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FBI Questioning the Parents of Gabby Petito's Fiance; Pfizer Says, Low Dose COVID Vaccine Safe for Kids 5-11 Years Old; Biden's Ambitious Agenda Entering a Make-or-Break Period. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired September 20, 2021 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

JOHN KING, CNN INSIDE POLITICS: Have a good day.

ANA CABRERA, CNN NEWSROOM: Hello and thanks for being Here. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

Our breaking news, authorities are questioning the parents of the parents of Brian Laundrie, a fiancee of missing blogger, Gabby Petito.

In this video, we see the FBI escorting the Christopher and Roberta Laundrie into their home, this is shortly after executing a search warrant today. And this comes one day after investigators discovered human remains in Wyoming matching Petito's description.

She had been on a road trip with her fiancee. And that couple had documented their travels across several western states on social media, well, that stopped shortly before Laundrie returned home alone on September 1st.

CNN Correspondent Leyla Santiago is on the scene in Florida. What's happening there, Leyla, right now.

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, Ana, in the home behind me where the couple lived and where the parents of Brian Laundrie are still at this hour, we understand the FBI agents are questioning the parents. And this comes -- this is now about the third hour that they have been doing that. We were here when a caravan of cars pulled in. They -- they surrounded the home, called out that they had a search warrant, went inside. The parents came outside. They executed the search warrant and then brought them back in for questioning.

A lot of critical questions remain to get some big answers as to what happened here. The big one being where is Brian Laundrie?

Let's back up for a minute to talk about how we got here. Remember, over the weekend, there was quite a search in a 25,000-acre wildlife reserve because the parents of Brian Laundrie told police that they hadn't seen him since Tuesday, saying that the last time they saw him, they claim he had a hiking backpack on and he was heading over to that reserve for a hike. That claim was made to police on Friday, so that's what set off that search for Brian Laundrie after days that his family claimed they haven't seen him and they were concerned about his well- being and his whereabouts.

But another big thing happened over the weekend. You mentioned it, Ana, Sunday. We heard from FBI in Wyoming saying that they had been searching up there for Gabby Petito, and then we learned from the coroner in the area that they found a body with characteristics that were consistent with Gabby Petito, the family also being notified and now asking for privacy.

So, quite a bit of developments almost daily here with this story, but the big question remains where is Brian Laundrie? Police are trying to find him rather, hoping that that could give them answers as to what happened here.

Now, we expect tomorrow that we could get some more answers because we could see the results from the autopsy report from the body that was found on Sunday in the Grand Teton National Park, Ana.

CABRERA: That's right. They have not given us a cause of death at this point, again, still waiting on that 100 percent confirmation that that body is indeed Gabby Petito. Leyla Santiago, thank you. Please keep us updated.

For more perspective now on the investigation, CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst and former Deputy Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe is with us now.

First, Andy, the FBI and Florida Police, they are executing the search warrant today at Laundrie's home. What are they looking for?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Ana, there's all kinds of pieces of evidence that could be in that house. And let's remember that Brian Laundrie allegedly returned to the house on September 1st. His parents reported on Friday the 17th that he had been missing since Tuesday the 14th. So he's in that house for two weeks before he goes missing.

Primarily, I think, what the investigators will be looking for or anything that he may have written, any recordings of his -- of his thoughts, of his -- if he wrote any notes, if he kept a journal, certainly any activity that he might have performed on computer devices, so those are cell phones, tablets, desktop computers, anything that could access the internet, that could show searches that he may have performed, things of that nature. I'm sure all of those devices are either being seized or actually mirrored on site where they take -- essentially they make a copy of everything that's on that machine and then they can go back and analyze that stuff in the lab later.

They will be looking for forensic evidence. They will be looking for anything that he might have had with him on that trip that they might want to look at for hair hand fiber evidence, for potentially blood spatter or other, you know, other biological evidence. So, there's all kinds of things that might be in there.

[13:05:01]

We don't know what's in there yet but we should find out at some point in the future.

CABRERA: Certainly more questions than answers on many fronts at this hour. But we do know Laundrie returned to this house on September 1st without Gabby Petito. So that is now almost three weeks ago. Why wait until now to take this step with this search warrant?

MCCABE: Well, that's a good question. You know, there are -- of course, Laundrie is not a subject in a crime, right? We think he's likely one of the last people to have seen Gabby Petito alive. And for that reason, he's an important witness. He's obviously someone that law enforcement wanted to talk to. They approached the house several times. They were told by the family that Laundrie didn't want to speak, they refer to an attorney. So, you're always going to make an effort to approach a witness and talk with them on a cooperative basis. That clearly was not happening here right away. It didn't happen at all.

And so we're at the point now where the search warrant absolutely has to be executed. We still don't know if -- if Brian Laundrie had any sort of involvement in her death. We should learn more from the autopsy report. But there's a lot of investigation left to do here, Ana.

CABRERA: I just don't understand though how this key person in this investigation could go missing now. How does that happen?

MCCABE: Well, as the family said over the weekend, is he missing or is he hiding, right? Did he go for a hike or did he flee the area? All that stuff starts to look much more suspicious at this point. It sounds like law enforcement did actually recover the vehicle earlier on in this saga, like maybe last week or the week before, and executed some sort of a search in that vehicle looking for evidence. So it's clear that they have been kind of narrowing their focus on Laundrie, as they have been going along, but he somehow managed to slip out of their vision, must not have been under surveillance or anything of that nature, and now that is the prime question in this investigation, where is Mr. Laundrie and when can we get in front of him?

CABRERA: So, Gabby Petito, she was a travel influencer. She was documenting their travel on YouTube. That's part of the reason that this case caught so much attention nationwide. We know investigators have now received hundreds, if not, thousands of tips from the public about this. Do you think social media has helped or hindered this investigation?

MCCABE: Well, I think it's probably helped bring attention to this case. I mean, let's remember thousands and thousands of people go missing every -- every year in this country and very few of them get the kind of attention from the public and from law enforcement, quite frankly, that Ms. Petito has managed to generate. I'm sure some that have is because so many people were following her story on social media.

It's probably also more likely now that individuals will recognize having interacted with Mr. Laundrie, as we've had one report today of a couple who allegedly picked him up and gave him a ride as a hitchhiker somewhere out west in the days that he likely left the Grand Teton. So, expect more stories like that to arise and those things are probably likely due to the attention that social media has created around this -- around this possible crime.

CABRERA: Andrew McCabe, lots of questions, we're going to stay on it. Thank you so much for joining us.

MCCABE: Thanks, Ana.

CABRERA: Let's talk about the pandemic now, a game-changing in that fight could be imminent. Today, Pfizer announced its low-dose vaccine is safe for children ages 5 to 11 based on trial data, and that it generated a robust anti-body response. So, just how soon could young kids be getting the shot?

Here's former FDA Chief Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who is now on the Pfizer board.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: Depending on how long the FDA takes to review the application, whether it's a four-week or six-week review, you could have a vaccine available to children as early as probably by the end of October, perhaps it slips a little bit into November.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: If this vaccine is authorized for kids 5 to 11, that would make another 28 million people eligible. That's another 9 percent of the population, a chunk that could get the country much closer to that herd immunity goal.

This news comes as the CDC's vaccine experts weigh authorization for a booster dose. They will meet this week to make an official decision.

Let's go to CNN's Kristen Holmes. And, Kristen, tell us more about this major announcement from Pfizer for vaccines on younger kids.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Ana. We can't stress enough what a big deal this is. These are the first vaccine results that we have seen for this age group, and they are positive. They show not only is the vaccine safe but that it builds that robust immunity. And on top of that, Pfizer says there were no cases of myocarditis, which that heart inflammation that has been linked to mRNA vaccines, so all positive here.

Now, to be clear, it's not been peer-reviewed or published yet, but this is the first step in getting shots into the arms of children.

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And, in fact, Pfizer says that they plan on submitting that data to the FDA for emergency use authorization soon.

So, of course, that leads to the big question of what exactly does this mean timing-wise. You heard from Scott Gottlieb saying maybe early October. We've heard four to six-week mark from several experts. But I want to show you something for context here. This is what it took when we -- when the FDA issued that emergency use authorization for 12 to 15-year-olds. You saw March 31st, Pfizer announced the top line results. A week-and-a-half later on April 9th, they actually submitted that data to the FDA. Then it took about another month on May 10th for that EUA to be amended to include that age group.

And, Ana, this couldn't come at a more critical time. We know kids are going back to school, that parents are deeply concerned. There are schools not allowing masks. This is also playing into what exactly is going on with the economy. Adults aren't sure if they can go back to work. Are they going to need to keep their kids at home?

And for those parents out here who are wondering what went into this study, I want to show you one thing quickly here, participant-wise. More than 2,000 participants here, all 5 to 11-year-olds, it is a two- dose regimen, just like adults, but in a smaller dosage and, again, robust antibodies response is what this showed. So, all positivity here, we're keeping track of this timeline, and, of course, everyone hopes it will be done swiftly. Ana?

CABRERA: Kristen Holmes, thank you. Let's bring in our medical expert, Dr. Andi Shane, Chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Emory University School of Medicine.

Dr. Shane, this is big news and we just heard from Dr. Scott Gottlieb there saying this could be rolled out for kids 5 to 11 by the end of October. How much could this change the current situation in the U.S.?

DR. ANDI SHANE, CHIEF, DIVISION OF PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASES AT EMORY UNIVERSITY: Thanks, Ana. Great question, and we are as pediatricians and everyone is very excited about this news and the ability to vaccinate 5 to 11-year-olds in addition to 12-year-olds and above is something that is extremely important, and as mentioned previously, especially children who will be returning to school and are returning to school.

CABRERA: The Pfizer dose that's being used for these younger children is a much lower, one-third the size of the one for people 12 and up. Is that typical?

SHANE: So, with children, one size doesn't fit all, and so these vaccines were looked at very closely, looking at the different age groups. And it was a two-step process, first, determining the dose that would be the appropriate one that would not result in a lot of side effects but that also resulted in immune response. So there was a lot of balancing and calculation that was done to find this dose for this particular age group.

CABRERA: And given that, if you have -- you know, a big 10 or 11- year-old, is a third of a dose compared to what a 12-year-old is getting, is that going to be enough?

SHANE: So, that's one of the things that was looked at in the study and with over 2,300 children. There were children not only of different angst but also of different weights, and so some of those factors and concerns are being taken into consideration with the dosing requirement.

CABRERA: For parents of kids who are under 12, a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll found four in ten plan to wait and see before getting the child the shot. Another quarter say they will definitely not get their child vaccinated. What is your message to those hesitant parents?

SHANE: So, I think it's really important, Ana, to really understand why people are hesitant. And it's not a one-size-fits-all concern. Different people have different concerns about different aspects of the vaccine. And as pediatricians and as clinicians, we can help parents understand exactly what the concerns are and to help address them with data.

I think it's very important that parents do their research and get information from reliable sources and understand exactly what the information shows in terms of vaccination. We have -- we're playing had a little bit of a race here because the more people that get vaccinated means that there's less opportunities for variants of concern to emerge and less opportunities for resistance to develop to the vaccine.

And so I would really encourage parents to talk to their children, talk to their pediatricians and understand exactly what the doses are and do the research and I would advise people to really consider be vaccinated now as children return to school and mix in the community.

CABRERA: Dr. Andi Shane, I really appreciate your time. Thank you so much for joining us.

SHANE: Thank you.

CABRERA: A potentially make-or-break week for the president's economic agenda, the latest from the Hill.

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Plus, a devastating scene on the U.S/Mexico border, the pressure building on the administration to take action as thousands and thousands of migrants shelter under a Texas bridge. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is there right now. So what's the plan?

And he won't let it go. Former President Trump writing to Georgia's secretary of state just in the last couple of days, asking him to consider decertifying the 2020 election results.

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CABRERA: The president's ambitious agenda is entering a make-or-break period.

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is facing a party at odds with itself and a looming deadline to move the president's agenda forward. Can she strike a balance between progressives and moderates in the party, and what's at stake for the president and his sweeping proposals?

Let's bring in CNN's Senior White House Correspondent Phil Mattingly and Congressional Correspondent Jessica Dean.

Jessica, the deadline set by Speaker Pelosi for a vote on this $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan is a week from today. What's the holdup you right now and what does it mean for the president's other $3.5 trillion budget plan? Is it in jeopardy?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, right now, what we're looking at and the best way to explain it is a very complicated Rubik's cube for Democratic leadership here on the Hill. They are trying to figure out how to make everyone in their party happy and move all of these packages forward together.

So, just to recap for everyone, we have the bipartisan infrastructure package which, of course, has already passed the Senate, and Nancy Pelosi has -- has pledged to hold a vote on that by September 27. You mentioned that's a week from today.

In the meantime, Democrats also working to craft this sweeping economic package that would really expand the social safety net here in the United States and that takes time. It's highly unlikely that they're going to be able to get that all done by next week.

And in the middle of all of this you have progressives saying, hey, if we haven't voted on this economic package yet, we want to tank or we're going to tank your infrastructure bill. And you have moderates saying, if we don't get this infrastructure bill, we're not voting for this massive economic package.

So you can see the push and the pull that they are trying to deal with right now as they navigate through this. And in the meantime, President Biden's agenda hangs in the balance.

And one more thing to consider, if you look at the calendar right now, you have those deadlines that I just outlined on those two bills, but you also have the debt ceiling, which we're coming up against. That's going to be -- they are going to need to raise the debt ceiling by the middle of October, and government funding runs out at the end of this month.

So, Democrats also right now trying to figure out how to get both of those things done. Do they tie those together? Republicans have been very adamant, Ana, that they do not want to increase the debt ceiling. It's just a lot of questions now about how to strategically move this forward.

CABRERA: And so a lot of it comes down to messaging, Phil, the White House trying to focus on how the president's plans will help middle class Americans. Fill us in on their strategy.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think it's a big component of it. Look, the policy is exceedingly important, as Jess and our Capitol Hill colleagues can tell you. And the White House officials are deeply engaged in a really feverish back and forth between Democrats on the House side and Senate side on pretty much everything, whether it's prescription drugs, the tax policy, health care policy, all trying to thread the needle here.

But I think what you're hearing from the White House side of things and what you've seen from President Biden in his public remarks over the course of the last couple weeks is trying to retrain the focus on the bigger picture.

And I think that's something you're hearing a lot from White House officials, which is look at what this plan, even if it's not to the scale you might want, progressives, or even if it's maybe a little bit larger than you would want, moderates, look what it would do to health care costs, look at what it would do in terms of prescription drugs, look what it would do in terms of shifting or reshaping the tax code. Those are all Democratic priorities.

And I think that's the biggest thing that you hear right now from White House officials is really twofold. One, don't miss the forest for the trees, to some degree. There's an opportunity right now that Democrats, even with the barest of majorities in the House and the Senate, can do something that many of them have been pressing for on a policy basis for years, if not, decades.

And the second, I think this is kind of an implicit thing you're hearing a lot from White House officials, is if you don't get this done, there's not much you're going to be bringing to the table come the midterm elections. And that includes the infrastructure bill for the dynamics that Jess laid out, but also the bigger picture proposal.

And so there's kind of this push here of you want something, you need something to show for these majorities, this is it. Figure out a way to unify, but they are not there yet. Ana?

CABRERA: Phil, Jessica, thank you both.

How will the White House respond to another problem, a growing crisis at the border? DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is in Del Rio, Texas, where more than 10,000 migrants are sheltering under a bridge. We go there, next.

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CABRERA: The Biden administration is facing mounting pressure and a humanitarian crisis that's growing at southern border. Nearly 12,000 Haitian migrants are gathered under and around this bridge in Del Rio, Texas, living in squalid conditions and hoping to find refuge in the U.S.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent a letter to President Biden just this morning requesting a federal emergency declaration. He says this surge is draining critical resources from the community. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is on the ground now in Texas. He told reporters just moments ago that deportation efforts will continue, at least up one to three flights per day to Haiti, as well as Mexico and other countries in Central America. And he says the Pentagon is helping to move migrants to border patrol processing facilities now.

CNN's Michael Roa is joining us live from Ciudad Acuna in Mexico. Michael, you're there on the other side of the border. What are you seeing today?

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MICHAEL ROA, CNN PRODUCER: Hi, Ana. I'm here in Acuna, Mexico, behind me the Rio Grande.