top of the hour here in washington, d.c. i'm jessica dean. good morning, everyone. jim sciutto is off today. new this morning, house democrats releasing six years worth of former president trump's tax returns, giving deeper insight into his personal financial situation. right now, cnn is sifting through the hundreds of documents that were just released in the last hour. but the former president is already responding. cnn national correspondent kristin holmes joins me now to break it all down. walk us through what we're learning from the tax returns, again the caveat being they just

came out an hour ago and there is say lot of data here and how the former president is responding. >> so as as you said, we have team combing through hundreds of pages but trump paid a very low amount of income tax in the first and last year of presidency. we're talking about 2017 he paid $750. 2018 and 2019, it was combined $1.1 million in income tax and in 2020 it was $0 and that is important and here is why. we hope the tax returns will show the raw data of the numbers but it is looking at the detailed documents that were providing to give us insight into his businesses. are they really as successful as he has said. and i talked to a number of tax experts who say that $0, that indicates that there might be been some faltering business. he said in 2016 it was smart not to pay taxes when he was talking with hillary clinton about why

he wouldn't release them. but is it actually business losses? which is important when you think about the political ramifications of a man who ran on the fact that he was a wealthy and therefore successful businessman and trump is agitated. he has already issued a statement saying democrats shouldn't have done this and the great usa divide will now grow far worse. the radical left democrats have weaponized everything. but remember that this is a dangerous two-way street. and he and he released a video as part of the 2024 campaign calling on republican tosz start looking into biden's finances and to biden's family. so that is what he referred to when he talks about a two-way street. >> and the gop is taking over the house in mere days with a lot of over sight. we know that richard neil put out a statement after this came out. of course he's the democrat. >> and he said congress serves as a check on the executive branchond our committee is

entrusted with an over sight. a president is no ordinary taxpayer, they hold power and influence and with great power comes greater responsibility. and the important thing to note here is that trump said -- he broke an enormous amount of precedent when he became the first president in modern history not to release his taxes. this is something he chose to do. and on top of that. that is something that for decades he has shielded from the public. and one other thing i want i to quickly touch on is foreign entities and bank accounts. that is something that we're going through these additional documents for. does he have foreign bank accounts? are there any foreign owned businesses. that is important because you remember this was a big topic of conversation during his entire presidency so that is something we're looking at closely as we go through the hundreds of pages. >> we also want to bring in margaret taller, and steven

rosenthal. great to have you all here. margaret, let's start first with you. as i mentioned the gop taking control of the house in mere days. timing everything here. the democrats releasing these at the last minute they kind of could. we know that republicans are planning for a lot of oversight investigations but is there any indication that they'll try to push back on this specifically? >> i think they're going to message around it but we've already seen that. but republicans have an opportunity, if they want to, they could push to put this in legislation so future presidents, including democratic presidents, will be required to release this. that is not where their messaging is at right now and it might never get there. are they going to use this to try to require more disclosure from joe biden and from everyone in joe biden's family. probably. but there is a difference between running for president for the united states and being related to a candidate has long

been what americans expect. and the messaging from republicans so far has been if they could do this to donald trump, they could do this to you. the ordinary person will all have of our voluminous tax information revealed. it is simply not true. second of all, there is no interest in making an ordinary member of the tax public's records and what would it show. many people who earn a fraction of donald trump's holdings are paid much more in taxes in 2020 to the best of everyone's knowledge. and so, it is -- so far the messaging is a scare tactic but it is not on point. there is a completely different standard and the polling shows that a huge majority, between two-thirds and four out of five americans say that former president trump's tax returns should be made public. >> and it is the precedent. and to your point, the average american is not running for president or the president. there are very few americans

doing that. steven, you could explain what you would be looking for, that would be a blockbuster revelation beyond what we've earned in bits and pieces or key nuggets that could be gleaned from them? >> well, we just got the documents posted. and i've been looking closely at foreign accounts, and foreign sources of income, and in the last hour what strikes me immediately is that in 2015, '16 and '17, donald trump had foreign accounts in the u.k., ireland, china and also it looks like st. thomas, s.t. and then in 2018 only u.k. and then in 2020 only u.k. and that is what i'm looking at. and we know from last month's trial of the trump organization in new york, that trump's tax

account apts said that his presidential returns had to be squeaky clean. so i suspect that things got cleaned up some later on. >> yeah. and it is interesting and that is a little bit of what kristin was talking about earlier, too, you said it is key about foreign entities where would -- where was the money going and what foreign entities was he involved with. we know that president trump was supposed to have a mandatory audit from the irs and he didn't have one three out of four years. he was always so paranoid around his taxes as you alluded to earlier. do you think that there is any appetite to codify this into law from -- it would have to come through congress. but also doesn't this just speak to just the broader paranoia of trump's feelings around his money and his taxes. >> and i do think to goes to politics in general. when you think about trump, you could say is his base going to

turn on him for anything that happens and is this something they will do, probably not. before he was considering that level of politics, this is something that he sold his life on. the trump hotel, it was his brand and it was associated with success and wealth. so that is part of why there have been rumors for decades around new york that he might not be as wealthy as he seemed. i taurked to some of the closest associated believes he would never run for president and it is too much financial scrutiny because he's so private and invested in not sharing the information publicly, you couldn't get through that and run for president. he did and he did not release his taxes and broke precedent there. but yes, this is a big part of how he even ran back in 2016. he said that if he could be the successful of a business man he could successfully run a nation and that is why we're looking so

closely as just how successful those businesses were and that is why it is so interesting when you look at the fact that, yes, some of this is strategic accounting, people with that kind of money and resources do, they claim large losses and they carry over millions of dollars, we already know he carried over $105 million in 2015, $73 million. these are losses in order to offset his income tax and pay less money. but when you look at 2020 number, did that come from the offsets or was this a covid number or where businesses were severely impacted. so it is interesting to paint a picture of this because we only know one narrative and it is donald trump's narrative that he is a wealthy, successful business man and that is what gives him this power and this strength in this country. >> and steven, do you believe that president should be required by law to disclose their tax returns? should this be codified and be made mandatory, should there be a mandatory audit?

>> yes. tax returns are a window into a person's financial character. and we need to know about our president as to whether he's pursuing our interest or his own. and to your point earlier, sure, legislation would be quite helpful and the house already passed legislation but it couldn't get past by the senate before the congress adjourned. as to rich people generating and carrying over hundreds of millions of dollars of losses, in my practice experience, that is unusual. trump lost money spectacularly, tens and hundreds of million dollars through the 1990s and 2000s. for this five-year period, 2015 through 2020 trump businesses lost $7 million to $20 million. every single year he lost money. now the question ultimately is are those losses real, was he an

unlucky business person or did he inflate those losses. for that we need further information. >> right. we'll have to continue to come through the documents. and margaret, before we go, i want to ask you, also, a look ahead. what does it mean going ahead? we could talk about the fact that he didn't release them in 2016 but he's running for president again. what does this mean as we look ahead to 2024. >> i think this provides a lot more potential for scrutiny of a -- i was going to say a second run, but donald trump's run for president and it kind ever closes that gap between spin and reality. he's been one of the masters of our time at spinning a narrative and this creates a fact check against all of the points in the narrative, from how wealthy he is to how successful the businesses are to who he's connected to from a business perspective and that is important scrutiny and ammunition for his political opponents in the party as well

if he were to be a nominee again. >> if they might use it. >> and it is for voters also and in a strong democracy voters have theable to get a lot of information to help them make their decisions. this is important information about an elected official or a potential elected official. >> we like information and facts. these are all helpful things to help people make decisions. thank you to all of you. happy new year. >> happy new year. still to come, scathing accusations out of the newly released transcripts from the january 6 committee. the length lindsey graham was going to further the lies. and plus vladimir putin inviting xi jinping to moscow during a virtual meeting this morning. what else the two discussed and what it could mean for the war. and sosoccer tribubute pele

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more detail this is morning from the new batch of transcripts from released by the january 6 committee. they include revelations about the text donald trump jr. sent to mark meadows the day after his father lost the 2020 election. and also insights into melania trump's distrust of the people in her husband's inner circle. cnn's kaitlan pollance is here with me now. and we learned more about lindsey graham's search for fraud claims after the election and what he was saying about that. >> and the perspective is somebody in a meeting with senator graham and mark meadows, the committee interviewed hundreds of people getting all different kinds of perspectives, flushing out what was happening.

we knew that campaign was trying to spread this lie of election fraud. and christina bob, a lawyer for trump, said to committee, that in this meeting senator graham was saying five dead voters, give me an example of illegals voting, give me a small snapshot that i could take and champion. graham obviously was looking for even any hint of election fraud that they then could spread as trump wanted to do after the election. the lawyers did send him a memo about dead voters apparently. that was in the subject line. graham's team apparently didn't find it plausible enough, he did nothing with it. but there was interest in trying to help. >> give me fight dead voters. that is quite a quote there. and there is revelations about melania trump. what are we learning about that. >> the former chief of staff to

melania trump, this is from stephanie grisham and she spoke to the committee at left and recalled a lot of juicy conversations and what she believed the perspective of melanie as at time. she was not always trusting of her own family, donald trump jr. and his fiance kimberly guilfoyle, that there was skepticism that did these people have the best interest of donald trump at heart. and she had some concerns about the campaign and lawyers that were working for trump. but then we also get some perspective from donald trump jr. himself. his transcript was released yesterday in a hundred pages over and over again he doesn't recall, he didn't remember, he doesn't know the answers to many of the questions that the committee asked about specific instances. including he is asked why his father did not stay for his birthday party at mar-a-lago or new year's eve there. he doesn't know the answer to that either. >> and a hundred pages.

>> do not know, do not recall. >> thanks so much for that information. this afternoon kifb mccarthy will convene a conference call as he worked to get enough votes to be house speaker. a key concession he's offering to lower the threshold requires to force a flow vote that would oust a sitting speaker. here with me now is commentator scott jennings. good morning. great to see you. this is very interesting. so currently just to give people context, the rule right now on what is called the motion to vacate, but essentially it is a vote to oust the spoker -- the speaker, the majority of conference would have to vote on that. he's saying it lower it to potentially five. that is a number that has been floated out there. what do you make of this potential deal? good idea, bad idea? >> first of all, sorry for the

picture. the sun is coming through my window here. >> you look very angelic. >> i look like an angel coming down. >> you're going to bless us with some analyst here. >> well, this motion to vacate essentially if you put the power of this in one person's hand or in five people's hands, mccarthy would be putting his own head in a guillotine and handing a string to the people who hate him the most. it would make the speakership unworkable because you have a couple of people that don't like it and vacate the chair and make his life miserable on a daily basis. so the people who support mccarthy doesn't want him to do that. even though 85% of the conference wants him to be speaker, we're going to put all of the power in the hands of one, two, three, four or five people. so it seems like an unworkable thing for the people who are out there saying that their committed to mccarthy's

speakership. so it is a puzzle because he doesn't have the votes but the way he has to get the votes may doom his speaker sship. >> and it is quite the quandary. and the vote is tuesday and the members will all be coming in on tuesday so it is hard to gauge where people are. but we know there are five hardliners that have said they're voting in block all together and they are unswayed. the fact that we're having this conversation this close and talking about potentially lowering this threshold, what does that mean? let's say he does become house speaker, does that make him very, very weak from the outset? >> yes, of course it does. if he were to have to lower this threshold and put this power in the hands of a small number of people, it would put him on constant thin ice.

i mean, celebritiy essentially, give him no maneuvering room. but if you have a couple of folks who didn't want to do it, they could throw his entire speakership into jeopardy. the house is kind of a majority body, the party with the most seats gets to pick the speaker and in the conference meeting, 85 plus percent of the republicans voted for mccarthy to be speaker. but the people who are holdouts here are saying, is we think the entire 435 body chamber should be put in the hands of five people which is antithetical to the way the house runs. before we leave, i want to talk about the president's tax returns, we've been talking about them in this hour. how do you see this impacting presidential over sight and how this plays out as we move forward. >> i agree with the republican

criticism of this today. i think it was inevitable that it would come out but it feels like to republicans that it was vindictive. it is a trump hate porn on the way out as the republicans are about to take over. and so what i suspect you'll see what republicans will say is what is good for the goose, is good for the gander, there will be something that a republican will publish and say you started it. i get the feeling it is going to set off one of these tit-for-tat battles between the parties. i don't love it, it feels vi vindictive. i'm surprised it took this long. >> and it is true that everyone has followed that precedent except for trump in releasing them. so we'll see how it plays out in the future. scott jennings, it is great to see you. thank you so much for being here. >> good to see you as well. happy new year. >> thanks. more strikes overnight in ukraine. where the fighting intensifies in the east. that is next.

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new signs of chinese and russian cooperation this morning. vladimir putin publicly inviting chinese president xi jinping to visit moscow in the coming months. xi said china is ready to increase political cooperation with russia. and it is all coming as ukrainian officials acknowledge heavy losses in the east as

russia ramps up its attacks. st they claim the number of russian's death is even higher. ben wedeman joins us live from kyiv. and there are drone strikes in the capital. tell us what woofyou've been se and experiencing. >> reporter: overnight there was launching in ukrainie, but here in kyiv, none of them hit the target. seven drones were headed to the capital and five were shot down over the city. but there is intensifying combat in the eastern part of the country. ukrainian officials acknowledging in the city of bahmud, both ukrainian and russian sides are taking heavy casualties as this battle has

raged on for weeks, actually months. and also along the entire eastern front, it appears that the russians have been using a lot of their heavy fire power. in the southern part of the country in the kherson area, we've seen another intensification of russian bombardment on that area recently liberated from russian forces, jessica. >> and ben, i'd like to circle back to that potential xi visit to moscow. what kind of impact might that have on the war in ukraine and is that getting any sort after tension there on the ground? >> reporter: well, people are watching very closely. given that china in sort of the russian/chinese partnership, the chinese are definitely the stronger partner. but at the same time, the chinese have been hesitant to back putin militarily. china is one of the biggest arms

manufactures on earth. but to date, to the best of knowledge of intelligence agencies, the chinese have not provided the russians with much in the way of hardware or ammunition. in fact, the russians have had to turn to countries like iran and north korea for the supplies they need. the chinese, even though rhetorically they support the russians and seem to accept the russian excuses or rational for this war, they do not want to be the object of western sanctions. so in theory, it is a partnership that provides benefits to the russians, but on the the ground here in ukraine, it hasn't really made much of a difference, jessica. >> ben wedeman live in ukraine. thank you so much for that reporting. still to come this morning, a man went into hero mode when he and several others were trapped outside during the deadly winter storm in western

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just into cnn, a potential development in the murders of four college students in idaho. cnn's veronica miracle is in moscow, idaho. what are you learning. >> i just got off the phone with police and they tell me there is going to be a press conference today at 1:00 pacific time at city hall to announce developments in this case. we are expecting major developments to be announced today as this is the first time in weeks that police have held a press conference in the murders of these four students. this comes nearly seven weeks after this happened. when four university of idaho students were murdered. the coroner said in their sleep. during this time, of course, the

families an the community has been reeling. one family who has been very outspoken about the fact that there have been very little developments in this case and police the entire time have been consistent in saying stick with us, there are strong evidence in this case and we're not releasing information and they've been steadfast and announcing very few details. but today we understand there is a press conference. the nature of the press conference, rather, and exactly what is going to be revealed, police are not saying. they're just saying that they're going to be sharing some developments today and we expect major developments to come out, jessica. >> veronica. and an important context that we haven't had a press conference from them in a while. so it is interesting to see what they update us with later on this afternoon. thank you so much for that update. also this morning officials in erie county, new york, saying

at least 39 people died in that blizzard and that the number could still continue to rise. we're learning about some heroic acts that saved dozens of lives. athena jones joining me live from buffalo, new york. you're outside of this school that became a refuge during the storm. tell us how and what happened. >> reporter: well this is finally a good story we could tell you about a very brave and inventive mechanic names jay widthy. he got a call on saturday night who was stuck in the storm and he went out to find him and he ran into trouble and got stuck. he ended up picking up another young man he doesn't know who was not dressed well wearing a light jacket. later that evening while sitting in his car figuring out what to do, another elderly woman knocked on his window so she joined the group in his vehicle. at one point this mechanic went to -- he said ten different

houses begging for people to let him in saying he's afraid ever dying. he offered $500 to be allowed into someone's house to sleep on the floor, all of them turned him away saying i'm sorry but i can't let you in. so they spent the rest of the night taking turns napping. but the morning one of them had to use the restroom and he looked on his gps and he found edge academy in a suburb of buffalo so he went to the school and he knew it would have heat and bathrooms so he used some old brake pads and broke a window and we saw where the sunglasses is on the ground and he managed to get in and so the two -- his two guests were able to enter the school and then later he found that right outside in this area there were several cars with older people just stranded in their cars. and so he went and brought them into the school. he later broke into the cafeteria and got cereal for the folks to eat and so everyone was safe inside.

and he said in a letter, at the end, they stayed, they got into the school by saturday morning, they stayed there until sunday evening. so the evening of christmas day. he at one point got a snowblower from the school, managed to start it without the key because he's a mechanic and went outside and blew off the snow around the cars of the elderly people and here is what he said in a note. to whoever it may concern bim sorry for breaking into the school window and kitchen. got stuck and slept in truck with two strangers and trying not to die. hi to do it to save everyone and get them shelter and food and a bathroom. he signed a letter, merry christmas. jessica? >> just incredible and so good to have a nice story coming out of buffalo as they continue to dig out of the storm. athena jones, thank you so much. and we'll be right back. cause when you're not looking, i go to work. ♪ strengthth isn't a given.

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brazil has declared three days of national mourning after the death of football's first global icon pele. one of the greatest to ever play the game. fans of his career have been gathering outside of the santos stadium in sao paulo. his coffin will be placed at center pitch and then on tuesday a funeral procession will carry it through the streets. pele passed away after a battle with colon cancer. his daughter posted this family photo with the caption, quote, everything we are is thanks to you. we love you endlessly. rest in peace. pele's death ends a year in sports that has made history on several fronts.

andy scholes counts down the top ten moments. >> well in 2022 we saw records fall, an epic world cup and many shorts legends say good-bye by the story garnering most attention was one battle for freedom. number ten, aaron judge, omering his way to a historic season. the yankees slugger becoming the american league all time home run king hitting 62 long balls breaking the record. >> having my name next to someone like bob maris and babe ruth is incredible. >> judge turned down a contract extension and in december the gamble paid off as he received a nine-year, $360 million to return it new york. and the yanks were swept by the astros in the alcs and they went

on to win their second world series title in six years. >> number nine, steph curry ant the warriors also becoming champions once again. stef with an all-time performance in game four against the celtics scoring 43 points in boston. the warriors would take the series 4 -2 with stef winning hs first ever mvp. >> you have to remind yourself. >> and-w nba, the aces claimed their first champion beating the connecticut sub in four games, and the first rookie coach to win the wnba title. >> number eight, the nfl playoffs in 2022 was one of the best we've ever seen. patrick mahomes with just 13 seconds on the clock got the chiefs in position to tie the bills who they would eventually beat in an overtime thriller, 42-36. the chiefs upset by the bengals who made it to the super bowl

for the first time since 1989. the super bowl lvi was another home game for the nfc champion. the rams playing at sofi stadium to beat cincinnati 23-20 giving the city of los angeles the first super bowl title since 1984. >> and city of l.a. would celebrate another title in november as lafc won the mls cup in just the fifth season. will ferrell enjoying the team's first title. >> greatest game in mls history. and if you don't agree with me, i will fight you in the parking lot right now. >> number seven, the beijing olympics were held if february. figure stating once in the spotlight after it was discovered that a 15-year-old tested positive for a banned substance before the games. she helped the russians win gold in the team event. but no medal ceremony was held.

nathan chen shining for team usa winning the men's gold. >> tonight, novak djokovic, the top ranked men's tennis player has been ordered to leave australia. >> if you're not double vaccinated and you're not an australian resident, you can't come. >> he would rather miss tournaments than get vaccinated. he won wimbledon for the 21st grand slam title. >> a agreement for u.s. soccer and equal pay, the men's and women's u.s. national teams will both now receive equal pay and equal prize money. including at world cups. >> with the u.s. men's team reaching the knockout phase in qatar, the u.s. women's team received more money in 2022 than in the previous two world cups combined netting $6.5 million. >> there was a lot of behind the scenes work for years now to get

to where we are. >> number four, less than 15 months after his severe car crash, that requires multiple surgeries on his right leg, tiger woods was back at the masters. with a huge gallery following him, tiger coming through what he called the most impressive performance of his career, making the cut. he finishes 47th which is the best finish in 2022. he ome competed in three event this is year but he did fight for the pga tour off the course. the new liv golf posting other players with the lure of massive multi-million dollars contracts in their first year. >> to play there, i disagree with it. they've turned their back on whats that allowed them to get to this position. >> my dad said to me, a long time ago, once you make your bed, you lie it and they've made their bed. >> and 2022 was a banner year for sport stars retiring and

unretiring. >> tom brady seen by so many as the greatest quarterback of all time is retiring after 22 seasons. >> well less than two months later, brady changed his mind. >> breaking news right now. just into season, a surprise word from the nfl that the goat is coming back. tom brady had only step add way from the nfl for a month and a half before announcing his return. >> while brady did come back, other sports legends did ride off into the sunset. mike chef chefski after 42 seasons, but not before one more final four run. >> i want to be in this moment, this team has given me so much joy. >> and in tennis, after battling injuries, roger federer decided to call it a career. >> i love tennis and everything about it. i will miss the competition and the fans cheering for or against me. they've usually been with me all of the way so it is been great.

>> serena williams declared that she was going to be evolving away from tennis, leading to one of the most anticipated u.s. opens ever. the 23-time grand slam winner wowing the crowd one more time advancing to the third round before saying good-bye. >> honestly, i'm so grateful that i had this moment and that i'm serena. >> number two. [ crowd chanting ] the first ever winter world cup there qatar ending in what is being called the greatest sporting event in history. the best ever argentina lionel messi going head-to-head against the brightest young star in france's killian mbape. after the final went to penalty kicks tied at three and in his fifth and last world cup messi getting the one trophy that alluded him for so long. winning it all for argentina.

and at number one. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> so this is a breaking news right now. we're getting news that brittney griner is free. >> homeward bound. brittney griner out of russian penal colony. >> she was arrest and sentenced to nine years in prison. athletes across sports advocated for months to encourage the biden administration to find a way to bring griner home and two weeks before christmas it happened. >> she's safe, she's on her way home. after months of being unjustly detained in russia, held under intol intolerable circumstances, britney will be in the arms of her loved ones and she should have been there all along. >> quite a year. just into cnn, the january 6 committee releasing another batch of transcripts from another 21 witnesses including

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