down in that pyramid, but mostly what they'll do is just not schedule as many flights. i don't think you'll see the kind of disruptions that happen christmas of last year, particularly with omicron. so whether just a pilot shortage, omicron hit during the middle of the holidays, i don't think you'll see that at any airline this year. >> fewer flights means less seats and more expensive tickets. before you go, two things, i was reading your announcement last night and totally fascinated by something very, very deep in it on climate change. you guys say united has the ambitious goal to be 100% green in the greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 without relight ying on carbon offset. does that mean planes will be fueled by batteries like that investment you just made in that battery company? >> you know, batteries are probably not going to be the

solution. but there is a solution to be 100% green without using traditional carbon offsets. this is something i'm personally passionate about. thank you for asking. one is sustainable aviation fuel. we're the world leader there. we have more commitment than all the rest of the world's airlines combined right now. we're investing heavily into turning that into a commercial scale industry. that creates fuel that is essentially net zero. the second one is carbon sequestration. rather than the easy to do let's plant trees, nothing wrong with planting trees, but you can't scale that to the size the globe needs, we are investing with occidental 1.5 in the world's first commercial scale carbon sequestration. carbon sequestration is going to be, i think, the future, not just for aviation, but if we want to get globe to 1.5 or 2 degrees, we have to have a big push on carbon sequestration. >> i hope you're right. capturing the carbon and sequestering it into the earth, it doesn't get into the atmosphere. i got to ask you about twitter

and then i'll let you go, sir. you guys stopped advertising -- i know you want to talk about twitter, but i have to ask you, you stopped advertising on twitter after elon musk took over. do you see united advertising on twitter again with elon musk at the helm? >> i don't know is the short answer. i didn't know we advertised on twitter before. it is a really small part of our business. people are making a mountain out of a mole hill. it is a really small piece of our business. and i'm sure our team is talking to them, but i don't know the details. >> fair enough. we appreciate your time. thanks. scott kirby, united airlines ceo. >> thank you. >> that was really good, poppy. >> he echoes what you're saying every day on the economy. >> talking ourselves into an economy when there are many indicators we're not there yet. into a recession. >> i hope that's true. >> also love to start the morning talking about carbon offsets. >> i know it was doedorky, but

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with respect to the question of whether we had engagement with the russian federation on the whelan case, we will have engagement with them this week. i won't say more about it because we're trying to keep that in sensitive channels. but that's the timetable and we have had regular engagement, of course, along the way. >> so that was a national secured adviser pushing for paul whelan to be released from russia as brittney griner works to regain some sense of normalcy after spending ten months detained in russia. griner spent her first weekend

back in the u.s. visiting with family and enjoy something texas barbecue and getting a haircut. that's important stuff. back to normalcy here. whelan was not part of the prisoner swap for viktor bout that brought griner home, fuel something criticism from lawmakers and a handful of people in the sports world. let's discuss bomani jones. i thought you were coming to the studio. we're glad to have you with this way. the screen. so, bomani is also the host of "game theory with bomani jones ," season two premieres on hbo max set for january 20th. thank you for joining us. why all this consternation about the deal was this and we got -- he was a bad dude and she wasn't that bad and the exchange wasn't even. what do you make of all that? >> the consternation is because people want to be mad. she got nine years for empty vape cartridges.

there is no objective measure by which that is not absolutely absurd. so, getting her out of jail was something that made perfect sense for the government to do. how they prioritized who they decide to go get out of jail, i don't have the greatest answer for that necessarily. this was somebody that should not have been in jail as she was. she was also visible and it seems russia could use a certain amount of leverage to try to get her back. the idea that anybody was mad about the idea that the government was going to try to get her back is just a testament to the fact that we look for a lot of reasons to be mad. >> i think that's very true. people do look for reasons to be mad. i think the other side of that is that just in a larger context, but i think the other side of that is the real concern that you heard from people about the swap because viktor bout was the biggest -- arguably the biggest bargaining chip the united states had to offer and so i think when you hear those concerns from republicans who say well, the concern there is that obviously what she was convict on was such a minor offense, so laughable, and the

idea she was traded for someone who was this convicted arms dealer, conspireing to kill americans, and that paul whelan is still in russia, that's why the concern from republicans, from critics of this swap comes in. it is not just from republicans, it comes from democrats too. >> yeah, i get that, i also feel like that's the real easy thing for you to say when you're not the one in a russian penal colony. we talk about brittney griner coming ban and getting her haircut, it was because her hair was freezing off if a russian penal colony. there is no nice smooth solution in this one. i also think something that has happened here is the sportsification of all news conference. we're breaking down this trade like anthony david went to the lakers and you're trying to figure out who got the best end of the deal. sometimes it is a matter of you get what you can get when you can get it and you take whatever surplus there happens to be and

that seemed to be the case on this one. >> you said something i want to dig into, wnba players are just better at using their voice for social justice causes than anybody else. listen to what we heard yesterday from a wnba player elizabeth williams talking about standing up for brittney and so much more. >> any opportunity for us to speak up and speak out about social injustice is important. i think as female athletes we're kind of inherently political and constantly fighting whether it is for pay equity, w or just opportunities for women. >> like what trevor noah sid l said in his signoff last week, if you want to know about america. >> nobody is really going to get rich off of finding the next wnba superstar. everybody thinks they're getting rich of finding the next nba

supe superstar. i know ray montgomery made this point. most women have college degrees. they have to treat college differently while they're in there. and there is a good chance they have to go get jobs. any dumb jock stereotype you have about athletes, it doesn't apply to these women. they can't afford for it to apply. >> listen, her wrongful detainment sparked all these questions and i know you've been vocal about this, about the disparity in pay for -- between -- the disparity in pay between men's and women's professional basketball. do you think this will lead to real change, bomani? >> no, not unless the wnba starts generating a significant amount of revenue it does not right now. i think that we have to ask ourselves the larger question when it comes to the pay equity thing. this isn't the matter of everybody doing the same job, bringinging ing in the same mon

there is a pay disparity. we live in a society that conflats the respect you get with the amount of money you make. if you look at women's sports and want women to be treated as athletes with the same respect men do, the way this society works then by that token you expect women to make a whole lot more money playing basketball and we got to ask the question as to whether or not being a star athlete necessarily entitles you to make a lot of money. i've seen people make the argument that brittney griner had to go to russia because she wasn't making a living wage. she making about a quarter million dollars playing in the wnba. that qualifies as being a living wage. if she made $2 million playing in the wnba, i bet she would still get on a plane to go get $2 million playing in russia if this was then available. so, yes you would like to see the women make more money because you're not a hater. you like to see them make more money, but where that money is going to come from is something that nobody can answer. i'm of the belief that the wnba sh -- nba should subsidize the

wnba to a certain level. if you've been on a flight and watch a wnba team get on it after playing a game theknowing game the next night, that is something the league can do something about. >> well, there is a whole lot to that argument that we don't have time to get into here. but we appreciate the perspective. always good to have you. >> thank you. >> i appreciate it. >> thank you. >> we'll see you soon. appreciate it. so game theory with bomani jones kicks off a second season on hbomax on january 20th. >> a lot to say. we love having him on here too. >> every week. great to "cnn newsroom" starts after this break.