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FDA Advisers back Boosters For Older & High Risk Americans; Police Outnumbered As Rally For Rioters Falls Flat; Partner Of Late Capitol Police Officer Rails Against Trump; CIA Warning Didn't Arrive In Time To Prevent Tragedy In Kabul; Historic All-Civilian SpaceX Flight Splashes Down Off Florida Coast. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired September 18, 2021 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:00]
MIKE MASSIMINO, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Think of how their lives changed in the past months over the past year, particularly at a time when it's been really rough on all of us dealing with the pandemic and other issues to have something like this.
I think we all can share in their joy. And very happy for all of them
PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: It's just beautiful. And one of them was a pediatric cancer survivor, now part of this mission.
MASSIMINO: Yes.
BROWN: It gives so much hope and dreams to kids battling cancer who are in the hospital just watching this play out tonight.
It was an honor and pleasure to be with both of you, Kristin and Mike, as we watched history play out.
MASSIMINO: Thanks, Pamela.
BROWN: The all-civilian Inspiration4 crew ends their historic mission as their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule splashes down off the coast of Florida.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Inspiration4, on behalf of SpaceX, welcome home to planet earth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks so much, SpaceX. It was a heck of a ride for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: The CIA warned civilians, including children, were in the area seconds before a U.S. missile strike killed 10 in Kabul.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. KENNETH F. MCKENZIE JR, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: We thought this was a good lead. We were wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRYAN LAUNDRIE, FIANCE OF GABBY PETITO: We've been lucky so far.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: The family of missing woman, Gabby Petito, says her fiance isn't missing but hiding.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's another twist in the story for sure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SISTER OF BRYAN LAUNDRIE: Me and my family want Gabby found safe. She is like a sister. And my children love her. And all I want is for her to come home safe and sound and this to be a big misunderstanding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Top of the hour now. I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM, live, with us on this Saturday evening.
And breaking news, splashdown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: SpaceX splashdown.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Just a few minutes ago, the first ever all-civilian space flight made it back to earth safely off the Florida coast.
And here's the scene as the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule arrived at the Atlantic Ocean. Quite the splashdown there.
And 52 years after Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon, two women and two men became the first ordinary citizens to do something extraordinary, go into space on their own.
Let's go right to Kristin Fisher at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
What a moment. Where is the crew right now, Kristin?
KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: The crew is on the capsule recovery ship off the coast of Florida in the Atlantic Ocean, getting checked out by the medical teams.
And soon they're going to board a helicopter where they will be flown back to the Kennedy Space Center to be reunited with families.
What an incredible moment for families, for the now astronauts, and for SpaceX and Elon Musk, who dreamed of this moment, the first all- civilian mission to orbit really since the founding of SpaceX.
And so they took off from the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday night aboard a Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule, orbited the earth three full days doing scientific experiments, medical experiments.
And also just taking pictures, playing the ukulele and taking pictures, looking out at the views of the earth, which is what we would want to do if we were out there, and that was the point of the mission.
It then splashed down in the Atlantic around 7:00 Eastern time.
Let's listen to the moment right after splashdown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: SpaceX splashdown. Copy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Inspiration --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Inspiration4, on behalf of SpaceX, welcome home to planet earth.
Your mission has shown the world that it's safe for all of us and everyday people can make impacts in the world around them. Thank you for sharing your hope, promises and generosity.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And congratulations on your incredible journey.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks so much, SpaceX. A heck of a ride for us. Feels like we're just getting started.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FISHER: So a very excited Crew, soon heading back to the Kennedy Space Center. The capsule heading back here to Port Canaveral in Cape Canaveral. And what we witnessed, really the government ending its decades-long
monopoly on orbital human space flight, for the first time. NASA having no part in this crewed mission to orbit.
[20:05:09]
Truly, a new era of space tourism not just in the United States but all over the world -- Pam?
BROWN: Kristin Fisher at Cape Canaveral. Thank you so much, Kristin. Nice to be able to smile about a story.
Speaking of, this is a very sad story we're bringing to you. The stunning twist in the disappearance of Gabby Petito, the young woman who went missing during a cross-country road trip with her fiance.
Developments tonight, he is now missing or disappeared. And police say he may be in danger.
Right now, police are searching for Bryan Laundrie in Florida. He is considered a person of interest in his fiance's case. And he's refused to talk to investigators since returning home alone from the couple's trip early this month.
CNN's Polo Sandoval joins me with the latest.
Polo, any clues as to Bryan's Laundrie's whereabouts.
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, Pamela. And at this point, the search called off, expected to resume tomorrow.
This news he is nowhere to be found is devastating for Gabby Petito's family, who were hoping law enforcement could speak to him.
They believe he holds some critical information that could lead to the whereabouts of their daughter missing now. At least they reported her missing one week ago today.
Let me tell you about what led investigators to this reserve in Florida just this morning. His family contacted investigators in North Port, Florida, yesterday saying any saw their son Tuesday.
He had a backpack with him and said he was going to a large wildlife preserve, about 25,000 acres total, and that he would be hiking as he has done before, only that he never came back.
Investigators initially -- they triggered this large, massive search. And remember, it's not a manhunt, because authorities saying he is not wanted for any crime.
At this point, he is now the second missing person this this case. And authorities right now are trying to track him down.
But law enforcement tweeted a short while ago because of the darkness they're going to call that search off at least for now. Nothing found, and that efforts will resume Sunday. Remember, Laundrie and his parents had not spoken in great detail with
investigators until yesterday.
Even then, the spokesperson for the police department, who you are about to hear from, said they were focused on their son and not on Gabby.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH TAYLOR, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, NORTH PORT POLICE DEPARTMENT: Our focus was putting resources on trying to find Gabby. We knew that -- look Bryan wasn't willing to talk. That was abundantly clear. We were attempting, attempting.
We were putting resources on trying to find Gabby. We knew we would deal with Bryan eventually. But this is certainly a twist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park, the FBI is now conducting ground surveys, which where the family of Gabby Petito believe she was last seen. That's where the other search is ongoing.
Tonight, Pamela, Gabby's family are devastated and still trying to hold it together and stay strong as the search for their daughter prepares to enter week two.
BROWN: All right, Polo Sandoval, thank you so much.
Joining me with more on this, senior law enforcement analyst and former FBI deputy director, Andrew McCabe, joins us.
Anderw, we now have two missing people, one last seen in Utah, the other last seen in Florida. We know the FBI joined the search. What can the FBI bring to the case right now?
ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Sure. It's an puzzling case. The facts behind this are not like anything I've seen before, especially with one of the young people coming home without the other one.
But nonetheless, the FBI is an important partner in the investigation.
You have multiple sites over multiple states, literally crossing the entire country, that may require some level of investigative activity.
To do that in a coordinated way with level law enforcement and compiling the information that results from that activity in one coherent way, that's something the FBI does better than anyone else.
We heard just in the last report that the FBI is conducting ground surveys in the Teton National Parks. That, we know, was the last known destination of the two while still together.
They will probably bring in ground penetrating radar used to look for anomalies below the surface to see if there are indications that something might have been buried or secreted away.
They will no doubt look closely at social media accounts used by both individuals. They were prolific social media users. A lot of clues to be mined there.
[20:10:06]
So there's a lot the bureau can do to help out the disparate and far- flung police agencies that might be in the middle of this.
BROWN: I want to shift to today's rally in Washington. A major show of force from law enforcement mainly kept the day largely peaceful.
But the former president clearly sympathizes with the reason for the rally. This was his statement supporting the rally and condemning what he called the criminal prosecution of his supporters on January 6th.
Do you view that as a call to action? Does it concern you?
MCCABE: Well, it certainly concerns me.
Because, once again, we have the former president breathing life and oxygen into these lies, these conspiracy theories, these misrepresentations that the folks who showed up today and the folks who showed up on January 6th -- these lies form the basis of the grievance and the anger and division that compels some people to violence.
So, in his own way, the former president continues to foster and encourage an environment of potential violence that is founded upon lies and misrepresentations. So it's dangerous.
He is working against the security of the country. But it's not the first time we have seen that from him.
BROWN: All right. Andrew McCabe thank you so much for joining us on this Saturday evening.
MCCABE: Thanks, Pamela.
BROWN: Still ahead, a CIA warning, we learned, didn't arrive in time to prevent a tragedy in Kabul. And now a family mourns innocent civilians killed in a U.S. drone strike.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Can you forgive them?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe. But, you know I lost my family. Who return them back perhaps?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:16:04]
BROWN: Tonight, new revelations about the U.S. drone strike last month that killed 10 civilians in Kabul, including seven children.
Family members spoke with CNN's Nic Robertson today, a day after the U.S. military admitted it made a, quote, "terrible mistake."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: It's a lot of children.
This is the blood of the children?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Yamal Admeke (ph) shows me his family's shattered house.
(on camera): It's heartbreaking to see this now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
ROBERTSON: And to know they say it was just a mistake.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes, that's a big mistake. You know about it, yes.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): No one has had the heart to clean it up since the drone strike three weeks ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are all of them. Like my cute daughter that I can't forget her. She was so lively for me that I.
ROBERTSON: The Pentagon late admission, that his brother, Zemari, was not an ISIS terrorist. Something positive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The USA proved that they are targeting innocent people, because of that I am so happy about in.
ROBERTSON: But he still has questions. Five children he says were inside the car when it was hit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The USA's know that inside the car was children. Why they targeted an innocent person? Why they target a civilian person.
ROBERTSON: So far, they say they've had no calls from U.S. officials. Are hoping for help to rebuild, even relocate to America.
(on camera): Can you forgive them?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe. But how should I do? You know that I lost that my family. That who return them back perhaps.
ROBERTSON: That's impossible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's impossible. No one is able to return them back.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): To the world, this is a drone strike gone wrong. For the family, it's an irreplaceable loss.
Another brother, Ramal (ph), shows me the family graves, scattered in the unforgiving rocky ground of a dusty Kabul cemetery.
His own three children daughter, Faza (ph), 8, sons, Faisal, 15 and Zamia (ph), 19, all killed in the strike.
(on camera): What do you want for the person responsible?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just give me --
ROBERTSON (voice-over): His answer, justice. The drone operators should go to court.
For now, prayers and the acknowledgement of their family's innocence, their only solace.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Kabul, Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Heartbreaking.
Sources tell CNN that moments before the U.S. drone strike hit killing the civilians in Kabul, the CIA issued an urgent warning that children might be in the target vehicle.
I want to bring in CNN's Katie Bo Williams. She covers intelligence and national security issues.
How did this happen, Katie?
KATIE BO WILLIAMS, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: What we learned, Pam, just after the military fires this Hell Fire missile at a white Toyota Corolla believed at the time was carrying of an ISIS suspect, but now we know was carrying innocent civilians.
Just after the missile is released, the CIA issues this urgent warning to the military and says we believe there's civilians in the area to include possibly even children in the car.
By that point, it was too late. The warning arrived just seconds before the missile impacts in the car.
And you know, there's a couple of reasons that this is important obviously.
But one of the reasons that we've been watching is, just in the hours after the strike, the military issues a statement in which they said we have no indications that there were any civilian casualties.
But of course, thanks to reporting, we now know there was at least one quite stark warning from the agency to military officials saying we believe there's civilians on the ground.
[20:20:09]
And beyond that, it should be noted the strike was carried out in a very densely populated, exclusively civilian residential area.
So there are some real questions at this point about what the military knew behind the scenes and what it was saying publicly.
BROWN: It seems they got everything wrong from what they said initially. It was actually water jugs, not explosives.
WILLIAMS: Yes, one of the things I think is very tricky for military and counterintelligence -- sorry counterterrorism officials operating in Afghanistan is they were trying to build a case to show that this person was an ISIS suspect, based on what they call pattern of life.
They're basically looking at a vehicle they believed had some association with an ISIS safehouse and was watching this vehicle using overhead surveillance drones to see it's going here, there, we think we can build a pattern that suggests that this is a suspect, that this is a legitimate target for a counterterrorism strike.
But at the end of the day, by the time the missile was launched, they didn't actually definitively know the identity of the target. They just built this pattern of life that they believed suggested that he was ISIS.
BROWN: The flimsy clues. I think you said in your story, they were working off what they could without more assets on the ground.
WILLIAMS: Yes. That is the future of counterterrorism Afghanistan.
One of the things we heard repeatedly from former intelligence officials and even current officials we're talking to now is, if this strike went so badly while the United States still has a presence on the ground, what does that say for the Biden administration's ability to conduct counterterrorism strikes in Afghanistan when there's no presence there.
BROWN: It raises a lot of serious questions.
Katie Bo, thank you so much.
And up next, we've got Andy Slavitt standing by. He is President Biden's former senior adviser for COVID response strategy.
And we have plenty to talk about. What's the long-term plan for booster shots? Which vaccine works best? Will you be able to mix and match shots?
And this one is a little below the belt. How do you talk about misinformation without talking about Nicki Minaj and her cousin friend's with a rather delicate condition, shall we say?
And let's see if Andy is still sitting there when we come back. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:26:50]
BROWN: The FDA's independent panel of vaccine advisers voted to recommend booster shots for people 65 and older as well as those at high risk of severe infection.
But for now, they've stopped short of recommending a third shot for all Americans 16 and older six months after being fully vaccinated.
Let's kick it off with Andy Slavitt. He was the Biden White House senior adviser for COVID response. He's also the author of "Preventable, The Inside Story of How Leadership Failures, Politics, and Selfishness Doomed the U.S. Coronavirus Response."
Andy, thanks for sticking around for the segment.
The CDC still has to sign on to the plan. But this recommendation leaves the Biden administration in the lurch. How disappointing is this for the White House.
ANDY SLAVITT, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER FOR COVID RESPONSE & AUTHOR: Let's start with the process from here. We've got three more steps.
The FDA advisory committee is only advisory. Now the FDA advisory, the lead advisory, the administrator, Janet Woodcock, has to make a decision about whether to accept or reject the advice.
Then it goes to the CDC Advisory Committee. If that's not enough, then the CDC director has to make a recommendation.
There's a long way to go the public should understand it's not clear where it irons out.
It's important. And I think the president said as much. That whatever it is we're going to do, dependent upon what the FDA concludes and ultimately what the CDC recommends.
So we'll still see will it be 65 and older? I think there's a good case to be made it should be dropped younger than that.
We'll see if the CDC ends up doing that.
BROWN: Do you think this creates a confusion to the public?
SLAVITT: I think that the public is really eager to know the answer. And I think going through processes like this where you watch scientists debate.
And if you watched that debate on Friday, I apologize on behalf of the time you lost listening to people with very little data, very little opinion, all expressing points of view. Yet, if you step back and think about it, this is the process we want. I take our process over something that's in the dark, where you -- where opposing views get oppressed.
It's messy, ugly because there's scientific uncertainty. And when there's scientific uncertainty, we want to hear from all sides.
At the end of the day, it seems obvious, at least if you are in the older category or at risk, you should be getting a booster.
It's -- it seems less obvious, but potentially the case that, if you're younger, you should be getting the booster.
That's what the debate is about. And I think we'll see a conclusion sometime between now and probably Friday of the coming week.
BROWN: I want to ask you about the new CDC data, looking at the effectiveness of the various vaccines when it comes to preventing COVID hospitalizations.
Moderna had the highest rate of effectiveness, 93 percent. Pfizer close behind at 88 percent. And the J&J vaccine at 71 percent.
Does it concern you at all that people may say my vaccine didn't have the strong response? I want Moderna booster now. What do you say about mixing and matching?
[20:29:50]
SLAVITT: Well, we should remember the Moderna vaccine had about -- had three times higher dosing than then the Pfizer vaccine. And so, what may be happening is it may be slightly more effective, but what it also may be happening is it may just have a slightly longer duration. So, we will see.
But those are very, very close. I know, it sounds like five points is a lot. And even the difference with between Johnson and Johnson and Pfizer, Moderna is really very close when you look at it in actual numbers. So -- and these are all pretty, very good vaccines.
Certainly, as we know more about them, people will have their ability to pick and choose as they go into the next round. And it's important what the CDC talk about as it relates to boosters, hey, what happened if I had a Moderna vaccine? Can I get a Pfizer booster? And I think the right answer is we should leave -- we should allow doctors to feel that that should happen to prescribe the Pfizer vaccine since it is fully improved.
BROWN: I wonder as someone who has been so intricately involved in fighting this pandemic, now you're out of the White House, but here we are. And there's story after story of hospitals filled to the brim, people with other medical emergencies being turned away even dying in some cases, because the hospital is too full of COVID patients. Are you surprised that this is where we are in the pandemic with these vaccines having been readily available for so long now? SLAVITT: Well, as you said, I am glad not to be in the White House during the Nicki Minaj crisis. So that would have been quite a challenge for me. But, you know, it's a good question, because I think what we've learned is two things. One is that Delta is a is a faster- acting virus, it has a lower quicker incubation period. And so, it is more dangerous.
And you copy -- you couple that with the fact that the U.S. which was once third in the world in terms of vaccination levels, is now 45th, meaning, that we have come to a crawl in terms of people being willing to take the vaccine, particularly in communities around the world. So, over the course, I mean, particularly in certain communities in the country.
So, we are now going to be one of the global hotspots. We are one of the global hotspots not because of the vaccine effectiveness, but because people aren't willing to take the vaccine in large swaths throughout the country and that is really a crisis for us right now.
BROWN: So, you mentioned Nicki Minaj. I got to ask you about this. So, they picture the U.S. is pledging a large donation of vaccine doses to COVAX. But there is still such a compliance gap here at home that you just laid out. Although more than 181 million eligible Americans are fully vaccinated, that's still less than 55 percent.
You have the misinformation out there still going strong. Like you pointed out, Andy, Nicki Minaj, the pop star who has nearly 23 million followers on Twitter tweeted that her cousin's friend had swelling in a sensitive part of his anatomy after getting the vaccine. And I will not be more specific than that.
But this got insane coverage this week, even the White House got involved. How do you battle Nicki Minaj's cousin's friend's private parts?
SLAVITT: Well, look, I've heard Anthony Fauci sing before and it's not great. And I've heard Nicki Minaj give medical opinions and that's even worse. So, I mean, I think we all -- we all need to step back and let people play their roles. I mean, scientists have gone -- virologists, epidemiologists have gone to school for years and studied for years to be smarter than your average person on Facebook and your average entertainer.
And so, let's just step back and not listen to the people that entertain us. Let's not listen to the people that we think are interesting. Let's not listen to some random person on Facebook because they sound smart. Don't listen to me. Listen to your doctor, listen to the CDC, listen to your local public health commissioners. Listen to people who have real knowledge about this.
And what they will tell you is you will have a multiple of reduction that you're going to get COVID, that you're going to get sick, that you're going to get hospitalized, and that you're going to die if you get vaccinated. And we've given this vaccine now 5.7 billion times around the world, 5.7 billion times. We don't see billions of people walking around with swollen body parts, do we? We don't. So, let's just be clear that there are lots of things that happen for lots of reasons. I don't know Nicki Minaj's friend's cousin or her cousin's friend, but there are probably other reasons why they might have swollen body part.
BROWN: OK, Andy. We'll have to leave it on that note. Thanks for joining us.
SLAVITT: Thanks, Pam.
BROWN: Well, today's rally in support of January 6 insurrectionists, much quieter than anticipated. But it's hard to find any Republican leaders in Congress showing up to defend democracy either. Up next, our hard look at how the big lie is already having a big impact on elections.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:35:29]
BROWN: In Washington this afternoon, a fizzle but no fireworks. A few hundred people gathered to support the insurrectionist charged in the deadly January 6 Capitol riot. Police officers and news people outnumbered supporters. The event ended after only a couple of hours and mostly without incident.
But the goal remains to downplay the violence and horrors of the January 6 attack on the Capitol. A reminder, five deaths are directly tied to it, and about 140 police officers were injured during the siege. One Capitol police officer died the next day after suffering two strokes. The coroner said Brian Sicknick died from the events of the day.
[20:40:09]
And this evening, I was joined by his longtime partner and asked her for her reaction to the statement from former President Trump supporting the insurrectionist charged and the deadly attack saying, quote, "Our hearts and minds are with the people being persecuted, so unfairly relating to the January 6 protests concerning the rigged presidential election. And then in caps, quote, Justice will prevail. Here's her response.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANDRA GARZA, OFFICER BRIAN SICKNICK'S LONGTIME PARTNER: When I heard that, I was enraged, I was enraged. He knows that that's an outright lie that the election was not read. That's number one. He is asking for violence again by doing that.
And to say that these people that stormed the Capitol are persecuted is absolutely ridiculous. Those people made a choice to be there. Some of those people made a choice to engage in sadistic violence and hurt officers brutally.
So much so that some of these officers are going to be impacted for the rest of their lives with traumatic brain injuries, you know, severe other physical injuries, and there's a ripple effect with that, it impacts the families, their children. And then, of course, the officers that, you know, felt such desperation to take their lives.
I mean, you know, and then for him to say that his hearts and minds or our hearts and minds are with these people. This violent mob is just despicable. It's despicable. Where was his heart and mind when my partner Brian Sicknick was dead? I still have not heard from Trump. I still have not gotten a letter. And I had said that I would be willing to meet with him, which my offer still stands because I want answers. The Sicknick family deserves answers.
I said he was to chicken. I still stand by that. He wanted to say that Officer Gonell, Officer Hodges, Officer Fanone, and Officer Dunn, where -- and I won't even use the vulgar word that he used, but they were, you know, wusses for showing true human emotion recounting the horror that they experienced that day.
Well, as far as I'm concerned, Trump is the biggest wuss there is because he cannot face me and he cannot face the Sicknick family, and he cannot face those officers. And he cannot face any of the officers, families that took their lives because of the tragedy of that day that he is responsible for inciting.
BROWN: And to be clear, you were a Trump supporter.
GARZA: Yes, I was.
BROWN: As was Brian.
GARZA: Yes, we -- Brian was and I was, and that's what makes it even more disgusting.
BROWN: You just felt betrayed?
GARZA: I do, yes. And I feel very betrayed by the majority of the Republican Party. As a matter of fact, I still continue to get mail from the Republican National Committee address to Brian saying, please, don't abandon us. We still want your support. I mean, it's incredible. And yet, they completely abandon him. And they -- a lot of them would meet with me when I went up to Capitol Hill that day to ask for their support for the January 6 commission.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Let's start with some simple facts, shall we? Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election. And here's another one, but this one isn't as easy to swallow. Trump's baseless big lie about the election being stolen from him is actually winning.
Our latest polling reveals that a majority of Americans have little or no confidence that elections in this country reflect the will of the people. And get this, nearly eight and 10 Republicans don't think Biden is a legitimate president. Nothing has helped broadcast the big lie more than the sound of silence. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): After January 6, after this whole big lie stuff, people were looking for leadership out of D.C. And when all of the people, if you're a base Republican voter and all the people you trust are quiet and go along with the big lie or, you know, act at least acquiesce to it, you have no reason to believe otherwise. And so, when -- it basically ends up with like me, Liz Cheney, and a few others out there saying the election wasn't stolen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:45:01]
BROWN: The deafening silence from Republican Party leaders has allowed the lies to take root and create an alternate reality for millions of Americans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. BRENDAN BOYLE (D-PA): Donald Trump might be ex-president, but he is still, without a doubt, the leader of the Republican Party, and so few Republicans here in Washington or in Pennsylvania, are willing to stand up to him about the big lie.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And when Republican leaders are given the opportunity to set the record straight, you hear a familiar talking point about what's quote, more important.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, the fact is, many Republicans are not looking to the future. They're still looking this past election. They just created this cancer, that 78 percent of Republicans still don't believe that Joe Biden legitimately won. Will you as the number three Republican in Senate say, we have to move on from this. Accept it. This cannot stand in this party.
SEN. JOHN BARRASSO (R-WY): My focus is what's happening right now to this country. We have had this epic failure by the administration in Afghanistan. We have hundreds, if not thousands of Americans trapped behind enemy lines, basically, at the mercy of the Taliban who are not people known for showing mercy. The head of the country has a $10 million price tag on his head. There are so many more important things to be focused on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: So, many more important things to be focused on, he says. Well, what could be more important than safeguarding democracy? What's more important than making sure Americans have faith in the electoral process or knowing that their vote actually counts for something?
For the record, the Republican Party's failure to face up to facts only dooms us to a replay of the same lives over and over. We saw earlier this week, Republican, Larry Elder, without a page, with a page, I should say, right out of Trump's big lie playbook, casting doubt on the California recall count, without any evidence, and even before the votes were counted.
Elder conceded his loss late Tuesday night. As George Costanza famously said on Seinfeld, it's not a lie, if you believe it. And thanks to the big lie, the people amplifying it, the people ignoring it, America isn't getting the truth it deserves.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC HOLDER, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL: And I think about what those democracies that were lost in the middle part, the early part of the 20th century where democracy was not adequately defended, and their authoritarian regimes rose. And it wasn't because democracy was unpopular. You know, democracy was strong, but the reality is the defense of democracy was weak and we cannot allow that to happen in this country.
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BROWN: Back on Earth, the crew members of Inspiration4 are home after their historic three-day mission.
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[20:50:22]
BROWN: It is rare that we get to use words like cool and awesome to describe a moment of breaking news, especially these days. So, I want to show you the moment of the night one more time.
(APPLAUSE)
The history of space travel took another giant leap this evening when the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule gently landed in the Atlantic Ocean. It brought the first all-civilian crew back from orbit safe and sound.
And take a look at these newest pioneers after they've made their return to Earth. They are happy. A happy bunch. The mission was called Inspiration4, and that's exactly what these four are, an inspiration.
The capsule they wrote in 100 miles above the space station is called Resilience. Something we've all needed these last 18 months, right? And this crew showed us how to get to a better place at 17,000 miles an hour.
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JARED ISAACMAN, COMMANDER, SPACEX INSPIRATION4: Few have come before and many are about to follow. The door is opening now. It's pretty incredible.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BROWN: We've seen manned space milestones lift our spirits in troubled times before the late '60s, the early '80s. And now, another barrier shattered with that capsule and its explores home. It is a moment our world can celebrate. And if ever we need a reminder of what we can achieve, all we need to do is look up and see how far we've come. Look at those dance moves. Congrats to all of them.
Well, heads-up. All next week on CNN our special Champions for Change series will spotlight stories of everyday people who don't make headlines, but still smash barriers and inspire others to do the same.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Join your favorite CNN anchors for a special week.
ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Immigrants enrich our country and they're proving it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sharing stories of changemakers.
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is one of the most devastating and, yet, preventable issues of our day.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: He helps the defenseless learn to defend themselves.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Theater teaches courage, confidence, trust.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She saw me in every day she sets out to fulfill that need.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is using scuba diving for better environments.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is a trailblazing black woman.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Preserving the ocean for our children.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Empowering women for financial independence.
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: No one should drown because they don't know how to swim. Very good.
BROWN: Small steps can lead to a big impact.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are -- hope can help kids in school and beyond.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is a champion.
[20:55:01]
CABRERA: She's a champion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For change.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Change.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Change.
GUPTA: Change.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Champions for change all next week on CNN.
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BROWN: And joining me tomorrow when I introduce you to my Champion for Change, my big brother, Lincoln. You see him right here in this video and how his actions, one Christmas changed the lives of an immigrant family.
Thanks so much for joining me this evening. I'm Pamela Brown. See you again tomorrow night starting at 6:00 Eastern.
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