Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Police and FBI Have Arrived at Brian Laundrie's House; Pfizer Says, Vaccine is Safe for Children 5-11 Years Old; Biden and Macron to Speak as France Fumes over Submarine Deal. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired September 20, 2021 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:04]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: A big legislative blow to Democrats streamed for the $3.5 trillion budget bill and a growing diplomatic spat with France, all this as the president prepares for his first U.N. speech as president. He travels to New York this afternoon.

ERICA HILL, CNN NEWSROOM: But first, we are following more breaking news out of Florida right now at the home of Brian Laundrie, the fiancee of Gabby Petito, whose what it is believed to be, her remains were found over the weekend. Authorities now in Northport, Florida, of course, spent the weekend looking for Brian Laundrie in a nature reserve near the family's home. They say the family last saw him on Tuesday but they didn't share that information with police until Friday.

CNN's Leyla Santiago is now live in Northport, Florida, outside that home. Leyla, what is happening behind you there?

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erica, police and FBI arrived about ten minutes ago. We saw sort of a caravan of vehicles come in and they have now surrounded the home. We have seen some officers go inside, just a few of them. I'm going to kind of step out of the way so you can see what it's like right now. This is the first type of activity that we've seen like this today.

And let me walk you through sort of what we knew that led to this. As you mentioned, over the weekend, there was quite the search, which included FBI and Northport Police along with some other agencies searching in a reserve of 25,000 acres because that is where the family said they believed he could be after they reported on Friday that he had been missing since Tuesday.

We now see someone coming out of the door. It looks like it could just be law enforcement, somebody with a walkie-talkie, so it looks like just someone coming out the front door, signaling to others from the FBI to come inside. So we're seeing three with FBI jackets going, calling in a fourth one, so calling in more people into the home as we speak.

And it looks like they have someone coming out. Let me get a better view as to what we see. Again, FBI surrounding the house, they went in and have now seen some come out after Brian Laundrie, 23 years old, was reported missing by his family on Friday, saying they did not know of his whereabouts since Tuesday.

This morning, Northport Police tells us that they --

SCIUTTO (voice over): Leyla?

SANTIAGO (voice over): Yes.

SCIUTTO (voice over): Leyla, as you're watching this, and I know it's just happening, unfolding in the last several minutes, but you've been working the story for some days now. Have you been told, has anybody been told if they're looking for materials or a person in this search or do we not know at this point?

SANTIAGO (voice over): We do not know at this point. It does look like they're taking in their own materials in there right now. They've unloaded some equipment from the car and it looks like they're going in. But all we've been told is that they believe that they exhausted all possible avenues at the reserve and so they stopped searching there. They said that this morning.

And then at 9:48, we saw this caravan of vehicles carrying law enforcement arrived here. They surrounded the home. And then some officers went inside. We're now seeing quite a few officers come and go with equipment inside.

HILL (voice over): And, Leyla, to your point, we spoke with you just about an hour ago and you were saying how quiet it had been at the home compared to what you had seen over the weekend there. Of course, as you point out, it was only about 15, 20 minutes ago that you saw this caravan of law enforcement, FBI, arrive there on the scene.

Do you know who, if anyone, is home at the Laundrie home right now? Has that been clear?

SANTIAGO (voice over): We do not. You know, we haven't seen today -- and I've been here since 5:00 in the morning -- we haven't seen anyone come and go this morning. Yesterday, there was a bit of activity here in terms of law enforcement presence.

But, you know, who exactly is in that home, what they are looking for, and where is Brian Laundrie, those are three very critical questions that we still do not have answers to, as we see FBI agents bring in equipment, rolling it in, for this investigation that has clearly shifted.

[10:05:00]

Northport Police said that they would continue to work with the FBI today. That is clear. We are seeing that firsthand right now at this home. How long they'll be in there, we don't know. But, you know, all of this trying to get to the bottom of what happened on this trip when two people went on a trip across country and only one came back.

SCIUTTO (voice over) : So, Leyla Santiago -- SANTIAGO (voice over): So, we are watching --

SCIUTTO (voice over): -- thank you so much. We know you'll continue to watch there.

If you've just joined us now, as Leyla was reporting, we've seen FBI agents enter the home of the parents of Brian Laundrie. That, of course, the fiancee of Gabby Petito, has been missing for some time. We had the sad news in the last 24 hours that a body has been found in Grand Teton Park, which authorities there say may very well end up being her body. They still have tests and a coroner's report to do. We're going to keep you on top of that story as that search continues.

We do want to return to our other major news this hour and that is the release of Pfizer vaccine trial data, this for children age 5 to 11 years old, that data showing it's both safe and effective.

Dr. Ashish Jha is Dean of Brown University School of Public Health.

Given this data and your reading of it, how fast might the process move now towards the FDA issuing emergency use authorization for this the vaccine for children in this age group?

DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Yes, good morning. Thanks for having me back.

Look, we don't have a lot of information in that press release. We have a little bit. It looks really good. The FDA is going to look at the actual data. They're going to make that all publicly available. My hope is they're going to move quickly because, as we know, a lot of kids are getting infected and sick and school is in session.

So, my hope is that in the three weeks or so, give or take a week, we're going to have a decision on authorization and what I have been planning on mentally is that I have a nine-year-old and my hope is that he's going to get his first shot by Halloween. I think we're going to be able to make that deadline.

HILL: That would be incredible to see that kind of a deadline because it feels so close finally. As we look at this, we know that it's a recent polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Just over a quarter of parents said they would vaccinate their kids right away once they could, younger kids, four in ten though say they're going to wait and see. They want to see how it's working before they make that decision for younger children.

Based on what we've seen in terms of encouraging vaccinations among adults and even, adolescents, when you hear four in ten parents want to wait and see, what do you think they need in terms of information?

JHA: Yes. You know, I as a parent, I'm always cautious about what I do with my kids as well. And so I understand where those parents are coming from. But the key issue is the alternative. And the alternative is that we have a large outbreak happening across the country and kids are getting infected in unprecedented numbers. And so what I would say to parents is definitely look at the data, do your own research, examine the data, listen to your pediatrician and listen to the group of our pediatric leaders in the country, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and their advice. But also consider the alternative of doing nothing at all.

We know the harms of the coronavirus on kids. Put it all together, I think most parents will end up making a decision to get their kids vaccinated sooner rather than later.

HILL: Dr. Ashish Jha, I appreciate it, as always. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Well, just hours from now, President Biden will head to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. He's going to meet with the secretary general, then make his first address to the U.N. as U.S. president tomorrow.

It comes as he deals with fallout over the U.S. deal with Australia for nuclear-powered submarines, France upset, it had been looking to lock down its own submarine deal with Australia. The White House confirms to CNN that President Biden will speak with French President Emmanuel Macron this week. France angry, very publicly angry, in fact, over the deal, it's even re-called its ambassador from the U.S. for the first time in modern times.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILIPPE ETIENNE, FRENCH AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: A few days before the announcements last Wednesday, we had a meeting of the two ministers of defense and foreign affairs of France and Australia. We absolutely weren't informed of the new course chosen by Australia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: With me now, Fareed Zakaria, Host of Fareed Zakaria GPS. Fareed, always good to have you on here.

I wonder if we could set aside the diplomatic route for a moment and look big picture as to why the Biden administration is doing this as a counter to Chinese military power in Asia. It's quite a remarkable deal, is it not, and a remarkable shift for the Biden administration here?

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: It's remarkable deal. It is a big, bold strategic move. I think it is part of a kind of continuing strategy that the United States has adopted really since the Obama administration, which coined the phrase and the strategy of a pivot to Asia, get out of the Middle East, move into Asia, and centered around as you said, Jim, the rise of China.

[10:10:14]

What is remarkable about this deal is that it involves other countries, which is key to countering the influence of China. So it's not American subs, while they were being made in America, it is the Australian Navy that will be patrolling these waters. So, what you're trying to do is to increase the number of non-Chinese navies that are in the area, in the region, reassuring Taiwan, reassuring other countries that freedom of navigation will be kept open under all circumstances. So it's a big deal.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this, because it's a delicate balance, is it not, for the Biden administration, because to challenge China, it not only needs allies in Asia, right, it needs to maintain its commitment and the strength of its alliances around the world. I mean, that's supposed to be President Biden's message tomorrow to the U.N., right? It's about working together on these things.

How is he managing that challenge? Because this deal has upset the French, they say they were blindsided. The summary withdrawal from Afghanistan upset, really, frankly, all of America's NATO allies there. How is the Biden administration, the president handling that delicate balance?

ZAKARIA: Well, you put it right, Jim, particularly with something like China, what you're almost doing is playing three-dimensional chess. You're trying to gain allies in Asia and to gain deterrence capacity in Asia, but you don't want to lose allies in Europe, partly because even with China, one of the most important areas to deal with China is trade. And on trade, the European Union is very powerful. We really live in a tripolar of China, U.S., and European Union, determining world trade.

So, how to manage that balance is very tricky. I'm surprised that the Biden administration didn't try to find a way to incorporate France into this new deal so that it became a U.S./U.K./France/Australia deal. You could have given France a little piece of the contract. After all, the U.K. is not essential to it at all. In fact, the Australians, at some point, asked the Americans remind us why Britain is involved in this again, can't we just buy the submarines from you? And the Americans said, no, let's, you know, make this broader.

So that piece is a little puzzling. And around Afghanistan, again, the lack of continuous consultation is a little puzzling. But to be fair to the Biden administration, these are big deals, these are big moves, and at some level, you know, people -- countries do get annoyed by the substance of the policy, not the style, and there's only so much diplomacy can do.

SCIUTTO: So, Joe Biden goes to the U.N. tomorrow. I, like you, covered my share of Trump's speeches at the UNGA, when they were often met with alarm and who is this new leader. And you remember the rhetoric, little rocket man about Kim, et cetera, and so on.

Does Joe Biden go there meet a sense of relief or is he after the Afghan withdrawal and other issues and challenges a diminished leader to some degree as he gives his first speech?

ZAKARIA: I wouldn't say a diminished leader but the way I put it is this way. The world is very worried that Donald Trump represented a broader shift in America's attitude toward the world and that Joe Biden is continuing that attitude. So, for example, the United States is really not leading the world in the massive vaccination program. We would have to be really working with the Chinese on that to try and make sure that you vaccinate the world. We are really not leading on important new trade grounds. We are not leading in terms of even coordinating travel with vaccine.

And on many of these issues, the Biden administration seems, to put it bluntly, very America first focused. You look at, you know, the issue of travel. Europe has lower vaccination and lower COVID rates than America, higher vaccination rates than America, and yet it's only today that finally the Biden administration said Europeans can visit America in November, whereas the Europeans have opened the door to Americans for months now.

So, there are all these double standards that people feel very greatly in the area of trade, a number of people have pointed out to me in Europe and Canada that the Biden administration is actually more protectionist than Donald Trump was. So, there's suspicion, though general good will about Joe Biden as a person.

SCIUTTO: Another commonality, of course, standing up to China between those two administrations.

[10:15:01]

Fareed Zakaria, always good to have you on.

ZAKARIA: Thank you, Jim.

HILL: Still to come, a serious blow to the Democrats' reconciliation bill dreams and questions over the infrastructure bill vote timeline. Could both bills fail?

SCIUTTO: Plus, breaking news, we are live in Florida as police and FBI have arrived at the home of Brian Laundrie's parents conducting a search inside. We're going to have much more on that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:20:00]

SCIUTTO: We are following breaking news in the search for missing American young woman, Gabby Petito. Police and FBI agents are searching the home of the parents of her fiancee, Brian Laundrie, that unfolding on our air just moments ago as it began.

HILL: Yes, that home where she and Brian lived with his parents for a time before they left on that cross-country trip.

Now, authorities spent the weekend looking for him in a nature preserve near that home in Florida but now we're told they are focused elsewhere. Investigators say the parents now say they last poke with their son on Tuesday. They didn't tell police that, though, until Friday.

CNN's Leyla Santiago and CNN Legal Analyst Joey Jackson joining us now live. So, Leyla, we've seen the activity at the home really ramp up in the last half an hour or so. What is happening behind you?

SANTIAGO: Well, we've seen multiple law enforcement officers coming and going, bringing in equipment into this home.

Now, this is where the couple lived with Brian Laundrie's family, and this is where a lot of people have been sort of camped out, waiting to see what is next. So we have seen Northport Police here. We have seen FBI agents going in. And, you know, at one point, they were completely surrounding the house. That's not the case anymore, most of them appearing to be inside, conducting and moving forward with their investigation.

Now, all of this started, as you mentioned, right before 10:00. We watched as a caravan of law enforcement came in, surrounded the house, started yelling about a search warrant and then doors opened and they have been coming and going.

Some critical questions here, we still need to know what happened, why did two people go on this road trip and only one came back, who is inside, who are investigators talking to, and where is Brian Laundrie. Remember, it was Friday, as you mentioned, Erica, when the Laundrie family reached out to police to say we are concerned about his whereabouts, saying it had been Tuesday that was the last time they had seen him with a hiking backpack before he went off into a 25,000- acre reserve where law enforcement spent the majority of the weekend searching until today.

SCIUTTO: Joey Jackson, what information are you required to share, legally required to share with police? For instance, I mean, a three- day delay, you speak to someone and you wait three days to tell the police about it. Were there laws broken here potentially?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So, look, listen, everything is on the table. Good morning to you. And so the general issue is you don't have any requirement to speak to the police about anything, right? The only time that changes, to be clear, is when, for example, you are an accessory after the fact, say, for example, you're concealing or hiding or secreting someone. And to the extent that at that time he was under investigation, he was a person of interest, right, the obligations are different.

Now, let me be clear about something else. What if, for example, complete speculation, they gave him a head start? What if, for example, they knew, he gave them or he spoke to his parents and gave them the indication about what happened and then they said, hey, let's get out of here, right? And he then decided to leave and they had information and assisted in any way. Now, we're talking about a different type of activity.

But as it relates, to be clear, Jim, on the issue of Mr. Laundrie himself, they're in that house looking for a number of things. They're going to be looking for computer records. They're going to be looking for any physical evidence with respect to what we was wearing, his shoes, boots, whatever he had on, whether there's a connection there. They'll look for weapons or other information, they'll look documentary evidence, letters, photographs, anything they could potentially find. They are tossing that house.

He is, of course, now a defendant in a criminal case, a murder case. He's first and foremost the priority. And then, of course, authorities will really let that investigation go out to focus on what his family knew, if anything, and when they knew it.

HILL: And we may be learning more, right? We know that authorities believe that they did find Gabby Petito's remains. The autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow. We'll have further confirmation after that.

But based on what is learned from that autopsy, if, in fact, this was Gabby Petito's body that was found over the weekend, Joey, that too could really raise the stakes legally.

JACKSON: Yes, it really could. And so I understand there will be a couple of things done. The first thing, of course, is they're going to look, investigators, at that particular crime scene where they found her. Now, perhaps, you know, she was killed there, perhaps she was taken there. All of that will be up for determination by the investigation.

[10:25:02]

To your issue, they'll look and they'll determine cause of death and they'll be able -- there could be multiple causes of death, again, speculating now, how did she die, that will be critical. But the most critical thing is that there's a major change here.

The finding of her makes him, that is Mr. Laundrie, her fiancee, who she was on this trip, it makes him now a defendant. Why? Because remember this, Erica, you don't need to know guilt, right, beyond a reasonable doubt, to arrest someone, you need, A, reason to believe that a crime was committed, and, B, that the subject of that investigation committed it. That leads you to probable cause.

That allows you to make the arrest, that allows for the application they have to search the home, to look at computers, forensics, other documentation, to get the viable and valuable warrants they need to do their job and ultimately bring this case to justice to find out what happened, how it happened, when it happened, and who did it.

SCIUTTO: Meanwhile, Petito's family has to watch this all play out in public. Leyla Santiago, tell us what the FBI is saying now about this search.

SANTIAGO: The FBI just releasing a statement saying, and I quote, the FBI is executing a court-authorized search warrant today at the Laundrie residence in Northport, Florida, relevant to the Gabriel Gabby Petito investigation. No further details can be provided. And that goes with what we were saying, that we watched as law enforcement came in and we heard them kind of yell in, search warrant, when they first arrived, which was about half an hour ago.

And I've got to tell you, all morning long, we've been here and it's been pretty quiet. And you really are starting to see some of the neighbors come out, peek out their door, look through the windows, because this is quite a bit of activity that we're seeing for the first time today given that the FBI came in and is now inside. We don't have a good indication as to exactly who is in there. But they took in quite a bit of equipment.

So, you know, how long they'll be in there to try to get to the bottom of this, we're not sure. But we'll be here keeping you updated on that.

HILL: All right. Leyla Santiago, Joey Jackson, we're going to continue to follow any of those developments throughout the morning. Stay with us for that.

Meantime, up next, Democrats waking up to a major disappointment when it comes to the reconciliation bill, a vote deadline looming on infrastructure. Are both now at risk? We'll speak with Congressman Pete Aguilar, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:00]