to four loyalists of the former president. that as president joe biden is nearing the end of a rough week for his administration, especially with the big ticket items at the top of his domestic agenda in peril. can he turn things around? also tonight, an arrest warrant issued for brian laundrie for his alleged activities after the death of his fiancee gabby petito. this as investigators continue to search for laundrie in a swampy nature reserve in florida. there's a lot to get to this evening. i want to get to jeffrey toobin and analyst laura coates. thai for joining me this evening. jeffrey, this is big news. the select committee going to four of trump's aides with subpoenas. what does that tell you about the investigation? >> it tells you what they're looking at is what donald trump knew and when he knew it and what complicity he had in this riot. what it also tells you is that the democrats shouldn't get their hopes up that these four are going to testify, because one of the things the trump administration taught the democrats in congress is they can defy congress more or less with impunity, because they can tie up these subpoenas in court for months, and this committee does not have months. so even though these four, i think, have no real legal basis to refuse to testify, i would be very surprised if they actually did wind up testifying. >> so, laura, the committee wants documents, let's see, by the first week in october, and pa patel and bannon are appearing on october 15 and 16. none of these people are going to volunteer to testify, so how does the committee compel them? >> that's an interesting point here, the idea of voluntarily cooperating here. they could have actually tried to negotiate beforehand and said, hey, can we essentially persuade you to do this without having to have the compulsory notion of a subpoena? but because of the reason jeffrey is speaking about, they have certainly learned their lesson and will attempt to streamline and expedite it. there's going to be a fight in the courts. it's better to have it now as opposed to weeks and weeks and months of negotiation to try to compel someone to come in voluntarily. this is the way to do it. what's different than last time is, last time the person who was the executive head of government was donald trump. this time you have joe biden who has already shown some extraordinary reluctance, and in fact, refusing to interfere with the investigation to this point or trying to put his thumb on the scale, and we also know we've already seen this committee already hand out at least a letter to preserve documents to social media organizations, believing they have a way there as well. this is more of a wider dragnet holistic approach to try to get what they seek, but it's one rung down from the contact with the former president and tells you, really, that this is becoming more and more of a trump-focused investigation, and with good reason, right? we still don't know a lot about what the former president was doing while this unfolded on january 6 or the days leading up to it, just part of the reason this investigation is happening. remember, what we saw on january 6, it wasn't the beginning of the story. it is likely the middle if not the beginning of the end of the story, so all the steps that took place before that are going to have to be what they're investigating to actually get to the root of the issue and legislate effectively. >> don -- >> jeffrey, i just want to read part of this letter. go ahead, jeffrey. >> i just think laura makes an important point that one difference here from the congressional investigations of the trump administration is that joe biden is now head of the executive branch, and he has said they will cooperate. so even though the witnesses are unlikely to testify, the trump-aligned witnesses, there is a lot of information within the executive branch: e-mails, phone records, white house records. all of that i think congress will get to because the biden administration will cooperate. but the actual testimony of the trump aides, i think that's a long shot. >> as i was saying, jeff, i just want to read part of this letter to cash patel. there is substantial reason to believe that you have additional documents and information relevant to understanding the role played by the department of defense and the white house in preparing for and responding to the attack on the u.s. capitol, as well as documents and information related to your personal involvement in planning for events on january 6 and the peaceful transfer of power. i mean, can trump try to block these former aides from cooperating? >> he can try. and the aides themselves with try. and i think their legal claim to withhold these documents and withhold their own testimony is weak. but remember, what that means is congress will have to go get a vote of contempt of congress and then try to enforce it in the district court, and then get that affirmed by the court of appeals, and then perhaps there will be a writ of certicertiori the supreme court. does congress have the patience to wait that long? and judging by the way congress works, they'll want to wrap this thing up before the midterm elections, and i just don't see how the courts could resolve these issues and force testimony in time, you know, for next year's elections. >> laura, last word here. what do you see? >> well, you know, i tend to not always share the cynicism. i am not calling you an overarching cynic, toobin, but i do have interest in the speed the bureaucrats can work in, i remember the threat was the continuation of the president in office. here we're talking about a very real deadline of the midterm elections. but the focus benny thompson has spoken about is not the same timeline above this congressional committee. it's really about to prevent this from happening again but also to understand the root causes, to refortify the security force at the capitol, to enjoy the integrity of our elections going forward and in general. the timeline is actually a little bit longer, but i do agree that the process by which you have to secure their testimony is likely to be pro tra protracted, but remember, the position is held by the executive branch. he might have a weak argument if he tries to assert some basis for privilege being able to say he is the one to hold it at this jun juncture knowing he is no longer the president of the united states. >> laura, jeffrey, thank you both. i appreciate it. i want to bring on jon avlon. he is out with a new series called "reality check by with j avlon." here's what he says about evidence by scavino, bannon and patel. >> some were in communication with him on january 5 and january 6. they are reportedly in communication about how to overturn the results of the election. mark meadows, for example, involved with the justice department, trying to get the justice department to put pressure on georgia to decertify the results of the election. >> so these guys could be facing a whole lot of trouble. how do you see this all playing out? >> i think it indicates the commission is starting to try to narrow the focus on donald trump. what was his state of mind on the day and in the run-up to the january 6 attack on the capitol. because all of these individuals have had direct contact with the president. that has not yet fully come to light, particularly mark ma meadows, chief of staff, but had communication with the president during the attack. this is very necessary. the information that continues to come out shows a shadow of a doubt. there was an attempt to overturn the election. that is a direct assault on our democracy and these folks have yet to speak under oath and give all their information. as toobin just said, the federal government will have a lot of this information, the question is whether they can get additional testimony. this is ramping up and the focus seems to be leading to what the president's mindset was when the capitol was being attacked in an attempt to overturn the election on his behalf. >> john avlon, cnn talked to bob c costa tonight in the president's attempt to overturn the election. this is what he said about the subpoenas. >> the question is, of course, what happened and ultimately what did trump know, and we describe an extraordinary phone call between bannon and trump right before the insurrection in which bannon, who is the former top aide to trump, told him he had been fired by that point, but as you know, in the trump world you go and you come back. and bannon says to trump, we will strangle the biden presidency in the crib. and that is a foreshadowing, of course, of the violence that we saw the next day. >> steve bannon knows a lot about what went down during this crucial period. the question is, can he be compelled to talk? >> it's an interesting question because he was not serving in government at that time unlike the other three. but i think the revelations in the woodward and costa book are one of the things that brought bannon back to the fore. he is talking to the president. and his comments to the president about strangling the biden administration in the crib, about having people feel this was an illegitimate administration, there appears to be an attempt to stir up trouble to overturn the election or delegitimize an administration. bannon's testimony could be key to that, but more important are the people who had direct witness to the president in the oval office at that time. the reporting that comes out keeps escalating the pressure. this is what we see in the subpoenas today. this was an attack on our democracy perpetuated by people close to the president. >> john avlon, i appreciate your perspective. thank you, sir. news tonight and an arrest warrant issued on brian laundrie, the fiancee of gabby petito, after her death. what it all means, next. is mealtime a struggle? 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>> i think he's been a suspect but now there's an arrest warrant out for him. that search should intensify, and so hopefully more effort will be to bring him in. >> what kind of information would investigators be able to gather from those unauthorized devices? >> they can look at conversations back and forth. they can also find a timeline of what he was doing when they were together and afterwards. so i think it's going to be important what's on there and what they can find out concerning that relationship. >> a timeline and maybe there is some surveillance video if they can piece together where he was at the time. you know, captain, tonight cnn is reporting that laundrie left his parents' home in north port, florida last tuesday without a cell phone or wallet, and his parents were concerned that he might hurt himself. the fbi and police aren't commenting on that. how will that factor into this investigation? >> i think the parents will play a pivotal role of what's going on and they can tell us what he's thinking, what he's talking about. then it's going to be important, when did he tell law enforcement when he left and what do they know about his whereabouts? does he have any other means to money and other ways to communicate with people? >> i want to talk to you about another big case, captain. this one is in louisiana. the former state police officer jacob brown indicted for use of excessive force. as you can see in this video that we're putting up now, when he was arrested aaron larry bowman for a traffic stop, he repeatedly beat bowman with a metal baton, breaking his jaw, some of his ribs, among other injuries. what's your reaction to this indictment? >> i think it's important that we continue to prosecute officers that engage in this behavior to the fullest. their behavior hurts the profession and hurts those men and women that are doing the job to protect us throughout this country. so we have to continue on our justice system and our communities demand that police do their job in a proper way. and when they don't, we have to make sure the court system holds them responsible. >> aaron larry bowman was a guest on this show. this is what he said about the incident. >>. >> i did exactly what he asked, and the next few minutes, he smashed me out of the car and swung me to the ground and went to beating on me. while he was doing it, the other cop was just standing around watching. he wasn't trying to help me. i was asking for the help. they wasn't helping me. they just let him continue on hitting me with a flashlight. >> you didn't think you were going to make it, or survive that? >> no, sir. >> this is not the only case against this officer, and it only came to light after bowman filed a civil suit. is this kind of behavior and then cover-up a systemic problem about some departments? >> i think it is. i think leadership -- we have to hold officers accountable. in these cases where we find that officers have multiple cases that are similar, then i look at leadership and say, what are you doing and are you holding your people accountable? and maybe we should begin to look at leadership and make sure that they have some responsibility in these incidents that happen. but we have to value people in our country no matter what your race and your gender. this is a case where we definitely see this gentleman wasn't valued, and when we talk about reelationships in our country, especially people of color, this is where the system is frayed. >> speaking of that, there's another case i'd like to ask you about, a missing 24-year-old geologist, daniel robinson, who disappeared in the arizona desert. his father has been in arizona looking for his son for the past three months, and this is what he has to say. >> my son loved his family. he would not go anywhere without telling us. he would not have a desire to be away from his family. he would not go out into the desert. he would not try to john a monastery which was told by the buckeye police department. my son has disappeared. that's all we do know. >> this has been three months, gabby petito's is most recently. this case did not get as full coverage. his family suspect foul play. they don't think so because all his belongings were found in his jeep. this is such a mystery. is there more that should be done find out what happened to daniel robinson? >> i think sometimes we look at cases and make them similar. i think each case needs to be looked at on its own merit and we do need to make sure we're giving all the effort we can. listening to that father, my heart goes out to him, but we have to make sure all cases are valued. you're right, we're not hearing about it in our country, and when we can put it in the media, put it out around the country, people are more aware and they can help law enforcement. >> we always appreciate having you on. thank you, captain ron johnson. >> no problem. the cdc saying yes to booster shots but not to everyone getting them. who they say should and shouldn't get the extra shot. today let's paint with new behr dynasty™... so that you can be proud of your walls. go ahead, throw your wine on it. what? it's also scuff resistant. you're paying for that! introducing behr dynasty™, the best of behr. exclusively at the home depot. baaam. internet that doesn't miss a beat. that's cute, but my internet streams to my ride. adorable, but does yours block malware? 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>> the modern colonizer don't use whips and chains, they use television and film. when you grow up a kid of color, you see the presidents are white, all the vice presidents are white, the people in the movies are white, different people in vogue are white, and the first step is to getting the chains off your mind and seeing the possibility you can win. when melvin van peeples said we try to bring the serving class and we want to whip some ass, and he put black on the screen, it changed the whole game. kids like julie, kids like casey l lemons, we saw that and it was a game changer. the possibility of being a lead in film, don, meant that one day you could be a lead on television or be a lead in a political movement. all those things are possible if you can see yourself that way. melvin helped us see it that way, and i think that although his vision was different than other people's vision, the vision of freedom was one that was super attractive to all of us. >> he paved the way for so many. i was speaking just today, actually, about your father and his legacy and what he did. i was speaking with lee daniels. everybody pays homage, and when you bring up melvin van peeples, they bow down. when he wrote a bad ass song, people may not know that he did it all, right? editing, scripting, scoring, financing, on and on. what did he do for black cinema and independent film sng. >> as a kid, i grew up on that film. i was learning about editing, we were learning about acting. when you grow up with melvin van peeples' filmmaking family, you learned it all. dad would say, i don't know much about baseball, but i want to see you on a team. so he did a movie and it was about a black sex worker who wanted consciousness. they didn't want that, but they wanted a revolutionary movie. they did it black and called it "shaft" and after that came "super fly." it was a great film in many ways but it did sort of make drug dealing look hip, and that hurt us as a community, but it was too late. we were now seen on screen in afros and bellbottoms. when we say black lives matter, it doesn't mean no lives matter, but not even thinking god looks like you, we were starting to see ourselves win on screen. that was an immense thing for folks of color. 20 years later i did "new jack city" and after that i got a little juice in hollywood, you know, you never take it too seriously. after that i wanted to do a western examand i got to direct dad in a hollywood poposse. traditionally black people didn't do so well. a good indian was a dead indian, but in my movie "posse," i wanted to see us win together. it was about take control of your imagery whether you wanted to be malcolm or madia. we could do it all. he was just like, yeah, yeah. >> i write about that in my book and i talk about the imagery and i talk about meadia being a giat f you in hollywood. i'm sure he would agree to this in large part because of what your father did. you told me a very poignant story yesterday when we talked about this. it was dedicated to all the brothers and sisters who had had enough of the man, and in 2020 it was selected by preservation in the library of congress. that is a distinct honor. can you talk to me about what you said to me about how your father passed and what that moment was like for you, if you don't mind sharing it with the world? >> yeah, man, i knew dad didn't want to pass at a hospital. we knew he was getting old. i got him home. he heaved this beautiful sigh of relief, and i slept in the room with him. he slept on the bed, i put a cot next to him, and 2:30 in the morning something told me to wake up. don, i put my hand on his chest, i told him i loved him and he had passed. and i felt that i was, as a kid, able to see this man, know that good allies come in all colors, teach me how to be the boss but also how to be the assistant, and have respect for everybody. i got to see him live his life well and i got to see him exit well. we think of a life well lived, we think of birth is a miracle, death is a tragedy. it's different sides of the same mortality coin. to see your dad, and the brother is lying there in peace like a buddha. may i be so lucky, don? in his bed with his kid right there. >> yeah. your dad did not age, you do not age, and i'm so grateful that you're here that we can honor your dad and talk about his legacy. thank you. >> brother, he's right here on my t-shirt. he's right here on my t-shirt. >> thank you. >> i want to tell the viewers that a movie featuring melvin van peeples' films are next week and is slated for return next year. i salute melvin van peeples. we'll be right back. auce. tonight... i'll be eating salmon sushi with a japanese jiggly cheesecake. jolly good fire nas... yeah? 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[sfx: radio being tuned] welcome to allstate. ♪ [band plays] ♪ a place where everyone lives life well-protected. ♪ and even when things go a bit wrong, we've got your back. here, things work the way you wish they would. and better protection costs a whole lot less. you're in good hands with allstate. click or call for a lower auto rate today. dull skin? swipe it away. garnier brightening micellar water. now with vitamin c. micelles work like a magnet. in one swipe gently cleanse, remove makeup, and brighten. micellar water with vitamin c. by garnier, naturally. when paul j. fronzak was a young boy, he realized he had been kidnapped and reunited with his family two years later. or so he thought. he did more research and found that everything he thought he knew about himself was a lie. now the film "the lost sons" takes an intimate look at paul's story and the unimaginable journey he's taken searching for himself. here's a preview. >> my mom was upstairs, my dad was at work. i was ten years old and i was snooping around the house looking for christmas presents. and i thought, this is a great time to go in the crawlspace, because i know it's a great place to hide presents. i saw a bunch of boxes. i thought, this is it, the big score, right? it was like papers and things. that's not a present. i opened another one, a bunch of cards, more letters and newspaper clippings. i'm like, this isn't christmas. so i looked at one and it said "police search for kidnapped baby." it says paul joseph fronzak kidnapped from the hospital. i saw a picture of my mom and dad and they looked really heartbroken and distraught. i thought, wait, that's me. what happened? >> wow, wow. joining me now, the director of "the lost sons" is urs la macfarlane. ur ursula, thank you. everyone is drawn in and then you come upon that. what made you do this and why did you want to hear paul tell it? >> i was working with "raw" and i always was attracted to these strange and fictional stories. they asked if i would like to come and make a film with them. i met paul and so i was drawn to his story of wanting to know who he was, because i think we all deep down need to know where we come from, and if we don't there's a big void in us and we need to find out. i just felt it was a story about identity, a story about family, what family really means. and he's a charismatic guy and he was on a journey, and as filmmakers, we wanted to go on that journey with him. >> his story raises so many questions about identity, about what actually defines us as people. what do you think the film tells us about that? >> absolutely. it's all about that. i think it's the fact that we really need to know who we are. you know, as i said, if we don't there's a big hole. i think it also tells us about family. what is family? is family the people we're born into, is it the people that love us and bring us up? i think we're all living in an age where there's blended families and dysfunctional families and difficult families. we all understand that. i think every viewer can relate to that. so family isn't necessarily who you were born into, and i think that's what paul discovers by the end of the film when he discovers some really difficult, deep, dark secrets about his biological family. and, you know, that was fascinating to us, and i think we were swept up in that journey that paul has and still is on. it's an ongoing journey. >> ursula, by the way, is not giving away anything because paul still needs lots of things answered. do do you think he's ultimately going to get the answers he's looking for? >> that's a really good and difficult question, because when people see the film, they'll understand that there's a big piece of the jigsaw still missing. he has found many of the answers. some of the answers are very difficult for him to take, very disappointing, very distressing. i don't know. this story happened in the early '60s, a lot of the people are no longer with us. i don't think he's going to stop looking. i think he's going to continue looking. i hope that maybe he can find some peace with whatever the answer is, but i think, you know, if you need to know those things, you need to know those things. and you're not going to stop searching. >> listen, you never know, you never know, especially in this day and age. maybe he will get those answers. it's a fascinating film. thank you so much, ursula, we appreciate you joining us. >> thank you so much for having me. >> be sure to tune in. cnn's "the lost sons" premieres sunday at 9:00. thanks for watching. our coverage continues. 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