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Powerful Explosions Rock Capital of Kyiv; 25 million People Under Flood Watches Across California; Special Counsel Appointed in Biden Documents Controversy; Missing Massachusetts Mom; Social Media Bombarded with Misinformation about Idaho Murders; Lisa Marie Presley Dies at 54. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired January 14, 2023 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:22]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we begin with a new round of Russian attacks across Ukraine today. Several large explosions have rocked the capital of Kyiv. Ukrainian officials say Russian missiles targeted power stations in the east bank part of the city causing a fire at one of the facilities. Ukraine also says Russian strikes targeted infrastructure in the Kharkiv and Lviv regions in the country's east and west.

CNN's Scott McLean is in Kyiv for us. So Scott, are things quieter at least right now?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So Fredricka, the air raid alert ended about one hour ago but it lasted for two and a half hours. And this was the second one today.

So this morning we were actually woken up by the very distinctive sound of explosions that could be heard from right here in central Kyiv. There were three of them. Luckily, there was relatively minimal damage. No injuries reported in this area.

And then not long after that, there was another round of sirens. And this one, the officials made very clear, that there was actually incoming missiles that had been spotted entering the country. And so people took this one very seriously.

We went and sheltered in a nearby metro station with hundreds of other people, elderly people, young people, parents with children. It seemed like, you know, everyone who was in the area went and took cover for a really extended period of time.

And as you mentioned, we have gotten word on some of the damage. Critical infrastructure in the Lviv region. Also energy infrastructure in the Kharkiv region where authorities there say there will be power cuts as a result. And the most shocking pictures that we have seen come from the central

city of Dnipro where an apartment building was hit. We have just gotten some new numbers from authorities on the death toll that they say. They say that this strike killed five people, injured 27, including six children. All of them had to be hospitalized here in Kyiv.

Officials say that the air defense system did its job and that's why there were no strikes here.

But this morning I should point out that we heard those strikes and then only later did the air raid alert, the sirens, actually go off, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And then Scott, earlier today there was a very moving protest taking place in Kyiv. Tell us about that.

MCLEAN: Yes. So I don't want to call it a protest necessarily, but it certainly was a demonstration. These were almost entirely women trying to bring attention to their missing sons or husbands or brothers who are missing in action or confirmed prisoners of war.

And so they just wanted to draw attention to the government to try to push them to get more prisoner exchanges because they say that there are a heck of a lot more captured soldiers than you hear about in these prisoner exchanges when, you know, maybe 50, 100 people are exchanged at one time.

And you know, I spoke to one woman who not only is her husband on the front line, but her father is in a -- is in a prison colony in Russia right now. And just to put this into context, this is a 55-year-old man who was not in the military before. He didn't have to go. He went on his own.

I met another woman whose son is missing. She doesn't know whether he is dead or alive, frankly. But she says that she has a mother's instinct that he is alive. Here's what else she told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TETYANA SHOKUR, SON IS PRISONER OF WAR (through translator): My life is hell after my son went missing. My soul is broken to pieces from all this uncertainty. We don't want this war. We want our country to be free. Our sons went to defend our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: And Fredricka, I think one of the most heartbreaking things as a parent that I heard today is one mother describing how her daughter is feeling about the fact that for months now her father has been missing and she said that she is so young that she is so adaptable, but frankly, she has just gotten used to him being gone.

WHITFIELD: Oh, so tragic. All right. Scott McLean, thank you so much in Kyiv. We'll check back with you. All right. Here in the U.S., severe weather is what's wreaking havoc.

25 million people across the state of California are now under flood watches.

[11:04:55]

WHITFIELD: And this latest round of potentially dangerous weather happening just days after another major storm system swept through that state saturating the ground with catastrophic flooding as you see right there.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking the latest forecast. So Allison, just how much rain are we talking about?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We're talking several more inches along the coastline and feet is what we're going to be measuring the snow, at least for the next two to three days.

Here is a look at where the rain is right now. Most of the real heavy rain is focused across northern and central portions of California. You also have some rain in Oregon starting to push into areas of Nevada and Arizona. But you are going to start to see a shift in the direction of where that rain moves.

As you mentioned, more than 25 million people under flood watches. It's not just for the rain that is expected to come in the next 24 to 48 hours, but it's taking into account all of the rain that has fallen.

When you look at some of these cities -- Reno, Sacramento, San Francisco, Santa Barbara -- all of them have had roughly six months of rain in just two short weeks. So again, it's good to have this rain. They need it in the state. But not necessarily in that short condensed time period.

We will start to see a lot of the rain in northern and central California shift southward into areas of southern California, areas of southern Nevada and eventually in towards Arizona.

Then we get a teensy bit of a break Sunday morning before the very next round begins to arrive late Sunday afternoon and then continuing into the day on Monday.

In addition to rain and snow, you are also talking winds. A lot of these areas under wind advisories, those wind gusts up around 50 miles per hour. Once you get up into the higher elevations now you're talking 60 to 70-mile-per-hour wind.

Most of these areas when we talk about rain widespread two to three inches. But some spots could pick up half a foot of rain. And then snow likely going to be 1 to 3 feet in most places, Fred.

But when you take those totals out through Monday, the Sierras could pick up 3 to 6 feet of additional snowfall.

WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness. All right. Barely, any end in sight. All right. Allison Chinchar, thanks so much.

All right. Meantime, across the southeast, search and recovery efforts continue after severe storms and tornados ripped through that region. At least 37 tornados were reported, killing at least nine people across Alabama and Georgia.

And those violent storms causing extensive damage and power outages for thousands in the region. In Griffin, Georgia a city that got hit by an EF-3 twister, fire crews rescued a man after he was pinned under a tree for hours in his home. He gave a thumbs up while responders loaded him into an ambulance. His family members managed to escape the home after the tree fell, but the father was pinned from his chest.

All right. Joining me right now from Griffin, Georgia is Chief John Hamilton with the Griffin Fire Department. Chief, so good to see you. So what a miraculous save. I mean walk us through the process of how your crew reached the man, how they were able to get him safely to the hospital.

CHIEF JOHN HAMILTON, GRIFFIN FIRE DEPARTMENT: Yes, Ma'am. Well, like we get many of our calls, first call came in that we had a man trapped, and just to put this in perspective, we had many of these at the same time.

Crews got there, determined quickly that he was indeed trapped and a little more than we typically expect. He had a 5-foot diameter tree weighing approximately 30,000 pounds on top of the house which was on top of him.

So this made this very difficult. It was structurally unsafe. A lot of different aspects of what we had to do. And crews, we train for a lot of different things. This is not exactly something you can train for. So they pulled a lot of different trainings together and actually we called for a crane to potentially lift it off of him, but it just couldn't get there due to the damage in the area.

So crews actually removed part of the house and anything up under him, lifting, pulling, cutting, prying --

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh.

HAMILTON: -- for two and a half to three hours until we were able to get him loose.

WHITFIELD: That's incredible. I mean, so it took expertise from all angles to try to free him safely and we're talking about two and a half to three hours.

So was he responsive? Were you all able to talk with him along the way, keep him calm? What was happening?

HAMILTON: Yes, ma'am. We were able to keep him -- to talk with him and keep him calm. There were times there where we were very concerned about his health. He was declining at times. But just keeping, talking with him, keeping him -- his spirits up and

my crews, along with the police department -- I had tree crews there, other companies, private companies, retired firefighters all working together with their determination, was they were getting him out.

[11:09:52]

WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness. That determination is commendable and impressive. And I know you and your crews are seldom thinking about your own personal safety because that's the priority, trying to get people out just like that man.

But talk to me about, you know, how you are able to keep yourself safe because the man's daughter told our affiliate WSB that she was so grateful for the firefighters putting their lives on the line to save her dad. And how are the crews doing?

HAMILTON: Mentally, they are exhausted. Physically, they are exhausted. But they are still holding up.

A firefighter is a unique person in my humble opinion. We do this for the people and there is an inherent part of risk just by taking the job initially. And these guys work as safely as they can, but each and every one of them will put their lives in a good bit of danger if there is a life to save.

And that doesn't matter whether it's an EMS call all the way up through tornadic weather that causes damage such as this.

WHITFIELD: And this really was just the first step, right? You know, responding to those in need right away. But the need continues there in Griffin because the storm may have passed, but there is a lot of damage in its path. People have been displaced. What is next in your view for the city of Griffin, Georgia?

HAMILTON: Well, short term is we have -- we went from extremely warm weather to now we are just below-freezing temperatures with -- in the mornings, with winds. So that is causing some issues. We are trying our best.

We are still many people without power and gas. So we're trying to keep them safe. We're transporting people to shelters. But this is going to be a months and year-long recovery. We sustained a very lot of -- a great deal -- a great bit of damage --- my apologies -- to the infrastructure. We are having to get our infrastructure backed up. The homes, we have many that are just destroyed. We're actually out actively now trying to figure out exactly what is destroyed, what can be repaired and what that looks like next for us.

We know this community is a very loving community. The staff, the citizens will come together and we'll pull out of this.

WHITFIELD: I know you will. It will be a painstaking process, but as you said, you are all in it together. That is commendable on so many levels.

Chief John Hamilton, thank you so much.

HAMILTON: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, growing questions over President Biden's handling of classified documents and the time it took the Biden administration to reveal the documents existence. New CNN reporting in minutes.

Plus, did you check your ticket? One lucky person, especially if you live in Maine, one lucky person is waking up a billionaire this morning after hitting the mega millions jackpot. The winning numbers straight ahead.

[11:13:01]

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WHITFIELD: Welcome back.

President Biden is at his home in Delaware today as the controversy over his handling of classified documents continues to grow. His administration is under mounting pressure for answers following the discovery of the documents at a former office and at Biden's Delaware home.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel to take over the investigation. Robert Hur was a Trump appointee to the federal bench and has most recently been in private practice in Maryland.

Republicans in congress are also launching their own investigation. Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan sent a letter to the Attorney General Garland demanding the Justice Department hand over documents.

For the very latest, let's bring in CNN's Arlette Saenz at the White House.

So Arlette, you're now learning new information about the documents found at Biden's home? What's the information?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE: Yes, Fred. We're starting to get a better picture of exactly how many classified documents were found at both President Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware and then that office here in Washington, D.C. that he used when he left the vice president's office.

CNN has now learned that fewer than ten of the documents that were found at the Wilmington, Delaware residence were marked classified. And none of those documents had top secret markings on them either.

Now, this brings the total number of known documents found so far that had classified markings to approximately 20.

Now, this all follows previous reporting CNN had on the number of documents that had been found at the Penn-Biden center, that think tank that President Biden used as an office in between period before he started running for president. And there were about ten documents found there that had classified markings.

Some of them were top secret and included in those documents were intelligence memos as well as briefing memos related to Ukraine, Iran and the United Kingdom. There was also a memo that former president -- Vice President Biden then wrote to President Obama additionally. There were briefing memos for phone calls that Biden was set to have with the prime minister of the United Kingdom as well as the president of the European Council.

But this brings a better picture of exactly how many classified documents had been found. Now, in comparison, if you take a look at what had been found with former President Donald Trump there were at least 325 classified documents. This number that so far was known to have been found by Biden's team is around 20 which is much, much smaller.

Now, this all comes as a special counsel is starting to look into the handling of this classified matter since the president left his post as vice president. The White House, of course, has consistently said that they are complying every step of the way.

[11:20:00]

SAENZ: And ultimately they believe the review will show that these items were inadvertently misplaced. But there are so many questions also about the timeline of when it was revealed that these documents had been found.

Remember those -- that first batch of documents was found November 2nd but it wasn't until Monday of this past week when it came out in media reports that these classified documents had been found at that private office.

When the White House acknowledged that, they did not acknowledge that there was a second batch that they had already found and handed over to the Justice Department back in December.

So still so many questions brewing for this White House as this issue of the handling of classified documents has overshadowed very -- a lot of their work here over the past week.

S1: Indeed. Arlette Saenz at the White House, thank you so much.

Let's talk more about all of this, about the growing controversy over President Biden's handling of classified documents.

Michael Zeldin is with us now. He is a former independent counsel and the host of the podcast "That Said with Michael Zeldin".

So good to see you, Michael. So we just heard, you know, from sources, according to Arlette's reporting there that there are fewer than ten of the documents found at Biden's Wilmington home were marked as classified. What kind of a difference do you believe that will make, if any? MICHAEL ZELDIN, FORMER INDEPENDENT COUNSEL: Well, I really don't

think, Fred, that the volume of documents is what is determinative of what will be the outcome here. The question is, and it is clear that there was mishandling of these documents. The question is, was it intentional, knowing mishandling or was it inadvertent?

The question then also is, did these documents get unauthorized disclosure to anybody else? Was there dissemination to a third party? And/or whether or not they were just kept in this unsecured storage.

So it's not so much volume. It's sort of like why did you have these documents and what did you do once you had them? That is really the question that prosecutors have to ask and answer.

WHITFIELD: So if it's unclear at this point whether there was any criminal wrongdoing here, why in your view was it important for the attorney general to appoint a special counsel?

ZELDIN: So I don't think that Merrick Garland really needed to under the statute appoint a special counsel. However, because there is a public relations, public confidence aspect to this, it fits the part of the statute which says under extraordinary circumstances, a special counsel shall be appointed.

And I think what Merrick Garland thought is it's extraordinary to have former President Trump under inquiry for this, now President Biden under inquiry for this. It's just best to have both of these cases handled by an independent prosecutor so that there is no sort of taint that this is political.

WHITFIELD: And you served as an independent counsel and investigated allegations of tampering with President Bill Clinton's passport files back in 1990s. I mean clearly this is very different, but already you are hearing from Republican House members who are demanding the Department of Justice hand over material.

But because it's an ongoing DOJ investigation, would that happen? Would there be any handing over of material, evidence, details about these documents to Congress at this juncture?

ZELDIN: It shouldn't. It should be that the prosecutors are allowed to do their investigating and make their conclusions in private without public scrutiny.

It could be, however, if there are certain levels of classified documents that still pose a threat to our national security that there could be private briefings with the intelligence committees. But we are not yet there because it seems at least in the Biden case that the documents have some limited level of vulnerability at the present time to national security interests.

So I don't think that briefing really seems at this point in time to be warranted.

WHITFIELD: And in both of these investigations involving DOJ, that of the sitting president and of the former president involving classified documents, the possession of, et cetera. I wonder, you already made the distinction about volume. That is a big difference between these two cases.

Now investigators will try to figure out intent. How do you see these two investigations taking place concurrently? You also see that there could be any potential overlap, you know, combining of these investigations in any way, simply be virtue of the fact that we are talking about, you know, the highest office of the land?

[11:24:46]

ZELDIN: Right. So there are clear similarities, both former President Trump and current President Biden appear to have mishandled classified documents. They both seem to have sent the documents to their private residences or offices at the very end of their presidencies when things are very hectic.

I remember in my investigation, we were pulling hard drives from the computers in the Bush White House as Clinton was just about to be inaugurated and it was chaos in there as they're making the transition from one to the next.

So I think that mishandling and inadvertence will be similar in both of those cases. The big difference is whether or not there is evidence that President Trump, former President Trump, obstructed the investigation, knowingly and intentionally tried to prevent the office of the national security in the Justice Department or the presidential records people at the Archives from getting those documents once he was told he wasn't entitled to them.

That, I think, is so far what seems to be the biggest difference. And if there were a prosecution in Trump's case, I would think it would be on that obstruction part, not the mishandling part.

WHITFIELD: All right. So much there. Michael Zeldin, good to see you. Thanks so much.

ZELDIN: Fred, thank you.

WHITFIELD: Still ahead, new chilling details in the search for a Massachusetts mother of three. Her husband allegedly threatened to kill her and her friend nearly a decade ago. The latest in the investigation next.

[11:26:22]

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WHITFIELD: The husband of a missing mother from Massachusetts was accused of threatening to kill her and her friend before the couple was married. That according to a 2014 police report obtained by CNN. 39-year-old Ana Walshe was reported missing January 4th. Authorities have accused her husband, Brian Walshe, of misleading investigators.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is following the story for us. What more are you learning from this police report? GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well Fred, ultimately, Ana

Walshe decided not to pursue charges in that case and no charges were ever filed against the man who would then go on to become her husband. That's just one of the troubling details we have been learning about Ana and her life.

We've also been trying to get a sense of who she was and trying to speak to friends and people who knew her to just get an idea of how that community is dealing with the fact that she has been missing for almost two weeks now.

I want to start with what we know about the case so far. We know that Ana Walshe was last seen in the early morning of January 1st. She was then reported missing.

And authorities tell us that Brian Walshe was seen on surveillance video at a Home Depot a few days later. He spent several hundred dollars there buying cleaning supplies. We also know that missing person investigation was suspended and that eventually Brian Walshe, her husband, was arrested for misleading police as part of this investigation.

Law enforcement sources also confirming to us over the last few days that there is some evidence that has been found at a dump not far from where the couple lived that includes some blood stain materials as well as a hacksaw.

Now, I have been trying to learn more about who Ana is, what this community says about her. It is a community that has been grieving and that's been wondering what could have possibly gone wrong.

They say that she was a person who was full of life, energetic, a business woman who cared deeply about her children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BARDHI, FORMER COLLEAGUE OF ANA WALSHE: Everyone is shattered. Everybody is looking at this, and I think everyone across the world looking at this case, feels a connection to Ana and feels this sense of empathy. And I feel that collectively the world knows something awful has happened.

Seeing everybody come together in the midst of all this has really been beautiful in such a dark time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: now, some of these colleagues and friends and the people in this community are concerned about Ana's three children. They are in the custody of the state at this time as more evidence continues to be analyzed.

And I should mention Brian Walshe continues to be in custody. No other charges have been filed against him yet, but we do await to learn more from law enforcement about the evidence that is being processed and about what else we can learn in this case. There are some in that community who are still hopeful that she could be found, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Still too many questions. All right.

Gloria Pazmino, thanks so much.

All right. Questions still swirling about the four murders at the University of Idaho, even after police arrested a suspect in the case. In the weeks that followed the November stabbings, a number of Internet sleuths have tried their hands at solving the case, but spread misinformation instead.

Here is CNN's Gary Tuchman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Police and prosecutors are being required to stay quiet outside the courtroom about the University of Idaho murder case. But on the Internet there is no such prohibition.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have uncovered what we believe are some old writings of Bryan Kohberger.

TUCHMAN: And most of it on Tiktok, Facebook and other places is speculation and hypothesizing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The evening following the murders, Kohberger's phone was pinged in Johnson, Idaho which is three hours away from Moscow and conveniently next to a national forest.

TUCHMAN: How prevalent is Internet sleuthing? Consider this. This Facebook group, University of Idaho Murders Case Discussion, has more than 225,000 followers. And this is just one of many groups discussing and hypothesizing about this case online.

[11:34:47]

TUCHMAN: Prior to the arrest of Bryan Kohberger a user who goes by "Papa Roger" was a prolific contributor on the site with many creepy and insensitive posts and what turned out to be incorrect speculation such as "The white Elantra is a red herring".

But he also declared, "Of the evidence released, the murder weapon has been consistent as a fixed blade knife. This leads me to believe they found the sheath." The fact that he got the detail correct about the sheath despite getting so much else wrong is one of several reasons many on social media think "Papa Roger" was Kohberger.

This person saying, "I really think Papa Roger was BK, Kohberger's initials". And this person, "Ok. This Papa Roger stuff is wild. How would anyone besides him know some of this? Very unsettling."

There is no indication Facebook or the police believe Papa Roger, who is no longer in the group, is Kohberger.

Then there is this video taken at an Idaho prayer vigil for the four murder victims prior to Kohberger's arrest with many people hypothesizing online.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People think that the murderer attended his victims' vigil.

TUCHMAN: This person commenting, "Bryan Kohberger spotted, prayer vigil, Moscow, Idaho."

And this person, "Sure looks like the psycho."

But a TV crew from the news magazine "Inside Edition" was at the vigil and has videotape of the man close up. It's definitely not Kohberger. We are not showing his face to protect his identity.

And then there is this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of people have been asking who is Rebecca Scofield.

TUCHMAN: A woman who calls herself "Ashley Solves Mysteries" has posted scores of videos on Tiktok accusing a University of Idaho professor of participating in the killings. Never mind the police said the professor was never a suspect. The TikToker, whose real name is Ashley Gallard, posted this video about two weeks before Kohberger's arrest.

ASHLEY GALLARD, TIKTOKER: We need to dig deeper into her personality so they can understand her beliefs and who she is so that we can further understand her motive for the murders.

TUCHMAN: We reached out to Gallard. She did not respond. But Professor Rebecca Scofield has responded. Her attorney is filing a defamation lawsuit against Gallard. The lawyer Wendy Olsen saying "The statements made about Professor Scofield are false, plain and simple. What's even worse is that these untrue statements create safety issues for the professor and her family. They also further compound the trauma that the families of the victims are experiencing.

Professor Scofield twice sent cease and desist letters to Ms. Gallard, but Ms. Gallard has continued to make false statements knowing they are false. Thus, this lawsuit became necessary to protect the Professor Scofield's safety and her reputation."

The next court hearing in this case is scheduled for June. Expect the social media discussions to continue.

Gary Tuchman, CNN -- Moscow, Idaho.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And the Presley family is sharing where Lisa Marie will be laid to rest after dying suddenly this week. We've got details straight ahead.

[11:37:38]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: All right. We're learning that Lisa Marie Presley will be buried at Graceland in Memphis next to her father, Elvis Presley, and her son Ben. A family spokesperson made the announcement Friday.

The only child of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley died Friday after suffering cardiac arrest. Presley had a music career of her own, but was probably best known for her marriage to pop superstar Michael Jackson as she was also open at times about her struggles with addiction. Lisa Marie Presley was 54 years old, passing away this week.

Let's bring in Alana Nash, she is a journalist who has written several books about the life and times of Elvis Presley, including "The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley".

So good to see you, Alana.

ALANA NASH, JOURNALIST: Thank you so much for having me.

WHITFIELD: Yes. So I'm wondering, what was your reaction, you know, when you heard the news of Lisa Marie's passing?

NASH: Oh, deep, deep sadness. It really shook me. I think not only because I have interviewed her, been around her a little bit, enjoyed her music. But also just the Presley story is one of great opportunity and wealth and fame but just equal sadness and trauma and tragedy that balance that out.

And I think we wanted her to be happy and have a joyful life because her father had given us so much joy. So there is deep sadness about her passing all over the world.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And since you had an opportunity to speak with her on so many occasions, and you talk about how collectively everybody wanted her to be happy and be joyful, but then what did you sense from her in your conversations with her about what was keeping her, what was in the way of that joy and happiness that everybody, you know, would wish for her?

NASH: I think just the crushing weight of fame, number one. And loss and grief. You know, there is a lot of -- a long line of loss and grief on her father's mother's side. And it seems to be continuing through the generations.

I think she always wanted that sense of peace and family unity and searched for that, loved being a mother, loved being a part of the rock and roll world but just could not find lasting happiness.

WHITFIELD: She loved it, but at the same time was she also kind of disdainful, you know, of the celebrity, especially learning as she has over the years about the people surrounding her dad?

And she was a part of, you know, this latest, you know, blockbuster film in which, you know, she got to enjoy, you know, the actor getting a Golden Globe this week, but there was something that also made her very uncomfortable, angry if that's the right word, or you better describe for me what she thought of, you know, the world of entertainment.

[11:44:57]

NASH: Well, she was certainly an angry little girl. And you see that in a lot of her photographs and you certainly see it when she became an artist and began writing songs. Those songs are just filled with acrimony and bitterness but also with a really sardonic black humor kind of sense of humor that balanced that out, made it very appealing.

But she was never really comfortable in public. She loved the fans, but she looked at fame as a thief that stole everything that mattered. So she was always jumpy and tense.

WHITFIELD: Wow. And at the same time, did she feel like -- I mean, she was compelled to also just try her hand at having a relationship with fame by being a singer, you know, herself. And if she felt like she had to do that or was it like her -- I mean was it her feeling that she couldn't, you know, part from that, you know, because of the legacy of her dad? I mean, what was it that compelled her, even though she had this disdain also say, well, I'm going to also reach into my musical roots and try my hand at that end of fame?

NASH: Well, it was a part of her. While she was enormously proud of being Elvis' daughter that wanted to step outside of that shadow. You see that, I think, in her marriage to Michael Jackson, king of pop. You see that perhaps in her brief marriage to Nicholas Cage. But also to two men who were not involved in high-stakes show business.

But she was a deep and true artist like her father, but of course there was no real escaping that shadow.

WHITFIELD: And then it sounds like there is no escaping the loss and the grief that you were describing, too, with the suicide death of her own son, Ben. What kind of impact did that make on her life?

NASH: She said it destroyed her. And you know, I think that is probably right. You see this dichotomy of her, of a lot of strength of character, but fragility. She always seemed kind of like a lost little girl who needed a lot of protecting. And that increased with the death of her son in 2020. You know, he looked a lot like Elvis, as well.

WHITFIELD: Yes, he did.

NASH: When you look at Lisa, my gosh (INAUDIBLE).

WHITFIELD: She does.

NASH: Those hooded eyes, the beauty.

WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness. I mean it is so shocking and sad I think even this many days after the fact it's still, you know, still really hard, you know, to understand. You grieve for her, you know, and the more we are learning about what she has been through her entire life after her dad's passing at the age of 9. I mean, it's just been so traumatic on so many levels and you helped really fill in a lot of blanks for us.

Alana Nash, thank you so much.

NASH: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And we'll be right back.

[11:47:58]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Understatement of the year. It was a very lucky Friday the 13th for someone in Maine. A single ticket there won the Mega Millions Jackpot worth about $1.35 billion. That is just ridiculous money.

Joining us right now is CNN's Isabel Rosales. Ok, this is -- this is -- we're getting to the historic portions.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Right. At the same time nobody in Maine has ever won anything like this.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nothing like this. It's the second largest in history, number one. The top spot goes to a jackpot of a whopping $1.537 billion in South Carolina back in 2018.

But Fred, I mean you cross over the billion-dollar mark, does it matter at that point?

WHITFIELD: It doesn't matter.

ROSALES: You're a mega winner at that point. Mega rich. So the mega millions that topped the billion-dollar mark after nearly three months with no winning ticket drawn, but after last night's drawing that streak ended. One winning ticket sold in Maine.

That means that overnight someone became a minted billionaire, nabbing that incredible $1.35 billion jackpot. So that means that they matched all six numbers. The numbers are 30, 43, 45, 46, 61, and the golden mega-ball 14.

So if they decide to take the lump-sum cash payout, that means over $724 million coming their way.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

ROSALES: So I did speak with the owner of the Hometown Gas and grill in Lebanon, Maine where that winning ticket was sold, and he told me about the most incredible wake-up call. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 6:00 a.m. this morning, the caller ID showed an Augusta, Maine telephone number, alerting me that our store had sold the winning ticket for the $1.3 billion jackpot.

The next thing I expected was him to ask me for a gift card because I thought for sure it was a scam, but it wasn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: He couldn't believe his ears. He thought it was a scam.

WHITFIELD: That's cute. He gets a cut too, right?

ROSALES: Well, that's what he's double-checking right now.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

ROSALES: Get a little something.

WHITFIELD: The merchant who sells the winning ticket usually gets a little something.

(CROSSTALK)

[11:54:44]

ROSALES: He's double-checking on that number.

So Fred, Friday the 13th, right. You know, blockbuster, serial killer movie, or you know, an unlucky day. But actually it is considered a super lucky day for Mega Millions. Six previous jackpots were won on Friday the 13th.

WHITFIELD: Should have played.

ROSALES: Now, look at this list, one state there is really popping out. Michigan, especially lucky, four jackpots won in the state, right -- 2008, 2011, 2014, 2017. New York won back in 2009. Ohio in 2015.

So Fred, going back to the store owner who's actually named Fred, too.

WHITFIELD: Oh, I like it.

ROSALES: I think you guys would get along.

WHITFIELD: He's my new best friend.

ROSALES: He doesn't show which cashier sold that winning ticket. He's working the figures out. He doesn't know who won the ticket. We asked him that but he says it's a small, tight-knit community so he suspects it's somebody he knows.

WHITFIELD: Yes. They're going to find out. Somebody's behavior is going to change even if they try to keep it mum. And they all probably know each other like you said.

ROSALES: I would get out.

WHITFIELD: Yes. That might be a good idea.

Well very fun. I like that. It is nice to have a little uplift, some fun.

ROSALES: Yes. We need that. Next time, you know, maybe it will be us. We'll do a pool.

WHITFIELD: Ok. I like it.

ROSALES: All right.

WHITFIELD: All right. Isabel, thank you so much.

All right. This quick programming note. He was the mayor of New York during 9/11 -- who could forget. And in the midst of tragedy he stepped up. But what happened to that leader?

The "CNN ORIGINAL SERIES GIULIANI: WHAT HAPPENED TO AMERICA'S MAYOR?" airs tomorrow at 9:00 p.m.

So much more news straight ahead.

[11:56:15]

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