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Police Set to Resume Search for Gabby Petito's Fiancee; White House Reacts to "Horrible" Scenes at Southern Border; U.S. Working to Process Migrants, Accelerate Deportations; China Vows to Halt Coal- Fire Power Projects Abroad; Prince Andrew Served with Legal Papers in U.S. Via Lawyer; Trump Team's Plan to Overturn Results Revealed. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired September 22, 2021 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Florida will resume their search for Gabby Petito's missing fiancee Brian Laundrie in the next few hours. Investigators have been combing a nature reserve near his parent's home for past few days. That's where he reportedly told his parents he was headed when he vanished just over a week ago. Just as the investigation into Gabby Petito's disappearance was ramping up. On Tuesday, the FBI confirmed Petito's body was found over the weekend in Wyoming. And the coroner has ruled her death a homicide. Petito had been on a cross-country road trip with her fiancee when she disappeared late last month. Authorities still haven't given any details about how Petito died. A forensic scientist spoke with CNN about why officials haven't revealed that information yet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE KOBILINSKY, FORENSIC SCIENTIST: The coroner, Brent Blue, has to make a determination as to whether it's an accident, or a suicide, a homicide, natural cause of death, or indeterminant. And the fact that this death was called a homicide would tell me that they must have a cause of death. They're not declaring it at this point, because the autopsy is not completed. You need toxicology reports, microscopic investigations, there is a lot of information that has to be put together to finalize the autopsy report. But it indicates to me that there's clear evidence of not only the fact that it is a homicide, they know the cause of death.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And be sure to stay with CNN as we continue to follow this investigation.
Well, president Joe Biden's biggest legislative priorities hang in the balance on Capitol Hill right now. Mr. Biden is meeting with multiple members of his own party this week, to build consensus around the infrastructure bill, and economic spending package. The meetings are an effort to break a stalemate among progressives and moderate Democrats, as they struggle to advance the president's agenda. And all this comes as Mr. Biden continues to deal with the ongoing pandemic, fallout from Afghanistan, and the crisis at the southern border. CNN's Phil Mattingly reports on the challenges Mr. Biden is facing right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are fixing our eyes on devoting our resources to the challenges that hold the keys to our collective future.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Making crystal clear the short-lived era of America First is over.
BIDEN: I know this. As we look ahead, we will lead. We will lead on all the greatest challenges of our time from COVID to climate, peace and security, human dignity and human rights but we will not go it alone.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Even as his administration grapples with a growing crisis at the southern border.
KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: What I saw depicted about those individuals on horseback treating human beings the way they whether it's horrible.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): With the administration officials expressing horror over recent images that appear to show border patrol agents confronting Haitian migrants.
ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: I am going to let the investigation run its course, but the pictures that I observed troubled me profoundly.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And the U.S. border patrol agents seen on video aggressively confronting migrants have been placed on administrative duties, while the incident is investigated. Results are expected by the end of next week.
Meanwhile, at least 4,000 people have already been moved away from the border, with many more expected in the next few days. And yet still thousands remain waiting in desperate conditions, to apply for asylum. CNN's Rosa Flores is on the scene In Del Rio, Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What was it like under the bridge. Horrible she says.
FLORES (voice-over): New video from under the Del Rio International Bridge showing the overcrowded conditions and thousands living in squalor.
[04:35:00]
These images were taken by a Cuban couple who say they waited there for four days before being processed by U.S. immigration authorities and released at a nearby gas station.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
FLORES (voice-over): Yoandri Darias breaks down saying it was his mother's dream for him to get to America. The American Dreams of thousands of migrants still under the bridge, mostly Haitian say officials are expected to be cut short as U.S. immigration authorities increase the number of removal flights.
ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: So, we expect four flights to depart today. We are working very closely with Haiti and other countries to which the migrants are being repatriated.
FLORES (voice-over): This as DHS launches an investigation into this video showing Border Patrol agents on horseback using aggressive tactics against migrants.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Human being should never be treated that way. And I'm deeply troubled about it.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
FLORES (voice-over): Aliuska Romero says she crossed 14 countries and risked her own life to get here.
ALIUSKA ROMERO, MIGRANT (translated text): Assaults, rapes, death.
FLORES (voice-over): She shows us cell phone video of the sharp cliff and the steep mountain she climbed in the thick jungles of Colombia.
FLORES: When you say that there's a lot of dead people, what do you mean?
ROMERO (translated text) You find people along the path who are dead.
FLORES: She says, you find people along the path who are dead.
FLORES (voice-over): Darias says he counted 17 dead.
FLORES: He said that he saw dead women, dead children that were already decomposing. The bodies were on the side of the river.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
FLORES: Did you have to drink that water?
FLORES (voice-over): And inside this tent they say was a pregnant woman who was left behind. Romero says she started crying and Darias says he left her his food.
Despite the dangers, CNN has learned that up to 30,000 Haitians could be headed to the U.S. southern border.
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): And that's exactly why we are here because we want anybody who's thinking about coming to Texas, whether it be from Colombia or any other country that Texas is going to be responding. FLORES (voice-over): As for Darias, he was allowed to stay in the U.S. for now.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
FLORES: He says that he lost his mother 15 days ago.
FLORES (voice-over): But his mom didn't live to see her son make it to America. He says she died unexpectedly in Cuba.
FLORES: As for the number of migrants who are still under the bridge waiting to get processed by U.S. immigration authorities, it's still in the thousands. At last check, the mayor of Del Rio says that there are more than 8,500 migrants still waiting.
Rosa Flores, CNN, Del Rio, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: In a major effort to address climate change, President Joe Biden told the U.N. General Assembly he will work with Congress to increase America's financial commitment to help developing nations confront the climate crisis.
And Chinese President Xi Jinping says he will stop his country from building new coal-fired power projects abroad. It marks a major shift in policy for China which is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
So, let's bring in CNN Steven Jiang. He joins us live from Beijing. Good to see you, Steven. So, how truly committed is China to addressing the climate crisis?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Rosemary, publicly, they're very committed and the one-line announcement from President Xi about stopping funding overseas coal projects is indeed encouraging news. Because before this announcement China was the only major funder of such projects left. And with the new policy of course it could potentially shutter dozens of planned coal projects in 20 developing countries around the world.
And that's something that a lot of people have been waiting for a long time. It is really sending a strong signal to the international community and the global economy. But of course, the devil is always in the details, and details are lacking, from this announcement. We still don't know when this policy will take effect, or whether or not it's going to apply to private funding as well as public funding.
And the much bigger issue here is we still don't know if and when China's going to start building a new coal-fired power plants domestically and start shutting down old ones. Because remember, according to experts, last year alone, China actually added as much new coal power as what they have just announced to potentially cancel overseas. So that is the scale of coal production and consumption in this country, which still very much relies heavily on fossil fuels to power its economy, and with coal coming for almost 60 percent of the energy mix.
[04:40:00]
So, this contradiction obviously has been often pointed out by experts, as well as officials from other governments including John Kerry, the U.S. climate envoy who was here recently telling us that it's just counter intuitive and counterproductive for China to continue this building spree of new coal plants while insisting that they were going to stick to their very ambitious climate goals including becoming carbon neutral before 2060. So, it's very much likely Beijing is going to be under growing pressure not just from Washington but other governments as well to do something on the domestic front about coal -- Rosemary.
CHURCH: Steven Jiang live from Beijing, many thanks.
Well, a rare and powerful earthquake has rocked Australia's second largest city damaging buildings and power lines in Melbourne almost 200 kilometers from the epicenter. So far, no reports of serious injuries. The 5.9 magnitude quake is one of the strongest on record in Australia. Right now, there's no tsunami threat for the region.
The volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma is still very active. These incredible images show plumes of smoke and streams of lava spewing westward toward the sea. The lava has destroyed numerous properties along its path, including a school. The volcano began erupting Sunday, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people. Officials fear clouds of toxic gases may form once the lava reaches the sea and cools the molten rock.
Well, just ahead, Queen Elizabeth's second son Prince Andrew is officially served with legal papers in a sexual assault case. We will look at what's ahead in those proceedings.
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CHURCH: Britain's Prince Andrew has been served with legal papers which were delivered to his lawyer in Los Angeles. He is facing a civil sexual assault case, but it's extremely unlikely he will cooperate with any proceedings.
[04:45:00]
CNN's royal correspondent Max Foster joins us now live. Good to see you, Max. So, what more are you learning about this? And how is Prince Andrew likely to respond?
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: He's already denied all of these charges made by Giuffre, but he hadn't specifically responded to this case that she's taken in New York. His team has given us a no comment. They really struggled to get him to engage the at all with the process. Even at the extent of receiving papers to notify him of the case happening, so Giuffre's lawyers say they have served papers by email, by post and also to his address here in the U.K. in person. But his team haven't accepted that those papers have been served. They did send a lawyer to a pre-trial hearing in America and argued
that the case hasn't been served. But actually, that was an opportunity for Giuffre's side because they then asked the judge if they could serve Prince Andrew's lawyer instead. The judge said yes. So, Giuffre's team say they have served Prince Andrew's lawyers with the papers so they can proceed, this case.
Prince Andrew's side will no doubt argue that the cases haven't been served, that the papers haven't been served. Perhaps may even argue that the U.S. doesn't have jurisdiction over this case. But if Giuffre's side are correct, and the case can proceed, and the trial can proceed. That does mean that he has 21 days to respond or there may be a default judgment in this case. So potentially damages if he's found guilty in his absence.
So, it is a difficult PR process but in terms of the legal process, I think as you say, it does look as if Prince Andrew's lawyers will argue whether or not the case is founded at all.
CHURCH: All right, many thanks to our Max Foster staying on top of this. Appreciate it.
Well, ahead, new details on the plan Donald Trump's team devised to try and overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Back with that in just a moment.
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[04:50:00]
CHURCH: The hacking collective known as anonymous says it has hit a web hosting firm popular with far-right group the Proud Boys and it's leaking data that could shed light on groups who tried to overturn the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Well, the company at the center of the alleged hack, Epic, says data released on 15 million people was already public. Epic has a history of working with conspiracy theorists and conservative networks like Parlor and Gab.
Well, new details on the staggering links to which Donald Trump went in his bid to erase his loss in the 2020 presidential election. But the most critical player in team Trump's scheme, then Vice President Mike Pence, was not on board. CNN's Brian Todd explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): New information tonight on the outrageous measures Donald Trump went to, to overturn the election results. A memo from Trump's campaign two weeks after the election indicated the campaign knew that claims from Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell were false. Claims that a voting machine company Dominion had worked with a software company, financier George Soros and Venezuela to steal the election.
SIDNEY POWELL, TRUMP ELECTION LAWYER: The machines were easily accessible to hackers. TODD (voice-over): The memo saying the Trump campaign knew those were false claims was obtained by the "New York Times" from court papers. This comes as we also get new details on the extraordinary pressure that Trump and his legal team put on then Vice President Mike Pence to throw out the election results on January 6th.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election.
TODD (voice-over): Trump and a controversial lawyer named John Eastman tried to convince Pence that he could overturn the results on January 6th when Congress officially counted the electoral votes by throwing out electors from seven states. That's according to the new book, "Peril" by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa of "The Washington Post."
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: This memo shows the stark and I think chilling clarity that President Trump himself was plotting a coup, working with his minions in the White House.
TODD (voice-over): A six-point memo by Eastman laid out a plan for Pence to overturn the election for Trump which included throwing out the results in seven states because those states according to Eastman had competing electors. But in fact, no state had put forward any alternate slates of electors. They were only Trump allies claiming without any authority to be electors.
Under Eastman's scheme Pence would have declared Trump the winner with more Electoral College votes, after Pence tossed out those seven states. Eastman even spoke about that at a Trump rally before the insurrection on January 6th.
JOHN EASTMAN, LAWYER FOR TRUMP IN LAWSUIT TO BLOCK ELECTION RESULTS: Anybody that is not willing to stand up to do it does not deserve to be in the office. It is that simple.
TODD (voice-over): In this memo, Eastman even suggested that Pence take this action as a surprise.
Quote, the main thing is that Pence should do this without asking for permission, either from a vote of the joint session or from the court. The fact is that the Constitution assigns this power to the vice president as the ultimate arbiter.
STEPHEN VLADECK, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SCHOOL OF LAW: I think every single part of the legal analysis in this memo is wrong. The vice president's role is supposed to be almost entirely ceremonial.
TODD (voice-over): In the end, Pence, refused to go along with Eastman's plan, determining that the Constitution didn't give him the power to overturn the election. Trump abruptly turned-on Pence, attacking him on Twitter as the attack on the Capitol unfolded and rioters called for Pence's hanging.
CROWDS: Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence.
TODD (voice-over): What if Pence had gone along with it? GERGEN: If Pence had gone through with this and worked with the president to overthrow the government, we would have been very close to having a civil war among ourselves.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And that was Brian Todd reporting.
"Peril" co-author Bob Woodward spoke to CNN earlier about just how ridiculous this attempt to overturn the election really was.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:55:00]
BOB WOODWARD, CO-AUTHOR, "PERIL": What this memo exposes is the constitutional and legal fantasy that Vice President Pence, as president of the Senate, the person designated to count and certify, who's going to be the next president. And if you look at it, if somebody just not through any partisan lens realizes that it makes claims that are, that do not exist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The U.S. Space Force which was created under Donald Trump is unveiling a new uniforms. Members known as guardians with a navy-blue jacket with a series of silver buttons running diagnostically from the right shoulder down the front, and gray pants. The Force describes the uniforms as modern, distinctive and professional. Space Force was launched in 2019, becoming the sixth branch of the U.S. military.
And two sisters in Japan have been certified as the world's oldest- ever identical twins. They are almost 108 years old -- according to Guinness World records. They were born in November, 1913, a few months before the start of World War One. The sisters live in separate care homes -- which I find sad. Their family says they're both sociable, positive, and joke about the record they have set.
And thank you so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Be sure to connect with me on Twitter on @eosemaryCNN. "EARLY START" is up next after a quick break. Have yourself a wonderful day.
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