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Interview with Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) about the Infrastructure Bill; Interview with Lieutenant Governor Jeff Duncan (R-GA) about Investigation Against Trump; FBI Has Video from Campsite Brian Laundrie Visited with Parents. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired September 30, 2021 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): -- plan from the beginning? So these witnesses will have important information relevant to those questions. The documents we're seeking likewise will shed light on it. We know there was strong participation of these white nationalist groups, the Proud Boys, the Three Percenters, Boogaloo and others. We want to know what knowledge there was in advance that these groups with the propensity for violence were going to be participating.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: OK. A big question of course is the involvement, the knowledge of the White House, right up to the president as well as senior Republican leaders. Are you going to subpoena the Republican minority leader Kevin McCarthy, Trump, the vice president, the former vice president?

SCHIFF: Well, we are contemporaneously seeking records from the White House, from the relevant agencies, the Defense Department and others to fill in exactly that side of the equation as well. We want to know what was going on with the private planning, hence the 11 subpoenas that went out yesterday. We want to know what was the president's involvement, what about people around him? That's why we have depositions coming up in a couple of weeks of some top Trump administration officials. So --

SCIUTTO: But will you ask him directly to address those questions directly?

SCHIFF: We haven't made specific decisions about members of Congress yet. But anyone frankly that has pertinent information that was in communication with the president and we know Kevin McCarthy was, you know, I have to say, certainly appeared to be a pretty pertinent witness to me.

SCIUTTO: OK. I want to talk to you about infrastructure because there's an important vote possible today on infrastructure, though deep questions about whether Democrats have the votes. Will the House vote today on the bipartisan infrastructure plan?

SCHIFF: The short answer is I don't know whether we'll take up a bill, whether we'll the votes if we do, and if we don't have the votes, whether we'll make the decision to put that aside for another day. But I am confident of this, whether it's done today or it's done a week from now or a month from now, God forbid, hope it's sooner than that, we're going to get this done. We're going to pass a physical infrastructure bill. We're going to pass the reconciliation or Build Back Better bill.

The country desperately needs it and I view whatever happens today as merely act one in -- I don't know if it's going to be a two-part play or three-part play, but I'm very confident we're going to get it done.

SCIUTTO: Why should folks watching right now share that confidence, though? This is Democrat versus Democrat here and the gap is wide between, for instance, Sinema and Manchin in the Senate and what progressives in the House want. How do you bridge that gap?

SCHIFF: Well, we have, I think, the most skilled leadership in Nancy Pelosi that the Congress has ever had. And if there's a pathway and I believe there is, the speaker will find it. The reality is, you know, 98 percent of our Democratic delegation in the House and Senate is on the same page here in what they want. But we have 50-50 split in the Senate and we have the (INAUDIBLE) majority in the House ever, so even with 98 percent party unity, that 2 percent can cause a real headache, and we're trying to get to yes because we're going to need pretty much 100 percent.

SCIUTTO: While you, while the president have been focused on infrastructure and the budget plans, Republican-led state legislatures have been passing a whole host of measures, not just to restrict voting, but also to give partisans including state legislatures greater ability to overturn or interfere with the results of elections going forward.

And I wonder have Democrats made a mistake by prioritizing budget and infrastructure over something that could have, you know, immediate and severe impact on elections as soon as 2022 and also 2024. Is that a mistake?

SCHIFF: Well, I think both are really integral to our democracy. In terms of the infrastructure and the human infrastructure, the Build Back Better, one of the reasons why our democracy is at risk is that it needs to deliver and a lot of the American people have lost faith that the government can deliver.

But, Jim, I think you're absolutely right. The issue of these voting restrictions, the effort by Republicans to give partisan boards and legislatures the power to overturn an election, a legitimate election, is probably the greatest danger to our democracy. And that must be given an absolute top priority. And I would hope that the administration is working to find the pathway around the filibuster or carve out because this is how democracies die. I mean, there may be --

SCIUTTO: But even the president doesn't support breaking the filibuster. I mean, if it is the most severe threat what are you doing about it and when?

SCHIFF: Well, I think the president is going to need the support to carve around the filibuster because we're not going to get 10 Republicans in the Senate to do this. [09:35:03]

They think their ideas now are so unpopular and backward the only way they can win power is by cheating, by effectively overturning the popular will or disenfranchising people of color. That's where the Senate majority is right now. It's a cult around the former president and an anti-democratic cult. So that's just going to have to be overcome.

SCIUTTO: OK.

SCHIFF: And you know what I was going to say, Jim, is there may be another attack on the Capitol. I can't rule that out. But I can tell you this, it will be unsuccessful just like the last one. If our democracy comes to an end, it will be because of these quasi-legal means that they're employing around the country to overturn free and fair elections. That, to me, is the biggest dagger at the heart of our democracy.

SCIUTTO: Final question on Afghanistan, there's new reporting from Axios that during a classified briefing with senators on Tuesday, General Milley directly blamed the State Department for the botched evacuation from Afghanistan.

I wonder, who do you hold responsible for the chaos, the delays, the many thousands, for instance, of Afghans left behind who worked for the U.S.? Who do you hold responsible and do you believe someone should resign, offer their resignation as a result?

SCHIFF: Well, you know, looking at it from an intel perspective, I think the intelligence was pretty good. Now that's not to say that the intelligence agency predicted the Afghan government would fall in a matter of days, but over the last six to nine months, and really over the last couple of years, the intelligence community produced increasingly pessimistic assessments of whether the Afghan government would maintain itself and eventually how quickly it would fall.

And so I think there are profound questions that the military needs to answer as well as the State Department about why the military didn't have plans for this contingency when it was a foreseeable one, even if it wasn't the most probable one, and why the State Department didn't move with greater alacrity to process the special immigrant visas, and understand exactly where Americans were. And I think that oversight is going on. It's going to be really important, and yes, I do think people should be held accountable.

SCIUTTO: Congressman Adam Schiff, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

SCHIFF: Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Erica?

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Still to come here, the Trump factor causing concern in Georgia ahead of next year's midterms. How a feud with the state's governor could hurt Republicans. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:42:02]

HILL: The criminal investigation in Georgia into former President Trump's attempts to overturn the election show no signs of letting up. The Fulton County district attorney telling reporters that probe will continue until it's done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FANI WILLIS, DISTRICT ATTORNEY FOR FULTON COUNTY, GEORGIA: As far as a timeline, obviously the statute of limitations always gives you a four-year timeline. But we're going to do it until it's done, until I'm comfortable. And should the facts and the law match up to a charge, the community should feel confident that this office will bring charges.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Joining me now Georgia Republican Lieutenant Governor Jeff Duncan. He has a new book out called "GOP 2.0."

Good to have you back with us this morning. The former president back in Georgia over the weekend, continuing to push the big lie. You wrote in a CNN op-ed just a couple of days ago that this litmus test of the big lie should not be the one that is out there and isn't a winning strategy for Republicans. And yet 78 percent of Republicans in a recent CNN poll don't believe that Joe Biden won the election as you likely know and nearly two-thirds, 63 percent, said that Donald Trump should leave the party. The numbers in many ways are not in your favor.

LT. GOV. JEFF DUNCAN (R), GEORGIA: Well, I think Saturday unfortunately was Donald Trump really showed his hand because he came to Georgia and really spit in the face of every Republican by endorsing Stacey Abrams over Brian Kemp who by record is the most conservative governor in our state's history.

You know, it feels like a tectonic shift is starting to happen, even the most ardent Trump supporters started calling and posting things on social media right after that speech and calling into question Donald Trump's true intentions. And I think right now we're watching on display his pride is bigger than his party loyalty, and that's going to play out around the country. And certainly that's what the book "GOP 2.0" really does is outlines what happened here in Georgia behind the scenes look, but really puts a plan forward that's going to convince America over the next three years that GOP 2.0 is going to help us create our best days are still in front of us.

HILL: So, you know, you just said that you feel like that shift is happening. But the reality is that shift has to come from more public statements, right? More Republicans saying publicly the former president is lying. The election was valid. There was not widespread voter fraud. This is not the way forward. I'm not seeing as much of that shift. So when do you think that that rumbling that they're talking about is going to be a much louder chorus so that in fact, you know, Republicans are not running on the big lie come 2022?

DUNCAN: Yes, we talk about that in the book with "GOP 2.0." It's a really a two-front battle. One is, yes, we've got to take responsibility as Republicans for those statements that were misleading, but also we're watching President Biden, you know, continue to take just failed leadership steps and even I think there is a whole swath of reluctant, you know, Biden voters out there that now realized that his approach isn't really the best way forward for America. And so we're going to have to keep playing both those parallel strategies as we move forward into 2022 which I worry is going to be a very politically chaotic period of time.

[09:45:07]

You're going to have candidates that are endorsed only because they simply believed in the failed conspiracy theories that were out there and -- but as we track towards 2024, I think America is going to keep looking for adults in the room and that's really what "GOP 2.0" is about, is trying to be a safe place to call home if you think conservatism is a good way forward for our country and for our communities.

HILL: I want to get you on two other things quickly. Speaking of candidates, former -- well, Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker of course running for Senate, known very well in Georgia, right, for bringing a national championship when he was at UGA. He, you know, has the support of former President Trump. Would you back him as the Republican candidate?

DUNCAN: So I played baseball at Georgia Tech and he played football at Georgia, but so natural rivalry there. Look, here's the thing. Herschel Walker has had an amazing football career and certainly well known. But I don't know anything about his politics. I don't think anybody in Georgia knows anything about his politics other than he's really good friends with Donald Trump.

And my encouragement to him and to anybody out there that's trying to just seek solely an endorsement from Donald Trump, it doesn't work here in Georgia and it's not going to work around the country if that's your only strategy. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue grabbed on to that endorsement more than they did their record and they lost here in Georgia against all odds.

HILL: Looking at voting itself, right, there's been, as you know well, a lot of pushback on the law that was passed in Georgia. The most recent analysis from voting rights are the nonpartisan groups specifically pointed to 17 laws passed in 11 states including in the state of Georgia, noting that those laws when taking a look at them could undermine how elections are run. And in the case of Georgia, signaling out, right, the shift in that the boards of elections, local officials, could be essentially pushed out and these could turn more partisan.

Now I know some of the pushback initially you set on that law in the months afterward was sort of a matter of timing. You made the case that Republicans had suffered a credibility hit about the election after months of, of course, pushing the big lie which many would agree with, but you also said they didn't deserve to be analyzed as any support of voter suppression mandate.

If it could, though, potentially turn these local officials, right, push them out, make this more partisan, how does that not undermine voter confidence?

DUNCAN: Well, it's first and foremost important for every Republican to realize that Donald Trump did not lose the election because of fraud or election laws. He lost because he didn't connect with enough Americans and get them to vote for him in the polls. As we continue this process here in Georgia of analyzing the election laws and ways to modernize and update, but also we've got to be careful not to just hat tip for political reasons for the most sacred thing we do in politics or even in state legislatures is really try to manage that election process.

My hope is that we don't even further politicize elections other than just the campaign parts of it. You know, the realities here in Georgia, we ran the most fair, legal election in our state's history and there were a few punitive swipes in the laws that we passed here post-election, but there were a number of things that we did actually that were bipartisan, we agreed upon that modernize and update is.

So it's certainly a balancing act. I hope we never see in America, I hope no state has to go through what Georgia did in the 10 weeks between the election and the runoffs here, because it just doesn't -- it demoralizes everybody's, you know, spirit around what elections are truly meant to be.

HILL: We're out of time. But what I'm hearing from you is, it worked in Georgia, the system worked in Georgia, but I'm not hearing you disagreeing with that there could be some real concern if there is a partisan push, a partisan takeover of local officials.

DUNCAN: Certainly there is a concern. Absolutely. We'll not push away from that at all.

HILL: Lieutenant Governor Jeff Duncan, good to have you with us this morning. Thank you.

DUNCAN: Thank you.

HILL: Jim?

SCIUTTO: Well, still ahead, major developments in the search for the fugitive fiance Brian Laundrie. The FBI has seized a phone that he bought just days before he disappeared.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:53:23]

HILL: Major developments this morning in the hunt for Brian Laundrie. A family attorney confirming the FBI has seized a cell phone that Laundrie bought on September 14th, days before disappearing. That development and more.

SCIUTTO: Another clue, we've also learned investigators have obtained surveillance video from a campsite where Laundrie visited with his parents after returning from his road trip of course without his fiancee, Gabby Petito.

Athena Jones following all of this for us. Is that, do investigators believe, leading them any closer to where Laundrie is now?

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Jim. Well, that's the chief question. There are a lot of questions that these new facts that we're discovering raise, but the overarching question in all of this is where is Brian Laundrie right now?

We are beginning at least to be able to fill in some of the blanks of what was going on during that roughly week and a half-long period between when Brian Laundrie came back to Florida to the home he and Gabby Petito shared with his parents in her white van without her on September 1st and when he went missing on September 14th. And so we've reported on this camping trip the family took September 6th through 8th confirmed by the family's lawyer.

Brian Laundrie with his parents going to the Fort De Soto camp background about 70 miles north of their home there on the coast. They had a waterfront campsite. And we now know that the FBI has obtained the surveillance video from that period of time while they were there. So that should certainly help investigators figure out what exactly was going on when Brian Laundrie was with his parents at that campsite. Mind you, they had not reported Gabby Petito missing.

[09:55:00]

That did not happen until September 11th. So that is a bit of clues that we know the FBI now has. And we've learned that we knew already that Brian Laundrie had apparently left his cell phone and wallet behind on September 14th when he went to this nature reserve he told his parents he was going to. Well, now we know that that cell phone that he left behind was actually only purchased 10 days prior, September 4th.

So the Laundrie family lawyer now confirms that the FBI also has that cell phone. Of course we just -- we don't know what happened to his previous phone. Of course he could have bought another phone after leaving that phone behind. So there are still a lot of questions we have. We know that at the press conference on Tuesday, Gabby Petito's family said they have a lot of faith in the FBI and of course they know more than we do, but we're still being able to fill in some of the details.

HILL: Yes. Athena Jones, appreciate it. Thank you.

The fate of President Biden's agenda, it's on the line today. So will Nancy Pelosi hold a vote on infrastructure as progressives threaten to shoot it down? We're live on Capitol Hill with all the latest developments next.

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