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U.S.-China Prisoner Swap; Trump Seeking New Ways to Push Election Lie; Democrats Struggle to Advance Infrastructure Bill; Del Rio Camp under Bridge in Mexico Cleared of Migrants; Thousands Removed from U.S.-Mexico Border Back in Haiti; False Positive COVID-19 Tests for Two "The View" Hosts; Biden Hosts Indo-Pacific Leaders amid China Concerns; Kabul Imam Says Afghans Who Worked with Foreigners are "Spies"; CDU's Armin Laschet Fights to Fill Merkel's Shoes; Memphis Kroger Shooting; London Sees Increase in Violence against Women. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired September 25, 2021 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to CNN NEWSROOM, everyone, I am Michael Holmes, appreciate your company.
Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, a three-nation diplomatic spat ends in an apparent prisoner swap, sending a Huawei executive back to China and two Canadian citizens home as well.
The so-called Arizona audit is complete, and the Republican-led sham confirms what we already knew: Joe Biden won the election. But it's not stopping Donald Trump and his supporters from continuing to spread the Big Lie.
Also --
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I promise you. Those people will pay.
HOLMES (voice-over): President Biden condemns this horseback wrangling at the border.
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HOLMES (voice-over): Meanwhile, the huge camp in Texas has been cleared out. We'll show you where the migrants are going.
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HOLMES: Two Canadian men detained in China for nearly three years will be back on Canadian soil in just a few hours. Late Friday, former diplomat Michael Kovrig, on the left, and businessman Michael Spavor, the so-called two Michaels, were suddenly taken from their cells in a Chinese prison and put back on a plane to Canada.
At that same moment, halfway around the world, senior Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was flying out of Canada on a private jet, pausing for now her bitter legal battle with the U.S.
Now on Friday, the Justice Department said it would not prosecute Meng on fraud charges at this time, allowing her to finally leave Canada after nearly three years of house arrest in her luxury Vancouver mansion. We get more on that from CNN's Paula Newton.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The sheer speed and choreography of everything that unfolded, caught many by surprise. Yet, there is relief, not just with the families of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig but also with Canadian officials.
It was untenable, that Meng Wanzhou could have orchestrated a deal with U.S. authorities, by which she would return to China, even though she was under detention, here in Canada, under fairly loose restrictions. She had ankle bracelets, she was living in a multimillion-dollar mansion, that she was able to be released and go back to China but that the two Michaels would be left in China, at times, under harsh conditions.
That has included solitary and severe interrogations. With that in mind, prime minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement. I want you to listen.
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JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: These two men have been through an unbelievably difficult situation. But it is inspiring, and it is good news for all of us that they are on their way home to their families.
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NEWTON: The two Michaels are expected to arrive in Canada sometime on Saturday. And no doubt, there will be a lot of time to parse, exactly, what happened here. China always denied this had anything to do with hostage diplomacy and that it was not retaliation.
Yet how could anyone think anything but, given what has transpired here?
This is a win, as well, for the Biden administration. Joe Biden had said, the two Michaels would be treated as if they were American citizens and this, definitely, does herald some type of new era between U.S. and China relations. Or, at least, for this issue, they can put it aside and continue what is a long list of continuing tensions -- Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa.
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HOLMES: Now Meng Wanzhou is expected to be back on Chinese soil in the coming hours. Will Ripley is joining me from Taipei.
It really is hard to argue now, as China has done, that these two cases are unrelated.
How is this going to be received in China?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'll tell you two words that you will not be hearing in China on their state media or their social media are the words " hostage diplomacy." If there was some sort of a hashtag like that to pop up, it would quickly scrub away by the army of online censors and trolls that are always making sure that everything is squeaky clean on the Chinese mainland internet.
But they are reporting that Meng Wanzhou did not have to plead guilty.
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RIPLEY: They're not mentioning she didn't dispute facts, but she did plead not guilty. This deferred prosecution deal means she was free to go home, free to get on a jet, to leave her multimillion-dollar mansion in Vancouver, where she's been under house arrest for nearly three years under conditions that arguably are going to be looser than the conditions that she'll be facing when she arrives back in the mainland.
And she has a compulsory quarantine. I'm currently in quarantine here in Taiwan; a lot of countries here in Asia have compulsive quarantines and Mainland China has one of the most strict, where you don't leave your hotel room. You can't go outside.
She was able to do all those things in Canada, so ironically her first at least couple of weeks of freedom back home will not be so free.
But she doesn't have to wear that ankle monitor anymore. You compare her conditions with the conditions of the two Michaels, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, and the conditions they were held in over the last three years, because all three of these people were detained in 2018 around the same time.
I remember being in Beijing at that time. And there was nobody you talked to who believed this was not a case of hostage diplomacy, of retaliation for a darling of the Chinese Communist Party, the daughter of the founder of Huawei, being, you know, treated, in the view of the Chinese authorities, with indignity.
But the two Michaels certainly had a much tougher go of it. There were times they were in a small cell in solitary confinement with the lights kept on 24/7. They were denied access to conversations with their families. They were even denied consular access for months on end. They were interrogated.
So that nightmarish ordeal for them is now coming to an end, as they sit on a plane, prepared to arrive back home in Canada, no doubt to a very warm welcome. Meng Wanzhou keeping a lower profile, but she's expected to arrive back in China about five hours from now, Michael.
HOLMES: You'll be following it. Will Ripley there in Taipei. Thank you.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's Big Lie is taking on a new life, despite a setback in Arizona. For months, Republicans have conducted what they called an audit of last year's presidential election in the state's largest county.
The procedure based on Trump's allegation the election was somehow stolen from him. But according to a report, the so-called audit, even that audit concluded the original result stands. But Trump and many Republicans continue to push the Big Lie. Paula Reid explains.
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PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In his quest to spread the big lie, Trump has focused on the vote count in Arizona, his allies paid a company to find fraud, but five months and more than $5 million later, the results are in. They found none. In fact, a hand recount actually found more votes for Joe Biden.
Late last night, Trump posted a statement online, calling the firm reviewing the Arizona results "highly respected auditors."
But after the results confirming his loss were widely reported, the statement was deleted from his website.
The sham process was conducted by the Florida based company Cyber Ninjas, which has no experience in auditing. But a hand recount by the company showed Biden got 99 more votes than Maricopa County originally reported, and Trump received 261 fewer votes.
Maricopa County supervisor Republican Bill Gates bucked his own party to reject the sham process.
BILL GATES (R) MARICOPA COUNTY SUPERVISOR: Those behind this, they don't have reverence for democracy. They are trying to sow doubt so that, down the road, they can, again, question elections if they don't turn out the way they wanted them to.
REID: But the former president continues to spread the Big Lie. On Thursday, Trump published a letter to the Republican governor of Texas, a state he won by more than five points, demanding an election audit while making baseless allegations.
"Texans know voting fraud occurred in some of their counties. Let's get to the bottom of the 2020 presidential election scam."
Hours later, the secretary of state announced that Texas would carry out audits in four of the state's largest counties.
Trump's efforts to undermine confidence in the system is being embraced by Republicans. In a recent CNN poll, most Republicans said they want Trump to remain their party's leader.
And most Republicans also consider support for Trump and his false claim to have won the 2020 election to be an important part of their own partisan identity, alongside support for conservative principles. Nearly 10 months after the 2020 election, the former president continues to trash even his closest allies if they don't support the Big Lie.
In a few book, "Peril," authors Bob Woodward and Robert Costa document how Senators Lindsey Graham and Mike Lee questioned Trump's claim that the election of stolen.
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BOB WOODWARD, "THE WASHINGTON POST": These Trump supporters come up with the conclusion; it's bogus. There is nothing there.
REID: Now Trump is taking aim at the two lawmakers, who were staunch allies and frequently seen by his side while in office.
"I spent virtually no time with them," Trump wrote in a statement, "Lindsey and Mike should be ashamed of themselves for not putting up the fight necessary to win."
This comes as the House Select Committee fired off its first round of subpoenas in its investigation into January 6th to four Trump loyalists.
Investigators want to know what Trump and those around him did try to overturn the results of the 2020 election, in addition to what was known in Trump's orbit about the planning leading up to the insurrection and how the administration responded.
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA), CHAIR, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: We're moving with great alacrity and essentially no one is off the table.
REID: The committee has specifically targeted individuals they believe would be uncooperative. They include Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, former adviser Steve Bannon and Kash Patel, a former chief of staff to then acting Secretary of Defense, Christopher Miller.
SCHIFF: These are four important witnesses. They're all very close to the former president. Some were in direct communication with him on January 5th, on January 6th. They are reportedly -- are reportedly in communication about how to overturn the results of the election.
REID: On January 5th, Bannon predicted on his podcast:
STEVE BANNON, ADVISER TO FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP: All hell is going to break loose.
REID: In a letter to Meadows, the committee noted he was allegedly communicating with the president on January 6th and they also want to know more about his efforts to plan and prepare to contest the presidential election and to lay accounting of electoral votes.
The committee is looking for a quick turnaround and all four Trump associates are directed to produce relevant documents by October 7th and appear for depositions the following week. CNN has reached out to Meadows, Scavino and Bannon for comment. Patel said in a statement late Thursday that he was disappointed but not surprised that the committee had subpoenaed him before seeking voluntary cooperation.
Now that President Biden appears unwilling to assert executive privilege to block these requests, if these Trump allies still refuse to comply with the committee's request, lawmakers could try to get this into court, arguing, potentially, criminal contempt.
That could cause delays. But even if these allies eventually appear, it's unclear if lawmakers will actually get any answers, because each has the right to invoke the Fifth Amendment; of course, protecting them from self-incrimination -- Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.
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HOLMES: Ron Brownstein is a CNN senior political analyst and senior editor at "The Atlantic."
Good to see you, Ron. We have to start with this sham Arizona recount, Joe Biden ended up getting more votes.
But what are your thoughts on all of that?
And importantly, the fact that Republicans in other states want to go down the same sham audit road. It really does seem like a strategy.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: It is. And, look, that's the right word for it. This whole process was a sham from beginning to end.
And even though it underscored Biden's victory in Arizona, it really had no capacity to confirm it because it wasn't like a serious investigation. What it was, I think, clearly, from the point of view of the sponsors, was a pretext to both sow doubt in the election process and thus seed the ground for Trump if he runs again in 2024 to make similar claims of fraud, as he did in 2020.
But also to provide the pretext for measures to restrict access to the vote. You know, the Republicans in Arizona came out of this today kind of unashamed and basically saying, well, let's look at more ways to make it tougher to vote.
So I think that is the real message here. This is part of a broader retreat from small D democracy that you see going on in a big segment of the Republican Party. And really a gathering crisis in America that, at the moment, congressional Democrats are being precluded from responding to, because of two of their own, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, ironically from Arizona.
HOLMES: Turning to challenges for Joe Biden, it's not this simple but Democrats have the White House and both houses of Congress. If they can't pass agenda items like infrastructure now, things which are enormously popular with the public, if they can't pass those things now, they never will.
Is that fair to say?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, there is a degree of difficulty that they're dealing with these historically narrow majorities. The reconciliation bill that is, you know, under so much debate among Democrats, has been described as the Great Society in a single piece of legislation.
When Lyndon Johnson passed that, he had 150-seat majority in the House and 68 seats in the Senate. So it is tough. But yes.
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BROWNSTEIN: I think even grading on a curve for the narrowness of the majority, this is a moment that Democrats have to kind of stare in the mirror and understand that the president's party usually loses seats in the midterm.
To hold the House by historic standards would be the upset. This is their moment to, you know, make their imprint on American life. And if they can't find a way to overcome their differences, I remember what Dick Gephardt said in 1994, when he was the House majority leader for Democrats, and they were facing a similar crisis.
He said, if we can't overcome our differences, we don't deserve to be in the majority. Well, they didn't overcome their differences and they lost the majority. So I think that's a reminder of what's at stake for them.
HOLMES: It's a really important point. The significant aspect of this is Democrats can't even get on the same page themselves.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
HOLMES: Going forward, how destructive is that politically with those midterms looming large?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think the biggest factor in the midterms is going to be the objective reality that people are living through.
I don't think, if people are still very uneasy about COVID in a year, I'm not sure legislative achievement by itself can overcome that. But the absence of legislative achievement will be just an enormous headwind for Democrats.
They made it very clear, a campaign promise to voters, you give us the power and we will change American life in all sorts of ways to address needs that have been accumulating for decades, whether that's infrastructure spending or universal pre-K, universal community college, this child tax credit, investment in green jobs, paid family leave, there are -- expanded Medicare.
I mean there are a lot of promises embedded in this one bill. And if they can't do it, I just think it would just be devastating.
By the way, even if they can do it, they face the issue of, are they going to allow Republicans to, in effect, deep-six every other agenda item for Democratic constituencies, from gun control to immigration reform to police reform to abortion rights to voting rights that can't be shoehorned into this special reconciliation process?
So this might be called necessary but not sufficient.
HOLMES: Yes. Yes, very good point. The other looming thing is the debt ceiling. You know, I don't know. That seems to happen every year.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
HOLMES: It's a bit rich for criticisms to be coming from Republicans, who voted for the Trump tax cuts, that will eventually add nearly $2 trillion in debt, and never fail to vote for increases in defense spending. But here we are.
BROWNSTEIN: Look, what the Republicans are doing is utterly irresponsible. They are refusing to pay the bill on debts that have been already accumulated. And Mitch McConnell is behaving, I think, at the far end of irresponsibility, in effect holding a gun to the head of Democrats and to the global economy.
But having said that, Democrats, Michael, have the capacity to take the gun out of his hand at any moment. They could vote tomorrow to exempt the debt ceiling from the filibuster and take away the power that McConnell -- the threat that McConnell is wielding.
And they are choosing not to do that. They are looking at all sorts of gyrations to find a way to raise the debt ceiling without cooperation from Republicans. But they are not confronting the head-on opportunity to reconsider the filibuster at this moment.
And that is what looms, I think, over this entire legislative session. The reason they're tying themselves in knots, trying to do this whole domestic agenda in a single bill, is because it's their only way to get around the filibuster.
HOLMES: Yes, nothing gets done. Ron, good to see you, my friend. Thanks for that, Ron Brownstein.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.
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HOLMES: Now the migrant camp that once held 15,000 at the U.S. border with Mexico has now cleared out.
What lies ahead for the Haitians, who journeyed there seeking a better life?
We'll have that after the break.
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HOLMES: No more migrants remain at that massive camp in Del Rio, Texas, at the U.S. border with Mexico. At its peak, 15,000 Haitians were packed underneath that bridge, as you can see there, the comparison. They've now all been moved to other facilities, been deported or chosen to cross back into Mexico.
Quite a difference, isn't it there?
Now they received -- the treatment they received sparked international outcry, the image you see there. President Biden having some strong words for those responsible for this horseback wrangling.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's outrageous. I promise you, those people will pay. They will be an investigation underway now and there will be consequences. There will be consequences. It's an embarrassment.
But beyond an embarrassment, it's dangerous, it's wrong. It sends the wrong message around the world. It sends the wrong message at home. It's simply not who we are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The U.S. says about 12,000 of the migrants will have their cases heard by an immigration judge but 2,000 have already been deported back to Haiti. They had hoped to escape a string of crises dating back years. Melissa Bell is in Port-au-Prince with some of their stories.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Junior, his wife, Elianne, and their 2-year old were deported to Port-au Prince on Tuesday, seven years after the couple says they left in search of a better life. They're now staying with friends, the three sharing a single bed, not much but more comfort than they've known for several months.
When work dried up in Brazil in June, where they'd been given asylum, the family headed north through 10 countries, some of it by bus but much of it on foot.
Elianne, though, says that the worst was arriving in the United States. As they arrived, she said, everything they had, including toothpaste and soap, was taken away from them.
She says the worst was when they were cooped up inside the prison.
"We thought they would free us," she says, "but they shackled us instead. Seeing my husband shackled was the worst.
[03:25:00] BELL (voice-over): "Then they handcuffed the women and they put us on the plane. My baby was crying and I couldn't even hold him. And that was what made me cry."
The family gives us a tour of the neighborhood they find themselves back in. Junior says that Port-au Prince is worse now than when they left. I asked him if it is the insecurity that has worsened. He laughs and tells me there is no security in Haiti.
The assassination of the country's president and the aftermath of a 7.2 earthquake in August, just some of the dismal conditions forcing families to embark on the grueling trek to the U.S. border with Mexico.
BELL: And yet, the flights keep on coming, seven in all arriving here in Haiti just this Friday, some here at Port-au-Prince, others at the airport in Cap-Haitien in the very north of the country. The logistics, almost impossible to deal with, says the International Office for Migration, given the sheer number of people being deported.
BELL (voice-over): Back to a place they desperately wanted to leave. The dream of finding a better life in America ends here, back on Haitian soil, with a handout of $100, a hot meal and a ride to the bus station provided by the IOM.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are going to suffer now. You see all those people being deported to Haiti, including women and children's. There are no jobs in there is nothing here. What are those people going to do?
BELL (voice-over): That's the dilemma facing thousands of migrants forced to return to a country the U.S. special envoy to Haiti called "a collapsed state" before he resigned on Thursday.
A small group of people turned out in Port-au Prince to protest the deportations, a show of dissent but little help to the migrants, still being flown back to Haiti, returning to the many problems they thought they'd left behind -- Melissa Bell, CNN, Port-au-Prince.
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HOLMES: I'm Michael Holmes. For our international viewers, "AFRICAN VOICES" is next. For those in North America, I'll be right back.
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HOLMES: Now a pair of positive COVID tests delaying an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris on "The View" on Friday. Have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need the two of you to step off for a second.
JOY BEHAR, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": OK. Ana and -- and -- and -- Sunny have to leave.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to bring you back later.
BEHAR: And we'll tell you why.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More information later. It's a tease.
BEHAR: We'll tell you why in a couple of minutes.
So shall I introduce the vice president?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
BEHAR: OK. So, vice president -- no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
BEHAR: OK.
Shall we dance?
Let's do a tap dance.
What happened is that Sunny and Ana both apparently tested positive for COVID-19.
No matter how hard we try, these things happen. They probably have a breakthrough case and they'll be OK, I'm sure, because they're both vaccinated.
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HOLMES: The vice president did the interview from another room after those positive tests. She did not come into contact with either Sunny Hostin or Ana Navarro before the show. Now later in the day, both those women tested negative on two different types of COVID tests.
Now U.S. pharmacies are now scheduling Pfizer vaccine booster shots for those who qualify. Drugstore chains like CVS and Walgreens are making the extra doses available following CDC clearance early on Friday morning.
The agency's director split with her own vaccine advisers to support boosters for people whose occupations put them at high risk for catching COVID. But she admitted to CNN's Erin Burnett that the differing recommendations do cause confusion.
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DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: It was all very scientifically driven and transparent and then my decision was after speaking with the scientists and listening to them on Thursday afternoon. But I acknowledge the confusion because we're at this moment. We have three different vaccines and a lot of people vaccinated.
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HOLMES: CNN's Nick Watt now with more on the rollout and who qualifies to get booster doses.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The booster shot is free and easily accessible.
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): And the rollout ramps up today.
BIDEN: When to start the shot and who will get them is left to the scientists and the doctors.
WATT: For now, only those who got the Pfizer vaccine and not all of them. The CDC now recommends these people should get a booster at least six months after their second shot, everyone 65 and up and 50- to 64-year olds with underlying medical conditions.
Also, these people may get the booster, 18- to 49-year olds with underlying medical conditions and adults at increased risk of infection in their occupational or institutional setting.
The CDC's vaccine advisers did not vote in favor of that last group.
DR. PABLO SANCHEZ, PROFESSOR OF PEDIATRICS: We might as well just say give it to everybody 18 and older.
WATT: The CDC director disagreed.
Why?
WALENSKY: Our health care systems are once again at maximum capacity in parts of the country. Our teachers are facing uncertainty as they walk into the classroom. It was a decision about providing rather than withholding access.
WATT (voice-over): Meantime, more than 70 million eligible Americans still haven't had their first COVID-19 vaccine shot.
BIDEN: The refusal to get vaccinated costs all of us. I'm going to move forward the vaccination requirements wherever I can.
WATT (voice-over): Here in California, the Oakland school board just voted in favor of a vaccine mandate for all eligible students 12 and up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The infections have been really disruptive.
WATT (voice-over): California is considering something similar state wide.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): The decision will be made over the course of the next few days. We have a lot of partners with 1,050 school districts in the state of California, the largest school system in the United States.
WATT (voice-over): In Rural Randolph County, Georgia, volunteers staged a voluntary vax to school event last weekend.
SANDRA WILLIS, ORGANIZER, NEIGHBOR 2 NEIGHBOR: I don't know why people are not caring enough for their child to get them vaccinated.
WATT (voice-over): In New York, there's a Monday deadline for teachers and health care workers to get at least their first shot. Thousands haven't.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is looming for Monday is completely avoidable. And there's no excuses.
WATT: So the Pfizer booster shots are rolling out.
But what if you're one of the more than 80 million Americans who got Moderna or Johnson & Johnson?
Well, the surgeon general says, "Don't worry; your health matters just as much as everybody else. Over the coming weeks, we're going to gather and analyze data for those two vaccines. Hold tight. Be calm. Your time will probably come." -- Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Now the leaders of the U.S., Japan, India and Australia have solidified their commitment to safeguarding a free and open Indo- Pacific region.
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HOLMES: They all met on Friday for the first in-person meeting of the so-called Quad. While China was not mentioned by name, the four countries do share concerns over that nation's expanding influence in Asia. The Australian prime minister said the region should be free from coercion and sovereign rights must be respected.
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SCOTT MORRISON, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: The Quad is about demonstrating how democracies, such as hours, as you said, Mr. President, can get things done. They can deal with the big challenges that we face, in a complex and challenging world.
There is no part of the world that is more dynamic than the Indo- Pacific at this time, a region that has extraordinary opportunity, wide diversity, great wealth but many challenges that must be overcome.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: Meanwhile, tensions appear to be cooling between the Biden administration and France after its American-British-Australian security deal led to a week-long diplomatic spat. The two presidents have spoken to each other but France's foreign minister says it still will take time to repair the wounds.
People close to the president and Joe Biden say he was caught off guard by France's anger after being left out of the submarine pact, which cost France its own multibillion dollar deal with Australia.
Still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, an Afghan imam calling out those who helped foreigners before the Taliban takeover. His disturbing message coming up.
Also, Germany's election will soon bring Angela Merkel's tenure as chancellor to an end. But she's out on the campaign trail anyway for her party before she says goodbye. We'll also explain what's going on when we come back.
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HOLMES: Hundreds of Afghans took to the streets of Kabul on Friday, demanding the United States release the nation's frozen financial assets. The crowd gathering with signs, one saying ordinary Afghans should not pay the price for America's defeat.
The U.S. froze more than $9 billion in assets belonging to the Afghan central bank just days after the Taliban took control of the capital.
Meanwhile, the imam of Kabul's largest mosque had a very disturbing message during Friday prayers. He called for retribution against Afghans who worked with foreigners, claiming they are spies and non- believers. CNN's Nic Robertson has the latest.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It really feels like a day of mixed messages at the principal press service Friday. At the main mosque in the center of Kabul the message was very clear. Anyone that worked and assisted with U.S. and other international governments is a spy.
Indeed, the imam saying they were outside of Islam, they were not Muslims, that there should be revenge through the religious education, meaning the judiciary. Going on to say that the United States and other countries were just in Afghanistan to exploit it for their own gain.
On the other hand, it seems contrary to this message of sort of, turning on Afghans who may be considered spies, you have a message from the defense minister, Mullah Yaqoob, the son of a Taliban founder, Mullah Omar, saying that there needs to be better discipline within the military forces and within the Taliban military ranks.
Anyone involved in killing and thieving will be investigated and will be held to account, making it clear that the Taliban fighters must be more disciplined.
So these two apparently conflicting messages from the mosque, very clearly, to the Afghan people, from the defense chief to his fighters but perhaps some essence of the message in there for the international community that they are going to double down on holding to their principles of not taking vengeance out on former government and military members -- Nic Robertson, Kabul, CNN, Afghanistan.
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HOLMES: A measles case among recent Afghan refugee arrivals in the United States is putting one of the largest U.S. bases in Europe under tremendous strain; 10,000 refugees are living in tents at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, as nighttime temperatures plunge in what a source calls a dire situation.
Many would have been sent to the U.S. already but flights were suspended for three weeks after the measles case; 2,000 of the refugees are pregnant women and 22 babies have already been born. The Afghans were supposed to be at the base for 10 days under an agreement with Germany. They have now been there several weeks.
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HOLMES (voice-over): A light-hearted moment on the campaign trail for outgoing German chancellor Angela Merkel. Colorful parrots there swooping around her at a stop at a bird park in her home state.
Ms. Merkel got a bit of a shock when some pecked at her fingers instead of the cups of food she was holding. But both she and the birds seemed to take it in their stride.
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HOLMES: That is just one of many appearances that she has been making on behalf of her Christian Democratic Union Party ahead of tomorrow's federal election. She's trying to give a political boost to her party's candidate, Armin Laschet, who is hoping to fill her shoes after 16 years.
But as Fred Pleitgen now reports for us, Laschet's campaign has been struggling to gain enough traction.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): It seemed almost fitting that one of Armin Laschet's final major rallies, happened in severe rain. The center right Christian Democratic candidate's campaign has been marred by difficulties. Angela Merkel, even stepping off the sidelines to try to help him win votes.
"The (INAUDIBLE) of this parliamentarian, this chancellor," he said at the rally in Germany's north, "we will do everything to continue on this, work in the coming years. We ask for your trust, this coming Sunday."
He has been trailing in the polls and struggling to mobilize Germany's conservative base.
PLEITGEN: It certainly is an uphill battle to try and decide this election in his favor. Over the past couple of weeks, he has mobilized German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who is still vastly popular in this country, trying to drum up extra support.
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PLEITGEN (voice-over): The center left social Democratic candidate, Olaf Scholz, who was also Germany's finance minister, currently, is ahead in the polls. He is portraying himself as being serious and diligent, just like Angela Merkel.
Some felt Laschet was punching above his weight, trying to become popular as chancellor but he also made what many Germans perceived to be, some unforced errors, like getting caught, on camera, laughing, while visiting victims of massive floods in western Germany.
JULIAN REICHELT, EIC, "BILD": Armin Laschet made it easy for the people who somewhat disliked him to explain why they disliked him and why they wouldn't vote for him. That, I think, could become the fatal effect in this campaign.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Laschet's been trying to get his campaign on track by saying, only the conservatives can ensure a strong German economy and promising strong foreign and defense policies.
"We saw in Afghanistan, that once the Americans leave, we can't even secure Kabul airport. That is why I want to install a National Security Council, within the chancellery," Laschet said.
So while he hasn't managed to close the gap with Olaf Scholz, most polls have the race too close to call, giving hope to Germany's conservatives that they may, yet, retain the chancellery, even after Angela Merkel steps down -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
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HOLMES: A federal arrest warrant has been issued for the fiance of Gabby Petito. Up next, the latest on the search for Brian Laundrie as Petito's family prepares for her funeral. We'll be right back.
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HOLMES: Three people remain in critical condition after Thursday's shooting rampage at a Kroger supermarket near Memphis, Tennessee. And we're learning more about the innocent life lost.
Olivia King was a mother of three and a grandmother. One of her sons revealing she was shot in the chest. The vice mayor calling King a dear friend, describing her as kind and generous. Officials have identified the gunman as a 29-year-old third-party vendor for Kroger. At this time, the motive remains unknown.
Now Gabby Petito's family is preparing to hold a memorial for her in New York on Sunday. It will be open to the public and comes a week after her remains were found in Wyoming, where she had been traveling with her fiance, Brian Laundrie.
Now he hasn't been seen since last week and there's now a federal warrant out for his arrest. Authorities are searching for him in a Florida nature reserve. CNN's Leyla Santiago with that.
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LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This morning we expect the search to continue for Brian Laundrie. Police telling us that -- and I quote -- they'll be going into areas of "more likelihood" in that 25,000- acre reserve.
We know that they're sort of using a process of elimination. They're moving forward, ruling out where Brian Laundrie is not. A source close to the Laundrie family tells CNN that, when Brian left, he did not have his phone or his wallet. And that is why his family is concerned for his well-being.
Now we know that there is an arrest warrant for Brian Laundrie right now, a federal warrant. That indicates that he is wanted for arrest for unauthorized use of a debit card and access to bank statements.
In the meantime, as we visited the growing memorial for Gabby Petito here in North Port, this is a community that is expressing frustration because they want more answers to try to make sense of this and is also in mourning -- back to you.
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HOLMES: Leyla Santiago there.
Now a candlelight vigil was held on Friday in South London in memory of Sabina Nessa. Nessa's body was found in a London park last week. Police say the 28-year-old teacher was heading to a nearby pub from her flat. CNN producer Nada Bashir reports it's one more example of what's being call an epidemic of violence against women in London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hundreds have gathered in the southeast London community as part of a candlelit vigil in memory of the life of Sabina Nessa.
Members of her family and other community leaders took to the stage not only to share their fond memories of Sabina but to share their outrage and shock at her murder.
It's the latest in a series of attacks against women in the British capital over this year alone and many people are calling for fundamental change to prevent cases like this from happening ever again.
BASHIR (voice-over): Another community in mourning. Another woman senselessly killed. Sabina Nessa, a 28-year-old London school teacher murdered minutes from home. She was on her way to meet a friend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As she walked through the park, she was approached by an individual and fatally attacked. Sabina's body was sadly found by a member of the public around 5:30 pm the following day.
BASHIR: Sabina's family have described her as a family-oriented, caring soul.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is truly the most kind, caring person out there. That she's the sweetest person, sweetest girl. I don't understand how someone can do this. I really don't. I really don't. It's just -- is a big loss to our family.
BASHIR: That shock is felt far beyond Sabina's family.
CROWD: No one deserves to die for being out at night.
BASHIR: Just over six months ago, another murder galvanized this nation. Thirty three-year-old Sarah Everard was kidnapped, raped and murdered by a serving police officer. The brutality of her death and heavy-handed police response to protests in her honor woke many up to this epidemic.
Her killer pleaded guilty and now awaits sentencing. In this year alone, there have been at least 106 cases of women being killed by men or where a man is the principal suspect, according to Counting Dead Women, an organization which tracks femicide in the U.K.
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SADIQ KHAN, MAYOR OF LONDON: We do have an epidemic when it comes to violence against women and girls. I think we need a whole system approach.
We need to make sure at a young age, our boys are taught to respect girls. I think we need to make misogyny a hate crime. I think harassment in the public space against women should be a criminal offense.
BASHIR: Women's rights organizations say these changes are long overdue.
JAMIE KLINGLER, CO-FOUNDER, RECLAIM THESE STREETS: Nothing has changed. I'm not safer than I was six months ago.
BASHIR: And that's particularly true for women of color.
KLINGLER: In the number of column mentions, the number of minutes you get on air time, it's absolutely proven that women of color do not get the same amount of coverage. And it's systemic in the society.
BASHIR: For now, the investigation into Sabina's tragic murder continues. And while many questions remain, there is little debate to be had on the fact that Sabina, like the countless women killed in the U.K. every year, should have been safe.
The investigation into the murder of Sabina Nessa is still ongoing and police are appealing for anyone with information to come forward. Here at the vigil tonight, there were still forensic teams combing through the bushes looking for evidence.
There are many unanswered questions, people here wondering whether it is safe to walk these streets alone -- Nada Bashir, CNN, London.
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HOLMES: Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @HolmesCNN. Do stay with us. My colleague, Robyn Curnow, will be here with more news in just a moment.
