and some very late checkouts. think you can keep up? good morning, erveryone, it

is the top of the hour, and it is tuesday. you don't see poppy harlow because poppy is off today. >> much deserved. >> yeah, and we've got to catch you up on the five big stories cnn is following this morning. overnight, lawmakers unveiled a sweeping full-year funding bill to avert a government shutdown. the $1.7 trillion spending bill which fund critical government operations for the 2023 fiscal year, it also includes $44.9 billion in emergency assistance to ukraine and nato allies. the bill also includes a measure to ban tiktok from federal devices. also this morning, the january 6th committee has now recommended criminal charges against former president trump, the committee using its final public meeting yesterday to summarize its 17 month investigation with a simple closing argument. all roads lead to trump. the referral does not require the justice department to act and there are big questions about whether or not they will. a mare cope pa county judge

ruled that kari lake will be allowed to head to trial in her election lawsuit. lake lost to democrat katie hobbs by about 17,000 votes. lake claims that intentional misconduct caused her loss. the judge ruled that most of the claims lake made, eight out of ten would immediately be dismissed. the timing couldn't be worse, especially for those who are traveling for the holidays. millions of americans waking up to winter weather and windchill alerts as an arctic blast will bring drastically cold temperatures across much of the country in the coming days. right now so far more than 25 million people are under windchill alerts across much of the central and northwestern united states. and a hero's welcome in argentina. ♪ >> crowds of argentine fans cheered their national team as they returned home as world cup champions. today has been declared a

national holiday in argentina to celebrate the win. but first, this. thousands of migrants are living in limbo along the southern border after a supreme court justice, chief justice john roberts, blocked the order to lift title 42, the border restrictions there. and this morning, we're witnessing some mobilization from officials which we just learned is part of the texas governor greg abbott's border security mission. so we want to get straight now to david cole where he's in juarez mexico, this morning. you have been witnessing what's been happening at the border, what greg abbott's border steam doing there and also speaking to some of the migrants there, what are you learning? what are you seeing? >> reporter: and don in the past hour when we were speaking with you as this was unfolding it seemed a bit unclear to us who exactly these law enforcement members were. as you point out, it does seem that these are now part of the state national guard.

we know that in the past 24 hours the texas state national guard put on about 400 members on alert and on standby to be mission ready. it seems like now thermoy a are mobilizing and quite active. you can see what was really a staging ground, and this is what you should understand about that side of the rio grande is that this t this, of course the u.s. side is where a lot of the migrants were staging once they had crossed over the rio grande. that's an illegal crossing. they would wait there and line up, you see all these humvees, state trooper from texas vehicles flashing there, the lights there, that was covered with migrants waiting this morning around 4:30, they had c campfires lit. this mobilization moved in, those fires were extinguished and they were moving those migrants to be processed.

some came back to this side, the mexican side, and we caught up with one of them, take a listen. >> what do you think about all those of the military? [ speaking non-english ] >> yeah, he's still waiting on seeing what's going to happen with title 42. he said this was the part that they were going to cross, but now with all the mobilization that he's seeing, he doesn't know. >> and that is a huge part of this is all this confusion, so that migrant we had spoken with

from venezuela, he like many others had that deadline of the 21st of december thinking that that's when title 2442 was goin to be lifted. what came yesterday from the chief justice changed all of that, it is still in effect and now you've got added law enforcement behind me here at the border. so a lot of these folks working on that 21st time line, they're thinking perhaps they still try to cross. maybe they hold off for a bit. they're waiting if what could be a new date and deadline for them to fixate on. you have this state of confusion and limbo that a lot of these folks are finding themselves in, and now they're looking across and seeing the space they used to easily walk across onto. it was so simple for them. they'd step over stones and be there. some of them going back and forth to help others. now it looks to be completely shuttered and that seems to be as we pointed out, don, a mobilization from texas. >> david culver live along the u.s./mexico border. thank you. this morning republicans on capitol hill are divided after

the january 6th committee's historic referral of former president trump to the justice department for criminal prosecution. senate gop leader mitch mcconnell didn't mince word on that. he said the entire nation knows who's responsible for what happened that day. he said beyond that he doesn't have anything else to add. >> it was set up as political theater. it's still political theater. investigations ought to be doby law enforcement, not some political group in the house. >> we've done 500 town halls and this january 6th commission never came up. i don't think anybody's paying attention to it. i think it's time to move on. >> the people responsible for january 6th are the people that illegally came into the building, the people that stormed over barriers and broke through windows and doors and illegally trespassed on the united states capitol. i think it's a copout to blame somebody other than the actual perpetrators of a crime. >> joining us uis one of the te

house republicans who voted to impeach president trump. congressman fred upton retiring after 18 terms in congress. i want to get to your time in congress and what you're looking back on in a moment, but first what happened yesterday on capital hill, what you just heard from your fellow republicans there, do you believe that the committee has shown that it is trump who's responsible for what happened that day? >> well, first of all, i look forward to reading their full report when it comes out tomorrow, but i think they've done a pretty good job. you know, you can't just sweep this under the rug. i once shared the oversight subcommittee and our role was to investigate fraud and abuse and then go back and correct it. so that's in essence what they did. you'll remember that former president trump actually opposed a bipartisan commission, one that was equal with republicans and democrats, subpoena power, staff, all of that. they were supposed to get their work done a year ago by the end

of 2021. he opposed that, and this was the -- and despite it passing the house, the senate didn't get the 60 votes to get it done, and so we ended up with the current commission that's there now, which is a little bit slanted but they were unanimous yesterday, a little bit slanted in terms of democrats to republicans. but they were unanimous, and they have now submitted their recommendations to the justice department. so that's step number one, but step number two, later this week, is part of the om aomnibu appropriation bill. this is to make sure that not just one member of the house and senate together can object to a state's certified electoral count. it's got to be at least 20% of the body, 20 senators, you know, a good number of house members as well, and that will then -- would then trigger what the

insurrectionists tried to do on january 6th to block this from happening. the commission that is going to issue their report did their job. we'll see what the justice department does. they've got, what, a thousand different interviews, transcripts all that, they'll make that decision. >> do you think the findings when it comes to a political perspective, could complicate trump's run in 2024? >> well, for sure it could, although, you know, i'm not a lawyer, and of course if charges were made and particularly the insurrectionists charged and he was viewed as guilty, i would imagine he would ask that it be reviewed again, and that's going to take time and probably beyond the november 24th, he would appeal and take it beyond the 24 election. so i'm not sure what type of impact it would have on him, but you know, he has a strong

following among the base. i mean, even this week you see polls 30% of the republican voters want him to run again, and if you get other folks, other candidates in, whether it be desantis or, you know, pompeo and others, that 30% all of a sudden looks pretty good. >> i want to switch because you did see also the house ethics referrals for several members of congress who denied subpoenas. one of them is kevin mccarthy. you said kevin mccarthy should be house speaker. we are getting closer to january 3rd when the new congress begins. are you confident he's going to get there? >> well, i don't know what is inside -- i'm not going to be part of the next congress. i'm not a voter on that. he is still votes short. he's got two weeks, right, to make it. he needs 218 votes. in our secret ballot that we had of the new members, he got i

think 188 so he's well short of that, and of course we've got five republicans that are on record as saying no way are they going to support for kevin. somehow he has to whittle that number down to get to 218. i suspect that we're going to have multiple ballots, and it may take multiple days before a successor to nancy pelosi is named, but i'm not sure what his vote count is, but somehow he's got to get 218, and that means he's going to have to break loose as some of those five that are on record saying no way, kevin. >> and some of the demands he's facing is that they want to bring back that motion to vacate or there can be that vote to potentially oust a sitting speaker. do you think that's something he should agree to in order to get the votes here? >> no way. i'll tell you, so what this is, it would be a rule that any single member, republican or democrat could say enough. i'm going to have a vote, demand a vote to vacate the speakership, and then you'd have

debate. you could actually do that every day. you could tie the house up in knots for sure. if there's one thing that you didn't like that he did or a committee chair didn't do, it is nancy pelosi -- so the problem solver's caucus of which i'm a member, we actually helped change the rule in this current congress to change that vote to vacate the chair being one person, and it was a welcome change. it's obviously what did take down speaker ryan and speaker boehner, just that threat to vacate the chair, they in essence said enough already. no speaker should ever agree to this, to go back to the rule where it would just take one member to disrupt the proceedings of the house. >> i do want to ask you before you go, you're retiring and you have spent a lot of time on capitol hill, you have seen very different iterations of congress. i wonder as you're leaving and you see what it looks like on

capitol hill right now, what you want your legacy as a legislator to be remembered as? >> well, my legacy, you know, my grandfather passed away the year that i was elected, and i went through his belongings and on his desk he had a little brass plaque and it said just do the right thing. i took that little saying and i put it on my desk all my years. my legacy as chairman of the house energy and commerce committee, we actually passed 21st century cures, which mitch mcconnell then said was the most important piece of legislation enacted in that congress, and what it did was expedite the approval of drugs and devices by the fda, was coupled with $45 billion more in health research money and fast forward four years later, it was the last bill that obama signed into law, that was what allowed pfizer and moderna and j&j to actually produce, manufacture

the covid vaccine months before it got the fda approval and be able to send it out and distribute it across the country day one. six to eight months earlier than what it otherwise would have been, saving hundreds of thousands of lives. it was bipartisan, took a lot of effort. vice president biden was a key component of that, but at the end of the day, you look back at my years in congress, that's what i'm most proud of. >> well, thank you for sharing that with us congressman fred upton as you are retiring. is and thanks for joining us this morning to talk about this and your legacy. >> i wore my michigan wolverine just for my bama friends. >> oh, come on, don't do that to me. we were having a nice moment. [ laughter ] all right, i'm going to have to say roll tide now. thank you so much. >> let's get you out of this. going to bring in cnn political analyst john avenue l avalon, and david schoen, former president trump's defense lawyer in the second impeachment trial.

i want to get to john who's in the studio now. john, give us your takeaways from yesterday. >> you can't overestimate the significance of a bipartisan panel recommending the former president for criminal prosecution. now, obviously this is a recommendation, but look at the charges they're bringing forward, particularly to aid and incite an insurrection, as well as conspiracy to defraud the united states. these are charges that are deep with history. so the weight of history is on us, and i think trump's alleged crimes against the constitution, against our democracy rise to that level. >> david, i'm interested in what you have to say. you've been saying that -- you said you're disappointed in how this committee handled what's going on. why is it handled, you said this important endeavor. that's a quote from you. what would you have liked to have seen be done differently? >> i suppose -- i respectfully disagree with your earlier statement this was in any way a

bipartisan committee. what i'm disappointed by was the composition of the committee from the start. if you believe as i do that the events of january 6th were monumentally significant and the american people deserve a true investigation by an independent body. you might say mr. mccarthy messed up by not participating in it. he didn't want to legitimize it, and that's a fair criticism, but of all of the members of congress, choose chairman thompson as the head of the so-called investigative committee when he had a lawsuit personally against president trump alleging that president trump was personally responsible for the events and for his chairman thompson's personal injuries, to pick that person as the head of the investigative committee just sends a terrible message. the process is important, and you have -- >> but isn't that something that could be litigated -- excuse me -- isn't that something that should be litigate instead court? because there were people who were injured who suffered not only mental -- not only physical but mental injuries as well as

part of what happened on january 6th, and as you said, you correctly pointed out, mccarthy did have the opportunity to place sensible republicans, rational republicans, not disrupters on the committee and chose not to. isn't that mccarthy's own fault? isn't that republicans' own fault? >> i think he made a mistake with that. however, he felt he was legitimizing the process, i think, byin doing that. it was unprecedented, even speaker pelosi acknowledged. i think it was an illegitimate process. there are additional conflicts, i'm talking about the process. you have mr. raskin, mr. schiff on there who have written books about the event laying blame. they have a personal interest in ensuring that the committee comes out with the right result. all i'm saying is the american public deserved to have members of the committee who weren't marked by conflicts having a full and fair investigation of all aspects of this. that's why i'm disappointed. >> respectfully though, the

problem isn't process, right? the problem is january 6th and the actions that led up to it. and of course you've got republicans liz cheney and adam kinzinger on the committee, and what was striking yesterday i think in the videos that were shown and the testimony is that the vast majority was from republicans. trump loyalists who recognize what occurred and will caution the president against pursuing this path, but he did anyway. >> many rational people feel that the course of action wasn't appropriate. what i object to is the partisan political criminal -- weaponization of the criminal process. this isn't the way to go through criminal charges or a nonbipartisan -- a partisan committee. that's my problem with it. i think the american people are entitled to the full story and the true story but half of the public can't accept it because of those who are delivering the message. >> david, i think we have to point out here, of course your client steve bannon was found guilty on contempt of congress charges for defying a subpoena

from this committee. >> right. absolutely fair to point that out, and you should also point out that the judge who ruled against us on every legal issue has now issued an order saying that he finds it likely that the result will be reversed and lead to a new trial, not possible, likely. >> you think that steve bannon's contempt of congress charge is going to be reversed ultimately? >> i think it certainly should be. no one ever knows what a court of appeals is going to do, but i think for every american out there it should be. the definition of willfully in that case was absolutely wrong. the judge has acknowledged that on about six occasions that he thinks he was wrong in con construing the law but that his hands were tied. >> it was a federal jury that found him guilty we should note. >> just real quick, i want to follow up on something you said, you said that the people that you think that many people won't accept the result because of who the messenger is, but what if all -- why does a messenger matter so much than the actual evidence and the act? >> well, because evidence can be

sk skewed by the messenger. >> not when it comes to the department of justice. it's not -- the evidence matters over who the messenger is. come on, let's be real here. >> oh, i hope that's right, but remember, the department of justice also has been politicized in every administration quite frankly, and now you have as the number two person, lisa monaco. >> not like the former administration, that's not true. >> pardon? >> the department of justice has not been politicized the way it has with the former administration -- >> that's your view. i respect your view. >> that's not just my view. those are the facts. the evidence points -- all evidence points in that direction. >> again, that's your view. >> that's not my view. that's the facts. okay. david, thank you. i appreciate it. john avlon, thank you so much. straight ahead, january 6th committee member congressman adam schiff is going to join us live. what he expects should happen,

thaes next. a 6.4 magnitude earthquake that we told you about earlier has shaken humboldt county, california. veronica, i know we were talking earlier about thousands without power because of this. what are you learning so far? >> reporter: yeah, we understand that as of now about 70% of humboldt county remains without power. that's about 70,000 people in the dark. as officials assess the damage. aftershocks continue from this very large earthquake near the coastal community of ferndale, but officials are saying there is no tsunami threat at this time. there are reports, however, of damage to roadways, debris on roadways, cracks on a large bridge that connects the community, fern bridge and the chp right now shutting down that bridge out of an abundance of caution as they assess the damage. we're hearing reports of damage to homes in the area in terms of what's happening inside, shelves knocked down, glassware, china broken as people wake up and assess the damage.

again, 70% of those people in that county without power this morning, and the humboldt county sheriff's office asking people not to call 911 unless it's an immediate emergency. kaitlyn. >> that's good information there, veronica, thank you. title 42 is remaining in place for now, but it's very much still in limbo. officials are still bracing for a surge. we'll get reaction to the decision when judge richard cortez of hidalgo county, texas, joins us next with his perspective. ♪ a cyber-attack can grind everything to a halt. cisco security keeps your company moving forward. because if it's connected, it's protected. cisco. at booking.com, finding perfect isn't rocket science. kitchen? sorted.

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place by the trump administration allowed border officials to quickly expel migrants. it was set to expire. it raised a lot of concerns. so joining us now is judge richard cortez of hidalgo county, texas, it sits on the u.s./mexico border. he says ending title 42 he fears would be a nightmare. i want to thank you for joining us this morning, judge, and what's your response to what you saw from the supreme court? because the problem here in i assume your view is that it's just temporary and not a permanent fix? >> yes, well, quite honestly we're relieved that title 42 has been extended. we were preparing for the worst. we made all the preparations we possibly could to be able to accommodate a large inflow of people. you know, we were almost already to company in some of our locations that we hold some of these immigrants, so thank goodness it gives a little more time to adjust and to hopefully reflect on the successes and the

failures that this border policy has had. i think most of us are very pleased with the extension. >> so i want to ask you about the biden administration. you have been urging this administration, especially the president to come to the border to see what is happening. have you heard anything from the president and i'm sure you would like this to be permanent because this is an administrative -- a decision by the administration, this is decision by the chief justice. >> well, you know, thank you for asking me that question. i really appreciate, you know, the question that you asked me. here again, you know, every time we talk about border issues, we talk about what's wrong, what the problem is, but we very rarely talk about the solutions. the solution really is that the united states of america is trying to solve this border problem with an enforcement only policy and it hasn't worked. the blame really to me is incompetence. congress has the right to look into comprehensive immigration

reform and put laws that are proper in today's environment. all the economists that i've spoken to, articles that i've read, america needs immigrants to maintain and grow our economy, so if that is true and we all want immigrants to come here legally, then the only way we can make -- have that happen is for congress to change the laws. so that to me is my best contribution, you know, going forward because continuing to put this many resources and still having the problems that we had, we had over 73,000 illegal immigrants come to our area. they're coming in from multiple, multiple, multiple places. what are the facts? we know that most asylum seekers are coming in, many of them have not been adjudicated yet, and the ones that have been adjudicated only 10% qualify. what does that tell you? it tells you that our system isn't working. >> doesn't seem likely that congress will act anytime soon,

though. >> judge, thank you -- >> well -- >> go on, finish your thought. >> no, i'm hoping that the new congress when it forms next year hopefully will take a lacook at this thing because we can't just keep putting more resources into the problem because it hasn't worked. thank you for allowing me to say this. >> we appreciate you joining us once again. up next, we're going to be joined by a member of the january 6th committee, congressman adam schiff. welcome to my digestive system.

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as you well know, the january 6th committee referring former president trump to the justice department on four criminal charges, four, obstructing an official proceeding, conspiring to defraud the united states, conspiring to make false -- conspiracy i should say to make false statements, assisting or aiding an insurrection. this is the first time that congress has referred a former president for criminal prosecution. let's discuss all of this, joining me now democratic congressman adam schiff a californian and a member of the house select committee investigating january 6th. congressman, we appreciate you joining us today. thank you so much. why was it important for those criminal referrals? because republicans are framing this as legally not binding and saying that it's only ceremonial basically down playing the work of the committee. >> well, republicans have been down playing the work of the committee since it began, but

happily, the american people have been watching, and it was important in a number of respects. it was important because this was an attack on the congress as well as on our democracy. normally, the congress would refer potential crimes of failing to appear before congress after being subpoenaed or lying to congress. here this was an attack on the congress, and we had a duty, i think, to set out the evidence that we had gathered about the threat to our democracy, how we are not out of the woods yet and what we need to do to protect ourselves going forward, but also, it was important, i think, as a matter of accountability for the justice department. the american people now understand that in the view of our committee, the former president committed serious crimes, that the justice department needs to investigate, and that i think will hopefully hold the justice department to the standard it set out at the beginning of the investigation that it would follow the evidence wherever it leads. it would have only one standard

of the rule of law. they would apply it equally whether you were a former president or an ordinary citizen. so it's an important element of accountability. >> can i ask you, congressman, why did the committee not recommend a seditious conspiracy charge? >> we indicated that the justice department with the evidence it has, which may be additional to what we have gathered should consider seditious conspiracy, but we went through other offenses that we felt the evidence in our possession made all of the links in terms of causation, in terms of the elements of each part of the offense, so we put the strongest evidence and the strongest criminal offenses forward first, but we recognized there are other offenses the justice department kneads to consider inc including that one. this is not meant to be an exhaustive list by any means. we also point out that there are other individuals that may have come to the justice department's attention and ours, where we

didn't want to itemize necessarily what the evidence was as to individuals. >> so you're saying it wasn't meant to be an exhaustive list, so this is -- i'm wondering then if you think that these are your four, you know, most -- the best evidence to support these four charges. let me just read them off again, obstructing an official proceeding, defrauding the united states, assisting or aiding an insurrection. do you think that is the best, and that's why those were put out there? and of those four, do you think that any are better than the other? >> yes, we identified these four because we -- in looking at the evidence in our possession, thought that there was sufficient evidence as to each element of each of those crimes, and they were serious enough that we wanted to refer the matter to the justice department, but we want to be sure the people understand that there are other offenses too. this is not meant to be exhaustive. in terms of, you know, which are

the strongest of those referrals, you know, there are -- and i say this as a former prosecutor -- there are times when the most serious offense is not necessarily the easiest offense to prove, and so we wanted to list all four of these. it may be the justice department derm determines that the evidence is strongest as to this statute or that statute. the think the most serious is the crime of insurrection itself. there the evidence is abundant. the president assembled this mob, and after all else failed, he's told that people in the crowd won't go through metal detectors because they're armed, he nonetheless, sends this armed and dangerous mob to the capitol. and while they're attacking police officers, interfering in the joint session, he watches from the comfort of the white house dining room and refuses to lift a finger to stop it and

tells the country how much he loves these people and even now is talking about pardons. >> one person your committee didn't speak to is vice president pence, he was weighing in on what he thinks the justice department should do. this is what he said. >> i would hope that they would not bring charges against the former president. i don't -- look, as i wrote in my book, i think the president's actions and words on january 6th were reckless, but i don't know that it's criminal to take bad advice from lawyers. i hope the justice department understands the magnitude of the very idea of indicting a former president of the united states. i think that would be terribly divisive in the country. >> obviously it was not just bad advice from lawyers. but i wonder if pence had come before you, what would you have asked him? >> well, first of all, i think you have to view everything mike pence says through the prism of what he thinks best positions him to run for president, and that's, i think, a really

disappointing copout that you just played. it wasn't, as you say, just a matter of getting bad advice from lawyers. he was getting good advice from his own top justice department people that there was no basis for these fraud claims and what was his answer, just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressmen. he told his own justice department to lie about it and he would take it from there. in terms of what we would have liked to have heard from the vice president, he was on the phone in meetings with the president talking about the joint session. the vice president understood he had no constitutional authority to simply disregard legitimate electors and instead declare somehow donald trump the winner. those conversations were really important for the american people to know and i think that, again, the vice president did a grave disservice with his refusal to testify because he certainly could have decided to testify. it's another matter about whether we could have forced

him, but there was nothing prohibiting him as other presidents indeed have come before congress after their terms were over. >> we'll see if he speaks to the justice department. congressman adam schiff, thank you for joining us this morning to break down the findings of your committee from yesterday. >> thank you, congressman. happy holidays to you. >> thank you. >> get some needed rest. >> you too. an incoming republican congressman is under scrutiny this morning after a report in the "new york times" that he misrepresented his background to voters. don's going to talk about to his democratic opponent that he beat next.

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got to pay attention to this next story. george santos's win in new york was key in republicans taking back control of the house, but now "the new york times" has uncovered parts of his resume, like his education, his employment history and charity work that didn't really add up. they don't really add up. a cnn review of the claims confirms it. george santos claimed he received degrees from baruch college and new york university, but both schools say they were unable to find records of anyone with his name ever attending. also according to his website, he worked at citi group and goldman sachs. both firms tell cnn that they have no record of his employment. and he claims to have founded a nonprofit animal rescue operation, but the group does not exist in the irs's searchable database or among registered charities in new york or florida. an attorney for santos is calling this a smear. so joining us now, robert

zimmermann who was defeated by santos in the midterms. we're so glad that you are here. thank you. there's a lot -- >> good to be with you, don. >> thank you so much. a lot of questions about santos, okay? but there is a question that everyone has for your campaign, did your team not know about this, his bio didn't check out? why weren't you raising concerns to the high heavens about this? >> of course we knew about it, don, and most people aren't even asking the question because we spoke to many reporters on these issues and raised these concerns to the high heavens, and that's well-established. in fact the dccc put out an 87 page document about him and local media to their credit did cover it. the leader which is a north shore weekly publication, they quoted republicans calling him george scamtos, and news day addressed these issues as well locally. >> let's put that up. you say the north shore leader, the democrat party put out his

operation research saying he was the e ppitome of a shady wall street bro. did voters not care? did the media not follow up? what is it? >> look, the reality is of course voters cared but getting it in front of the voters was the real challenge. we needed the media to follow up more extensively. i thought the times work was excellent, brilliant investigative journalism. we needed much more attention around these issues. we had a ten-week general election campaign. we raised all the issues and more that you're referring to. the real issue right now -- i know local politicians love to finger point. the only finger pointing should be at george santos. this man is a fraudster. the allegations of fraud and corruption are well-documented in the times story and there has to be a house investigation into him and a department of justice investigation. he in his own records acknowledges along his own -- documents he loaned his own

campaign $700,000. he didn't have a job. where did the money come from? and that's the real issue now to follow up. where did this money come from, how did he bankroll his campaign and other issues about what his claims of his personal wealth are. >> it's also up to the republican party to step in and say listen, we have some concerns about this, we need to check it out. i don't know at this point if the republican party will do that. >> what's interesting, joe cairo who's the nassau county republican chairman issued a statement calling upon george santos to answer questions. i have, of course, the fact that he's refused to answer any questions documents in my view how much he's trying to cover up and the fraud he's committed. >> so what would you like to see done? because he has responded to this. he's only saying that it is -- you know, no doubt that the "new york times," of course he has enemies at "the new york times," but not responding specifically to the allegations. >> of course he didn't because he can't answer the issues, the allegations of fraud he committed, lying about his background, lying about the

homes he claims he owns, lying about his employment practices. the daily beast has documented his former company that he worked for was shut down in a ponzi scheme. they've also documented that he received funding for his campaign from russian oligarchs. >> that does not name him in that scheme. the former company was shut down. >> there's a lot that's been carried by local media, but the media now has to hopefully keep the focus on the fact that the financial corruption that surrounds him and the fraud he's chi committed on my congressional district where i grew up and live, that is the travesty here. i hope congress will not drop the ball. >> do you think there's a point it will get to a special election, that would be the final outcome if he did indeed do -- commit these things and these lies, there could be a special election here that the governor would have to call. >> before you get to a special election, first he either has to resign because of the pressure of the investigations and the exposures of the corruption and fraud that clearly defined him

as george scamtos in the media or congress removes him. there won't be a special election until either step is taken. >> thank you. >> good to be with you. >> what a turn of events. >> it sure is. this morning's number is 30, harry enten explains. that's next. >> is it my age? >> but at the end of the day, you know you h have a team behid you that can help you. not having to worry about the future makes it possiblble to make the present as best as it can be for everybody. a must in your medicine cabinet! less sick days! cold coming on? zicam is the number one cold shortening brand! highly recommend it! zifans love zicam' unique zinc formula. it shortens colds!

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♪ all right. right now parents are feeling pressure to get their kids the hottest new toys, not just parents, cool aunts like me, too. a lot of these toys are often hard to come by. cnn's senior data reporter harry enten has been noticing a trend with the most popular toys. what is it? >> all right. let's take a look, this morning's number is -- it's $30. that's the average price of the best selling holiday toy from 2014 to 2021, inflation adjusted, the lowest $6 and the highest $72. what is the interesting trend you talk about, kaitlan? take a look at the average price for the best selling holiday toy inflation adjusted, $30. look how much cheaper that is from from past years. my goodness gracious, it's far cheaper than the cheapest on this list which was $85, so the best selling holiday toy has been getting cheaper. >> and are people spending less on these toys? what's the difference in this? >> what's going on here?

okay. first off, why are these toy prices becoming cheaper? one, use of overseas labor has led to the average price of toys to drop 77% since the mid '90s, also of note the most popular toys the last few years have been actual toys, not computers or video games since 2014. >> wait, what? my nieces said you have to go, you have to find this xbox, you have to get -- what was it last year, xbox -- >> it was actually an octopus pushy toy. >> you are not factoring in everybody. >> i am looking at the hard numbers, not using anecdotal evidence. if you are wondering whether or not the most expensive holiday toy -- the most popular will be cheaper in past years? will you spend less on holiday gifts this year because of recent economic conditions? adults with a child under 18 say yes. 76% say yes they will. wouldn't be shocked if it's cheaper >> what have been the best selling toys ever? this i'm going to love i know.

>> what was the price of the best selling holiday toy since 1982? the most expensive was the ipad at 2010, $678, least expensive the tro dolls in 1988. >> the best and least expensive, the boxes the toys come from. >> my nephews are part of that. >> cats, too. >> thank you so much. "cnn newsroom" starts right after this break. >> he didn't get the xbox and that other stuff in there. >> he got trolls. eds ofof data points like hrv and rem sleep, so you know w all you need for recovery. and you are? i'm an investor.....in invesco qqq, a fund that gives me access to... nasdaq 100 innovations like... wearable training optimization tech. uh, how long are you... i'm done. i'm okay. pain hits fast. so get relief fast. only tylenol rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medice fast for fast pain relief.

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good tuesday morning, i'm erica hill. >> and i'm jim sciutto. the january 6th committee officially handing its case against former president trump on in effect to the justice department. the big question now of course is what does the justice department do with this evidence as well as the evidence it's collected itself. for the first time in american