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Migrant Border Crossings Surge Ahead Of Title 42 Repeal; Interview With Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX); Unrest In Peru; Musk Offers Journalists Banned From Twitter The Ability To Return; CA Mountain Lion Euthanized After Evidence Of Trauma, Illness; NASA Launches SpaceX Rocket To Survey Earth's Water; U.S. Scientists Achieve Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough; New Research: Whales Help Planet By Storing Huge Amounts Of Carbon; Harry & Meghan Reveal Bitter Split From Royal Family; Sharon Osbourne Taken To Hospital After Emergency Call. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired December 17, 2022 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:36]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

Right now, a surge of migrants is arriving at the southern border and that influx could get much bigger. Take a look at these images from the Rio Grande of migrants braving freezing conditions to line up and turn themselves in to border patrol officers. It's partly because of a pandemic era policy that allows officials to turn the migrants away and that is set to end in just four days.

CNN's Ed Lavandera has been getting a first-hand look at what some migrants are dealing with after crossing into the U.S.

Ed, I can see it's still going on behind you, obviously. What are you seeing?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, another day here on the streets of downtown El Paso. Hundreds of migrants on these streets here. Many of them will not be able to sleep inside of shelters in the city tonight and many of them waiting for a ride out of town.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: It's 39 degrees and getting colder. This is Roberto Cordoba's first night sleeping on the El Paso streets. He says he has never experienced anything close to homelessness. He left Cuba last month and is hoping to get to Miami soon.

He says this is the first time in his life he's ever had to spend the night on the street and he feels completely lost.

A thin pair of New York Giants socks and unlaced shoes won't be enough to get through the frigid night. Everything that he is wearing now -- the jackets and the heavy

clothing, is donated -- people who have dropped it off here.

Roberto hopes there is something else to keep him warm in the back of Sandragrace Martinez's car. For days, she's handed out donated goods.

SANDRAGRACE MARTINEZ, VOLUNTEER: They're on survival mode. It's quite a plight for them.

LAVANDERA: The long lines of migrants from Juarez, Mexico waiting to get escorted into El Paso by border patrol agents has significantly dwindled, a sign that perhaps this latest migration surge has slowed down for now.

But that could change next week with the Title 42 public health rule set to expire. That order allows for the swift expulsion of migrants at the border.

As more migrants arrive in El Paso, officials plan to bring in more buses to move migrants to their destinations in the U.S. faster, hoping to prevent a backlog of people on these streets.

MARIO D'ANGOSTINO, DEPUTY CITY MANAGER, EL PASO, TEXAS: So with that, that might bring in transportation in forms of buses to get them to that transportation hub. Whether it's Dallas or Denver or Phoenix or whatever that next large airport or bus terminal is, it's to move them on to those locations.

LAVANDERA: El Paso emergency management outreach teams are helping migrants find shelter space at night, but Albert Robles and his wife have been sleeping on the street, buried under blankets since Monday night. Their bus ticket to Connecticut isn't good until this weekend.

He said the first night that he was sleeping on the street, it was drizzly and cold. It was almost like a fatal feeling, but he thought, you know, he has been dreaming of this moment for so long, that there is no way he was going to turn back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: And Jim, while the shelters here in El Paso are doing the best they can to take care of as many people as possible here on the streets, it becomes a little bit more disorganized and a little bit chaotic even though it has worked out relatively well for many people.

But a lot of times, like here on the streets, people will literally just drive next to this bus station where a lot of people have been congregating as they await their bus tickets to get out of town. And the problem is that many of these bus tickets, the rides are so full that it is taking migrants several days to get out of the city.

So people will drop off goods like this and leave goods and blankets. And people will come by and grab what they can. We've seen that repeatedly over and over.

ACOSTA: All right. Ed Lavandera, thank you very much. Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas.

Congressman, thanks for joining us. We appreciate it.

Are you confident that authorities down there on the border are prepared for this possibility of a massive surge of migrants after Title 42 ends just days from now?

[17:04:49]

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D-TX): Well, in the immediate future, the federal government should be as helpful to cities like El Paso and Del Rio and McAllen and other border cities across the southwest as Title 42 is lifted.

But there is a longer term problem here. And really, a longer term solution that's needed. You've got to work with those Central American countries and Latin American countries to really build up their economies and help them rid themselves of the drug cartels that are threatening and endangering so many of these folks and forcing them to flee.

ACOSTA: And I mean, you were just talking about how we've gotten here. But let's take a look at what's going on. I mean migrants sleeping on the street, 39-degree weather like we just saw, balancing on rocks, trying to cross the Rio Grande with their kids in their arms.

Obviously, these are really tough conditions. What can be done right now at a time when immigration courts are reporting a backlog of more than 2 million cases?

CASTRO: Well, remember, the president has asked for $3 billion in funding from the Congress. And I think the Congress should deliver it.

But also, Jim, I want to step back and put it in context a bit. What you just described, and the scenes that we saw minus the modern technology is something that has been experienced in America for generations.

If you go back to the 1800s, the early 1900s, we had white waves of migration. There were thousands and thousands, millions of people that came here from all over the world, from Europe, all over the world with absolutely nothing, absolutely destitute, some of them without family members. So this is a contemporary scene of what we have seen in America throughout the generations.

ACOSTA: And do you think President Biden should go down to the border and take a look at all this? See these images firsthand?

You know, we've been showing these folks living in tents, crossing with young children. Might it do a little good to go down there and check it out himself?

CASTRO: Sure. I think that during his term, I think he he should come down to the U.S.-Mexico border. I think that would be helpful. I do think that the president and his administration have worked hard on the issue of immigration. That Congress has worked hard on the issue of immigration particularly in the House of Representatives.

Remember, we have passed different immigration reform bills but unfortunately, Republicans in the Senate have blocked any of them from being passed. So Congress has to step up and be responsible as well.

ACOSTA: And turning to the January 6th investigation, on Monday we will learn how many people the January 6th committee will criminally refer to the Justice Department and whether that will include Donald Trump.

What do you think should happen? Would you like to see a recommendation for the former president including a charge of inciting an insurrection?

CASTRO: I mean, look, I've said before that I think that there are likely any number of crimes that you can charge the former president of the United States Donald Trump with, in different categories of crime. Whether it was defrauding his charity, inciting an insurrection, different business malfeasance.

So I would expect with all of the evidence that the committee has collected, that there is likely enough for referral of Donald Trump and many of his associates to the Department of Justice to be prosecuted for various things.

ACOSTA: Do you think though that the public might be getting set up for something of a letdown though if they make these criminal referrals and the Justice Department doesn't really act when it comes to the January 6th investigation?

We know they're looking into the classified documents, Mar-a-Lago, in addition to all this. And perhaps something may come of that, in the special counsel's investigation.

But might this action by the January 6th Committee have the unintended consequence of letting folks down? If it doesn't amount to anything ultimately in terms of a prosecution?

CASTRO: No, I mean, I hear your concern. And certainly it could turn out that way. If there's a referral, I mean the Department of Justice sits on it and does nothing. But I think most of all, what people are looking for is for the Department of Justice to treat Donald Trump to offer him no special treatment.

That if he committed a crime, just like somebody else who's living in San Antonio or in, you know, in Cedar Rapids Iowa or South Dakota or wherever they are, that if this man committed a crime, that he be prosecuted by the Department of Justice just like somebody else would.

ACOSTA: And CNN's Jamie Gangel, my colleague getting an exclusive interview with the outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in which they both expressed their hope that President Biden will run for re-election. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're stepping aside. Do you think President Biden should step aside for a younger generation?

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: No. I think President Biden has done an excellent job as president of the United States. I hope that he does seek re-election.

GANGEL: So you think he should run again?

SENATOR CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MAJORITY LEADER: A lot of people -- yes, he's done an excellent, excellent job. And if he runs, I'm going to support him all the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:09:52]

ACOSTA: Congressman, I know we've been asking all of your colleagues on the Democratic side basically the same question. But where do you stand on this? Do you want to see the president run for re-election?

CASTRO: Yes, I do. Joe Biden won the election against 24 other Democratic opponents in the Democratic primary and then he beat an incumbent president. And he helped the country bounce back from the pandemic.

His administration, working with Congress, and of course, with the American people, has created millions of jobs. We passed major legislation working with the president through this Congress. Congress had been grid locked for years and finally major legislation was passed.

So I think that he has earned the right to run for this office again if that's what he wants to do. And if he runs, I'll support him.

ACOSTA: And Congressman, I want to ask you about Elon Musk and what has been happening over on Twitter. The suspension of some of these journalists that have occurred over the last couple of days.

What are your thoughts on that? What should be done about -- if you think anything should be done about what Elon Musk is doing over on Twitter right now?

CASTRO: You know, I've been on Twitter I think since maybe 2009 or 2010. And it is just unfortunate to see how this platform is breaking down because it had become so popular and such an important way for news to be disseminated.

Oftentimes, news was put up on Twitter. People found out about things on Twitter faster than the networks or certainly the newspapers or anybody else could cover it. So I think we can't underestimate what this platform has meant to the dissemination of important information and news.

And these, you know, this banning, this recent banning of folks, seems to be fairly arbitrary. And so look, like I said, it's been a useful tool. I probably spent way too much time on it over the last ten years or so. But it has been an incredibly useful tool and I hope that it can survive. But right now it's future seems uncertain.

ACOSTA: And if Elon Musk says well, this is my company. It's my Web site. It's my platform. I can do what I want with certain users. What would you say to that?

CASTRO: Yes. I mean well, I mean on the one hand, he's right that it is -- he would be right that it is a private business. But it also begs the question that Congress and the American people have to wrestle with, which is, as we develop new technology, our laws about what is, I guess, a public good, right? The way the telephone system, for example, is a public good.

Those things have not been updated literally in decades. So we have to start thinking about when we treat something as a kind of public utility. You know, now the American people on the whole may say, well, we don't put the Internet in that category. We don't put a particular platform in that category.

But at this point, we've never even had that serious conversation as Americans, or certainly as members of congress.

ACOSTA: All right. We'll see if that conversation happens. Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas, thanks very much for your time. We appreciate it.

CASTRO: Good to be with you.

ACOSTA: And a quick programming note. Make sure you tune into CNN for special coverage of the January 6th final public hearing. That starts Monday at 12:00 Eastern.

Now, to Peru where hundreds of tourists are stranded, many of them Americans, in one of the visited places in that country, the ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu. They're stuck because the only way in and out of that area is by rail and no trains are running in Peru right now. Much of the country is in chaos after the president was ousted and thrown in jail.

It is a state of emergency and CNN's Rafael Romo has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: I have been in touch with Americans who had planned a trip of a lifetime to exotic places in Peru like the ancient city of Machu Picchu. They told me as early as Monday they noticed people protesting violently on the streets in cities like Cusco and Ayacucho.

Shortly thereafter, rail lines and regional airports shut down and now they're unable to return home.

The death toll now stands at 20 after more than a week of violent protests. Authorities say there are at least 40 injured but the figure has been steadily increasing.

Former President Pedro Castillo was impeached and subsequently arrested on December 7 after announcing his plan to dissolve Congress.

The unrest sparked by his arrest has prompted international warnings about travel to Peru. A state of emergency was declared Wednesday and now eight regions are under curfew. But it's become painfully clear that measures authorities have taken so far are not enough to put an end to the chaos.

ROMO: I spoke with Michael Reiner. He's an American tourist from Washington, D.C. who told me he's part of a group of eight Americans mainly college buddies and other mutual friends who are now stuck in Peru.

This is how he described their situation speaking to us from Cusco.

MICHAEL REINER, AMERICAN STRANDED IN PERU: It's surreal to be a tourist in a country where there is political unrest taking place before our eyes.

[17:14:54]

REINER: It's a whole new way of experiencing a country. The context for that for us is there is something bigger happening here than just our travel experience.

ROMO: Peruvian authorities have confirmed the Cusco airport has reopened. This is good news for people trapped there trying to catch a connecting flight to Lima, the capital, to leave the country.

And just to give you an idea about how popular Peru is as an international destination, more than half a million foreign tourists visited the country in the first five months of the year according to government figures.

Rafael Romo, CNN -- Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Coming up, as we've been reporting, new developments in the Twitter drama. After banning several journalists from the site, Elon Musk is allowing them to return if they meet his conditions. We'll explain next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[17:19:48]

ACOSTA: Elon Musk is now giving several journalists he suddenly banned from Twitter this week a chance to return, but only if they meet his conditions. The Twitter CEO doing this 180 and posting an unscientific poll where more than half of respondents said the ban accounts should be restored immediately.

While some of those accounts are now publicly viewable, the journalists still cannot actually post until they delete tweets that Musk says violated Twitter rules. He's claimed they shared his location in real-time. But let's be clear, they did not do that.

The whole incident is just the latest issue that has got Elon Musk in the spotlight.

And CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's make some noise for the richest man in the world.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Elon Musk met with boos and some cheers on stage with Dave Chappelle. A mirror of what his first two months at Twitter's home have been like -- Revered by some, Despised by others.

A tweet about prosecuting Anthony Fauci drew back lash. He's reinstated many previously banned accounts like former President Donald Trump, that violated Twitter's rules. And he fired thousands of employees, reportedly threatening to sue the ones who remained if they leak confidential information. But those who followed Musk's career say they're not surprised.

SARA FISCHER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: The approach that you're seeing in how Elon Musk governs Twitter is aligned with how he's governed his previous companies. The difference is that he's doing it more publicly in a more super charged way.

YURKEVICH: Musk started his first tech company with his brother in the mid 1990s. Called Zip2, which made online maps.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We slept in because we could pay rent either in office or a house and (INAUDIBLE) just be the office.

ELON MUSK, CEO, TWITTER: This is definitely very cool.

YURKEVICH: Musk sold that first company in 1999 for more than $300 million and bought himself a rare McLaren super car with his newfound fortune.

MUSK: There it is, the fastest car in the world.

YURKEVICH: Bigger money would come with Musk's next company which eventually became PayPal. It sold in 2002 for $1.5 billion. But Musk was just getting started.

MAYE MUSK, ELON MUSK'S MOTHER: They said should he go into space? Should he go into electric cars or solar power? And I said well, just choose one.

YURKEVICH: Musk didn't listen to his mom.

MUSK: We expected to open a lot more (INAUDIBLE).

YURKEVICH: He revolutionized the car industry with Tesla which he's claimed has almost gone bankrupt. Tesla, like many companies, facing a dramatic collapse in share price, down nearly 50 percent this year, challenging Musk's richest man in the world title.

EDWARD NEDERMEYER, AUTHOR: Tesla was always an incredibly chaotic company in a business that runs on long term planning, it was sort of this day to day sort of chaos and lack of planning and the plans were constantly changing.

YURKEVICH: He went on making history with SpaceX.

MUSK: We want to make space accessible to everyone.

YURKEVICH: Musk started a solar energy company and another high-tech venture, Neuralink, aiming to connect humans and computers by implanting chips into people's brains.

MUSK: It's sort of like having an Apple Watch or a Fitbit. Replacing a piece of skull with like a smart watch.

YURKEVICH: Initially, camera shy, Musk learned to leverage the power of publicity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're Elon Musk.

MUSK: I am?

M. MUSK: I saw him on a TV show. And I said, Elon, you're doing TV work. He said no one will sell me any rocket parts because they don't know who I am.

YURKEVICH: He has nine children and even the unusual name of one child made headlines.

MUSK: I mean it's jut X, the letter X. And then the ae is like pronounced ash.

YURKEVICH: His eccentric ways have landed him in serious trouble. A joke tweet about taking Tesla private led to an SEC investigation and a lawsuit.

STEVEN PELKIN, CO-DIRECTOR, SEC DIVISION OF ENFORCEMENT: Musk's tweets and blog posts misled investors into believing that it was virtually certain that he could take Tesla private.

YURKEVICH: Musk settled with the SEC and this year he bought the very company that landed him in legal hot water, purchasing Twitter for $44 billion.

MUSK: If Twitter was not bought and steered in a good direction, that it would be a danger for the future of civilization and so that's why I -- that's why I bought it.

YURKEVICH: Musk has been criticized for allowing hate speech back on to Twitter, something he denies.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): We can't be surprised because Musk has let go of so many of the people that might be responsible for moderating and taking that content offline. YURKEVICH: Despite the backlash against him, Musk insists he's always

had the best motives.

MUSK: I love humanity. And I think that we should fight for a good future for humanity.

YURKEVICH: Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN -- New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[17:24:45]

ACOSTA: A popular mountain lion that became the face of wildlife conservation efforts in California has been euthanized after an exam revealed severe injuries and chronic health problems. P-22 as he was called became famous after he was photographed near the iconic Hollywood sign.

CNN's Camila Bernal joins us now.

Camila, state Fish and Wildlife officials said that P-22 showed signs of trauma. He's a bit of a celebrity out there in L.A. Tell us more.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He really is, Jim. I mean people follow him. He has an Instagram, a Facebook. And look, he had been tracked for ten years here in Los Angeles. So many people following his every move.

But scientists saying that about a month ago, they started seeing changes in his behavior. He was going deeper and deeper into urban areas. They say he was getting closer to dogs and even dogs on leashes, and closer to people.

So they thought that maybe he was in distress and it was better to capture him. And that's what they did. And he went through a medical evaluation. That medical evaluation, unfortunately, revealing that he had liver or kidney disease, that he had infections in his skin, that he was going through severe weight loss.

They also say that they believe that he was hit by a car and found trauma in his eye, in his head, in his internal organs. And so taking all of that into consideration. That's when the experts decide that it was best to essentially put him down.

These experts spoke earlier this week saying that his data will live on. Here is one of those experts that has been tracking him for years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SETH RILEY, CHIEF WILDLIFE ECOLOGIST, SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS NATIONAL REC. AREA: He's been an incredibly interesting animal. We've really gotten a lot of really great information from him.

He's persisted in the smallest term range that has ever been recorded for an adult male mountain lion. And just an -- like I said, a really interesting animal. The truth is he'll be a part of our studies, forever be a part -- an important part of our mountain lion studies.

I'm sure we'll be looking at his data for years to come.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: That data also helping experts figure out how to build the world's biggest overpass for wildlife that is currently being built here in Los Angeles. It will sit above Highway 101 and cover ten lanes of that highway, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Camila Bernal, thank you very much. A beautiful creature. And sorry to hear that update. Thanks so much. Appreciate that.

A quick programming note, everybody. Ten years after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, my colleague Alisyn Camerota talked to parents who turned their pain into power. The special hour, "SANDY HOOK: FOREVER REMEMBERED" begins tomorrow night at 8:00 right here on CNN.

Coming up, NASA and SpaceX are at it again. And this mission isn't about space at all. It is about the water here on earth. We'll explain next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

[17:27:36]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:32:08]

ACOSTA: There's a brand-new satellite zooming over our head right now. Blastoff was yesterday morning on an ambitious NASA mission.

They're not looking out into space. This satellite will be looking down. Its only job is to survey all of earth's water. And not just the oceans.

Our chief climate correspondent, Bill Weir, joins us now.

Bill, fascinating stuff as always. What's going on? Why do we need a spacecraft to show us where all the world's water is?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, because, Jim, so far, all the other spacecraft haven't found any other planet that will share their water with us. It is refreshing to aim our technology back at the only watery planet we know.

This is so helpful in so many ways. For the first time -- this goes back to the '80s with the French, actually. The Canadians and U.K. were involved. But NASA and the French became obsessed with , how do we mention ocean rise, how do we measure river flow.

And now this will be able to do everything. And that is helping if you're planning bridges for a new age of climate uncertainty. It helps with planning drinking water, crops.

Let me show you this graphic. I don't know if you can put it up. This is from the U.S. Geological Survey.

They took all the water on earth and put it into a sphere to compare it to the size of earth. And all that big ball is all the water on earth.

The one that is over like, Ohio there, is all of the unfrozen fresh water on earth. And then the little, tiny one, that you can barely see, are all the lakes and rivers on earth.

And we, eight billion people and our animals and crops are drinking from those. So it is super important to understand the state of things. Especially now.

ACOSTA: Yes. That really puts things in perspective.

And, Bill, an enormous breakthrough happened this week at a lab in California. Scientists were able to reproduce the power of the sun through nuclear fusion.

That's a huge step toward a clean source of energy that the world is going to need at some point, I imagine.

Is this the beginning of the end of fossil fuels and greenhouse gases? What do you think?

WEIR: Well, if it is, it is the very, very, very beginning. This is not even really getting into the hill there in Kitty Hawk yet.

We can't diminish the magnitude of this moment. Human beings basically -- if you've ever done any cooking, you know how hard it is to work with high temperatures.

Human beings created the heat of the sun in a tiny little sugar cube- size machine surrounded by three football fields of lasers. They spent $3.5 billion on it.

For a billionth of a second, we controlled the power of the sun as human beings. That is a huge tipping point. It created more energy that came out of it than was put in. There are other ways to do this with giant magnets.

Now more private money is going into this. It would be a huge game changer. And it would be a great message to the send to the kids and grandkids that we're willing to invest for your future.

[17:35:05]

Even though we may not plug our Houses into it in our lifetimes, this will be a game changer for the rest of humanity going forward and they will look back on this moment.

ACOSTA: Yes. And something I think kids will like, this next thing I want to ask you about. This report that came out that points to whales as being helpful in tackling the climate crisis. Tell us more.

WEIR: This is more understanding. We realize now, by wiping out like 98 percent of the big whales on the planet, we not only lost sort of the fertilizer pump they take from the deep ocean and spray them on the surface.

Because they can't poop down on the beach. This is the bottom of the food chain plankton and all of the fish and everything we eat when it comes to marine life and the seafood industry.

Now they're realizing these whales are also huge carbon sinks. They can absorb more carbon than any other living thing. When they die, they go down to the deep ocean where pressure locks that carbon away.

So whales could be our biggest ally in terms pulling carbon out of the sky. If you put a price tag on it, one whale is worth about $2 billion to the planet for these services they provide.

It would be interesting to see how much this affects places like Japan. Iceland finally banned whaling going forward. But there are calls now for a total moratorium to let these animals come back and help heal the planet.

ACOSTA: They are majestic creatures.

All right. Bill Weir, thanks as always. Always great to talk to you about this very important topic.

WEIR: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, good to see you. Thank you so much.

This just into CNN. Kenny DeLand Jr is now on a fight to the U.S. The American student was missing for two weeks before getting in touch with his parents from in Spain on Friday.

French officials say DeLand went to Spain voluntarily to Spain from France after meeting people who suggested he visit there.

Officials said they worked with the FBI in Paris to help track him down. We'll continue to stay on top of this developing story. But glad he's OK.

We're back live in the CNN NEWSROOM in just a few moments after a quick break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:41:13]

ACOSTA: It has way more drama than an episode of "Suits." the family feud involving the British royals reached new heights after Netflix dropped the final episodes of the "Harry & Meghan" documentary.

It included Harry's bombshell claims of a screaming match when he told his family he and Meghan would step back from royal life. CNN's Max Foster reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX: Good morning. It's 6:00 a.m. on the 14th of March, and we are on the freedom flight. We are leaving Canada and we are headed to Los Angeles.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The palace may have been spared in the first drop of episodes, but this time Harry and Meghan didn't pull any punches.

PRINCE HARRY: Everything that's happened to us was always going to happen to us because if you speak truth to power, that's how they respond.

FOSTER: In the final episodes of the couple's Netflix docuseries, Harry took aim at his brother.

PRINCE HARRY: It was terrifying to have my brother screaming, shouting me and my father saying things that simply weren't true and, and my grandmother quietly sit there and sort of take it all in.

FOSTER: The couple sharing their perspective on the royal rift, which in their words, pushed them out of the fold.

It started during their tour of Australia back in 2018. So successful, it created jealousy in the palace they say.

PRINCE HARRY: The issue is when someone who's marrying and it should be a supporting a supporting act, is then stealing the limelight or is doing the job better than the person who was born to do this, that upsets people, It shifts the balance.

Within four hours, they were happy to lie to protect my brother. And yet for three years, they were never willing to tell the truth to protect us.

FOSTER: Meghan says the stress of the media coverage was too much. Last year, saying she didn't want to live anymore.

MEGHAN, DUCHESS OF SUSSEX: It's like all of this will stop if I'm not here. And that was the scariest thing about it, is it was such clear thinking.

FOSTER: But she also suffered physically because of the stress of the worldwide coverage. And in British newspapers, including the "Daily Mail," which published a letter she wrote to her father.

PRINCE HARRY: I believe my wife suffered a miscarriage because of what the "Mail" did. They watched the whole thing.

Now, do we absolutely know that the miscarriage was create caused by that? Of course we don't.

But bearing in mind the stress that caused the lack of sleep and the timing of the pregnancy, at the time in the pregnancy -- I mean weeks and she was -- I can say from what I saw that miscarriage was created by what they were trying to do to her.

FOSTER: The family's response? Well, on Thursday, they showed a united front at a planned engagement. And the palace said they had no plans to comment on the series.

Max Foster, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And this just into CNN. Sharon Osbourne was transported to a hospital last night after an emergency call.

EMS responded to an unspecified emergency call at an historic hotel in southern California for the 70-year-old TV personality and wife of Ozzie Osbourne. We'll stay on top of this and bring you any developments as they come in.

[17:44:43]

And we'll be back in a few moments after a quick break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: This just into CNN. We are learning Sharon Osbourne was transported to a hospital last night.

Joining us is CNN entertainment reporter, Chloe Melas.

Chloe, what more are you learning?

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Yes. Look, we are just learning right now that Sharon Osbourne, yesterday evening, in an area called Santo Paulo, California, in Ventura County, she was filming a ghost-themed television show. It's unclear what the name is. More details on that project.

At 6:30 Pacific time, she was taken to the hospital. Someone from this hotel called for EMS, saying it was an emergency. And CNN has learned that it was Sharon Osbourne.

Fast forward to today -- because this happened yesterday evening, we're all just finding out now. We have reached out to representatives for Sharon Osbourne. We haven't heard back.

[17:50:01]

You know, look, it's been a tough recent few months for Sharon. She's been taking care of her husband, Ozzie Osbourne, who suffers from Parkinson's.

She has been on social media. She has been very outspoken in the last few days about the Harry and Meghan documentary on Netflix.

Again, she was filming this television show. And, again, it was at the Glen Tavern Inn. It's a very famous historic hotel, Jim, where they do film other type of ghost hunters and spiritual paranormal activity shows.

We don't know the details of what led to her being taken to the hospital. We don't know what the emergency was or how she is now.

But again, this is a developing story. We will keep you all posted once we hear from Sharon Osbourne's team.

ACOSTA: OK. Well, thank you for that.

Let's talk about the Harry and Meghan docuseries on Netflix. Everyone is talking about that right now, it seems.

It has gotten a frosty reception from the British royal family, no surprise. But how is it doing with awe questions

MELAS: OK. I just finish last night watching the final three episodes that came out on Thursday. It's mixed. It's the top show on Netflix. So everybody is watching it.

And sort of, like, how last week, on "SNL" when Martin Short and Steve Martin hosted, they compared themselves to Meghan and Harry, saying no one is rooting for us but we are watching anyway.

I would say there are a lot of people rooting for Harry and Meghan. Some people feel they're oversharing. I don't want to reveal too much in case you haven't seen it.

Harry gets really personal about the conversation, really an argument he had with his father, King Charles, now and his brother, Prince William, about his decision to step back from royal duties, to move to America. He claimed his brother screamed at him.

Some people say, OK, families fight. Why share those details so publicly?

We know when he and Meghan moved to the U.S., they had to pay for their own security. They have a big lifestyle, big bills to play. They also signed this Spotify deal, this Netflix deal.

Harry has a memoir in a couple of weeks. People feel it's too much all at the same time. And that also what's left for the memoirs? So much was shared in this docuseries, which really they took on -- have you seen it on yet, Jim?

They are taking on the British media, saying the British media was responsible for so much of their problems. And that the royal family has this relationship with the media where they're feeding stories about themselves.

ACOSTA: Yes. I haven't watched much more than just some clips, I have to confess. It may not be my cup of tea.

But it does seem as though they are talking about all of this coverage. There's so much coverage about them. Yet they are spilling the tea themselves. I can't get around maybe there's a tiny bit of contradiction there.

Let me ask you about something more in my wheelhouse. That is the new sci-fi epic "Avatar, The Way of Water." It was released on Friday. I loved the first film. It was so much fun. We waited a long time to get to this one.

James Cameron is hoping for an enormous box office wave. He said he needs $2 billion to break even. OK. That's a lot. I hope he gets there.

How is the movie doing so far?

MELAS: OK. So here is the deal, Jim. Slow and steady wins the race, right? So that is what James Cameron and that is what the makers of "Avatar" are saying.

It is expected to do, let's just say, $150 million this weekend, surpassing the first avatar's opening weekend was. I think it was $70 million.

But, yes, he does have a really big price tag to meet. He had said, look, I need to make a couple billion dollars at the box office in order for me to break even because it costs hundreds of millions to make.

It looks like that could happen. Because there are presale tickets. A lot of people are choosing to preorder their tickets, see this in IMax, Dolby, which a lot of people are seeing.

There are only 150-something of those theaters in the United States. So this is going to be a slow trickle for "Avatar."

In fact, many people are saying, and experts in the industry, this is getting an "A" cinema score. That it's a really big deal. And this movie is going to meet the box office demands.

And that it will hit the mark that is going to help James Cameron break even.

But I also want to say, though, my brother saw the movie this week. A lot of people I know in my life have already gone and seen it in screenings. And --

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: What are they saying?

MELAS: They are saying they love it.

ACOSTA: OK.

MELAS: Especially in 3D. Don't forget this is three hours and 12 minutes long.

That's the other thing, too, Jim.

ACOSTA: Wow.

MELAS: There also has to be not just the right theater to see it in. But people have to set aside a lot of time.

A lot of people say they will wait to see it over Christmas Day, Christmas weekend. That's when you are really going to see the big number.

[17:55:06]

Don't judge it yet. Let's wait until Christmas and new year's to really see how it's done.

ACOSTA: All right. Very good. I'm looking forward to seeing it. I will make that commitment. I want to see this sequel.

Chloe Melas, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Great to see you as always.

That's the news. Reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. I'll see you back here tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

Pamela Brown takes over the CNN NEWSROOM live after a quick break.

Have a good night, everybody.

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