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Biden Agenda In Jeopardy With Dems Fighting Among Themselves; Unvaccinated Health Care Workers Are Costing Patients Their Lives; Brady Returns To New England To Face Patriots. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired October 02, 2021 - 20:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:00:22]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: Conscious optimism, the worse of the Delta outbreak is behind us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This may be the last major wave of infection.

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: While the new antiviral pill being hailed as a COVID game changer, but experts say vaccines are still America's way out.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: The president is vowing to get it done, but divisions in the Democratic Party leave his agenda in limbo.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it makes sense. I support both of them, and I think we can get them both done.

BROWN: New bodycam footage reveals what Gabby Petito told police about the August 12th domestic dispute with her fiancee.

GABBY PETITO, HOMICIDE VICTIM: (INAUDIBLE)

(CHANTING)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hundreds of rallies across the country as protesters take a stand for reproductive rights.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need to be able to like have control over my choices and my life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm amazed that we're still fighting for this, but we can't give up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM on this Saturday evening. It's great to have you along with us.

We begin with another bleak threshold crossed in the COVID-19 pandemic. And also some new reasons for optimism. The virus has now killed more

than 700,000 people in the United States. As you see here, a sea of white blankets. The National Mall here in Washington one flag for every life lost.

In fact, the U.S. has the highest death toll of any country in the world. The 700,000 number equivalent to losing more than the entire population of Boston.

One of those lives lost, 10-year-old Theresa Sperry of Suffolk, Virginia. She died less than a week showing symptoms of COVID-19. She was happy, healthy, with no underlying conditions before getting the virus.

And in their grief, anger that people minimize the pandemic and say it's over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MOTHER OF THERESA SPERRY: If it was over, my daughter would still be here. I wouldn't -- we wouldn't be doing these interviews. We wouldn't be preparing for her funeral.

And it upset me so much that people just are so nonchalant about it while my only girl is gone.

JEFF SPERRY, 10-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER THERESA SPERRY DIED OF COVID: My baby was happy. She was healthy and strong, and it took her in less than five days. If it can take her, it can take anybody.

The only way this makes sense is for her to save people. I don't want other people to have to do what we're doing right now because.

UNIDENTIFIED MOTHER OF THERESA SPERRY: It's not fair.

SPERRY: It's hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: That is just heartbreaking.

The U.S. is still averaging almost 1,900 COVID deaths every day, but there's some good news. New cases and hospitalizations are dropping, suggesting that new deaths will also begin to decline.

And perhaps, even more encouraging, drug makers Merck say their new antiviral pill cuts the risk of hospitalization and death by 50 percent for COVID patients.

They'll request emergency use authorization from the FDA as soon as possible.

Earlier this evening, I spoke with Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a CNN medical analyst.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Unlike monoclonal antibodies, which are always effective, this drug is orally available, so we'll be able to prescribe this to folks.

They'll take a five-day course and hopefully be able to stay homes not come in for an intravenous infusion and keep folks out of the hospital.

It's really very promising news. Merck has promised the United States 1.7 million courses of this drug.

They'll produce about 10 million courses over the next several months and they're already producing the drug -- getting ready for EUA and potential approval.

BROWN: But it doesn't take the place of a vaccine, right?

REINER: No.

BROWN: And are you concerned that this could give people who are still vaccine hesitant, haven't gotten vaccinated with a false sense of security and one more reason, one more excuse to not get vaccinated?

REINER: I am concerned about that. And I think ultimately it's better not to get infected than to try and treat an infection, but it's another tool in our toolbox.

We're never going to be able to vaccinate everyone in this country. We're just not going to be able to penetrate folks who are so resistant.

[20:05:01]

And having a very active antiviral drug, as this drug appears to be, will go a long way to reduce the mortality rate further.

One thing I'm frustrated about is, you know, we did, as you mentioned in the lead-in, we've lost 700,000 Americans now and fully 200,000 of those folks have died since vaccines have been available almost to everyone in this country. And every one of those deaths is unnecessary.

So even though the news is great for the antiviral agent, really the message that people need to receive is get vaccinated. No one needs to die from this virus.

BROWN: You know, you see the numbers in terms of hospitalizations cases there trending down but they are still climbing in some countries.

Is enough being done to make this a global fight? Because ultimately we're not all safe until like every country has this under control, right? Because the variants could be created and it could spread and so forth.

REINER: Yes, and there's been a lot of discussion about that as we've debated whether to boost and who to boost in the United States.

How do we give third doses to Americans when so many people in the world and really single-digit percentage in Africa have gotten a single dose?

I think the United States can do both. I think we can fully protect people in this country while also being sort of the arsenal of vaccines for the world.

And I think to date, the U.S. has delivered about a billion vaccine doses to the world. We need to do more. The rest of sort of Western industrialized world needs to do more. But we can do both.

BROWN: I want to ask you just my own personal experience just in the last week. I came down with cold like symptoMs. Of course, I was like, oh, no, you know, let me get checked.

It was very similar to what they say about COVID. Turns out this it's just a cold. But then my son's school has shut down because someone has a positive COVID test.

So these were two instances where I desperately needed to be tested. I needed to be tested fast. Yet, it wasn't very easy.

And I couldn't believe that this far into the pandemic it is still so hard to get tested for COVID, especially with schools reopening. How is that?

REINER: So we have the technology. We have these rapid antigen tests, which if you're infected and infectious, these tests are very accurate.

Every household should have them. The government should be sending them around. You should be able to pick them up at post offices and schools.

And this is the way when your kid or you feel lousy in the morning, you can test yourself at home, and you know something, if you're positive, you don't go to work. Or if your child is positive, they don't go to school.

BROWN: Right. Right.

REINER: Better to test people right at the beginning of the illness before they have the ability to infect more.

It should be ubiquitous. We should have them in the country. We have tests that you can buy at CVS.

BROWN: Yes, but they're -- I just was at CVS yesterday, they were out.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: They were out. So, I mean.

REINER: Right. It's not available. It doesn't help. BROWN: And appointments were out at places. So I said, OK, I'll try

somewhere else.

REINER: It's going to be more important as we get into the cold and flu season.

Since we are less masked than we were a year ago, we are going to see more of a flu season than we did last year where we had very little flu because we had so much social distancing and mask wearing.

So it will be very important for us to be able it to test and weed out what's just an innocent cold versus breakthrough COVID.

BROWN: That brings me to my next question. You have the approaching colder weather coming, the holidays where more people are going to be gathering indoors. Of course that raises the threat of localized outbreaks this winter.

What do you think this upcoming season is going to look like?

REINER: It depends where you live. I think in parts of the United States where vaccination rates are super high, like the mid-Atlantic and the northeast, parts of the west, I think this will be very manageable. We'll see sort of, you know, small pockets.

But in parts of the United States still large swaths of the south and southwest where vaccination rates remain low, we will see real COVID re-exert itself as people move indoors.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And Dr. Reiner says a winter spike in heavily unvaccinated areas will likely put stress on hospitals and seasonal illnesses will add to the confusion.

Now from New York to Chicago, this weekend and Cleveland to Austin, supporters of women's rights, particularly abortion rights, are marching through major cities and demanding justice.

In Indianapolis, Comedian Chelsea Handler fired up the crowd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHELSEA HANDLER, COMEDIAN: I appreciate all the men that are standing in solidarity with the women here today.

Women's' rights are under attack. We thought we won this war a long time ago. And we still have to continue to fight and fight for the rights of our own body.

Men who have never had experience giving birth, have never had experience breast-feeding, have had no, well, little experience with single parenting have no business deciding what we should do with our bodies.

(END VIDEO CLIP) [20:10:05]

BROWN: The largest rally has been unfolding in Washington where the Supreme Court is about to take up another critical case that could weaken reproductive freedoms even more.

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is at the Washington march.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Hello, Pam. I covered the historic women's march on Washington five years ago right after President Trump's inauguration.

There were hundreds of thousands of women who gathered, many in those familiar hand knit pink caps. There were celebrities, Alicia Keys, Madonna, who were part of the lineup there.

At the time, it was a lot of anxiety, rage, and concern from women about the turnover of the administration.

Today was very different. The numbers much smaller, in the thousands or so in the crowd, and very specific targeting reproductive rights, abortion rights, very focused on that.

And the Supreme Court's role in that matter rejecting, getting involved in the Texas law, that law that bans abortion after six weeks, no exceptions for rape or incest and essentially deputizes citizens to sue doctors who do perform those abortions during that time.

And so a lot of emotion, a lot of passion from this crowd, as it is becoming an extremely hot political issue.

Just take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm dressed up as the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Badder Ginsburg. And I'm here today for everything that women have fought for since 1973 when this law was first passed giving us the right to choose.

And I'm just curious what has changed in this time frame that makes our Supreme Court justices think that we have changed our minds about that.

So we're hoping that they see us and hear us today and that's why we are wearing these dramatic costumes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm dressed up as Lady Justice. And I believe that it stands for the fact that justice should be blind. It should be without bias. And there's religious bias in the Supreme Court, extreme religious bias.

And so and why I'm here today, the things that are going on in Texas really drove me here today. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: The Supreme Court will be back in session on Monday. They will be handling an abortion case out of Mississippi, a law that denies abortion access after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

That is something that they will likely rule on mid-year next year, and that is going to be around the time of those midterm election campaigning that is going to be taking place in earnest.

And so all eyes are on the Supreme Court as well as the Congress to see how this is going to unfold.

But definitely a demand from this crowd that this is going to be front and center on voters' minds.

That is why this crowd leaving the rally at Freedom Plaza going to the Supreme Court to make their views known -- Pam?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: All, Suzanne, thanks so much.

Up next, the so-called ISIS voice behind the violence is flown to the U.S. to face terrorism charges.

And then a vigil for Mia Mercano after a sad development in the search for the missing 19-year-old.

Also ahead tonight, with Democrats divided on Capitol Hill, how a cost-cutting compromise would hurt the president's bold spending plan.

And Tom Brady says he doesn't expect a homecoming as he prepares to face his former team.

We'll be right back.

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[20:17:31]

BROWN: In central Florida, a police team searching for a missing teenager discovered a body earlier today, and they do believe that it is her.

And 19-year-old Mia Marcano went missing 18 days ago. Police have been searching the wooded area near the apartment complex where she lived and worked.

That is where friends and family have been gathered for a vigil to honor her.

Police say a purse with her identification was found near the body.

A person of interest in the case apparently committed suicide, died by suicide, we should say, a few days after her disappearance. And turning now to the death of Gabby Petito, reported sightings of

her fiance, Brian Laundrie, in North Carolina are spreading on social media, but authorities seem no closer to finding him.

Let's bring in Nadia Romero right outside the family's home.

Nadia, what is the latest?

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Pamela, you mentioned these reported sightings of Brian Laundrie happening in North Carolina, not too far from Appalachian Trail.

And so the sheriff there in that area says he doesn't know if there's any validity to these claims. But they took all the information and handed it over to the FBI, the agency, of course, that is over this entire investigation.

So the Appalachian Trail is about 2,200 miles of really wooded and mountainous area stretching several states, from Georgia through Virginia. And so that was an area where people believe they maybe saw Brian Laundrie.

Of course, when you take a look at him, there's not a lot of distinguishing features on him like tattoos or piercings.

There are people on social media who have rewritten their profiles to say they are not Brian Laundrie because there have been so many cases.

But in a case like this, the FBI and all of the authorities involved have to take one of those potential sightings as seriously as possible.

We are here in front of Brian Laundrie's parents' home. They told the FBI the last time they saw their son was September 14th.

We're talking about almost three weeks since anyone has seen or heard from him. At least that's what authorities know at this point.

So there was an active search going on at the Carlton Reserve not far from here.

And also, at this house, we've seen the FBI come back several times collecting data, most recently on Thursday.

We do have this more recent bodycam footage of the dispute between Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie that happened on August 12th.

Where Gabby Petito takes, I guess, credit or says she was the one who started the altercation between the two of them, that she hit Brian Laundrie first.

[20:20:04]

And now that police interaction is under an independent investigation.

People are wondering if the police officers who arrived on scene handled that as appropriately as possible. That was August 12th.

Then on September 11th, almost a month later, Gabby Petito's family reported her missing.

On that same day, there was a police report taken at this home. And take a look at the report. You can see that it is fully redacted.

I mean, we know nothing about what happened on that day except it's the same day that the family -- that they told police and reported that Gabby Petito was missing.

And that also gives us some insight that there's so much more about this investigation we don't know, something that police are holding back as this investigation continues -- Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Nadia Romero, from Florida, giving us the very latest. Thank you so much, Nadia.

Meantime, the Justice Department is charging a Canadian citizen with conspiracy to help ISIS. Accusing him of translating and narrating over a dozen propaganda videos in English.

The 38-year-old Mohammed Khalifa is now in FBI custody after he was captured in Syria in 2019.

That same year, in an interview with the CBC's "The Fifth Estate," Khalifa spoke out about his role.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMED KHALIFA, ISIS "VOICE BEHIND THE VIOLENCE": I had a normal life back in Canada. I was doing very well myself. And I decided to give up, knowing where I was coming, knowing what I was sacrificing in the process.

I was happy just coming to a place where you could live in an Islamic state and implement the Sharia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: DOJ officials call Khalifa the "voice behind the violence."

Up next, what's more divisive in Washington right now, the Democratic family feud over the trillion here, trillion there they need for the Biden agenda, or former President Trump fighting to get his Twitter account back.

Chris Cillizza, Sabrina Siddiqui are here to talk all about it with me up next.

Stay with us.

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[20:26:26] BROWN: President Biden and Democrats might have hoped to take a victory lap this weekend. Speaker Pelosi was confident right up to the last minute on getting the massive infrastructure bill done this week. Until she wasn't.

And that's because progressives won't give up a deal on the much larger social safety net bill. But moderate Senators aren't anywhere near that number on the $3.5 trillion price tag.

And today, Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema went from being on the defensive to lashing out at her own party. She calls the infrastructure "inexcusable" and "deeply disappointing."

She says, "Over the course of this year, Democratic leaders have been making conflicting messages that could not all be kept and have, at times, pretended that differences in our party did not exist."

But President Biden today appeared to put the burden back on Sinema and fellow moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: Are you surprised by how difficult it's been to bring the moderates and progressives together?

BIDEN: We can bring the moderates and progressives together very easy if we had two more votes. Two.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So with me here in Washington to discuss all of this, CNN politics reporter and editor-at-large, Chris Cillizza, and Sabrina Siddiqui, CNN political analyst and national politics reporter for "The Wall Street Journal"."

Wow, where to start.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Oh, my gosh.

So we just heard obviously President Biden there talking kind of sounding optimistic that at some point a deal will get done. Is $2 trillion do you think the magic number for Democrats?

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER & CNN EDITOR-AT-LARGE: If you start off, Joe Manchin one of the most important Senators along with Kyrsten Sinema, to get their vote. He's at $1.5 trillion for the social safety net package. And you have Bernie Sanders and others who are now around $3.5 trillion.

My guess is it winds up closer to the Manchin number, frankly, because they need him more. It doesn't go anywhere without 50 Democratic votes in the Senate, it doesn't get passed. So yes, probably close to that.

But I do think that it's worth taking Kyrsten Sinema's statement, Pam, because I think that is important.

Look, Nancy Pelosi promised on the record publicly House Democratic moderates, who, by the way, are usually the most in danger on re- elections there would be a vote. Then they changed it.

Well, the legislative day was going and it's Friday. They pushed it again.

They have to pass something here or those moderates in these districts where Donald Trump won or narrowly lost, you got to have something to show voters.

A lot of the liberals -- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, she's not losing her seat. They're in no danger. The House is just a three-seat margin, and I think Democrats have to start thinking that way.

Joe Biden certainly does. He's right. If you don't have the numbers, you don't have the numbers.

BROWN: Right. And they've already given in on not having the vote last Monday, which is what Nancy Pelosi had promised them. Here we are with nothing being done.

Earlier, Sabrina, I interviewed Congresswoman Chu, who says she believes the divides in the party will come together.

But then you have this statement with Senator Sinema openly feuding with her Democratic counterparts.

What can the president realistically do? Do you think that he can actually create, bridge the gap and move his agenda forward?

[20:30:01]

SABRINA SIDDIQUI, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, that's certainly what he campaigned on is this unique consensus builder who has decades of experience in the Senate. And that's why he's uniquely positioned to broker a deal on Capitol Hill.

Look, I think that -- you did, however, hear the President earlier today signal that this is not really a divide between just progressives and moderates in the sense that if you put that $3.5 trillion reconciliation package on the floor for a vote, the majority of Democrats in Congress would actually vote for it.

But, you know, the margins, as Chris point out, are very narrow. And so, we're really talking about two senators, Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema, and a handful of House moderates who've made a little less noise but, of course, are uneasy with the price tags. So, I've talked to a White House aides who are hopeful that they can get roughly two trillion, that's the number they're going for. That was what President Biden conveyed privately when he spoke to lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Friday.

But, you know, it's really going to be, you know, I think, a question of the price tag, and is that enough to away Manchin and Sinema and some of these House moderates? And is it also sufficient for progressives who often point out that they have already compromised with respect to the infrastructure bill, the one that was brokered with Republicans?

And they also point out, this is 3.5 trillion over 10 years. You know, they often say, look, we pass these massive defense budgets every year, no one really has the same, you know, debate over how much money we're approving for the Pentagon. So, this is about, you know, childcare, education, health care, domestic priorities that, again, to Chris' point are fundamental for Democrats as they go into the midterms. They want something delivered to the American people.

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER AND EDITOR AT LARGE: Just you know, in Hamilton, where it's the -- it's the -- it's the George Washington character who says, winning is easy, governing is harder, right? Like it was true, then, it's true now. I mean, like that's the reality here. If you said to Joe Biden on election night, look, you're going to -- you're going to be president, and you're going to have a democratic House and you're going to have a Democratic Senate. He thinks hot diggity dog, you know, I mean, we're -- but it's -- for every progressive vote you add, you lose some moderates. And for everything that you make the progressives or the House happy with, you make Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema less happy.

I mean, this is not easy. The burden of governance is real. And the truth of the matter is Democrats control everything. So, Republicans have not a ton of responsibility in terms of the eyes of the voters to do all that much. Democrats have to figure out a way or if midterm -- if history of the midterms applies, you're going to see turnover in the House and maybe in the Senate.

BROWN: I mean, Republicans I've talked to just are, sort of, sitting back enjoying with their popcorn, I know. And this is, you know -- but I would I also think the swirling coming out of this is that progressives are flexing their muscle and showing that they have power, because as you point out, before this, they have made concession after concession, not just on infrastructure, but also in past skills where they've, kind of, had to be the ones that really compromised and, sort of, conceded, but this time around, they're really holding the line.

SIDDIQUI: They are, and I think they are absolutely demonstrating their clout. I mean, this is 100-member caucus in the House. It's not just a handful of progressives anymore that we're talking about. They're a pretty prominent group. And, you know, I think it was smart for President Biden to, kind of, go in there and not try to force their hand on an infrastructure vote, because what you saw was then Congressman Pramila Jayapal, the leader of the House Progressive Caucus, come out and say, you know, we appreciate that, that they're not trying to jam this infrastructure bill through after promising this dual track system where we would also do reconciliation. And she said, you know, we are going to have to come down on the number.

So, I think progressives are also willing to compromise. So, again, it comes back to just how much are they willing to compromise? And where can Biden find some agreement between both wings of the party. But certainly, I think that he has shown that progressives are indeed influential. And, you know, the challenge, though, is that because the margins are so narrow in the Senate, we're talking 50/50, you cannot lose a single democratic senator, because they're going through the reconciliation process and doing this on a party line basis. And so that is why Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema have so much influence here, you know, frankly, had it not been for those Georgia Senate races, we wouldn't even be talking about it.

CILLIZZA: Spring have made a point in the beginning that I think we should make again at the end. Joe Biden ran expressly on his ability to make deals in Congress as president that other people can't, couldn't do. There's quote after quote in which he says, I'm a pretty good Senate vote counter. I may be the best Senate vote counter out there.

It's about compromise. It's about bringing people together. This is -- this is rubber meets road time. He didn't -- he didn't campaign as a very few people campaigned as a divider, but he expressly campaigned as a uniter. This is the moment and the stakes are the second half of his first term because Republicans control the House or the Senate or both, not much is going to get done. And the Democratic Party writ large. Do they hold the House? Do they hold the Senate? And what does that mean going forward to 2024? And when Joe Biden if and when Joe Biden wants the reelection.

[20:35:09]

BROWN: Yes, his legacy. Really quick. You noted 2024 and I got to bring this up. Donald Trump's lawyers are -- they went back to court trying to get his Twitter account reinstated as we know he was banned after January 6. But does that indicate you just another piece of the puzzle that like, he's going to try to run?

CILLIZZA: Yes. Look, I follow Donald Trump Jr. on Instagram. It's not particularly pleasant, but I do it because it's a parallel of the job. And he posted a thing today or yesterday in which it says, like Trump, take back America. I mean, Trump 2024 take back America. I mean, it seems like the least well-kept secret in politics.

Now, Donald Trump often changes his mind. We saw that over the four years that he was president, and he certainly could change his mind about this. But I guess people -- the only question everyone asks -- and I didn't find out what your job is. And I say, I'm a reporter, I work for CNN. Is Trump running again? And I always say, right now, every single indication suggests the answer to that is yes. And this Twitter thing, which I don't think he'll win, I mean, his history of losing of frivolous and spurious lawsuits is long and losing lawsuits is long. But I do think it speaks to a desire to remain relevant to remain, sort of -- that sort of death grip he has in the Republican Party to keep it that way.

BROWN: All right. Thank you both, great discussion. Appreciate you making time on the Saturday night to spend it with me.

All right. Author Christina Baker Kline's vaccinated dad should be recovering right now from hip surgery at a rehab. Well, instead, he is believed to have caught COVID from an unvaccinated nurse. Christina joins us next on how hospitals need to step up to protect patients from a similar tragedy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:40:25]

BROWN: As more and more businesses mandate vaccines for their employees, the debate over personal rights gets even hotter. Pushback continues even in the health care industry, which is already struggling to keep enough workers after more than 18 exhausting months of COVID. Some would rather protest than get the shot, but that personal choice could be costing others their lives.

William Baker was 83 and fully vaccinated. He was headed to a rehab center after surgery to repair a broken hip, but he contracted COVID in the hospital, likely, his family says, from an unvaccinated healthcare worker. He died last Saturday alone in quarantine.

William's daughter author, Christina Baker Kline, joins me now with more on this.

Christina, thank you for sharing such a personal story and for coming on the show. Your father finally got the surgery he'd been waiting for. And then what happened?

CHRISTINA BAKER KLINE, FATHER DIED AFTER CONTRACTING COVID-19 IN HOSPITAL: He was, as you said, 83 years old, he had had hip surgery that was botched. And so, he couldn't walk and he was in pain, but he couldn't get another operation. We couldn't -- all the hospitals in Georgia, which is where we were -- where he was living at the time, had mandated that there were no non-essential operations.

So, finally, we were able to schedule an operation in a different state in Maine, where he was visiting us, me, his daughter and my sisters. And the operation was supposed to be straightforward. The surgeon -- his -- all of his vital signs were good. And in fact, he came through. It was a partial hip surgery with flying colors. He was standing and joking, his usual jovial self the next day. We were so excited for him to go into rehab, you know, within 24 to 48 hours, which is what they tell you to do, so that you can get moving.

And there were no beds available in any rehab facility in our area in, like, hours away. And the time dragged on and on. And finally, a bed opened up in a facility that had 20 percent COVID. And where he would immediately be under quarantined again. He had been quarantined once, he's already in rehab. And then he got a series of infections, MRSA, and having been in the hospital then for weeks, you know, he got a hospital borne infection and everything kind of went downhill from there, culminating and the fact that his unvaccinated nurse got COVID and he was diagnosed with COVID five days later and died two days after that.

BROWN: Do you believe that the fact that his nurse was unvaccinated that that is why he ultimately died because the nurse got COVID than he did? KLINE: I'm not a doctor and I don't know. But what I can tell you is that my sisters and I had spent 18 months trying to protect my father from getting COVID and his companion, this wonderful friend James -- Jane Wright (PH) also was taking care of him. She's 83 as well. And we were all, you know, shepherding him through recovery from hip surgery and taking every precaution. And then the idea that the nurse who's assigned to care for this -- at that point critically ill man -- is unvaccinated.

[20:45:05]

In fact, the hospital, not only doesn't require vaccinations, it doesn't regularly test, you know, its employees. So, this will supposedly change by the end of the month. I'm talking about the state of Maine right now, Janet Mills, by the end of October. There should be something in place, but the deadlines already been pushed back once. So, I was so -- we were also upset when this happened, that I had to do something and writing about it was the only thing I could think to do.

BROWN: It's interesting that you say that they -- they're not tested regularly. But for you to go into the hospital right or any -- for any family member, I mean, there's all kinds of limitations and precautions taken, right?

KLINE: Oh, my goodness. So, we had to, you know, stand in line for a long time to get in. We had to get our temperature taken, answer all kinds of pointed questions about COVID. Only one person a day was allowed in. And then, of course, when he was quarantined, no one was officially allowed in.

And the worst part of it was that when I was talking to a nurse about this, I was so exasperated, just that at this sort of hip -- what I saw as hypocrisy, she said, well, the hospital is afraid of its unvaccinated staff getting COVID from a patient's family. So, I just -- still backwards. It felt so backwards to me.

BROWN: I want to ask you before we let you go to get your response to an unvaccinated nurse speaking to our Sanjay Gupta. Let's listen to her rationale.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREA BABINSKI, NURSE, GUNDERSON HOSPITAL: That shouldn't be a choice between a personal healthcare decision and, you know, the job that we love.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You would lose your job over this.

BABINKSI: Obviously, it's heartbreaking. It's almost like a grieving process, to tell you the truth. I'm not anti-vaccine, I'm not anti- COVID vaccine, but at the end of the day, informed consent is what we all honor in nursing. I've stood up for a lot of my patients over the years that were feeling pushed into something and, you know, it's their body. It's a choice that they should make for themselves than that I should make for myself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Christina, what would you say to her?

KLINE: Look, my response is this, COVID is a deadly disease. Unvaccinated people are five times more likely to be diagnosed with COVID than vaccinated people, and they're 29 times more likely to be hospitalized according to the CDC. So, what I would say is that you're putting yourself and many other people at risk if you're a healthcare worker in a hospital and you're not vaccinated.

BROWN: Christina Baker Kline, thank you so much, and we'll be right back.

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[20:50:10]

BROWN: In the NFL, of all the games to watch this weekend, one stands out above the rest. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the New England Patriots, otherwise known as the Return of the GOAT, greatest of all time. That's right. Tom Brady heading back to Foxborough with his Super Bowl champs to face off against his former coach and mentor, Bill Belichick.

CNN's Coy Wire has a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: One of the most highly anticipated regular season games in NFL history, Pam, Tom Brady played in New England for 20 years, gave Pats fan six Super Bowl titles. But Sunday night it'll be a dramatic return as he faces his former team for the very first time.

One Boston radio host described it as a high school reunion where you'll have to see the ex who broke your heart. But as fate would have it, Pam, with more than 80,000 passing yards in his 22 seasons, Brady needs just 68 to break the all-time record held by Drew Brees. As he looks back at the break up with New England and coach Bill Belichick, Brady says it couldn't have gone any better.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BRADY, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS QUARTERBACK: We handled everything as gracefully as we could. It was an amazing, like I said, time and it was handled -- it was handled perfectly. I think everyone understood, you know, where we at, the people involved in the situation. And now things worked out for the best for all of us, but they don't want to kick their butt this week, so they'll know exactly how I'm feeling once I'm out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Now, physically, Brady is going to try to prepare the same way he does for every game. But mentally, there's just no way things are the same. This will be surreal for Brady. On the bus ride to the stadium, he might even see the giant billboard space a Patriots fan bought near the stadium, taking a dig at Belichick who has a 62 and 74 record as head coach without TB12.

Even Brady's own website is embracing the bigness of the moment, selling the T-shirt called, The Return, pointing to the fact that the Patriots are the only team Tom has yet to defeat in his storied NFL career. The defending Super Bowl champion, Bucs, have the edge going in, Pam, favored by a touchdown.

Brady will be looking to make history as he walks into the visitor's locker room in Foxborough, but he's going to have to do it against one of the greatest defensive minds of all time in Bill Belichick, the man with whom he game plan for 20 years, as they built one of the greatest dynasties the sports world has ever seen. Kickoff, Pam, Sunday night, 8:20 Eastern.

BROWN: Coy Wire, thanks. That means everyone watching, anyone's watch the game can pregame watching this show. Don't forget that you can tweet me at PamelaBrownCNN and follow me on Instagram. Thank you so much for joining me this evening. I'm Pamela Brown. See you again tomorrow night starting at 6:00 Eastern.

[20:55:57]

And up next, what would you do if at 10 years old you were told you were kidnapped from the hospital as a baby? This is what happened to Paul Fronczak and the discovery set him on a lifelong search for the truth about who he really is. What he learned is even more shocking. The new CNN film, "The Lost Sons" next only on CNN.

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