2022, and for southwest airlines, the new year can't start soon enough after a week of over 15,000 flight cancellations. new revelations in the ever evolving resume discrepancies and investigations involving congressman-elect george santos. >> it is tax day for former president donald trump as house democrats release six years of his personal and business tax returns. new video shows a chinese fighter jet buzzing a u.s. air force plane, what the pentagon is saying about the dangerously close encounter.

she started as the queen of punk and became fact royalty we're remembering vivian westwood early today starts right now. last friday of the year, good morning i'm phillip mena. >> happy to be with you this morning i'm cori coffin. will southwest finally have a calm day after a week of complete chaos this morning only 39 flights are grounded so far. the airline struggling to resume normal operations after 15,000 flights were canceled since last thursday thousands of passengers have been scrambling to find ways to their destination. pete buttigieg spoke to nbc news about the meltdown, saying plans to hold the airlines accountable will be in place. >> we'll be putting southwest under a microscope in terms of their delivering these reimbursements and refunds to passengers the airline said to me they were going to go above and beyond what's required of them, i'm looking to make sure they do

that if they don't, we are in a position to levy tens of thousands of violations per violation per passenger in fines. >> southwest executives have apologized and are working to reimburse customers for canceled flights, and also hotels, food and other transportation expenses they had to endure. passengers can submit receipts via email. investigations are under way for george santos. he's now facing growing calls to resign ryan nobles has the latest. >> reporter: george santos, the republican from new york, is now the center of a federal investigation by the u.s. attorney's office around possible financial irregularities that may have benefitted his campaign. >> this campaign was never about me >> reporter: the santos story quickly began to unravel shortly after he won a narrow victory in a long island district

traditionally held by democrats. "the new york times" initially found he lied about his education and work history by the day, claims about his background are being called into question like in 2021, over the span of six months he claim he lost his mother on 9/11 and she died in december five years ago from cancer but it's his financial history that's drawing interest from investigators. in 2020 he claimed to have a job that paid $55,000 a year but in his 2022 return he reported a salary in the range of 1 to $5 million, coupled with the massive influx of income came a massive personal donation to his campaign. more than $700,000 raising questions about where the cash came from he admitted he embellished aspects of his bio but promised he is not a fraud. >> our community has been victimized and we demand accountability. >> reporter: this as calls for him to resign continue to grow

>> thanks to ryan for that report british american influencer andrew tate has been arrested in romania along with his brother on suspicion of human trafficking, rape, and organized crime. he's described himself as a success coach. he stated that women bear quote some responsibility for being sexually assaulted this week he was widely mocked for his twitter spat with greta thunberg prosecutors say that andrew tate and three others were recruiting, housing, and exploiting women by forcing them to create pornographic content authorities say they found six women who had been allegedly exploited by the suspects. within a few hours, six years of donald trump's federal tax returns are expected to be released to the public the house ways and means

committee voted to release them. a report released last week said the irs failed to do mandatory audits of the president. the report showed that mr. trump paid very little in taxes for several years, including only $750 in 2016 and 2017, and nothing in 2020. the vatican says that retired pope benedict remains in grave condition this morning but he is stable as well as lucid and conscious pope francis renewed his calls for people to pray for the 95-year-old benedict after his health took a turn for the worst earlier this week. tense moments as a chinese jet flu close to an american military plane over the chinese sea. josh letterman reports >> reporter: the u.s. military says the american plane was in international airs a conducting

routine patrols. look how close the chinese plane gets, 10 feet away and then drifting forward towards the plane, forcing it to descend to avoid a crash. what message are the chinese trying to send us? >> they view the western pacific as a chinese lake. they'll continue to expand and they don't want any interference from anybody else. >> reporter: for several years u.s. officials have been warning of dangerous behavior by china's pilots saying a major incident is only a matter of time lloyd austin raised concerns just last month with china's defense minister. >> the united states will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows. >> reporter: china sending dozens of aircraft this week across the median line in the taiwan strait and the biden administration approving a

$180 million arms sale to the self-governing island. the u.s. said it plans to raise the incident with china directly saying all militaries in the region must respect safety and international law. josh letterman, nbc news washington. he's been synonymous with soccer for over 60 years now the world mourns the loss of pele. he died yesterday at 82 years old. his funeral will take place in santos mbappe paid tribute to him former president obama said pele understood the power of sports to bring people together m more on the life and legacy of pele. >> reporter: across most of the world soccer fans consider pele not only a superstar but a mythical figure. his career spanned nearly two

decades. the sport was a family passion and from an early age he showed a desire to play the game. pele gained international attention in 1958 when he led brazil to victory in the world cup final. brazil also won the cup in 1962 under his leadership and for a third time in 1970 in 1974 pele officially announced his retirement but a year later accepted a $7 million contract to play with the new york cosmos. he was with them for two and a half seasons but pele permanently retired in 1978, ending his career with an impressive 1,280 goals in only 1,362 games. he published an autobiology in 1977 he composed many musical pieces including the score to the film pele.

the president of brazil appointed him to the brazilian cabinet as head of sports and later received an honorary british knighthood during this time he introduced legislation to reduce corruption in soccer. he left his position after he was accused of corruption. for years he battled illnesses, including kidney stones. inin 2016 the then 75-year-old soccccer star dedecided his declining health was too much to participate in the opening of the olympic games in rio de janeiro. let's turn now to your weather on this last friday of 2022, angie lassman joining us now. >> things busy in the south today along the gulf coast where

we're seeing strong storms working through. that's impacting folks in lake charles where they've seen warnings and watches when it comes to strong storms developing through the overnight hours. we'll see the flash flooding concerns for folks there this rain stretches through parts of illinois and moving through the tennessee valley the rest of the day today. the new year, pockets of rain from the ohio valley to the southeast. as we head through the rest of the afternoon, the rain continues to move to the east and is going to impact folks in the northeast here as we get through your saturday and by sunday we'll see somdryee 62 in little rock and some showers and thunderstorms to deal with in new orleans as well as into montgomery >> showers and thunderstorms on

the east, guys, but also on the west and we have warm weather. we'll talk about the new year's eve forecast coming up we'll be back in just a minute with a big night in the college bobowlwl s season. >> t the cowboysys wrarangle the titans in n the thursdsday night spotlilight. to help tatake you frfrom 9 to nonone. power through withth vicks dayayquil sever. ready toto shine from the i inside out?t? sasay “yes s” to natuture's by advancnced gummieses and jejelly beans.s. the e number onene brand fofor hair, skskin and naia. wiwith two timimes more bibin to briring out morore of y your inner r beauty. get momore with h nature's b b. i've run this place for 20 years, but i still need to prove that i'm more than what you see on paper. [ coughingng/sneezing g ] dudude, you cocoming? alka-s-seltzer plulus popowermax gels

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kicking off the second-to-last week of the regular season with tennessee wracking up injuries they relied on josh dobbs as qb. but the cowboys had too much defense for the titans to handle, cowboys win 27-13. is faang losing its teeth? why they had one of the worst years sie ncthe dodot cocom bube buburst. and ringnging in t the new s with better dedeals than b black friday to grarandma.. then, gertrudede found someththing for itit. delsym. anand now whatat's going a ard is 12-hourur cough relelief. anand the giggggles. and ththe great dadane pup. anand the giggggles. and grgrandma's glgluten-free goosebeberry pie.. whwhich is actctually prettyty great. the e family that t takes delsysym togethe, feels betttter togetheher. and try nenew delsym n nos vapor rollll-on for cocough.

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in today's news by the numbers it's all eyes on wall street as investors brace for the final day of trading of 2022, markets regained ground yesterday, the nasdaq was up

2.5%. stocks, 2022 goes down as the year faang lost its teeth. amazon plunged 50% amid recession fears. meta took a bigger hit after the pivot to virtual reality fell flat they dropped about 65% year to date but the biggest loser of the year is tesla down nearly 70%. the wheels came off for the electric auto maker after elon musk bought twitter and investors started flying the coop >> egg prices have cracked a record high and an avian flu outbreak has driven the price up nearly 50% from last year. it's up 1.72 from november of last year. and after record pain at the pump, we remember that, gas prices are ending this year lower than 2021, drivers paying about 12 cents less per gallon on average. retailers didn't get what

they wanted for christmas but lackluster sales mean big bargains and that's for you to invest in closing out the year stephanie gosk looks at those deals. >> reporter: not sure what to do with the down time this week, more than a few retailers with a suggestion, go shopping. there's stuff left on shelves and stores want it gone. one reason for the surplus may be the terrible weather last week the friday before christmas is typically the biggest day after black friday in new york on friday there were frigid temperatures and rain, making it miserable to come out. so now department stores like this one are having big sales, the sun is out and so are the shoppers. >> also the added inventory because of supply chains with trouble during the pandemic started opening up. >> my guess is that warehouses are bursting at the seams right now. >> that's good for consumers, isn't it

>> yes it is a good time to shop because the deals are significant. >> reporter: in new jersey there was steady foot traffic and plenty of deal seekers. >> 50 inch smart tv. 325, and got it for 269. >> i went in for the regular air pods, and they had the third generation on sale, they price matched another store. >> reporter: where are the deals? kind of all over look for cuts on clearance items, online and in stores. up to 50% at target, 60% at nordstrom and 70% off at saks. the best discount on clothes, beauty products and tech the effect of all the sales, some inflation driven prices are coming back down to earth. retailers who want shoppers who may have held back before the holidays to think now is the time stephanie gosk, nbc news, new york. will you ring in the new year with rain angie s s haththe forerecast ne.

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whether you love them or you dread them, it's time to think about the new year's reso resolutions. i'll go first here i spent way too many years collecting stuff i'm into sports cars, baseball caps, sneakers all that. i need to stop collection. so i'm going with reducing clutter. especially because we're going to need the space as we're going to read there, my wife and i are expecting another baby next year so there's plenty of reasons to, you know, make things a little more simple because things are about to get more chaotic. >> yes, it's going to be all baby all the time. your man cave is going to be gone. >> let's not go that far. i've got one for you for me it's communicate better, quicker maybe. get back to people on text and emails get rid of the unreads on my

phone. i'm going to need to do that because i need to communicate we have a bundle of joy of our own we're expecting in july of 2023. >> congratulations that's amazing 2023 we have a lot to look forward to >> yes. >> angie, do you have any baby news >> no pressure. >> anything you want to let us know tell us today. >> no baby news. i feel left out. but i'm stealing consider cori's new years resolution. things look good in the middle part of the country, everywhere else we'll see rain especially today into tomorrow, slick spots down to the gulf coast where we could see potential for stronger storms. out west, a couple storms, numerous storms come on shore that means flooding concerns with rain and snow in the higher elevations rain sticks with us through tesrday, into the evening hours atim square.

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acclaimed fashion designer vivian westwood has died she passed surrounded by family and friends but the cause of her death was not disclaimed she rose in the 1970s, creating a moment for the punk fashion. westwood was 81 years old. before we close out the year of 2022, we want to take a moment to thank everybody on the "early today" team who help make the show possible each and every morning. >> thanks for watching early

today. merry christmas. ♪ ♪ >> happy holidays from washington d.c thanks for getting up bright and early and ch watching "early today" have a great new year. ♪ >> hope everyone had a happy holiday. >> happy new year. ♪ >> happy holidays. thanks for watching "early today" >> happy new year, thank you for watching "early today. >> happy new year! ♪

>> to health, happiness, and lots of laughter in 2023 ♪ ♪ ♪ >> speaking for frances wheni

say we are so lucky to have such a great team, family really. >> truly. >> putting all of this together. we could not be more blessed we could not be more blessed having you each and every morning tching us,wa

across the bay area, many bracing for the incoming rain and closely monitoring possible flooding. this is video from marin county where crews are on standby keeping an eye on low-lying areas, hillsides and burn scars. we'll get you right to meteorologist vianey arana monitoring those conditions. good morning. a very good morning to you. thanks so much for joining us. i'm laura garcia. >> and i'm scott mcgrew. marcus washington has a little bit of time off. again, we are talking