reporting, he said we wanted to effect change, to hold these politicians and bureaucrats responsible. we call it keeping them honest. you can read more on how drew's journalism saved the lives of u.s. veterans. my column on that is up right now on cnn.com. i'm brianna keilar in "the situation room." thank you so much for watching. "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. "outfront" next, breaking news, the ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy planning to meet with president biden at the white house tomorrow. his first trip outside of ukraine since the war began. this as biden plans to give zelenskyy the world's most advanced missile defense system. will putin retaliate as threatened? plus, more breaking news. a house committee about to vote

any minute on whether to release president trump's tax returns to the american public. a member of that committee is out front as we await that vote this hour. and elon musk's whiplash after twitter users voted him out as ceo. he's now changing the rules of the vote. let's go "outfront." good evening. i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, the breaking news. zelenskyy bound for washington. the ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy is planning to arrive in the united states tomorrow. this is his first trip outside ukraine since the russian invasion. and i want to be clear. this sudden and unexpected trip does have major implications because sources say zelenskyy is expected to address congress, but also to meet with president biden at the white house. and the reason for that is that the biden administration intends to send ukraine, the highly coveted patriot missile system that zelenskyy has been pounding the table about for months, for years. in fact, it is the world's most advanced defense system.

and ukraine has been asking for it nonstop. that act providing the patriot defense system in and of itself is viewed as putin as a highly provocative move. and you add into that a washington, d.c. visit. the former russian president dmitry medvedev said the western alliance would legitimately become a target of russian armed forces. putin is growing agitated with his own war. putin today calling on his military and intelligence agencies to find anyone who crosses him. >> translator: both the counterintelligence agencies and military counterintelligence need to show utmost readiness and concentration now. we must clamp down hard on the actions of foreign secret services and promptly identify traitors, spies, and saboteurs.

>> the problem is, it's not traitors, spies and saboteurs who are keeping putin from winning the war. it's his own military. just listen to this phone call that we've obtained from the front lines. this is between a russian soldier and his mother. this particular call that i'm about to play for you was intercepted by the ukrainian military. >> translator: i haven't slept in four days. for me, it's been four. actually, none of these guys have slept in four days. why on earth not? because it's too wet. everything's soaked in water. everything is wet. >> everything's soaked in water and everything is wet, you were saying? >> yes. >> you aren't sick? >> so far no. >> you don't have a runny nose yet? >> no. and that's thanks to the vodka. >> what's that? >> well, we are drinking voluntvodka now so we're fine. >> and where the bleep[ bleep ]

you getting that from? have you lost your [ bleep ] minds? >> there's just no other way to get by here. >> that is an incredible phone call. and you heard what he said, no other way to get by than just drinking yourself into oblivion. we have all the angles covered tonight from washington to ukraine. i want to begin at the white house with phil mattingly. what more are you learning about zelenskyy's visit? and the crucial question as to why now? >> i think the significance of this moment, according to sources i've spoken to, is most important to note, not just symbolic. and the symbolism obviously is very real, very palpable. first trip out of ukraine since the invasion back in february. that trip to the united states who's been the number one supporter on ukraine and defense and economic assistance over the course of the last nine months. but it's the substance behind that visit. one source wanted to make that abundantly clear that this visit is a visit that coincides with something that president zelenskyy has repeatedly requested including in his most

recent telephone call with president biden on december 11th, making clear particularly given the way russia has ramped up its attacks on ukrainian civilian infrastructure. this was an absolute necessity at this moment. the u.s. administration has really done a reversal on its willingness to consider those patriot missile systems. this will a message to deliver to president zelenskyy in person. there are expected to be significant substantive meeting behind the scenes with president biden and president zelenskyy and top u.s. national security officials about what happens next. that meeting on capitol hill also critical. l lawmakers are considering more than $35 billion in ukrainian assistance at this moment. view be voting in the hours before zelenskyy arrives for that potential joint session address. >> phil mattingly, thank you very much from the white house tonight. and in ukraine tonight, the fighting continues. ukraine hoping for more victories like the one that they had at snake island. you may remember that of course.

and our will ripley got an exclusive first look at the island, the first time since ukraine recaptured it. here is what he saw when he arrived. >> reporter: as the saying goes, whoever controls snake island controls the black sea. the safest way to get there, the ukrainian military's inflatable speed boat with seating for six. it's small enough to stay out of sight. >> we are really getting tossed around out here, but we need to take a small boat because we need to stay out of the sights of russian reconnaissance aircraft. >> reporter: safer than a helicopter but no protection from the black sea's big waves, bitter cold, and whipping winds. not to mention the mines. snake island's craggy cliffs are a welcome sight. we enter snake island by climbing up a pile of

half-sunken slippery sea banks. we're the first journalists allowed here since ukraine recaptured snake island five months ago. russia blanketed the island with booby traps before bailing out. the soldiers told us we need to follow in their footsteps exactly and we need to be very careful where we step. this whole island is littered with land mines, unexploded, basically a powder keg. on february 24th, the first day of russia's full-scale invasion, russia's black sea flagship aimed its arsenal at snake island, demanding dozens of ukrainian defenders surrender or die. [ radio chatter ] five words scene at the time as a final act of defiance. everyone on snake island presumed dead. ukraine later learned snake island's defenders were alive.

prisoners of war. some released in a pow swap earlier this year. others remain in russian captivity. is it intimidating to look out and see a giant russian warship and know you guys are small? >> translator: it was chaos. russia captured the island quickly, taking the island back took a long time. on snake island, we find a graveyard of russian weapons. the result of relentless ukrainian attacks for several months earlier this year. in april, ukraine says its missiles sank the moskva. a humiliated kremlin says their flagship caught fire. this is what's left of that russian helicopter, pulverized along with its crew of about eight people. >> reporter: a twisted relic of

russia's ill-fated plan to transform this remote black sea outpost into a permanent aircraft carrier. we need to be on guard 24/7, he says. we notice his russian accent. turns out he was born in russia. he moved to ukraine and got married before the war. how do you feel about russia now? >> translator: for us, they are enemies no matter what. most of the russian volunteer corps lived in ukraine before the invasion. we were living life, had families, good jobs. and here comes russia attacking us. if some other country attacked us, we would fight, too. >> reporter: life on snake island means almost total isolation. soldiers tell me the simple act of switching on a cell phone brings russian rockets within 40 minutes. they say russia attacked the island just last month. we are now out of time. we've been on the island just about an hour. and it's important that we get off before the waves get too big and before the russians know we're here. ukraine is not the first nation

to control snake island. but vows it will be the last. while we were on the island, erin, we were given strict instructions not to switch on our cell phones. they said if we did that, undoubtedly there would have been a russian attack. this is what soldiers are living with every day. and we also couldn't take a helicopter there because the russians would try to shoot it down. my crew took that small boat. i can tell you we have never been more cold and wet in our entire lives. but that is nothing compared to what those soldiers are enduring just to defend that crucial piece of rock in the black sea that allows ukraine to ship cargo in and out from this port city of odesa. if they didn't have control of snake island, essentially russia would be able to blockade this country. >> it's incredible. you look at just that one little spit of land. an absolutely incredible report.

will, thank you very much. i want to go now to top putin nemesis and critic, he was once the largest foreign investor in all of russia. i want to ask you about that incredible report. but first i want to start with the breaking news. we learned zelenskyy is going to visit with biden at the white house tomorrow. a first trip outside ukraine since putin invaded. how big of a deal is it, do you think? >> it's a very big deal. if you look at what's happened with this war, you've got a situation where putin had a three-day war which he thought was going to end in victory. and the ukrainians have fought him off in a humiliating way. and part of that is due to the unbelievable bravery of the ukrainians. and part of that is due to american support, and the support american is crucial if america didn't provide weapons to ukraine, we wouldn't be where we are right now in this war. and so this is a crucial moment. the ukrainians need more weapons, they need weapons to defend the aerial attacks.

and they need weapons to push the russians back. and president biden and the u.s. can determine the outcome of this war by the weapons they provide. >> providing the patriot missile defense system specifically is a huge deal, right? it's because ukraine's been asking for it for years. obviously even prior to this war. dmitry medvedev, of course putin's deputy, thas said that f this happens, that nato will immediately become a legitimate target. they're doing it by zelenskyy flying to the united states and announcing it. it couldn't be more in your face than this is about to be. so, what do you think putin's going to do? >> what can he do? medvedev and putin and all these guys can make all sorts of noise and aggressive statements. but, i mean, they could launch an attack on nato any time they want. the reason that they don't is because they would get destroyed in three days. nato -- if russia can't stand up

to ukraine, they certainly can't stand up to nato. and, so, there's not really much they can do. and they're getting pushed f further into a corner. and i don't think that we should pay any attention to the bluster and nasty words of putin or medvedev because the only thing these guys understand is hard power, and hard power comes with weapons. that's what we should provide to the ukrainians. >> it's interesting, though, will's report from snake island, that anecdote that he told about the cell phones. if you turn your cell phone on, they're going to pick up that signal and within 40 minutes rockets are going to come in. so this is the state that they're in watching this that closely, ready to do that for that one little spit of rock, as strategically important as it is. in that context, given that putin still seems to believe that there is no way to walk out of ukraine if he doesn't win. do you not take threats of nuclear escalation, especially in light of patriots and a trip to washington seriously at this

point? >> well, putin can do anything he wants to do. but we can't be nuclear blackmailed by putin. first of all, i would say very confidently that putin is not going to start a nuclear war with the west. he's not going to enter into a nuclear war with us. then the question is does he want to have a nuclear attack on ukrainian territory? and he could very well do that. it's within his capacity. he has no conscience. he has no morals. he doesn't care how many people would die. but that doesn't serve his military objectives. because after he does it, what does he achieve? does he end up losing all of his allies like china? yes. i wouldn't be spending my time worrying about putin's nuclear threats. because if he can do, he can carry on doing whatever he wants. it's just simple blackmail. >> that soldier that will just spoke to, fort una, russian

accent, had been born in russia, obviously married someone who's ukrainian, is fighting for ukraine right now. otherwise he might be dead right now because he would have been fighting for the russians. these ads are sick in a sense. they're basically taking people who are fighting with poverty and just desperately trying to get some money and saying, oh, just sacrifice your son or your father to go fight for the war and we're give you some money. i just wanted to play a clip of one of those ads for you, bill. >> translator: soon, i'll have enough money to buy a new phone. >> can i talk to you for a second? >> you see, i'm really sorry, of course. they haven't paid our wages at work again. you are my last hope. >> here, take it. you're not going to save any

money like that. >> and then the friend goes on to say, there are the two girls sitting there, hey, my father volunteered for the russian war effort. now he's earning money and helping the family. does this have any impact on russians? because we are seeing several of these type of propaganda ads now. >> i don't think that these have any impact at all the situation is very bad for putin. he had a sort of invading force of 200,000. a hundred thousand of those guys are dead. and so he now is desperate for warm bodies to go back out there and throw into the mix. and he had started a conscription drive where he has gone basically plucking people off the streets of russian cities to send out to the war effort. and they are trying to get people from anywhere they can, from the prisons, from spending money, from mercenaries, from

syria, from anywhere to throw into this thing because they're literally running out of men to fight in their war. i don't think that anybody in russia that wants to go to war, they understand that they're all going to die out there. there's a huge understanding -- everybody knows somebody who's been killed or is on the front lines and under terrible circumstances. and, so, i can't imagine that these have any impact at all, but they'll try whatever they have to try. >> thank you, bill. i appreciate your time tonight ahead of the zelenskyy visit tomorrow. >> thank you. and, next, the breaking news. the biden administration telling the supreme court tonight that it does want title 42 to end, but not now. we're live at the border with what it means for the thousands and thousands of migrants who are still gathering there hoping that that rule would've been lifted this week. plus, are donald trump's tax returns about to become public so we can all see them? the house committee and is about to meet on this very issue this hour. we will take you there live. tonight, top republicans

silent about the newly elected congressman who allegedly lied about his job history, even a charity he worked for. will he lose his job before hehs sworn in?

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in place. the white house said they need more time. and they asked the justices at the supreme court to keep the measure in place for at least another week as authorities brace for a surge of thousands of migrants. we are covering this from both sides of the border. david, i want to start with you. 24 hours ago you were the one telling migrants waiting that this rule may stay in place, they may not be able to come over. you've had a chance to see what's happened today, to the lines ahead of this. what have you seen and heard? >> reporter: a fascinating 24 hours, erin. this mexican side was the staging ground, and at one point even a campground over the past month for a lot of the migrants waiting to go from mexico to the u.s. they cleared out the campground, mexican officials. and u.s. officials were hoping that the barricade that they

rolled out overnight -- and you can see what is about a mile long stretch of humvees that have come here and they've put up barbed wire -- they thought perhaps that would deter people from what was a very easy crossing. let me show you what it did. it just created a bottleneck right here. and they're still crossing. suk they guy even going back and forth bringing food and belongings. and there is so much confusion and uncertainty. and it's getting into critical hours right now because we're talking about freezing cold temperatures, and folks have been at times lighting fires, trying to put blankets on and trying to keep warm. yet they still don't know if there's going to be an opportunity for them to be processed and be considered for asylum, erin. >> i mean, it is incredible. and it's also incredible to think that the biden administration is asking for one more week. as the fate of title 42 hangs in the balance, cnn is speaking to people with the most at stake, and those are the migrants

themselves. tonight, rosa flores is also "outfront." >> reporter: brian and his mother left their native venezuela full of dreams three months ago. he made it to south texas after being processed by immigration authorities. she did not. what happened to your mother? he says they were traveling through the darian gap, a mountainous jungle between colombia and panama. he says that he was helping his mother cross, and that she grabbed a branch and then she fell down a cliff and into the river. he says that he'll never forget the look in his mother's eyes. he is one of more than 300 migrants who are processed by border patrol and dropped off in brownsville every day, says migrant advocates. >> our worry is are we going to be able to order the supplies

that we need. >> reporter: late monday the trump-era policy, which allows immigration agents to swiftly return migrants to mexico, was paused by the supreme court just days before it was scheduled to lift. the decision, easing concerns about the sudden surge of migrants at the border that's expected when the rule ends. >> honestly, we're relieved that title 42 has been extended. we were preparing for the worst. we were almost all ready to capacity in some of our locations. >> reporter: i'm in brownsville, texas. and just across the river in matamoros, mexico, there are thousands of migrants, mostly venezuelans and haitians who are living in camps and on the streets. i've been talking to them. [ speaking non-english ] what do you think about title 42 staying in place? they say they're happy title 42 is still in effect. but they're also preparing for the worst, buying inflatable rafts like in this photo shared with cnn to cross the rio grande if they're not allowed to enter

legally. in nearby macallan, texas, border patrol is dropping off several hundred migrants per day. this person is monitoring the anxiety that is grow across the river in mexico where there's an estimated 8,000 migrants in packed shelters and open-air camps, according to advocates. >> it's not safe to be in mexico because of the fact that they're exposed to all the elements and exposed to all the dangers. >> reporter: the dangers that still haunt brian after his mother's death. what did you see in her eyes? fear, sadness. brian says seeing his mother's photos is painful, especially this one. his mom is not in the photo. she took the picture days before she perished. i've been text-messaging with brian, and he tells me that he's still on his way to new york. and the other thing that he says that he just can't forget is the

smell of death in the darian gap. and that just speaks to the risks that migrants are willing to take to come here to the united states for a better life. i just can't tell you how many migrants i've spoken to who say that they sold everything in their home countries to come here to the united states because they think that the u.s. southern border is open. and all of this back and forth with title 42 is not helping in the messaging. >> no, not at all. and of course the biden administration said even if it's lifted, the border is still closed. but that's not the message that's gotten through. incredible reporting, rosa, thank you. and there is a development here on capitol hill now. that break story that i mentioned about trump's taxes. the democratic-controlled house ways and means committee is meeting right now. they have gathered bringing cameras in the room to vote to decide whether or not to release six years of trump's tax returns. so those tax returns span the near 2015 as trump announced

that he was going to run for the white house to 2020, which of course was the last full year of his presidency. democrats won a three-year court battle with trump to get those returns. they successfully argued in front of the judge that they are essential to determine if trump's financial dealings impacted his actions as president. so that's why they got the time frame they got. let's go to cnn's chief congressional correspondent manu raju as we watch the cameras get set here for this vote. the committee has been meeting for for hours. what is the latest that you understand here about the timing and what they're about to do? >> reporter: this is a decisive moment after years of court bat battle over donald trump's tax returns which democrats were successful in those legal battles getting several years of those tax returns, individual tax returns and business tax returns. we now will get a sense on what democrats plan to do with them. we're still uncertain exactly how they plan to handle this. they have been behind closed

doors since 3:00 p.m. eastern time where they went into closed session to debate these issues. democrats have been favoring releasing them, but it's still uncertain exactly where they ended up. we will see in a matter of moments a vote. it is still uncertain what they are voting on. we hoped to learn more about that when the chairman of the committee gavels this in hopefully explaining what they plan to vote on. it could be a summary of the tax returns that have been provided to capitol hill. it's also possible we could also see the raw material, it sounds like he is speaking right now. >> the clerk will call the roll. >> mr. doggett? >> aye. >> mr. doggett votes aye. mr. thompson? >> aye. >> mr. thompson votes aye. mr. larson? mr. larson votes yes. mr. blumauer votes aye. mr. kind?

mr. past role votes yes. ms. sanchez votes aye. mr. higgins? mr. higgins votes aye. ms. sewell votes aye. ms. chu votes aye. ms. moore votes aye. mr. kildea votes aye. mr. boyle? votes aye. mr. buyer votes aye. mr. evans? >> aye. >> mr. evans votes aye. mr. snyder votes aye. mr. schwaze votes aye. mr. panetta votes aye. ms. murphy? ms. murphy votes aye. mr. gomez? >> gomez, aye. >> mr. gomez votes aye. mr. horsford votes aye. plaskett votes aye. mr. brady votes no.

mr. buchanan votes no. mr. smith of nebraska? >> no. >> mr. smith of nebraska votes no. mr. kelly? >> no. >> mr. kelly votes no. mr. smith of missouri? >> n-o, no. >> mr. rice? mr. schweichert votes no. mr. la hood votes no. dr. wenstrup votes no. mr. errington votes no. dr. ferguson votes no. mr. estes votes no. mr. smucker votes no. mr. hearn votes no. mrs. miller? >> no. >> mrs. miller votes no. dr. murphy votes no. mr. costoff votes no. mr. kind? mr. rice? mr. chairman? >> aye. >> mr. chairman votes aye.

>> the clerk will report the tally. >> mr. chairman, on this vote, i have 24 yeas, 16 nos. >> there being 24 ayes and 16 nos, the motion to submit, the committee report to the house has agreed to, and the documents are ordered reported to the house. pursuant to clause 2 l, members will have additional two days to file. without objection, the staff is authorized to make technical corrections to the report and to redact sensitive personal identifiable information such as social security numbers, street addresses, personal identification numbers, and banking information. the purpose of the ways and means committee business having been accomplished -- >> mr. chairman, on that last note, if i may. so two questions parliamentary.

one, can you explain what this committee did related to the concerns that the private tax returns right now include personal identifiable information that would be troubling in a dangerous precedent. and our concern is that the committee is not voting on the full documents that will be released to the public. we think that's a significant mistake. >> i think that we can assure all that every deliberative effort will be made to make sure that in these instances, all of the questions that you raise will be accommodated as we outlined earlier, and the staff on both sides i hope can find the agreement or the majority will prevail. but we did address those issues earlier. >> in our strong view, this committee should always be voting in knowing exactly what we are releasing certainly in text and to the public. and the second point, can you please advise us now on what now

that these documents will be made public what members of congress may say when this meeting concludes. >> well, i would advise that the speech and debate clause be acknowledged. we did participate in an executive session. and i believe that we have been advised, as i have now for years and those who are watching from the media will reinforce. i want to say this after a long process that this was not about being punitive, it was not about being malicious. and there were no leaks from the committee. we adhered carefully to the law, and my advice to all members of the committee is to acknowledge the realities of the speech and debate clause and be very careful about word selection. with that, there being no further business, the committee stands adjourned. >> okay, that was the ways and means committee, and that was a party line vote.

you saw representative brady there with some parliamentary points to chairman neal. and that is to release trump's tax returns from 2015 to 2020, or perhaps some summary. not totally clear to me. so, manu raju, can you explain, what do you understand that they have just voted to release? obviously they are going to be clarifying no tax i.d., social security number is going to be removed. that was a specific point. but, i mean, what is getting released to the public? >> reporter: this is a major development after years of not seeing donald trump's tax returns, there is a clear sign, a movement by congress to potentially release donald trump's tax returns or a summary of those returns to the public. what just happened was a vote along straight party lines. republicans all voting against a motion to submit this report for the record. democrats all voting in favor of it. democrats still in the majority for another couple of weeks going down along party lines 24-16 was the vote.

they submitted the report to the house on trump's tax information. now, what exactly does that mean? it is still unclear at this moment. it could be, as you said, a summary of those years of tax returns, those six years, personal tax returns, some business tax returns, what the committee has found. perhaps they'll provide significant detail about all that. perhaps there will be more of a top-line information. or perhaps it could include some the actual returns themselves. will that be part of the record? those are still questions we will have to sort out when we do talk to these members as they leave this meeting. but they have been behind closed doors for hours trying to decide how to move forward. republicans furiously battling any efforts to release these tax returns. democrats insisting that they must be held public. they had pushed releases, suggesting there needed to be changes to the legislative process for how the presidential tax returns are dealt with. so that part of the proposal still remains to be seen. but this vote, essentially, allows them to move forward in

publicly releasing donald trump's tax returns. some of that financial private information sounds like will be redacted by the committee. but we shall learn a significant amount more about donald trump's personal financial situation, his business financial situation, other companies that ehas been involved with, assuming this becomes public. and it still remains unclear when this will become public. it could take days. but democrats are in their final days to release donald trump's tax returns which he's kept from the public for many years. >> i know from talking to members of the committee, congressman lloyd doggett has been very clear that they've been pushed into this essentially. in a perfect world they would have gotten them and gone through them and been able to evaluate whether his business and financial dealings had any impact on his actions as president. but they don't have time to go through it all. they were put in this position of putting it out publicly. can i just ask, though, it seems

to me unusual. and i know we've never been in, in a situation exactly like this with presidential tax returns. but i mean just in terms of a committee vote. that it is unclear still at this moment what they voted for, whether it's a summary yet to be written or how to be put together, we don't know. or whether it is all the tax returns, it could be thousands of pages of backup information that goes with that. >> yeah, because the section of the tax law that governs the release of this information, which richard neal, the chairman of the committee used, to obtain the tax returns, is very -- has strict rules on secrecy, which is why they have been very cagey about explaining whether or not they have the returns. they actually refuse to some confirm that they actually have the returns, even though we reported that they did have the returns in the aftermath of the court victory that the democrats won and they turned over those returns to the treasury department, who then sent those returns to capitol hill. all of that has been a very secretive process. and that's why this has been behind closed doors for all day, all afternoon. and why we don't really know

much about exactly what they plan to release in public. but taking an affirmative step to release in public. so we should hopefully learn here in a matter of hours if not sooner what exactly they plan to release. >> manu, thank you very much. hopefully we'll get some more information in a moment because i mentioned congressman lloyd doggett, who is going to be with me in a moment. he just voted, making his way to the camera now. in the meantime, ryan goodman is with me now, of course, co-editor in chief of just security, former special counsel with the defense department. and former supervisory special agent for irs criminal investigation, marty shield. thanks so much for both of you. marty, in your capacity as special agent, how significant is it that we are about to see all of or some sort of executive summary -- and i'm hopefully going to get more information on that in just a moment -- that we're going to see this for 2015 through 2020 from the former president. >> i think, erin, first of all,

thanks for having me on. but i think it's a stunning development. and i am so pleased that congress is being so careful in maintaining the confidentiality of mr. trump's social security number. irs takes -- the number one priority is to maintain the confidentiality of tax returns. and they've done a fantastic job over the years of doing that. and i think everybody can take pride in that. but let's face it, mr. trump has been quite a financial wizard, or at least so he claims. let's see if those tax returns reflect his business wizardry. i suspect you're going to see massive losses on his corporate returns, which will then -- some of which will be carried over to his personal returns. and so then the question is how can someone who's reporting massive multimillion dollar business losses year after year

maintain a luxurious lifestyle like mr. trump and pay no taxes? i think we're going to see he's paying next to among. but, you know, i don't want to point a finger at him until we see just how he handled his tax returns or how his accountant handled those tax returns. and when looking at the tax returns, we always want a frame of reference. what we would really like to see the books and records that support the tax return. but we'd also like to see financial statements submitted to the banks for loan applications, and are assets and liabilities on those statements commensurate with what is on his tax returns? >> so, ryan -- >> that's what i would think. >> ryan, do you think when we look at these knowing -- and let's just be clear, trump has great accountants, and things are done -- it's not going to be just, like, oh, my gosh, look at this investment in blank.

it's not going to be that simple, most likely. what do you think we're going to be able to figure out in terms of conflicts of interest? marty's raising the important point, there's been a lot of losses. so if you're looking at tons and tons of losses, lifestyle that continues, you're president of the united states. what does that open the door to? >> it's the very question about why the american public generally wants to know about the financial situations to see if there might be conflicts of interest that could have influenced the way in which they govern. and i think one of the things that will be key here there is a federal crime for denial of honest services if a public official took official acts in exchange for personal benefits. the personal benefits might be does he get better lending or loan agreements with these foreign lenders over time while he might be taking actions that could influence the relationship with those foreign lenders. those are the kinds of questions that the american public would

always want to know from an american president. >> marty and ryan, please stay with me. i hope manu is still with us as well because i want to go now for his first interview since his committee's meeting and vote today to congressman lloyd doggett. i appreciate your time. you and i have talked about this over the past couple of months. here we are. you've spent hours behind closed doors. you've just come out from the vote. can you first explain to me exactly what you all are voting to do? are we going to see a summary of some sort? or are we going to see all of the tax returns? >> both but for a limited period. yes, erin, we've been at it for about the last three and a half hours discussing all aspects of this. now there will be a report to the house prepared by chairman neal and his staff, a very thorough report. it includes a number of attachments. it includes additional analysis from the joint tax committee.

and it will also include some trump tax returns. >> and is that -- we're going to get sort of one thing, an executive summary, attachments, and some of the tax returns, that's going to be it. we're not also going to get all the tax returns, just to be very clear here? >> you will get all of the tax returns that the supreme court and the lower courts said that mr. neal's request could get. you will get all of those. that may be delayed for a few days only to permit time to redact things like social security numbers, personal i.d. numbers that, type of thing. but you will get the complete trump tax returns, such as they are, for the years that mr. neal requested. >> okay. so that's 2015 through 2020, just to be clear? >> that's correct. and i think what i find surprising, our focus had been on the irs audit and whether it was being done properly is the irs did no audits at all until

such time as the day they received mr. neal's request for these documents, and that day they requested the first audit. they have yet to complete a single audit of mr. trump. and i think they'll also be surprised by what's not there with the tax returns. and that is supporting data, any taxpayer who goes in for audit has to produce some receipts and some affidavits and some substantiation. and that just seems to be missing from what we've been provided. >> so, in that context, just to be clear, is you're saying that they didn't begin the audit until the request came in. then they -- >> the same day. >> it sounds like what you're saying -- i don't want to jump to a conclusion so i want to make sure i'm right -- that they then requested, they had questions about various things and then reached out to trump to ask those questions, and that trump did not respond with the backup data to make his case for why he did what he did? >> i think you will see tens of

millions of dollars in these returns that were claimed without adequate substantiation. the extent to which the irs made an effort to get that substantiation, i invite you to look at the reports. but i think you'll be surprised by how little there is, and i have my doubts that another taxpayer could go in to audit and provide as little as was provided here and expect to have a completed audit. >> okay. and those tens of millions of dollars were what that he was claiming? >> well, we know that from the earlier disclosures from the "new york times" that he often claimed huge amounts of loss carryovers. and even one time much before these returns got a check for over $70 million. in this case in 2015, he began with about $105 million loss carryover. those issues in it were not

explored in the documents we have because we were limited to a very narrow period of time, those six years. further, there was no conversation between our staff and any of the irs auditors or employees to determine what exactly happened or didn't happen. we only have a few scattered notes in order to put the puzzle together. >> so, okay. so you're saying 2015, $105 million loss that he claimed that as you're saying without -- >> that was a carryover. and because we did not have the capacity to look at the prior years, we cannot determine the origin of that carryover. >> did you see, congressman -- i'm sorry i overtalked you for a second. but did you see any evidence of him being compromised in the way that you were ultimately concerned about, that what you would see in his tax picture would show that his actions as president were perhaps compromised?

did you see any evidence of that or anything that raised questions for you in that regard? >> no. and just with these particular documents by themselves, i didn't really expect to find very much. there is evidence of some of the foreign taxes that he paid. but these are just like ordinary very wealthy businessperson's filing that show what he got and what he claimed as deductions. just an immense loss carryovers. it just does not give us the detail necessary to make that determination. >> all right, well, congressman doggett, i appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> and obviously we always look forward to see what we understand will be the full body of taxes that you did receive from the years you requested 2015 through 2020. congressman doggett, thank you, sir. >> thank you. , and next, what do big-name republicans have to say about an alleged liar who was just elected to congress by gop voters? what's going to happen here?

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tonight, elon musk whiplash. after twitter users voted for musk to step down, the billionaire now says only checkmarks with the blue mark can vote. suggesting only paid subscribers in order to vote. so here we are. "outfront" harry enten with tonight's "outfront" outlier. maybe he is realizing that it's hard to have to police and do every single thing about twitter and a rocket company and a brain

implant company and other things as well, a car company. i want to get to the outlier. musk has become fairly unpopular among democrats. you say there is a problem. when he asked twitter users to vote on whether he should step down as ceo. >> i don't know what the heck he is thinking. we know twitter users as a whole are far more democratic than the american public as a whole. he is essentially putting a poll to a lot of democrats should i step down a lot, and they don't like him, i'm not surprised at the results. >> or maybe you. maybe you're surprised who the 51% were. in other words, he pulled a group of people who don't like him. >> exactly. >> about whether they liked him. okay. but one of the first things, and maybe this is the reason why they don't like him, he takes over twitter. he comes in and controversially reinstates a lot of people, some who may have been appropriately banned, others who weren't. donald trump is one of the ones he reinstated who by the way has not yet rejoined by choice.

how did that play in this? >> if you ask twitter users before musk of course became the head of twitter what was a major problem on twitter, banning people ranked very low on the list of major problems. what did rank very high was misinformation. what does he do? he in fact now allows misinformation on covid to run rampant. there is no longer those warnings. what else did he do? he allowed people banned for marmont to be reinstated. a lot of people thought that was a major problem. essentially, he was creating major problems in places folks didn't think there were major problems and basically bringing back the folks on the issues they thought were major problems. >> right. and then spending his time reinstating kanye west and taking him back off. there is no minutia too small. there is an outlier, though, on this, harry. and that is this concept of a town square. >> yes. >> twitter users seem to like it, even if they only want people in the town square who agree with them. >> maybe so. but if you ask twitter followers, or people on twitter whether or not you come to

twitter to hear different points of view, the majority do in fact say yes. so at least idealistically the idea of a town square makes a lot of sense. people on twitter follow musk on that. but i think on the concrete issues, that's where they kind of disagree with him. but on the broader idealistic point, that's where they do agree. that's the outlier on all this. >> but the outlier then is actually the point that musk says he did the whole thing for. >> yes. >> which i want it to be a town square. they actually agree with him. >> they bring with him. >> they just don't agree with the technicalities of how he is getting there. >> that's exactly right. i think the question going forward is whether or not he can bring the people to his side. >> it certainly, especially if he chooses to stay. the whole thing about blue checks getting to vote. >> the people most interested in twitter are even more likely to be democratic. so this idea that he might have gotten a different result if he had just focused on those paying subscriber, i'm not sure that necessarily works either.

>> all right. thank you very much, harry enten. >> thank you. next, dionne warwick, who was a force 60 years ago and still is tonight. ♪ when she came in. i watched my mother go through being a s single mo. atat the end of the day, my mom raised three children, including myself. and so once the client knew that she was heard. we were able to help her move forward. your client won't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

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music scene more than 60 years ago. cnn films takes a look at her incredible life and legacy. "dionne warwick: don't make me over." it premieres on new year's day. take a look at this. >> dionne warwick, one of the great female singers of all time. >> dionne was a first african american woman to win a grammy in the pop category. ♪ >> the music i was singing was nothing like anything that any of them were singing. the legacy of my family, music, pure and simple. music. >> "dionne warwick: don't make me over" premieres thursday on cnn at 9:00 p.m. >> thanks for joining us. "ac 360" begins now. for the first time since russia invaded his country, tried to take the capital, topple his government, and reportedly try to take his life, ukraine's president is leaving his