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Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) Discusses Democrat Backlash Growing Against Sinema Over Her Opposition; Soon, Full House Vote on Charging Steve Bannon with Contempt; Family Attorney Say Strong Possibility Remains Are Brian Laundrie's; NFL Player Helps Deliver Baby Daughter at Home. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 21, 2021 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

REP. JIMMY GOMEZ (D-CA): We passed an increase in the corporate rate and the individual tax rate.

There's agreement across the board, with 49 Senators, as well as the vast -- as well as 99 percent of the Democratic House caucus.

And we have one Senator, Kyrsten Sinema, who is defending the Republican Donald Trump tax cuts, the ones they passed in 2017, that really benefited the top 1 percent and the largest corporations.

You know what? We're going to push through. We think we still have momentum to get this thing done.

And then, in order to pay for it, we can do a lot of different things. We can restructure taxes. And we can also pass it as it is. It raises $2.3 trillion.

Let's say they want to make a deal, let's pass the $2.3 trillion, do a deal for $2 trillion and then use the $300 billion to reduce the deficit.

They call themselves conservatives. They call themselves budget hawks. Well, that's a deal that I think should on the table and let's see if they take it.

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Let me ask you a follow-up on Sinema because you said 49 Senators in the Democrats on board are not enough to get this legislation past the finish line.

So getting Senator Sinema on board seems particularly challenging. A lot of her negotiating has been done in secret. She's not going to caucus meetings.

She doesn't want to raise corporate taxes, as we discussed, after she strongly opposed those Trump tax cuts in the first place.

Your colleague, Richie Torres, described the situation as, quote, "Living under the tyranny of Kyrsten Sinema.

Do you agree? How would you describe it? GOMEZ: Krysten Sinema, I think, is someone that really doesn't have a policy center.

She went from being a Green Party, Code Pink activist to a conservative Democrat, from the time before she was elected to the time she became a Senator.

So she's all over the place. I don't really know what she wants.

But, you know what? We're going to make sure that we cut a deal with Manchin, who is willing to raise the taxes.

He might be difficult. He might be not where I would be on a lot of provisions in the bill. But you know what? At least he's talking. And at least he's willing to get to the table and get something done.

So we're going to get the 49 Senators on board and then we're going to push her.

There's always a cost in politics. And there's always an opposite and equal reaction to whatever you do.

And her equal -- her equal -- opposite and equal reaction, to Kyrsten Sinema, might not come this year but it might come in 2024.

CABRERA: What is your message to her right now?

GOMEZ: Come to the table. Too much is at stake.

President Biden met with the progressive caucus, met with moderates.

And you know what? He's working every single day to deliver a package that invests in housing, that invests in the child tax credit, invests in Medicare, that invests to build a working class that is able to compete in the 21st century.

This is what's at stake.

Also, the Democratic majority in the House, the Democratic majority in the Senate is at stake.

And if she wants to bring it all down, that's going to fall on her feet.

CABRERA: In terms of the compromises made, free community college is out. Our reporting is that paid family leave will likely be reduced from 12 weeks to four. The child tax credit only extended one year. And Joe Manchin wants a work requirement for that.

Are you and other progressives OK with this?

GOMEZ: I'm a progressive. I'm a product of the community college system that allowed me to go to UCLA and get my master's from Harvard University. So I'm a big fan.

But one of the things is also about policy and, how do we get there and how do we get people relief?

One thing we're looking at is doubling the Pell Grant, increasing the Pell Grant, so it covers the cost of attending community college.

It's not the way we prefer to do it, but it's a way to get to the same result. Removing the barrier of costs of anybody who wants to go to community college.

When it comes to paid family leave, I restructured it when I was in the California state legislature. We'll get it done and it will be a big, big benefit.

My parents, when I got sick when I was 7 years old, lost income because they had to take care of me and a lost shifts from work and it almost bankrupted my family.

No family should have to go through that situation. So we're going to push on paid family leave.

But if it's a matter of four weeks to 12 weeks, we're going to get something done that still benefits working families.

CABRERA: You said it that your dad was a janitor (ph), you mother a housekeeper as you were growing up so I know this is something very close to your heart.

Congressman Jimmy Gomez, I appreciate you taking the time. Thanks so much --

GOMEZ: Thank you so much.

CABRERA: -- for being with us.

GOMEZ: Thank you so much.

CABRERA: We'll hear from President Biden tonight. It's a CNN exclusive. The president taking questions from the American people. Anderson Cooper moderates. A CNN presidential town hall with Joe Biden begins tonight at 8:00 here on CNN.

Also happening right now, the full House gearing up to vote on a criminal contempt referral for Trump ally, Steve Bannon. He refuses to comply with the subpoena by this committee investigating the January 6th attack on the U.S. capitol.

With us is CNN legal analyst, Carrie Cordero, and Charlie Dent, former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania and now CNN political commentator.

Good to have you both here.

[13:35:00]

Congressman, Republican leadership is urging a "no" vote. They're trying to make this out not to be not about the truth but, rather, an effort to hurt Trump. That's a big part of their framing. What's your advice to your former GOP colleagues on how to vote on

Bannon and criminal contempt?

CHARLIE DENT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: My advice to House Republican members is to vote for criminal contempt on Steve Bannon, just on the merits.

He's not protected under executive privilege. He may have information relevant to this investigation.

And, you know, he's willfully defying the Congress, their Article I authority and their oversight responsibility. So they should go right at him.

By the way, he resents most of them. The things he has said about House Republican leaders, including Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise, are things I cannot say on television. He despises them.

And any Republican who has any sense of governance and responsibility, they owe Steve Bannon nothing other than their contempt.

They should settle a score right now. But they can't vote for this on the merits.

CABRERA: You're right. Bannon has said some pretty bad things about Republican members of Congress. And I can't repeat those either.

But the ones I can? He once called a GOP mega donor and other establishment figures, quote, "Republican scumbags." He's also referred to Republican leaders as "C" words.

And now they are trying to protect Steve Bannon?

DENT: That's right. It's unbelievable. He hated Paul Ryan. He hated John Boehner. He hates Mitch McConnell. He used the "C" word to describe the House Republican leaders.

I mean, wow! You want to protect him why? I mean, it's -- it's almost inexplicable.

CABRERA: Carrie, Republican House leaders claim that Congress has oversight power to secure needed information in order to legislate but not to conduct investigations or issue subpoenas outside of that scope.

And Kevin McCarthy says this Bannon subpoena is invalid. Is he wrong?

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes. I think there's very strong arguments that the January 6th committee is conducting a valid investigation.

They have both an oversight responsibility and they have a legislative responsibility.

And if somebody is looking for a legislative hook, there are bills currently pending in Congress. Including one called the Protecting Our Democracy Act, that have reforms to the presidency, reforms for things like enforcing congressional subpoenas that are arguably relevant to the committee's investigation.

But also, in this particular case, Steve Bannon doesn't have any credible reason, any proper legal justification for defying the committee's subpoena.

There simply is not a credible argument why he, as a private citizen at the time, a private citizen now, recipient of a lawful subpoena, doesn't have a reason to appear.

CABRERA: Carrie, let's be clear. Democrats do have the numbers to do this without Republican support. So today's vote is expected to pass.

It would then go to the Justice Department, which would decide whether or not to prosecute Bannon.

And Attorney General Merrick Garland, once again, confirmed his department's independence at a hearing this morning. And then said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERRICK GARLAND, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The Department of Justice will do what it always does in such circumstances. It will apply the facts and the law and make a decision consistent with the principles of prosecution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Carrie, given that, how would you expect Garland to handle this?

CORDERO: Well, first of all, that's exactly the answer that we want to hear from an attorney general.

We want him to -- and the Justice Department to wait until the House has actually made the referral. We don't want him to pre-judge the outcome of it.

And then what we want to see is the Justice Department that Merrick Garland is trying to restore, which is one that makes prosecutorial decisions based upon the facts, not based on political influence or any other factors.

And so they -- the prosecutors will look at the record in this case. And the January 6th committee has produced a lengthy report, an over 25-page report that lays out the justification for their referral.

CABRERA: We had a chance to catch up with a number of Republican Congress members who voted to impeach Trump.

And even those members of Congress are right now on the fence, it seems, on how they are going to vote regarding this subpoena for Steve Bannon, Congressman Dent.

So I'm wondering, is this really about the midterms? Is that why they are, you know, hemming and hawing about this?

DENT: Well, we'll see how they vote. I have the highest respect for those 10 members. I'm very close with many of them.

Look, they will get -- they should -- if they asked my opinion, I would tell them to vote for contempt because this -- Trump is still going to attack them.

You know, you might as well -- if you think you're going to go down, go down swinging, fight them.

Steve Bannon is not your friend. He has always -- he resents you. And he's -- I think he'll laugh at you if you vote to protect him. He doesn't respect it.

[13:40:00]

So fight. This is a time to fight and stand up for the Congress for its Article I authority. Bannon is defying them in the most willful and obnoxious manner. He deserves to be held in contempt.

CABRERA: Congressman Charlie Dent, Carrie Cordero, appreciate both of you. Thank you.

Remains found and the Laundrie family attorney say they likely belong to Brian. What happens now?

Plus, it will probably go down as one of the best plays if not the best play of his life. NFL defensive lineman, Dawuane Smoot, helped deliver his baby daughter in their living room at 4:00 in the morning.

Dawuane and his wife, Aumari, and their beautiful baby girls all are going to join us this hour. So stay with us.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:45:08]

CABRERA: Investigators have set up a new canopy in the massive Florida nature reserve. I believe we have had a live look from our CNN drone. There it is.

Yesterday, officials found a backpack and notebook belonging to Brian Laundrie there, along with partial human' mains. The Laundrie's attorney says those remains are likely Brian's.

The FBI is now calling him a person of interest in the murder of his fiancee, Gabby Petito, more than a month after Brian Laundrie disappeared.

Joining us now, retired FBI special agent, Bobby Chacon, and criminologist and behavioral analyst, Casey Jordan.

Good to see both of you.

Bobby, let's start with you.

We know these remains were partial remains. The FBI says they are in an area that was under water until recently and that they appear to have been there a while.

How long do you think until we know if this is Brian Laundrie?

BOBBY CHACON, RETIRED FBI AGENT & FORMER FBI DIVE TEAM LEADER: Well, I think it should be fairly quickly because what they have done is they have recovered, obviously, most of the obvious human remains.

Now that's in a lab. They are trying to get the samples that they can do DNA testing on.

If you can remember, the FBI, after its initial search warrant at Laundrie house, went back a week later to get DNA samples from his house. They already have those analyzed. That's what they're going to match it do.

All they have to do is take what they got yesterday and start the analysis of doing the match and the comparison. That should happen fairly quickly.

However, the FBI is going to spend a lot of time out there, because the remains were degraded, and see and make sure they get, you know, everything they possibly can.

There's a term we used to say in forensics science when we did the searches, "you can be thorough or quick but you can't be both."

So they are going to take their time now that they have removed the main items that they need. And they are going to spend the time finding anything else that's out there.

CABRERA: Just real quick, if that notebook was under water, any chance of law enforcement learning anything from that?

CHACON: Absolutely. Absolutely. There are -- there's great technologies that we now use.

Actually, we used them in 9/11 with some of the flight 93, things that we got out of that plane crash, that are able to rehabilitate written notes and things like that.

There are laboratories that specialize in this.

And even if it's in the water, depending on how degraded, it is, of course, there are still possible technologies to deploy to actually get, say, written words.

If he was using it as a journal or if he made some notes in there before he died -- CABRERA: Yes.

CHACON: -- that, hopefully, they can actually get those as well.

CABRERA: That's fascinating.

Casey, it was actually Brian's dad that found some of his belongings.

Here's the family attorney describing how that happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN BERTOLONI, LAUNDRIE FAMILY ATTORNEY (voice-over): At some point, Chris locates what's called a dry bag. Chris didn't want to pick the bag up because he wanted law enforcement to see it. This was caught on camera.

Chris couldn't find law enforcement because they were then out of sight because Chris had been in the woods.

So he didn't want to leave the bag there with the news reporter standing nearby so he picked it up. He did meet up shortly with law enforcement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Your reaction to that, Casey?

CASEY JORDAN, CRIMINOLOGIST & BEHAVIORAL ANALYST: You know not to touch evidence.

I find the entire story very contrived and just extremely convenient.

I mean, what are the chances that, after all that time of searching, Brian Laundrie's father is the one who initiates a walk in the woods, agrees that the police can come around and accompany him.

And while he's alone and they are not within eyesight, he suddenly finds something. Now, no one is going to say that he planted it. But it just seems too convenient.

And if you find something -- and you're searching for your son and you find something that you believe to belong to the son, the trick would be to run through the woods and find somebody to pick it up and become part of the evidence.

So I find the whole thing just a little too hard to be true. I think a lot of people are very suspicious, mostly based on all of the behavior from the parents from the very beginning.

CABRERA: Casey Jordan and Bobby Chacon, I've got to leave it there. Thanks so much for being with us.

JORDAN: Thank you.

CHACON: Thank you. CABRERA: The NFL play of the week did not happen on the football field. Jaguars defensive end, Dawuane Smoot, helping his wife deliver their baby girl after she suddenly went into labor.

And there they are, all smiling today. Everybody looks happy and healthy.

[13:49:35]

They will all be with us live in the NEWSROOM just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Now, this is a remarkable story. I am just so excited to share. A 6'3" and 275-pounder here, you would think not much scares Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end, Dawuane Smoot, on the football field.

But just days ago, he experienced what he calls the scariest moment of his life. The good news? It ended in, arguably, the very best and most beautiful way.

[13:55:00]

Smoot helping his wife deliver their second child at home because there simply was not enough time to get to the hospital.

And Dawuane Smoot and his wife, Aumari, and little Ahlani Moon are joining us now.

Congratulations, you guys. She's such a doll.

And what a story. You're going to have to tell her one day.

First, how's everybody doing?

AUMARI SMOOT, WIFE OF DAWUANE SMOOT: We're doing good. We're healthy. Baby's healthy. Feeling good.

DAWUANE SMOOT, NFL DEFENSIVE END WHO HELPED WIFE DELIVER BABY GIRL: Yes, we're doing well. Just haven't slept in the last 24 or so hours.

(LAUGHTER)

CABRERA: So, I'm sure you're in, like, zombie mode right now. I'm having flashbacks to what it was like at that point in all of this.

Let's just go back to what happened. What a whirlwind couple of days it's been.

You must have felt a flood of emotions, Dawuane, no doctors, no nurses.

What was it like for you to watch your wife endure labor and to help her deliver your daughter at home?

DAWUANE SMOOT It was kind of surreal. You don't -- I really haven't felt that emotion yet.

But I would definitely say that I was, at the time that it all happened, I was comfortable because in the past, our first child, Ahmir, we had him natural as well.

And just seeing it again and me being there and everything when Ahlani came out -- she's waking up now -- but when Ahlani came out, it felt comfortable. It felt right.

And during that time, of course, it was unexpected to have her in the middle of our living room and we definitely didn't expect that. But when she came out, she took a big baby breath and cried.

And during that time, it was very hectic, but it felt right when she came out. And I was definitely excited to see that. There was no complications.

CABRERA: Oh, thank goodness.

And Ahlani, as you mentioned, is your second child. You have a beautiful son but he was born in a hospital.

Aumari, walk us through what was going through your mind in those moments Dawuane just described.

AUMARI SMOOT: Actually, Ahmir was born at home, and so -- yes, so, having a home birth was not foreign to me.

But like you all know, I wasn't expecting to have her at home. She was supposed to be born at a birthing center.

And so, you know, the whole thing was chaotic. And I'm just -- I'm so proud of him for how he handled the situation. And - yes, it was --

DAWUANE SMOOT: She should be -- she's being coy right now. She's definitely, like, the real MVP, as everyone's been saying today. And I definitely agree with everyone.

She's really the one that, you know, pushed her out.

She was the one that, when she first came out, the umbilical cord was behind her neck and she jumped into action and pulled the umbilical cord off and she looked up and took a big breath and started crying.

And after we heard that, we were like, OK, she's fine. Everything's OK.

CABRERA: Oh my gosh. That is unbelievable about the umbilical cord around her neck. How scary that must have been.

And yes, she -- jumping into action, I think from my childhood days, as the hero, the strong, fierce female.

What did you use to cut the umbilical cord?

DAWUANE SMOOT We didn't -- we actually didn't cut it. We let it happen naturally and wait in the placenta came out.

But during the time I was on the phone with the ambulance, they told me to grab a shoestring. I had no idea what I was going to use it for.

But I grabbed a shoestring and they told me to tie it around the umbilical cord to allow the blood flow to go to the baby.

And that's what we used. They just walked me through it. And I grabbed one of my shoes and just tore it out as soon as I could.

CABRERA: Wow.

Aumari, right now, your husband's a defensive lineman for the Jaguars. But next chapter, time for med school?

(LAUGHTER)

AUMARI SMOOT: You know what? I think so. He's really talented at many things. And so I wouldn't be surprised if he made a pivot into something like that.

But -- No, I'm kidding. Med school would not be for him. But he is a great father and he did an excellent job.

DAWUANE SMOOT: Yes, I think my next job will definitely a stay-at-home dad, as she would take over the household income.

She's a poet and she's -- she has a couple books out right now. And I feel like me stepping into that father role is something that's -- feels comfortable for me.

CABRERA: Oh, this is such a beautiful story.

How's big brother doing?

AUMARI SMOOT: He's doing great. He witnessed the whole thing. And he's been amazing. He's been so hands-on. And he just loves her so much already.

DAWUANE SMOOT: Yes.

CABRERA: Well, Dawuane Smoot, Aumari, Ahlani Moon, thank you so much for being with us.

She has a beautiful disposition. I mean, quiet, calm, under all that pressure right now in the spotlight.

[13:59:59]

We wish you all the very best and, hopefully, a little bit of sleep in the coming days.

AUMARI SMOOT: Thank you.

DAWUANE SMOOT: Thank you.

CABRERA: And that does it for us today. Thank you so much for joining us. We'll see you back here tomorrow at 1:00 Eastern.