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North Korea Ambassador: Nuclear War could Break Out; Turkey Referendum; Manhunt for Facebook Murder Suspect; How Prince Hid His Opioids Addiction; Prince Death Documents Unsealed; Netflix says it's found the next "Homeland". Aired 12-1a ET

Aired April 18, 2017 - 00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:14] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles.

Ahead this hour --

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump warning North Korea to behave but Kim Jong-Un not backing down, even threatening nuclear attacks in self-defense.

VAUSE: The hunt for the Facebook killer widens in the U.S. This is the man accused of shooting dead a grandfather and then

posting video of the alleged murder online.

SESAY: And nearly a year after Prince died, new details about how the singer hid his addiction to opioids and why no one has been charged with a crime.

VAUSE: Hello, everybody. Great to have you with us. Welcome to our brand new set here in Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.

SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay.

NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

VAUSE: U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has just arrived in Japan against a background of the growing nuclear threat from North Korea.

Pence is warning the North not to test the resolve of the U.S. or the strength of its military.

SESAY: He made those remarks on Monday while visiting the DMZ separating North and South Korea. Hours later, Pyongyang's deputy U.N. ambassador responded saying nuclear war may break out at any moment.

Well, let's bring in CNN's Alexandra Field in Tokyo and our own Paula Hancocks in Seoul. Welcome to you both.

Alex -- to you first, U.S. Vice President Pence meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Abe shortly and he's there with a message of commitment to Japan's security which will go a long way towards soothing nerves during this tense time in the region.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely -- Isha.

These two leaders are trying to work together at the highest levels to ensure security here in the region and beyond the region. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe addressed parliament saying that he is continuing to call for a peaceful resolution of the conflicts on the peninsula, the tensions that we have seen increase in recent days and recent weeks.

But he has also acknowledged that pressure needs to be applied to the North Korean regime in order to get them to abandon their nuclear weapons in order to lower the tensions that have been simmering and ticking up in these recent days and weeks.

Security here in Japan also an important focus for this meeting. And of course, the top priority for the prime minister, himself. He is the one who has been warning about the possibility that North Korea could be capable of conducting chemical attacks in the region if it chose to do that; that, along with the nuclear threats that the rest of the world is concerned with.

We have seen a barrage of these missile tests from North Korea recently, one just last month involved several projectiles that landed in the waters off of Japan's coast. And it's actions like that, provocations like that, that have prompted the Japanese government to organize evacuation drills, that are teaching people what they would do in the event of more provocative measures from Pyongyang.

We also understand from government officials in Japan that they are looking at their options for what they could do to extricate Japanese citizens from the Korean Peninsula if that is called for -- Isha.

SESAY: Indeed, tensions are very, very high. Alexandra Field there in Tokyo -- thank you.

Let's turn now to Paula Hancocks in Seoul. Paula -- before heading to Tokyo, the Vice President was in South Korea and his tough talk at the demilitarized zone aimed at North Korea did not go over well with Pyongyang.

Take a listen to this response from the North Korea deputy ambassador to the U.N.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIM IN RYONG, NORTH KOREA DEPUTY AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: It has been created a dangerous situation in which a nuclear war may break out at any moment on the peninsula and poses a serious threat to the world peace and security to say nothing of those of Northeast Asia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Paula -- with tensions on the peninsula higher than they have been in a very long time, is Seoul in favor of the Trump administration's talk of abandoning strategic patience with the North. PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think South Korean officials certainly welcome the re-engagement of Washington into this issue. The very fact that you've had the Vice President, the Secretary of State, the Defense Secretary all coming within a matter of weeks really to South Korea at a time when South Korea's going through its own political instability. It doesn't even have a president, only an acting president.

And yet, they didn't want until the situation have calmed down here. They believe that it was urgent and dangerous enough as Vice President Pence said yesterday that they should come immediately.

So I think certainly from a South Korean government point of view, they welcome the re-engagement and I think certainly within South Korea as well, the policy of strategic patience did have many critics although, of course, there is concern when the military option is now being more openly discussed even though Vice President Pence said that all options are on the table and obviously peaceful means would be preferable -- Isha.

[00:05:01] SESAY: Paula Hancocks there in Seoul, South Korea -- we appreciate it. Our thanks also to Alexandra Field in Tokyo.

VAUSE: We'll stay on this story a little longer.

Melissa Chan is a journalist for the Global Reporting Centre. She's also an expert of Chinese foreign affairs. Melissa -- good to see you.

There was a lot of focus over the weekend about those very tough comments from Mike Pence. "Don't test our resolve". It didn't get a lot of play, a lot of attention. Here's what he also said about negotiations -- listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm here to express the resolve of the people of the United States and the President of the United States to achieve that objective through peaceable means, through negotiations. But all options are on the table.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Are negotiations an option here? Is it possible that Donald Trump, as he said, he could sit down and have a hamburger with Kim Jong-Un at some stage?

MELISSA CHAN, GLOBAL REPORTING CENTRE: Well, the situation in North Korea and the situation with the United States and North Korea is exactly the same as it was under President Obama as it is with President Trump. So the only additional option really is to entertain the idea of President Trump perhaps meeting and having a bilateral with Kim Jong-Un, which is a crazy notion, but it has been whispered in the foreign affairs community for quite some time.

And I think they're getting some more traction. You're hearing more of that. And you're certainly hearing the Chinese suggest that. I would say that President Obama probably found it unpalatable, the very idea of sitting down with this dictator. But President Trump, he likes to cut his deals.

VAUSE: Yes, exactly. You know, we think we've seen this movie with North Korea before. We even sort of know how it's going to end. But this time it seems, you know, it is a different script in some ways.

There is the U.S. playing very much the bad cop role. Right now we have China playing the good cop role but is on board with the United States. So that combination, could that make for a different outcome here?

CHAN: Well, I think the thing we need to think about and consider when we look at China and the United States is that their goals are very different. China does not want a denuclearize -- or doesn't want a nuclear North Korea just like the United States, but it's not its number one priority. Its number one priority is stability.

With the United States you have the situation sort of flipped around. For the United States the number one priority is the nuclear -- are the nuclear weapons. And then secondary I would say is stability. I mean they do have to consider their allies, South Korea and Japan.

VAUSE: So in some ways like Donald Trump making this threat of military action and, you know, possible -- you know, some kind of war on the Korean Peninsula. That seems to have elevated it as a priority to China.

CHAN: Well, you know, he is playing a game of chicken. And I would just say that when you're talking about preemptive strike or preventive strikes, that is a new language. And we look at the situation and say it's so dire.

But let me just play devil's advocate and say that over the past few decades we have had a situation where the United States has not made any offensive gestures to North Korea militarily speaking.

And what have we gotten in this terrible dire situation? We have had peace in north Asia. We've had great economies in Japan, certainly in Seoul with 10 million people -- a dynamic democracy. So I think we do need to consider what we have in our hand or what is good and what could possibly go wrong.

VAUSE: You know, a lot of experts looked at the military parade over the weekend, and some of them were taken by surprise at just how serious the North Koreans are taking their missile program. They've looked at the operational systems. Some have made the observation that these missiles could actually survive some kind of, you know, preemptive strike by the United States.

CHAN: Yes, and that's the tricky thing with that. I mean we have the anti-ballistic missiles, a program set up there with the South Koreans. There is a possibility that if we actually use it, it might not work. We don't know. Do we want to show our hand this way? That's a dangerous thing to also move forward on. VAUSE: You think the South Koreans have a vote in this as well with

what happens because they're the ones in the firing line.

CHAN: Absolutely.

VAUSE: Melissa -- good to speak with you. Thank you.

SESAY: Well, it is still unclear what exactly U.S. President Donald Trump plans to do to stop North Korea. On Monday the President took a break from the Easter Egg Roll at the White House to talk about Pyongyang's nuclear threat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't want to telegraph what I'm doing or what I'm thinking. I'm not like other administrations where they say we're going to do this in four weeks and that. It doesn't work that way.

We'll see what happens. I hope things work out well. I hope there is going to be peace. But, you know, they've been talking with this gentleman for a long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: And U.S. Vice President Mike Pence visited the Korean demilitarized zone during his Asia tour.

In a CNN exclusive, our chief political correspondent Dana Bash spoke with the Vice President on the volatile region.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You said that the era of patience -- strategic patience is over. What does that mean in real terms?

PENCE: It was a policy of the United States of America during prior administrations to practice what they called strategic patience. And that was to hope to marshal international support to bring an end to the nuclear ambitions and the ballistic missile program of North Korea. That clearly has failed.

[00:09:59] And the advent of nuclear weapons testing, the development of the nuclear program, even this weekend to see another attempt at a ballistic missile launch, all confirms the fact that strategic patience has failed.

BASH: What does it mean to end it in practical terms? It's either use military force or find a diplomatic solution that has eluded all of your predecessors.

PENCE: Well, I think as the President has made clear that we're going to abandon the failed policy of strategic patience. But we're going to redouble our efforts to bring diplomatic and economic pressure to bear on North Korea. Our hope is that we can resolve this issue peaceably.

And I know the President was heartened by his discussions with President Xi. We have seen China begin to take some actions to bring pressure on North Korea. But there needs to be more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well, joining us now, Democratic strategist Dave Jacobson and Republican consultant John Thomas. I hope you like what we have done with the place.

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: We've made some changes since you last were here. But good to see you guys.

DAVE JACOBSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes.

VAUSE: Ok. So let's get to the Monday morning presidential Twitter report. This was early on Monday, this is from the President. "The first 90 days of my presidency has exposed the total failure of the last eight years of foreign policy."

Dave -- the reality is this administration, has it really taken any substantial policy differences or changes from the past administrations on any foreign policy issue here?

JACOBSON: No. And he has actually failed to deliver any meaningful legislative accomplishments through the congress. I mean he has been a failure of a president, unfortunately. He failed on health care. He's failed with his -- with the deportations, of course. He's continued to deliver falsehood after falsehood.

And of course the world is in disarray. And so I think this is largely a failure presidency short of 100 days.

JOHN THOMAS, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: The world is in disarray and we're finding out what is going on in North Korea. Yes, over the last eight years, what happened under Barack Obama's watch has led us to this point. Now Trump has to deal with that. I think that's the failure he is referring to.

SESAY: He may be referring to that, but the point is he is in fact reversing, making reversals on statements he made on the campaign trail, leaning on China, he's going to name China as a currency manipulator, turning back on a lot of stuff that was the basis of his campaign. How does his base feel about that?

THOMAS: Well, they don't like the idea of being an interventionist president. I mean that's largely what he ran against. So if he continues action in Syria, I think his base will revolt against that.

But look, I think Trump has started to make the argument. And the base understands to some degree that when you sit in that chair as you get those intelligence briefings, you can't let a place like North Korea run rampant with missiles, with nuclear missiles potentially aimed at our allies.

VAUSE: Steve Bannon doesn't understand that though at this point.

THOMAS: And that's maybe why he is on the way out.

VAUSE: Good point.

Let me go on because Tuesday is the deadline in the United States to Americans to submit their tax returns. With that in mind, there were protests over the weekend in 150 cities demanding Donald Trump release his tax returns. All he said to all these people, they better get used to disappointment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You always talk about under audit, the President is under audit. Is it time to say, once and for all, the President is never going to release his tax return?

SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, I'll have to get back to you on that.

(CROSSTALK)

SPICER: I mean, really?

ZELENY: So he may.

SPICER: No. I said I'd have to get back to you on that. I think that he is still under audit. The statement still stands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: John, Donald Trump is never releasing his tax returns, is he? I'll get back to you --

THOMAS: No, he is not going to release his returns. I mean he had whether he intentionally leaked it or it was accidental, somebody leaked it -- the one bit of his returns that were released showed that he actually pays more taxes than Bernie Sanders. So one stands to reason why wouldn't he release the rest?

I think he just doesn't want to distract from the story of the day. He doesn't want to go down that rat hole, especially as tax reform is next on his list of things that he wants to accomplish.

VAUSE: He doesn't want to distract from the story of the day. It's all about clarity in message.

JACOBSON: Right. I think changing the conversation and creating political whiplash, whether it's these foreign policy entanglements that he is putting us in.

But I think the larger question is, is the tax return going to be part or one element of the Russia investigation whether it's through the FBI potentially or to the congressional, the House and Senate. SESAY: And he may not want to change the conversation if we're to go

with John's logic. But the voters, Republicans want to know, at least some of them what is in those tax returns.

And Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton on Monday night in a town hall, he felt the heat when he trotted out the White House line on these tax returns. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TOM COTTON (R), ARKANSAS: As far as I'm aware of the President says he's still under audit. And he says he's going to --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Yes, they don't seem so happy. So the question is, is there a price to pay for those congressmen and women who stand by the President on this come those mid terms?

[00:15:02] THOMAS: I don't believe so. I mean a lot of these town halls are filled with angry anti-Trump voters. I mean I don't think his tax returns is the latest thing. I think there are a lot more things, issues that they should be outraged about rather than the tax returns.

SESAY: It's ok to say what they should or shouldn't be angry about. I mean --

THOMAS: Here is the reason, though. Trump's base is elected him. Trump in the latest Rasmussen poll today is in 50 percent approval. Trump's base knew that he didn't release his tax returns and that wasn't the predominant issue.

I don't think -- I don't think the base will riot. I think the Democrats are looking for any reason to get upset. And this is yet another reason.

JACOBSON: Well, Global Strategy Group put out a poll earlier today that showed that 64 percent of Republicans believe that the President should be transparent and put forward his tax returns. But I think if you look at the larger approval ratings that Pew Research put out today, 39 percent of Americans disapprove of the President's performance.

VAUSE: I'm just saying, in light of everything that is going on right now with North Korea and Syria and all of the other much bigger issues around the world, while many people, you know, still want the see the tax returns, the entire issue seems to fade into the background a little bit. Doesn't it?

JACOBSON: Yes. Well look, he is the ultimate shape shifter, right. He is trying to sort of change the conversation away from any controversy that is plaguing his White House or the fact that he is being investigated by the FBI. Let's not forget, there is an ongoing FBI investigation looking into potential collusion and hacking.

THOMAS: He's so cozy with Trump -- oh with Russia.

JACOBSON: Well, that's the political whiplash. He is creating this facade --

THOMAS: The Democrats are jumping, trying to grasp the straws to keep the activist hot and riled up. And that's a real challenge for any group to keep your base so angry all the way into the midterm election.

VAUSE: I think Donald Trump is doing a pretty good job of that.

THOMAS: I know. I mean a lot of it is self-inflicted. I will agree with that.

VAUSE: Ok.

SESAY: Gentlemen -- we'll leave it there. Thank you.

THOMAS: Thank you.

VAUSE: Thank you.

With first round voting in France's presidential election just days away, the leader of the far right is promising to suspend all immigration. Front-runner Marine Le Pen's speech on Monday was interrupted by several protests.

Two women disrupted her Paris rally. The first jumped on to the stage and immediately taken away as the crowd booed. Moments later a second woman -- she was naked -- yelling at Le Pen as Le Pen was talking about immigration.

SESAY: President Donald Trump has congratulated the Turkish president on Sunday's referendum win. Recep Tayyip Erdogan won by a very thin margin but the changes will be drastic.

Turkey's parliamentary democracy will be gone and the president will gain sweeping, mostly unchecked new political powers.

International election monitors say the vote was unfair and opposition groups are challenging the outcome. Turkey's also extending the state of emergency for three more months, the third extension since last year's failed coup.

U.S. law enforcement are urging a suspected killer to turn himself in and the manhunt has now gone nationwide. Authorities are offering a reward. We'll have details on that in just a moment.

SESAY: Plus (inaudible) painkillers and no prescriptions, new documents released in the investigation into Prince's death.

[00:18:22] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody.

An urgent search is under way in the United States for a suspect accused of killing a man and sharing the video of it on Facebook.

Earlier, police warned people in Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana and Michigan to be on alert. Now they have a new reward of $50,000 for any information leading to Steven Stephens arrest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF CALVIN WILLIAMS, CLEVELAND OHIO DEPARTMENT SHERIFF: We're still imploring Steve to turn himself in. Definitely to contact a relative or friend because there are a lot of folks out there that want to talk to him, want to get this resolved peacefully. So Steve, if you're out there listening, call someone whether it's a friend or family member or pastor. Give them a call because they're waiting on you to call them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So far police have not talked about a possible motive in the case and they say Stephens and the victim Robert Godwin did not know each other.

SESAY: Well, let's bring in CNN's law enforcement contributor Steve Moore. He joins us now live. Steve -- always good to have you with us.

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Good to be here.

SESAY: Welcome to our new home.

MOORE: I love it. Good job.

SESAY: Let's turn to more serious matters -- this nationwide manhunt for this individual, Steve Stephens. Talk to us about the assets that would be in place for something like this and just how it would be coordinated.

MOORE: That's one -- the coordination first of all is one thing the FBI does well. They are in all 50 states and they can have things moving in different states -- three or four different states at the same time.

So that gives -- that gives law enforcement a head start. Plus they can deal with the officers in Michigan, in Pennsylvania, in Ohio all at the same time.

SESAY: And judging by comments made in the press conference earlier Monday, if they are to be believed, the trail seems to have gone cold -- right. They're not giving out anything.

But I was thinking well, it's incredibly difficult in this day and age with cellphones and the pings they give out using ATMs, circuit cameras to go off the grid. That's not an easy thing to do.

MOORE: And I don't believe he has. I think what's happened here is the only thing that's been released is that there was a ping in Erie, Pennsylvania. Well Cleveland didn't release that. The FBI didn't release that. Somebody in Erie did. I don't think that was intentional.

SESAY: So you don't think the trail has gone cold. Is that what you think?

MOORE: I don't think it has. I don't think they've been telling us anything except what accidentally came out. So this guy has got to go out. I think it's 90 and he's going northeast -- I believe that's the Ohio turnpike or nearby. He's going to be going through toll booths. He's going to need some money. He needs gas. He cannot keep moving without doing financial transactions.

SESAY: Indeed.

When this guy accused of shooting this elderly father -- grandfather --

MOORE: Tragic.

SESAY: -- completely tragic. A man he does not know, as we were told. Just walked out and picked him out and decided to shoot him. What does that tell us about this individual to do such a thing and then post the video on Facebook?

MOORE: Look, it tells us he's a little bit like John Hinckley who shot Reagan in order to make an impression on a girl. This guy apparently was doing this as punishment for his girlfriend not responding to his entreaties.

So this tells you what kind of sickness he has. But it doesn't tell you how far this goes. And when he tells his mom this may be the last time you ever see me, you have to wonder does that mean suicide by cop? Does that mean suicide? We don't know. But it means that he's dangerous.

[00:25:01] SESAY: What is interesting though is the woman he allegedly did this because of or for, this girlfriend speaks of him being a kind man, of being kind to her children and herself.

His attorney is (inaudible) and in national newspapers saying that when they dealt with each other in the past few years, he was very respectful and didn't pose any problem.

That dichotomy is something criminologists will be looking at, right, as we talk about figuring out what he could do next.

MOORE: And that is one of the things the FBI is doing. They are piping this information into the local law enforcement because this isn't unusual for the FBI. This isn't something where they say oh, we've never seen that before.

This is something that is probably pretty common with them. And as far as he seemed very nice and so, you always hear about these women who are killed or beaten by their husbands or boyfriends and you wonder how did they get in these relationships?

Well, they didn't start it -- those relationships by beating them or being threatening. These people are chameleons. They can be who they thing you want them to be until they feel ownership and then they become who they want to be and you have to become who they want you to be.

SESAY: Yes. That chameleon aspect is something again criminologist will be looking at -- right, as they try and track where he could be.

MOORE: Absolutely.

SESAY: And what he could do next.

Steve Moore -- always good to speak to you. Thank you so much.

MOORE: Thank you for having me.

SESAY: Thank you.

VAUSE: Time now for a short break.

When we come back -- what was really going on in Paisley Park the night Prince died? There's new details on how the legendary singer tried to hide an addiction to painkillers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:30:00] SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: And I'm John Vause. Great to have you with us.

Let's check the headlines this hour.

(HEADLINES)

SESAY: Prince and his iconic song, "Purple Rain," nearly a year on, still no arrest and no suspects in his death. But a criminal investigation is ongoing.

Court documents unsealed Monday show bottles of opioid painkillers were found in several parts of his home, Paisley Park. We know Prince died from an accidental overdose of Fentanyl on the strongest painkiller on the market. But we still don't know how he got it.

Some of the bottles were in the name of his former drummer and longtime friend reportedly to protect Prince's privacy. Still so many questions surrounding what happened to Prince and his final hours.

VAUSE: Joining us now for more on this latest in the investigation is attorney Sara Azari and also addiction specialist, Dr. Arif Karim.

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: -- for both being here.

So, Arif, first to you. If you look at the information that we learned from the warrants, it seemed that Prince was very good at hiding what was actually going on. As they say, they never really knew that he had this problem. He had this reputation for clean living.

So are some addicts like Prince?

Are they just good at hiding this?

Or did the people around Prince not want to see what was going on?

DR. ARIF KARIM, ADDICTION SPECIALIST: Some addicts are not good at this. All addicts are good at this. We're talking about manipulation, we're talking about lying, we're talking about deceit. We're talking about shame, guilt, the ability to hide your drug problem or your alcohol problem, whether it is prescription-based from doctors or it is on the street or it is illegal, is absolutely part of the deceit. It's absolutely part of the problem.

And when you have enablers, when you have handlers, when you have runners, when you have friends that are willing to get those medications for and give them to you or shady doctors, whichever the case, we do not know what this is here, if it is -- you're crippling that person.

SESAY: Sara, to you, none of the medications were actually prescribed to Prince as we understand it. If that is true, what are the penalties for the doctors who did the prescribing and the individuals who went and picked up the stuff?

SARA AZARI, ATTORNEY: Well, here's the thing. The doctors nowadays, doctors are being prosecuted left and right. They can't hide behind the white lab coat anymore. And it's no different than a heroin dealer on the street and every person who is doing something in that drug supply chain is going to be liable.

So in this case the resource if -- Arif and I were talking about actually just now -- if the doctor knew that this was going to go to Prince and was writing the prescriptions to Johnson's name, then both Johnson and the doctor are liable.

If she was writing it to Johnson not knowing who it is going to and Johnson was then giving Prince his own medication, then Johnson is definitely liable. But this doctor made inconsistent statements initially. He said that he did write opiate prescriptions to Prince in somebody else's name. I think Johnson's name -- and now he's denying every writing a prescription that went to Prince that he knowingly may have written.

VAUSE: And one of the reasons why he said he put it in the friend's name is because he wanted to protect Prince's privacy.

Is that in any way legally mitigating factor here?

AZARI: It's not. Look, aliases were looked over. They were not being prosecuted in these instances. But nowadays with this whole crackdown over doctors, they are actually criminalizing this behavior. So you can't write -- it's a false name. An alias is a false name. It's not your legal name. And the purpose of having these triplicate prescriptions reef can probably back nip on this (ph) is so that you can track them and know who was using them.

So if you're going to cover that up with an alias then that makes it all the more difficult.

And by the way, prince had an alias. It was -- I believe it was Peter Bravestrong (ph). And it was not Luke or -- I'm sorry; what is it?

VAUSE: Johnson --

(CROSSTALK)

AZARI: -- Johnson, yes. And so, yes.

SESAY: So, Arif, before you (INAUDIBLE), let me just read the statement that Prince's lawyer issued. And it said this. Let's put this up on the screen.

"Contrary to headlines and media reports published in the wake of today's unsealing of --

[03:30:00]

SESAY: -- search warrants related to the investigation, Dr. Schulenbeck (ph) never directly prescribed opioids to prince nor did he ever prescribe opioids to any other person with the intent that they would be given to prince."

But I guess at least one of the questions that we have here is, in general terms, why is that a doctor would prescribe certain things to an individual or a star like prince that they would never prescribe to anybody else?

VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE) Michael Jackson as well.

(CROSSTALK)

KARIM: I've been in on a lot of these cases. I have worked with a lot of celebrities who say this is commonplace. The commonplace theme is special care is going to be good care.

Special care is not good care. I do not care who this person is, if they're the biggest celebrity on the planet or not, they have the same brain. We have to sift through the celebrity status to get to that brain underneath the celebrity. And if that person is getting whatever they want, their functional neurobiology is just the same as anybody else's.

They are not special. And you are doing that person a disservice. And in the case of aliases, people have used aliases all the time to get pills, hospitals, treatment centers, whatever. And the problem is we have such a bad epidemic right now going on that we fail to track these medications through the state and federally.

All we have are all these alias names. We don't know who's getting what.

AZARI: And, by the way, if criminal liability can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, these people are all looking at up to 10 years before secondary manslaughter in Minnesota. So it's very seriously.

VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE) don't know at this point is actually who supplied the Fentanyl. Let's assume that the Fentanyl was provided legally through a doctor with a prescription and it was used abusively in a way by Prince.

Does that then still mean that the doctor is legally liable?

KARIM: That is tough because, first off, if this doctor said that he was not prescribing it and it's legit, then there is a higher chance he was getting that Fentanyl through the black market.

If it was coming to the black market, which is usually what happens, because you are so used to taking a certain amount of the medication that you're like, oh, well, this is just like my other medication I normally take six tablets a day. I'll take six of these and I will be fine.

But if that has Fentanyl in it, it's going to have a much stronger effect, much stronger respiratory depression, a fact which is usually how people overdose and die. Then they go into cardiac arrest after the respiratory depression.

If this was some doctor out there somewhere that was stashing and he was getting these drugs and he was stashing them because he was stashing everything else that was in the suitcases and all his medication, then that doctor definitely is liable.

SESAY: Let me ask you this, the authorities keeping the investigation going and staying on this, will this serve as a kind of cautionary tale, do you think, in this land of stars and celebrities and the way doctors handle these people?

Do you think will change as a result of this?

KARIM: In my opinion, it's just one after the other after the other. Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger --

(CROSSTALK)

KARIM: -- Anna Nicole, so you just keep naming them and yet when are we going to do something about this?

My own profession, there are really good doctors out there and these medications are used in very appropriate ways the majority of the time. But you've got to put these rules and regulations and how much you can prescribe. The CDC has started this but there is so much more left to do.

We need a national registry to be able to track these medications. We shouldn't be using aliases. We should have Narcan everywhere. We should be teaching people about -- in medical school about addiction. There is so much to do.

VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE). Is this investigation moving slowly?

AZARI: I think so. I think a year was a long time just to find out what we found out today. You know.

VAUSE: OK, Sara and --

(CROSSTALK)

SESAY: Always appreciated.

AZARI: Thank you.

SESAY: Time for a quick break. And coming up, streaming video services are spending big money in the hunt for new audiences. And Netflix thinks it may have found an answer. Details -- next.

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[03:40:00]

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SESAY: Hello, everyone.

Netflix stock is open to track at a record high Tuesday as the streaming video company earns its biggest quarter for new subscribers ever.

VAUSE: And the company is planning to spend more than $1 billion this year to attract even more viewers. Samuel Burke tells us how they plan to do it.

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SAMUEL BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the Middle East, it's not always easy to know who the good guys are. Netflix's latest thriller blurs the lines even more, showing the human side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Netflix thinks the series may rival the success of "Homeland" across the globe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're in the States now, in Washington --

"Fauda's" creators say they set out to make a groundbreaking show from the start.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the first time I think that you open this window to people abroad to see the conflict in Israel. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what we were trying to show, is that there's a price for this war. And every one of us, each and every one of us, is paying this price.

BURKE: "Fauda," which follows a group of Israeli soldiers who disguise themselves as Palestinians is just the latest attempt by Netflix to appeal to both its English-speaking base as well as its growing number of international subscribers worldwide, a user base that it's increasingly counting on to drive profit.

Instead of spending $100 million on megaproductions like "House of Cards," Netflix is shelling out just a few million for the rights of local shows, like Danish drama "Rita," the Norwegian hit, "Occupied," and "Call My Agent" from France.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The beauty of the Netflix model is it doesn't really matter where it is created. It's available globally. And that globalization is something that Amazon and Netflix are doing an incredible job of leveraging.

BURKE: Netflix also needs to fend off competition from local streaming service, giants like Amazon and upstarts like Hulu, which has also found success showing subtitled series, like the original version of "Homeland" the Israeli series have to feed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Netflix is probably spending upwards of $8 billion cash investment in new programming on a global basis. Amazon is probably spending $5 billion on global programming.

Both of these companies have the ability to finance very expensive, great content, wherever it comes.

BURKE: For the creators of "Fauda," the global success of the show has been unexpected.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some will very awkwardly (INAUDIBLE) then again, this miracle, this very mysterious thing that happened here in Israel is happening all over the world now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can show you my Twitter. I can show you my Instagram. So many people related to it.

BURKE: "Fauda" shows, when it comes to compelling content, binge watching knows no borders -- Samuel Burke, CNNMoney, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE) Netflix.

SESAY: Tell me.

VAUSE: There's just too much to choose from.

(LAUGHTER)

VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE) a half an hour and (INAUDIBLE) I forget what I looked. And there's (INAUDIBLE).

SESAY: It's not that bad.

(CROSSTALK)

SESAY: -- like an 8-year old, what shall I pick?

VAUSE: What do I watch?

Too much.

SESAY: It's not that bad.

(LAUGHTER)

VAUSE: It is.

SESAY: Well, thank you for CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause. "WORLD SPORT" is up next and then we'll be back in our brand-new studio top of the hour with --

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: -- all the news from around the world. You're watching CNN.