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and that. >> is it a cartoon or is it congress? the seemingly endless lies from congressman elect george santos could be catching up with him. the embattled republican under investigation by the feds and his state with just six days until he is scheduled to be sworn in to office. the clock is ticking. >> santos vows he's going to take his seat in the house. the plan is being met by resistance. democrats and some republicans are questioning his legitimacy. >> santos has some defenders. they argue plenty of d.c. politicians have been caught telling very tall tales. welcome back as america report goes on. >> anita, i'm gillian turner.

we'll ask who santos should do. we begin with southwest airlines facing major backlash from its own pilots. >> at the end of the day, southwest wasn't prepared. unfortunately, this has been a decade in the making. we've sounded alarm bells and tried to get them to change processes. >> nobody has reached out to inform us to what's going on, even the recovery plan we've been left in the dark on. it's frustrating for us. >> wow. the southwest pilot's union slamming the leadership for the on going travel troubles. >> while other airlines are back up and running, southwest is still spiralling. they're scrubbing thousands of flights again today. >> the airline could face serious financial penalties. pete buttigieg is calling for refunds after the airline grounded nearly 16,000 flights since friday. >> tox team coverage starts right now with lydia hu on the

warning signs, months before this meltdown. first to mike tobin in chicago. what are folks telling you there today? >> well, what we're hearing from southwest executives, we may be nearing the end of this particularly ugly chapter in southwest airlines history. this as southwest executives have announced a return to normal operations tomorrow promising minimal disruptions, this is after southwest airlines cancelled 2/3s of its normal flight operations to try to get crew and aircraft back in to positions where they can resume this normal schedule. if you look at flight cancellations across the nation, domestic flights, 2,400, almost 2,500 flights will be cancelled across all airlines. 2, 300 plus of them belong to southwest airlines today. if you look forward to tomorrow, they drop to 39 flight cancellations for southwest. still, you've got management at

southwest airlines apologizing for this terrible mess. >> my personal apology is the first step of making things right after many plans changed and experiences fell short of your expectations. we're continuing to make this up for you. you'll hear about that soon. for now, we're restoring the reliability and level of customer experience that we expect from our serves and you expect from us. >> all of those people trying to get on different airlines, rent cars to get home have a new window to scramble to make it back to their homes. >> i have my medicine. my charger, my -- everything, my perfume, all of my personal stuff is in the suitcase. and some presents for christmas. >> so my concern is really one of my bags is all christmas gifts. i just want that back. >> it's been a nightmare. no doubt about it.

>> well a lot of the big ugly visuals are gone. what still remains, you can see from the baggage mess, all the people trying to locate their bags. the giant pile that was over here in baggage claim is now gone. but what we're finding out, they've just been moved to another location. you don't necessarily have people reunited with their bags. still you have this big promise from southwest executives that normal flight operations will resume tomorrow and they promise minimal disruptions. guys, back to you. >> we'll be watching tomorrow. mike tobin in midway airport. the southwest meltdown is getting attention from lawmakers. lydia hu is live with more. >> southwest says they plan to get back to normal operations after operating a third of their scheduled flights since tuesday. there's a growing chorus of

voices that say they, this whole catastrophe was seen coming a mile away. it was just four months against before this debacle that 38 attorneys general wrote a letter to members of congress warning that lacks oversight from regulators at the department of transportation led by secretary pete buttigieg was a problem. they say buttigieg's agency failed to respond and to provide appropriate recourse to thousands of consumer complaints about airline customer service. they added "americans are justifiably frustrated that federal government agencies charged with overseeing airline consumer protection are unable or inwilling to hold the airline industry accountable." house transportation committee member representative nancy mace is pointing to the 7.2 billion the airline received during the pandemic. >> i want to hear pete buttigieg

says he's going to audit and figure out where the $7 billion went that southwest received from american taxpayers. >> we're going to see southwest return to the airways, the skies. they have about 39 flights cancelled for tomorrow. a far cry from the more than 2,300 flights that are cancelled for today. gillian? >> lydia hu in the new york newsroom this afternoon. thank you. it's a big promise. they have to overdeliver if they want to secure the forgiveness of their tens of thousands of passengers who they left stranded. >> they have a lot of making up to do. i have to say one thing. one thing you should never put in your checked bag is your charger. try to bring that on the flight with you, right? >> also your medication. i was listening to the one woman talking thinking really shouldn't be putting your medication in your checked baggage. unless it's liquid.

i don't know. keep that with you. >> exactly. all right. we're moving on now, gillian. title 42 doing little to stop the surge of migrants at the southern border. a border patrol source telling fox a record number of people have crossed in to the u.s. so far this fiscal year. average of nearly 7,000 every day. that is creating dangerous conditions for people who live nearby. stunning new video shows a group of suspected migrants trying to break in to the home of a texas rancher. tom holman joins us now, a fox news contributor and former director of ice. thanks for coming in. i want to talk about that video. first, i want to ask you about this holding pattern that we're in until the supreme court takes a look at this issue in february. you know, even with title 42 still in effect, the numbers of people pouring in to the country, it's really unreal. you know them better than anybody. let's bring up numbers that we

got from customs and border protection. over the last 90 days, 617,000 total encounters, 186,000 were expelled under title 42 leaving the majority, 430,000 plus. they cross the border. look at that. 70%, our producers did the mast, 70% of the people got through. it's not even working with title 42 in place. >> because they don't want it to work, this administration, when they came in office, they did a lot of things. they got rid of -- we got rid of catch and release and they brought it back. under title 42 -- under the trump administration, we removed 90%. 90. under this administration, if you look at the numbers for the last two years they've been in power, they released more people in the united states than they returned under title 42. as soon as they got into office,

they cut out big groups of people. family units not eligible. children not eligible. people from different countries not eligible. most people are released. add 200,000 to that, the got-aways, that's over half a million people have made it in to the united states either cbp released them or they got away. we're on a glide path right now to beat last year's historic numbers by hundreds and thousands. >> and there's catch and release in place. a small number of people may go and attend that court date. others, they disappear in to the country. i want to bring back up that video. these are suspected migrants breaking into the home of a rancher on the border there. you know, we always talk about the numbers. but what about the people that are living on the front lines. they're dealing with the reality

of these numbers. what do you make of this? >> you know, i've been down to the certain border a lot. i'm doing work with the america's project. we talk with a lot of farmers and ranchers. there's one ran. >>er in particular that i talked to, he showed me pictures of dead bodies that he finds on thinks property every day. he's found hundreds of dead bodies. the ranchers down there have property damage, they have lost cattle. you know, thousands and thousands of dollars in losses. as a matter of fact, the american project has some attorneys, they're suing the biden administration on behalf of the ranchers for the damage that they have received because this administration advocated their responsibility to secure the border. the ranchers need money. they want somebody to pay for this damage. should be the federal government. they're refusing to secure the border. they've been in power two years. i say this all the time.

they can't give push-back. name one thing this administration has done to slow the flow. they haven't done a thing. everything is they have done is send more resources to process quicker and release quicker which brings more. >> there's no policies in place to protect people like that rancher. i want to listen to a clip of sound from tony gonzalez. he represents district 23, the southwest part of texas up against the mexican border. let's listen to him. >> you have to have enforcement. this starts with remain in mexico. repatriation flights. these are people that do not qualify for asylum. you don't bus them and fly them all over the united states. >> you fly them back to their country of origin. until that happens, this administration is only adding fuel to the fire. >> quick answer here, tom. you think the biden administration will take any of that advice in to place for a new policy at some point? >> no. president biden ran on open

borders. they have open borders now. what you see right now is not mismanagement. this is their plan. they will not secure this border. >> all right. tom holman, thanks for coming in today and your comments. always appreciate hearing from you. >> thanks for having me. >> gillian? >> the january 6th special committee has withdrawn their subpoena of president trump. it was no longer needed, they said. trump was originally subpoenaed in october. the former president celebrated the news saying the committee knew he did nothing wrong. >> a fox news alert just crossing. pele, the soccer legend has died at the age of 82. his inspiring life story took him from living bare foot in poverty to the top of his game.

those same feet leading his record through a three world cup win. we'll have more on this breaking news in a little while. what a loss. >> pressure is mounting on george santos this hour to resign his seat after he admitted to repeatedly lying about his background. key details on his resume. but does kevin mccarney need santos to stick it out and secure the speaker's gavel next congress? we'll ask tom bevan how he sees the scandal playing out. >> we were bamboozled. lied to. we do not want this representation in the new york district. >> it's not a democrat issue, this isn't a republican issue. >> lies, deceit. he doesn't deserve to hold an office. costing more. if you need cash, call newday. you can borrow up to 100% of your home's value. veterans get more at newday usa.

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>> sad news breaking from the soccer world. pele, considered by fans to be the greatest of all time, has passed away. he had been battling colon cancer. he led brazil to three world cups in 1958 when he scored six goals at 17 years of age. he went on to become a global superstar in the 60s. he's credited for popularizing soccer in the united states. he was 82 years old. >> the wrath and depth of his deception is staggering. it's unprecedented. even worse than his lying is his possible law breaking. >> what he did is not normal. he violated a trust with the people in his congressional district and throughout nassau county and the state of new york

for that matter and the nation. >> new york politicians from both sides of the aisle are slamming congressman-elect george santos. he's now under multiple investigations after he was caught lying about almost everything on his resume. santos says he still plans to take off next week. that could have major ripple effects in washington. complete coverage now, tom bevan breaks down the politics of it all in just a moments. first to david lee miller live in our new york city newsroom. david lee, what a story. >> indeed. now anita, there's more pressure this afternoon for congressman-elect george santos to resign. the new york republican facing growing scrutiny after he admitted to lying about his past. at a long island rally in the third congressional district, which santos was elected to represent, angry voters this afternoon called him a fraud who undermines democracy.

speakers accused santos of being a serial liar. having employedees who died at the pulse nightclub shooting and his overall resume. >> you have lied about your personal work and educational experience for your own gain. you have lied about your wealth and your finances for your personal gain. and perhaps most vile of all, you lied about the holocaust. a mass shooting for your own personal gain. >> several investigations to santos are underway, including one by the nassau county district attorney. the assistant d.a. says the numerous fabrications and inconsistentsies are nothing short of stunning. the queen's d.a. is looking to

santos' past. there's a growing number of questions about his rags to riches success story. he told the news website that he made his money deal-building and specialty consulting for high net worth individuals. he loaned $700,000 of his own money and could face consequences if his disclosure documents are misleading. despite the uproar, santos says he will not resign. he's due to be sworn in tuesday. he's told the republican leadership he will not seek re-election. anita? >> we'll see what happens tuesday. david lee miller live in new york. thank you. gillian? >> let's bring in tom bevan, the real clear politics founder and editor. tom, i mean, i for one am shocked to hear that a self-admitted liar is coming to washington and trying to work in politics. what about you? >> well, obviously we've seen throughout the years that

politicians have a history of embellishing their resumes, whether it's the number of degrees that they have or, you know, their professional experience. but this is an order of magnitude above that and beyond. he actually lied about who he was. i think you saw from david lee miller's report there, folks in his direct feel like they've been cheated. that he's not who he said he was. so again, we'll have to see what congress does. they can't expel him with a 2/3s vote after he takes office. it looks like that's what he's going to do. also try to recall him from his direct. they can issue a petition and try to recall him. either way, you know, it's going to be tough to get him out of office given the tools that they have at their disposal unless he charged with a crime. that would make it easier for republicans and democratsto expel him from congress. >> so in the unlikely event that the house recalled him or

expelled him, where do that go from there and what recourse is there for voters in new york? >> yeah, if they don't recall him, they would have to wait for two years until -- you just reported that he won't run again or told republicans he won't run again. that would solve that issue. meantime, there's not a lot they can do. kevin mccarthy needs his vote to become speaker of the house. he's got five defections, folks that won't vote for him. so he needs every vote that he can get from republicans including george santos. beyond that, they can expel him from the caucus, they can ostracize him within the republican caucus. but they can't make him do away unless they get a 2/3s vote to expel him, which would obviously include a lot of democrats and it looks like democrats are ready and willing to do that. so that might be how this ends up washing out. >> you mentioned the lies here

are of a magnitude larger than anything we've seen at least in recent congresses. what do you think -- obviously we're not going to get at his motivations here. we don't know what they are. can we assume that he lied because he thought hi would get away with it? how could somebody in 2022 think that they could lie about where they went to college and not get called out? >> and he ran two years ago and he got away with it. there's no evidence that nobody brought forth any -- whether it was his opponent, usually opposition research would pick up this kind of thing. you'd do a pretty good scrubbing of your opponent and find out about them and release the ugly details to the media, which, you know, typically is eager to report on something like that. he did get away with it. he decided to do it again. it's stunning in this day and

age to think that you can lie about not just where you went to college but, you know, how you made your money about your -- >> i cited college because it's the easiest thing to disprove. you know? takes one focal. >> he lied about everything including his family, his heritage. all of these things look like they were made up out of whole cloth. that's beyond what we've seen from anyone who has run for congress before. >> thanks for taking time. that's tom bebevan, at least wh you say you are. anita? >> the happiest place on earth is reminding its visitors to keep it that way, please. several violent fights between families have broken out at disney world and disneyland in recent months. that's led to disney officials

to release a statement saying you must always remember to treat others with respect and kindness and compassion. those that can't live up to this wish may be asked to leave walt disney world resort. i think that's a simple request, really. you know, given the price of a tact, you think you'd want to keep it copacetic at disneyland, right? >> asking people not to beat each other up is not a nice wish. it's common decency. it's the law in the state of florida and california. >> yeah. if you can't do it, stay home, right? >> just stay home. that's my advice. don't even bother to try. there's also this. new covid strains are circulating in china now. they have president biden's attention. the white house is taking actions to keep americans from getting exposed. some question whether the plan goes too far. >> parents demanding answers

after students at a top virginia high school that won national merit scholarships weren't informed by administrators until after they submitted college applications. >> this is another form of this race to the bottom that schools are going through right now.

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realtor.com (in a whisper) can we even afford this house? maybe jacob can finally get a job. the house whisperer! this house says use realtor.com to see homes in your budget. you're staying in school, jacob! realtor.com. to each their home. >> as new strains of covid break out across china, the biden administration is clamping down on travelers. you have to test negative before entering the united states now if you're coming from china. peter, why did the administration decide to go ahead with this now? >> gillian, the reason they're doing this now, requiring tests of people flying here from china that were negative within two days prior is because u.s. officials think that chinese leaders have been misleading the world, that cdc statement about this says that cdc is announcing

this stuff to slow the spread of covid-19 in the united states during the surge of covid-19 cases in the prc givening the lack of transparent sequence data from the prc, the people's republic of china. before the biden team took control, travel restrictions like this one were considered by the biden team political. remember, a day after president trump limited travel from china, biden's campaign account tweeted "we are in the midst of a crisis with the coronavirus. we need to lead the way with science, not donald trump's record of hysteria, xenophobia and fear mongering. now it's biden's turn to lead through a pandemic and his team has been signalling that they have had their eyes on china for weeks and china, of course, is becoming apparent that zero covid policies are not stopping

the spread. >> we're watching as closely as we can in terms of -- i think you asked about economic impacts. we're obviously tracking and monitoring whatever impacts u.s. companies in american consumers that could occur and any impact there is of the critical supply chains that we have set up. >> here at the white house, officials never actually stopped mandatory covid testing for a lot of meetings and events especially where the president is endorsed. a lot of parts of the world required covid testing or a return to acquired covid testing may feel like a big step back in time. gillian? >> peter doocy live from the north lawn. thank you. anita? >> well, gillian, outrage at a top virginia high school after administrator there's delayed

notifying students that received national academic honors. some parents claim the move was done as part of an equity approach that attempts to treatment all academic performance the same. let's bring in john wood jr. from "usa today." john, great to have you here today. >> thanks very much, anita. pleasure to be here with you. >> this high school, thomas jefferson high school for science and technology in virginia, it's a very acclaimed high school. students go there because they want to go on to a great college. the accusation is the staff allegedly handed out these merit scholarships, not scholarships, but merit awards late after the college deadlines had passed so to not make other students feel badly. what do you think about that? >> well, you know, it's keeply frustrating thing obviously for the students whose hard work was not recognized in time for them to add that to their college

applications. increase the chances that they would arrive at the educational place of their choice. now, i think for me, without knowing the school up close, it's hard to say whether this was a deliberate thing or something that happened out of bureaucratic negligence or what have you. it does feel to a lot of people, i think that this fits a broader reality in american education that many folks, many institutions are interested in catering to the feelings of marginalization that many students may have or the feelings of there wanting to be an equality of outcomes. we want to encourage people to strive to do their best. there's a real conversation to be had about equalizing opportunity, right? in terms of creating a landscape in which all students would

succeed. some students come from more difficult background than others. >> some of the parents were outraged from the school. let's listen to what some of them had to say. >> motivation is so important, especially at this time when we know it's a crisis during the pandemic. what is the motivation? it's saving face. it's part of this agenda that is the dumbing down of america. this is happening everywhere. >> that's one of the parents who i think her son was affected. i want to read the school's response. this is from the school district there. they say the delay in notifying national merit scholarship commended students was a one-time human error in the fall of 2022 only. one the issue of fall 2022 notifications came to light, counselors made calls to each college where the students had applied and informed them of the

merit scholarship a commendations and an attempt to withhold this information would be inaccurate and contrary to the values of the fairfax county public schools. a fair response? what do you think? seems like they're denying there was malicious intent here. >> i'm hoping that that is the truth. we all should be. mistakes do happen. it's unfortunate. again, many of us have the sense that hard work enterprise, merit, is something that is deemphasized in the context of our educational system, at least in many different respects and many circumstances. if this is an accident, it's sad that it's something that slips into that larger sense that we have. it's an opportunity for us to reflect on the importance of that very thing. these are students for whom the recognition of their hard work is something that has been taken from them in this instance. we see the harm that it may do. >> because they're applying to colleges. i want to turn the topic to what

is being billed as an exclusive story by "the washington post" where they document a third of the hundreds of pictures depict former slave owners or people that served in the confederacy. this is a paper named after george washington who i think own add few slaves, right? so john, when you hear this story, what do you think the point is of them doing this investigation? >> the point of the investigation is to draw attention to i think what many people perceive to be a fact of not just our history but our contemporary reality. this idea that the united states of america is a country sort of born in and perhaps even currently animated by systemic racism and implicit white supremacy in our culture and the way in which our institutions operate. for many people, that is reflected regardless of the fact that they may not be reflecting

on the name of their own publication, this is reflected on the fact that we have art day drawing a tension to slave ownership in the country. >> we can't erase our past. >> no, we can't. i'm for an organization dedicated to depot laterization. we had a debate of events like ole miss, bringing together activists that on the one hand arguing for confederate statues to be taken down and the other hand arguing this is part of our history that we have to respect. it's possible and i say this as the son of a white southerner and african american woman from inner city los angeles. it's possible for us to have conversations about these issues that respect the humanity of people's starting points with respect to these difficult cultural issues. we won't see every figure the same way based on the difference in our histories. that doesn't mean we're all

americans. that doesn't mean because you're on one side of the issue that you don't think everybody else is a racist and if you're on the other side that you hate america. we're more complex than that. my hope that the "washington post" and any other post that curbs this including fox news can do so in a way that invites us to understand each other more deeply and why we concern about confederacy and american history in the first place. >> we're all americans at the end of the day. >> that's right. as a new year's resolution, i hope people understand that. >> thank you. john wood jr. gillian? >> back to the breaking news this hour. brazilian soccer icon pele passing away at the age of 82 after a battle with colon canner. joining us by phone, sports caster jim gray. jim, brazil deemed pele a national treasure. historians have dubbed him the face of soccer.

i pulled this quote for you because it is poignant. andy warhol of pele said instead of 15 minutes of fame, he will have 15 centuries. >> that's a great quote. he was named an official national treasure by the country of brazil when he was 20 years old. he was the most famous athlete, maybe the most famous person on the planet, him and mohammed ali sharing that. ali was known worldwide but soccer was so much more of a sport. he carried himself so, so well. he even stopped a civil war from going on in the late 60s, the story goes, because he played an exhibition in nigeria. they stopped the civil war for

those 48 hours. there was a cease fire. this guy had a major impact. he was special. >> jim, it's anita vogel here. so glad to have you with us to comment on this. what a life for so many people. when i saw this cross the wires today, the first thing that crossed my mind is i'm so glad that he lived long enough to see the last world cup. it was so amazing many so many ways. i wonder what you think he thought while watching those amazing games in the last world cup? >> i'm sure he was quite proud. he helped further this sport. he helped make it popular not only in brazil but worldwide. i had a great opportunity, unique opportunity to meet him at the 1994 world cup in los angeles. it was a world cup that brazil was playing in the final. he came on to the field, believe it or not, at the rose bowl with whitney houston. the crowd stood still.

the crowd stood still. they were in awe. half the crowd was for brazil, the other half was for italy. everybody had tremendous respect and just in awe. i'm sure that him getting to see messi and mbappe and what had gone on in that game, if he was still being able to pay attention at that point because of his illness, had to be so proud of the way those guys carried themselves. you know, he shares the title as the greatest player ever with messi. it's probably now because messi is recent and memories fade that pele is sharing that title. he was the king of soccer. he was known as the black pearl. he came over here to play in the united states back in the 70s. it was secretary of state henry kissinger that brokered the deal so he could play with the new york cosmos. so this guy had an impactlong

reverberating, will always be -- will always be cherished. he will look -- he's going to be one of those folks who is just going to be remembered so fondly because the sport is beloved worldwide. he was the guy that carried the mantel. >> jim, we're looking right now for or viewers at home, live pictures of the hospital where he passed away. fans are starting to gather to pay their respects to him and his legacy. you touched on this a moment ago. i want toe get you to elaborate. one of the reasons he's become -- he's sort of become not just an icon in the world but his contributions that go beyond the scoreboard. he was a beloved figure because of his personality essentially.

he had this message about love that he shared with hi fans. he wanted to make the world a better place at the end of the day. >> i think everybody could relate to him, too. he came from nothing. he came from the depth of poverty. he came from such a place that so many worldwide can just relate to. life is a struggle. look at what this young man was able to do. to grow, to this type of fame and earn this type of fortune and back this beloved. and to have everybody in your presence always feel good that you're there. i mean, if it could happen to something like pele, that gives hope to everybody worldwide no matter what their circumstances. you know, he played in more than 1,300 matches, he won three world cups. so his legend not only was established but it grew as time went on. it wasn't just greatness that he did one time. it something that he repeated

over and over again. that's what true greatness speaks to. you mentioned that quote about andy warhol. i read one of the obituaries a few moments ago. he was in an interview and he said that there were three icons worldwide that everyone knows. jesus christ, coca-cola and pele. he obviously was aware of his fame. >> that's quite a line-up. jim, thanks for joining us with your thoughts. it was wonderful talking to you. we appreciate it. >> gillian and anita, have a good day. we lost a great one. we're going to remember him and remember him fondly and owl:us that love inspesports will have soft spot for pele. >> thank you, jim. >> thank you.

>> half a dozen people charged with domestic terrorism now out free, a georgia judge granting bond to six suspects that allegedly targeted atlanta police by violently protesting a new training facility for officers. steve harrigan is live in atlanta with the story. hi, steve. >> anita, real surprise about the size of the bonds for the six under 15,000 for each of the six. the six people are under 25 years old. mostly from out of state and they have been charged with domestic terrorism. they battled it out with police outside atlanta at a trading center. it's being built for police on about 80 wooded acres. they are members of a group called defend the forest. that group has been designated as a terrorist organization by the department of home security. those arrested say this is just an attempt to gag legitimate

political protest. >> protesters are continuing to speak out to break the law in civil disobedience ways. what is changing is the police response. it's clear that if the public doesn't respond, if the public doesn't do something about this, that escalation will continue. >> police have been battling with this grouped for almost a year. they have managed to delay construction sometimes firing on construction workers. the latest scene, many of the members of the group were up in tree houses and wearing gas masks and camouflage. they threw rocks and bottles at police that responded with nonlethal weapons and police say they attacked construction workers. governor kemp said today that we will not rest until these six and their fellow extremists are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and construction moves forward without interruption. this domestic terrorism charge could bring up to 35 years in

prison. a need that? >> steve harrigan live in atlanta, thank you. >> new england is on the brink of an energy crisis. states are facing widespread power outages and brutal heating costs and rolling blackouts. critics say if it wasn't for dependence on foreign oil, they wouldn't be in this predicament. let's bring in phil flynn. he's a fox business contributor. phil, i just came back last week from south africa. that's a country with national level rolling blackouts. cities like johannesburg and capetown are seeing between four and six hours a day of complete blackouts no electricity in homes, businesses, in streets. you don't want that happening here. >> you do not. i'm afraid we're heading down that path. a lot of it is because of bad energy policy. you know, we have outsourced a

lot of our energy to other countries. we killed pipelines. now you see the results of that. not only does it -- we talk about rolling blackouts, but the impact it has on people's lives. >> it's a nightmare. i can speak to it first hand. take a look at this. this is from the national review. they say over 230,000 individual power outages recorded in new england on christmas eve. the mid-atlantic and southeast had 125,000 outages. new england went in to the holiday weekend paying more than double what other americans are paying across the country. >> and it shouldn't be happening, right? they went on in the article to blame russian interference in our energy policy. that's right. you know, we hear about russian interference in our elections. everybody gets upset. when they start backing environmental groups to mislead people about the safe and clean

production of u.s. energy, that has a real impact. because of that, because these groups that were funded by some russian groups, we killed a lot of these projects. that has left people vulnerable from the energy standpoint. >> phil, this is a brief segment with you. we have to keep it to, this we'll get you back to keep talking about, this it's really important. but happy new year to you. >> happy new year to you. enjoy and try to stay up till midnight this year. >> thank you. i will try. i'll fail but i'll try. >> okay. >> it's too hard to stay up to midnight. i'm on the west coast. i'll stay up till 9:00 and pretend it's midnight. >> i just lied. i'm not even go to try. anita, great working with you. >> yeah. great working with you, too. gillian, as we said, we're going to make it a holiday tradition, right? >> we are. >> i'm anita vogel. great to be with you again.

"the story" is next with trace gallagher in for martha today. hope everybody has a great rest of the week and a very happy new year. see you soon. all across the country, people are working hard to build a better future. so we're hard at work helping them achieve financial freedom. we're proud to serve people everywhere, in investing for the retirement they envision. from the plains to the coasts, we help americans invest for their future. and help communities thrive.

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try it for free at freestylelibre.us >> trace: good afternoon. i'm trace gallagher in for martha maccallum. right now a bright spot for travelers caught in the crosshairs of southwest cancellations. more than 2,000 cancellations today alone heading into another busy holiday weekend. full refunds and reimbursement for travel expenses are what top execs are calling the beginning of their effort to repair the relationship with stranded flyers. watch. >> my personal apology is the first step of making things right after many