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FBI: "Please Help Us Bring Nancy Guthrie Home"; Three-Way Peace Talks Resume Between Ukraine, Russia, And U.S.; Bitcoin Hits Lowest Level Since November 2024. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired February 04, 2026 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[07:30:38]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news overnight. Bill Gates is speaking out for the first time since the latest release of millions of documents from the Epstein files and inside more mentions of Bill Gates and more images of Bill Gates as well. Some include draft email messages which appear to document Jeffrey Epstein's feelings of betrayal toward the Microsoft co-founder. It is unclear who wrote those emails, but they were saved in Jeffrey Epstein's email account.

Bill Gates has not been accused of any wrongdoing relating to Epstein. Gates has talked about knowing him. And in this new interview we'll now play for you -- part of -- that Gates gave he regrets ever associating with him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL GATES, CO-FOUNDER, MICROSOFT: Yeah, I met Jeffrey in 2011. The focus was always he knew a lot of very rich people, and he was saying he could get them, uh, to give money to global health. You know, in retrospect that was a dead end. And I was foolish to spend time with him. I was one of many people who regret ever knowing him.

You know, it's factually true that I was only at dinners. You know, I never went to the island. I never met any women. And so, you know, the more that comes out the more clear it'll be that although the time was a mistake it had nothing to do with that kind of behavior.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Now, Melinda French Gates, the philanthropist who divorced Bill Gates back in 2021 -- she is also speaking out now telling NPR that her ex-husband, like anyone else mentioned in these files, has questions to answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELINDA FRENCH GATES, EX-WIFE OF BILL GATES: It's just sadness. Sadness for -- you know, I've left -- I had to -- l left my marriage. I had to leave my marriage. I wanted to leave my marriage. I had to leave the -- I felt I needed to eventually leave the foundation. For me, I've been able to move on in life, and I hope there's some justice for those now women.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Quite something -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you, Kate.

All right, back to our urgent search this morning. The FBI and local authorities are pleading for the public's help as the search for Nancy Guthrie enters day four. The 84-year-old mother NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie was last seen Saturday night in Arizona's Catalina Foothills. Authorities believe she was taken not just from her home but from her bed against her will. The sheriff saying they are not dismissing a reported ransom note that has been revealed, and the motive and any suspects are unknown this morning.

With me now is CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe.

This is such a disturbing scenario that is painted by the sheriff as to what happened and why they believe she was abducted.

What are they key questions that investigators need to sort of answer thoroughly and quickly as you look at this case?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FBI: Yeah, Sara. Well, there's obviously a lot of questions that need to be answered. It's really more about actions right now than it is about questions. And when I say actions, I mean the very specific evidence collection techniques that are -- I'm sure have been underway for days and must be completed at this point. You're at the point now where the evidence that you've collected has to be analyzed and put into context.

So the FBI can help enormously with that. I'm sure they have in terms of processing the crime scene itself from trying to essentially reconstruct to the best extent possible what sort of things took place in that house on that evening or early the next morning.

They also have special technical skills that can assist. We know that they've assisted so far with the -- with the collection and analysis of cell phone data from the nearby cell phone towers. That's an -- that's an effort to create essentially a population of people who you know were in that area at that particular time. And then you start going through that population of people and ruling people in or out as suspects. So I would expect that that's going on now.

We've also heard about some technical potential issues that the sheriff's office is having with the cameras. The -- there were apparently cameras on the premises. And accessing the recordings from the -- from the -- from those cameras is obviously essential and that's something that the FBI can help with as well.

It's a little bit concerning to me that the sheriff said yesterday they haven't had the sort of rapid response from the company involved that they would like to have seen. That's certainly something that needs to be fixed right away.

[07:35:05]

SIDNER: Yeah, because time is of the essence in any cases like this but in particular because she needs her medication for survival and she has mobility issues as well.

I do want to ask you about this ransom note that has been reported. You know, when you get a note like this what do investigators do? I mean, obviously it can be confirmed if the person then makes contact and asks for money on -- in a different way. But what you do when you have a ransom note?

MCCABE: So obviously every lead you get is taken seriously. Nothing in an -- in an abduction or kidnapping is taken for granted. And there's no lead more important than potential contact from the offender in the form of a ransom demand. So every one of these is looked at very closely. Some of them can be dismissed right off the top because they include facts that we know are not true.

This is why the investigators are so careful about not sharing with the general public some facts about the evidence recovered from the crime scene because they need those confidential pieces of information to be able to vet communications from purported abductors.

So you can rule out some off the bat in that way, but that's not possible with every demand that comes in. And so at some point you have to -- for those demands that you think are possibly authentic you have to begin interacting with whoever -- whatever the point of connection is identified in the ransom demand. And through that interaction you can also conduct some vetting. You can start to rule people out -- people who don't have knowledge of insider facts and that sort of stuff.

Ultimately, you never, you know, follow the instructions of a ransom demand until after you've received proof of life. And that's where most of those hoax or fraudulent demands really fall apart. I expect that with ever -- whatever number of demands they've received so far, they're all some place in that process at this point.

SIDNER: Yeah. I mean, it is just horrible and the thing that's making it even worse and that may, you know, encourage copycats is that now everyone knows whose mother this is. And that family just really struggling. Savannah there on the ground to try to help find her own mom.

Andrew McCabe, thank you so much for kind of breaking that down for us.

And there is something that you can do if you have any information. There is a tip line -- both local police and the FBI. You can call 1- 800-CALL-FBI if you have any information. It would be greatly appreciated by authorities and, of course, by the Guthrie family -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Also happening right now, the U.S., Ukraine, and Russia are all around the same table. A reminder that his has only happened once before. And negotiators are holding critical talks in Abu Dhabi as we speak. The aim is, of course, to bring an end to Russia's four-year- long war in Ukraine.

The talks come one day after, though, Russia launched its largest attack on Ukraine so far this year. Video shows extensive damage to a power plant and almost 1,200 high-rise buildings in Kyiv were left without heat due to the strikes, the mayor says. The attack targeted energy facilities across at least six regions. Seventy missiles and 450 attack drones were used.

Still, President Trump is giving Putin credit, saying that Putin "kept his word" by not attacking Ukraine for the span of one week. But that pause ended with this latest siege. The power is now out to tens of thousands of people on a day when temperatures hit negative-four in Kyiv.

And joining me right now is CNN political and global affairs commentator Sabrina Singh, and retired -- and retired Army Brigadier Gen. Mark Kimmitt. Thank you both.

General, can you just put in perspective -- first, the talks are happening but this strike -- I mean, almost four years in and Russia pauses for a handful of days and then it hammers Kyiv with its biggest attack of the year, cutting heat to tens of thousands.

What impact do you think this has?

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY (RET.), FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR POLITICAL-MILITARY AFFAIRS (via Webex by Cisco): Well, it's certainly a case that what Russia is trying to do is fight its way to better terms. Obviously, they want to demonstrate through negotiations that they can put a lot of pain on Ukraine, and they certainly hope by demonstrating that pain that they can put on Ukraine and its people that they will be willing to accept lesser terms than they otherwise would have gotten during a ceasefire.

BOLDUAN: Sabrina, speaking of kind of the impact of things, what impact does it have then with the timing of what President Trump is saying -- has said? I mean, he said he asked it as a personal favor for Putin to pause for a week when the -- when the weather was so cold in Ukraine. He says Putin kept his word with this one-week pause. But then you have this -- that -- him walking in -- and the U.S. walking into kind of, I don't know, mediate these talks then today.

[07:40:05]

SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR, FORMER DEPUTY PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah. You know, I think the impact here is that Russia is using winter as a weapon of war. It is using the winter as a tool in its arsenal.

And so even though Donald Trump got this so-called ceasefire from Putin, the reality is that there were still strikes happening in Ukraine. I mean, there was a strike on a -- on a metro rail. There was a strike on miners heading home on a bus. What you're seeing here is that I think there are about 2,000

apartment buildings without heat between Kyiv and Kharkiv. People are using their cars to store food in their trunks as freezers because they don't have electricity in their buildings. They're using their cars to charge their phones.

So this all comes as talks are happening right now, but I'm curious on why this administration given that it's winter, given that we know Russia is striking non-military targets -- they're striking energy targets -- why this administration is not pushing just for an outright ceasefire as these talks are ongoing. So I think that's what this administration really needs to push for.

I think the reality is also, Putin has just dug in. He knows that he's continuing to make some sort of gains on the battlefield.

And just to your question on the impact, what Russia is trying to do is really break the Ukrainians' spirit and make them come to the negotiating table with these energy strikes. And I think that remains to be seen if the Ukrainian people will be broken after four years of such a long war. I don't think that's going to happen but, of course, that's what Russia is trying to force right now.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

And General, you know, these talks that are happening in Abu Dhabi today -- Friday, the Trump administration says it is still going to be sitting down with Iran to hold talks despite the fact that the USS Abraham Lincoln took out an Iranian drone yesterday afternoon. There was kind of a question on what happens after that.

What do -- what do you see is really going to happen in these talks? How much does it complicate things that President Trump wants to talk about a nuclear deal when this started with the president threatening military action over the regime's crackdown on widespread protests in Iran?

KIMMITT: Well, first of all, I think it's important that we're starting the talks again. And what we've seen is exactly what you would expect the Iranians to do, which is Foreign Minister Araghchi in that exclusive interview with Fox News said look, we'll talk about the nukes, but what we'll do is we'll not talk about the missiles, and we won't talk about the proxies. That has been U.S. policy since the first time, we've ever tried talks.

However, the administration -- the Iranians have been able to do a bait-and-switch on the last two sets of negotiations in the Biden administration and the Obama administration by number one, saying we will not discuss those issues that are U.S. policy -- the proxies and the missiles. They tried it again when Araghchi announced those same preconditions on Fox News. So I simply think that it may well be that the Iranian administration believes that they can precondition their way to the talks and get better talks as a result.

And I believe this administration is going to hold firm to the U.S. policy since we first discovered the Iranian nuclear program, which is we will discuss all three issues -- missiles, nuclear, and the proxies that have been so deadly throughout the region.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. What you lay out lays out some tough conditions that they're going to be walking into with these talks about accomplishing anything. But talking is one step to something always.

Sabrina, thank you so much. General Kimmitt, thank you. I really appreciate it -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right.

This morning Wall Street hoping for a rebound after stocks stumbled Tuesday over concerns about AI and U.S.-Iran tensions.

Bitcoin also dropped to its lowest level in nearly two years, dropping below $80,000 per coin. It continues to struggle amid a series of sell-offs.

Now taking a look at futures right now you see that it is mixed this morning and just slightly up -- the Dow futures -- but Nasdaq slightly down.

Joining me now is Nathan Bomey. He is a business reporter for Axios.

Nathan, President Trump promised to make America the crypto capital of the world. Bitcoin is tanking compared to its height. What's going on?

NATHAN BOMEY, BUSINESS REPORTER, AXIOS (via Webex by Cisco): Well, crypto is a very volatile asset and when the market gets volatile then people often want to sell it off. You know, this is an asset that is tied to other riskier assets. And risk is the kind of thing in the market that sort of moves in tandem. And so if there is other, you know, risk in the market that people want to essentially flee, then crypto ends up taking a beating because of it.

SIDNER: It's interesting because when crypto was sort of first pushed out to the public it was supposed to be an antidote to the markets and something that was -- you know, that didn't necessarily follow.

[07:40:05]

What happened because it seems to be following the market? People's fear as you see that in Bitcoin as well.

BOMEY: Well, some -- at some point we all woke up and Bitcoin was considered more of a conventional asset than it has ever been before, which sounds odd because I think a lot of people still don't really understand what crypto is. But, you know, Bitcoin at this point is obviously the mainline crypto asset, as you might say, and so it just becomes something that is -- seems to move in general with other risky assets.

Like we saw some of these AI stocks sell off in the last couple of days because, you know, people are starting to question -- OK, maybe this AI bubble is a real thing and that could be a problem for investors.

SIDNER: Yeah.

I do want to ask you -- you know, for investors who are watching all this happen and kind of worrying about their money, what are the key signals to look for in the coming -- in the coming weeks?

BOMEY: Well, the AI bubble talk is going to continue. This is something that would be a dramatic impact on the market if it were to pop.

Now, there's a lot of debate. If you listen to Jensen Huang, the CEO of NVIDIA, he says that the massive amounts of money that's being poured into AI and data centers right now is all called for, it's all necessary, and it's going to lead to continued economic growth.

But if you look at a deal just the other day, like Oracle issuing -- they're about to issue up to $50 billion in new equity and new debt. That's just going to fuel additional concerns that all this money that's being piled in is too much.

Now, I don't think anyone believes this is another dot.com bubble bust type of thing because ultimately, companies like NVIDIA are selling real services. This is not a pets.com type of situation. This is a company that is selling actual products.

But again, perhaps it's getting to be too much. And if that's the case you can see a ripple effect.

SIDNER: Give us a sense what it means that gold is surging way beyond anyone's wildest dreams and Bitcoin is falling at the same time. What does that tell investors?

BOMEY: Well, it's been a very strange year for gold and for silver because in the beginning, for several weeks, like you say, a huge surge. And then all of a sudden on Friday a huge sell-off.

And I think that is really unsettling because what it means is that a commodity that's typically associated with safety, with a lack of risk, with dependability is suddenly becoming more volatile. So I think we have to watch that very closely to see whether gold and silver, you know, continue to be involatile. Because again, huge increases followed by a huge sell-off -- I think that means that people are looking for where they can actually put their money and get some sort of dependability.

SIDNER: Yeah. Everyone is always looking for safety, but they also want to see growth at the same time. And the market has been confusing although it is at -- you know, has been at record highs throughout.

Nathan, thank you so much for walking us through that. I really do appreciate it -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Ahead, a 13-year-old boy is being called superhuman. It really seems to be so. He swam for miles and miles to save his mom and younger siblings who were stranded at sea. It's a remarkable story.

And a mama kangaroo and her joey on the loose turning these deputies in Virginia into, well, kangaroo wranglers.

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[07:52:17]

BOLDUAN: Happening today, President Trump's lawyers will be back in court as part of his ongoing effort to get his hush money conviction overturned. The president was sentenced in New York State court over this. All -- it all stems from -- as a reminder, from payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign. Prosecutors said that Donald Trump falsified business records tied to the payments.

And now his attorneys are trying to move their appeal out of state court and into federal court, which could very well mean presidential immunity would jump into play. A judge has already, though, turned down Donald Trump's efforts to make this move twice before.

Joining us right now is former federal prosecutor Alyse Adamson. It's good to see you again. Thanks for being here.

This effort to move the case, as I mentioned, has been kind of -- has hit a wall a couple of times now. What do you expect today?

ALYSE ADAMSON, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR, HOST, "AT-LYSE YOU HEARD IT HERE" PODCAST (via Webex by Cisco): That's right, Kate. Donald Trump's legal team has advanced these exact same arguments and failed twice before.

But what's different here Kate is that the Second Circuit -- that is the appellate court that sits over New York -- told this federal judge that they are arguing in front of today to take another look at a very narrow argument. And that is that some of the evidence that was used in this hush money trial potentially -- and I say potentially very intentionally -- could be considered official acts.

So Donald Trump's team is arguing, for example, conversations with Hope Hicks and his social media posts were actually official acts. And so what Judge Hellerstein -- that is the federal judge -- needs to consider is whether or not in any world those could be considered official acts or if it is truly private conduct.

So I expect more arguments of the same today.

BOLDUAN: So Alyse, again, not knowing the future, what happens if the president's bid to move this into federal court is successful? What then is likely to happen?

ADAMSON: Yeah, Kate, that's the key question. This is clearly a strategic move on the part of Trump's team and that's because if this case gets moved to federal court it has a clearer path to the Supreme Court.

What's important to note is that this was a state-level conviction, so Donald Trump cannot pardon himself in any context. Even if this is moved to federal court it doesn't make it a federal case. The federal court is just considering federal questions.

So Donald Trump's one shot at having this case essentially tossed out and no longer having felon status is if this case makes it up to the Supreme Court and they vacate it on the basis of this presidential immunity ruling which, Kate, had not come down at the time of this conviction.

[07:55:10]

So his arguments are not meritless because these arguments were not considered when the case was proceeding through the trial track. But multiple judges have said we considered those arguments and they don't apply.

BOLDUAN: Does this have, in your view -- I mean, any of these moves creates a delay in the calendar. Is that part of the motivation here, do you think?

ADAMSON: Create a delay in the calendar in advancing the case? I mean, yes. This case has been moving around very slowly. But I do think that these moves are strategic because at the end of the day even though Donald Trump did not serve any jail time, he was -- he got an unconditional discharge -- he still has this conviction on his record.

And so in my view of this, this is his legal team fighting hard for their client and trying to get this case tossed out. Because again, Kate, even if it is vacated and sent back to the lower court to exclude that evidence, Donald Trump is the sitting president. They can't try him because he's still -- he has three years left of his presidency. And it is very unlikely that the Manhattan D.A. would try him after his second term has concluded.

So the stakes --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

ADAMSON: -- are just very high and he doesn't want to be a (audio gap).

BOLDUAN: Right. And it could be -- that could be the beginning and end of it. He doesn't want that word associated with his name, right? That --

It's good to have you, Alyse. Thank you very much. I really appreciate your time -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. On our radar for you this morning, the ex-husband of former first lady Jill Biden has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of his current wife. Seventy-seven-year-old William Stevenson was arrested in connection with the death of his wife Linda who was found unresponsive back in December in their Delaware home. Stevenson is currently being held in a correctional facility after being unable to post a $500,000 cash bond.

He was married to Jill Biden from 1970 until they divorced five years later. "Not today." An Australian teenager is being hailed superhuman after he swam nearly three miles in choppy ocean waters and battled massive waves to save his family who were stranded out at sea. Thirteen-year- old Austin Appelbee was kayaking off the coast with his mother and two siblings when they were suddenly swept miles from land.

Austin first tried to kayak back to help them, but when his kayak started filling with water, he decided to make the long swim. He swam for hours in fading light before finally making it to shore. Austin then sprinted more than a mile to get help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AUSTIN APPELBEE, SAVED FAMILY I was fighting rough seas, but I thought I saw something in the water and I was really scared. And I was just thinking -- I was just thinking in my head -- thinking I wasn't going to make it through but also thinking about all my friends at school and friends at my Christian youth. Um, and yeah, I just said God, not today, not today, not today. I have to keep on going.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: What an amazing child. More than two hours without a life jacket and he made it. A rescue team eventually found his mother, brother, and sister clinging to a paddleboard.

Now, a runaway kangaroo and her joey led sheriff's deputies in Virginia on a wild chase. No, this is not Australia. This is Virginia. When they arrived this past Saturday, they realized that the mama kangaroo was injured in snow and frigid temperatures.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW SUNDRA, NELSON COUNTY CONSERVATION POLICE OFFICER: Never in my wildest imagination would I have though in Nelson County I'd be wrangling a kangaroo.

LT. STEVE BODECK, NELSON COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: It could easily jump over a four-foot fence, but it did not. It just sat there and looked at me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I found a kangaroo. It was more of a shock of yeah, it was a legit kangaroo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Oh.

Sheriff deputies believe that dogs may have entered the kangaroo's enclosure, frightening her and causing her to drop her joey. Once their owner arrived, she was tranquilized. Both mom and baby are OK and back home. But the marsupial will now be making an upcoming appearance at a chili cookoff. I don't even want to know why she's at the chili cookoff. Don't worry. She is not on the menu.

All right. The Westminster Kennel Club has officially crowed a brand new top dog.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For Best in Show at the 150th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is the Doberman Pinscher.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Penny, the Doberman Pinscher. Westminster 150 goes to Penny, the Doberman Pinscher.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: That's so sweet.

All right, massive applause you heard there at Madison Square Garden for Penny, the stunning 4-year-old Doberman Pinscher. She outperformed nearly 2,500 other canines from more than 200 breeds to be crowned with the top prize at Westminster, which is America's oldest continuously held dog show.

Another fun fact. The show is also the second-oldest sporting event in the country behind one of my favorites, the Kentucky Derby.