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Peruvian President Arrested; Officials: Ukraine Asks The U.S. For Cluster Munitions; Time Magazine Names Volodymyr Zelenskyy Person Of The Year; China Makes Changes to National COVID Policies; Interview with Premier Medical Group USA President and CEO and U.S. National Consultant for COVID-19 testing Dr. Scott Miscovich; New Documentary by Prince Harry and Meghan Drops Soon; Interview with Sandro Monetti. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired December 08, 2022 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[02:00:21]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM. From being president to facing possible prison time. The mere hours that led to the downfall of Peru's leader. Pointing fingers in the election aftermath who republicans are blaming for failure in the Georgia Senate runoff.

And never before seen in less than an hour from now. We will know more about Prince Harry and Meghan than ever before.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. Well, Peru has had a messy and chaotic democracy for many years but Wednesday's impeachment and arrest of its embattled president was a watershed moment.

Angry supporters of President Pedro Castillo faced off against riot police as the tense drama unfolded in the capital. Castillo and his family have been embroiled in investigation since he came to power 18 months ago. And early Wednesday he announced he was dissolving Congress in an apparent bid to stay in power. But that enraged his critics who accused him of attempting a coup.

Within hours Castillo steel had been impeached and taken into custody. Vice President Dina Boluarte was quickly sworn in as Peru's first female president and became the sixth head of state in just five years. Well, for the very latest, here's Stefano Pozzebon in Bogota.

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a dramatic escalation that lasted a mere few hours. On Wednesday morning, Pedro Castillo was still the president of Peru. By the afternoon he was out of office, detained by Lima's prosecutors and facing charges of rebellion against the state. What triggered this escalation was Castillo's decision to dismiss congress, calls for early legislative elections just a mere few hours before facing an impeachment vote that was scheduled in congress against him.

But not even his political party supported Castillo's actions, and a former president who was quickly accused of attempting a coup in rapid successions, all of Peru's state powers that rejected the former president's orders. And congress rapidly proceeded to oust him. For his power to Castillo has always claimed his innocence, have rejected any allegation and saying that he's ready to cooperate with any investigation brought against them.

But it's a fact that Peru now has a new president. It's Castillo's former deputy and the first woman to hold the office in Peruvian history, Dina Boluarte.

DINA BOLUARTE, PRESIDENT OF PERU (through translator): I asked for a political truth to install a national unity government. This high responsibility calls upon us all, I am not asking for my government to be immune from scrutiny. What I am asking is time.

POZZEBON: And even with a new president, Peru's political crises really seem to know no end. Boluarte is the sixth president in less than five years. And she also faced a congressional investigations. I mere few weeks ago before being dismissed, her mandate runs up through 2026. And while time is what she asks, the task of bringing the country together could not be more urgent. For CNN. This is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.

CHURCH: A castle in Eastern Germany has been under police surveillance after an alleged plot by a far-right group to overthrow the German government was uncovered. The castle belongs to a suspected ringleader who goes by the name of Prince Heinrich XIII. He is a descendant of a dynasty that once ruled parts of eastern Germany. But his title is now only a formality. Heinrich is among 25 suspected members or supporters of the group who were arrested in a series of police raids on Wednesday.

Officials say their goal was to put an end to democracy in Germany and bring back a monarchy with Heinrich at the helm.

[02:05:01]

Well, prosecutors also say the suspects followed a number of conspiracy theories including the QAnon ideology as Fred Pleitgen reports, that's drawing comparisons with the extremist groups that stormed the U.S. Capitol last year.

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FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The raid started in the early morning hours. Several thousand police officers searching dozens of locations across Germany, including the castle (INAUDIBLE) home of the alleged ringleader. CNN has tried reaching out but it's not clear if he has a legal representative.

Based on current findings. The suspected terrorist group uncovered today was founded based on coup d'etat fantasies and conspiracy ideologies, Germany's interior minister said.

The group is called Reichsburger or citizens of the right and the alleged plotters were trying to overthrow the German government and install a monarchy with the prince at the helm, German authorities say.

Militant Reichsburger are united by the hatred for democracy for our state and for people who support our community, the interior minister said.

Conspiracy theorists have a massive following in Germany in August 2020, tens of thousands including QAnon followers and right-wing extremists took to the streets of Berlin, praising Russian leader Vladimir Putin and then U.S. President Donald Trump.

PLEITGEN (on camera): You like Donald Trump?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

PLEITGEN: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a deep state. Long time (INAUDIBLE) and that must end.

PLEITGEN (voice over): The crowd tried to storm German parliament that day, similar to the insurrection in the U.S. on January 6, 2021. Crowds ransacking the Capitol with members of the Oath Keepers militia group playing a key role in the violence. That's another parallel to the alleged coup in Germany. The Reichsburger too had already established a so-called military arm, German prosecutors say.

This military arm aims to set up a new German army the federal prosecutor said, consisting of Homeland Security units yet to be built. According to our information, individual members of this military arm were in the past active in the German armed forces. Several suspects were flown to the federal prosecutor's office by police helicopters an indication of just how seriously German authorities are taking this attack on their democracy.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

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CHURCH: CNN has exclusively learned that Ukraine is urging the Biden administration and members of congress to provide its military with controversial cluster munitions. Officials tell us it is a request that has not been rejected outright. CNN's Natasha Bertrand has all the details now from Washington.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: CNN has learned that over the past several months Ukrainians have been asking the Biden administration for cluster munitions. Those are bombs that are banned by over 100 countries but that the Ukrainian say could be a potential game changer in their war against the Russians who are using those cluster bombs to extraordinarily devastating effect inside Ukraine. Now, these bombs are very controversial because they are capable of targeting a very large group of people at once across a very large area. And that could pose a potentially very dangerous risk to civilians, as well as the fact that many of these cluster munitions when they hit the ground, they don't actually explode, leaving a dangerous path behind of unexploded ordnance that can act essentially like landmines and pose a risk to civilians.

The Ukrainians have been asking the administration for these -- the administration now is weighing those requests. However, they are saying that at this point, it does not seem like they will be able to actually transfer those munitions to Ukraine because of restrictions placed by congress on the U.S. ability to transfer those kinds of weapons overseas. The president could overcome that restriction.

And he could determine that this is an extraordinary circumstance that requires the Ukrainians to have these munitions, but of course, the optics of providing munitions to Ukraine that have been banned by over 100 countries at this point, not including the U.S. and Ukraine, which are not signatories to that ban would likely just be too politically devastating for the Biden administration to move forward with at this point.

The Biden administration has not rejected the Ukrainian request outright, but we are told from sources that it is not likely to happen in the near term. Natasha Bertrand, CNN, Washington.

CHURCH: Russian President Vladimir Putin says his country will use "all means available if necessary, in what he calls a fight for Russia's national interests."

[02:10:08]

Mr. Putin says right now half of the 300,000 men called up for Russia's partial mobilization are now in Ukraine. 77,000 during combat units. The Russian leader also acknowledged that the war is going to take a while and warned of the increasing threat of nuclear war. The U.S. State Department had this reaction.

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NED PRICE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: We think any loose talk of nuclear weapons is absolutely irresponsible. It flies in the face of the very statement that Russia formally signed on to in January of this year in the context of the U.N. Security Council. It flies in the face of the statement that we've heard from Russian officials even in recent weeks reaffirming that very simple principle about a nuclear war.

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CHURCH: Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says fierce battles are raging around the eastern town of Bakhmut as Russian forces try to gain control. Some of the Ukrainian soldiers severely wounded in the fight of flooding into a trauma hospital in the city of Kramatorsk where doctors are working urgently to save lives. CNN's Sam Kiley went inside to see the intense work underway.

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SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wartime brain surgery in tandem, wounded in battle on the same day on the same front, two young men. The focus of these over practice neurosurgeons. Kramatorsk is often bombed, the windows even in here are taped to slow flying glass. The effort is intense to repair brains, to save lives, memories, loves and future dreams. They would have little idea where to start their delicate work.

If they didn't have use of this C.T. scanner. It can pinpoint damage, find what it's done and it gives surgeons a plan of action.

He says yes, and unfortunately there is no left eye, there's a suspicion of damage to the right eye as well, but definitely no left eye.

KILEY (on camera): This is the fourth patient we've seen in the space of about an hour come in for a C.T. scan. It's supposed to be doing 15 or 20 a day. They're actually doing 70 or 80. In short, it's wearing out.

KILEY (voice over): This equipment is vital. The hospital can't afford a new one. But a used ones for sale in the west of Ukraine cost about 120,000 bucks price of losing this one incalculable.

He says, he shows signs of severe cranial cerebral injury with acute subdural hematoma and severe brain contusion. He needs urgent surgery.

The administrators here have raised about $60,000 they need help with the rest. This is the only C.T. scanner in a vast region.

Critical, his machine is critical. C.T. is critical to provide appropriate care for patients with both headwinds and acute brain injuries.

Is it saving lives?

Definitely, absolutely, 100 percent.

KILEY (on camera): There's been a steady flow of soldiers injured in a near Bakhmut, that is the scene of the heaviest fighting. This is a hospital that is trying to deal really with an area they say about 300 square kilometers and a lot of that is at war.

KILEY (voice over): Some soldiers are relatively lucky. Duck (ph) was shooting mortars that the Russians who shot mortars back.

My commander was lucky. He sat in front of me and I sat behind him and he was unhurt and I got hit in the leg. But yes, we've seen wounded and dead before. If I'm sitting here, I'm lucky.

Ukrainians on the Eastern Front call it the meat grinder. Check was alongside Duck when they were hit. How would you describe the battle for Bakhmut?

He says World War I. Trenches, mud, blood, trenches mud again, artillery trench warfare. That's it. World War I World War II. Something like that (INAUDIBLE) something like that.

The difference is that modern weapons are now more powerful than surgery, often the only route to survival. That an old-fashioned grit.

Sam Kiley, CNN in Kramatorsk.

CHURCH: Time Magazine's Person of the Year for 2022 is Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy along with the spirit of Ukraine shown by his fellow citizens.

[02:15:08]

Mr. Zelenskyy has been widely praised for leading his people in the fight against Russia's invasion. Time Magazine says the president and the countless individuals who embody the spirit of Ukraine made for a clear-cut choice, "For proving that courage can be as contagious as fear, for stirring people and nations to come together in defense of freedom for reminding the world of the fragility of democracy and of peace."

We'll have a short break. When we come back, democrats are celebrating a true senate majority. While Republicans are pointing fingers. We'll have some unsolicited advice from the GOP.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Turn left, republicans or at least don't turn hard right.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, Democrats in Washington are celebrating Rafael Warnock's runoff when in the state of Georgia and their new 51-49 senate majority. Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer welcomed Warner back to Washington after his victory of Republican Herschel Walker on Tuesday night. The Senate had been tied 50-50 with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking any ties.

But the one-seat advantage gives democrats a majority on all committees, and could help minimize the influence of moderates who weren't always on board with President Biden's agenda.

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SCHUMER: They say all good things come to those who wait. And this outcome is absolutely worth the wait. It gives us just the lift. The fact that we got the 51 votes gives us a -- just a great feeling enthusiasm, unity encouragement in that way.

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CHURCH: And Republicans are playing the blame game for Walker's loss in Georgia and the party's lackluster performance in the midterm elections. Kevin McCarthy is facing a challenge in his quest to be Speaker of the House and a growing number of GOP senators are pointing the finger at Donald Trump. CNN's Manu Raju has that report.

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HERSCHEL WALKER, GEORGIA REPUBLICAN SENATE CANDIDATE: Hello there.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (VOICE OVER): Senate republicans are reeling after a disappointing election cycle, leaving them deeper in the minority and now trying to figure out what went wrong.

SEN. RICK SCOTT (R-FL): It was frustrating. You know, clearly, I was optimistic that we will get a majority.

RAJU: Herschel Walker false to Democrat Raphael Warnock in Tuesday's Georgia runoff, giving democrats an additional seat and a slim 51-49 majority in the chamber. It comes after Republicans also fell short in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Arizona and Nevada. All states they had hoped to win.

[02:20:08]

SEN. ROY BLUNT (R-MO): We need better candidates.

RAJU: At the heart of the GOP criticism, the role of Donald Trump who handpick Walker and several other candidates who faltered and the general election, stomping lead on the campaign trail for republicans who ultimately lost.

RAJU (on camera): Was Donald Trump a problem this year?

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): Democrats in many cases were able to kind of turn it into a choice election because of Trump's presence out there. Because a lot of the candidates that had problems in these elections were running on the 2020 election being stolen. And I don't think independent voters we're having it.

RAJU (voice over): Utah GOP senator Mitt Romney calling Trump's endorsement, the kiss of death and retiring Pennsylvania Republican Pat Toomey saying Walker's loss is another example that "the Trump obsession is very bad for republicans." Trump defenders pushing back.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): No. I think we're losing close elections. Not because of Donald Trump. So, if the answer to everything in town is Trump's problem, then you're missing the boat.

RAJU: Some directing their anger at Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell for refusing to embrace an election your agenda.

SCOTT: I believe we ought to have our republican agenda and give people a real purpose for how to vote -- why to vote for us.

RAJU: (INAUDIBLE) Rick Scott Senate campaign arm for staying out of GOP primaries in 2022. With GOP leaders calling on the party to intervene in primaries in the

2024 cycle where democrats are defending 23 seats and Republicans just 11.

RAJU (on camera): Should you've taken a more active role and try to prop up the candidates would have been more electable?

SCOTT: Well, I think you've got to rely on the voters in the states. It's their states. I mean, there's talk of --

RAJU: I trust the voters.

RAJU (voice over): The additional seat now give Senate Democrats more power to issue subpoenas and breathing room to confirm President Biden's nominations.

UNIDENTIFIED FEFMALE: Turn left.

SCHUMER: Turn left, republicans or at least don't turn hard right.

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RAJU: Now I caught up with Senator Warnock when he returned to the Capitol on Wednesday and I asked him whether or not Trump had a role and actually helping him out by propping up and selecting a candidate who turned out to be weak in the general election. He dismissed that and said that he gives the Georgia voters a great deal of credit and seeing the differences between him and Herschel Walker.

And also, a little bit more of the republican reckoning. I spoke to John Cornyn who is a member of the Republican leadership about what went wrong. He said it's -- the problem was the candidates who did not expand their appeal beyond the primary electorate, said they need to go in the future. Make sure they are talking to general election voters. Not just the primary base. He says if not -- if they don't do that, they'll continue to lose.

Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

CHURCH: Still to come this hour. As Beijing rolls back zero COVID experts are now warning the country is not ready for what's yet to come. Back with that in a moment.

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CHURCH: People in China are starting to adjust to life after three years of strict COVID-19 measures. Beijing is sweeping changes to its national pandemic response or an effort to keep pace with the times. For more we had live to Hong Kong and Senior International Correspondent Ivan Watson. Good to see you, Ivan. So, what a health experts saying about China's easing of its severe zero-COVID policy measures?

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think there is a consensus that the burden on the population was enormous after many months. And we saw reaction with the protests of about a week and a half ago, the biggest of their kind, really in a generation. There is some enthusiasm among parts of Chinese society about life getting more back to normal about barriers coming down.

But there is also some apprehension particularly among families that live in multigenerational households who have grandparents who could be vulnerable to this virus.

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WATSON (voice over): China is the last country in the world still trying to completely eradicate COVID. But after months of harsh restrictions, some of the COVID lockdown barriers in China are starting to come down. This move by authorities comes just days after protests erupted across the country against Beijing's zero-COVID policy.

This breath of fresh air for some exhausted citizens carries a harsh reality. Experts predict a tough COVID winter is likely coming.

BEN COWLING, CHAIR OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, HONG KONG UNIVERSITY: The winter is the worst time to have a large epidemic because hospitals may already be under pressure for other reasons during the winter.

WATSON: The highly contagious Omicron variant is already spreading through the Chinese population.

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Unlike the rest of the world, very, very few people in China proportionally have had COVID and that's because of the strict lockdowns that the Chinese government has implemented. And so, there's very low baseline immunity. The other issue is that China has been using its domestically-produced vaccines, which are less effective than the mRNA vaccines.

WATSON: China has one of the world's highest COVID vaccination rates, but vaccination for the elderly in China lags far behind. 23 percent of Chinese citizens over 80 are completely unvaccinated. That leaves roughly 8.4 million very vulnerable unvaccinated people.

COWLING: So, if COVID was to spread through China now, I think we've seen a lot of severe cases in that group of people with either no vaccination or no recent vaccination.

WATSON: Epidemiologists say Hong Kong may offer a roadmap for what could happen in mainland China. After Hong Kong successfully maintained a zero-COVID bubble for nearly two years, Omicron spread out of control here last winter.

WATSON (on camera): At the peak of the outbreak, Hong Kong suffered more than 7000 deaths in six weeks, most of them elderly. At the time, it was the highest COVID mortality rate in the world driven largely experts say by very low vaccination rates among people over 60.

WATSON (voice over): Per capita, Mainland China has almost half the number of critical care beds in hospital compared to Hong Kong.

WEN: China got its investments backwards. So, by putting their focus on testing, and not on vaccines and treatments, China has actually not prepared the country and the citizens for what happens when zero COVID ends, which inevitably would end at some point.

WATSON: China was the scene of the world's first known COVID outbreak in December of 2019. If the experts are right, it could also be the last country that faces of COVID crisis.

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WATSON: Now Rosemary, one statistical model that draws parallels between the vaccination rates particularly among the elderly in Hong Kong and in mainland China, it forecasts to predict that Mainland China could potentially lose from one to two million people as a result of unexpected outbreak of COVID going through the population. Now that's probably partly why the Chinese government has announced plans to try to jumpstart its vaccination program to get jobs into the arms of that vulnerable, particularly elderly population.

[02:30:00]

And then, that again begs the question among many experts, why didn't the Chinese government start that vaccination earlier? Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes, it is the big question, isn't it? Ivan Watson joining us live from Hong Kong. Many thanks.

Dr. Scott Miscovich is president and CEO of the Premier Medical Group USA and a national consultant for COVID-19 testing, and he joins us now. Thank you so much, Doctor, for being with us.

DR. SCOTT MISCOVICH, PRESIDENT AND CEO, PREMIER MEDICAL GROUP USA AND U.S. NATIONAL CONSULTANT FOR COVID-19 TESTING: Sure, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, as China moves away from its strict zero COVID policy, what will likely happen as more people come in contact with the virus, especially those who have never been exposed before because of these long lockdowns?

DR. MISCOVICH: Rosemary, this is likely to be a disaster. At this stage, where we are, with the fact that there is such low vaccination rates in general amongst the elderly and the at risk population as well as the general population when they did get their first and second shots, they were mostly about eight months ago. And what we now know about the Sinovac vaccine is after about three or four months it starts to wane, and we know that across the world.

You and I have talked about this numerous times, that as you get past four or five months, your effectiveness is going down below, you know, 20 percent perhaps at this stage. So, this is a combination of the wrong things happening at the wrong time right now.

CHURCH: So, what needs to happen right now in terms of vaccinating the population, given we know China's domestically produced COVID vaccine isn't very effective anyway and so few people have received it. We did hear from Ivan that China is starting to get more people vaccinated. But as you say, there has to be this cycle so that in a matter of months, you're doing it all over again.

DR. MISCOVICH: Oh, it can't happen, Rosemary, because the first fallacy with that is it's a minimum of two weeks after the vaccination before you even start to get low levels of immunity. And where are we right now? We're coming into the holiday season. And let's not forget, one month from now, the biggest holiday of the year, in China is going to occur, which is the Lunar New Year. There are so many things coming together that the spread throughout China.

What we're expecting could happen is you're going to see their ICU beds fill up because they are already stressed right now. And probably have to hit the Lunar New Year, in a period of 68 weeks, they likely will either shut down or people will be just dying at home.

CHURCH: I mean, this is the problem. It's been years, hasn't it? So, why hasn't China better prepared its health care system to cope with more infections in the populations rather than choose to lock people down for these long periods of time and what can they do now to play catch up on those preparations to ensure that hospitals are not overwhelmed, especially with winter coming?

DR. MISCOVICH: Yes, absolutely. And, you know, we've had three countries who have transitioned from zero COVID successfully, and that was Singapore, New Zealand and Australia, and they did it in a planned basis. It started with vaccinating the at risk and the elderly to try to present -- prevent those that desks stat and then, broadly vaccinating their population when they were in the high 90 of recent vaccinations. So, that is one of the main disasters that's occurring.

And then, Rosemary, your piece before was very, very spot on and don't we say it enough, there's no natural heard immunity in this population. They have not experienced a large amount of COVID. So, the chances that this is just going to spread. We are putting estimates right now that 75 percent of the Chinese population are going to be contracting COVID over this winter period. And let's not forget, the flu and RSV is also circulating there right now, dangerous.

CHURCH: Yes, indeed. And, of course, the rest the world knows exactly the various stages that China is going to go through. Because all the countries around the world have already been through those stages. Dr. Scott Miscovich, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

The story of the duke and duchess of Sussex will soon be streamed. A new documentary is about to drop with Harry and Meghan reflecting on how their life has changed in recent years. I'll ask a royal expert what kind of revelations we can expect.

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[02:35:00]

CHURCH: The duke and duchess of Sussex were tightlipped earlier this week during an awards ceremony in New York. They did not divulge any details about the new docuseries on their life. But that will be released just minutes from now in fact. Netflix is dropping the first next episodes today and the next three in a week from now. Buckingham Palace has not yet commented on the series, but is likely bracing for bombshells.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX: There's a hierarchy of the family. You know, there's leaking, but there's also planting of stories.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was a war against Meghan to suit other people's agendas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not hatred. It's about race.

PRINCE HARRY: It's a dirty game. The pain and the suffering of women marrying into this institution, this feeding frenzy.

MEGHAN MARKLE, DUCHESS OF SUSSEX: I realized, they're never going to protect you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And I want to bring in Sandro Monetti from Los Angeles. He is a journalist, author, and royal expert. Good to have you with us.

SANDRO MONETTI, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, Harry and Meghan's relationship with the royal family is on public or will be on public view in this new docuseries. And in the trailer, we hear Harry say, no one knows the full truth, we know the full truth, and that's why they want to share their side of the story and get it out there. But you don't accept that as their motivation. Why?

MONETTI: Well, they are ready to launch their truth bombs at Buckingham Palace, but their truth keeps changing. Remember, this is a couple who said they were getting away from Britain for more privacy to protect their family. Most people who do that don't invite the reality TV cameras in for a six-part docuseries.

It seems to me the agenda is more to form a full profit alternative royal family in the United States, you know, almost with their own written constitution, the honors they received, the Kennedy event the other night was part of that, so is this series, so is the book. And, yes, Harry says it's a dirty dream, but he's playing one himself. And how is Buckingham Palace going to respond? I think there will be some nervous people watching it through the fingers over there.

CHURCH: I would say, most definitely. And, of course, we heard in the trailer Harry talking about the feeding frenzy of the press and how he's terrified history will repeat itself, referring to the relentless pursuit of his mother, of course, the late Princess Diana, by the paparazzi. Harry saw what his mother had to deal with, and then, of course, his own wife, leaked stories about both women, tabloid saying atrocious things about them. Did you accepted that both women were mistreated by the media and indeed the royal family? [02:40:00]

MONETTI: I don't except a lot of the argument in the first place because, yes, with the fear, it is quite easy. You know, they could retire from public life, as well as stepping back from the family. If look at royals like (INAUDIBLE) and Sophie, they don't call up the press, princess and doesn't, they just sort of get on with the job.

But, you know, they have decided to seize the spotlight and, you know, really putting yourself in the media frame. And what a better way than with a reality show. For us royal watchers, Christmases come early. This is fascinating. It's less a trailer, more a declaration of war. And I can't wait to see where the battle ends.

CHURCH: So, you say this is all about making money or profit, they say it's about getting their side of the story out there because they don't feel that it's been out there. So, what needs to happen once this series is over and what's the likely impact of errors like the picture of photographers gathered fighting for a shot of, as it turns out, Harry Potter, not Harry and Meghan? And, you know, what do you think will be the impact of that?

MONETTI: Yes. Now, when you're going to attack the press on accuracy and you want to get your own story out there, you can't then have misrepresentations in the trailer because it hurts the credibility. How are we supposed to believe what is being said if we've learned that what's in the trailer is a misrepresentation? Is that going to be the case with the series as well?

And as for the point about money, Harry was born to a life of duty and service. And the thing is, all these good deeds, it's a voluntary act. The royals don't get paid to the turn up for the opening of hospitals or events. And, you know -- but everywhere they go there seems to be so much money around it.

Yes, I'm sure others would like to tell their truth, but they don't sell it for $100 million to Netflix. I think they could've have used their deal to shine a light on social justice issues, which don't involve them. In fact, they've turned cameras back on themselves, and if you live by the sword, you die by the sword. I would be interesting to see how this works out.

CHURCH: So, do you think this docuseries signals the end of any possible relationship they might have with the royals going forward and how do you think the royal family will respond to this? Do you think they'll stay quiet or do you think Charles might say something?

MONETTI: Well, remember, this is just the first shot in a war, because after this, we've got Harry's book coming out next month. So, yes, I see no way back whatsoever. The question is, what fresh revelations, is there anything left for them to say? We will see what come out. And if they are damaging, will the palace come up with a swift and firm rebuttal?

I mean, they'll be -- it's -- you know, they're just waking up in Britain at the moment. And yes, they might be choking into their cereal and in just a few minutes when the revelations come thick and fast, we will see. They'll be drafting in the press release if it's needed, I'm sure.

CHURCH: Indeed. There will be six episodes to sit down and watch. So, we'll see what comes of that Sandro Monetti, always a pleasure to chat with you. Many thanks.

MONETTI: God save the king.

CHURCH: CNN will start watching as the first episodes are released. And we will bring the latest details as soon as we have them.

Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. World Sport is up next. Then I'll be back in 15 minutes with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stay around.

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