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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Trump Prepares For State Of The Union As Approval Ratings Drop; CNN Poll: Trump Job Approval At 36 percent, Disapproval At 63 Percent; Interview With Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY); Texas GOP Faces Drop In Latino Support As Midterms Near; CNN Poll: Trump Faces Low Ratings Ahead Of State Of The Union; Zelenskyy Urges Trump: "Stay On Our Side" As War Nears 4-Year Mark; The Toll Of War On Ukrainian "Resilience"; Mexico On Edge After Killing Of Drug Lord "El Mencho"; U.S. Citizens In Mexico Urged To Continue Sheltering In Place; Blizzard Warning For Millions Of Americans; 2 Feet Plus Of Snow In 5 States. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired February 23, 2026 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: Our houses our lives, our families everything because all of us people will have to run away from the country or be Russians.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Our Clarissa Ward there in Kyiv tonight with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Thank you so much for joining us. AC360 begins now.
[20:00:30]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Tonight on 360, what the President will say tomorrow night about The State of the Union and what Americans are already saying in brutal new polling about the state of his presidency.
Also tonight, Mexico and the Americans stranded in what was a vacation paradise until a drug lord's killing by the government set off a fiery campaign of revenge.
And breaking news, just in, in the Nancy Guthrie case, what authorities are now saying about one of the surveillance images from her doorbell camera.
Good evening, everyone, John Berman here in for Anderson. And we begin with The State of the Union, both the message the President will deliver about it tomorrow night and the one that Americans have for him. When asked in so many words for their take on how the country is doing. First, here's the President.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We have a country that's now doing well. We have the greatest economy we've ever had. We have the most activity we've ever had. I'm making a speech tomorrow night, and you'll be hearing me say that. I mean, it's going to be a long speech because we have so much to talk about. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Keeping them honest, the economy is doing okay, but not great. It grew by an estimated 2.2 percent last year down from 2.8 percent in 2024, and growth slowed to an estimated 1.4 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.
As for jobs, according to the bureau of labor statistics, employers added just 181,000 for all of 2025 which is about what a healthy economy adds in a typical month. Inflation meantime, cooled slightly last month, but remains higher than either the fed or consumers want to see and more than any other single issue. That is what voters want to hear from the President about tomorrow night by a wide margin, according to new CNN polling and though the President did not specify which polls he was talking about, he certainly was talking about them today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And I had to go through and I still do fake stories, fake polls. And I had polls for the election that showed I was going to get swamped and I won in a landslide. They were fake polls because polls are tough. You know, when you get a fake poll, I get them today. I saw one today that I'm at 40 percent, I'm not a 40 percent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Still, keeping them honest. He is indisputably right on one point. If it's the latest ABC News poll, he's referring to there he is not at 40 percent. ABC has his job approval at 39 percent. And if he's talking about the new CNN poll, he is right again but he's not at 40 percent either. Just 36 percent say they approve of the job he's doing, and 63 percent, nearly two out of three disapprove.
Among Independents, not only is it worse at 26 percent job approval, that figure is down 17 percent over the same time last year. And what's more, fewer than one in five voters, just 19 percent, now say they strongly approve, strongly approve of the job he's doing. That's tied with last month for the lowest of either term.
Kaitlan Collins will be in Washington tomorrow night assuming she can get there through the snow to cover the big speech and she's here with us now. Kaitlan, what more are you learning about what the President wants to focus on for this speech that he's promising will be long?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN'S CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT AND THE ANCHOR OF "THE SOURCE": Well, we do know it's going to be a long speech. So, brew a cup of coffee before he begins because it is going to go on for quite some time. He's been going over with aides today, practicing it in kind of this mock setup of what The State of the Union looks like but obviously, it's a venue he's very deeply familiar with.
He did his address to Congress last year. What is different from one year ago is the President came into office with a lot of big promises, a lot of big momentum coming out of his election win. And so, the question now is, as voters are reflecting on how long he's been in office for over 400 days, what do they make of that and where that stands now and where those promises are also that he made on the campaign trail about electricity prices and other offerings for the American people who have been struggling with prices since Joe Biden was in office and are still struggling with them today.
And so, I think what we've heard from aides is its going to be a nuanced approach in terms of the economy, which will be a big part of the focus tomorrow night, which is here's what we've done so far to address this since we've gotten into office. And here's what the aggressive agenda is going to look like going forward. Part of that will center on the Big Beautiful Bill that they passed, the Republicans last summer, what those changes are going to look like when people are filing their taxes right now. And that is something the White House is hoping will actually help kind of buoy those numbers that you're looking at there.
And so, that's the question, I think is whether or not it resonates with voters, because what the White House has argued and still will be arguing tomorrow night is that it's not a them problem. It's not what they've done. It's a messaging problem. It's how people receive it and Trump has criticized some of his aides, saying, you know, maybe it's my aides who aren't getting out my message out there enough.
[20:05:15]
And so, how he balances that tomorrow night, though without risking getting into that territory that Joe Biden himself got into sometimes where he said, the economy is great, you're just not feeling it. It is going to be a tough turn for them because there's also all these other challenges weighing strikes in Iran, the fallout from the Epstein files release and how his DOJ has handled it, ICE and immigration what happened in Minneapolis all of these are in the backdrop of him addressing Congress tomorrow night.
And, of course, the Supreme Court is going to be sitting not very far from him compared to where you and I are right now. And so, well see how he addresses the tariff ruling from Friday, because today he was telling countries you don't need to heed this ruling. You need to follow our agreements. I don't think those countries are going to really want to do that.
BERMAN: No, you know, the one thing Joe Biden learned, I think you rightly point out, you can't tell people how they feel about the economy. People feel how they do feel about the economy. And you can't necessarily try to spin those feelings. You brought up Iran because, look Susie Wiles, everyone desperately wants the President to focus on the economy. There are these looming possible strikes on Iran, which could happen soon. And the President today posted this long screed pushing back on reporting that, according to multiple sources, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Caine, and other leaders have raised concerns about the scale, complexity and potential for U.S. casualties. What more can you tell us about this?
COLLINS: Yes, the President is arguing that that's not true. I mean, multiple reports have said this, including "Wall Street Journal," AXIOS, CNN's own reporting has talked about the concerns about what this operation could look like should the President decide to proceed, because there are real questions. It's not, you can't really compare it to what the United States did in Venezuela even and The White House knows that.
And so, that is all what the President is kind of considering here, what he said at the end of that post, I thought was the most notable, is that he does still want to get a deal with Iran. But if they don't make one, it's going to be a very, very bad day for them.
The question is, what that looks like? Is it a one and done? Is it a limited strike or does it become a bigger thing, where you've seen other voices saying that there should be regime change in Iran and what follows from that?
BERMAN: And will the President tell the American people what he wants to get out of Iran? Period, Full stop.
COLLINS: Yes, make the case for it, we'll see.
BERMAN: Great to see you. We'll see you in a few minutes on "The Source".
Joining us now is House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who has lived through the storm either here or in Washington today. You can't avoid it no matter where you go. Listen leader, you've seen the new CNN poll. You see that a majority of Americans want to hear about the economy, want to hear about cost of living. You heard the President say, we have the greatest economy we've ever had what are Democrats offering as an alternative vision tomorrow night?
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Well, first of all, Donald Trump, his presidency has been a complete and total failure. He's failed on the economy, he's failed to lower costs, he's failed to fix our broken health care system and address the Republican health care crisis. He certainly has failed to deliver an immigration enforcement system that's fair, just and humane. ICE is completely, totally out of control, and they need to be reined in.
From our perspective as Democrats, we are laser focused on driving down the high cost of living, making life more affordable for the American people. We recognize that far too many people in this country are struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, can't thrive, and can barely survive. And that's not acceptable in this great country of ours. The wealthiest country in the history of the world.
BERMAN: We were just talking about Iran. Kaitlan was giving us some reporting on what The White House has been saying about that. The joint chiefs reportedly raising some concerns about a possible U.S. strike and how difficult it would be. What do you want to hear from the President tomorrow night in terms of a possible justification for military action?
JEFFRIES: Well, we'll have a gang of eight briefing at some point during the day prior to the remarks that he delivers to the American people. I think the American people are appropriately skeptical of any further military action. The last thing that we need at this time is another failed foreign forever war that the United States of America is involved in. That will be costly in terms of American lives and costly in terms of American resources.
We should be using taxpayer dollars right now to make life more affordable for the American people, as opposed to engaging in another reckless adventure. And by the way, the Trump administration should not take any unilateral military action without explicit Congressional approval consistent with the Constitution and Congress' sole authority to declare war.
BERMAN: As for tomorrow night, you've given Democratic members the option to skip the event if they want to. For those who choose to attend, how would you like to see them behave?
JEFFRIES: Well, listen, it's my expectation that members who choose to attend will be there in silent defiance. Of course, skeptical of the remarks that the President is going to try to deliver in terms of his spin, but he's not going to be able to spin his way out of the failures that have occurred over the last 400 days or so, in terms of Donald Trump's Presidency.
This is someone who promised to lower costs on day one, but costs haven't gone down in the United States of America, costs have gone up. The affordability crisis is not a Democratic hoax as the President claims its very real.
Housing costs out of control, health care costs out of control, grocery prices out of control, utility costs and electricity bills out of control, childcare costs out of control. And the President has done nothing about it. In fact, the Trump tariffs have made the situation worse.
[20:10:46]
BERMAN: The President invited both the gold winning men's hockey team and the gold winning women's hockey team to The State of the Union. The women's team respectfully declined. Today, the men's team has accepted. How do you feel about their attendance tomorrow night?
JEFFRIES: Well, listen, I congratulated Team USA, both the men and the women in terms of their gold medal winning performances in hockey over the weekend and I think we all should be proud about that fact.
BERMAN: And very quickly, I want to ask about your Republican colleague, Congressman Tony Gonzales. Speaker Johnson is resisting calls, including from his own ranks, to pressure Congressman Gonzales to resign amid these allegations that an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide. There are new text messages provided to CNN by the staffer's husband that show Gonzales sent lewd messages to her, including in one exchange asking for a, quote sexy pic.
We should note that Gonzales has denied the affair and said he's being blackmailed. Speaker Johnson told CNN's Manu Raju, he wants this to play out, what do you want to see? Do you feel that Congressman Gonzales should step aside? JEFFRIES: Well, these are extremely serious allegations, and they
require a very serious investigation. In fact, it's my understanding that the Office of Congressional Conduct has been investigating this matter and is prepared to issue a report as early as next Wednesday. And once that report is issued, hopefully sooner rather than later, then Congress will be able to evaluate in totality the most appropriate next step in terms of accountability.
BERMAN: Leader Jeffries, we appreciate your time tonight. Thank you.
JEFFRIES: Thank you.
BERMAN: We just got some breaking news in. We are just now learning about this image here from Nancy Guthrie's doorbell camera, specifically when it was recorded and why it could matter.
Also, CNN's John King talks to Latino voters in Texas who turned out for the President in 2024 but are sending a different message about the midterms this year.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:17:11]
BERMAN: Well, we have breaking news into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. A source tells CNN that this image of the masked person seen on the doorbell camera footage of her home was taken at her doorstep on another night than her disappearance, a different night than her disappearance. In other words, he approached her home before the night that she was apparently abducted. We also have that separate footage that we have seen from the night that she was abducted.
So now, there is footage from two separate nights, is my understanding. Let's get right to CNN's Ed Lavandera from outside her home in Tucson with the latest on this. Explain what we've seen now -- Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is significant John, because if you remember, back on February 10th, the FBI director, Kash Patel released those stunning, haunting images of this suspect approaching Nancy Guthrie's home in the middle of the night. And at the time, the FBI director said that these images and photos were captured the morning of her abduction, so.
But this one photo stood out as we were all looking at and have looked at it over the past week because in all of the images, in all of the videos, you see the suspect with the mask, the backpack, a holster around his waist that has a gun, and obviously the gloves. But if you look at this one particular image which was in this batch of photos that was released by the FBI, there is that one photo where he's not wearing the backpack and he does not have the holster with the gun in it. So, the question was, is that the same time? Was it a different time that same night, or did it come from a different day altogether?
Now, we've learned from this source that this was from a different day altogether. And the significance of this is also is that we have been reporting over the last few weeks, is that investigators have been asking and canvasing the neighborhood around here, asking for video from January 1st all the way to February 2nd, and also on some very specific days. One in particular, we know that there was an alert that went out to neighbors asking for video between 8:00 P.M. and midnight on January 11th, nearly three weeks before Nancy Guthrie was abducted.
So, this might help explain why investigators have been so focused on the weeks before her abduction. And this also kind of gets to the question about whether or not this was just a random act. Was this something that was more targeted? Was there, did the suspect canvased the area and get a lay of the land here in this neighborhood? A little bit clearer picture on how all of this unfolded now.
BERMAN: All right, Ed Lavandera a very interesting bit of new reporting on this, which explains a lot and does raise some new questions. Thank you very much.
With us now, retired FBI special agent and hostage negotiator, Richard Kolko and CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, John Miller.
So, John, what is it that you think that we should make of this? It's not clear to me whether authorities have known for a week that they had images from two separate nights, or we're just learning it now for the first time?
[20:20:10]
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So, we're just learning this now for the first time. This is a story that was first reported by ABC News and their Aaron Katersky. It's a story that was confirmed by our own Randi Kaye through a law enforcement source who was briefed on the investigation but I think authorities didn't want to go into that level of detail when they initially released the pictures. We were always perplexed by where is the backpack, as Ed pointed out a second ago in this first picture, does he go back to a vehicle and get the backpack? Well, now we know this is from a separate date.
As I pointed out it's pretty significant that on February 12th, they put a message out to the public through us and their social media saying we are looking for those people who might have footage from January 31st the night going into the next day when they think the abduction occurred, but also that January 11th date, now, that was very specific.
After that, they came out and said wed actually like anything you have that could be suspicious for the whole month but choosing that other date is potentially suggestive that that is as early as this person may have first shown up on the radar of that RING doorbell camera. The one we see later in the video where he is approaching it, he goes to get shrubs, he covers it up and ultimately removes it and apparently takes it with him so what does it tell us? What does it mean?
What it means is that there was obviously some kind of casing, probably from afar, from a vehicle driving by, maybe sitting out there pretending to be working something that might blend in, but they had to take that casing further up close. And this could be an example of approaching the house looking to see what are the cameras, where are the cameras?
Remember, there was another incident that was actually mentioned in the first alleged ransom note where they said there is a floodlight that was destroyed. This was a motion sensitive floodlight that would come on for movement if you were going to do an abduction, it's the kind of thing you would want to eliminate. Is that what happened on one of these earlier trips or this trip?
BERMAN: So, Richard, what can you do in an investigation when you have two sets of images from two separate nights? How does that help in an investigation?
RICHARD KOLKO, RETIRED FBI SPECIAL AGENT AND HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR: Well, investigatively, I think its tremendous news. This basically doubles what they want to look for we've talked about that timeline that John just mentioned having to go backwards but now that there's potentially two nights where this person approached that house, they were looking for videos, they were looking for witness interviews. We know the cell phone analysis team was out there as well, as well as other technical capabilities this literally doubles the playing field that they can go look for and I think there's a good chance that this could lead to some more substantive leads as this investigation continues.
BERMAN: And it does give you a sense that authorities there has been this whole layer of information collecting that they've been doing, that we haven't necessarily known about in the public. Richard Kolko, John Miller, thanks to you both again, this news, just in and will develop I imagine, throughout the course of tonight and tomorrow.
In the meantime, back to our lead story, the President and his preparation to deliver The State of the Union address tomorrow night. New CNN polling shows eroding support from voters who helped him return to the White House in 2024, his job approval among Latino voters, has dropped 19 points compared to this time last year. CNN's John King traveled to the Texas border town of Brownsville to learn more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Sunrise in a border battleground, a slice of South Texas with a giant say in the midterm referendum on Donald Trump's return to the White House.
KING (on camera): This is a great laboratory for so many things, including the question of has Trump gone too far? Is Trump too aggressive? Is Trump angering and turning away, repulsing people who just two years ago were absolutely critical to his margin of victory?
KING (voice over): The Texas 34 is even competitive, speaks volumes about Trump's troubles. This was one of the big targets in the Texas redistricting plan on paper. The district was solid red, but on the ground, it's a tossup. KING (on camera): And if this seat stays Democratic, well, then
Democrats are taking the House and that completely changes the Trump presidency.
DAISY ALCAZAR, LOCAL RESIDENT: I don't I don't think we are going to survive.
KING (voice over): Daisy Alcazar (ph) sees the stakes as way bigger than which party controls the House and Senate.
ALCAZAR: We are on fire. We are being burnt down to the floor, our businesses, our economy our voice matters. We can make a change. This is the year that the Latino community can show up for their people.
KING (on camera): Look at that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There you go.
[20:25:06]
KING (voice over): Alcazar owns La Pale in Brownsville. We let them fall in. These ice cream treats are wrapped for walk-in customers.
ALCAZAR: This is how we ship it out.
KING (voice over): The boxes, sold at a local grocery chain.
ALCAZAR: We have no investors, so my husband and I. So, it's tough, I can tell you our life savings are on the line.
KING (voice over): Sales at the store are down. Alcazar says working families have less to spend.
ALCAZAR: That extra splurged money, we are a luxury item right now.
KING (voice over): Plus, she says fear keeps many Latinos home.
ALCAZAR: We are a target right now, and this doesn't matter if you're documented or undocumented, legal or illegal. ICE enforcement is literally walking up and down the streets. We cannot normalize this.
KING (voice over): Calacas Tacos is a popular Brownsville lunch spot. Attorney Luis Sorolla cast his first vote for Ronald Reagan, but he mostly votes blue now. Sorolla knows Trump won a lot of Latino votes here in 2024, but he predicts a 2026 backlash.
LUIS SOROLLA, BROWNSVILLE RESIDENT: Things have changed in the past year. We didn't have the economy and the situation that it is. We didn't have ICE acting like a Gestapo Police Force. We didn't have the tariffs hurting us. We didn't have a lot of things. We didn't have the Epstein files.
KING (voice over): Brownsville is home to the southernmost U.S.-Mexico border crossing. The new Congressional District stretches from here 165 miles north. KING (on camera): Texas 34 is actually a battleground that Republicans
hope to pick up in what they know will be a tough midterm year. Why? It's one of just 13 districts nationwide that Trump carried in 2024 but that also elected at the same time a Democrat to the House.
Trump's big win came because of a big spike in Latino support. Back in 2016, when he first ran for President, Trump won 34 percent of the Hispanic vote in Texas. Then in 2020, when he lost, he did win Texas, though Hispanic support jumped to 41 percent. And then in 2024, an even bigger jump. Trump in 2024 carried 55 percent of the Hispanic vote statewide here.
KING (voice over): Rural Kingsville sprung up in the early 1900s to support the Giant King Ranch.
STEVE MARTINEZ, ASSOCIATE PASTOR, KINGSWAY FAMILY CHURCH: Majority of people here are bilingual.
KING (voice over): Steve Martinez is associate pastor at Kingsway Family Church. The congregation, 80 percent Hispanic. Of late, a lot of questions about squaring aggressive ICE enforcement with Christian values.
MARTINEZ: It is hard, yes, to see some of these families being separated and to see all that's going on. Yes, sir, but at the same time to people is like the law is the law. is and we just got to abide by it.
KING (voice over): Martinez says he speaks clearly, but avoids naming names when asked for voting advice.
MARTINEZ: But one of the things I always say Biblically, what I stand for and Congress is a big thing right now. I asked the question, what are your views on homosexuality? What are your views on abortion? You know, that's important to me.
KING (voice over): Outside the church though.
MARTINEZ: Hey, how are you?
KING (voice over): A reminder, kitchen table issues often drive elections.
MARTINEZ: Sinko, five families.
KING (voice over): These cars began lining up four hours before the church food bank opened.
MARTINEZ: The need is great.
KING (on camera): Is that because people are struggling to find jobs?
MARTINEZ: That's, one of the reasons people are struggling to find jobs. Other reasons? Some families are on a fixed income and just people are just struggling right now financially.
KING (on camera): Because costs have not come down as fast as people would like.
MARTINEZ: Right.
KING (voice over): Still, Martinez believes most Latino-Christian conservatives here will stick with Trump and the GOP.
Texas Republicans banked on such loyalty when they drew the new map, but they also hedged their bets some. Trump carried the 34th by four points in 2024. If the new lines had been in place, he would have won by 10 points.
KING (on camera): Here's what's changing, the current 34th includes Hidalgo County, that's along the U.S.-Mexico border. In the new map, Hidalgo piece is pushed into a neighboring district added to the new 34th, a big slice of Nueces County, that's here, Corpus Christi.
Now, in the new district, about 60,000 fewer Latino residents and more white voters still in the new 34th, the Hispanic population still makes up more than 70 percent of the voting age population.
KING (voice over): Milton Reina owns a Corpus Christi bar, about to shift to the redrawn district.
MILTON REYNA, CORPUS CHRISTI RESIDENT: A lot of our customers tend to lean a little further, right. So, when Trump was elected it did, we did get a surge.
KING (voice over): Reyna is a three-time Trump voter, plans to vote Republican in November, but is sitting out the March primary.
REYNA: I think everybody's a little bit exhausted talking about politics. I tend to turn the T.V. off a little bit more than I used to.
KING (voice over): You also hear a bit of Trump fatigue in this chat with a handful of Reyna friends and coworkers.
REYNA: Aren't they the fake news?
KING (voice over): Four of five are Latinos, one voted for Kamala Harris.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel he's creating a lot of chaos.
KING (voice over): All four Trump voters say he's mostly doing a good job.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When he ran on, he's addressing, he's been working on it and I believe he's doing a good job.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I tend to agree with Mike. He's doing a good job, probably 80 percent positive, 20 percent negative.
KING (on camera): Raise your hand if Trump's endorsement will influence how you vote in the primary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a good question.
KING (on camera): Nobody, so he's lost his juice with you a little bit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's lost his juice just because of the methods of the way he's doing it.
KING (voice over): One, possibly two of the four Trump voters though, are open to voting Democrat in November.
[20:30:38]
CELESTE MONTEMAYOR, CORPUS CHRISTI RESIDENT: I think some things do need to change. I just think what we're doing may not be working.
KING (voice-over): The new map was designed to make this seat an easy Republican pickup. But right now, Trump's troubles include at least one slice of Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And John King is with us now. John, reflect a little bit more on what you were talking about as you were driving through there. This district was redrawn by --
KING (on-camera): Right.
BERMAN: -- Republicans. If that's a toss-up, what does it mean nationally?
KING (on-camera): It tells you how the trend lines are all pro- Democrat right now, John. They redrew this district in Texas to make it a Trump plus 10. They redrew it to win it easily, and they're in a toss-up race. You see it down there in southeast Texas, yellow.
This is October, inside elections rating House races. Solid, 194 Republicans. Leaning Republicans, total 217. Very close to getting a majority. That's October.
This is their same ratings now. Republicans go down, only 190. Only 190 solid, I'm sorry. Democrats up to -- one solid 185. The trend lines. Every race that has changed has moved the Democrats' ways in recent months. A giant challenge for the President tomorrow night, because that's bad news.
BERMAN: So the thing is, it's February, though. A lot of months before the midterms. You know, Republicans think they can turn things around. What's the historical precedent for that?
KING (on-camera): Historical precedent is it's very difficult, John. You know this. You know, the Trump people say people are going to get their tax refunds. Maybe the economy gets a little better. Maybe the President gives a great speech tomorrow night, gets some of those Republicans back. He's lost some Republican support.
But just look at this history. Now, Donald Trump's in a little different of a second term. He had the break. The Biden presidency in between. But these are the three most recent two-term Presidents. Bill Clinton had a good second midterm year because the economy was booming.
He was at 66 percent around his State of the Union approval, 65 percent at the midterms. They actually one-housed seats. That's an anomaly. George W. Bush, 38 percent on State of the Union night, 37 percent when the elections came. He lost 30 seats in 2006.
Obama, his second midterm was the second Tea Party year. You remember it, 2014. 43 percent on State of the Union night. Managed to get it up to 45 percent, and he lost 13 House seats. Donald Trump has traditionally moved in a very narrow bandwidth when it comes to approval rating.
History says where the President is when he gives that big speech is about where he ends on election day. If that's the case for Donald Trump, forget about the House. It will be gone, and we'll be thinking about, can Democrats win the Senate? What about all those competitive governor's races? The President's steep hill tomorrow is like that.
BERMAN: Yes, he has his work cut out for him.
John King, great report. Thank you very much.
Still ahead, a live update on the violence in Mexico and the Americans still trapped in the wake of it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:37:30]
BERMAN: A fresh wave of attacks on Ukraine. Tomorrow marks four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion. Looking ahead to the State of the Union, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy today told CNN's Clarissa Ward he wants President Trump to, in his words, stay on our side.
Clarissa now with a report from Ukraine. A warning, some of it is tough to watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the outskirts of Odesa at an abandoned railway station, the smell of death hangs heavily in the air. These railroad cars once carried cargo across the country. Now, they hold the remains of thousands of Ukrainians.
As repatriations from territory seized by Russia have increased, the arrivals have become more frequent and the numbers harder to comprehend.
WARD: More than 80,000 Ukrainians are officially missing in this war and the vast majority of those who are missing are believed to be dead. WARD (voice-over): For thousands of families searching for their loved ones, the waiting has become its own kind of battlefield. Outside the city, we meet Snizhana Shestakova. Her husband, Oleg (ph), a sergeant in the Ukrainian army, went missing on October 30th, 2024, after a failed attack on Russian positions in Donetsk.
WARD: (Speaking foreign language). That's the sign here that says, yes, Oleg is alive.
SNIZHANA SHESTAKOVA, WIFE OF MISSING SOLDIER (through translation): I look at it and I repeat it to myself.
WARD: Because you need to believe it's true.
SHESTAKOVA: Yes.
WARD (through translation): That's he's alive.
SHESTAKOVA (through translation): I believe he is alive because he left saying, whatever they tell you, don't believe anyone. I will definitely return.
(Speaking Foreign Language)
WARD: She says the dog is old now. He's 15 years old, and they sit and they wait together for him to come home.
WARD (voice-over): Oleg's backpack still sits in the hallway. Snizhana spends her days going through their messages to each other.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): I had a great day today, bunny. I'm coming home. Come meet your love.
[20:40:04]
WARD: Can you help us understand the pain of living with not knowing? It is one thing to go through the pain of grieving but the agony of not knowing is a unique form of cruelty.
SHESTAKOVA (through translation): It's very difficulty to live through it. You know it's such a feeling, just dead inside, just dead, torn apart, in small pieces.
WARD (voice-over): After four long years of war, Ukraine and its people are being stretched to the limit. Murals on the road into Kyiv celebrate the heroism of Ukrainian soldiers. But inside many apartments, families are fighting a quieter battle against the cold.
WARD: I don't know if you can hear, it's almost deafening now. Everywhere you go in Kyiv, the sound of generators.
WARD (voice-over): Relentless Russian strikes on energy infrastructure have left residents facing constant power and heating outages during the coldest winter in years.
Mamacita was Svitlana Kivirenko's dream. WARD: Hello. Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. Nice to meet you, Clarissa.
WARD (voice-over): Built from the ground up, a place where moms and their kids could escape the grind of war.
SVITLANA KIVIRENKO, MAMACITA FOUNDER: It was pure love. We had this nail salon, we had makeup here, we had cosmetologists. So mom could take --
WARD: A break?
KIVIRENKO: -- a break, yes, and relax.
WARD (voice-over): Earlier this month, Svitlana finally had to close Mamacita.
KIVIRENKO: I died that time, really. I mean, because it's my heart. It's my dream. But it was just one day, generator broke and that's it.
WARD: You know, there's this idea that Ukrainians are just like superhumans, superheroes.
KIVIRENKO: I mean, we are not superhumans, we are not robots (ph), we are not super people, we are human and we are breakable, unfortunately.
WARD: And do you think a lot of people are at breaking point?
KIVIRENKO: I'm sure.
WARD (voice-over): For Veronika Burminova, breaking down is not an option. She is raising her three-year-old daughter, Masha, on her own.
Tonight, they will climb 10 flights of stairs to reach their apartment.
VERONIKA BURMINOVA, CHARITY WORKER (through translation): Masha is a star. Masha is a good girl?
WARD (voice-over): There is no power and they do not trust the elevator, even with the emergency generator. After two months of outages, it has become a familiar routine.
BURMINOVA (through translation): Woo, we get to our floor.
WARD (voice-over): Inside the apartment, Masha shows us how they keep the lights on.
WARD: That's so pretty. That's so pretty. And now you have light from a power bank.
BURMINOVA: (Speaking Foreign Language)
WARD: Oh, you have two power banks. BURMINOVA: Three.
WARD (voice-over): In the kitchen, they make tea by candlelight, using a portable gas stove. Dinner is usually instant soup or noodles, but they are lucky that they still have heat.
WARD: How long can you go on like this?
BURMINOVA (through translation): Honestly, I don't know. I live in the moment but sometimes it's tough. These are days when I run out of steam and I tell her, Masha, I am angry at you and I don't want to shout at you. I just have no more strength. Mama is tired. And she understands.
WARD (voice-over): As night falls, the city goes dark. In the end, Ukraine's greatest strength may have become its heaviest burden, a nation expected to endure without end.
Clarissa Ward, CNN, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: Such a cost. I hope that child can grow up in peace and freedom.
Next, a report from Mexico, where a wave of drug cartel violence has left Americans sheltering in place in parts of the country in smoking ruins.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:48:49]
BERMAN: That is just part of what a Mexican drug cartel's fiery revenge campaign looks like after the killing of their leader, El Mencho, by security forces yesterday. And although calm is returning, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico is still advising Americans in parts of 15 Mexican states to shelter in place, including in Guadalajara, where CNN's David Culver is reporting for us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You get a mix of the smell of garbage, of obviously the aftermath of a fire. This one extinguished within the past 24 hours or so. And this is a convenience store that's right off the highway. And it's not even about necessarily injuring individuals.
Folks here, according to locals, weren't hurt. But it's about sending a message. It's about being very visible with the destruction. And we've seen that just a few minutes driving away from the airport.
In fact, one of the middle lanes was blocked by a car that was totally burnt out. When I asked our driver, I said, was that individual targeted? He said, no, this is all random. He said, at times, perpetrators will stop in front of a vehicle, they'll get out with guns, they'll force the people out of the car, and then they'll set their car on fire. And if you resist, he says, you likely won't survive.
[20:50:02]
It's for that reason that you see a city that's essentially shut down. Sure, you have traffic. But when you talk to folks who live here, this is nothing compared to what they're usually dealing with in the middle of the day. And they say there's this uneasiness, a tension.
In fact, folks near the airport, we noticed as they were getting closer, they were being searched in their vehicles by police and military. And then once you get into the airport, you see people who have essentially camped out. Some of them have flights booked. Others aren't sure even if their tickets will be worth anything because they're not sure the plane will show up.
Which time is your flight?
ANITA EGSDAL LUTTA, STRANDED TOURIST: 6:00 in the morning. Yes, 6:00 in the morning. And then we should hopefully --
CULVER: So you'll be here all night?
LUTTA: Yes. So we should hopefully land in Mexico City at noon.
CULVER: When do you get home?
LUTTA: Hopefully, the 27th. Right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
LUTTA: Or 26th, I think.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
LUTTA: We haven't figured out yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Well, thanks to David Culver for that.
With us now is Alexander Cors, who is stuck tonight in Puerto Vallarta. Alexander, thank you so much for being with us. We have some video that you and your friends shot. Can you walk us through what you have seen in Puerto Vallarta since El Mencho was killed?
ALEXANDER CORS, STUCK IN PUERTO VALLARTA, MEXICO: We woke up yesterday morning to the sound of explosion. We've seen columns of smoke going up at at least six different places in the city. So there was a lot of confusion in the beginning about what is happening.
BERMAN: And you saw and heard -- we're looking at pictures of the smoke here. It had to be pretty alarming to see these things on fire.
CORS: Yes, especially in the beginning where we, you know, we didn't know if people got hurt, what the targets were. I think, you know, as the day went on, it looked more and more like, OK, this was kind of targeted property damage. And that was calming to realize. But, yes, in the beginning, it was hard to figure out what's happening, you know, through social media or the internet.
BERMAN: Now, I understand that you and your friends have been going to Mexico every year for the past few years. And you were able to convince your mother to join you this time. But she was staying at a different hotel. So how were you able to reach your mother and how is she doing tonight?
CORS: Yes, I told her, you know, come to Mexico. It's always peaceful and a wonderful time. This has been a different kind of vacation for her than we expected.
She was at a different hotel. There were burning cars close to the hotel. So once this car burned out, I was able to, you know, jog down and get her from the hotel, bring her to our Airbnb, which was a little bit further up the hill and just, you know, be with her. She felt more secure. It was good for the peace of mind.
BERMAN: How does she feel about your claim that it's always peaceful there?
CORS: I'm going to have a hard time next year convincing her that wherever I go, this is fine. Don't worry, mom. So I need a new strategy.
BERMAN: At the beginning, and I wonder if it's changed at all, you know, what were your concerns that tourists could be targeted by the cartel given the violence?
CORS: You know, in the beginning, we just -- we didn't know what was happening, so everyone was just staying inside. We, you know, saw some locals that were staying inside. So we just decided to copy exactly what they were doing. Then we heard about the shelter in place order.
But, you know, at some point we had to go out, find some water, find some food. This is a, you know, beach vacation town. People were not stocked up for longer days.
BERMAN: Well, Alexander, glad you are doing well. And it does seem like the worst has passed. Thank you for sharing your story. And these pictures were pretty remarkable with us. Thank you very, very much.
CORS: Thanks.
BERMAN: Next for us, the big dig after the big blizzard.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:58:07]
BERMAN: All right. Huge cold waves crashing into homes in Scituate, Massachusetts. That coastal town is in the path of this dangerous bomb cyclone hammering New England tonight. It has already dumped more than 3 feet of snow in some places.
Let's get the latest from CNN's Bill Weir.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Scandinavian proverb tells us there is no bad weather, just inadequate clothing. And few places prove it. Like New York's Times Square in a bomb cyclone blizzard.
KENZA MADURO, TOURIST FROM LONDON: We knew it was going to snow, but we didn't expect it to be like this.
WEIR: Right, right. Is it hampering your vacation, your holiday? It's making it better.
WEIR (voice-over): But while it can be fun for tourists from London --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go, let's go, let's go.
WEIR (voice-over): And kids sprung from school. This kind of wet, heavy and sudden emergency can be a nightmare for commuters. And the governors and mayors elected to look out for them. Especially those still fresh on the job like Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey.
GOV. MIKIE SHERRILL (D), NEW JERSEY: The entire state of New Jersey, all 21 counties is under a blizzard warning for the first time in 30 years.
WEIR (voice-over): New York struggled to clear sidewalks during a brutally cold January. So now new mayor Zohran Mamdani hopes to recruit thousands of paid volunteer shovelers by offering a raise of more than $10 an hour.
MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK CITY: As of today, they can now deploy 1,800 New Yorkers per shift. Due to the historic nature of this blizzard, we've increased pay to $30 per hour.
WEIR (voice-over): But places with less manpower and even more white stuff are now at the mercy of the melt. And until it comes, Providence, Rhode Island has to figure out what to do with a record shattering 33 inches.
GOV. DAN MCKEE (D), RHODE ISLAND: The number one key for me when this is all said and done is that everybody was safe. And for that to happen, we need to continue to have the cooperation from the people who live in the state to stay off the roads and then check with your neighbors.
WEIR (voice-over): Dozens of small towns across the Northeast are wrestling with 2 wet feet. And Boston will cancel school for the second day as they dig out of the blizzard of '26.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: All right, thanks to Bill Weir for that. It has been something, let me tell you.
A reminder, tomorrow night President Trump's first State of the Union address of his second term. CNN special coverage starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. I'm back tomorrow at 7:00 a.m.
The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.
