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Relentless Flooding, Mudslides, Powerful Winds Batter California; Soon: Biden Holds Summit With Leaders Of Mexico, Canada; Items Found At Trash Facility Being Tested For Links To Missing Woman. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired January 10, 2023 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

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ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Alisyn Camerota. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you.

Right now, dangerous storms are battering California with relentless rain and deadly flooding. There have been dozens of water rescues and thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes. 34 million people are under flood watches as the storm pushes South. At least 16 people across the state have died in this recent outbreak of storms.

In Central California, a five-year-old is missing after being swept away in floodwaters. A crew suspended the search when the weather became unsafe for the rescue teams.

CAMEROTA: Heavy rainfall led to this rock slide in Fresno. Boulders and debris forest highways across the state to close. Firefighters in Ventura County rescued a 70-year-old man after rising floodwaters trapped him inside his SUV. The onslaught of rain is turning streets and creeks into these raging rivers that you see on your screen with some seeing more than a month's worth of rain in a day.

Ellen DeGeneres described the scene near her home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELLEN DEGENERES, TV HOST: We are having unprecedented rain. This creek next to our house never flows, ever. Probably about 9 feet up. It's going to go another 2 feet up (INAUDIBLE). We need to be nicer to mother nature.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: CNN's Mike Valerio and Camila Bernal are getting a first- hand look at the situation. So, first to Camila. What are you seeing further north in Santa Cruz County?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, a lot of standing water, Alisyn. And then people left to clean up this mess. I just got word from Santa Cruz County. And it's good news. They told me that all of the evacuation orders have been lifted. But it doesn't mean that all of this is over because of all the water that is still here.

As you can see in this neighborhood, it is house after house that has been flooded. I've talked to many of the people here who have told me look, we've been here for years and this is the worst that it's been. The one thing that they're worried about is that the water is not receding. We've been here since very early this morning and we have not seen the water go down very much or at all. And so, that's what these residents are worried about.

Normally, if it floods here, the water goes away. But here it is. And this is what they will be dealing with over the next couple of days if not weeks. The county is still saying, look, you should not be on the roads because a lot of them look like this. So, even though evacuation orders have been lifted, they're saying, if you don't have to be out and driving around, just stay home because, of course, it could be extremely dangerous. The ground is saturated.

This is a county with a lot of trees, large trees, and with the ground so saturated, it was very easy for the street to come down. And again, you're seeing the water street after street. I want to show you this street, but also, I'm going to turn around because right across the street, you're seeing the same thing you know.

And these neighbors hear just telling me that they're frustrated, they're tired because they're having to clean up. It is a difficult process not just physically but financially as well. A lot of them telling me that they were worried about how much all of this is going to cost. So, they're hoping to be able to get some of that government help, especially the federal aid but it's unclear if they're going to get that. They're going to be here cleaning for a very long time. Alisyn, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Understandable that they are frustrated when you see what's all around you there. Let's go to Mike in Montecito. What do you see?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, good afternoon. The conditions are improving here in Montecito, thankfully. In the video that we showed at the top of the show from Ellen, her backyard, Victor and Alisyn, this is the same creek over my right-hand shoulder. So, we saw the crescendo of the storms and the floodwaters rising around midnight local time yesterday.

But the good news here from Montecito, the sun is coming out in the second act. The second impulse of moisture is heading eastward towards Los Angeles, through the Inland Empire, and is moving out of here to give us a reprieve at least until Saturday. But certainly, the good news if you can see also over my right-hand shoulder, they kind of look like monkey bars, these steel spikes that are on the right-hand side -- my right-hand side. Those are steel spikes that were put in after, five years ago, the tragedy that unfolded here when catastrophic mudslides came through the area. Those spikes prevent boulders from cascading down the mountainside, down this and you see drill creek right here and into the neighborhoods behind our camera position.

[14:05:09]

So, neighbors are certainly relieved that unlike Camila's position, north of us, the floodwaters are receding, these boulders have not come crashing down. And you can see further in our backdrop, the beautiful Santa Ynez Mountains, the green verdant backdrop right there. Officials are still concerned, Victor and Alisyn. They evacuated this entire locality of just underneath 10,000 people. They want to make sure that the hillsides, the mountainsides stay stable for the next few days. And they're not sure when exactly they'll know that.

CAMEROTA: Yes, they have a lot to deal with so many different factors.

BLACKWELL: Yes. All right. Camila Bernal, Mike Valerio, thank you both.

CAMEROTA: So, moments from now, President Biden will join the leaders of Canada and Mexico for a joint summit at the National Palace in Mexico City. Their focus is expected to be on immigration, security, trade, and economic issues.

BLACKWELL: Now, the Biden administration is set to roll out new measures to try to slow the swell of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is in Mexico City. Tell us what you know about these new measures.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, President Biden has arrived and the three leaders are meeting and they're going to be talking about a key issue, migration, as you laid out. Now the U.S. has made it very clear that they see that managing migration needs to be a regional approach. And that includes the help of Mexico and Canada. So, the measures they're rolling out today reflect just that.

One of them, for example, is a virtual portal that would allow migrants to apply for legal pathways to either of those countries, Mexico, Canada, or the United States, and see what they're eligible for. The other is a center in southern Mexico at Tapachula, that's a transit location where migrants pass through where they can also receive services and see what again, they may be eligible for it. The idea here is to make it more accessible for people to come to the United States, through legal means.

Now, of course, it has to prove to be a viable option for migrants who as we know, are often fleeing very desperate conditions, and they're doing so urgently. And so that really is the challenge for the administration. And a senior administration official I talked to you conceded that and said this is an experiment, but it requires the help of all three countries. So, expect that to be a taut button topic as they meet today, as well as touching on other issues like economic development, trade, climate change, all of that expected to come up during the summit. And we will be hearing from all three leaders later this afternoon, Victor and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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(INAUDIBLE)

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BLACKWELL: Lots of questions there for President Biden while he's in Mexico about the classified documents discovered in his private office in Washington, he didn't answer any of those. A source tells CNN's Jamie Gangel that 10 documents with classification markings were found in November, less than a week before the midterm elections. The papers were dated from 2013 to 2016 when Biden was vice president.

CAMEROTA: Now the source also says that among the classified materials were U.S. intelligence memos and briefing materials related to Ukraine, Iran, and the United Kingdom. CNN special correspondent Jamie Gangel is here. Jamie, you've got great reporting.

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: You've also learned how these documents were discovered. So, just walk us through that.

GANGEL: So, just big picture for context. I think it's important to state that almost all the papers in the office were personal. They included materials about Beau Biden's funeral arrangements, condolence letters, reference material. In fact, that's why a personal lawyer to Biden was going through the material and cleaning it out so that it would remain confidential.

My understanding is the lawyer is going through the boxes. He sees a manila envelope marked stamped on the front VP personal, which may explain how it -- how it got packed up. He opens it up. He sees classified, immediately closes the folder again, and calls for help. The Archives are informed that day, immediately. They come the next day to pick up the three or four boxes. And in those boxes -- my understanding is when the Archives come to the office, they sort of look around, do a -- do a cursory check, they identify three or four boxes that contain these 10 classified documents, as well as some unclassified documents that fall under the Presidential Records Act.

BLACKWELL: Jamie, any indication about how these documents got into this office?

GANGEL: No, not that we know yet. But you know, maybe the marking on that folder, maybe it was an honest mistake because it was marked VP personal.

[14:10:08]

Just for context. I've spoken to sources familiar with the National Archives. It's important to note this has happened in the past. Former presidents, former vice presidents, former high-level officials accidentally take something. It's an honest mistake. They also point to -- I spoke to one source, who for the record, is a lifelong registered Republican and that's where he said to me that this looks like an honest mistake, and pointed to the fact that the Biden folks immediately cooperated and returned it.

BLACKWELL: Jamie Gangel, with the reporting, thank you very much. Let's turn now to CNN's senior legal analyst Elie Honig. All right. So, let's start with breaking down what we know about these documents so far. And, of course, we've just been through this with former President Trump. How they compare to the documents found at Mar-a- Lago?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Sure, Victor. So, let's understand, first of all, how did we get here? Now, Joe Biden, of course, left office as vice president back in January of 2017. After that, he took a position with something called the Biden Center at the University of Pennsylvania, it was mostly an honorary academic type of title. Now, he had an office in Washington, DC, which he left in 2019. Joe Biden left but his stuff stayed behind. And now, just two months ago, in November of this year, Joe Biden's attorneys were going through those documents and they found some of these classified documents.

Now, there are some vital differences between the Biden documents and Donald Trump's documents, starting with the sheer number of documents. As Jamie just reported, 10 documents found in Biden's office, over 200 classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago. Also, the classification level. Now, this is actually the same. Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump's documents included documents at the highest level of classification, what we call SCI, Sensitive Compartmented Information.

Now, this is what in a prosecutor's view is the single most important differentiator, knowledge and intent. Now, thus far, Joe Biden's people have denied that he knew anything about this. DOJ surely is going to investigate that. There's nothing to indicate to the country.

Donald Trump has openly admitted that he knew he had these documents at Mar-a-Lago. He's offered up various other defenses. So, he clearly knew there was still a question about whether he had criminal intent. That's going to be crucial for prosecutors. And then finally there's compliance, as Jamie just said, as soon as Joe Biden's lawyers found this, they notified the Archives and turned over the classified documents. Of course, Donald Trump's team was much more resistant and put up -- and is now being investigated for potential obstruction of justice.

CAMEROTA: Well, speaking of that investigation of the DOJ, Eli, how big of a problem will this be for Attorney General Merrick Garland now?

HONIG: He's got problems. This is going to be complicated. Now, importantly, Merrick Garland has appointed a U.S. attorney named John Lausch, who's the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, the Chicago area. He is actually a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney to investigate the Biden documents. And we just reported earlier today, that Lausch has already given his preliminary report to Merrick Garland, the Attorney General. Now, Garland really has two choices. He can say, I see nothing here, we're closing it down or he can say there may be something here let's launch a full-scale investigation. Of course, with respect to Trump's documents at Mar-a-Lago, Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel, Jack Smith, who is investigating both the Mar-a-Lago documents and Donald Trump's involvement in January 6.

Jack Smith is going to make the initial recommendation about whether to indict or not. But again, ultimately, the buck stops with Merrick Garland. He will have the final say on both of these.

BLACKWELL: So, it's a legal investigation. How about Congress? What can we see out of Congress?

HONIG: It is a different world on Capitol Hill. The world we've gotten used to with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff running some of the key investigations, that is not the world anymore. As of last week, we now have speaker McCarthy. Jim Jordan will be running some of the key investigations. You know they will dig in on this.

We had Republican members of Congress last night on our air talking about how eager they were to dig into this. We have a quote here from representative James Comer, from the Oversight Committee who said "is the White House going to be raided tonight? Are they going to raid the Biden Center? This is further concern that there is a two-tiered justice system."

There's some hyperbole there. But make no mistake. Republicans will dig in. They will make a meal of this on Capitol Hill.

CAMEROTA: Eli, as you know, CNN just did this big Rudy special over the weekend. It was fascinating. Just incredible to remember how long Rudy Giuliani has been a part of our you know, public consciousness, and now he seems to be back in focus. What's the latest?

HONIG: Yes, it's yet another step in the continuing fall of Rudy Giuliani. He's now been subpoenaed by the Special Counsel, Jack Smith, part of the Justice Department, looking for records relating to payments that Rudy Giuliani received from Trump-affiliated political entities. This tells us that the special counsel's investigation is expanding, and is getting into financial details.

[14:15:01]

And, of course, we remember that detail from the January 6 committee that Rudy Giuliani at one point requested $20,000 per day for his legal services, and so, Alisyn, I've decided I need to start charging a little bit more.

CAMEROTA: Yes, you really do. I don't know what you get but you're worth so much to all of us.

HONIG: Not 20K.

BLACKWELL: Are you kidding? 20K.

CAMEROTA: Eli Honig, thanks for explaining all that.

HONIG: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right, new into CNN. The husband of a missing woman actually searched the Internet for "how to dispose of a 115-pound woman's body." How that is reshaping, of course, the investigation?

CAMEROTA: And some encouraging news on inflation. Online prices are dropping. What this means for you? Ahead.

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BLACKWELL: Some troubling new developments in the search for Ana Walshe. She's the missing mother of three in Massachusetts. Police say they have recovered several items during the search of a trash facility that are now being tested for possible connection to the investigation.

CAMEROTA: Law enforcement sources tell CNN that her husband, Brian Walshe, who has been charged with misleading authorities, did an internet search for "how to dispose of a 115-pound woman's body." CNN's Jason Carroll joins us now. Jason, it sounds like they're gathering a lot of troubling evidence against this guy.

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JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Troubling, Alisyn, and evidence that's very difficult to report about, to hear about, especially for those who loved and still love Ana Walshe and are waiting for word to hear about what happened to her. But let's start about with what happened last night. This was at that trash facility that you refer to located just north of Boston. That's where investigators spent several hours there last night combing through all of that garbage, all of that trash.

Now, the DA's office is telling us today that they found several items there that have key interest for what they're looking at. And their case saying that those items that they found "are subject to processing and testing to determine if they are evidentiary of -- evidentiary value to this investigation." Again, this also coming after some of the gruesome details that you had mentioned earlier, sources telling CNN that in the days following Walshe's wife's disappearance, he did that internet search, searching not only for how to dispose of a 115-pound body but also how to dismember a body.

That follows up with some of the details that we heard in court yesterday when Brian Walshe, as you know, was -- where you had his arraignment hearing. That's when prosecutors laid out some of the evidence that they say was found here at the home.

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LYNN BELAND, ASSISTANT NORFOLK DISTRICT ATTORNEY: He's on surveillance at that time, purchasing about $450 worth of cleaning supplies that will include mops, bucket, tops, TViX, drop cloths, as well as various kinds of take. Blood was found in the basement area as well as a knife which also contains some blood. During the timeframe when he didn't put his wife and gave various statements, that allowed him time to either clean up evidence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: The DA's office also saying that they pretty much wrapped up what they needed to do here at the home. That will either wrap up sometime today or tomorrow. Again, all of this devastating news for those who love Ana Walshe. I spoke to one of her friends on the phone and he said they had just simply been devastated by everything that they'd been hearing in the news. He says at this point, their focus is on the betterment and looking out for her three children. Back to you guys.

BLACKWELL: Jason Carroll for us there in Massachusetts, thank you. Bryanna Fox is a former FBI agent and an associate professor in the criminology department at the University of South Florida. Good to have you. Jason said that these details are troubling to report about, to hear. They're also tough to explain away. If you're Googling or searching how to dispose of a 115-pound woman's body, there's blood -- a blood on a knife found in the house, I mean, what do you make about the -- of these latest developments that we're learning about this investigation?

BRYANNA FOX, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA: Well, thank you for having me. First, there could be obvious explanations. I'm a criminologist. I could search for those types of things. It wouldn't be that suspicious.

But when there's a knife found in the basement when your wife is missing, when you know that's what you're searching for, it's just too much to explain away, in my opinion. So, I think that he's going to have a really difficult time with that.

CAMEROTA: Yes, he also spent $450 on cleaning supplies at Home Depot on the day that she went missing. And he lied about where he was to investigators. I mean, I just -- I put this -- aside from the horrible tragedy of this story and for her three children, I put this into the stupid, violent criminal category. Is there anything else that you see in his psyche?

FOX: The only thing I could say is, you know, the person that you're most likely to be victimized by, according to research, is somebody that's close to your inner circle. So, when investigators typically are looking for who the perpetrator could be, it's unfortunately a spouse, a friend, was a neighbor, things like that. So, I think it could just be a domestic issue that may have escalated and unfortunately, yes, now he's trying to clean it up.

BLACKWELL: Brian Walshe is already, before this facing charges for allegedly selling two fake war halls on eBay, is that an irrelevant coincidence or could that experience, that charge, inform how we should look at this case of his wife missing?

FOX: I actually found that really interesting because if those charges are in fact valid, and the ones held against him now for potentially murdering his wife is also valid, it shows that he's got this versatility. He's willing to commit different types of crimes. That also shows he may have some narcissistic tendencies, he thinks he can get away with fraud, murder, he really is above the law and all of these different capacities. So, from a psychological standpoint, that's very interesting but it also could just be a pure motive.

CAMEROTA: Yes. I mean, by the way, he pled guilty to those. He was indicted in 2018. Last year, he pleaded guilty to three of those four charges, so he has a track record as a liar, as a fraud.

[14:25:00]

If they don't find a body, if Ana -- if Ana doesn't come back alive and if they don't find a body, how hard will that be to convict him?

FOX: In many cases, prosecuting a murder without a body is very difficult. But I think if there's so much overwhelming evidence, as there appears to be in this case, they may be able to go forward with it. However, even things like DNA, it's a lot harder if you have somebody who's living in that home finding the offender's DNA at the scene is obviously usually a pretty strong piece of evidence in most cases. Except for when the offender may live there, then you have to go through a lot of other types of evidence to try to be able to hear the same type of prosecution. So, I think that's what police are working on right now.

CAMEROTA: Sure, but if her blood is found in the basement and her blood is found on a knife, you would think that this would be a more open-and-shut case. But obviously, investigators are working on it right now as we speak.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CAMEROTA: So, Bryanna Fox, thank you very much for the expertise.

BLACKWELL: New details on the remarkable recovery of Bills' player, Damar Hamlin, when doctors say the NFL star may be released from the hospital.

CAMEROTA: And first on CNN, Ukrainian fighters set to come to the U.S. next week to begin training on the Patriot missile system. What that means for the war? Ahead.

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