been erased from the internet. ♪ good morning to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. it is thursday, september 23rd. and dive teams will be back in the water today near the florida home of brian laundrie. the fiancee of 22-year-old gabby petito has not been seen now for nearly two weeks since returning home from their road trip alone. a large boat arrived midday wednesday in a swampy 25,000 acre reserve where laundrie told his parents he was headed last week. after four days of searching, there is still no sign of him >> new clues what may have been the final hours of petito's life. a couple who said they witnessed an incident involving petito and laundrie in a restaurant. it may have been one of the last sightings of gabby before her death. the couple reports seeing a commotion that had petito visibly upset >> amara walker is on the story for us in venice, florida, with the latest on the search for brian laundrie. amara, what are you hearing? >> reporter: good morning to you both. yeah, yesterday a specialized team of divers was on scene all day. but we're told their search turned up nothing. so law enforcement will be resuming that search here at the carlton reserve for brian laundrie. and they say they are trying to cover every acre. still no signs of brian laundrie this morning, as investigators expand the urgent search for gabby petito's fiancee >> we have deployed numerous resources. we are trying to cover every acre in this reserve. >> reporter: authorities using canines to help search on the ground and flying drones over the 25,000 acres of swamplands of this florida nature reserve. specialized under water dive teams arriving to assist while high-water vehicles navigate through waist-deep water. >> physical searches like that and that type of remote were area present all kinds of problems. it's a marshy area. it's thick with foliage. it's very hard to get into certain spots. >> reporter: laundrie going missing after returning to the family home the couple shared with his parents without petito september 1st. the fbi is asking the public to help find laundrie. >> it is usually a sign that you have a very challenging manhunt on your hands. >> reporter: they are also seeking assistance to piece together the timeline of petito's final days. august 12th, petito sharing this photo on instagram. that's the same day a witness dialed 911 to report a domestic dispute between her and laundrie, prompting police to pull them over. >> we have been fighting all morning. >> reporter: one week later -- >> i love the van. >> reporter: the couple posting this video on their youtube page, documenting their cross country journey. jessica schultz ten telling the "san francisco chronicle" she saw laundrie a week later in his van, close to where they found petito's remains. >> i was checking out to see if it was a couple or solo dude. it was a solo dude as far as i could see. >> reporter: youtube bloggers also say she spotted the vehicle. she saw him in jacks son, wyoming that day, describing a commotion where petito was in tears and laundrie was visibly angry. >> she was hysterically crying. and she walked out and she was crying and standing on the sidewalk. and i was watching the whole thing unfold. he walked in four more times to talk to the manager and tell the hostess. >> reporter: the same day and affidavit that petito's mother received an odd text from her daughter's phone that referred to her grandfather my stan, which she never did. witness tips can help move a probe further. >> right now the focus has to be on trying to locate him, dead or alive. >> reporter: so the fbi of course is focused right now on finding brian laundrie. but they're also focused on this timeline from august 27th to the 30th. they want to know what happened between gabby petito and brian laundrie. they are asking anyone who may have had contact with them or even just saw their seek in the grand teton national park to give them a call. brianna. >> amara walker, thank you for that report. i want to bring in andrew mccabe, former deputy fbi director and author of the "the threat how the threat protects america in the age of terror and trump." this new bit of reporting from randi kaye who has been out in wyoming, this restaurant, where a couple saw, you know, a heated exchange between brian laundrie. gabby petito physically upset. may have been the last time anyone saw her alive. how does that fit into the puzzle for investigators? >> john, these reports are incredibly helpful to investigators primarily because they put the victim and the potential subject in a definitive place at a specific time. so that helps them build this timeline to kind of bridge back to that moment of when gabby was killed. as for the kind of personal remembrances of people who may have seen their interaction, that becomes less helpful. we all know that eyewitness testimony is typically -- can be very inaccurate. people's remembrances of things change over time. being able to pin them down a lot a particular day in time is very helpful. >> i want to talk about the search for brian laundrie. they keep going back to the nature preserve. now they have divers searching under water. do they have to have some sign of shred of evidence to keep on doing this, or is this just hoping for something? >> you know, law enforcement on the scene has been very definitive saying they will search every acre of that property. 25,000 acres. that is approximately 40 square miles of turf they've got to cover. they are at 80 miles of hiking trails within that park. it's a big place. at some point if they find no sign of ryan whatsoever, they will have to redirect the resources to other investigative efforts. >> how hard would it be if he were to be on the run right now? how long could someone like that do it, do you think? >> it's incredibly hard to be on the run. i can tell you in my 21 years in law enforcement and the fbi, i have seen very few people do it successfully for a long time. you are thinking about whitey bulger, eric robert rudolph, the olympic park bomber, who lived in the woods five years before we found him. you have to have money, you have to have support from your family, from the community, and you have to have a deep level of kind of cunning and street smarts to be able to kind of bridge from one place to the next. there is no indication that brian laundrie has any of those things working to his advantage at this point. and if he's, in fact, in that reserve, that is an incredibly harsh environment in which to try to sustain yourself. . >> you brought up the family there. we have no indication that the fbi is investigating the parents or the family in connection with any of this. but you brought up eric rudolph, whitey bulger, sometimes the family can help you. at this point if anyone were trying to help, and it would be very hard because the fbi is there -- >> that's absolutely right. it is those efforts to support a fugitive that lead the fbi right to the fugitive's doorstep. they will be looking closely at any sort of communications, access to financial instruments, all sorts of things that might connect someone in the community vie va family member or otherwise who might be supporting or communicating with brian. that could actually direct law enforcement to his location. >> you know, i asked you -- you talked about the preserve and it would be hard to hide there. again, if he is on the run, and we don't know that he is, and we don't know that he is a suspect, per se, if he's not there, how far away could he be reasonably at this point? if you were in the fbi, what would you be thinking? . >> well, certainly he has time on his side. he had several days's lead on the law enforcement effort to find him. and that would definitely be to his advantage. however, in this case mr. laundrie is widely known by the public, right? he is on television. his picture is on television. his social media posts for the weeks leading up to this. so he would be very recognizable were he to leave the reserve and try to make a run for it, as we say, on the economy just through local society around where he lived. >> you hear a lot of people say he had a head start before the fbi started looking. is that actually something you think is real? >> i think he did. there's no question the family didn't even tell law enforcement he was gone until the 17th. they said he left the previous tuesday, the 14th. so if you think of it, they don't start looking for him until that friday or saturday. and he's been gone since tuesday. that's a pretty good head start under normal circumstances. however, as i said, with as recognizable he is, to go out into the world and try to do it on your own, very tough. to live in that reserve, probably even tougher. >> thank you for the inside look at what might be happening. >> thanks, john. fighting for votes within their own caucus. can the president hold his party together? the fda authorizes the first booster shots for some republicans. we will answer your questions. the chinese government has censored country of the country's most famous actresses, deleting her from the internet. i'm so glad you're ok, sgt. houston. this is sam with usaa. do you see the tow truck? yes, thank you, that was fast. sgt. houston never expected this to happen. or that her grandpa's dog tags would be left behind. but that one call got her a tow and rental... ...paid her claim... ...and we even pulled a few strings. making it easy to make things right: that's what we're made for. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. get a quote today. what's the #1 retinol brand used most by dermatologists? it's neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair® smooths the look of fine lines in 1-week, deep wrinkles in 4. so you can kiss wrinkles goodbye! neutrogena® ice cream is like whooping cough, it's not just for kids. whooping cough is highly contagious for people of any age. and it can cause violent uncontrollable coughing fits. ask your doctor or pharmacist about whooping cough vaccination because it's not just for kids. is olay better than your clean beauty? olay has 99% pure niacinamide. it's derm-tested. and now, it's cleanest formula with hydration that beats the $400 cream. tried. tested. never bested. shop at olay.com high drama on capitol hill playing out over the past 24 hours and setting up a fierce showdown today. first president biden essentially playing referee between progressive and moderate democrats who are fighting over his $3 trillion spending plan as well as the bipartisan infrastructure deal, this as the u.s. is on verge of default and the government potentially shutting down. second police reform talks officially dead now. officially. we know they have been tphrauptphraupbd -- floundering. third, members of the congressional black caucus going to the white house livid over the treatment of haitian migrants. . >> i'm missed. i'm unhappy. and i'm not just unhappy with the cowboys who were running down haitians and using their reins to whip them. i'm unhappy with the administration. what we witnessed takes us back hundreds of years. what we witnessed was worse than what we witnessed in slavery. cowboys with their reins again whipping black people, haitians, into the water where they are scrambling and falling down. and all they are trying to do is escape from violence in their country. >> both democrats and republicans storming out of a classified briefing on afghanistan frustrated by the lack of answers as they see it, from the biden administration. and then on top of all of this, biden's approval rating is sinking. his agenda is facing serious jeopardy, not only because of republican opposition but also because of these hardliners in his own party. let's talk about this now with cnn political commentator with jess macintosh. good morning to you. just give us the context here of how big a week this is for president biden. >> good morning, brianna. actually, i don't think it's hyperbolic to say this could be the biggest week of biden's presidency. and that's surprising. but the brinksmanship is surprising considering how widely popular this agenda is. i know there's a tendency to say that he's stuck between progressives and centrists. but given the reality in this country, the objective reality that we need to upgrade our infrastructure so that we can mitigate the effects of climate change, we need to create the kind of economy that allows families to care for each other without going bankrupt. these are just the realities in this country. and given that, i would say that he is stuck between progressives and obstructionists. largely, the entire republican party and several members of his own. we have seen republicans many times now start negotiations, start down the path towards a deal and then turn against it even though they have participated in the process. with he saw it right away with the american rescue plan. we have just seen it again with police reform now that republican tim scott rejected the final offer and that is dead. we are seeing them with votes against the bipartisan infrastructure framework. bipartisan ship is lovely. but if it doesn't help with caring for an aging parent or child without losing everything, it doesn't matter. it's the process. . >> he doesn't need bipartisan ship to get this $3 trillion bill passed. he is really stuck between the two factions of his own party. he has the majority in the house. he has enough votes in the senate. it seems he would be more likely to attract all democrats than he would be to win over any republicans. i do want to ask you. we are seeing lines drawn by both of these factions. we had congresswoman jayapal on yesterday ahead of the caucus. she said essentially it's a red line. how serious is this ultimatum that progressives are putting out there in the house that either pass it all, both the bipartisan bill and this big bill only by democrats, or get nothing. how real is that? >> i think anything that results in doing nothing for american people facing multiple crises. we have gone through the worst year and a half of most people's lives in this country. that requires a massive response. i honestly can't speak to what the obstructionists in our own party are thinking. i know joe manchin and kyrsten sinema have smart people around them. someone had to tell them it will be a bad slogan for the election. the ones willing to embrace widely politically popular solutions. that's the current reality right now. >> are they really going to settle for nothing? are progressives really going to settle for nothing? >> i mean, i know that the progressives that i talked to, they are motivated by helping people fix their lives. there are a lot of things that are broken in this country right now. so i am sure that the ultimate goal of what progressives are doing is to get as much as possible to the people who need it the most. i would be surprised if they were happy with nothing given that reality. but i think it's really important that they take a stand, that they say, this is not negotiable. fixing our infrastructure to handle climate change is not negotiable when you still have people without power, you still have people fleeing smoke and fire and floods. that's the reality in america right now. so the idea that we could negotiate a solution to help people handle that away, i think that can't be the first thing that they come to the table with. >> yeah. look, it's a pivotal week ahead, as you say. jess mcintosh, thanks so much. >> thanks, brianna. >> more proof that former president trump and his allies attempted a coup. plus, an emergency room physician who spends her free time spreading dangerous disinformation about the pandemic. and that's not the only big lie she's connected to. cnn confronts her. (vo) at t-mobile for business, unconventional thinking means we see things differently, so you can focus on what matters most. whether it's ensuring food arrives as fresh as when it departs. being first on the scene, when every second counts. or teaching biology without a lab. we are the leader in 5g. #1 in customer satisfaction. and a partner who includes 5g in every plan, so you get it all. without trade-offs. unconventional thinking. it's better for business. ♪ ♪ i know the best coffee spot in town. i can make a rustic cabin feel modern. i am a guidebook for guests. i can make an indoorsy person, outdoorsy. i give families a home, not just a place to stay. i am a vrbo host. ♪ ♪ it was a how-to guide to subvert an american election. a six-step plan for mike pence to overturn the 2020 election results. the memo came to light and bob woodward and bob kos co ta's new book "peril." this is the next slide into thor terrorism says our next guest. in a twitter thread that went viral, brian kloss wrote, one simple question what could slow down the gop march towards thor terrorism. joining me is brian klaas. thanks so much for being with us. we talked about it on this show before. there is an old, chilling saying which goes what do you call a failed coup? and the answer is practice. why do you think that's a relevant quote here? >> well, i think we have information that shows there was an organized attempt to effectively install a president in power despite the fact that he lost an election. that is thor terrorism. now, what i'm worried about is how this could end or reverse itself. every trend i'm seeing is it is accelerating with a ratcheting effect. the reason for that is very simple. if you put yourself in the shoes of a moderate republican, someone who in their heart of hearts believes in democracy, they are looking to their party and seeing the rising stars are people who are embracing donald trump's lies about the election, embracing attempts to install him into power despite his election loss, praising january 6th. people who criticized donald trump are watching their careers die. people who stand up for democracy are becoming pariahs in the gop. extremism has been a litmus test for the party and that is moving the base towards, i fear, an inevitable slide towards authoritarianism. >> you mention there are no counter availing forces here. the opposite. people who are moderate -- i'm not talking about politically moderate or on the partisan scale, but sort of intellectually, culturally moderate or want to moderate extremism. it is not a reward structure. it's the opposite of that. >> exactly right. and i think there is a phenomenon going on right now with the stardom that comes with authoritarianism extremism. it had been amplified by the breakdown of party control and social media. somebody like marjorie taylor greene who said unbelievably abhorrent things, amplifies lies is a breakout star in the party rather than the pariah that she should be. what signal does that send to somebody else? if you follow in her footsteps, you too will become a breakout star in the party. i can't answer the question, as someone who studied authoritarianism, i see now signs of this reversing itself, i see no evidence of moderates saying we disagree on health care and taxes but we agree on this. their careers are dying. they are pariahs. the tea leaves are difficult for republicans to read. that is why it has become the rational strategy for rising republican politicians to embrace. >> we put up on the screen this sort of several step plan or reason why you think there is nothing to check tauthor authoritarianism. even more important than the ones at the beginning. no counter availing forces. the rise of social media. i'm always hesitant to put all the blame on social media. the medium, as it were. i think if there weren't a receptive audience, it wouldn't be effective. it is easy to blame facebook for marjorie taylor greene. why not talk about the masses of people who want to be susceptible to her? >> you're absolutely right. it's not just social media. it is institutional factors like how you win an election in america. because of gerrymandering or because of primaries that amplify the voices of extremists, the people who vote like clockwork in primaries, the reward structure is to become more extreme. the only way to lose a lot of these competitive districts is to compromise with democrats, embrace democracy. so you have a perfect storm effectively. you have the institutional incentives, in other words the way you win an election, combined with social media stardom means that that is the right strategy if you want to get re-elected. so until the party is either dealt a crushing defeat or until democrats reform the system to insulate the institutions from authoritarian attacks, i think united states democracy is in grave, grave danger for the short to medium term. >> you just touched on where i want to go next. my inclination is to ask you, well, what fixes this. your entire point is you don't see what fixes it. if you're a rational democrat now, you talk about the rational choice for republicans is to gravitate towards extremism if they want political success. what's the rational choice for a democrat? >> the rational choice for a democrat is to wield the power they have to protect democracy. i have studied authoritarian regimes around the world, breakdown of democracy from sub saharan africa to asia. rebuilding it is nearly impossible. it takes decades. protecting it while you have political power is much, much easier, much more effective. so the point is voters have given democrats a mandate. they have given them control of the white house, the house, and the senate. democrats need to stop messing around. they need to recognize this is a grave authoritarian threat and wield the political power voters gave them to shore up the institutions about an a authoritarian attack we know is happening. what's going to happen in 2022 or 2024? we know what's going to happen. now is the time to act. >> they wrote it down. it's on paper. brian klaas, i appreciate you being with us, professor. thanks so much for the discussion. . >> thank you. so, despite the presence of a life-saving vaccine, the u.s. is now seeing the highest number of covid deaths in six months. so what does this mean for the winter? former fda commissioner scott gottlieb joins us next. cnn is on the ground in mexico and haiti as homeland security department scrambles to ease the crush of migrants on the southern border. we're carvana, the company who invented car vending machines and buying a car 100% online. now we've created a brand-new way for you to sell your car. whether it's a year old or a few years old. we wanna buy your car. so go to carvavana and enter your license plate answer a few questions. and our techno wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot and pick up your car, that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car, and say hello to the new way at carvana. this is renae. never heard of her? it's probably because she's not an influencer. she's more of a groundbreake just look at the way she'reshaping and reimagining her 4 acre slice of heaven. it's not hardo tell she's the real deal. renae runs with us on a john deere 1 series tractor because out here you can't fake a job well done. nothing runs like a deere. hear renae's story at deere.com. ok, let's talk about those changes to your financial plan. bill, mary? hey... it's our former broker carl. carl, say hi to nina, our schwab financial consultant. hm... i know how difficult these calls can be. not with schwab. nina made it easier to set up our financial plan. we can check in on it anytime. it changes when our goals change. planning can't be that easy. actually, it can be, carl. look forward to planning with schwab. schwab! ♪ the fda has authorized a booster dose for pfizer's covid-19 vaccine for people 65 and older, as well as people with high risk of severe disease. this is coming as the country sees the rate of new cases slowing at this point in time. deaths, though, have hit over 2,000 a day. that is the highest in six months. and the pace of vaccinations is the slowest that it's been in two months. former fda commissioner dr. scott gottlieb is with us now. his new book is called "uncontrolled spread, why covid-19 crushed us and how we can defeat the next pandemic." doctor, thank you for being with us. >> thanks a lot. >> so i want to ask you, because you see the numbers, two numbers going in the wrong direction. vaccines trending down after an uptick. deaths at 2,000 people every day. and there is a vaccine that can largely prevent those deaths. how do you feel watching that as a doctor? >> well, look, it's tragic. this is now an avoidable death certainly. and if we can get more people vaccinated we can start to bring down the numbers. i wouldn't take too much solace that the case numbers are declining across the country. that is driven by the fact that cases are collapsing in the south. they had a dense wave of infection. we are seeing it in the midwest in states like kentucky, the pacific northwest with a dense wave sweeping through those states. ohio. there is a perception that higher vaccination rates in the northeast and i'm here in the northeast today and we have immunity from prior infection impervious to a delta wave in this part of the country, i don't think that's necessarily the case. i think we will see infections pick up as kids go back to schools and the weather gets cold and people start to go back to work. >> i know you talk to experts around the world. are you talking to a doctor in new zealand or england where the vaccination rates are so high and looking at what's going on in the u.s. and they think it's nuts. what do you say? >> yeah, look, we have a lot of difficulty in this country getting people vaccinated. the overall rate of vaccination rates of adults over age of 18 is about 77%, which is pretty good. we have been building that over the course of the last six, seven months. the biden administration has been pushing out the vaccine, doing a pretty good job getting people vaccinated. but it's not enough. we need to get to 80% to 85% to have enough vaccination in the population that you start to see case rates decline and the velocity of spread start to slow. we have immunity in the population from prior infection. that does count. people previously infected do have some immunity from continued infection. we don't know how long it will last. people who are relying on natural immunity they, too, will need to get vaccinated at some point. >> what does winter look like here in the u.s.? >> yeah. i think this delta wave may be the last wave of infection. assuming nothing unexpected happens. we don't get a variant that pierces the immunity by vaccination. so assuming that doesn't happen, and i think it's unlikely, this will be the last major wave. this becomes a more systemic endemic risk. you have spread but not at the same rate as it is right now. it settles into more of a seasonal pattern and becomes a seasonal flu, something on par with the flu. the challenges that we already have with flu, and if we have covid circulating, the cumulative death and disease is going to be too much for society to bear. we will have to do things differently in the wintertime to cut down on the risk of things like work and schools, improving air quality in indoor spaces, air infiltration, putting in place hand washing stations, encouraging hand washing stations, wearing masks voluntarily in public spaces during peak covid and flu season. you will see masks becoming more culturally acceptable in parts of the country. once we get past this covid epidemic, it becomes a more endemic risk. >> you said yesterday we're heading in a direction where masks will become optional. can you be clear on that about where we are now on masks indoors. we are looking at schools, for instance. when do you think we are heading to a place where masks are optional? >> yeah, look. we need to base this on prevalence. once the prevalence starts to decline, a lot of the steps we have been taking become more routine and fade into the background, become more optional. people wear masks when prevalence is high and take them off when prevalence declines. right now prevalence is still very high. if you look at the south during the peak of their epidemic this summer, states like florida, mississippi, alabama had 110 cases per 100,000 people per day. new cases diagnosed. that is exceptionally high. new york city in the summertime, when they had their mini delta wave, they had 20 cases per 100,000 per day. that is the level we will see on the back end of this wave. i don't think we will get down to levels where it's two to four cases per day which is what we had in june and july. i think we're still going to have a lot of cases this winter just because it's the wintertime. this is a winter pathogen. it likes to spread in the cold weather. when it goes down, you will lift some of the mandates and masks will be optional. people will wear them if they are at risk. but i don't think you will be mandating the use of masks. but we're a long way from that. we have to get through another surge of infection around the country. this isn't over. just because the south is coming down and the national average looks like it is falling, this has been highly regionalized epidemic and will continue to be so. >> when do you think masks will be optional in schools? >> yeah. i think we're going to have to get to a point where the vaccines are widely available in schools. they aeurpren't inherently safe environments. masks are one tool. testing. implement twice a week asymptomatic testing of students you can cut down the risk dramatically. and keeping them in defined social pods. not letting students enter mingle but keeping them in their class and having them move around the school house within their class. you want to prevent outbreaks in those settings. a lot of people talk about the fact that covid hasn't been deadly in children, and thankfully it thats not. this would be a whole different ball game. but we don't know the long-term implications of this virus. you don't were want to see it become epidemic in children. there are states in the south where this ripped through school houses. that is deeply unfortunate because we don't understand the long-termism indications of covid. >> you sit on the pfizer board. we have seen the recommendation for older americans and for people who are vulnerable. of course this is still going through the process this week with the cdc. the white house got ahead of this process talking about a rollout for all americans of a booster shot. do you think they jumped the gun? do you think the president jumped the gun? >> no, i don't. they didn't have to talk about a specific date. that created the perception they were getting in front of the regulatory process. if you want to make boosters available to an older population particularly in nursing homes, it takes weeks to get that in place, to get the logistics in place to deploy the boosters. if they want to start administering this month or early next week, they need to have anaprox mat date. it took four weeks to vaccinate 1.34 residents in nursing homes. this was over a time period when we were losing 7,000 people a week in nursing homes. we had to wait four weeks to get into the nursing homes to start vaccinating because they hadn't planned into advance to go into the facilities. it took a long time to get consents with the patients. you had to get the concept by the families. the biden administration didn't want to make the same mistake. they wanted logistics in place. they were just trying to get the logistics nailed down so they could get ready to administer the vaccines. and they will be. >> dr. got hraoeb, we appreciate your perspective. your book out now is "uncontrolled spread." thanks for being with us this morning. >> thanks a lot. the focus on the gabby petito case is putting the spotlight on missing black americans, including the case of a young geologist who went missing in the desert. only his clothes and car left behind. we will be speaking live with his father and brother. plus, one of china's most popular film stars has vanished from the internet. hear why. usaa is made for the safe pilots. like mac. who can come to a stop with barely a bobble. with usaa safefepilot, when you drive safe... ...you can save up to 30% on your auto insurance. usaa. what you're made of, we're made foror. get a quote today. hearing is important to living life to the fullest. that's why inside every miracle-ear store, you'll find a better life. it all starts with the most innovative technology. like the new miracle-earmini, available exclusively at miracle-ear. so small that no one will see it, but you'll notice the difference. and now, miracle-ear is offering a thirty-day risk-free trial. you can experience better hearing with no obligation. call 1-800-miracle right now and experience a better life. you need an ecolab scientific clean here. and you need it here. and here. and here. which is why the scientific expertise that helps operating rooms stay clean is now helping the places you go every day too. seek a commitment to clean. look for the ecolab science certified seal. it's moving day. and while her friends are doing the heavy lifting, jess is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. it only takes about a minute. wait, a minute? but what have you been doing for the last two hours? ...delegating? oh, good one. move your xfinity services without breaking a sweat. xfinity makes moving easy. go online to transfer your services in about a minute. get started today. the next tropical storm is on the way, and it could become a major hurricane in coming days. uh-oh. let's get to meteorologist chad myers. where is this? >> it is still off the coast of africa in the middle of the atlantic. later today it becomes tropical storm sam. we still have peter and rose in the atlantic. although, they are just about done right now. they are not going to make any headway. we are worried about 18. this weather brought to you by servpro. making water and fire damage like it never even happened. what happened to 18? it doesn't have a name yet. that is likely to become a category 1 hurricane. and then here a category 3 major hurricane. and the hurricane center even this morning saying it could be stronger than 115 when it gets there north of the islands. so far so good, making a right-hand turn into the ocean. but we'll see. temperatures across the midwest nice. still muggy in the northeast. you still have a lot of humidity, a lot of rain to come this afternoon for new york and tonight into boston, philadelphia, as the front moves by. but the humidity is leaving. it is out of here today. and temperatures are going to be amazing for the weekend. now, it has been such an awful summer that 74, that's going to feel just great, is actually just normal. but sometimes you just want to take normal, john. >> yeah. i've never had anything close to normal. no way to identify with that. i'm still worried about that storm, number 18. >> yes. >> it could be a 3 as it heads to the atlantic. i'm done with hurricane season right now. make sure it veers off. >> can you do that? amazing. there are highly trained dive teams ready to return to the water to resume the search for brian laundrie. we get new clues from witnesses who may have seen gabby petito in her final hours. a 24-year-old geologist missing for three months. he was last seen leaving work. his family is desperate to find him. ♪i got it, you got it♪ ♪i want it, you want it♪ ♪when i want it, you've got it♪ ♪when you want it, i got it, i got it, yeah♪ ♪when they want it♪ ♪we got it, yeah♪ ♪ i've spent centuries evolving with the world. that's the nature of being the economy. observing investors choose assets to balance risk and reward. with one element securing portfolios, time after time. gold. agile and liquid. a proven protector. an ever-evolving enabler of bold decisions. an asset more relevant than ever before. gold. your strategic advantage. at aspen dental, we help you find your happy place like milkshake mustaches high fives and high dives. or 3-on-3s... 2-on-2s... and 1-on-1s. we see how these moments make us smile so, we make it easy to share your smile with safe and convenient care — all in one place, with evening and weekend hours. right now, new patients get a complete exam and x-rays — free without insurance. plus, everyone saves 20% on their treatment plan. celebrate life's happiest moments. call 1-800-aspendental or book online today. people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible with rybelsus®. ♪ you are my sunshine ♪ ♪ my only sunshine... ♪ rybelsus® works differently than any other diabetes pill to lower blood sugar in all 3 of these ways... increases insulin when you need it... decreases sugar... and slows food. the majority of people taking rybelsus® lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7. people taking rybelsus® lost up to 8 pounds. rybelsus® isn't for peopl with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrin neoplasia syndrome type 2 or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. tell your provider about vision problems or changes taking rybelsus® with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. wake up to what's possibl with rybelsus®. ♪ please don't take my sunshine away ♪ you may pay as little as $10 per prescription. ask your healthcare provider about rybelsus® today. if you're 55 and up, t-mobile has plans built just for you whether you need a single line or lines for family members, you'll get great value on america's most reliable 5g network. like 2 lines of unlimited for just $27.50 a line. that's our everyday price. plus, our plans always come with unlimited talk, text and data included. so, switch to t-mobile and get 2 lines of unlimited for only $27.50 a line. that's half the price of verizon or at&t. only at t-mobile. the leader in 5g. ♪ it's grilled cheese time. ♪ ♪ yeah, it's time for grilled cheese. ♪ ♪ after we make grilled cheese, ♪ ♪ then we're eating grilled cheese. ♪ ♪ because it's time. ♪ ♪ yeah. ♪ ♪ time for grilled cheese. ♪ a beloved chinese actress and business mogul erased from the internet amid a government crackdown on the entertainment industry. she was likened to the reese witherspoon of china. she directed award-winning films, sold millions of records as a pop singer. she had 86 million followers online. today, though, you search for her name on the chinese internet and it comes up plank. cnn's ivan watson has more on this story. i mean, she has been completely erased. >> reporter: yeah. brianna, it comes down to china's leader xi jinping. he is rewriting the rule for the economy to level the economic playing field, he says. and his government has made an example of several very wealthy celebrities basically canceling them. imagine one of hollywood's biggest celebrities erased from the interpret in a single night. that's basically what happened to one of china's most success actresses. ja wei. a star of chinese television and film, she was also a weighty entrepreneur who bought vin yards in france and acquired a stake in one of the biggest film studios. that all changed one night in august when she in explicably disappeared from the chinese internet. her social media accounts erased. >> to imagine that someone's name, history is eliminated from the internet shows the power and the infrastructure of china's internet. and who really is in power. it is the chinese party state. >> reporter: china experts say the canceling of wei is part of a much bigger crackdown in china. >> the whole entertainment industry was targeted by xi jinping. >> reporter: there's only room for one real star in today's china, he argues, chinese president xi jinping. >> an independent social influence might be out of his control. he wants to take control over everything. >> reporter: beijing cut back the activities of the wildlily popular fan clubs. other regulations, beijing says, are aimed at restoring morality, ban male celebrities from appearing too aefemi nate. an approach that some say echoes t cultive personality of mao see tung. wiping out trillions of dollars from market value from some of china's biggest companies. as she pushes for common prosperity and a more economic playing field while shaping people's minds to his world view. so where does that leave people like this canceled actress, zhiou wei? she reemerged in several photos that went ic