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Amtrak Train Derails In Remote Part Of Montana Killing At Least Three; Mourners Gather For Memorial Service For Petito Today; Interview With Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA); Mother And Toddler Fall To Their Deaths At Padres Baseball Stadium; New York Statewide Vaccine Mandate For Health Care Workers Takes Effect Tuesday; Trump Rallies With GOP Senate Candidate Herschel Walker; Germans Go To The Polls, Marking End Of Merkel Era. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired September 26, 2021 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:04]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredericka Whitfield.

We begin this hour with a chaotic scene in a small town in Montana after an Amtrak train derailed, killing at least three people and injuring several others. More than 140 passengers and about a dozen crew members were on the train at the time of the accident.

Officials say the injured were taken to four different hospital, five people remain hospitalized in stable condition.

The train began its journey in Chicago and was headed to the Pacific Northwest when the derailment happened in the town of Joplin. The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a team to investigate.

And CNN's Natasha Chen picks it up from there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): officials say at least three people have been killed with more injured as rescue crews work to help passengers of these overturned train cars.

The Amtrak Empire Builder 727 had taken off from Chicago, headed towards Seattle -- a trip Amtrak says on its Website that allows passengers to experience the rugged splendor of the American West, including major portions of the Lewis and Clark Trail.

Instead at around 4:00 p.m. Mountain Time on Saturday near Joplin, Montana, the idyllic scene turned to tragedy.

MEGAN VANDERVEST, PASSENGER ON DERAILED TRAIN: It was probably 10 or 15 seconds of rocking back and forth and tons of noise and then we came to a stop.

CHEN: Megan Vandervest was taking a nap in one of the front sleeper cars that did not derail. Amtrak said there were approximately 141 passengers and 16 crew members.

The train had two locomotives and ten cars in total, eight of which derailed.

VANDERVEST: I would describe the experience as kind of like extreme turbulence on an airplane but like louder and there was kind of a lot of smoke smell.

CHEN: She said there was silence in her car and then passengers evacuated within ten minutes. It wasn't until she got outside that she realized the extent of the problem.

She says while the front cars weren't affected she could see one a couple of cars behind that had derailed and sat between two tracks.

Then --

VANDERVEST: The one behind that one had like completely tipped over and fallen over and that was kind of the most shocking part. It's like immediate shock when we got off because we didn't know anything that significant had happened.

CHEN: Photos from her and other passengers show several cars on their side. She said there were also passengers in front sleeper cars who were worried about their loved ones riding in other parts of the train.

VANDERVEST: The mood was very like disconnected. I think a lot of people were just trying to process what happened. Not really understanding, especially the people who were in cars that had tipped over, you know. They were kind of coming out of it, not even knowing what to think or how to process what just happened to them really.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHEN: A lot of shock there in the local community. Liberty County, Montana emergency officials gave a press conference just a couple of hours ago really touting the good work that citizens and neighbors did to pitch in and help there.

To their knowledge the emergency officials said there most people have been treated and released but there are five people still in a hospital in Great Falls.

I've also checked in with NTSB who tells me that their team are on their way in and should be there by tonight, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Natasha Chen in Los Angeles, thank you so much.

All right. Now to the East Coast. Mourners are gathering on Long Island today to remember Gabby Petito who was found dead in a Wyoming national park one week ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM SCHMIDT, GABBY'S STEPFATHER: Gabby is the most amazing person I've ever met. So if you're going to leave here today I'm asking that you guys be inspired by the way she treated people, all people.

Love knows no gender. Love knows no bounds. She didn't care. She genuinely loved people. It didn't matter.

So when you leave here today, be inspired by what she brought to the table because the entire planet knows this (INAUDIBLE). And she's inspired a lot of women and a lot of men to do what's best for them first. Put yourself first and do it now while you have the time. I couldn't be more proud as a father.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The funeral home near Petito's hometown produced a video tribute to her showing her and her friends and family.

Meantime, the manhunt continues for her missing fiancee Brian Laundrie who disappeared a short time after returning home from the couple's cross-country trip without Petito.

CNN's Alison Kosik is at the service in New York. Nadia Romero is following the manhunt in Florida.

Alison, let's go to you first. Tell us more about today's service.

[14:04:50]

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, you know, the outpouring that we're seeing here really shows how much 22-year-old Gabby Petito's story has resonated not just here in this community of Holbrook here on Long Island but in her hometown of Blue Point, across the country and around the world.

Doors opened for the public memorial around noon today, but people had been waiting in line, lines that have snaked around the building of the funeral home even before that with people waiting more than an hour just to kind of get in.

Many people not even knowing Gabby personally but they felt that they had to come out here and wait in line to go inside to pay their respects.

You heard Gabby's father. That was part of the eulogy that was the given earlier today when the family was inside the funeral home. Her step-father also giving a eulogy. I spoke with her great aunt who talked about the heartbreak of today.

Inside there are pictures of Gabby Petito lining the wall along with flowers, including sunflowers which we're told were her favorite. Her music play list is also playing as mourners go through.

The funeral home is broadcasting a livestream of today's memorial service where people from all around the world are leaving messages from Germany to Australia to the U.K.

The funeral director is telling me that he's talked to at least, you know, one person who flew in from California. One man saying that he felt so connected to the Gabby Petito story he wanted to go ahead and fly in from California even though he didn't know her because he lost his mother to domestic violence, Fredericka.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my. All right.

Well, the nation has been riveted by this case. Alison in Long Island, thank you so much.

On to Nadia now in Florida. Any new leads in this ongoing search for Laundrie?

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Unfortunately, Fredricka no. And there's still so many unanswered questions right now. We're standing outside of the Laundrie family home. And earlier today the FBI was here but they only stayed for a brief while and that has been one of several times that the FBI has come to this residence here to speak with the family. And we've seen that happen over the past week.

Now, there is supposed to be an active search going on throughout the weekend not far from here at a nature reserve that is about 25,000 acres.

And we went up and shot some new drone footage of that area. You can see that it's just filled with trees and swamp. There's been lots of rainfall so there's flooding in that area as well almost waist deep at times, full of alligators and snakes.

So this has been a really treacherous search for the crews that are out there, but some people have questioned if Brian Laundrie is even there at all. And that has a lot of people with the spotlight back on his parents wondering what they knew, if anything, about what happened to Gabby Petito and where their son could be now.

You just mentioned the memorial that's happening in Long Island, and we saw on Facebook that Gabby Petito's mother posted for the first time in almost two weeks. And it was a message to everyone who has been following the story of her daughter.

And she writes, "As I scroll through all the posts, my heart is full of love. I wish could I reach out and hug each and every one of you. Your support has been so overwhelming. And we are so filled with gratitude."

And with that gratitude still comes questions. Gabby Petito's family believe that Brian Laundrie knows what happened to their daughter. And they are hoping that they will get some answers sometime soon, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Nadia Romero, Alison Kosik, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

All right. Still ahead. Does House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have the votes to pass President Biden's infrastructure plan? What she's now saying about a possible vote this week.

Plus, leading Democrats and Republicans pointing fingers at each other after talks break down on a police reform bill. I'll talk about that and so much more with Congresswoman Barbara Lee. She's coming up next.

[14:08:41]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. This morning House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she's confident that the trillion-dollar infrastructure bill will pass this week, but conceded it may not hit the House floor for a vote tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Let me just say we're going to pass the bill this week. I promised that we would bring the bill to the floor. That was according to the language that those who wanted this brought to the floor tomorrow wrote into the rule.

We'll bring the bill to the floor to the tomorrow for consideration.

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ): The bottom line is what's important and the speaker communicated this to all of us yesterday is that we vote on it early this week. And that's going to happen.

REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-WA): I don't believe there will be a vote. I mean the speaker --

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: You don't think there's going to be a vote tomorrow.

JAYAPAL: I mean the speaker is an incredibly good vote-counter, and she knows exactly where her caucus stands. And we've been really clear on that, too.

TAPPER: The votes aren't there. She's not going to be --

JAYAPAL: The votes aren't there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. With us now is Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California. Congresswoman, always good to see you.

So what is it going to take to bring Democrats together on both the infrastructure and the larger $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill in time for any votes this week?

REP. BARBARA LEE (D-CA): Thanks a lot for having me, Fredricka. Yes, we're quite frankly at a defining moment in our country. And in fact, I believe now that we've passed the budget out of the Budget Committee yesterday -- I serve on the Budget Committee and we worked all day here in Washington to make sure that bill left committee.

And so the speaker is very smart and she knows what she's doing. I met with the president with a group of progressives last week at the White House. And I think we're all on the same page. We're now trying to find consensus, trying to unify, trying to make sure that both bills work together per our agreement, per our deal that was made.

WHITFIELD: So possibly unify on what? Where would the consensus be? So you've already identified then the problem areas among the progressives including yourself?

LEE: Well, yes. I'm a former chair of the Progressive Caucus. And let me tell you this is not a progressive caucus bill. This is not a blue dog or a new dem bill.

[14:14:52]

LEE: This is a bill which the Biden administration campaigned on. We have got to deliver on the promises that the president made.

Number one, the child tax credit. I mean can you imagine how many children would be lifted out of poverty if in fact we make it permanent? We already passed in one of our prior bills at least part of what we need to do to make sure that we finally eliminate poverty for children.

Secondly, our women in the workforce -- women need to get back to work. They want to get back to work, but guess what, they can't afford child care. So in this Build Back Better bill, we have provisions for affordable child care, for childcare providers, caregiving. So many of our elders, so many of our disabled citizens need care giving.

And this bill provides for their lives and their livelihoods so we've got to work together and we work at this (INAUDIBLE) Congress.

WHITFIELD: So I think I'm hearing you say the consensus is those things need to stay included but then the issue is going to be by how much do you cut it in order to -- for those things to remain inclusive but at a smaller price tag?

LEE: Well, negotiations are taking place right now. We have $3.5 trillion -- that's what I voted for yesterday. And that's what we expect.

Now of course, there's going to be negotiations as we speak because we have to come to consensus. But I want to see $3.5 trillion and also what's important is to make sure that all of those initiatives, those provisions, those details as it relates to what we voted on.

Climate change, for example, we have resources, investments in that bill to provide for good paying union jobs for our climate efforts, for our green economy.

(CROSSTALK)

LEE: So there are many efforts in the bill that we've got to address.

WHITFIELD: All right. So I also want to ask you about this bipartisan police reform bill that has now fallen apart. I mean following George Floyd, there seemed to be some real momentum to get something done and then today, there was a lot of finger pointing from the measure's leading Democrat and Republican about who and what is to blame for this failure. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR TIM SCOTT (R-SC): We have about a billion dollars in grant money that goes to police. When you started saying in order to receive those dollars you must do a, b and c, and if you don't do a, b and c you literally lose eligibility for the two major pots of money -- the Byrne Grant and the COPS Grant.

When you tell local law enforcement agencies that you are ineligible for money, that's defunding the police. There's no way to spin that.

SENATOR CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): Again, it's unfortunate. You remember on this saga we got the head of the FOP, the director of FOP, IACP -- these are some of the biggest unions an law enforcement agencies to go with us on a lot of common sense reforms and those folks don't want to defund the police. This is a bill that would have had millions of dollars for the police department.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So how disappointing is this to you?

LEE: well, it's very disappointing. But let me just say, Senator Scott is downright wrong. I serve on the appropriations commit, and we have measures for accountability, for our federal tax dollars. Why wouldn't we not have that for the police?

Secondly --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: So you use the word "accountability". He's interpreting that accountability as another way of saying defunding police. A consequence equals taking away funding and he sees that as defunding. So how do you get around that if that's the way he feels?

LEE: That's wrong when you look at how we appropriate funds, we provide measures for accountability for how taxpayer dollars are spent for what we want to see take place or we don't provide the funds.

And so that's just the Republican talking point. I don't know if they really wanted to do this. I mean part of the provision for this bill really did have some of the provisions which Trump supported.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Do you see it can be -- do you see that it could resuscitated and reconsidered in another way?

LEE: I hope so. I know Congresswoman Karen Bass very well and Senator Booker very well, and I know they negotiated day and night, day and night to try to bring some sense and sensible provisions to this bill on police accountability, on transparency, on a national database.

And I believed that they were getting close and all of a sudden the provisions with regard -- it wasn't even qualified immunity that Senator Scott was talking about. Now they're talking about holding taxpayer dollars -- making sure taxpayer dollars are accountable for what these programs are supposed to do.

And so I know Senator Booker and Congresswoman Bass are (INAUDIBLE) looking forward to get back (INAUDIBLE) achieve the goals of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act recognizing that they have made many, many compromises already in many bills and I know this for a fact because I have talked with them all the time and they have done an incredible job.

[14:19:51]

LEE: And so I'm so disappointed. I mean black and brown lives do matter. And this police reform bill was a step in the right direction to make sure that there's some police reform and police accountability.

And it is a shame and disgrace that Republicans would do what they did and not allow for this very modest bill to move forward.

WHITFIELD: Congresswoman Barbara Lee, we're going to leave it right there. Thank you so much and, of course, and before we lose that signal with you. Thanks for hanging in there with us.

All right coming up next, a tragic incident at a Major League Baseball stadium. Police now calling the deaths of a mother and her toddler in San Diego suspicious.

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[14:24:56]

WHITFIELD: All right. Police in San Diego are investigating the death of a 40-year-old woman and her 2-year-old son at Petco Park. Just minutes before the first pitch at yesterday's Padres game, the mother -- a mother and her toddler son fell from the stadium's dining concourse on to the sidewalk below. The two were declared dead at the scene.

Little is known so far about what led to the fall, but the homicide unit was called because police there said the deaths, and I'm quoting now, "appeared suspicious".

Joining me right now is CNN law enforcement analyst Roberto Villasenor. So good to see you. So what does "appear to be suspicious" tell you about what they recognized right away to say something is awry?

ROBERTO VILLASENOR, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It's very good to be with you, Fredricka.

And actually, that's not surprising because normally in these circumstances you want to keep your eyes completely open, your ears open. You want to understand it from every perspective. And unless it's an obvious accident, and of course, we're going to classify that as suspicious so you keep your mind open to any possibility.

You bring in your homicide investigators because usually those are some of the best investigators that you have on the department. They are very familiar with forensics and with all the things that you see on CIS-type of shows. They know how to employ that. And they know how to interview people to get to the truth.

Looking at some -- I'm sorry, go ahead.

WHITFIELD: No, I'm listening. I'm just -- acknowledging what you're saying.

VILLASENOR: Yes, in listening to what the department has put out there, asking for anyone with any information to come forward for any video I mean obviously this is tragedy but it occurred in a very populated area, a concession area.

If you want to talk to anyone who may have been there, may have seen something, I know that they are talking to the husband and father which is a normal thing in these circumstances. He's obviously the most closely connected to the two individuals. And so you want to know what he was doing where he was at.

And you just want to gather everything possible to help you determine what exactly happened during this event. It's just such a tragedy for (INAUDIBLE)

WHITFIELD: It really is.

VILLASENOR: For the organization and department.

WHITFIELD: I mean you touched on so many things there because we're talking about right before the game began which means there were a lot of people so you might have eyewitness accounts of something and everything is going to be interesting to investigators, right, in terms of their behavior when people saw them, what they appeared to be like and, of course, at the time of this fall -- falling some three levels which was the equivalent of six stories.

And I wonder, you know, the resources that will be available to the investigators, includes cameras, of course, eyewitness accounts. What else would be really important in trying to piece together what happened?

VILLASENOR: Well, I think any forensic investigation that occurs. They are going to look at anything that will help them piece that together, as you said, because that's really a perfect description of what they are going to try and do. They're going to try and re-enact as best as they can, what occurred up to -- I mean I know they geared it as suspicious at this point and they are bringing in the homicide (INAUDIBLE).

That's the smart thing to do because you do not want to miss anything and you don't want to make any assumptions that this is either accidental or intentional. You want to gather all the facts available. And once you gather those facts you apply the forensic sciences to whatever you can and then that helps you make the determination of what occurred.

WHITFIELD: And when we look at the video that we see here and the zooming of a barrier, still unclear whether that's the exact same spot where the mother and child were. But of course, they would be looking at if barrier wasn't in any way compromised, construction-wise, and if that seems absent and it looks like everything is intact, is that what would also lead investigators to say something is suspicious?

I mean, how would they get by that barrier if the barrier was not weakened or something wrong with it.

VILLASENOR: That's -- absolutely, that's a question that's going to have to be answered. They're going to look at what safety provisions were in place. Were they compromised and were they inadequate?

Was something there that indicates the only way that this could have happened was if someone had tried to bypass those safety measures.

So those are the type of things that they are going to look at. That's why it's so important if anyone saw anything or if anyone has any video, you know, they may not even know it. They may have been filming a family member and in the corner of the video captured something.

So anyone was there should really look at any pictures or videos they've taken and see if maybe they captured something that could be useful to the investigators.

WHITFIELD: So sad. Again, tragic deaths of a 40-year-old woman and her small child.

Roberto Villasenor, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

All right. Still ahead. Why the state of New York is looking at activating medically-trained National Guard members to assist with COVID patients.

[14:29:58]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:34:35]

WHITFIED: Governor Kathy Hochul is preparing to address potential medical staffing shortages across New York state. The statewide deadline for health care workers to get vaccinated with at least one dose is tomorrow. The governor is now considering a potential state of emergency which would allow officials to fill gaps with medical professionals from other states and countries. She's also preparing to deploy medically trained National Guard members if needed.

[14:35:00]

Joining me right now to discuss is Syra Madad, the senior director of the special pathogen program at NYC Health and Hospitals.

Syra, so good to see you.

What kind of conversations are you having with any hesitant colleagues as this deadline approaches?

SYRA MADAD, SPECIAL PATHOGEN EXPERT: Well, many of us have been taking the opportunity over the past few months and definitely over the past few weeks, you know, having this moving deadline this Monday to get as many unvaccinated health care workers vaccinated and making, you know, informed choices on their risk and obviously on their employment because, you know, I think health care systems generally in New York City are bracing for a significant staffing shortage and hospitals, nursing homes and the likes.

If we're looking at the numbers of vaccines, it's hundreds of thousands of health care workers in these settings. It's not just an impact on COVID-19-related care, its impact on strokes, you know, heart attack, trauma, all of these will have a potential impact down the line.

WHITFIELD: And in fact, a hospital in Buffalo has suspended some elective surgeries and temporarily stopped accepting most ICU transfers from other hospitals, so how will these staffing shortages impact treatment overall?

MADAD: It's going to have a significant impact to patient care services, and this is not within the next 24 to 48 hours. When you have a major loss of health care workers, we're not sure what we're looking at, we're seeing tens of thousands. But it may not be that way on Monday as more individuals are getting vaccinated in the next few hours, but what this means it's hard to on board staff so the impact is not going to be immediate, it's also going to be long term and this means worser outcomes in patient care in many of these health care systems.

So it's a threatening situation that no one wants to be in. Are health care workers justified and I do think so, but I think so but at what cost.

WHITFIELD: A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked New York City's vaccine mandate on teachers and school staffers. City officials are confident the mandate will be upheld and says this makes students less safe and threatens the safe resumption of fall school operations. Do you agree with that?

MADAD: It's a very hard place to be in. We do know having school staff vaccinated helps children, especially the most vulnerable. Right now, you have, you know, you don't have the vaccine for those under the age of 12. So, have impact enough protected bubble is really important, that later approach is really important the CDC keeps harping on.

But at the same time, you're going to have potentially significant disruptions to the learning environment. You're still seeing in, you know, New York City that 30,000 or so school staff remain unvaccinated and it's not sure whether all 30,000 are going to be laid off or what that's going to look like.

WHITFIELD: And then let's talk about vaccines, who it might be available to. Some children under 12 could be eligible to be vaccinated in the near future as Pfizer prepares to submit safety data to the FDA.

Take a listen from this from the Pfizer's CEO?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALBERT BOURLA, PFIZER CEO: I think we're going to submit this data pretty soon. It's a question of days, not weeks, and then it's up to the FDA to be able to review the data and come to their conclusions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Is this a big deal?

MADAD: It's a huge deal. You know, as a parent myself of three children, you know, in that age group, it's a really big deal especially after seeing the astronomical rise of COVID-19 infections on children, hospitalizations across the nation, and the (INAUDIBLE). So, that's good news, as we know, just submitting the application is just one part. FDA can take anywhere from two to six weeks, and then to, you know, approve and then it's going to go to CDC to make that recommendation. So, we're still a few weeks out from actually having, you know, vaccines in arm in that age group.

WHITFIELD: All right. Syra Madad, always good to see you? Thank you so much.

MADAD: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Still to come, former NFL star turned Senate candidate Herschel Walker delivers his first speech of the campaign at a rally for former President Trump. Find out why some say Walker's best strategy is to lay low.

But, first, two sisters who grew up on the on side of the world found that the largest black-owned wine company in the United States. Here is today's "Start Small, Think Big".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREA MCBRIDE JOHN, CO-FOUNDER, MCBRIDE SISTERS COLLECTION: If you want to go to New Zealand on Monday night, we could you take there through a delicious glass of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.

ROBIN MCBRIDE, CO-FOUNDER, MCBRIDE SISTERS COLLECTION: I'm Robin.

JOHN: I'm Andrea. And we are the McBride Sisters.

MCBRIDE: We first met in 1999 in LaGuardia Airport in New York City. I was 25 years old. Andrea was 16 years old. I had just learned the day before that I had a sister. JOHN: I remember talking out loud about our dream this, crazy idea of

what would it be like if we started a wine company together, two sisters that grew up on completely different sides of the world in wine-growing region, and we could quota collection of wine that represented places that we grew up.

[14:40:13]

MCBRIDE: For our California wine we get our grapes from beautiful vineyards like the ones you sigh here in Monterrey County. We have another team and vineyard in New Zealand, where New Zealand wines are made.

We created a McBride Sisters She Can Fund in 2019. This is a way that we can provide scholarship and mentorship and business training that could help women to advance their careers.

JOHN: We thought like we had a really, really unique opportunity to transform the industry and to lead by example and to cultivate community one delicious glass of wine at a time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:45:26]

WHITFIELD: All right. Politics front and center for Georgia Republicans as former President Donald Trump and former Georgia football star Herschel Walker rallied together in the city of Perry. It was the first political event for the famed Heisman Trophy winner since announcing he would challenge incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock in 2022.

CNN's Michael Warren joining me now with more details on this.

So, Mike, in your article for CNN.com today, you write, including now, Herschel Walker flashed his megawatt smile and shook hands with adoring Georgia Bulldog fans before the team's recent home game and then he did what he is most famous for, he ran like hell.

So, explain what's going on for his run for Senate.

MICHAEL WARREN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Fred, this is a month-old campaign right now for Herschel Walker for Senate and they do seem to be coalescing around the strategy of laying low and keeping walker in sort of tightly contained spaces like a football game at Stanford Stadium or a Trump rally in Perry, Georgia, where he's going to be surrounded by adoring fans, people who love him, and away from voters who may have questions, or shortly the local press.

This is becoming something of an issue, but it's also clear it's a strategy to just sort of lay low, keep him away from the spotlight and hope that that can carry him through the primary. Now, the primary is not until May 2022. You mentioned Herschel Walker is a Heisman Trophy winner. He carried the Georgia Bulldogs to a championship 40 years ago, a national championship.

People in Georgia love him and Republicans love him. He has that Trump endorsement. It may be enough to get him through the primary. The question next is what about the general election?

WHITFIELD: Gotcha, but laying low and then appearing with President Trump. I mean, that's an oxymoron. I don't get -- how long -- how do you define laying low when you come out like that and then for how long does he lay low?

WARREN: Well, this is a problem that I'm hearing from a lot of Republicans, a big concern they have who aren't working for Herschel Walker campaign who want to win in Georgia, who want to beat Raphael Warnock, the Democratic senator from Georgia. They worry this is not a sign of confidence in Herschel Walker's ability to avoid -- his ability to answer questions about his policy positions, about some of the things that have been raised, allegations from women, threats that he made, they alleged, against him.

A lot of those problem, they worry, will come up, will crop up in the general election and it's not going to be enough to run away from the questions. That's a big concern.

The other concern is, of course, that alignment with Donald Trump. Here's something that Herschel Walker said last night in Perry just a few minutes before the end of Donald Trump's speech. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERSCHEL WALKER (R), GEORGIA SENATE CANDIDATE: We've been together for a long time, and I said it a long time ago, a great man, great leader, and I want to be a leader like him when I get to that Senate seat to show everyone I love America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN: Fred, this is a 50/50 state in Georgia, it's a 50/50 Senate. Republicans want to win back the Senate next year. Donald Trump didn't win in Georgia. That is a big concern Republicans have. Herschel Walker aligning himself too close to the president who lost the state of Georgia.

WHITFIELD: Right, and he's still upset about that, I might add.

All right. Mike Warren, thank you so much.

All right. Polls are closing in Germany as voters usher in a new political error. After 16 years, Angela is stepping aside.

Plus, what would you do if at 10 years old you were told you were kidnapped from the hospital as a baby? Well, this is what happened to one man and his discovery sent this man on a lifelong discovery for the truth. What he learned is even more shocking along the way. The new CNN film "THE LOST SONS" premiers tonight at 9:00 only on CNN. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL FRONCZAK: My name is Paul Fronczak. I thought I knew who I was. When I was 10 years old, my mom and dad said you were kidnapped from the hospital. The FBI found you a couple months later, I had no idea. What happened? Is this really true?

I started really wondering, am I really Paul?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For quite some time he was trying to find out who am I? he knew the DNA testing could help him find the answer to his mystery.

FRONCZAK: And the test result said there's no possibility that you're Paul Fronczak. But there's more. What the --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was shaking.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were in shock.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow.

[16:50:00]

FRONCZAK: Everything I thought I knew was a lie. This is bigger than what happened to me.

WHITFIELD: Now, the FBI is revisiting a half century old case.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be careful what you wish for. You don't know where this leads.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He didn't know who he could trust.

FRONCZAK: I mean, this is really twisted.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who might be the real Paul?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And who was he?

The truth, it's going to come out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:55:03]

WHITFIELD: All right. Considered to be the most powerful woman in the woman, Angela Merkel, will be stepping aside after 16 years as Germany's chancellor. Polls just closed in a vote too close to call on her successor will be.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is at election headquarters in Berlin -- Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Fredericka. One of the sad things for Angela Merkel tonight is her designated successor, a man named Armin Laschet from her party has not managed to win yet enough votes to be able to form a governing coalition here in Germany and, in fact, her party really lost in the polls tonight. So far, it's unclear so far whether or not at the end of the day, they're going to have enough votes to come out on top.

Meanwhile, the opposition, social Democrats, certainly have been doing very well. But, of course, this day for them Germans is also about the final days in office of Angela Merkel.

We were able to see her in the past couple of days to see what she was doing. Here's what we saw.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Back to the roots for one of Germany's longest serving chancellors. Angela Merkel planting a Lindon tree in Templin, the East German town she grew up in.

ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): It shall always be this way. I come from here. My roots are here, and they will always be here.

PLEITGEN: Angela Merkel still calls this place her home. It was here in Templin that she set out decades ago and eventually became one of the most powerful women in the world.

It was no easy journey, often belittled in the male-dominated world of German conservative politics, many rivals failed to take her seriously enough and later regretted, it says Merkel's biographer.

RALPH BOLLMANN, AUTHOR, "ANGELA MERKEL": When they realize that had a woman from the East is able to play this game of power, it was too late for that.

PLEITGEN: When Angela Merkel became Germany's first female chancellor in 2005, her style was completely different than previous chancellors, calm, quiet and reserved. But what Merkel lacked in fiery rhetoric, she made up for as a crisis manager. Both during the Lehman collapse in 2008 and the Greek debt crisis in 2012, she took bold action to prop up the German economy and ailing E.U. member states possibly saving the single currency, the euro.

MERKEL: Europe will pay if the euro fails, and Europe will win if the euro wins.

PLEITGEN: Arguably, Angela Merkel's biggest hour came in 2015 as hundred of thousands of refugees, mostly displaced by the Syrian civil war, were literally on the E.U.'s doorstep seeking shelter. Angela Merkel led the E.U. as it opened its gates taking in well over a million people.

MERKEL: We have achieved the match. We'll manage this, and whenever something gets in the way, we'll overcome it.

PLEITGEN: But integration of the refugees proved more difficult giving rise to nationalist forces in Germany. A slap in the face for Angela Merkel says the editor-in-chief of Germany's largest daily, Julian Reichelt.

JULIAN REICHELT, EDITOR IN CHIEF, BILD: Praising Angela for open borders is much easier when you don't live in a poor neighborhood in Germany where you live with the direct effect of open borders.

PLEITGEN: While Angela Merkel did manage to win a fourth term in 2017, her popularity was waning, and she announced she would not seek a fifth one.

Still, the challenges kept coming. With the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president in 2016 and Trump's alienation of many of the U.S.'s allies, Merkel, a quantum chemist often appeared stunned by some of the U.S. president's remarks.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have German in my blood. I'll be there.

PLEITGEN: Angela Merkel led Germany through the coronavirus pandemic, but shortly before she steps down, his party's support has been collapsing, some say, because she failed to address many important topics.

REICHELT: Zero progress when it comes to huge issues, like digitization for example. Germany, after 16 years of Merkel, basically hasn't moved at all.

PLEITGEN: Merkel says she wants some time off after leaving office, the first female chancellor in the history of the federal republic of Germany now waiting to see how her legacy will be remembered.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN: And, Fredricka, we just saw there, Angela Merkel sitting next to president Trump obviously at the time. Maybe there were no two international leaders at that time who were more opposite than Angela Merkel and President Trump.

And I think one of the big iconic pictures that so many people remember, certainly I remember very vividly was one of president Trump's G-7 summits in 2018. President Trump sitting there with Angela Merkel across from him --

WHITFIELD: Who can forget?

PLEITGEN: -- seeming trying to talk to him.