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FBI Asks for Help Finding Petito's Fiance as Manhunt Intensifies; CDC Advisers Meeting on Booster Shots for Americans as Low-Income Countries Struggle to Obtain Doses; Source Says, Biden, Macron Expected to Speak Soon amid Tension over Sub Deal. Aired 10:30- 11a ET

Aired September 22, 2021 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:30:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN NEWSROOM: The search for Gabby Petito's fiance, Brian Laundrie, intensifying this morning after a medical examiner confirmed human remains found in Wyoming are, in fact, those of Gabby Petito. Her death has now been ruled a homicide.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: Just such a sad development in this story. Laundrie has not been seen for over a week now and the FBI is asking for the public's help to find him.

CNN Correspondent Amara Walker is live in Venice, Florida, this morning. Amara, what are you hearing from investigators as they continue to search?

AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, the FBI needs tips. They're really asking the public for help and specifically for anyone who had any contact with Gabby Petito or her fiance, Brian Laundrie, or maybe even saw their vehicle in this really remote area of the Grand Teton National Park between August 27 and 30th. They're really asking for any tips, any information on the whereabouts of Brian Laundrie at this point.

And right now, here at the Carlton Reserve, this is where the focus is right now. The search for him resumed at 8:00 this morning. And, look, it's a very -- it's been a very difficult search in this reserve, and that's because the terrain has just been so treacherous. Much of it is covered with water. I heard 75 percent of it is covered with water. And the water there is just infested with gators and snakes. And that's why we've seen a lot of technology that's been deployed out there, including drones and all-terrain vehicles.

What's interesting was that on Monday, authorities here basically called off the search. They said that they had exhausted all avenues. And, coincidentally or not, there was also a search warrant that was executed by the FBI at the home of Brian Laundrie's parents. They were questioned for several hours and the home searched and the FBI taking out boxes and boxes and bags of evidence. They also ended up towing a Ford Mustang. So, it's not clear what brought the authorities back out here to the Carlton Reserve after saying that they had basically overturned every stone. So, that's the case right now. The search is ongoing, of course. The outstanding question is where is, Brian Laundrie and what exactly happened to Gabby Petito, whose remains were discovered on Sunday? That was confirmed by the Teton County coroner with her death being ruled a homicide. Jim and Erica?

HILL: Amara Walker, I appreciate it. Thank you.

Joining us now, CNN Correspondent Jean Casarez, who's also been following this story. Jean, as we look at this, and as Amara just laid out, this is one of the things that has me scratching my head, right? They said they were done searching that nature preserve, but all of a sudden they were back there, the FBI also asking for any tips that anybody may have, all these resources thrown at it. Is it only this nature reserve that's full of water and swamp land and alligators?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And snakes, 25,000 acres. Well, I always look at the timeline. That's a good way to do it. Look at the timeline. Monday, they executed the search warrant at the home, right, and they got a lot of electronic equipment. They say they talked to the parents actually for virtually the first time inside their home. Later that afternoon, they had said they called it off, but they suddenly reinstitute going out there. Why? Was something found on an electronic device, a tip that the parents gave them?

Now, they've gone to another area, the Venice side of this nature preserve. So it is a different area, but they are continuing to put so many resources into it. So, something new, I think, based on the timeline for Monday, led them back there.

SCIUTTO: That's such a smart -- did they find a search, for instance, right on a phone or a device.

CASAREZ: Right.

SCIUTTO: They say they're asking for the public's help in finding Laundrie. Have any of these tips, leads -- do they have any confidence in any of these tips, leads that they've received so far?

CASAREZ: The FBI is really coming at anyone who has any information to come forward. And I think the country is riveted on this case because of all the video that chronicle both of them during this trip. And there have been sightings of him on social media. And the FBI is saying we're looking into everything. Local law enforcement also is involved in these areas. They're looking into everything because they want to find him, but they want to find him alive because there needs to be justice, questions need to be answered, and maybe he can provide those answers.

HILL: So, the death we've learned from the autopsy has been ruled a homicide, right, after they confirmed that it was, in fact, the remains of Gabby Petito that were found.

[10:35:01] No cause of death yet. But what is just the fact that this is now being ruled a homicide? How does that change the investigation and even the resources?

CASAREZ: Very interesting, homicide, death at the hands of another. So, they are confirming that someone killed her, right? They say it's preliminary, but they are coming out with that. So, obviously, there was something that they were able to discern from that autopsy, which really didn't take that long that shows it was a homicide. Strangulation, blunt force trauma, we don't know the conditions of the remains. It was almost a month.

This is the Grand Tetons. There are wild animals. And you know what can happen in a relatively short period of time. But they're not releasing the cause of death, right? They're not saying how she was killed. They're saying she was killed pending final autopsy report. Well, they want to get their ducks in a row. They want to make it very formal. I'm sure toxicology is being done.

But think about this. Robert Durst was just convicted Friday night. I went to New Orleans when he was on the run for CNN. He was arrested. Do you know the prosecutors got him after he was arrested, and he voluntarily spoke with them for three hours, and so much of that went into the trial in Los Angeles and he was convicted, in part, because of that interview? They want to question Brian. And they want to get him and have him voluntarily say some things, so if the cause of death is out there, then maybe it would be better for them if they can hold that to the vest. They know so much more than what they're telling us.

SCIUTTO: Just quickly, to say it was a homicide, does that mean they have a suspected cause of death already, they're just not revealing it?

CASAREZ: It makes common sense, doesn't it? It's circumstantial but it makes sense.

SCIUTTO: Understood. Well, listen, so much more to learn here, an alarming case. Jean Casarez, thanks very much.

HILL: A CDC committee discussing right now whether to give some Americans COVID vaccine booster shots. All of this as we know many countries around the world really don't have what they need at all when it comes to vaccine. So, could a U.S. pledge to donate millions of doses change that? Is it enough? That's next.

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SCIUTTO: Two critical meetings today putting the focus on the global vaccine divide. Next hour, President Biden will convene a COVID summit with world leaders where he's expected to announce another 500 million Pfizer vaccine doses are heading to lower income countries around the world. He talked about this a bit yesterday at the UNGA. That will bring the total doses donated by the U.S. to more than 1.1 billion vaccines. HILL: But that is once they start shipping out next year. Right now, around the world, there are still millions waiting for access to their first COVID shot. Amnesty International is calling out vaccine makers, including Pfizer, noting they've, quote, so far, delivered nine times more vaccines to Sweden alone than to all low-income countries combined, less than 1 percent of their production so far.

SCIUTTO: Yes, right now, CDC advisers are gathered to discuss among other topics, which Americans should have access to a third shot, a booster shot of Pfizer's vaccine.

Let's discuss now with Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, he is Internal Medicine Specialist and Viral Researcher.

So, one of the questions has been settled because it seemed like an open question as to whether all of us vaccinated might get or need a booster shot. But, really, the focus now is on older people, immunocompromised people. Is that where you expect this to stay for now?

DR. JORGE RODRIGUEZ, INTERNAL MEDICINE SPECIALIST AND VIRAL RESEARCHER: I expect that to stay. By the way, good morning. I expect that to stay there for now. But I really do think that should move down to people that are a little younger, perhaps 50 or above and everyone who has been vaccinated over six to eight months prior.

I'm a very strong believer in boosters. Boosters are not uncommon. We give them for hepatitis B, hepatitis A. And even Johnson & Johnson came out yesterday and said that, listen, a second shot markedly increases the efficacy of their vaccine.

So I think with time, when everything settles down, we will be requiring or recommending boosters for almost everyone.

HILL: And that's the key there, I think, that with time, right? So, older folks, the immunocompromised, obviously in a different category because this is part of what we heard from some of the FDA advisers too, after that meeting on Friday was that we have to focus on getting the unvaccinated vaccinated first, which is part of this push and part of what we're hearing in terms of global vaccinations even what was announced by the U.S. Is this enough to start to address the unvaccinated globally, which could ultimately impact others obviously?

RODRIGUEZ: It isn't enough. It isn't enough. And it's wonderful that we have promised 1.1 billion doses to the rest of the world. But, again, we are not the only people that need to step up. And it isn't just about the promise. It's about the execution.

Right now, from things that I've read and heard, there's a stumbling block in getting these vaccines to third world countries. And perhaps the pharmaceutical companies can also make things easier by allowing to some degree the manufacturing of these vaccines in different countries.

I know that they have intellectual property that they have to protect and they should protect it, but there has to be another way to skin this cat besides just distributing from one part of the world or a few parts of the world to the rest of the world.

At the end of the day, none of us are going to be safe until all of us are protected against this virus.

[10:45:03]

SCIUTTO: Dr. Rodriguez, where do you see the direction of the pandemic here in the U.S.? We have seen some flattening out of the most recent surge in new infections, but the average reported deaths per day still hovering at the alarmingly new normal of 2,000 a day. Do you see any tapering off, or are we in this sort of hot zone for the foreseeable future?

RODRIGUEZ: I do see some tapering off. And I want to -- because that is an alarming statistic, Jim, that you said. And let's think of it this way. There are six Jumbo jets crashing in the United States every day with everyone on board dying. And we have become numb to that.

I think that with time, we are going to reach a lower plateau. There are already some signs of that happening. But I think there are people that are resistant to get vaccinated. I don't think seriously that that is going to change much. So, I think we are going to be living because of some people's hesitancy to take vaccines at a plateau, at a base of perhaps a few hundred -- not a few -- hundreds of people, maybe even a thousand dying on a daily basis for the foreseeable future. And by that, I mean, a year or two.

HILL: How concerned are you too as we move into the fall and the winter, right? It's different than last year when it's, oh, we're going to be inside and around people, because now there's a lot more chance of flu spreading as well, which we didn't have a lot of last year.

RODRIGUEZ: Yes. We're expecting a worse flu season. And think of it this way. The storm is going to hit, which is what usually the winter does with all viruses and it is high tide. So, unlike last winter, where there were less infections per day, we are already starting at a level that is higher, and if this holds true to form and to history, that is just going to escalate.

So it's not too late to get vaccinated now. It is better late than never. So, for those of you that have not been vaccinated, I urge you to reconsider this seriously.

SCIUTTO: And think about those flu shots, too. Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, thanks so much.

RODRIGUEZ: My pleasure.

SCIUTTO: Well, President Biden is set to speak with his French counterpart today to try to smooth over tensions from a submarine deal that France says blindsided America's oldest ally.

CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And it's going to be a test of Joe Biden's diplomatic chops, Jim. What can he say to the French president to regain his trust? We'll have the details on that live from Paris, next.

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HILL: President Biden expected to speak with French President Emmanuel Macron in the coming hours as tensions escalate between the two nations. Now, that planned call, of course, comes after France recalled its ambassador to the U.S. in response to the recently announced national security partnership between the U.S., the U.K. and Australia.

SCIUTTO: For his part, the British prime minister is telling the French to basically get a grip and get over it.

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BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I just think it's time for some of our dearest friends around the world to probably have grip (ph) about all this and (INAUDIBLE) and break, because this is fundamentally a great step forward for global security.

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SCIUTTO: CNN Correspondent Cyril Vanier joins us now from Paris. And, Cyril, I will say, I've heard a similar sort of line from other British diplomats saying come on, get over it, you're making way too big a deal of this. But Macron is clearly looking for something, for more. What does he expect from this call with Biden today?

VANIER: Well, he certainly doesn't expect the tone he got from U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson. That's for sure. Look, the French have been treating the Brits with contempt on this because they feel that the British have been bit players in the security alliance between the U.S., Australia and the U.K. They're expecting a lot more, however, from the U.S. partner, from Joe Biden himself. And they have put out an unusually detailed list of demands ahead of this phone call.

Here is a quote, Jim, from the French presidency that just sets the tone. We expect our allies to recognize -- and by that, they mean the U.S. -- that the exchanges and consultations that should have been conducted were not and that this poses a question of trust for which we must draw all the consequences.

So, in essence, Jim, the French want Joe Biden to acknowledge that he mishandled the situation by not warning the French about the security alliance that would kill their submarine deal that was years in the making. They also want Joe Biden to explain why he cut the French out of this strategic Indo-Pacific region, and, lastly, they want concrete steps, not words, they say, concrete steps that will allow them to once again trust the U.S.

This is highly unusual. It speaks to the fever pitch that this crisis has reached here in France, and it is the price that the French say they are putting on their continued partnership with the U.S.

SCIUTTO: It sounds like they want an apology. Maybe Biden gives it.

HILL: We'll see, yes. I want to be a fly on the wall in that call.

VANIER: Something just short of an apology, for sure.

HILL: Yes, Cyril Vanier, I appreciate it. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: And thanks so much to all of you for joining us today. I'm Jim Sciutto.

HILL: And I'm Erica hill. We'll see you back here tomorrow at 9:00 A.M.

At This Hour with Kate Bolduan starts after a quick break.

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KATE BOLDUAN, CNN AT THIS HOUR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan. Here is what we're watching at this hour.

On the brink, President Biden's agenda is in serious danger today.

[11:00:02]

The president is bringing lawmakers to the White House to iron out disagreements within his own party.