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People Magazine: Suspect Followed Female Victims On Instagram; Source: Alec Baldwin Intends To Finish Production Of "Rust;" Police: Wife Shot, Killed Terminally Ill Husband At Daytona Hospital; Interview With Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH); U.S. To Designate Wagner Group As A Criminal Organization; Buckingham Palace Unveils Plans For King Charles III's Coronation; New Zealand PM: "I No Longer Have Enough In The Tank" To Lead; Justice Department Conducts Search Of President Biden's Wilmington Home And Find More Classified Materials. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired January 21, 2023 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:15]

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're fully cooperating and looking forward to getting this resolved quickly.

I think you're going to find there's nothing there. I have no regrets.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This does affect how he is perceived at the moment and undercuts some of the investigation into the former President.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: "People" Magazine article saying that Bryan Kohberger followed all three of the female victims on Instagram.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fact that he followed them online and didn't get an answer and messaged again and again and again could be the thing that led to his obsession and his anger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Baldwin's lawyers say he was blindsided by the criminal charges.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actors cannot be expected and are not expected to do final safety checks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's not going to hold up in Court.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're waiting for egg prices to come crashing down, good luck.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've seen 18 eggs for eight bucks.

BROWN: I'm Pamela Brown in Washington on this Saturday and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And we begin in Idaho. Chilling new details are emerging about the man accused of slaughtering for college students. "People" Magazine is now reporting that Bryan Kohberger followed all three of the female victims on Instagram, and the suspect allegedly reached out to one of the women repeatedly just two weeks before the killings. CNN's Camila Bernal joins us now.

Camila, what more can you tell about this? It is just so disturbing.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really is disturbing and it's a couple of new details, Pam, and I want to point out why these new details are important.

So far, police have not confirmed what type of relationship if any, Bryan Kohberger had with the victims. So of course, there are so many people trying to figure out these connections and "People" Magazine now saying that all three of the female victims were followed on Instagram by Bryan Kohberger.

They also went on to say that about two weeks more or less before the killings, Kohberger was texting or not texting, but sending these messages on Instagram repeatedly to at least one of the victims. Now, she did not answer these messages on Instagram, it is unclear if she saw the messages or just chose not to respond to them.

They say, they meaning "People" saying that they reviewed the Instagram account that has now been deleted, and they also went on to say that Bryan Kohberger went to the restaurant where at least two of the victims worked.

They say that they talked to a former employee who told them that Kohberger was at the restaurant at least two different times leading up to the killings. He ordered a vegan pizza and was adamant about his food not touching any other animal products.

Now, it is important to point out that this is a restaurant that's right in the middle of Main Street, many people go there. The students usually go to this area just to hang out.

So the restaurant coming out with a statement, a lengthy statement saying that all of this reporting is not true, and they specifically wanted to protect the victims and their families.

I want to read part of that statement where they say: "We all decided to collectively support the families and not share anything that could potentially harm the investigation or cause the families more stress."

So it's not just the people at the restaurant, but basically, everyone connected to this case is not allowed to speak because there is this broad and sweeping gag order. And so no one is really allowed to speak publicly on this, which is the reason why we probably will not get confirmation from police either.

And it is important to point out that Bryan Kohberger has not yet declared a plea. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for June. And of course we'll have to wait to see how this Court process plays out.

But of course, we do know that police have evidence against him. Specifically, we know that there is a roommate that survived the killings that said she saw Bryan Kohberger are at the house on the night of the killing. So we'll have to wait and see how this all plays out in Court. Because of this gag order, we are likely not going to get a lot of new details in the coming weeks -- Pam.

BROWN: All right, Camila Bernal, thank you so much.

Well, just a day after learning that he will face two counts of involuntary manslaughter, Alec Baldwin had no comment as he squeezed through a scrum of reporters yesterday, and CNN has learned the actor/producer intends to finish the movie "Rust" despite the fatal shooting of the film cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins in 2021.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino joins us now.

So what have you learned here -- Gloria.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pam, as you said, the show will go on and the film will be completed. That's according to the lawyers for the "Rust" film.

[18:05:04]

PAZMINO: They've also told us that they will be adding several new safety measures on set to ensure things are safe and properly done. That's going to include safety officers, and they will be removing all weapons -- real weapons from the set.

Now, Baldwin, as you saw there avoiding the media yesterday when he was arriving at his home here in Manhattan. He has not spoken to reporters, but he did speak to my colleague, Chloe Melas last August following the incident and he explained sort of how he viewed his responsibility in this fatal incident, telling Chloe that he believed his job wasn't to concentrate on whether the gun was safe or not, that there were other people on the set to do that.

Now this is a likely how all of this is going to play out over the next several months as both the DA try to mount a case and the Baldwin legal defense teams tries to defend itself.

Now, there are some experts that are contradicting Baldwin's version of the facts. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE WOLF, GUN SAFETY EXPERT: When Alex says he relied on experts, this is untrue because he hired an armor regardless of what her qualifications were, and she was not present. So, he knew that he wasn't taking the gun from the armorer.

And for Dave Halls, the first AD to come in and say "cold gun" really should have no more importance than if the caterer came in and said "cold gun."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Now, Pam, we will have to wait for the legal process to play out. Both Alec Baldwin and the armorer who was also charged in this incident will have to have preliminary hearings, which will determine if there is enough probable cause to go to trial and that process is expected to take several weeks -- Pam.

BROWN: All right, Gloria Pazmino, thank you.

And turning now to tragedy this evening at a Florida Hospital. A 76- year-old woman is in custody after allegedly shooting and killing her terminally ill husband.

She then apparently barricaded herself in his hospital room, forcing officials to evacuate staff and patients and declare a lockdown. No one else was threatened or injured.

Daytona Beach Police said an investigation determined the couple planned this weeks ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKARI E. YOUNG, DAYTONA BEACH POLICE CHIEF: Apparently because he was terminally ill, they had a conversation about it and they actually planned next approximately three weeks ago that if he continued to take a turn for the worse that she wanted -- he wanted her to end this.

initially, I think the plan was a murder-suicide, so she killed him and then she was going to turn the gun on herself, but decided she couldn't go through with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And we are told, the woman's husband was 77 years old. She could be facing a first degree murder charge.

CNN national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem joins us. Juliet, this is such a sad story for so many reasons, right?

Have you ever heard of a murder-suicide inside a hospital? Obviously, she didn't follow through on the suicide part, that was part of the plan.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes.

BROWN: I mean, would it be relatively easy at most hospitals to get a gun into someone's room?

KAYYEM: Yes, and I mean, part of this is not no matter how strong security measures are and they are certainly worth looking at, you can't sort of sort of plan for every scenario including this one, which is just, you know, it's just tragic any way you look at it.

I'm not defending any of the decisions this couple decides that they want to go together, so to speak, and she can't follow through and barricades herself.

The challenge at a hospital is family members are treated as sort of trusted visitors as they should be, especially if a spouse is terminally ill, spouses will come in and out. A lot of them will get badged, any parent listening knows that when your children come visit at hospitals or have to be in hospitals, that's the same thing.

And so they're sort of -- they are insiders, and so you're sort of not expecting this at this stage. My assumption is that they don't have metal detectors, at least at all the doors at the hospital. They may want to check into this but this is rare. Murder-suicides tend to be either quite violent, right, a man killing his wife and then himself out or tend to be quite private. And this is just unique.

And hopefully, you know, the wife, charging her with first degree murder will probably be taken into account in terms of, of course, the circumstances of the decision that that couple made.

BROWN: Right. The agreement that police said that the husband had asked her according to police to kill him if his condition got worse. He was terminally ill.

How do police deal with this type of situation? I mean, they were able to get the woman to surrender.

KAYYEM: So at some stage, when they know it's not a true active shooter, like the kinds that you and I think about and are often on about in terms of someone just basically wants a body count, right, that this is a situation in which it was quite planned and targeted.

[18:10:10]

KAYYEM: And their only concern is if there were other patients in that room, which it appears that there weren't and then of course, the patients that are around that room and protecting them.

So, they are going to treat this and did treat this as a more typical, rather than active shooter as a hostage situation. There was no reason to believe she was after anyone else, they probably likely knew her. He had been in the hospital at least a couple of weeks, and so they are able to bring her out without further harm to herself, and then to get the care that she needs.

You know, we sometimes think of these cases, you know, in the sort of safety security lens and how could this happen? And sometimes, there's just situations in which you really can't sort of plan for because they are so unique, and maybe, you know, just different in kind, which this one is and one in which I think the authorities are really going to have to think about whether first degree murder is the appropriate charge.

BROWN: Given the circumstances and contexts that we know.

KAYYEM: Yes.

BROWN: Thank you for your analysis on this. I think it's spot on.

Juliette Kayyem, thank you.

We have a lot more ahead tonight in the CNN NEWSROOM.

I am going to talk to the new Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. What is he pushing to learn about the Biden document crisis that continues to grow.

Plus, she was the youngest woman to become Head of State. She gave birth while in office.

Now New Zealand's Prime Minister says she will step down because she no longer has enough in the tank. We'll talk about this rare admission from a politician.

And then later, Ukraine pleads for tanks to help in its fight against Russia, but are they that big of a game changer on the battlefield? We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:58]

BROWN: The Justice Department is drawing a line in the sand and is signaling it is unlikely to cooperate with House GOP requests for information related to ongoing investigations including the probe and to President Biden's mishandling of classified documents.

The request came from Congressman Jim Jordan, Chair of the Judiciary Committee. He is accusing the Department of stonewalling, but the department insists it must only be influenced by the law and the facts.

Arlette Saenz is with the President in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware with that development and news of a key White House departure -- Arlette.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Pamela. There is going to be a significant change in the leadership at the White House as CNN has learned that White House Chief-of-Staff, Ron Klain is expected to depart his post in the coming weeks.

Sources say that that transition would likely happen after the State of the Union address, which is currently slated for February 7th. Now, one source says that his decision has nothing to do with the classified document saga that the White House is confronting at this moment.

He, of course, has talked about how the job is a grueling position, but it does come as the Biden White House is set to face a host of challenges including the investigations into the handling of classified documents after President Biden left the Obama administration.

There is that Special Counsel investigation, as well as investigations that Republicans up on Capitol Hill have been promising. Now, just yesterday, the House Judiciary Chairman got a response from the Justice Department. They, of course, the House Committee has sent over some requests for documents, but the Justice Department said that they will not be providing documents related to ongoing criminal investigations. Their argument is that they want to ensure that they are protecting the integrity of their work.

Now, this comes as the Judiciary Committee has wanted to look into some of the politically sensitive investigations that the Justice Department has underway at this moment, including the Special Counsel investigations not only into President Biden's handling of classified information, but also former President Donald Trump's handling of classified documents.

Now in addition to these investigations, of course, the White House is also preparing for battles with Republicans up on Capitol Hill when it comes to the debt ceiling.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that the debt ceiling needs to be raised by this coming summer, and it is expected that President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will meet in the coming weeks. That date for that meeting has yet to be set.

Now, the White House has insisted that there is no negotiating over the debt ceiling, but House speaker McCarthy has argued that they are not interested in raising the debt ceiling unless there are spending cuts to come with it. So that is one of the battles that will be facing this White House in the coming months.

BROWN: All right, Arlette Saenz, thanks for laying it out for us.

And joining us now with more is Congressman Mike Turner. He is the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

So let's start there with the debt ceiling. We just heard Arlette talking about it. One initiative by Republicans has both Joe Biden and Donald Trump on the same side. They are both slamming Republican efforts to link Social Security and Medicare reforms to the vote to raise the nation's debt ceiling. What is your opinion?

REP. MICHAEL TURNER (R-OH): Well, I don't think it's a linking. I think first of all, everybody is jumping the gun on that. What is being linked, which overwhelmingly the American public want is a reduction in overall spending.

They understand that the out of control spending from the Biden administration is driving inflation, which is impacting them at the grocery store and the store. They want to rein in on spending. If we just without checking spending raise the debt limit, will still be subject to out of control spending.

Now, what's interesting is of course, the administration is now portraying this as an absolute crisis. And mind you, it has only been 18 days ago that Nancy Pelosi was Speaker and Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden could have done this three weeks ago if they wanted to. But they've teed it up into the Republican House knowing that the price for raising the debt ceiling is going to be a debate on how do we rein in spending.

[18:20:10]

BROWN: And I just want to note, too, you are scrutinizing the Biden administration's, but under the Trump administration and previous administrations, trillions of dollars have been added to the debt, and it is an ongoing issue that we hear between Republicans and Democrats, but when it comes to Social Security and Medicare reforms, do you think those should be cut in order for the debt ceiling to be raised?

I just want to hear from you. What specifically, do you need to see happen for a deal to be made? Because as you well know, the Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is warning of a global financial crisis if the US debt limit agreement isn't made?

TURNER: Well, first of everybody has openly said, everyone that is in Congress, that is in leadership, and is working on any construct of reduction in spending that Social Security and Medicare would not be caught in any way that affects anyone who is currently receiving benefits or even near term.

You know, I certainly have said that myself and on CNN. So this isn't even part of the debate. This is just part of the political jockeying that the administration is doing on this issue, because they don't want to recognize they could have done this sooner --

BROWN: Hold on, political jockeying, they are saying that they are not going to negotiate.

TURNER: They -- wait, Pamela. They did this -- they could have done this three weeks ago.

BROWN: Hold on, they are saying they are not going to negotiate this. The Republicans are saying they won't lift it, unless the spending cuts are made.

TURNER: Pamela, they wouldn't have to negotiate with anybody. If they did this three weeks ago. They absolutely waited to not get this done, so they could tee it up to the Republican House, knowing that the debate is going to be on spending.

So now that they're in that debate, and it is one that the American public wants to have happen. You can go on any street in America, any Main Street and say, what is the cause of inflation? They're going to say, out of control spending in Washington, and that has been the Biden administration's trillions and trillions of dollars of spending.

BROWN: And also the Trump administration adding trillions of dollars, it is not just the Biden administration.

TURNER: We are not going to sit there and allow this to continue. We are not going to sit there and allow them to continue to do that in the upcoming years. There is going to have to be a debate. The Republicans, because the -- you know, the country said we want a divided government, they gave the House of Representatives to the Republicans, and now the President's going to have to sit down and negotiate with what represents well over a majority of the American public who wants spending reined in.

BROWN: All right, so I want to shift topics. As the new Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, you asked National Intelligence Director Avril Haines to assess the fallout over the Biden document issue.

What is it that you're most concerned about? And has she given you an assessment of the classified documents that Trump had?

TURNER: No. And the in fact, what's really interesting here is that in the FBI doing the raid on Mar-a-Lago, the Intelligence Community, and even the Department of Defense was not involved at all in doing any assessment as to what the records in Mar-a-Lago might be, or even the risk associated with those that had been surrendered from Mar-a-Lago from former President Trump.

In this instance, also, they have not engaged the Intelligence Community, as they were having these documents be on a regular basis coughed up by President Biden as he was finding them in his garage, behind his car, in an office he no longer occupies and we don't even know where he found the other documents that have been given.

Now, what I think is important is that because the Attorney General has gone forward and appointed a Special Prosecutor for the Biden administration, for President Biden on this issue for the documents, there are going to be two really important issues. And the first issue is chain of custody. These didn't start out in his garage. They didn't start out in that office at the Penn Biden Center.

The second thing is, is why did the President take these? I mean, it's been six years that he had these documents. When he left his Vice President's office and decided that he was going to take these classified documents with him, albeit illegally, and as he has said, he understands that because he says, you know, he said that when Trump did it, so now we now know he did it. Why six years ago did he walk out of the Vice President's Office, with documents that are marked classified, and what did he do with them over that six -year period?

BROWN: Those are all fair questions and should be scrutinized. With that in mind, what you just laid out, I want to go back to what you said in August, after the FBI's search on Mar-a-Lago. I interviewed you right after that, and in that interview, you seem to downplay the seriousness of classified documents, being at Mar-a-Lago. Here is what you said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: In this instance, we don't really know that these information are classified. The Archive is saying that something is labeled classified doesn't mean that it is. We have to look at the substance of what the President has.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And we know that since then, ex-President Trump has said he had those classified folders and so forth as keepsakes, but it appears you've changed your tune, saying now the discovery of Biden's classified information would put him in potential violation of laws protecting National Security, so help us better understand this.

TURNER: Yes, well, you know, if you play just snippets, Pamela, you certainly aren't going to get the context of any of our conversations. And obviously, the conversation was related to President Trump, unlike Vice President Biden claimed that the documents that he had had already been declassified, and so what I was pointing to which was the important issue that you asked me in the beginning is that the Archivist and the FBI didn't ask anybody in National Security or Intelligence as to what the risk of the documents had been surrendered, as I just said on this interview, or even the documents that might likely be at the Trump residence.

[18:25:18]

TURNER: Now, I've got to tell you, Pamela, I've been very concerned about the inconsistencies that you're hearing from commentators on, well, Biden didn't, you know, he -- this was inadvertent, he didn't mean to six years ago walk out of the Vice President's office with these classified documents.

The concern that we all have is the abuse of power that was done by the Biden administration where they raided his home. Now, you know, they didn't just take classified documents from Mar-a-Lago, you know, here are the pages of the filing of the Biden administration. They even walked out with his -- with Trump's passport.

Now, you could be an intern at the FBI and, you know, Trump's passport is not classified document. The concern here is, is what is acceptable from our government? Is it acceptable that they raid a former President's home, the political rival for President Biden, and actually his announced candidate, and he is likely the announced candidate, if we allow what we find acceptable from our government to change based on -- wait, wait, Pamela, this is important.

BROWN: Okay, hold on, but I will let you finish this, but I think you're missing a critical information.

TURNER: If we allow -- if we find acceptable -- thanks, but pardon -- if we allow what we find acceptable from the government to change based upon whether or not we like the target of the government, or when that we believe either religiously or politically with that person, we're walking away from the foundational principles of our Constitution.

BROWN: Right.

TURNER: President Trump's house should not have been raided. That's the huge difference between here and President Biden's situation. They're allowing him to do it himself, even with some unclassified people who don't even have classified, you know, ratings to be able to look at these documents. This inequality, this hypocritical aspect, especially from President Biden, having condemned Trump and then having done the same thing is important.

BROWN: Right, and he did. I mean, he did condemn it and we have scrutinized that on this show that he said it was really irresponsible what Trump did, and now there have been approximately 20 classified documents found that various properties, and certainly he has been under scrutiny.

But you know, you're being intellectually honest with yourself, the key difference here that Trump and his team defied a subpoena. They said they had turned over everything, and yet evidence developed through the course of the investigation that classified documents were being moved, which started this obstruction of justice investigation. So, that is a key difference here of why the FBI searched that residence.

TURNER: Pamela, it wasn't obstruction of justice investigation. No.

BROWN: Absolutely, that was part of it. Absolutely, it was.

TURNER: There were many steps, my point -- my point had been and remains, the Attorney General had several steps he could go through before he is playing around in Melania's closet in Mar-a-Lago's --

BROWN: But it went on for months and months and months and months. I mean, there was tremendous difference.

TURNER: And they believed, and the Trump team tells you, and I don't know if it's true, but the Trump team tells you that there were ongoing negotiations concerning those documents. And the thing is, is that to go to the level of raiding the former President's home, a political rival of President Biden, that is such a high level of scrutiny.

And as you know, they can't claim that it was because the National Security was at risk, because they didn't even ask anybody who is in National Security.

BROWN: Would you have that same reaction if the same circumstances applied to Biden? You would say the exact same thing? Oh, they shouldn't have it.

TURNER: I would have the same reaction. Let's say -- I actually said this on Jake Tapper's show.

BROWN: Okay, we've got to go. I am getting yelled in my ear.

TURNER: I said, Jake, if somebody came on and said it's now time to raid their home, yes, this is hypocritical on the Biden administration.

BROWN: Okay. Thank you so much, Congressman Mike Turner for that spirited discussion. This is why I like having you on.

TURNER: Thank you, Pamela.

BROWN: We can put it all out there and still have a civil conversation. So I appreciate your time. And also, I want to mention everyone, congratulations to you, you just received your Doctorate from Georgetown in Liberal Studies.

TURNER: Absolutely.

BROWN: So congratulations.

TURNER: Thank you, Pamela. You have a great night.

BROWN: All right. Well, you are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Thank you. You, too.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM on this Saturday.

They are a critical part of Putin's army helping wage war right now in Ukraine and now the United States plans to go after this private mercenary organization.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:33:33]

BROWN: The U.S. is planning to officially designate the Russian mercenary organization, Wagner Group as a criminal organization. Additional sanctions will target the group itself and its support network across the world.

John Kirby speaking on behalf of the National Security Council told reporters: "These actions recognize the transcontinental threat that Wagner poses, including through its ongoing pattern of serious criminal activity.

Joining us now is CNN Political and National Security Analyst, David Sanger.

So David, what has been Wagner's role so far in this war?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, it's been a fascinating role, Pamela, because it is basically been the private army that has been stepping in to try to make up for the mistakes of Putin's regular military forces, that's run, of course, by his friend, Prigozhin, formerly known as Putin chef, because he ran a series of restaurants in the 1990s. I remember being at one covering a trip that George W. Bush spent and Putin took him to the restaurant.

But then he went on later on to found the Internet Research Agency, which was responsible for much of the propaganda during the 2016 presidential election. And, of course, that group was sanctioned as well.

But more recently, he has been running the Wagner Group which is this private army.

[18:35:04]

And you saw him step in to try to recruit convicts who were in prison saying, if you come fight with us and survive, we'll give you your freedom.

BROWN: So I guess the question is what kind of an effect could this new criminal designation have on the war in Ukraine, doesn't really do anything?

SANGER: It's not clear to me that it would have much effect. I mean, most of the oligarchs and Prigozhin is a very unusual one among the oligarchs who have been sanctioned that pretty well kept their assets away from U.S. hands. It may make some other countries more unwilling to or I should say less willing to go deal with the Wagner Group.

But I think that the most interesting dynamic that's underway right now is that it is clear that Prigozhin himself is acting as a critic of how the Russian military has been acting in this war. Some people think that he is angling to be a defense minister. Others think that he's trying to set up a separate power center from the Russian military and show that he can succeed where they fail. It's not clear what Vladimir Putin thinks about this.

But along the way, it is showing some of the riffs and dynamics inside the Russian elite.

BROWN: David Sanger, always great to have you on and to hear your insight and analysis on this. We appreciate your time.

Well, inflation has driven up most prices but there is outrage tonight over egg-flation. Have you experienced this yet? Up next, why are eggs so expensive?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:41:05]

BROWN: New into CNN, Buckingham Palace is revealing details of the three day celebrations surrounding the coronation of King Charles III. It will all begin with the coronation itself on May 6th, which is described as a solemn religious service as well as an occasion for celebration and pageantry.

Well, no one does pomp and circumstance quite like the British, but this coronation will be scaled down from the last one when Elizabeth was crowned. It was the first live televised royal event and went on for three hours. P.S. no word yet on whether disgraced brother, Prince Andrew, will be there nor any word on the potential presence of Harry and Meghan, although some observers say it would help Charles's image if they were part of the event.

Inflation is slowing, but you wouldn't know it by looking at your grocery bill, right, especially if you're buying eggs. CNN Business Reporter, Nathaniel Meyersohn joins us. So Nathaniel, what's going on here? Eggs - prices - egg prices, they have jumped 60 percent just a year, what's going on?

NATHANIEL MEYERSOHN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: So we have egg-flation, Pam. Egg prices have spiked. We're seeing sticker shock when we go to the grocery store. There are a few reasons why we're paying more for egg prices. There was a deadly avian flu and that killed more than 50 million birds, so there's been a supply shock. Then we have feed and energy costs, those have been going up for farmers and producers and they're passing down the cost on to customers. And we're all baking more especially around the holidays, so there's higher demand.

So supply - tight supply and high demand has increased egg prices. And it's not just at the grocery store, this is impacting restaurants. It's leading to higher prices for cookies, baked goods. I know when I go to the Bodega here in New York, the - my bacon, egg and cheese are super expensive. I may need to cut back.

BROWN: Well that could be a good thing to cut back on bacon, egg and cheese. I'm just saying nothing (inaudible) it that way, but it's maybe a good excuse. So some people are criticizing egg producers in stores for raising prices too high. Tell us a little bit more about their argument.

MEYERSOHN: So Cal-Maine Foods, which is the largest egg producer in the country controls about 20 percent of the market. Business has been booming at Cal-Maine, sales up 110 percent last quarter, profit up 65 percent. And so consumer advocates are saying, look, your profits are way up and they're calling on the FTC to investigate for price collusion and potential - the potential for keeping these prices artificially high and price gouging.

BROWN: Meanwhile, Best Buy, Starbucks and Dunkin', they are changing their rewards programs and some folks needless to say are not happy. What's behind these changes?

MEYERSOHN: So, yes, inflation is also impacting rewards programs. Best Buy, Starbucks, Dunkin', they've all changed their rewards programs they're making it harder for us to earn those free rewards. The reason that they're doing this is to try to save money. Rewards programs are expensive for these companies, so Starbucks and Dunkin' you need to earn more points to get free coffee or other types of free drinks.

And then Best Buy made the move where you now need to take out a Best Buy credit card, if you want to earn rewards, points and customers are furious. There's been huge backlash. Here's one tweet and Eric Hall says it's a very bad idea that Best Buy is doing this and he's going to Wal-Mart and Amazon.

BROWN: Not to be confused with the Eric Hall that works at CNN. All right. Nathaniel Meyersohn, thank you so much for your reporting on that.

Well, you were in the CNN NEWSROOM on this Saturday night.

New Zealand's Prime Minister is calling it quits at the age of 37. For most politicians, that's when their career starts. We'll examine why up next.

[18:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:49:23]

BROWN: This past week, a political stunner in New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who became the world's youngest female head of government in 2017 at the age of 37 announced that she would not be seeking reelection and would step down next month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACINDA ARDERN, NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER: This summer, I had hoped to find a way to prepare not just for another year, but another two, because that is what this year requires. I have not been able to do that. So today I'm announcing that I will not be seeking re-election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:50:04]

BROWN: Virginia Tech Political Science Professor, Farida Jalalzai joins us now.

So welcome, Farida. Clearly, this was a very hard choice for Jacinda Ardern with huge image emotional impact as well as professional. Can you describe how hard a decision this must have been for her after making it to the Prime Minister's office?

FARIDA JALALZAI, PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, VIRGINIA TECH: I'm sure that she had to grapple with this over time that she felt that she had a large burden on her shoulders. Keep in mind that she's been in office for almost six years and throughout almost that entire tenure, New Zealand has faced many crises, including the pandemic. And I'm sure that she didn't want to let her followers down or her party down or her supporters all over the world down. But she made this decision and I think was trying to do this early enough to better position her party in the upcoming elections in October.

BROWN: Yes. And I think we should just tick through some of the challenges she has faced in office. You have in March of 2019, the Christchurch Mosque attacks in which 51 people were killed and 40 injured. In December of that year, the White House Island volcano exploded, killing 22 tourists and - the White Island I should say - killing 22 tourists and injuring 25 others.

And then on March 19, 2020, the pandemic led her to shut down New Zealand's borders. Four days later, she announced a nationwide lockdown requiring all non-essential workers to stay at home. These have been momentous and stressful years. Also, we should note though her Labour Party has been losing support. Is that a factor here?

JALALZAI: That is a factor and the National Party is gaining in support. And so what I think in her announcements about her resignation or impending resignation, is what she thinks is going to be the added toll that it will take for her to successfully lead her party through the upcoming elections. And it's not as though she doesn't think that her party has a chance. I think she thinks that her party does have a chance, but what she doesn't want is to put them in a weak position when she feels that she at this time cannot devote the necessary energy to that project.

BROWN: And she is saying that she no longer has enough in the tank to continue leading. She speaks of burnout. All of this speaks to burnout, something a lot of us feel, right? Burnout is common. Some will use her resignation to justify not voting for women in high level elections. Why is that the wrong reaction here?

JALALZAI: The wrong reaction, because what did she do over the last five and a half years, if she was someone who wasn't up to the task, she should have resigned years ago, she went into the position strong and she remained strong until recently as the economic situation wasn't as positive.

But she carried herself with dignity and grace and made really important decisions. And because of the decisions that she made to close the border in New Zealand, a country I might add that relies a great deal on tourism for revenues save lives that - I believe that the overall death toll in New Zealand from COVID was 2,500. And it was those decisions that were not popular with everyone, but really was a really strong early I think actor on the world stage that sent the message that she prioritized above everything the safety of New Zealanders.

BROWN: Farida, thank you so much.

New details tonight on the controversy surrounding President Biden and classified documents. That's coming up.

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[18:58:36]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN BREAKING NEWS.

BROWN: Breaking news tonight, the President's personal attorney says more classified documents have been found at the president's home in Wilmington.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

So what more are we learning? I mean, the statement released by the attorney is saying that six additional documents and how many disclosures has this now been from the White House and from the President's personal attorneys of classified documents being found?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's certainly been quite a few, Pamela. And just this evening, just moments ago, the President's personal attorney Bob Bauer released a statement saying that they facilitated a search with the Justice Department of the Wilmington, Delaware home just yesterday and that that turned up six additional documents with classified markings.

Now, according to Bob Bauer, the President's personal attorney, this search took almost 13 hours and the White House Counsel, special counsel to the President, Richard Sauber, said that neither President Biden nor First Lady Jill Biden were on hand during the search.

Now, I want to read you a bit of this statement where Bauer says that the Justice Department was offered and provided access to all of the living, working and storage areas in the Wilmington home and he detailed exactly how this search was conducted.

[19:00:00]

Bauer said, "DOJ had full access to the President's home, including personal handwritten notes, files, papers, binders, memorabilia, to-do lists, schedules, and remind ...