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tv   Don Lemon Tonight  CNN  September 18, 2021 12:00am-1:00am PDT

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lots of news ahead tonight. an fda advisory board recommending a booster dose of the pfizer vaccine. people 65 and older and for those at high risk, but saying no to boosters for everyone else. and we're now just hours away from the far-right rally at the capitol inrioters.
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the head of the capitol police force says his department is prepared to move in as quickly as possible if violence does break out. and a big development in the search for gabby petito, the woman who disappeared while on a cross country trip with her fiance, brian laundrie, who is refusing now to talk to police. tonight police speaking with his parents at the family's request. also tonight, gabby petito's stepdad was on with chris cuomo a little earlier when he learned that brian laundrie's family hasn't seen him since tuesday. here's his reaction. >> yeah, it's the first time we're hearing it. i don't think i -- i even had a moment to fully digest it yet. yeah, i don't even know what to say. >> much more on that breaking news story just ahead. i want to bring in now mark mckinnon, the former adviser to george w. bush and john mccain. he's the executive producer of the circus.
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and cnn political analyst kirsten powers. good evening to both of you. mark, there's a lot of news that's happened and happening today. the fda rejecting recommending a booster vaccine for most americans, which is what president biden initially laid out. there's the images of thousands of migrants under a bridge at the border. the military admitted that it mistakenly killed ten civilians in the kabul air strike last month. france recalling its ambassador to the u.s. over a national security partnership. i mean is it fair to say that today wasn't a great day for president biden? >> not only not a great day, don, really a bad month in august and now that's going into september. you know, for a guy who started off with, you know, a lot of upside with getting covid under control and a booming economy, we thought joe biden would usher in the roaring '20s or at the very least the boring '20s. then we just had all these calamities with afghanistan, covid, the economy, fires,
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floods, now france. i mean it's really turning thing on its head. the guy that we expected, the steady hand, you know, particularly on the foreign policy side, look at what's happening with france now and with afghanistan of course. so it's a pretty rough ride right now, and, you know, this is something that makes us redo our entire show on fridays. >> right on. kirsten, i can see your reaction there. he's talking about the steady hand on foreign policy, but the president's domestic agenda, progressives are sticking to their guns, saying that they will vote against a bipartisan infrastructure bill later this month unless the house and senate have already passed a massive democratic spending plan. meanwhile, manchin and sinema, they're against that. so is infrastructure at an impasse? >> oh, i think it's too soon to say that it's at an impasse. i think this is basically the way things get done. there's give and take. both sides will stake out their
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positions, and they will often take positions that are a little further out from what they'll be willing to negotiate on, and they will get in a game of chicken, and they'll have to be negotiated. my expectation is that they'll be able to negotiate something that maybe is not exactly what everybody wants, but that is kind of the point of these negotiations is that people have to come to the realization that, yes, you fight as hard as you can to get what you want but with the realization that ultimately people are going to have to give and take in order to get something that will, a, be good for the country, and, b, will give joe biden a win, which is something the democrats are interested in seeing happen. >> kirsten, there's this flap about general mark milley and his calls with china. cnn is learning that a deputy to trump's acting defense secretary talked to his counterpart in china on january 6thth, two days before milley's controversial call. does this undercut the criticism that milley was out of line? >> yeah.
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yeah, and i think the criticism is -- it was farfetched anyway in the first place. but this absolutely undermines it. clearly you want, you know, someone in that position, if there are concerns that are raised, to do something about it, not just to say, like, oh, i have no power. there's nothing i can do. i mean he just was doing what a responsible, patriotic american would do in that situation. >> yeah. did it seem a little overwrought, the criticism, mark, of milley? >> don, everything's overwrought these days. but i think for most of us, you know, it is a measure of comfort to know that we have people in the military and government who are willing to exercise common sense and good judgment under really dire circumstances. so i'm really glad to hear about it. >> i said the criticism. maybe overwrought wasn't the
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word, but that's what i'm saying considering the alternative. >> yeah. >> so, listen, you're out with a new episode of "the circus" this sunday, and your colleague, jennifer palmieri interviews alabama governor asa hutchison, and he says this about the republican party. listen. >> we need to be the party of the truth. that probably takes some explaining. we need to be based on fact. we need to have people that have confidence in what we say. >> in your day to day life here in arkansas, do you see evidence that that can work? >> i've always seen that you've got to have 15% that is just hard core, not going to listen, angry. but you've got a large number of others that when you talk common sense to them, they understand it and they get it. and to me, that's leadership. and you just can't give in to just because somebody's loud and angry. >> okay.
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the words sound good, but isn't he contributing to exactly what he is saying? i mean -- >> yeah, don. >> he talks about common sense and leadership, but he's also calling the vaccine mandate counterproductive. go on. >> that's what the scene goes on to talk about. there's a real contradiction there. but governors like hutchison and ivey in alabama were saying, listen, you got to get the vaccines. they were being fairly proactive but as soon as the vaccine mandate came down, they went ballistic, said you can't do that. if you're going to be the party of science and truth, be the party of science and truth and understand that other measures haven't been working. we've got to get this virus under control. biden and company said they didn't want to do it. obviously they had to break the glass this week because republicans and because of their denial of science are the ones
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that are creating the problem and compounding the virus. so it really is a contradiction, and that's the point we will make in the show on sunday night. >> i can't wait to watch. thank you very much. i appreciate it. thank you, kirsten. thank you, mark. >> thank you. now to the fda advisory committee recommending covid booster doses of the pfizer vaccine for people 65 and older and for those at high risk but rejecting boosters for everyone else. i want to bring in cnn medical analyst dr. jonathan reiner. doctor, good evening. good to see you. fda voted to recommend covid vaccines, as i said, 65 and older, those at high risk. what about the boosters for most americans? what happened? >> we didn't have the data, and one of the things that really struck me about today -- and many of us were predicting that the fda committee would do exactly what they did today, which was approve it for older americans and maybe health care
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workers. and i think it's worded in a way that will include health care workers. but what struck me today was really how bad the messaging has been coming from the administration recently and how badly this administration misses andy slavitt. the president of the united states, over the summer, came out with a lot of fanfare and told the united states that essentially all americans over the age of 16 would start getting boosted come this monday. and whoever or whatever group advised the president to make this big announcement really got way out ahead of their skis, and the person that took the big hit was the president of the united states. so i expect there are going to be some repercussions of that. i think the fda panel got the science right today. the data from israel really does show that the group at highest risk of adverse events from breakthrough infections are older americans although i think
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most people think they should have come out in favor of extra doses for people over the age of 60, not 65. so they got that right, and my guess is that as we start to see younger people get past five, six, seven, eight months after their second dose, we'll start to see more evidence for boosters in that group. most of the younger people in this country were vaccinated in the late spring, so there isn't a lot of reason to start vaccinating them now. >> i had dr. peter hotez on earlier, and he says he believes the compromise should have been 40. i don't know if you heard that, but it should have been at least 40 because of, he said, long-haul covid, right, and the symptoms or the things that happen in the long run, like mental decline and so forth. do you agree with that? >> well, i think we need more data. another shortcoming of the last year is that despite massive amount of infection in the united states, right now
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averaging about 150,000 cases a day, we just don't have the data to confidently say in which groups the vaccine is starting to wane. you know, we don't have the data, vaccine-specific data. we don't have necessarily a lot of the specific age data, and for that reason, the fda panel today relied on a group of israeli experts because they do have the data. so i'm hoping that over the next few months, the cdc will get their act together and really accrue a solid dataset that can inform the fda committee on exactly where we need to start boosting and which other groups should start to get boosted and when. >> i'm just looking at because i'm wondering if the administration got ahead of the science and the process, the fda process, because they're saying that their decision to roll out their booster plan was for transparency and planning. did they get ahead of it?
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>> yeah, they definitely got ahead of it. but, again, i think they got it right about the elderly. when you look at, you know, who's getting sick, you know, 70% of the breakthrough infections that are being hospitalized are in patients over the age of 60 or 65. 87% of the deaths are occurring in that group. so, you know, the older americans are the group that appear to be suffering when they get a breakthrough infection. we're seeing plenty of breakthrough infections in younger people, you know, where they're able to pretty much ride it out like a bad cold or bad flu at home. time will tell whether waning vaccine efficacy in younger people translates to more severe infections. right now the data doesn't support that. but this is a dynamic process, so it's very possible -- and the pharmaceutical companies, pfizer in particular, basically are expecting to start to see
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evidence for more severe infections in younger people as vaccine efficacy continues to wane. so, you know, this is far from over. this is not a static process, and i bet, you know, a month or two from now, we're talking about the rollout of boosters for younger people. >> oh, wow. okay. we'll be here to report on it. thank you, dr. reiner. i appreciate it. i want to turn now to the far-right rally at the capitol tomorrow in support of the january 6th rioters. capitol police say that the department is prepared for any violence that may break out, but right-wing media is heavy on the spin cycle tonight, downplaying it as no big deal. they still are saying the deadly insurrection in january was no big deal. and their audience, they're buying it, eating it right up. more tonight from cnn's chief media correspondent brian stelter. >> january 6 redux, but who's even heard about it?
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do you know anyone who's actually attending this? >> reporter: pro-trump media power players are trying to spin away saturday's rally. >> the hysteria has reached such a pitch. >> reporter: and the former president is telling fans that it's, quote, a setup. basically advising them not to go. even though the organizer of the so-called justice for j-6 rally is a former trump campaign staffer. >> we've got a largely peaceful crowd. no one is going to be bringing in a weapon who's going to be part of our crowd. i can assure the police of that. >> reporter: the police are not assured. >> we don't know how many people to expect. >> reporter: it might be a dud, but the pro-rioter rally has already rattled the capitol and succeeded in stirring up support on the far right. if the big lie was that trump won the election that he really lost, then this is the big deny, desperate attempts to deny the violence and the shame of january 6th. but here's the thing. it's working. a new poll from the public religion research institute
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outlines how republican views of the riot are strongly influenced by media diets. those who trust fox news or even further right media outlets and who falsely believe the election was stolen are way less likely to blame trump for the insurrection. they keep hearing stuff like this. >> the blm and antifa riots were hundreds of riots, and we're supposed to worry about january 6th? >>. >> reporter: and that was a gop congressman. so in other words, the other side is worse if not down right evil. that's what trump tv viewers are hearing all the time. the democrats are sick. >> let's be very clear. the democrat party, the democrats in washington are sick and twisted individuals that are destroying this country right now. >> reporter: polling shows the impact of all this. republicans who rely on networks like nbc, abc, and cbs are more likely to assign 1/6 blame to trump, to white supremacist groups, and to right-wing media misinformation. but folks who are fully
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committed to the far-right media bubble think left-wingers are really at fault. and as for saturday -- >> i think that the liberal media is going to make it look like a bunch of people up here just trying to cause problems. >> reporter: there are fences surrounding our capitol to protect from another attack. but some gop lawmakers think the real problem is the media. now, networks like fox are barely covering the security precautions leading into saturday's rally. they are almost acting like the rally is not happening at all, and that's why i say the big lie is now being joined by the big deny. don. >> all right. brian, thank you so much for that. the covid surge in one state forcing hospitals to make excruciating decisions, who gets care and who has to wait. plus breaking news in the search for missing 22-year-old gabby petito. the family of brian laundrie, gabby's fiance, telling police they haven't seen him since tuesday.
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a huge coronavirus surge in idaho is putting immense pressure on the state's health care system. hospitalizations there are so high, medical centers are now having to take extreme measures to make sure they're able to treat everyone. and anger is mounting in neighboring washington state as hospitals there are under pressure to take in patients from idaho. here's cnn's dan simon. >> we are being absolutely crushed by covid. >> i am scared. i'm scared for all of us. >> reporter: in idaho, health care workers are beginning to triage the worsening covid-19 crisis. >> we're going to have to start and are starting ranking how things are being done. >> reporter: state officials say hospitals are now allowed to ration treatment in order to meet an overwhelming surge of
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unvaccinated covid patients. >> we get the question, if my husband, if my wife, if my son, if my daughter had been vaccinated, would this have happened? and the answer, of course, is no. >> reporter: the influx is forcing providers to make unimaginable decisions, determining who gets care and who must wait. >> while we are currently able to tread water, it's going to decline simply because a caregiver can't get to a patient fast enough. >> reporter: everyone from cancer patients to people on a transplant list could see delays in treatment as resources are diverted to urgent covid cases. >> the new delta variant is spreading twice as fast. >> reporter: -- >> protect yourself and others. get vaccinated today. >> reporter: barely 40% of the gem state is fully vaccinated. nearly 14 points less than the national average, a statistic health care workers blame on
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misinformation. and in a state where some residents and their children staged a fiery mass protest in march, there were still no statewide mask mandates. there is a strict mask mandate just across the border in washington state, and frustration is spilling over. >> get the damn shot. we need to be safe. >> health care is not an unlimited resource. >> reporter: as some of idaho's patients arrive at spokane and seattle area hospitals. >> people are just counting on washington hospitals to be available to them while their own hospitals are overrun. >> reporter: the idaho hospital association says some 400 health care workers are out this week due to covid exposure, worsening a dire situation. >> i think the only thing that could make things worse is to act like this is not happening. if you went out and got a vaccine today, it's not going to help us for weeks, but it would be a start. >> dan simon joins me now from
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c coeur d'alene, idaho. this reminds me of when i went down to louisiana to visit the hospital where i was born. louisiana has an indoor mask mandate, but nearby states don't. the governor told me that he had to decline requests from out of state patients. do you know if that's happening in washington? >> reporter: hi, don. deja vu, it's happening here again. and we have a situation where you have so many covid patients here in idaho that some of the hospitals are reaching out to other hospitals on the west coast to see if they will accept some of their critically ill patients. and in some cases, they're being told no. one hospital official in spokane told cnn that he cannot accept the patients because they're dealing with their own issues. and let's not pretend like we don't know why this was happening, or why this is happening. less than half of the population here has gotten vaccinated, and so it's very clear why this is occurring, and it really hearkens back to a period of time early in the pandemic when
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we saw some hospitals that were like turning their parking garages into triage centers. and we're actually seeing that with the biggest hospital here in coeur d'alene. the big difference is now we have vaccines. back then, we didn't. don? >> dan simon, thank you very much for that, dan. i appreciate it. anger over vaccines getting violent yet again. this time in new york city. three texas women arrested for assaulting a restaurant hostess after she asked for proof of vaccination. >> get off of me! er 360 smart bed is on sale now. it helps keep you effortlessly comfortable by sensing your movements and automatically responding to both of you. and, it's temperature balancing to help you stay comfortable all night. it even tracks your circadian rhythm, so you know when you're at your best. in other words, it's the most energy-building, wellness-boosting,
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around the country, people still getting out of control over health measures. we have seen it over and over again on airplanes -- >> hey! chill. >> chill out! >> we've seen it happen at school board meetings. >> okay. right here. look right here. so as you can see, fists are now flying. all of this on live television. fists are flying. unbelievable what we are seeing here today unfold live. >> and on thursday in new york city, where police arrested three women from texas for allegedly assaulting a 24-year-old restaurant hostess who was asking for proof of vaccination.
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>> [ bleep ]. >> oh, my god. >> [ bleep ]! >> get off of me! >> cnn can't confirm from the video who is making the attacks, but the police report says that the hostess received several bruises and scratches to her face, chest, and arms. police say all three women have been charged with assault and criminal mischief. cnn has not been able to reach their attorneys. so joining me now to discuss is manhattan borough president gayle brewer. it's really disgusting, madam president. thank you for joining. i really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> this video was given to your office by a patron who saw this
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happen at carmine's on the upper west side in manhattan. what did you think when you saw these women attacking this hostess? >> well, not only did i see the video, but also i've been to the restaurant today. it's a wonderful restaurant. i was shocked because here we in new york city have a very strong mandate that if you are entering indoors, you have to show your vaccination proof and i.d. and if you don't have that, it's understandable, and guess what? at carmine's, right there there's a beautiful outdoor venue, which people take advantage of. so that could have been the answer. i don't know because it's a very swift-moving video. i assume it's not the entire situation and incident, but it looked pretty awful to me. and it became nationally known and of course in the city of new york where we're trying to keep patrons safe, healthy, and also of course all of the staff at
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the restaurants, it sent a message of fear because these hostesses and mate ra ds and frontline restaurant staff have to do that. it's the law. you have to ask for some kind of proof of vaccination or some kind of i.d. i don't know what it's like elsewhere in the country, but that's the law. >> in new york city, we're doing the right thing, and if you don't want to do it, don't go out to eat. i'm saying this. the borough president is not saying that. as an alternative, you can eat outdoors. but if you want to eat inside of a restaurant, you want to be in a venue indoors, you have to show that you're vaccinated. it is the law. you can't attack people. take that back to someplace where, you know, you can run free, and it's the wild, wild west. not here. is there anything being done to help this young woman who was attacked?
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what consequences could these three women face? >> first of all, the restaurant is making sure that the young woman is going to be healthy in the future. two things. number one, i called the tourism agency and the mayor's office today to say you need to tell tourism, if that's what it is, people from other parts of the country, that in new york city, we have a law, which is vaccination proof and identification to get inside a venue. number two, the individuals return to court on october 5th. right now, this desk appearance ticket -- that's what they've been issued, and they'll be back then. but i do think we have to have consequences after we find out the facts. obviously that's the purpose of the hearing on october 5th. but if in fact what we saw in the video is what happened, again, facts matter. >> right. >> there should be consequences. >> and not a slap on the wrist, we hope. >> we hope. i have to say that i want to
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give the possibility that this could happen often if, in fact, we don't have consequences and if, in fact, people don't hear loud and clear that you have to have -- >> and the restaurants are afraid. they're afraid it's going to happen again. >> they are, and in fact they're very concerned for their staff. they're not cops. they're not security. they're simply hostesses and mate ra dees and front line restaurant workers who are following the law. so that we can all be safe in the city of new york. and nobody should be pushed around. nobody should deal with this incident that we saw today. >> listen, i want to thank you. i just want to say if anybody's, you know, if you're planning on coming to new york and you're watching this, so these restaurants now, some of them -- carmine's saying they're hiring private security for their hostess booth for the weekend after this assault.
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and the nyc hospitality alliance is calling for increased penalties for assaulting restaurant employees. so i hope that they get it. thank you, madam borough president. i appreciate you joining us. you have a good weekend and stay safe. >> thank you. >> thank you. so authorities are still on the lookout. they're still looking for any sign of missing 22-year-old gabby petito as the fbi asks the public for tips. and police in florida say they have no idea where her fiance is now either. are you one of the millions of americans who experience occasional bloating, gas or abdominal discomfort? taking align every day can help. align contains a quality probiotic developed by gastroenterologists. it adds more good bacteria to your gut to naturally help soothe your occasional bloating, gas and abdominal discomfort. support your digestive health with align, the #1 doctor recommended probiotic. try align today. and try new align fast acting biotic gummies. helps soothe occasional digestive upsets in as little as 7 days.
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(music) ♪ i think to myself ♪ ♪ what a wonderful world ♪
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(music) ♪ i think to myself ♪ ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ . . okay. so breaking news in the search
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for gabby petito to tell you about. she disappeared last month while on a cross country trip with her fiance, brian laundrie, who is refusing to speak to investigators. tonight police in north port, florida, speaking to his parents at their home at the family's request. police saying brian laundrie was not present. his family says they haven't seen him since tuesday. more on the desperate search for gabby petito from cnn's athena jones. >> reporter: as the search for gabrielle, gabby, petito, missing for weeks continues in wyoming and petito's family pleads with her fiance, brian laundrie, to tell them where he last saw gabby, laundrie's sister saying. >> we want her to be found safe. she's like a sister and my children love her. all i want for her is to come home safe and sound and this to be a big misunderstanding. >> reporter: gabby's father wants more from her. >> she is a mother, and she's got kids. so i'm hoping that the pleas and
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the begging and the community and the, you know, entire damn planet knocks some sense into her. >> reporter: petito and laundrie had been traveling cross country for months in her white 2012 ford transit van. >> it's only 10:00 in the morning, but it rained all afternoon yesterday. >> reporter: they documented their journey on social media, including youtube. >> all the chocolate melted. >> it's a river of chocolate. >> you can't keep chocolate in utah, not in july. >> reporter: petito's family last heard from her in late august. they believe she was last in the grand teton yellowstone area of wyoming. according to a lawyer for the family, petito spoke with her mother august 24th on facetime, saying she was leaving utah and heading to the tetons. cnn affiliate kstu reported
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petito was last seen checking out of a fairfield inn and suites in salt lake city on august 24th. the family's lawyer says petito and her mom exchanged multiple texts on august 25th and august 27th. the last text from gabby was on august 30th, but her family doubts she wrote it. it read "no service in yosemite." the family hasn't said why they're convinced gabby didn't send it or who they believe did. local police found petito's van and her fiance, brian, at the home they shared with his family in north port, florida. he returned there alone september 1st without reporting her missing. laundrie, officials say, is not cooperating with police. petito's family reported her missing on september 11th. >> we have never spoken a word with brian. >> reporter: weeks earlier on august 12th, police in moab city, utah, were called to a possible disorderly conduct situation captured in this body camera video. >> what's going on? how come you're crying? >> we've just been fighting this
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morning. some personal issues. and he won't let me in the car before. >> reporter: petito described in the police report as confused and emotional and manic. >> don't text each other tonight. >> reporter: at the officer's suggestion, the two separated for the night. one of the officers concluding the situation was the result of the a mental health crisis. no charges were filed. north port police say they don't know what, if anything, the incident had to do with petito's disappearance. a lawyer for the laundrie family saying earlier this week they would not be commenting. petito's stepfather, who was in wyoming to help look for her, begging brian laundrie to help. >> this is the love of your life. if that is true, then do the right thing. you need to do it now. stop waiting. >> reporter: at this point, multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating gabby petito's disappearance, including several fbi field offices. meanwhile, north port, florida, police are asking anyone who interacted with or saw brian or gabby or their van to get in touch. don? >> athena jones, thank you very
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much. we have some new information just coming in now on gabby's fiance, brian laundrie. we'll get to it right after this break. that's a nice truck. yeah, it's the chevy silverado. check out this multi-flex tailgate. multi-flex, huh? wow. it becomes a step. mom, dad's flexing again. that's not all. you can extend the bed for longer stuff. is he still... still flexing. that's right! and, it becomes a workspace... you can put your laptop here. i'm sending an imaginay email. hey dad, dinner! hey! look who stopped by daddy's office. wait, you work here? the chevy silverado with the available multi-flex tailgate. find new flexibility. find new roads. chevrolet.
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- [narrator] as you get ready for what's next, custom gear from custom ink can help make the most of these moments. we've developed new tools to make it easy for you. custom ink has hundreds of products to help you feel connected. upload your logo or start your design today at customink.com so we are back now with our breaking news. the desperate search for gabby petito. police in north port, florida, speaking tonight to the parents of her fiance, brian laundrie, at their home. his family says they haven't seen him since tuesday and now
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there are new details just coming out right now. so i want to bring in now the public information officer for the north port police in florida, and that is josh taylor. josh, thank you so much for joining. we appreciate it. so you have new information tonight. what can you tell us? >> right. so all week we've been asking brian's family for information, brian for information, and now this evening we were called by his family, who now informs us and says that they have not seen brian since tuesday and don't know where he is and are filing their own missing person report. >> okay. so was that the reason they wanted to speak to you? because before when we spoke to your chief last night, he said that, you know, the family hadn't spoken. the attorney -- you know, that they were communicating through an attorney, but nothing from the family. so was that the reason that they were available tonight is because they wanted to report him missing? >> that's correct. this is our first in-depth
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conversation with the family at all. >> okay. can you tell us anything about the circumstances of the last time the family saw him? >> they just said that he left. he had a backpack on. they expected him that he was going on a local hike and that he would be returning. of course that was tuesday. it's now friday. they had not heard from him. you know, you can make something of it, don, it would be great because it is certainly another twist in this story. >> do you feel they should have come forward sooner considering what's happened now? >> considering that we've been pleading and begging for information about gabby, our focus has been on finding gabby and bringing her home safe and trying to get information from him certainly because we believe he has some key information on where she may be.
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but, again, our focus has been on finding her. you know, the fact that we're now getting told four days later that he's been gone certainly isn't helpful. >> yeah. so, listen, before that, i just want to -- if you're just tuning in, there's new information now about brian laundrie. brian laundrie is still a person of interest, right, not a suspect. am i right, mr. taylor? >> yeah, that's correct. we'd seen some comments about why didn't you know exactly where he was? we're not working a criminal investigation. we're working a missing person investigation, and we're working alongside, you know, the fbi in all jurisdictions. he was free to go and do what he wanted out there in the community. you know, certainly finding out three, four days later that he's been gone is interesting unfortunately. >> there's a number up on the screen. it says 1-800-call-fbi.
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that's because you're working with the fbi now, so you're looking for him. he is a missing person now, correct? >> there is a missing person report filed by the family for him. >> so he's described white male, 5'8", 160 pounds, brown eyes, short brown hair, trimmed facial hair, last seen wearing a hiking bag with a wrist strap, or you said a backpack. listen -- and in the information that you put out, you said, we understand the community's frustration. we are frustrated too. for six days the north port police department and the fbi have been pleading with the family to contact investigators regarding brian's fiancee, gabby petito. it is important to note that while brian is a person of interest in gabby's disappearance, he is not wanted for a crime. we're not currently working a crime investigation. we are now working a multiple missing person investigation. i mean, look, you are the law
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enforcement expert, josh taylor. this is odd. >> we've said it's odd from the beginning. we know brian was back here for ten days and did not report anything. it wasn't until his family grew concerned and reported it to law enforcement, and we then learned the fact he'd been here in this community for ten days. >> i really do have to run but i have to ask you, did they take anything from the house, any evidence? can you tell us about that? >> don, i really can't honestly answer that. >> okay. >> they've returned here back just in the last hour. we can work on that. >> thank you, josh taylor. i appreciate it. we'll follow up. and thank you, everyone, for watching. before we go, i want to tell you about our special champions for change series happening all next week on cnn. stories that splotlight everyda people that may not make headlines but still inspire others. a quick preview now. >> join your favorite cnn
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anchors. >> immigrants enrich our country and they're proving it. >> sharing stories of change makers. >> this is one of the most devastating and yet preventable issues of our day. >> he helps the defenseless learn to defend themselves. >> theater teaches courage, confidence, trust. >> she saw a need, and every day she sets out to fulfill that need. >> he is using scuba diving for a better environment. >> she is a trail blazing black woman. >> preserving the ocean for our children. >> empowering women for financial independence. >> no one should drown because they don't know how to swim. >> very good, very good. >> small steps can lead to a big impact. >> help kids in school and beyond. >> he's a champion. >> she's a champion. >> for change. >> change. >> change. >> change. >> champions for change, all next week on cnn.
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where you are in the world, thanks for joining us, i'm robyn curnow live in atlanta. coming up, deadly error, the u.s. admits its drone strike in afghanistan was a amazing, after it killed innocent people, including seven children. calling for the ambassador to the u.s. and australia after a new security partnership. and what do we need to know about long covid and potential causes. that's next.

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