Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Interview With Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA); California Governor Targets Supply Bottleneck; Democrats Nearing Deal on Infrastructure Bill?; Items Belonging to Brian Laundrie Found. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 20, 2021 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Thanks for joining us on INSIDE POLITICS today.

Ana Cabrera picks up our coverage right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Hello. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

We begin with breaking news in the manhunt for Brian Laundrie. His family's attorney now telling CNN items belonging to Laundrie have just been found at that large nature reserve investigators have been scouring for weeks right off a trail Laundrie is known to frequent.

And we have just learned a medical examiner has now been called to that site.

Want to get straight to CNN's Jean Casarez, who is gathering more information this.

What can you tell us, Jean?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is happening at the moment. And we are continuing to get more information.

But you're right. We did just confirm that the Sarasota County Medical Examiner's Office has been called to the scene. And this is the Carlton Reserve. This is where Brian allegedly went to September 13 for a hike, never came back home. His parents have believed that that is where he may be found.

And here's what we're learning from Steve Bertolino, who is the Laundrie family attorney. He's saying that last night that the parents decided that they were going to go out to the reserve today to search, and that they told the FBI and North Port police they were going to do that, and, this morning, that the parents, along with law enforcement, found -- quote -- "some articles belonging to Brian."

That is all we know. We don't know what they were. We don't know how significant they could be. We don't know when they would have been left by Brian. But the medical examiner has been called to the scene, as well as Pasco County, a cadaver dog has been called to the scene, plus two spotters. Now, the cadaver dog was called this morning. We don't know what time

this morning at all. We don't know if they made a hit or what activity they have done. But this is a developing situation right here, obviously significant, not only that articles of Brian's were found, according to the family attorney for the Laundries, but also that the medical examiner has, in fact, been called to the scene, Ana.

CABRERA: Jean, stand by.

I want to get a couple of experienced investigators in here, retired FBI Special Agent Bobby Chacon and former Deputy Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe.

Gentlemen, thanks so much for jumping on in short notice.

Andrew, how big of a development is this in this investigation?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Ana, it could be very big, right? This is kind of the break that I think many, many people have been waiting for.

But there's still a lot left to be determined. We don't know exactly what they have found, or what they have come across. But traces of Brian Laundrie is not the same thing as Brian Laundrie.

So I think there's a lot of investigation to go here, some recovery of -- forensic recovery of relevant evidence. But it will also drive the -- if there are no -- if they don't find Brian or his remains, it will certainly put the search for him into overdrive, as it will allow them to really focus on a particular area.

CABRERA: Everyone, stay with me.

We have Randi Kaye, who just arrived on scene, where this search continues, where these articles were found.

Randi, what are you seeing and what more are you learning there?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ana, we're at -- just at the entrance to the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park. This is where the family Mustang had been found located on September 14, and tagged as an abandoned car.

And then the Laundrie parents had driven that car back home. Police did take a look at that car and had tagged it. But here at the entrance, there is a police vehicle and some police officers here. We understand there is law enforcement on the scene inside this area.

This was an area that they had just reopened and were allowing the public back in. And then we understand from the family attorney for the Laundrie family that Chris and Roberta Laundrie had called law enforcement last night, saying that they were going to come back to this area now that it was open to the public and search again for their son, Brian, which they did with law enforcement today.

And from what we're told, there was a brief search and then they were able to locate some items belonging to Brian Laundrie. We don't know what those items are or how many of those items were found.

But it is quite a scene here. There is a large grouping of media. We haven't seen this much media in quite some time. We also understand that the coroner has been called to the scene for Sarasota County, as well as a cadaver dog.

I have been in touch with the Pasco County Sheriff's Department earlier today, and they did confirm that there is a human remains detection dog, as they call it, which is solely trained and not to detect live humans, but solely trained to find decomposing bodies. And there is one of them on the scene here, in addition to two spotters, Ana.

CABRERA: OK, Randi Kaye, stand by.

[13:05:00]

Bobby Chacon, that information about the cadaver dogs and a medical examiner being called to the scene, a lot of people jump to conclusions. Does that tell you Laundrie is dead?

BOBBY CHACON, RETIRED FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Well, it tells me that there is more to it than just articles from Brian Laundrie that were found, because the FBI would normally just dispatch an evidence response team, which is the FBI's version of a CSI team, and they are perfectly capable of collecting evidence and collecting even the most complicated forensic evidence.

The fact that a medical examiner has been brought to the scene, it ups the ante. It definitely ups the concern that they found some pipe of human remains. But an evidence response team from the FBI would normally respond.

Now, they have probably already also responded. But the fact that the medical examiner is there and a cadaver dog, not a tracking dog, but a cadaver dog, which are two different skill sets for canines, has been brought in, means they have some reason to believe that they -- that -- obviously, that there's a cadaver there.

So, with the medical examiner, in addition to an evidence response team, shows -- tells me that there may be some human or biologic remains found that indicate that a cadaver could be nearby.

CABRERA: Again, the specific wording that we're getting from the family attorney is that they found -- quote -- "some articles" belonging to Laundrie. We don't know exactly what this is.

Andrew, how are investigators looking at these items, do you think?

MCCABE: Well, I think it's important, Ana, that investigators consider every possibility, right? You still don't want to be kind of just drawn in one direction because it seems like the obvious lead or it's the kind of the hottest thing on your plate.

It's really curious to me that these developments have only taken place in the immediate aftermath of the family coming out to this area for the first time since the search is going on. Clearly, they have stumbled across some sort of articles or evidence that they think indicates the president of Brian Laundrie.

I agree with Bobby that their request for the medical examiner kind of ups the ante on whether or not they have actually found some human remains. But, again, if they had a lot of human remains, they probably would not be calling the cadaver dog out. That's like what the cadaver dog comes out to find.

So they have got a lot of work left to do. And I'm sure they will be kind of stepping back and looking at the broader picture of not just what they found, but how they found it, the sequence of events that led to the somewhat unsuspected discovery of this evidence after all this time. It raises a lot of questions.

I have to bring in criminologists Casey Jordan on that point, because the parents, we have learned, were involved, apparently, in this discovery. According to the family attorney, his parents, Chris and Roberta Laundrie, had informed law enforcement last night that they intended to go to the park this morning to search this area for Brian.

After a -- quote, unquote -- "brief search" of a trail that he frequented, these articles were found.

So, Casey, what do you make of the parents' involvement here?

CASEY JORDAN, CRIMINOLOGIST: I think that it seems a little bit too much of a coincidence. So I'm just going to say out loud what most people are probably thinking, that isn't it interesting that hundreds of searchers went through this preserve for more than a month, and then the family, which has not cooperated much at all, suddenly contacts police and say, we plan to go out there and look for him?

And the police say sure. Well, OK, we will join you. Let's do this is a joint effort. And then, very quickly, they find traces of Brian.

I don't know that there is a body. I'm going to go with exactly what they say, which is articles belonging to him. And that makes you wonder whether or not those articles may have been planted as contraindicators with a family that wants the police to believe that Brian is no longer with us and give up the search entirely.

So I am very fascinated that cadaver dogs have been brought to the scene. They -- this is a police department that's taken a lot of flak for not really surveilling things and letting things slip through the cracks earlier, so they could just be really overcompensating and covering all their bases.

But, to me, the biggest question mark -- I agree with all the other guests -- is how the family was with them and how the family led them to that trail. It just seems almost too good to be true.

CABRERA: Let's go back to the scene.

And, Randi Kaye, I understand you're getting more information, Randi, about these cadaver dogs. KAYE: Yes, we -- I can tell you a little bit.

First of all, this is not the first time a cadaver dog has been called out to the scene. The Pasco County Sheriff's Office has told me that they have been here several times before, even as recently as last week. They usually spend a couple of days searching.

And these cadaver dogs, Ana, from what I understand from the sheriff's office, is that they are brought in to find a decomposing body and also rule out the fact that there could be a decomposing body. If they don't alert, they can also rule that out.

[13:10:01]

So they can be brought in for either reason. But in terms of what they can do, I'm told by -- after I spoke with someone who trains these types of dogs, and she told me that they -- if there is somebody who died here today, yesterday, five days ago, a month ago, a year ago, these dogs can alert on that. They are very sensitive to a decomposing odor.

And there really is no time limit for them. Time is certainly on their side and on their handlers' side. Even if the body is fully decomposed or possibly has been removed by one of the animals that's in this reserve area -- we have bobcats, we have panthers, you name it out here, alligators -- these dogs can alert on what might have seeped into the soil, even in that area.

So they have very good noses to do this sort of work, Ana.

CABRERA: OK, thank you for that, Randi.

Bobby, as Randi pointed out earlier, they had closed off this part of the park as investigators were searching previously. Apparently, they thought they had checked everything, because they had just reopened this part of the park. And now, boom, you find these articles that are belonging to Bobby -- I mean, to Laundrie, apparently.

Do you think, Bobby, investigators are looking into Laundrie's parents at this point?

CHACON: Well, I think you would have to. I think that Casey was right on the money with that.

I mean, all of a sudden, the parents call law enforcement, say, we're going out there tomorrow morning. Law enforcement says, well, we will meet you and go with you. And then they lead them kind of -- it happened kind of quickly. They lead them right to a spot where apparently they find something of value, or you wouldn't have had all of this, because, remember, the father went out there a couple of weeks ago, very reluctantly, and met law enforcement, and then they went home again.

And now the parents decide to go out on their own. Law enforcement meets them out there. And, lo and behold, very quickly, they find something of value to generate all this additional activity. So I would say that the parents, I think you would have to start

looking at how the parents knew to go to this location, why they did it now, why they didn't do this a month ago.

And so there's a lot of questions to be answered.

CABRERA: Andrew, we just got word that additional first responders have now arrived on the scene. So it feels like this is building, and they must have hit something big.

Is that how you would interpret it?

MCCABE: Yes, I mean, the fact that there are additional first responders coming out is pretty much -- it's to be expected.

Any time you have a major development in a big case like this, you tend to get an over-response from people on the ground, so I wouldn't index too much on that. I still think the request for the cadaver dog and the request for the medical examiner are pretty significant.

They are in some ways contradictory. Like, the medical examiner, as I said earlier, you would call when you had something that you thought were human remains, whereas the dogs are really more for finding where remains might be located.

But, again, as the other guests have mentioned, it's clear they have found something. It's not clear as to whether that thing has been there all along, or those articles or that evidence might have something to do with the parents' new presence at the reserve.

I think it's also worth pointing out that the place where the activity seems to be located right now is well-known to the searchers, right? That's where the car was found. They have been over this ground many, many times.

So there's a lot of questions to answer here as to not just what they found, but why didn't they find it and all the other times they have been out there?

CABRERA: And, Bobby, there is still no suspect specifically in Gabby Petito's death, after all of these weeks turning into soon to be months. What do you make of that?

CHACON: I'm sorry. There's no what?

CABRERA: No suspect in her death at this point.

CHACON: Oh, well, I mean, I think -- look, I think we have a suspect. I think that the authorities may not term it so, but I think the rest of us have come to the conclusion that Brian is a suspect or a person of interest, even if authorities cannot legally make that determination.

And we know why they don't. But, certainly, that the last known person to be seen with that -- with a person that ends up being the victim of a homicide is going to be naturally a suspect. And so I think that Brian naturally, to the rest of us, to now us civilians, can be termed a suspect, even if the authorities have not, simply because of the fact that they had a degenerating relationship that could have resulted in violence.

People saw them fighting. She had texted her mother that the relationship was not in a good place and that there was increasing anxiety, and then his behavior the first two weeks in September of just leaving her and showing up and not talking to her parents about her disappearance at all for two weeks.

[13:15:01]

I think all of that contributes to most of us in the civilian world now believing that Brian Laundrie is a suspect in this case.

CABRERA: Well, my thanks to all of you, Bobby Chacon, Andrew McCabe, Casey Jordan, Jean Casarez, and Randi Kaye. I appreciate it.

We're going to continue to stay on top of these latest developments. Again, the news is some articles belonging to Brian Laundrie have been discovered in this nature reserve in Florida that investigators have been searching now for weeks. They have brought in a medical examiner, cadaver dogs and additional first responders. So, it is a developing story. Stay with us for more on that.

Also breaking right now, the final stretch, the White House and Democrats seeming closer than ever before in reaching a deal on the Biden agenda. But there are significant cuts to the initial proposal. We will have those details just ahead.

Plus, new today, we are getting our first look at how the government is planning to roll out vaccines for younger kids, the White House just revealing the process will be different than it is for adults. Details on that ahead.

And the gunman who shot and killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida, pleads guilty today. He also apologized in court. The father of 14-year-old victim Gina Montalto was there. And he joins us live this hour.

Stay with us. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:20:42]

CABRERA: We're back with our breaking news.

We continue to monitor what's happening in Florida right now at the Carlton Reserve, where authorities say they have found articles belonging to Brian Laundrie. A massive amount of law enforcement personnel have now been called to the scene. We are continuing to gather more information. We will take you back to that story as soon as we have new developments.

Meantime, out of Washington, dialing down the dysfunction Capitol Hill. Finally, after weeks of a paralyzing standoff within the party, Democrats may now be just days away from a deal on the Biden agenda.

All the key players, moderates, progressives and the president himself, are inching closer to common ground, we are told, near the middle. The initial proposed price tag, you may remember, $3.5 trillion, that cost a deal-breaker for moderate Senator Joe Manchin. He dug in at around $1.5 trillion.

The president's compromise now taking shape at least between $1.7 trillion and $1.9 trillion.

CNN's Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill and Phil Mattingly is at the White House.

Lauren, there is movement toward a middle ground. But is it enough to win support from the competing ends of the party?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, this bill is certainly starting to shrink, in part because of that price tag issue that you talked about. The fact that moderate Democrats were arguing that $3.5 trillion was just too much meant the Democrats had to make some tough decisions about what to keep in this bill and what to leave out.

Now, we're getting some early details about what the president told members when he had those private meetings yesterday. One of the items that we expect to be out of this package now is free community college. That had been something that the White House had been touting, but it's an expensive provision and something we expect not to be included.

We also expect that a key energy provision has fallen out of this proposal because of problems from Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a coal-producing state. We now know, of course, that there are some items that are expected to be included, although they have been changed slightly.

One of them is the child tax credit, an expanded child tax credit that now will be included for just about a year. Now, this is all still very fluid, Ana, and we should make it very clear to people back home that lawmakers who care very deeply about some of these provisions are fighting very hard behind the scenes to ensure that their issue is protected.

And one of those issues is the child tax credit. There are also concerns about some of the reductions in paid family leave from 12 weeks to four weeks. So these are just a couple of the items that lawmakers behind the scenes are still trying to cobble together.

But it's important to remind people that, after weeks of fighting between Democrats, it seems like they are really trying to make an effort to close this deal in the next couple of days -- Ana.

CABRERA: And, Ana, Phil, Lauren just outlined some of the things that have been reduced, maybe not cut entirely. It sounds like free community college is something that has been let go altogether. Candidate Joe Biden, when he was on the campaign trail, that was something he talked a lot about. So is the president OK with eliminating that?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think, to some degree, it's the reality of the situation, whether you're talking about the scale of the overall proposal obviously be being significantly reduced.

And when you have to work within a different scope than perhaps you first laid out, certain things are going to fall out or be reduced in terms of funding or duration or fall out entirely. And I think when it comes to the tuition for community college proposal, certainly, the president talked about this a lot during the campaign. It was a central plank in his initial plan.

But you also have to think about constituencies on Capitol Hill. If you are trying to figure out how to wrangle the 218 votes you need in the House and the 50 votes in the Senate, what are the biggest priorities for those members of Congress? What are the areas, perhaps more importantly, where you can have the biggest impact when you're talking about the child tax credit or maintaining subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, expanding Medicare, expanding Medicaid?

Those are higher priorities when you talk to Democrats on Capitol Hill, and, therefore, those are the issues that the president has maintained a focus on in this proposal.

Now, Lauren makes a key point. This is still fluid and a very moving target right now. Most notably, the president has not gotten the explicit sign-off from those two moderate senators that have been outstanding up to this point.

But I think what this makes clear more than anything else is, in the past couple of weeks, where it's been pretty unclear to the rank-and- file Democrat on Capitol Hill what was actually happening behind the scenes, there was a significant amount of work going on behind the scenes to try and narrow the differences, to try and get near a finish line or at least a potential compromise proposal.

[13:25:11]

We have started to see the details of that. Some things aren't going to make it in. But a significant number of them are. I think that's what the White House is focused on at this point and time, Ana.

CABRERA: Phil, Lauren, thank you.

We have a moderate lawmaker standing by, a Democrat who met with the president yesterday. We will talk to him in just a moment.

But, first, we have some more breaking news right now first on CNN. California Governor Gavin Newsom just issued an executive order to address the supply chain bottleneck at California's shipping ports.

I want to get straight to CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich. Vanessa, what's in this executive order?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS REPORTER: Ana, this executive order really goes to target the supply chain at its weakest link. That's at the ports on the ground. Here's what's in it.

This executive order directs the state to find federal, local and private land where they can store containers, get those containers out of the ports. There's a trucker shortage so the trucks can't move the containers as quickly as they would like. So more cargo ships are unable to unload. They want to get those containers into a temporary storage facility.

Number two, temporarily lifting weight restrictions on trucks. There's currently weight restrictions on trucks in the state of California. They want to lift those so potentially trucks can move more cargo. And, number three, using existing funding for education and training for port workers and other workers along the supply chain to try to help with this worker shortage.

So, Ana, these three key points added in this executive order are coming on the heels of the federal government directing the ports in California to move to 24/7 operations, so now state and federal, both addressing this mess of a supply chain. And the goal here is really to get those goods moving once again, and get the goods into the hands of the consumer ahead of this critical holiday season -- Ana.

CABRERA: Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you.

And Congressman Mike Thompson of California is with us now.

Obviously, Congressman, this is an issue that affects all Americans. But as a representative of California, let me ask you, do you think this action by Governor Newsom will have the desired impact on the supply chain bottleneck in your state?

REP. MIKE THOMPSON (D-CA): Well, I think everything will help.

The supply chain disruption is more than just one piece. It's a combination of things, not only in California, but around the world. So everybody is working hard to make sure we straighten this out. And we're making progress.

CABRERA: I spoke with the commerce secretary yesterday, who stressed just how important it was to get the president's economic and infrastructure bills passed to help with the labor shortage that's exacerbating this supply chain issue.

You and a group of others met with the president yesterday. How close are you all to a deal?

THOMPSON: I feel pretty good after the meeting yesterday. I think we're narrowing it down.

This -- we have gone through this period of negotiation. And that's what you do with major pieces of legislation. You work back and forth. And you figure out where the common ground is, where you can land on the policy that will get the votes that are necessary. And, as you know, we're working with a very, very narrow margin, both in the House and in the Senate.

So it's taken a little bit of time. It's an important bill. What is going to be in this bill is going to be incredibly important for the people of our country, for working families and for children, for our environment, and for our future.

CABRERA: Lauren Fox just outlined some of what's in, what's out. I know you care deeply about the climate crisis, but Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, a fellow moderate, has been staunchly against the climate provisions in the big Build Back Better package.

He's pushed back on a carbon tax. He's been staunchly against the proposed $150 billion of incentives for power plants to use cleaner burning fuels to cut greenhouse gas emissions. If he's a no on that, can you get to a yes on the final package?

THOMPSON: Well, there's not a carbon tax provision in the bill, nor has there been.

What is in the bill is my GREEN Act, which is using the tax code to move us into renewable energy. And that is incredibly important. It is the is the main piece of President Biden's climate change agenda. And this is a bill that's passed the House. It's the biggest climate change bill that's ever passed the United States House of Representatives.

And I'm confident that that will be in the final bill, it will pass, it will be signed into law. And that will tee us up to meet the goals that President Biden has established, the goals that he wants to reach in regard to moving towards renewable energy and in regard to building our work force, growing jobs.

CABRERA: What makes you confident that the GREEN Act, those climate provisions you just outlined, will be in the final bill, given Joe Manchin's very public criticism of those climate