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WH: Additional Classified Pages Found at Biden's Delaware Home; Police: Ana Walshe Said Husband Threatened to Kill Her & Friend in 2014; Concerns Over Santos' Backstory Were Known Prior To The Election; Massive CA Rainfall Brings Flooding, Helps Curb Drought Conditions. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired January 14, 2023 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:44]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. The top stories for you on this Saturday night, more classified material is found at the Delaware home of President Biden. On the same day the Attorney General names a special counsel to the case.

Ukraine says Russian missiles are responsible for a new airstrike on an apartment building in Dnipro. Right now, at least a dozen are dead and nearly 60 more or injured.

Plus, more than 25 million or under floodwaters across California's heavy rains so already waterlogged areas. You are in the CNN Newsroom.

Well, new disclosures from the White House today, President Joe Biden's aides found additional pages of classified material at his personal residence in Wilmington, Delaware this week. It happened on Thursday, the same day that Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of a special counsel to investigate this matter. And that is in addition to documents found back in November, and in December, but not publicly announced until this past week.

CNN's senior justice correspondent Evan Perez joins us now. So, in all, Evan, there are about 20 documents found between the President's private home and at the Penn Biden center, do you -- is this it or do you expect more to be found?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the problem. The Justice Department is concerned that there might be additional documents that have not yet been found. And so, this is now going to be one of the top items obviously on the list for the new special counsel rob her who's bringing in a team and they're going to pick up this investigation that until now has been handled by the U.S. attorney in Chicago.

So, you know, the issue for the President and for the White House is that now we have obviously in the space of just over 24 hours, they've had to shift their stories and they have changed their stories because of incomplete information. And that's never a good thing for a White House, right? It's a political problem, for sure. But it is also possibly a legal problem. Because it does, you know, having you've covered the Justice Department for a number of years and you know how investigators think and when they see shifting stories, they start thinking perhaps there might be something here that you're hiding. And that's always a bad thing when you're going into an independent, a special counsel investigation when you're a sitting president.

BROWN: Right. It is interesting that, you know, when you -- there are many differences with the Trump case, but also that had been under investigation for a while then a special counsel was brought in.

PEREZ: And this case, it's a special counsel starting pretty near the beginning of the investigation. There was a U.S. attorney involved for a little bit. But that is kind of an interesting point.

I want to go to the statement from Biden's attorney. This is what he is saying about what's happening. "Following the initial discovery of the Penn Biden Center documents, whenever a document bearing classified markings was identified, the search was suspended on the box file or other space where the document was discovered with the potentially classified material left in place as found." So, what do you make of this statement? What is the takeaway here?

PEREZ: Well, you know, they're describing a process that they had established. The President's personal attorneys were doing these searches, in part because, you know, they want to protect attorney client privilege. But the minute they came across a document that they had no clearance, you know, security clearance to review, they immediately stopped. And then, of course, they brought in someone else and we're able to turn that over. There's inherent problems with this, right? They're describing a process that appears to be an effort to be Boy Scouts, right? They were trying to do the right thing. They're trying to make sure that whatever documents are turned over, first of all, they want to make sure that nobody sees something that they're not clear to see. But it's also created problems for them because they are always seemingly unable to have a full picture before they go out publicly and say something.

And so that's part of the issue here for the for the White House. In some ways, it's a contrast with President -- former President Trump, who has made clear that he, you know, it didn't matter, he doesn't believe he should turn over any of these documents. These are his and why that investigation is more of an obstruction of justice investigation, compared to this one, right?

[19:05:00]

Now, right now we only know of an investigation into whether documents were mishandled, you know, classified documents were mishandled. So, that's a contrast in the two investigations.

What Bob Bauer and the White House team are describing is a process that appears to have been -- that have created -- seem to have created additional problems for them. BROWN: Yeah, additional problems. And again, we've been in Washington a long time as reporters, it's always remarkable to me when you look at the PR and not putting out the information you have right away, and in this case, they put out -- it wasn't CBS first reported it, right?

PEREZ: Right.

BROWN: And then the White House had to acknowledge it. And then they didn't acknowledge the second batch that was found. I mean, this happens every time where reporters are going to find out --

PEREZ: They're going to find out and yeah, and -- but the issue for the White House was when they put out that first statement on Monday, they should have said what they knew which included the 20, you know, the documents found in December. They chose only to talk about the first set, and they had the President go out there and say this publicly, which also creates a problem.

BROWN: Exactly. Evan Perez, thank you so much.

Well, there's a disturbing new twist and a search for a Massachusetts mother Ana Walshe, it involves her husband, Brian Walshe, who was charged with misleading investigators. CNN has obtained a 2014 police report in which she accused Brian of threatening to kill her and a friend before they were married. CNN's Gloria Pazmino joins us now. Gloria, what more can you tell us about this report?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Pam. Well, we know that following that call were Ana reported that a threat from her then partner before they were married, we know that she declined to cooperate with the prosecution as a result. There was never any file, any charges filed in relation to that case.

I want to get into what we know about this. So far, we know that Ana Walshe has been missing since New Year's Day. That was the last time she was seen in the early morning hours. And her husband Brian Walshe has been arrested. Now, he has not been charged directly in relation to his wife's disappearance. But he was charged with attempting to mislead investigators who were looking into the fact that she continues to be missing.

Now, over the last several days, investigators have collected a lot of evidence. But I have been trying to get a sense of who Ana Walshe is. And I spoke to a former colleague of hers earlier today, who described to me how this community has been shaken by this. They say that she was a determined ambitious woman who deeply cared about her three young sons. She was driven a professional that really cared about her career. And they are now wondering, what could have possibly gone wrong here?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BARDHI, FORMER COLLEAGUE OF ANA WALSHE: Everyone's 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 and love such a dark time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Now, I mentioned the evidence of law enforcement sources confirming to us that there was a hacksaw and some blood-stained materials that were recovered from a garbage dump but not far from where the Walshe live. Some evidence also recovered from the Walshe residents. Over the past several days, we understand law enforcement sources have been trying to process that evidence to see if there's any sort of DNA link. That may link Brian Walshe and those items. We will likely hear more over the next several days. Pam.

BROWN: All right. Gloria Pazmino, thank you so much.

And now let's dig deeper on this case. Steve Moore is a CNN Law Enforcement contributor and a retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent. So, Steve, let's start with this 2014 police report on accused Brian of threatening to kill her and a friend. Police say this case was dropped because she refused to cooperate. As an investigator, how significant is that now?

STEVE MOORE, CNN ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Well, that's tremendously significant. Because remember, we don't have a body in this case, if they were to charge right now. So, what they are going to have to show is intent and history and a predilection to do this. And so, this really works in the prosecutors favor obviously.

BROWN: How difficult is it to prove murder without the body?

MOORE: It's -- well, it's considerably more difficult than it is when you have -- than when you have a body. But here's the thing, if you have a hacksaw blade, that turn -- that has blood on it, and that blood turns out to be the victim -- the missing person's blood, that's a pretty strong indicator that the person probably didn't cut themselves and throw that hacksaw blade down. You're going to be talking about a lot more blood than a person could usually lose in a household accident.

[19:10:11]

Plus, the fact that he bought $450 worth of cleaning supplies at Home Depot. Kind of indicates he had a big mess. So, what you have to do here is extrapolate and say, how big of a mess was he cleaning up and how much blood. And you can extrapolate that there was -- that there was likely a body disposed.

BROWN: It's just very sad. And, you know, you put that on top of the fact that sources are telling CNN that police uncovered Brian's internet searches for how to dispose of a woman's body, that along with what you just laid out, are DNA test results next in this case, could that be the next possible break in your view?

MOORE: Well, they're underway, certainly. I mean, you don't just say, well, that's unless you're some kind of third world country, you don't say, oh, we've got blood and not tested. So, I would say that right now, they probably have their answer as to whether that's her blood, but it takes a while to do the DNA. And then you want to make sure you have all the ducks in a row before you go forward. You cannot afford mistakes in this case. So, they're probably taking their time. And they can do that because they were able to keep him incarcerated for lying to them, basically.

BROWN: Yeah. Brian Walshe is in police custody. What else are you looking for in this case? If you were an investigator on this case, what else would you be doing right now?

MOORE: Well, between his phone and the ankle bracelet he was supposed to be wearing, which I believe he was wearing. I believe that the police have a much more detailed map of his goings, comings and goings. And so, I believe that they will find possibly where the body was at one point or is, I mean, they already went to some dumpsters. So, I believe that they are probably just snowballing domino effect getting more and more information, and they might come up with a body. But either way, this person has been so heinous and so careless, that I don't think this is going to be something that's going to be a close case. I think there's going to be strong evidence to convict even if they were to go with what they have today.

BROWN: Steve Moore, thank you so much.

One more charges have been filed against a suspect accused of killing five people at an LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs. Anderson Lee Aldrich appeared in court in-person yesterday, as prosecutors announced a dozen new felony charges. They include four counts of attempted murder and two hate crime counts. The new charges were for two additional victims who were present during the November shooting spree. He faces up to life in prison without parole if convicted.

And much more ahead tonight for you right here in the CNN Newsroom on this Saturday, including new details on just how much was known about New York Congressman George Santos' background before he was elected, what a GOP sources telling me.

Plus, it is a struggle for many Americans to put food on the table. And that includes members of the military. I think you're going to be surprised by how many members struggle with food insecurity. And then later tonight, when your car has a leak, you call your mechanic, so what happens when a space capsule has that problem? We'll tell you coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:17:46]

BROWN: New reporting tonight about New York Republican Congressman George Santos specifically who knew what and when about his falsified past. According to a GOP source I spoke to concerns about his backstory became widely known in the summer of 2022 and leading into the fall campaign season. Once Santos had a chance of winning his district and that became clear to Republicans there was even more inside talk that his resume didn't add up. There was alarm among consultants, donors and other Republicans and many believe the media, they would blow the lid on his inconsistencies. But that never happened on a national level. It was the New York Times that first reported details of what Republicans knew about Santos before he was elected.

Well, the freshman Congressman remains defiant pushing back on his calls for his resignation and CNN's Miguel Marquez traveled to his New York District to check in with his voters.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To members of your own party calling for your resignation?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: George Santos, a congressman less than a week under increasing pressure to step down.

REP. GEORGE SANTOS, (D) NEW YORK: I will not resign.

MARQUEZ: Santos defiance, but the lies, revelations, and questions growing. Many of those who voted for him feel betrayed and want him to go.

TOM GARVEY, SANTOS VOTER: I don't feel that I can trust him to represent myself, my interests or the third district.

TOM MAIMON, SANTOS VOTER: I'm more concerned about him representing to people that -- of his accomplishments and really not having accomplished or achieved anything that he said he did.

MARQUEZ: The latest concern for his constituents, his campaign money he poured over $700,000 into his campaign, but there is little indication of where the money came from, and concerns as to how it was spent.

SANTOS: I've lived in honest life. I've never been accused shoot of any bad doing.

MARQUEZ: Santos being interviewed Thursday by fellow Republican Matt Gaetz on Steve Bannon's war room podcast, suggesting he gave his own campaign, the money.

SANTOS: It's the equity of my hard-working self and I've invested inside of me.

MARQUEZ: Republican town supervisor Jennifer DeSena endorsed Santos and trusted him. She says he needs to step down.

JENNIFER DESENA, NORTH HEMPSTEAD TOWN SUPERVISOR: I thought that he had -- I thought he had the qualifications and he seemed so ambitious and successful that I was fooled by him.

[19:20:04]

MARQUEZ: And to know that that's all a fabrication?

DESENA: It's shocking. It's shocking. I was hopeful that there would be some explanation, but there was none. SANTOS: Thank you for having me --

MARQUEZ: Questions of campaign financing aside the scope of Santos' lies seemed to touch every part of his existence, among other things, he lied about being Jewish and that his grandparents survived the Holocaust. He lied about working at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. He even lied about being on a championship volleyball team.

JOSEPH CAIRO JR. CHAIRMAN, NASSAU COUNTY REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE: I'm calling for his immediate resignation.

MARQUEZ: The Nassau County Republican Committee says Santos should resign and that he outright lied to them when he presented his credentials.

CAIRO: We have a standard process that we followed. We trusted people that we are now going to change our process. Shame on me for being -- for believing people.

MARQUEZ: Despite the lies, some of his supporters say they'd vote for him again.

MARQUEZ: You voted for George Santos?

CHARLES STUDNESS, SANTOS VOTER: I did.

MARQUEZ: You'd vote for him again?

STUDNESS: I would.

MARQUEZ: Why, after everything you've heard?

STUDNESS: OK. He's bad. But he's his -- he is admitted that he has lied. And all these people are accusing him. They're politicians. They're lying. They're all liars.

MARQUEZ: For those who didn't vote for Santos, deep frustration and resignation, that this is the new norm in American politics.

PEGGY WINKELMAN, DID NOT VOTE FOR SANTOS: Very discouraging, but not surprising ever since the election of Donald Trump. It's been a total swamp.

MARQUEZ: Miguel Marquez, CNN Manhasset, Long Island.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: More heavy rain and more snow in the forecast for California tonight, the impact it's having all the state as residents go from dealing with extreme drought to extreme flooding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there were floods -- this is nothing. It was coming down this broad about this deep, all mud flow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:26:34]

BROWN: Cleanup is underway across the south east after powerful storms and tornadoes ripped through Georgia and Alabama. The mayor of Selma had to fight back tears after he finished surveying the damage. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES PERKINS JR., SELMA, ALABAMA MAYOR: Still lot of people are hurting. The devastation is real. We got a lot of work to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And our hearts go out to them. In California, flood watches are in effect for over 25 million people as heavy rains pound the West Coast again. The storm may not be as big as what we saw earlier in the week, but an already soaked ground makes the flood risk much higher.

Take a look at these roads in California, firefighters stumbled upon partially collapsed due to the drenched ground.

Joining us now is CNN's Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir and Climate Scientist Katharine Hayhoe.

All right, nice to have you both on. Bill, I want to start with you here. California is a place that is not accustomed to this kind of heavy rainfall. Does that make the flooding we've been seeing even more dangerous?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, yeah, it's sort of too much or not enough is the theme in California these days, it's still the mega drought is there, this did add some soil moisture much needed and put some much-needed water in the reservoirs, so still way below historic average, right there.

This is not unprecedented. These atmospheric river events, the really big one, back around the time of the Civil War killed like 1% of the people in the state, drowned hundreds of 1000s of cows. Because the rain just didn't stop. There are predictions that in a warmer world heated up by fossil fuels, the potential for those mega floods will increase. They go from maybe one every century to one every 50 or 30 years or so. And there was a study out of UCLA that, you know, predicted one that could create a vast inland sea basically.

Fresno and Bakersfield, that area with so much rain at once. We just wish we could, you know, have superman funnel it into Lake Mead, like power, because that water is really going to be needed in the summer. Last winter, there was a lot of activity early, but it wasn't enough to account for the mega drought.

BROWN: All right, so let's talk a little bit more about the impact on the drought conditions across the state as you're pointing out there. Bill, I want to look at this picture. These photos, the left shows how severe the drought was on December 27 compared to the photo on the right, just a few weeks later. That's pretty, you know, pretty remarkable when you look at that, Katherine?

KATHARINE HAYHOE, CLIMATE SCIENTIST: It is. And what we're seeing is a classic case of weather whiplash, or as I always like to call it global weirding. We are seeing that as the world warms our extremes are being exacerbated in both directions. California was in -- and is still in the driest conditions we've seen in 1200 years of records. But at the same time, a warmer world means more water vapor in the atmosphere. So, when these atmospheric rivers come along, as they always do, there's more water for them to sweep up and dump on us today Then there was 50 or 100 years ago.

[19:30:00]

BROWN: Right. I think that's the key here. These events are becoming not only more common, but also more severe with climate change. So I want to get a broader picture --

WEIR: And there is also an extra --

BROWN: Go ahead.

WEIR: I'm sorry, Pam, to interject there, but there's also an extra 40 million people living in the path of these storms that weren't there a hundred years ago.

BROWN: That's a really important point, so many more people are impacted. And these little towns are getting decimated, and they don't have the funds to rebuild. I mean, it is a problem all over the world and there is no way of escaping it no matter where you live.

So I want to get a broader look here, Bill. In 2022, we experienced the warmest La Nina on record. That is significant, because it's typically a phenomenon that cools global temperatures. Is this a one- off blip, or part of a continuing pattern of worsening climate change?

WEIR: All of the signs point that this is just a continuing pattern. The last nine years, the warmest nine years on record. And as you say, this one, you know, La Nina is supposed to cool things off, it didn't.

And so the more sobering statistic, if you think about it at this trend, these are the coolest nine years we will experience for the rest of our lives. And that, if it brings the kinds of uncertainty they are seeing in California and what we saw this year, Pakistan and in Europe and everywhere, you know, it's time to brace for this new normal in many ways and plan ahead, because these are not our parents' storms.

BROWN: So just help us better understand, Katharine, we have what Bill just laid out, but also some rare climate related good news.

There is this new UN assessment that says the Earth's ozone layer is on track to recover completely within decades, because harmful chemicals are being phased out.

So how do you make sense of that? And does that tell you that the fight to curb climate change is making progress? HAYHOE: What it shows me is that our actions truly can make a

difference. So the ozone hole was caused by human-made chemicals. Remember those chemicals we had in our spray cans and refrigerators and air conditioners, even some of the chemicals that used to be in Nike Air shoes.

And all over the world, all of the nations of the world got together and they said we have to stop producing these chemicals. And it wasn't easy, but they did it. And now, we're seeing the ozone hole start to recover. And that shows us that if we can get together and say we have to stop producing heat trapping gases, we truly can tackle this problem of climate change, too.

So it gives me hope on the one hand, but on the other hand, I know that carbon emissions are woven into every part of our society. We need to change every aspect of how we get our energy. And why do we want to do that? Because we will end up with a healthier, cleaner, safer, better world for all of us.

BROWN: I want to ask you this, Bill, as we're unfortunately out of time, but I want to get this in.

There is a new report found that Exxon accurately predicted global warming as early as the 1970s, but still lobbied against climate action for years. A spokesperson for Exxon vaguely pushed back on this saying: "Exxon's understanding of climate science has developed along with that of the broader scientific community." Fossil fuel companies looking out for their own interest isn't particularly surprising, obviously. But does this report alarm you, Bill?

WEIR: Not at all. It's sort of -- it is a second part of the Exxon news story that we've seen these documents before. This the first time they ran the models and said, wow, these guys were right on. They predicted the year we'd start to see the effects. They predicted year- over-year warming. And this will be evidence in about 20 trials around the country, States, cities suing Big Oil for selling -- knowingly selling the public, you know, this harmful product and deceiving.

But it's interesting, the Montreal Protocol we were just talking about with Professor Hayhoe, considered the greatest environmental treaty ever, all of these countries came together.

The difference in that one, though, is the makers of those chemicals in the United States wanted to change. They wanted to lead to something cleaner, so they would be market leaders. The US Chamber of Commerce was behind closing the hole in the ozone layer.

How do you get Exxon and Chevron and the rest, to you know, decide that their product needs to be -- we need to move beyond that? Will it be the Courts? Will it be social license by folks? Legislation? Who knows? But it is the story of the future for sure.

BROWN: That's the story of the future. Lots of problems need to be solved, lots to think about there from both of you with this conversation.

Thank you, Bill Weir, Katharine Hayhoe, we appreciate it.

Still ahead for you on this Saturday night, as investigators in Idaho work to piece together their case against a suspect accused of brutally killing four college students, are internet sleuths who are trying to uncover a motive themselves hurting more than they're helping? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:38:55]

BROWN: The father of one of the Idaho students killed last November says he is surviving grief one day at a time.

Ben Mogen told CNN his 21-year-old daughter, Madison Mogen, she was bright and bubbly, and she loves seeing live music with him. He also said, he has had to tune out much of the news about his daughter's case because it is simply too painful.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN MOGEN, FATHER OF MADISON MOGEN: I can't really do it. I get the main pieces of news I need to from other people, but especially the social media stuff, I just -- I really can't. I can't go down that road, not yet, at least.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Meantime, the man accused of the killings remains behind bars tonight.

Bryan Kohberger faces four counts of first-degree murder. His next hearing is set for later this summer.

And until then, so many questions remain about this case. Namely, why a PhD student with no criminal history would so viciously attack four seemingly random people inside of their own home.

For now, police and prosecutor are required to stay quiet about their theories, but as Gary Tuchman reports, the internet plays by a different set of rules.

[19:40:08]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): 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.

TIKTOK/@HIDDENTRUECRIME: We have uncovered what we believe are some old writings of Bryan Kohberger --

TUCHMAN (voice over): And most of it on TikTok, Facebook, and other places is speculation and hypothesizing. TIKTOK/@LENASLITTLECLOSET: 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 (voice over): 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.

Prior to the arrest of Bryan Kohberger, a user who goes by Pappa Rodger 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 Pappa Rodger was Kohberger.

This person saying, "I really think Pappa Rodger was BK (Kohberger's initials.)" And this person, "Okay, this Pappa Rodger stuff is wild. How would anyone besides him know some of this? Very unsettling."

There is no indication Facebook or the police believe Pappa Rodger who is no longer in the group is Kohberger.

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

TikTok/@NOAHGLENNCARTER: People think that the Idaho murderer attended his victim's vigil.

TUCHMAN (voice over): This person commenting, "Brian 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 videotaped the man close up. It's definitely not Kohberger. We are not showing his face to protect his identity.

And then there is this --

TIKTOK/@ASHLEYISINTHEBOOKOFLIFE: A lot of people have been asking who is Rebecca Scofield?

TUCHMAN (voice over): 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 that police said the Professor was never a suspect.

The TikToker whose real name is Ashley Guillard posted this video about two weeks before Kohberger's arrest. TIKTOK/@ASHLEYISINTHEBOOKOFLIFE: We need to dig deeper into her

personality so we can understand her beliefs and who she is, so that we can further understand her motives for the murders.

TUCHMAN (voice over): We reached out to Guillard, she did not respond, but Professor Rebecca Scofield has responded.

Her attorney filing a defamation lawsuit against Guillard. The lawyer, Wendy Olson 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. Guillard, but Ms. Guillard has continued to make false statements knowing they are false. Thus, this lawsuit became necessary to protect 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)

BROWN: And our thanks to Gary.

Well, a man in Virginia is under arrest for allegedly making and selling automatic weapons among other charges. Virginia Beach Police said 35-year-old, John Dane was arrested Tuesday in his home after a tip. The ATF and Homeland Security assisted in the arrest.

And take a look here at everything that was picked up along with making and selling machine guns, Dane is accused of illegally importing silencers and selling switches that convert a semi-automatic pistol to full auto mode.

According to investigators, he is also facing drug charges.

Well, the results of a report on food insecurity amongst servicemembers surprising even the author of the new study. We're going to ask an Army veteran who now runs a food bank what she has seen and what could be behind this struggle, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:48:44]

BROWN: It is no secret that the pandemic and the resulting economic instability is brutal for many American families, but one sector of need is especially troubling.

A new study from the RAND Corporation shows that many of the food insecure people in America are US servicemembers. In fact, 25 percent of service members across all branches of the military have grappled with food insecurity and hunger in recent years. More than half of them are on active duty. An official with Feeding America, the largest charity working to end

hunger in the US says: "It is a shocking truth that's known to many food banks across the United States. This should be the cause of deep embarrassment."

Meredith Knopp is the President and CEO of the St. Louis Area Food Bank.

Meredith, thank you for joining us.

I mean, this is just -- it is not only embarrassing, it is alarming. It is horrible to think that so many of US servicemembers are going through food insecurity, those who are trying to support their families and serve the country.

You're also an Army veteran, so this really hits home for you, doesn't it?

MEREDITH KNOPP, PRESIDENT AND CEO, ST. LOUIS AREA FOOD BANK: It does. Thank you so much for having me on tonight.

It is really a tragedy when anyone in In a great country that we live in struggles with food insecurity, but especially our servicemen and women, these are our heroes that are risking everything to protect our freedoms.

[19:50:10]

KNOPP: So the fact that we're having this conversation about food insecurity within our military ranks, truly troubling.

BROWN: I mean, it's just -- it's like, how does this happen, right? When you think how much money the military has, right? And to think that all of these servicemembers are hungry. I mean, one military representative told RAND that there were servicemembers with families and children, making the salary of an E4, that is a corporal or specialist who need help getting food on the table. E4 is one of the most common enlisted ranks in the US Army, base pay is just $2,500.00 a month.

These people may also get a housing allowance, but it's still not easy to survive, especially with a family. Is that who you see most often at your food bank?

KNOPP: It is, and so when we talk about hunger in the military, it is really important to talk about our enlisted ranks. These are your young privates, new members of the military, E4s, E5s, and while they do receive a wage, it is certainly something that needs to be discussed.

And when they talk about food insecurity, while military members do receive a BAS, which is a Basic Allowance for Subsistence, that is only meals for the servicemember.

So to your point, if someone is married, and they have some children, that BAS allowance does not cover their meals. BROWN: Yes, and we have foods insecurity to find on your screen,

limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways. And I think you raised a good point, some military members, they can go to the cafeteria on the base, right and eat for free. It is different, though, depending on a military member and supporting their family and spouse and that kind of thing. And so I think that's important context for this.

Thousands of needing military families, they don't qualify for SNAP benefits, because their housing allowances push their total income too high. Is that right?

KNOPP: Correct. And that is something that's very, very important, especially as we talk about the upcoming Farm Bill. The basic allowance for housing is a housing subsidy that military members qualify for if there's not adequate on base housing.

However, that subsidy they receive is actually counted as income. And so even that small amount that they receive to help pay for housing for themselves and their family members, is just enough to disqualify them for SNAP benefits. So that is absolutely something that is a low hanging fruit that could really make a difference in the lives of many of our servicemen and women.

BROWN: And there is already stigma around asking for help for so many people. Although, I try to do my best to reduce the stigma on the show, there's never any shame in asking for help. But do you think that it's even harder for the military, people who base so much of their identity around strength and self-sufficiency?

KNOPP: It is. I mean, let's just be honest. It is always hard to ask for help, period. But it is. It is especially hard in a culture in the military where you are the heroes, you are the ones who are saving, who are protecting. And so it is especially hard and so we really need to do everything that we can and we work very hard at the St. Louis Area Food Bank to talk about reducing that stigma, restoring dignity, and treating everyone with the respect that they deserve.

BROWN: All right, thank you so much, Meredith Knopp to come on and talk about this really important issue. We appreciate your time tonight.

And tomorrow on CNN, he was New York's Mayor during 9/11. And in the midst of tragedy he stepped up, but what happened to that leader?

Don't miss the CNN Original Series, "Giuliani: What Happened to America's Mayor." That is tomorrow night at nine on CNN.

We'll be right back.

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[19:58:17]

BROWN: Well, we have our first Mega Millions jackpot winner of 2023, the $1.35 billion ticket was sold at a gas station in a small Maine town.

CNN's Isabel Rosales this has the details.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN REPORTER: Hey, good evening, Pam. The mega frenzy is over.

So one very lucky ticket holder or maybe an office pool, if they pick the lump sum cash option, they will take home an estimated more than $724 million. But they will not take home the top spot for biggest jackpot in history. That belongs to the state of South Carolina with a $1.537 billion jackpot back in 2018.

The big win coming down on Friday, the 13th, and it turns out that this is real lucky -- a really lucky day for Mega Millions players. Six previous jackpots were won on that day.

Michigan coming in especially lucky with four wins in the State there for the jackpot, the big win there 2008, 2011, 2014, and 2017.

Friday's winner matched all six numbers. Those numbers are 30, 43, 45, 46, 61 and the Mega Ball number of 14.

So I spoke with the owner of Hometown Gas and Grill in Lebanon, Maine where that winning ticket was sold. And he told me he got a wake-up call around 6:00 AM bright and early that his store sold that winning ticket. He couldn't believe it. He actually thought it was a scam.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRED COTREAU, OWNER, HOMETOWN GAS AND GRILL: It's almost incomprehensible to think about. I mean, it is. Just to wrap your head around how much it would change somebody's life, regardless of your status and where you are to that kind of payout.

We're just glad to have it here in our small town. Again, I've been a long time supporter of the lottery. I play responsibly and I suggest everybody do the same because somewhere out there, somebody does win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And prior to Friday, the highest winning ticket he has ever sold was a thousand dollars -- Pam.

BROWN: Wow. Isabel Rosales, thank you so much.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

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