Brian Laundrie: Why this former FBI agent believes he'll soon be found alive
Former FBI agent Maureen O'Connell weighs in on the manhunt for Brian Laundrie and explains why she believes Laundrie will soon be found alive on 'Your World'
This is a rush transcript of "Your World" on September 30, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): My top line has been 1.5 because I believe in my heart that what we can do and what -- the needs we have right now and what we can afford to do, without basically changing our whole society to an entitlement mentality.
PROTESTERS: No reconciliation, no deal!
PROTESTER: Pass Build Back Better!
PROTESTER: Pass Build Back Better!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: All right, just say that Joe Manchin is not winning over any fans on the extreme left of his party, progressives a little bit concerned right now that his revised figure, a more acceptable figure for this infrastructure, or human infrastructure plan, whatever you want to call it at $3.5 trillion, he's more like at $1.5 trillion.
And it's opened up a chasm within moderates and those on the extreme left as to whether anything can get done, if that is his, shall we say, starting figure. It's hard to say.
Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto.
And we are on top of this spending showdown, because, while they are making progress avoiding a government shutdown that could have occurred as early as tonight -- right now, both the Senate and the House have approved a temporary spending measure that's on its way to the president's desk for his signature, so that immediate problem solved.
Now on to some of the spending issues that are coming up and this divide we keep talking about between moderates and the progresses within the Democratic Party. It seems that, for the time being, Republicans are standing this one out.
We have got the latest for it with the best in the business covering this, including Chad Pergram with the view from the Capitol. We will also have Jacqui Heinrich with the view from the White House.
First to Chad at the Capitol.
Chad, what can you tell us?
CHAD PERGRAM, FOX NEWS CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Neil.
This underscores the infighting among Democrats about what they can do with their narrow majorities. That is the reality. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insists it's all about -- it's all possible, despite a three-seat advantage in the House of Representatives.
Pelosi says the social spending package is coming, but the speaker didn't have a number.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): No doubt in anyone's mind that we will not have a reconciliation. We will have a reconciliation bill. That is for sure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERGRAM: This comes as liberals have threatened to nuke the bipartisan infrastructure bill that is still set for a vote later today.
Pelosi was optimistic, but a coalition of progressives wants to tank the bill because they didn't get their $3.5 trillion bill first.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-WA): And we reiterated this again to the speaker.
And we're in the same place, that we will not be able to vote for the reconciliation -- for the infrastructure bill until the reconciliation bill has passed.
So we're in the same place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERGRAM: So, we expect a debate and vote on the infrastructure bill later today. Pelosi believed they would pass the bill. Remember, historically Pelosi doesn't go to the floor and lose.
We are told there are about 10 or more Republicans who would vote yes on the bill. But if 40 progressives bolt, that math doesn't add up. the House majority whip, Jim Clyburn, says he has not whipped the vote. There is one theory that the bill may need to fail now in order to succeed later -- Neil.
CAVUTO: ... very much.
Now to the president, how he is sort of taking all of this in. There were reports earlier that he was planning a trip to Capitol Hill to see for himself.
Jacqui Heinrich at the White House with more on that -- Jacqui.
JACQUI HEINRICH, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good afternoon to you, Neil.
Well, one headline that's really getting buried in all of this drama that we're seeing play out on the Hill is that the price tag of this reconciliation deal has dropped significantly as a -- or because of, rather, all the talks that have been brokered through the White House over the last few days.
It is no longer at the $3.5 trillion that they were initially looking at.
It's now been in the low to mid $2 trillion range. But, of course, that number is very fluid. The details haven't been hashed out. Nobody has agreed to anything concretely, but important to note there that it's not 3.5. It's also not 1.5, at least as of these conversations that have been happening this week.
So there was a lot of noise, though, this morning from that memo from July that leaked. Senator Manchin sent that letter to Chuck Schumer this summer.
It was also shared with the president this week, saying that Manchin would support a $1.5 trillion reconciliation package and couldn't guarantee anything above that.
Now, Schumer sign that memo with a handwritten note at the bottom saying:
"I will try to dissuade Joe on many of these things." But knowing what we know now, that the amount of discussion is higher than 1.5, it's lower than 3.5, somewhere in the low to mid $2 trillion area, that all appears like a big distraction.
It's upsetting the House progressives, who are threatening to tank support for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which Speaker Pelosi says is still getting a vote, as Chad mentioned.
One progressive source though, told me that anything less than 2.5 would be very hard to swallow. They're waiting on specifics, including for programs, specific programs and the pay-fors.
Sources say, never mind what it looks like from the outside. Even from the inside, this is a food fight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Has the president at all lost control of his party?
Depending on which perspective you're looking at this from, you have some people say that it appears that progressives are running the show. They're banding together and making their demands. Other people are saying it looks like Joe Manchin is playing president.
So who is in charge?
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, this is how democracy works.
I know it feels foreign because there wasn't much that happened over the last couple of years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEINRICH: Now, amid all of this negotiating, the White House is of course, putting out a different number about what the reconciliation deal, the social spending actually costs. Their number is zero. They keep going back to the fact that they say it's entirely paid for through those repeals, the wasteful tax giveaways to the rich and corporations, as they phrase it.
So their number officially is zero. Doesn't seem to be reading that way, though, in the House. All this is still ongoing, Neil.
CAVUTO: Yes, it's sort of like saying that if you can make your mortgage payment, and you had the money, that your mortgage payment doesn't cost anything, so it's zero.
HEINRICH: Right.
CAVUTO: Would if life were that way.
But, Jacqui, I am curious about how the president feels about maybe the infrastructure-only package, the one that had bipartisan support in the Senate. I believe 19 Republicans signed onto that, whether he fears it's slipping away right now, and that, while it might be voted on, it might not either, and it might be pushed back.
HEINRICH: Yes.
And we asked about that at the White House today, because the president, remember, stood outside of the White House with those Republican senators who signed onto that deal, who helped broker that deal, touted this as a vote, a bill that could be voted on its merits and said, look, these two bills are separate. They are not linked.
CAVUTO: Right.
HEINRICH: But if the progressives in the House tank this bill, it looks to Republicans like they are in fact linked, because if you can't pass the bill that's been voted on in the Senate without getting the social spending, how does that message sit?
So the message at the White House is that they want this vote on the BIF, the bipartisan bill, to happen, they want it to pass. They are not looking at other options. But it looks like progressives are going to be the math on that to determine if that actually plays out.
CAVUTO: You know what's amazing here? We call this sausage making, but, Jacqui, this might surprise you.
I come from a family of sausage makers. I think this is an insult to sausage makers, but I digress. I digress.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: All right, Jacqui, thank you very much for that.
Man, oh, man, what a mess, right? And it's getting messier.
Bob Cusack with us right now, The Hill editor in chief.
Bob, a question for you. What's to stop Nancy Pelosi from trying to call, let's say, some of these progresses' bluff? We're not going to vote for this if it comes our way, because we don't have this reconciliation package, this social policy, reconciliation. They call it a variety of things, no longer human infrastructure. So I don't want to offend them.
But what if she said, all right, game on? I'm putting this up. You don't vote for it, you damage the party, you damage the president. I'm going to do it. What do you think?
BOB CUSACK, THE HILL: Yes.
Well, she certainly could do that, though she has been kind of boasting in recent days she doesn't bring any bill to the floor unless it has the votes. But, here, she's had to rely on least some Republican votes, as Chad was saying, maybe more Republican votes. And maybe the president should be calling Republicans, not Democrats, to offset the progressives, because he's got to get a win.
He ran as a bipartisan candidate. He doesn't have a bipartisan win. August was tough for the president because of Afghanistan. September, Democrats have been all over the map.
And, Neil, one thing to think about is the November Virginia gubernatorial election. If Terry McAuliffe loses that race, that's a must-win for Democrats. That could be like a Scott Brown win, when he won Kennedy's seat, where it really imploded the Democratic Party, at least for some time, until they regrouped and were able to pass Obamacare.
But they're not going to be able to pass, I think, anything big, certainly not that reconciliation package, anytime soon.
CAVUTO: Well, McAuliffe really stepped in it, in that debate, when he was talking about parents shouldn't interfere with teachers and what they teach. That's coming back to haunt him.
But you raise a very good point. So I'd like to get a bigger look at the picture here. I think the more pressing thing for the time being is the debt ceiling issue and the notion that something's got to be done, to hear the Treasury secretary tell it by October 18 at the latest, at which point we -- I guess we supposedly run out of money.
There are ways to rob Peter to pay Paul. I get that, and a way they can keep that going longer. But that is far from resolved, right?
CUSACK: That's far from resolved.
And I think they probably have a little bit more leeway, as you know, Neil, that she says the 18th. That probably means maybe the 25th.
CAVUTO: Right.
CUSACK: But the Democratic Party is saying, listen, we're going to -- we want Republican votes.
They're not going to get Republican votes. They're -- basically, Mitch McConnell said, I'm not going to raise the debt ceiling so you can spend trillions of dollars. That's a decent argument.
And Chuck Schumer, I think, is in a standoff with McConnell. He doesn't want McConnell to win. And he calls going through the reconciliation, meaning you don't need Republican votes, as a nonstarter.
Well, I think it's going to have to be a starter, because they are going to raise the debt ceiling one way or the other. And I don't know how they do it unless they go through the partisan reconciliation way, because they're not getting any Republican votes right now.
CAVUTO: What a mess. What a mess. What a mess.
Bob, thank you very, very much, Bob Cusack on all of that.
CUSACK: Thanks, Neil.
CAVUTO: You can understand then why the stocks were tanking today, you see in the corner of your screen. For those of you listening, we fell about 546 points, a lot of this on fear of the unknown.
Markets hate all of a sudden variables that they can't quantify or see happening. They don't like to be surprised. And it was a surprise, all these developments early this morning, with deals falling apart, not that they welcome all the spending, but concerned about how it spills over to things like keeping the government open, addressing the debt ceiling.
The closer we get to that, the more nervous they get.
Susan Li with more on all of that -- Susan.
SUSAN LI, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so right, Neil, last day of the month, the last day of the quarter, and it's a September to forget, worst month for the stock markets in a year.
So you saw the S&P 500, the Dow Jones industrials and the tech-heavy Nasdaq all down more than 4 percent in the month. Historically, yes, we know September is usually the worst month of the year for stock markets, well, the last trading day also negative two-thirds of the time, so we're pretty much par for the course.
Now, as for the quarter, which also ends today, the S&P 500, the Nasdaq are still up, continuing their six-quarter winning streak, and the Dow, though, snapping a five-quarter winning streak.
So what's keeping Wall Street on the sidelines? Well, you have to remember it's been a pretty good year so far, the best first nine months of the year going back to 1997, the S&P 500 still up 15 percent. But there's concern that consumer prices are rising just too quickly.
And that did continue in September and over the summer, oil prices at three-year highs. Home prices saw the biggest jump in history. And food prices are surging at the fastest pace in 11 years.
Now, the Federal Reserve chairman, Jay Powell, again reiterating today that prices should come down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME POWELL, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: You have an expectation that high inflation will abate, because we think the factors that are causing it are temporary and tied to the pandemic and the reopening of the economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LI: But if prices don't come down and jobs growth continues to stall, like what we saw over the summer, the Federal Reserve will be in a difficult position.
Do they raise interest rates and pull back on stimulus to keep inflation under control? Or do they keep the spigots turned on to help employment recover? And that's another reason, Neil, that Wall Street's concerned about a difficult balancing act and maybe a policy mistake for the Federal Reserve.
CAVUTO: Susan, real quickly, it's surprising the Dow did fall.
If you could flip this around and say, if this delays of these packages or maybe prevents it from even happening this year, that also delays the tax hikes that are very much a part of them.
LI: Yes.
CAVUTO: But that's not obviously what the Street is looking at.
LI: No.
They're looking at that yield, right, which we saw above 1.5 percent, which is the highest that we have seen in three months.
CAVUTO: Right.
LI: And that is indicative of rising consumer prices and also, by the way, a reopening theme, yes, but also higher interest rates and the pulling back and the tapering of that stimulus pretty soon.
CAVUTO: Yes, so they combined it all. They just didn't like it.
LI: Yes.
CAVUTO: Thank you Susan, very, very much.
Another thing that you might not like, even though you think, all right, it's just the rich who are going to be paying for this if it comes to fruition, some fascinating new studies that are out that say, no, no, no, it will go a lot lower than that $400,000 level.
Try $40,000, and the tax man hits you too -- after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: All right, that naturally leads us, by the way, to Congress.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: Just joking.
But there's a mess there. I mean, you talk about that. But hidden in all of this budget back-and-forth and the spending is the taxing, about $2 trillion worth. And that might be conservative. But there are other features tucked in there, including giving the IRS almost 80 billion bucks to beef up enforcement.
What does that mean?
Aishah Hasnie on Capitol Hill with more -- Aishah.
AISHAH HASNIE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Neil.
Yes, you hit it right on the head. All of this hangs on whether or not we see the spending bill even go anywhere, but let's pretend that it does and the IRS piece stands as it is. Then, yes, there are going to be a lot of changes that you're going to see.
And let's talk about them right now, first and foremost, the biggest one that might affect you at home, banks are going to be required to report all transactions above $600. That's in. That's out. That's probably going to impact you at home.
The government can expand audits and investigations, and then all of this leads to the IRS budget receiving six times the monthly traditional scheduled amount. Republicans are enraged over the new reporting requirements.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): If you buy a new car, they have to know?
You take your kids to Disney World, they need to know? I don't think so.
But that's what they want.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HASNIE: All right, so this isn't just a GOP talking point, Neil.
Plenty of Americans and even banks are concerned about this. Senator John Barrasso tells FOX thousands of his constituents have contacted his office already really worried about this new reporting requirement that might be passed into law, while the American Bankers Association is calling on their customers to fight the -- quote -- "unnecessarily broad proposal."
And Nebraska, by the way, becomes the first state now to say, look, we're not going to comply with this. We're not going to do this.
Now, there is chatter right now, Neil, about a possible amendment to this.
Democrat Senator Ron Wyden, he's the chairman of the Joint Committee On Taxation, was telling us that his party is trying to work on -- quote -- "reasonable criteria" to focus on the very wealthy, not the middle class, but really didn't want to get into specifics about the numbers with us.
Again, all of this hinging on whether or not the Democrats can come together and pass this reconciliation, this big old spending bill. So we shall see. But keep an eye on this. Keep an eye on the IRS, because they're watching you.
CAVUTO: Yes, that is a little bit of a creepy provision in there.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: Aishah, thank you very, very much.
My next guest not surprised, warned that this sort of thing would pop up here.
Congressman Kevin Brady of Texas sits on the House Ways and Means Committee, the ranking member, the man who made possible the tax cuts under Donald Trump.
Congressman, what do you make of just that IRS provision, because that would supposedly start monitoring people who are shifting as little as $600 back and forth?
REP. KEVIN BRADY (R-TX): Yes, Neil, it is pretty frightening. And, frankly, it's an intrusion into people's lives that, frankly, isn't deserved.
So the IRS has always wanted to get more information to close the so-called tax gap. And, privately, they have always said, we think it's the farmers in the small businesses that are evading taxes. They have always wanted to try to figure out how to do that.
This is how they do it, by capturing all this information from families, from farmers, from small businesses that, frankly, they don't deserve to have. But, more importantly, they don't do a very good job of keeping that information private.
As you know, they have a history, unfortunately, of leaking taxpayer information.
CAVUTO: Yes.
BRADY: More recently, we have seen this investigation into all the thousands of tax returns over 15 years that has been leaked to ProPublica.
Again, the IRS doesn't seem to be making any progress in finding out to what got stolen or how. So, yes, this is a -- for most Americans, the thought that Congress would unleash, Democrats would unleash 80,000 new IRS agents and surveil your bank accounts -- and I will tell you, even if they lift the threshold to $10,000, remember, this is the total activity each year.
So, a family making $900 a month would be triggered into this bank surveillance. So I don't think -- they are not going after the wealthy and the big corporations. They're going after families and farmers and small businesses.
CAVUTO: And it puts your relationship with your bank in question too. No wonder why the banks aren't keen on this.
BRADY: Yes.
CAVUTO: Because then, all of a sudden, they're, like, spying on you as well.
But, that aside, Congressman, this looks dicey, the whole $3.5 trillion -- I guess Joe Manchin wants it down to $1.5 trillion infrastructure package that progressives want badly.
But inherent in that are all these other tax increases that you have already discovered go way beyond the rich, the well-to-do. Give me a couple of examples of how this hits people much lower.
BRADY: Yes, so don't take my word for this, Neil.
The Joint Committee on Taxation, which is the official scorekeeper for Congress...
CAVUTO: Right.
BRADY: ... has laid out how families making $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 a year will see tax increases, even more meaningful as time goes on.
They're joined by the Tax Policy Center, which is really left-leaning, that says, next year, two-thirds of low-income and moderate-income families will see tax increases. That grows to over 90 percent. They do it through taxes...
CAVUTO: But it's based on what, Congressman?
BRADY: Yes.
CAVUTO: It's based on that it loops in people who otherwise -- like, with the Alternative Minimum Tax, who were not touched by it.
BRADY: Captures them.
CAVUTO: But that it grows, right?
BRADY: Yes. That's exactly right.
You capture it with about five taxes on small businesses. Certainly, you're always -- these workers are always impacted on the corporate tax, but also, obviously, the tobacco and vaping tax lands almost completely -- that's
$100 billion -- completely on those types of households, unfortunately.
So, taken together, there's no question the president breaks his pledge on this tax bill.
CAVUTO: Real quickly, judging from the fighting back and forth today, Congressman, and the Democrats at war with themselves over how far and how wide to go on this $3.5 trillion package, I'm just wondering whether it ever happens.
Is it your sense that this could blow up on the president, that these packages disappear, and so do the tax hikes, and then people worried about them need not fear? What do you say?
BRADY: Yes, so I think it blows up on the president either now, as it collapses, or next November, when the American public put Republicans in charge of the House and perhaps the Senate as well.
This package is in jeopardy. There is a massive fight within that party.
The question isn't really this week about President -- Speaker Pelosi's leadership. It's a test of whether there are any moderate Democrats who will stand up to that agenda and those tax increases.
The other point I should make is, don't be distracted by the number.
Democrats, depending what they do, they can -- they can have all the crippling tax increases that people fear in $1.5 trillion. And they can do the most damaging expansion of welfare reform within that same $1.5 trillion.
So it is more than just the numbers that are being debated.
CAVUTO: Yes. And, as you say, $1.5 trillion, even if it's that low, that used to be the budget of the United States not too long ago.
BRADY: Yes.
CAVUTO: And that was the total debt this country had when Ronald Reagan assumed office. It's hard to believe, Congressman.
But thank you very, very much. Very good seeing you.
BRADY: Thanks, Neil. Good to see you.
CAVUTO: All right, same here.
We are monitoring a couple of things for you right now on this whole Washington development.
Nancy Pelosi is going to make a statement on something that does not have direct correlation to what's being debated right now, but she will likely be taking questions and will likely respond and update us on this progress right now to get something done on the original infrastructure package itself.
That's the $1.2 trillion package, for which we understand there is bipartisan support, but it will, oddly enough, include more Democrats who are leery of it, in fact, progressives, who, to a man and woman, have said that they will not vote for it if it comes to them.
We will keep monitoring that. Stay with us. You're watching "Your World."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: Well, apparently, the buck doesn't stop at $1 at the Dollar Tree, indicating right now it has to push up things a little bit, maybe $1.25, $1.5, $2, but the Dollar Tree, an iconic symbol, raising its prices.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: All right, the search continues right now for Brian Laundrie.
And they are searching out the more unusual types of tips that are coming their way.
Jonathan Serrie has more from North Port, Florida, on this -- Jonathan.
JONATHAN SERRIE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Neil.
In fact, this afternoon, the FBI returned to the home of Brian Laundrie's parents. Agents wouldn't say what they were doing there, but the Laundrie family attorney tells us that the FBI was gathering some additional personal items of Brian Laundrie.
Steven Bertolino tells us these items will assist dogs in their search for Brian and -- quote -- "There is nothing more to this."
Investigators were also seen photographing the Laundries' camper trailer.
Pinellas County authorities say the FBI is looking at security camera video from Fort De Soto Park, where Brian and his parents went camping about five days after he returned home alone from his trip out West with his girlfriend, Gabby Petito.
Bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman led a private search team to several islands near the park, but found no conclusive traces that Brian was there.
The Laundrie family's attorney confirms Brian purchased a new cell phone on September 4, but says it's not a burner.
In a text to FOX News, Steven Bertolino writes: "Brian left that phone at home the day he went for a hike in the preserve on September 14, 2021. And the FBI now has that phone."
While police search for Brian in the nearby Carlton Reserve, his parents continue to keep a low profile, but the city's 911 center received 46 calls associated with either disturbance or other concerns near their home from September 10 to September 27. And then, yesterday, a protester outside the home called 911.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to prison.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good! I will (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I will kill you!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERRIE: One of the Laundries' neighbors had confronted the protester for allegedly stepping on his property. The protester accused the neighbor of pushing him. Police arrived on the scene, and they arrested the neighbor for alleged battery -- Neil, back to you.
CAVUTO: It's got to be crazy for the neighbors there. I mean, there's this throng of protesters, the media, and everything else. Holy cow.
Jonathan Serrie, thank you very, very much on that.
Maureen O'Connell with us now, former FBI agent.
Maureen, it's the biggest mystery, right? Where is this guy? And they seek out and follow all types of tips and clues. And they're getting thousands of calls and all that.
But it seems like a good chase. But where do you think this is going?
MAUREEN O'CONNELL, FORMER FBI AGENT: Well, I think it's -- I think it's getting to the end.
I actually have a feeling that he's going to be found and he's going to be found alive, that all the information that's been coming in for weeks now, as you layer it upon itself, you can start to see all these things coming to fruition.
For example, now they're starting to really piece together the activities of the parents. When you look at what was done vs. what wasn't done and the timing of that, oftentimes, you can find the point where they decided that they were going to 100 percent support their son, and not support the Petito family or Gabby.
And from that point forward, they're looking at where they went and they're scouring social media. All kinds of Web sites and Facebook pages and everything are dedicated to these online sleuths pulling apart all this information and trying to give it to authorities to bring Brian Laundrie to justice.
CAVUTO: Now, obviously, I take it as a given, Maureen, that they have already gone through the Laundrie family's phone records, anything that can give them a hint as to whether they're communicating with Brian.
They say no, but there are a lot of clues, not only about their secretiveness, but how they even dealt with all of this when Brian first came home alone. I'm just wondering, what do they look for? How do they try to piece all this together?
O'CONNELL: Well, first of all, when they're looking at Brian talking to his parents, there was likely a telephone call on the way when he first left Gabby, where he told his parents, I'm coming home alone.
And then they started saying, why? Then maybe the mother or the father called him back. And you can imagine that scenario just unfolding. Then they bought that phone, which he says he left at the home, which, to me, it's another red herring. This whole case is filled with one wild goose chase after another.
And I think it's -- I think we -- I would be surprised if we found out that he didn't get an even -- another phone. He wanted the authorities to think that he's out there without a phone. He wanted the authorities in Moab to think he didn't have a phone. And, in fact, he did have a phone. He pulled it out later in the interview.
So, I really -- I think they're looking at the phones. They're looking at everyone these parents are contacting. And when they saw the parents leave the house, when they got the footage of them going to this AT&T store to buy that burner phone that he left at home, I'm sure they followed that car everywhere they could trying to figure out if in fact they stopped anyplace else.
At that point, my guess would be that the parents did have their regular phones with them. And those phones were pinging off the cell phone towers, so they'd be able to narrow that down a little bit.
CAVUTO: Right.
O'CONNELL: This whole thing is very, very manpower-intensive.
CAVUTO: Yes, to put it mildly.
But it's interesting. You still think he's alive, Maureen. And you have got a pretty good record on this stuff.
Maureen O'Connell, the former FBI agent.
If we got any more updates on this, of course, we will pass them along.
In the meantime, you have heard about all of these companies that are demanding, mandating that you get vaccines, or you're not welcome back, but now to extend that to those who are applying for a job?
After this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: Well, forget about demanding a vaccine for workers to keep their job. Some companies now are requiring the same for those applying for a job.
Mercedes Colwin joins us right now, FOX News legal analyst.
Can they do that, Mercedes?
MERCEDES COLWIN, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: The short answer is yes, Neil.
They can actually ask questions about whether or not you're vaccinated. And based on those answers, they can decline to actually hire you. It's all under this whole rubric about being public -- public safety. Now that OSHA is involved, and you have to, as an employer, make sure that your work force is safe for your employees, you can make those decisions.
And those are hard decisions, because, obviously, there are people that are not vaccinated for various reasons. There might be religious observances.
There might be medical reasons. And that's when it gets a little sticky.
But the short answer is, yes, you as an employer can say only -- I'm only going to hire vaccinated individuals. You have that carte blanche, except for those two exceptions. But, right now, you can ask those questions and make a determination that you won't hire them.
CAVUTO: All right, it's still a very small percentage overall.
COLWIN: Sure.
CAVUTO: But this survey by Indeed.com has said that the number has already ballooned about 242 percent in the last month, so more and more companies are going this route.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
COLWIN: Right.
CAVUTO: It makes sense. If you're demanding your existing workers be vaccinated, it's not a huge leap to start requiring those who want a job be vaccinated.
But where is all of this going? Because some companies are forcing other issues the mandate issue, United Airlines, which will likely result in 600 people losing their jobs because they refuse to get vaccinated.
COLWIN: Right.
CAVUTO: Where do you think this ends up?
COLWIN: Well, this is for the long haul. I think that all of these issues that are in place right now about COVID will continue for a period of time.
But, right now, a lot of the employers -- and you have got a lot of support with the enforcement agencies that say, yes, you can ask those questions about vaccination. Yes, you can mandate those -- the fact that everyone be vaccinated, and one thing to just create a layer of protection.
If you're going to make hiring decisions on people that are not vaccinated, make sure you have a third party that's involved in the hiring process. So screen out those individuals that are not vaccinated before it gets to the body of individuals that are actually going to make the determination as to whether or not to hire, because that's when it starts to get a little sticky.
But even the lawsuits -- I mean, there was a test case that came down, and we thought for certain -- obviously, as a corporate lawyer, I was looking very closely at this case, where an employer mandated vaccinations, went to the process of terminating the individuals, and it was upheld, even all of those arguments that were flung by those employees that they shouldn't be required to have a vaccine, that it's still unknown as to whether there are not any residual effects if you get vaccinated.
Those were pretty much set aside by the court and said that the vaccines are safe and that employers do have the opportunity -- they have the right to see that their employees be vaccinated.
CAVUTO: All right. Well, get a jab if you want your job or if you even want to apply for the job. I guess that's the message.
COLWIN: Yes.
CAVUTO: Thank you very much for, Mercedes. Good catching up with you, Mercedes Colwin.
COLWIN: Always a pleasure.
CAVUTO: All right, we told you about the Dollar Tree.
Same here.
We told you about the Dollar Tree, right, famous for every item there is $1 or thereabouts, now maybe about $1.25, $1.50, could be two bucks. But it's not just the Dollar Tree anymore.
And I have a feeling it won't just be the Dollar Tree anymore -- after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANCHIN: Dollar Store is not going to be the dollar anymore. It's going to be $1.25, $1.50.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAVUTO: All right, Joe Manchin, of course, concerned about all the spending on Capitol Hill and why he wants a smaller human infrastructure package, not $3.5 trillion, $1.5 trillion, more to his speed, because inflation is already rampant and the government doesn't need to add to it.
Of course, he was referring to the Dollar Tree. The famous and iconic retailer that sells things for $1, or just about, now has to push those prices up, inflation, a sign of the times.
Ashley Webster seeing it for himself in person in Savannah, Georgia.
It's a huge, huge shipping container port there.
Ashley, you're already getting clear indications there that this is real, huh?
ASHLEY WEBSTER, FOX NEWS BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's truly remarkable, the scale of this operation, Neil.
Let me show you. This is a huge cargo ship out of China, Hong Kong, can carry up to 14,000 containers. Can you imagine? And it's a continual cycle,
24 hours a day, seven days a week, to unload these cargo ships and then reload them with American exports.
But the problem is, the volume coming into the ports has been so overwhelming that the supply chain has started to slow down. That is reflected in higher prices and also in longer delays. So, you might start seeing more store shelves be empty or at least certainly bare.
Now, why is this happening? Consumer demand is up. We see businesses trying to bulk up their inventories. And this is the beginning of the busy holiday season. It's all kind of happened together. And, by the way, there is a shortage of truck drivers, which hasn't helped, especially on the West Coast.
Now, as for delays from the ports getting to the stores, compared to last year, it is up 43 percent. That gives you an indication of how slowly the cargo is being distributed around the country.
We spoke with Griff Lynch. He is the executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority, who says no doubt it is much of a challenge to move all of this freight. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFF LYNCH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GEORGIA PORTS AUTHORITY: We're overwhelmed with freight. But I would say we're doing a lot better than most.
I think if you're, in the Southeast, you're going to be OK. It's going to be a challenge.
WEBSTER: Yes.
LYNCH: But I can't speak for all the ports around North America. There are some major hiccups. But we're going to be fine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WEBSTER: Well, there you have it, Neil. It's just volume and volume and volume. You have to process it. You have to get it on the trains. You have to get it on the trucks. The price of things that going up, bacon.
But, so far, good news for you, apparently cannolis are not impacted. But we're following that story for you very carefully -- Neil, back to you.
CAVUTO: You know, I was supposed to go to Savannah to cover this, but they said, Neil, you're going to have to wear a helmet.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: And I said, all right, Ashley, you look good, my friend. You look good.
WEBSTER: Thank you. Thank you.
CAVUTO: He has all that hair. He's got a lot of hair. Look at that. There we go. It's a work of art.
Ashley Webster in Savannah, Georgia, on that.
Have you heard of all the fuss over the booster shots, and some people getting nervous? Well, apparently half-a-million, half-a-million Americans have already taken this booster shot. So what's going on there?
After this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: You know, you think about it, it just came on this weekend, right?
You had now a half-a-million Americans who have gotten these booster shots, the one from Pfizer, with a promise that Moderna's could be cleared soon by the FDA in a half-dose form.
But the fact of the matter is, it's all the rage right now.
Dr. Richard Besser joins us, the former CDC acting director, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation CEO.
Director, what do you make of this? I mean, that's an unusually high number of Americans who've already gotten this booster shot.
DR. RICHARD BESSER, CEO, ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION: Yes, Neil.
And when you when you look at the data that CDC has up on their Web site, it's actually a lot more than that, because even before the FDA and CDC had approved and made the recommendations, there were over two million people who had already gone for a booster.
And I think it reflects the fear a lot of people have, when you look across the country, when you see how much of COVID is still taking place, and you see that there are still a significant number of people in America who have not decided to get vaccinated yet. It causes fear. It causes concern.
And I think that's what we're seeing now, is people wanting to make sure they have all the protection that they can get.
CAVUTO: But it can also flip the other way, right, Doctor?
When you and I were last talking about this, there are among the unvaccinated those who say, well, this is proof that the vaccines themselves don't work or you need a booster shot. So why the hell should I get it? So it can have the opposite effect, right?
BESSER: Yes, I think people line up the facts to support the position that they're in.
And what we're seeing is that there are a significant number of people who are entrenched and have decided that they are not going to get vaccinated.
But there's some new data out from Kaiser Family Foundation that gives me some hope.
You know, 72 percent of adults across the country are vaccinated. The gap between black, white, Latino Americans has gone away. It's roughly the same number. But there are figures there that are concerning. There is a much lower rate of vaccination in rural communities.
And I don't know how much is due to access challenges -- there clearly are access challenges to health care in some rural communities -- and how much is due to people deciding, I want to see more information, I want to make sure that this is the right thing for me.
But when you see that, you realize that, in many communities, there will continue to be a lot of COVID circulating if more people don't get their first vaccines. Boosters is one thing, but people not getting their primary series of vaccinations is a big concern.
CAVUTO: In the meantime, we know that Pfizer's working on one for children as young as 5, I think to 11, Doctor.
How do you feel about that?
BESSER: Yes, so I'm a general pediatrician. And I think it's very important that companies are working on vaccines for children.
I want to withhold judgment in terms of my position on that until they have been reviewed, until the data has been looked at, until it's been looked at by the independent advisory committees to the FDA and CDC, so that people can balance the decisions.
Thankfully, COVID is less severe in children. That doesn't mean it's not severe or can't be severe. We're seeing children's hospitals in many parts of the country that are overflowing. And that gives me great concern.
But I want to make sure that the work has been done to show that the vaccines are both safe and effective in young children before I decide who I'm going to recommend it for. If we don't have that, then we're going to see real challenges in terms of people being -- wanting to give these to their children.
We need safe and effective vaccines for kids. And I hope these are going to prove to be that.
CAVUTO: All right, we shall see.
Dr. Richard Besser, always great catching up with you, the former CDC acting director, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation CEO.
In the meantime, as we wrap up here, just to let you know, both the Senate and the House have approved this temporary spending measure to sort of keep the government lights on. They had just hours to go before the end of the fiscal year.
The president is expected to sign this later tonight, but there's still a lot more left to be done and a lot of bruised egos on both the left the right within the Democratic Party. Not really clear where they go next. We shall see.
Here's "The Five."
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