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Texas Man Accused of Kidnapping; Heavy Rain and Snow for California; Christopher Anderson is Interviewed about Prince Harry; Bakhmut is Bloodiest Place on the Front Line; Chinese Invasion of Taiwan Would Fail. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired January 09, 2023 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:31:29]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so this next story is scary. A Houston area man is already free on bond after he was charged in the kidnapping and assault of a woman he met on the dating app Bumble. The 21-year-old woman says that Zachary Kent Mills held her captive without food or water for five days and then beat her when she tried to escape.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's senior national correspondent Ed Lavandera is following these developments from us.

So, what more did we learn from these court documents, Ed?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, these are documents that were filed in the arrest of 21-year-old Zachary Kent Mills. And based on the interviews that the investigators had with the victim in this case, where she alleges that on Christmas Eve, December 24th, she connected with Mills on the dating app Bumble and that he came by her apartment, picked her up, and they went back to his apartment. And that's where, according to the court documents, he immediately tried to engage in sexual intercourse. The victim told investigators that he -- she refused the advances and that then Mills began to physically assault her, punching her, slapping her and even at one point using a screwdriver to inflict damage on the woman as well. The court documents reveal that the woman was found with bruised eyes, bruises all over her body, as well as cuts to her neck and throat.

Despite all of this, five days later, Mills, according to the court documents, decided to leave his apartment and go see his father, and that is when the woman was able to escape. And despite all of this, the attorney for Mills says that no one should rush to judgment in this case.

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CHRIS DENUNA, ZACHARY MILLS' ATTORNEY: Not to be insensitive to the complaining witness at all or anything like that or for anyone who may have actually experienced these traumatic events, but I think also it's important to know that there are two sides to this story. My client is presumed innocent, as is afforded to him through the Constitution and due process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Now, as you mentioned, Jim, Mills is out on bond. It was a $50,000 bond. There are some conditions on that release. He is not allowed to come within 200 feet of where the victim lives, works or goes to school, and that he has to observe a 24-hour home confinement curfew as well. He's not expected back in court, though, until early March.

SCIUTTO: Goodness. Thank God the woman is safe.

Ed Lavandera, thanks so much for covering it.

HILL: Significant flooding, mudslides, power outages all possible with more heavy rain and mountain snow bombarding California. Two bouts of extreme weather are expected, so one today, followed by another one tomorrow. And already this morning, wind gusts of more than 100 miles an hour have been recorded.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HILL: And this, of course, is on top of last week's storms.

SCIUTTO: Yes, I mean, extreme weather, that's the phrase of the day. There's still more than 100,000 Californians without power after last week's storm system.

Camila Bernal, she has the latest from San Francisco.

I just wonder how extensive this all is.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jim, Erica, good morning.

It is going to be nonstop rain over the next couple of days. It's a little bit lighter right now, but more is coming. And not only are people in California not used to getting this type of rain, but the biggest problem is this back to back storms with very little time in between. The ground is already very saturated. And we're not just talking here in the bay area, it's essentially all of California. And authorities telling people you need to be ready for power outages and you need to be ready for very dangerous driving conditions.

[09:35:05]

And, again, because it is already so saturated, the ground is so saturated, that means the possibility of mudslides and that means the possibility of sinkholes. Two things that already happened with the previous storms.

Officials here in the bay area saying that they're also worried about a communications blackout.

Here is the executive director of the department of emergency management in San Francisco.

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MARY ELLEN CARROLL, EXEC. DIR., SAN FRANCISCO DEPT. OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Many of the infrastructure for even communications, that's our cell and internet, is underground. And so as we get more inundation from the rain, we're seeing more failure around those what we call lifeline systems.

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BERNAL: And this is why people need to be careful because all of these things added together make it very dangerous for the people in California and for the people here in the bay area. San Francisco recorded its wettest ten-day period last week since 1871. We are expecting between 2 to 5 inches of rain over the next couple of days. And so that is why officials are saying you have to be ready, you have to be prepared.

Along the ocean, the communities there, everybody using sandbags, doing everything they can to keep the water away from their homes. But again, it's people who are not used to so much rain in so little time.

Guys, back to you.

HILL: Yes, it is a lot. That is maybe an understatement.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HILL: Camila, appreciate it. Thank you.

Still ahead, what would Princess Diana think about the very public rift between her two sons? Prince Harry answering that question as he continues his media tour for his tell-all book about the royal family. The latest revelations, next.

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[09:41:06]

HILL: New bombshell revelations overnight from Prince Harry, just a day before the long awaited release of his new memoire "Spare." This morning, the duke of Sussex was asked about how his mother, Princess Diana, would have reacted to the rift between him and his brother, William.

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PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX: I think she would be sad. I think she would be looking at -- looking at it long term, to know that there are certain things that we need to go through to be able to heal the relationship.

I think she would be heartbroken that its ended up where its ended up. I think she would be heartbroken about the fact that William, his office, were part of these stories. And William and I made a - made a pact, made a deal, that no matter what we would never let our offices fight against each other.

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HILL: Joining me now to discuss, Christopher Andersen, royal expert, author of dozens of books on the royal family, including "Brothers and Wives," about the dynamic between Will and Harry and their spouses, and most recently "The King: The Life of Charles III."

Christopher, good to see you this morning.

You know, in watching these interviews, and I think Anderson Cooper made this point really well this morning here on CNN, he talked about overall, this really is a story of grief. And you see how much the death of his mother changed not only likely the trajectory of Harry's life but also this relationship between Harry and William.

CHRISTOPHER ANDERSEN, ROYAL EXPERT: I think one of the most stunning revelations here is the fact that Harry, and to some extent William, did not accept Diana's death. They didn't believe she was dead for 10 -- he said he was 23 before he - Harry realized that his mother wasn't coming home magically. You know, magical thinking was going on there.

He's still coping with grief. His brother is still coping with grief. Charles, I think, feels rather guilty for having forced his - or persuaded his sons to walk behind their mother's coffin. That's still something that's very triggering for both boys. They say they suffer from PTSD because of it.

So, indeed it is a story of coping with grief and how that grief has affected everyone in the royal family.

HILL: When we -- there's so many questions this morning, obviously, about what the relationship is today between Harry, his brother and his father and what it could be in the future. You know he told Anderson they haven't talked in a while, haven't texted, haven't spoken with one another. He does hope to have that relationship. He did say in another interview he does - he admits he bears some responsibility for the falling out there, for the rift with William.

But based on everything we're seeing over the last week or so, what do you think the chances are that there is some sort of reconciliation between the three?

ANDERSEN: Zero, to be - to be quite honest because, you know, he says he wants to repair this relationship with -- he wants his brother and his father back, but he has a peculiar way of showing it. I mean, you know, what is the ultimate goal here? Not only does Harry kind of throw Charles and William under the bus, but he's throwing Kate and Camilla under the bus a bit. And that's another revelation. I have known - I've written about this, that I knew behind the scenes William and Harry were somewhat resentful of Camilla's role and did not want her to become queen. Here he comes right out now and says they both tried to talk their father out of marrying Camilla. So, we know that --

HILL: To your point, he actually -- ANDERSEN: (INAUDIBLE).

HILL: He called her a villain, a dangerous woman who traded information. I just want to play a little bit more of that discussion with Anderson.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX: If you are led to believe, as a member of the family, that being on the front page, having positive headlines, positive stories written about you is going to improve your reputation or increase the chances of you being accepted as monarch by the British public, then that's what you're going to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: To your point, you may know - may have known about some of this.

[09:45:02]

This hasn't really been public about how unhappy they were with her and unhappy with the way things went down, including the fact that they decided to marry.

What does this do now?

ANDERSEN: Well, I mean, there's a constitutional question here. It was just raised recently. No king has ever been crowned who was divorced. You may remember when Camilla and Charles were married in 2005, they had to get down on their knees before the Archbishop of Canterbury and ask for forgiveness for their manifold sins and wickedness was the phrase. The church didn't marry them, they were married in a civil ceremony. But now the Church of England puts the crown on the king's head. And that has never happened with a divorced king before.

And when it's a situation like this, where both the queen and the king would have been -- we all know about what happened, the affair they had, it destroyed the marriage with Diana, it's just going to get sticky. And the British people (INAUDIBLE) behind Camilla becoming queen and I'm - I'm -- if William and Harry aren't, then this really casts appall over the ceremony that's going to be coming up in May. So, we'll see how Charles reacts.

And, by the way, Charles is very, you know, very defensive when it comes to Camilla. He's not going to like whatever negative remarks are made by Harry about Camilla. So, we'll see how he reacts. And he can react by taking away titles. You know, they still are the duke and duchess of Sussex, but it's all up to King Charles, you know. If he wants to retaliate, he can.

HILL: Right. And Anderson has asked - he asked him about that title. He said, what would that really change if they took away the title.

I only have time for a yes or no, do you think this changes whether Harry and Meghan will be invited to the coronation?

ANDERSEN: It could. It could.

HILL: OK. Christopher Andersen -

ANDERSEN: (INAUDIBLE).

HILL: Great to see you this morning. Appreciate it. Thank you.

ANDERSEN: Nice seeing you. Thank you.

HILL: And don't miss Prince Harry's sit-down with CNN's Anderson Cooper. You can catch it tonight in a special -- "AC360" special right here on CNN, 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

SCIUTTO: Still ahead, the Ukrainian president calls it the bloodiest site on the Ukrainian front lines. How the town of Bakhmut is holding off Russian forces against all odds and with an enormous shocking human cost. We're going to be live on the ground nearby. That's coming up.

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[09:51:11]

HILL: A town in Ukraine's east is one of the bloodiest places on the front line in Ukraine's battle against the Russian invasion.

SCIUTTO: That's according to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He praised the fighters in Bakhmut for holding out there, quote, against all odds.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, it's about an hour from Bakhmut. He was there this weekend.

And, you know, when I read accounts of the human toll on the front lines, Ben, I mean it's mind-boggling. Dozens of Ukrainians a day, you hear, Ukrainian fighters. Are they making headway? Has this become a war of attrition there? What does it look like?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It looks like a war of attrition, but at moment it looks like perhaps the Russians are getting in the upper hand, Jim. We're getting reports, for instance, from the town right next to Bakhmut, Solidar (ph), that there is intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the center of the city. Today, for instance, from here, Kramatorsk, we could see Russian jets flying over that area and Ukrainian air defenses trying to take them down.

Now, we spent the weekend in Kramatorsk. We spent the night in a basement/bomb shelter. And what we saw, as far as the civilian population goes, they are shell shocked. This is a city where for months there has been intense bombardment. According to local officials, more than 60 percent of the city has been destroyed. Only 10 percent of the population remains. There's no electricity, no running water, no heat, no telecommunications. But people hang on.

We were in one of those shelters where people go where there are generators and there is wood stoves and satellite link ups. But what we saw was people really in a daze. Just barely capable of functioning. Volunteers are providing them with hot drinks, with a warm meal, with medicine if they need it, but those volunteers are overwhelmed with the scale of the situation.

In fact, we had orthodox Christmas Eve dinner with three of the only seven doctors left in Bakhmut, the city that used to have 300 doctors. And they told us that basically the psychological state of the few residents left in Bakhmut is perilous.

Jim.

HILL: Could only imagine. Ben, really appreciate it. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

Another story we've been following for some time, a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, if it were to happen, would fail, would leave the Chinese navy in a shambles and, most importantly, cost thousands of lives on all sides, including the U.S. side. That is the conclusion of a war game simulation completed by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. These are important things. These war games are done to kind of get a sense of how these conflicts would be.

HILL: CNN Pentagon correspondent Oren Liebermann joining us now.

So, this is a simulation, obviously, but just yesterday Taiwan says 28 Chinese aircraft actually crossed into their air defense zone, underscoring, of course, as Jim points out, why these exercises are necessary.

What else did it find?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It is because of exercises like that and moves like that from the Chinese military, the buildup of forces, especially after the visit of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, that some experts warn a Chinese military is preparing for an invasion of Taiwan.

So, the Center for Strategic and International Studies war gamed out what that might look like in the year 2026, running 24 different simulations. They found all of these simulations, all of these war games were incredibly costly for China, Taiwan and the U.S. But, crucially, in all but the most pessimistic scenario, China failed in an attempted invasion of Taiwan, failed to get a beach head from which it could assert control over the island.

[09:55:05]

And this is for two broad reasons. First, amphibious assaults are incredibly difficult. And, second, Taiwan is a defensible island. So, in terms of the numbers, the results of these war games, the Center for Strategic and International Students found that the U.S. would lose 10 to 20 service combatants, that is combat ships, including two aircraft carriers, the loss of some 3,200 U.S. troops and 200 to 400 military aircraft, depending on the scenario and what went behind it.

China would lose 90 percent of its amphibious fleet, some 50 combat warships, and about 150 combat aircraft. Japan would also lose, because according to the war game scenario, the U.S. would need to use its bases in Japan to make sure it's close to the scenario.

Crucial to this is the assumption that Taiwan resists or else CSIS points out, this is essentially a pointless exercise if Taiwan doesn't immediately fight back here.

Some of the assumptions that went into this are Taiwanese resistance and the U.S. ability to use its bases on Japan for essentially the fight back against China. That's the difficulty here.

Jim and Erica, it is worth pointing out that there are other experts who say China will look to gain control of Taiwan but they'll use their economic power and industrial power to do so, not their military.

SCIUTTO: Goodness, the loss of 10 to 20 U.S. ships, two aircraft carriers. I mean this is thousands of sailors involved.

HILL: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Quite an alarming outlook.

LIEBERMANN: Absolutely.

SCIUTTO: Oren Liebermann, thank you so much.

Still ahead, we are live on Capitol Hill as the new speaker, Kevin McCarthy, faces his first challenge to run the House, this after making all those concessions to the hard right to get the votes he needed. We're going to have an update.

Please stay with us.

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