Brian Laundrie manhunt: Could his parents face obstruction, accessory charges?

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Brian Laundrie manhunt: Could parents face obstruction, accessory charges?
As the manhunt for Florida fugitive Brian Laundrie enters its third week, questions are mounting about how he’s been able to elude authorities this long and whether his parents may have helped give him a head start.

Parents Chris and Roberta Laundrie have not been accused of any wrongdoing, but critics have taken to scrutinizing their actions in the weeks following the disappearance of their former future daughter-in-law, Gabby Petito, who was found dead in Wyoming at a campsite she shared with their son. They said nothing about the fact that she was missing and went on a Labor Day camping trip.

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"If they provided false information to law enforcement that let Brian Laundrie take off and get a week head start, or if the parents sent law enforcement on a wild goose chase, searching the preserve when he wasn't there, there's certainly a basis to charge them," said Neama Rahmani, a former legal prodigy and federal prosecutor.

So far, Laundrie has been described as a person of interest in the Petito case but charged only with debit card fraud for allegedly using someone else’s bank card without permission and withdrawing more than $1,000.

Lara Yeretsian, another high-powered West Coast defense attorney, said potential charges against the parents hinge on what, if anything, they told the FBI when investigators entered their home last month, and whether they misled or misdirected authorities. 

But if any charges are filed against the parents, she said, they might relate to obstructing justice or accessory after the fact. CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON OUR TOP STORY.

In other developments:
- Gabby Petito: Search for Brain Laundrie continues, few new leads: LIVE UPDATES
- Alleged Brian Laundrie sighting reported to FBI and it's not where you might think
- Brian Laundrie’s father comes out to get mail in dead of night, ignores Fox News Digital reporter’s questions
- Gabby Petito Foundation 'up and running' to help parents bring 'their children home'

Fauci slammed for claiming it's 'too soon' to consider Christmas gatherings
Dr. Anthony Fauci was under fire on Sunday for suggesting Americans might have to spend Christmas alone in 2021.

On CBS’s "Face The Nation," Fauci spoke with anchor Margaret Brennan about the status of the coronavirus pandemic and what is expected in the months to come. Specifically, Brennan wondered if families can gather for Christmas. 

"We can gather for Christmas, or it’s just too soon to tell?" Brennan asked.

Fauci responded it was "too soon to tell" if people could gather in groups by Christmas this year.

"It is just too soon to tell," Fauci said. "We have to concentrate on continuing to get those numbers down and not try to jump ahead by weeks or months and say what we’re going to do at a particular time."

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Dr. Fauci, who serves as the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has made several predictions of when things can go back to normal. In December 2020, he previously faced backlash for suggesting that Christmas cannot be "business as usual" but predicted that holidays should be normal by 2021. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.

In other developments:
- Fauci defends California school vaccine mandate: Not a 'novel' requirement
- Jason Aldean slams Gov. Gavin Newsom's vaccine mandate for kids to attend school
- Former NBA player Lazar Hayward arrested for falsifying COVID documents: report
- Critics slam Twitter fact check of obituary attributing young mother's death to vaccine
- Merck COVID-19 treatment pill could be available by end of year, Dr. Adalja predicts

Kabul faces blackout as Taliban fails to pay the bills
Afghanistan’s capital could be plunged into darkness as the winter sets in because the country’s new Taliban rulers haven’t paid Central Asian electricity suppliers or resumed collecting money from consumers.

Unless addressed, the situation could cause a humanitarian disaster, warned Daud Noorzai, who resigned as chief executive of the country’s state power monopoly, Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat, nearly two weeks after the Taliban’s takeover on Aug. 15.

"The consequences would be countrywide, but especially in Kabul. There will be blackout and it would bring Afghanistan back to the Dark Ages when it comes to power and to telecommunications," said Mr. Noorzai, who remains in close contact with DABS’s remaining management. "This would be a really dangerous situation."

Electricity imports from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan account for half of Afghanistan’s power consumption nationwide, with Iran providing additional supplies to the country’s west. Domestic production, mostly at hydropower stations, has been affected by this year’s drought. Afghanistan lacks a national power grid, and Kabul depends almost completely on imported power from Central Asia.

Currently, power is abundant in the Afghan capital, a rare—if transient—improvement since the Taliban takeover. In part, that is because the Taliban no longer attack the transmission lines from Central Asia. 

Another reason is that, with industry at a standstill and military and government facilities largely idle, a much bigger share of the power supply ends up with residential consumers, eliminating the rolling blackouts that used to be commonplace.

That, however, is likely to come to an abrupt end if the Central Asian suppliers—particularly Tajikistan, whose relationship with the Taliban is rapidly deteriorating—decide to cut off DABS for nonpayment. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.

In other developments:
- Afghan ambassador doesn't believe Biden cares about the fate of women left in country
- $2 million raised for Marine who scorned superiors over Afghan withdrawal
- Rep. Gohmert demands freedom for jailed Marine; dubs military leadership ‘abysmal’
- Tulsi Gabbard: Leaders in our country 'lost sight' of our mission in Afghanistan

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SOME PARTING WORDS

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Fox News' Mark Levin on Sunday cut through what he believes is a smokescreen encasing the Democrats' agenda with their $3.5 trillion spending bill on "Life, Liberty & Levin."

"We're going to turn the country inside out and upside down for generations to come. A disaster. We already have inflation, product shortages, the price of gas and food going up," the host said. "Could you imagine adding several trillions of dollars to that?"

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