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Savannah Guthrie Makes Emotional Plea For Mother's Safe Return; Democratic Leaders Outline 10 Demands To GOP In ICE Funding Fight; Trump Warns Iran's Supreme Leader Should Be "Very Worried." Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired February 05, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news from overnight, "TODAY" show host Savannah Guthrie and her siblings making a heartfelt and tearful plea for their missing mother to be returned safely.

We're now entering day five of the search for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie. Authorities believe she was abducted from her home outside Tucson, Arizona.

Overnight, Savannah Guthrie, her sister and brother shared a video on social media with a message to their mother and whoever may have kidnapped her, asking for proof of life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, NBC ANCHOR, "TODAY": We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her. We want to hear from you, and we are ready to listen. Please reach out to us.

Mommy, if you are hearing this you are a strong woman. You are God's precious daughter, Nancy. We believe and know that even in this valley He is with you. Everyone is looking for you, mommy, everywhere. We will not rest. Your children will not rest until we are together again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: It is a heart-wrenching statement.

CNN's Brian Stelter is joining us now. Listening to this just -- it broke all of our hearts as she's trying to struggle through this horrible moment in her life.

Do they have help because obviously, every little thing they do has to be calculated --

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yeah.

SIDNER: -- because they want to do the right thing to try and get their mother home? STELTER: Right. That is a key question and the answer is yes. The

Guthrie family does have a lot of help. Many friends, many colleagues of Savannah, and many others reaching out and providing the kind of help that is very valuable at a moment like this.

And I think probably most significantly the federal posture has changed in the last couple of days, and we can see that even on the ground in Tucson seeing FBI agents working with local law enforcement. But I've also sensed that behind the scenes.

A source close to the family telling me that Guthries -- all three Guthries -- all three siblings spent hours yesterday with FBI agents and with the other federal resources that have now arrived in Tucson. And those are the kind of conversations in support with local law enforcement that maybe helped them prepare to record that video, although it is clear every word is so genuine. Every word straight from the heart.

And our colleague John Miller said it best last night. He said this has been a one-way conversation, right? A possible kidnapping. A possible ransom note. We don't know if it's legit. And the Guthrie family is trying to turn it into a two-way conversation by insisting on proof of life.

Here's that portion of the video from last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUTHRIE: We, too, have heard the reports about a ransom letter in the media. As a family we are doing anything that we can. We are ready to talk. However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: You know, if you go ahead and if you extrapolate from that, you think about what we lived about in the last few years. We've heard about deepfakes. We've heard about AI-generated content. You could imagine a really ugly scenario where someone could try to create a ransom note or a proof of life video that was AI-generated. I hate to say it but it's easy to imagine a situation like that.

So what you hear Savannah saying there is whoever is holding her mom, you have to prove that you're actually with her and that she is alive and she is OK. Provide us that content that's not AI-generated and that can't be spooked or faked. You hear that coming through in the message. And that's the kind of thing I'm sure she knew to say on her own but it's also the kind of thing that these federal agents would be suggesting or would be recommending.

You know, you really could notice that change in posture in the last few days. It started out as something that the local sheriff's office was focused on but now you see the FBI tip line being emphasized, as well as the Pima County Sheriff's Office tip line.

And frankly, I have sensed a little bit of frustration with the handling of the crime scene in the last couple of days, at least from some people close to the family. You know, knowing the local authorities said they were finished at the crime scene, returning it to the family only to have authorities back there yesterday conducting a new search, you know. There has been some back-and-forth here and it has been frustrating for some of the people involved.

SIDNER: Yeah, and there is the tip line -- the two tip lines -- a local one and the one for the FBI that people should --

STELTER: Yeah.

SIDNER: -- call if they have any information that could help bring Nancy Guthrie home.

Thank you so much Brian Stelter for your reporting on this -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And with us now CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson. And counselor, you've helped us understand so many criminal events as they've been happening and in the aftermath.

[07:35:00]

When do you decide to put a video out like this? You've had a chance to look at this. I have to say I believe every line of this is chosen carefully -- absolutely from the heart but also, I am sure with the help of investigators.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Yeah, John. Good morning.

The answer is as soon as you can when you need answers to crack this investigation. The fact is as you look at the video from a human perspective you see the pain, you see the anguish, but you also see a deep faith in the family in addition to a reassurance of the mom we're here.

But importantly, John, you're establishing, or attempting to, a dialogue. It comes down to who did this and what do you want. We're ready to speak but we need engagement. And yes, we live in a world where John Berman could be in a million places because of AI. You don't want that.

And so you want the family to get out there and to give some, right -- establish some kind of dialogue and some communication with whoever this person is so that you could determine the motivation, right? Why did they do this, what is the basis behind it, and what could we do to assist you to bring this to a conclusion?

BERMAN: There was one line in the video that struck me as unusual where Savannah Guthrie -- and again, just -- my heart goes out to her -- where she said we've seen reports in the media of the ransom note.

JACKSON: Yeah.

BERMAN: Why do you say that? Is that to suggest that we have this vague notion out there, but we need something more specific?

JACKSON: I think you need that, right? I mean, the reality is that you have, right, many wonderful and beautiful people in the world, but you have people who are very cruel.

Now, is this ransom note -- is that something that can be credited? Does it actually exist? If it does exist, how can we part the way so that we can, you know, meet your demands, if any? And what do we work out with the FBI in conjunction with our family to bring this to a conclusion?

Remember, the mom has some ailments, right? Those ailments get worse by the day with respect to medication. So if the ransom is legit obviously you want to say hey, we're here. We're ready to speak. Let's talk about what we can do so that we can satisfy you so you can return our mom and satisfy us.

BERMAN: They went to great ends to talk about how much they loved their mother -- a message presumably to her. No doubt they desperately --

JACKSON: Yes.

BERMAN: -- want her to know that and I'm sure she does know that based on the kindness of this family.

But why also do you do that to get that message to whoever is behind this?

JACKSON: I think the reality is John is that, you know, to you it's a person that you're abducting, right? It's a person that you're taking. It's a person for whatever your motivations are. But this is a person who means a lot to so many, and you have to have that reassurance not only to the mom to let her know that we have you, we love you. We're out here to support you. But also to the person, right?

At the end of the day emotional appeal is everything. We are, as humans, emotional. We instruct juries every day throughout this country John to avoid emotion. It's hard, right, not to accept the emotional component. And so maybe this plea will get them to where they need to be with respect to that connection --

BERMAN: Yeah.

JACKSON: -- with the person with the ransom to get her home and safe.

BERMAN: She kept on using her name, Nancy, and talking about --

JACKSON: Right.

BERMAN: -- her as a mother there. It's important to be specific in that regard.

Joey Jackson, thank you so much for your --

JACKSON: Thanks, John. BERMAN: -- help on this this morning -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much, John. And thank you to you, Joey, as well.

New this morning, top Democrats in Congress are calling on Republicans to agree to a list of 10 demands to "rein in ICE" amid a standoff over funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

Their demands include requiring judicial warrants to enter private property. Requiring identification and body cameras for all officers. Staying away from sensitive locations like schools, hospitals, and churches. Prohibiting racial profiling and masks. And requiring officers to abide by "reasonable use of force standards."

House Speaker Mike Johnson has already rolled out two of their demands. Congress has a little over a week to negotiate a deal to keep Department of Homeland Security funded.

Joining us now is Illinois Congressman Brad Schneider, a Democrat.

In your state there has been a lot of ICE activity. That's one of the places -- or the second place where it really blew up.

Can you give me a sense of if those two things that Johnson says are a no-go -- if those are not part of the deal will Democrats or will you fund DHS?

REP. BRAD SCHNEIDER (D-IL) (via Webex by Cisco): Well, thanks for having me.

And as you said, Chicago is the second city. We had Operation Midway Blitz. Every place ICE has gone it has gotten more aggressive and more violent. More threatening to the communities.

And I think Democrats are united in saying we need a change in behaviors of ICE and respect for our communities and the individuals in those communities. We need to reestablish the standards and put in place guardrails, make sure that we're holding officers to account, and restoring congressional oversight.

[07:40:00]

We're sitting down at the table. We're hoping to have conversations with Speaker Johnson and the other Republicans. We need to see changes -- need to see real changes. And if we get them, I think we can get to an agreement. If we don't get them, we're going to stand firm and not give one more penny to ICE.

SIDNER: In your state a judge found that federal agents lied about what happened to an American citizen they shot named Marimar Martinez. After they shot her, they blamed her, calling her a domestic terrorist for following them and honking her horn to alert her neighbors that ICE was in the neighborhood.

Here is what she testified to a congressional committee. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIMAR MARTINEZ, SHOT BY BORDER PATROL IN CHICAGO: The agent shot me as I drove away from him. My attorney and his investigators found video evidence demonstrating the agents were lying. Perhaps even worse is the mental scars will always be there as a reminder of the time my own government attempted to execute me. And when they fell, they chose to vilify me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: This is not the first time that they have been caught in a lie by a court or caught in a lie by the public.

Who should face consequences for their behavior?

SCHNEIDER: Well, the officers should certainly face consequences. In part, the leadership holds responsibility. They have a responsibility to train these officers and to establish standards of behavior and action when they're out in the field, and to hold these officers to account.

But certainly, you start with the officers. We shouldn't stop until we address the problems in leadership. And the number one problem we need to address is Kristi Noem who Donald Trump should fire her or she should resign. And if that doesn't happen Congress should take action to remove her.

SIDNER: Trump is talking about this and perhaps softening a bit on the way that he believes they need to be enforcing immigration.

Now that two Americans are dead at the hands of federal immigration agents, families are being torn apart, like father Adrian and his 5- year-old Liam Ramos who were detained by ICE even though they were going through the legal process of asylum, and ICE has been given a quota to detain 3,000 people per day -- but the border is quiet now. You could argue this is what Trump's immigration reform looks like.

Is there anything in the way he is doing things that you would keep as part of an immigration reform package?

SCHNEIDER: Well, I think all of can agree that we don't want hardened criminals on our street. People who are a threat to our communities, a threat to our children. And there should be cooperation between federal, state, and local authorities to make sure we're keeping our communities safe.

That's exactly the opposite of what we've been seeing from this administration. They've been targeting hardworking individuals, members of our community, coworkers, family, friends. They're targeting American citizens, as you noted, separating children from parents. And arresting people who are here legally who are going through the process.

We need immigration reform. We have to fix our laws. We have to strengthen our judicial system. We could all work on that together, but this administration seems to have no interest to do so.

SIDNER: All right, Congressman Brad Schneider. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. I do appreciate it -- John.

BERMAN: All right. This morning, let the political speculation begin. The social media pages for the one-time presidential campaign of Kamala Harris -- they are active once again. The 'Kamala HQ' accounts on X and TikTok posted a new video along with a name change on the TikTok to simply "Headquarters."

It's part of a partnership with the progressive advocacy group People for the American Way. The group said it will be used to connect people with progressive leaders and news. Harris herself will have an honorary role in the new group as she continues her book tour.

That's the official response but I've got to tell you there's a lot of other political speculation about why she's doing this. Why now? What it means for future potential presidential ambitions. So stay tuned for that.

Breaking economic news. New data shows the U.S. had the worst month for job cuts since the Great Recession.

And new this morning, robots can dance but it does not mean they can dance well.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:48:15]

SIDNER: Breaking just moments ago, new data showing January was the worst month for job cuts since 2009 Great Recession.

CNN senior reporter Matt Egan is joining me now. What else is this report telling you?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah, Sara. Look, this is a bad way to start 2026, right? Layoffs way up, hiring way down.

So Challenger, Gray & Christmas reports that during the month of January, U.S. based employers announced just over 108,000 layoffs. Now that is roughly double January of 2025 and roughly triple the end of last year. In fact, Sara, as you mentioned, this is the highest since January 2009 during the great financial crisis. Of course, that was just months after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Now as far as where the layoffs are, it's really largely in two sectors. Transportation and technology really leading the way. In fact, two companies, UPS and Amazon, account for roughly 40 percent of the announced layoffs. Also, health care, chemical, and finance as well.

Now as far as why companies are laying off, during the month of January the leading reason was a loss of contract, market and economic conditions, and restructuring as well. Artificial intelligence, as you may have guessed, also playing a role as well. So you put all this together and again, it really paints a concerning picture about the job market.

Now one thing I do want to note though is that we're talking about announced layoffs. Economists put more weight on actual applications for unemployment. And first-time jobless claims -- they do remain pretty low and the unemployment rate -- it did stabilize at the end of last year.

[07:50:00]

So we've got to pay close attention to what happens next on that. And hopefully we get some more clarity from the official government jobs report, which is expected out next week. Delayed because of the government shutdown.

One other thing to point out though here Sara is this was also a bad month for hiring. Challenger says that just about 5,300 announced hiring plans by companies. That was done 13 percent year-over-year. In fact --

SIDNER: Wow.

EGAN: -- this was the lowest since Challenger started tracking this back in 2009.

And remember Sara, all of this comes after last year, which was the weakest for the U.S. job market for job growth outside of a recession since 2003 under George W. Bush. And this report at least suggests that there was no big rebound during the month of January.

SIDNER: Yeah. I mean, it's not good. I mean, that's the best way to look at it. It's not good if you are in the market for a job or you have just lost your job.

EGAN: Yeah.

SIDNER: It's rough going out there.

EGAN: For all those kids who just got out of college.

SIDNER: Exactly.

All right. Thank you so much, Matt Egan.

EGAN: Thanks, Sara.

SIDNER: I do appreciate it -- John.

BERMAN: All right. This morning U.S. and Iranian officials are making final preparations ahead of talks set for tomorrow in Oman. Special envoy Steve Witkoff is set to lead the discussions for the United States.

Ahead of the meeting, President Trump is issuing a warning to Iran's supreme leader, saying his country should be "very worried." (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM LLAMAS, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: Should the supreme leader in Iran be worried right now?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I would say he should be very worried. Yeah, he should be. As you know, they're negotiating with us.

LLAMAS: I know they are, but the protesters have said, you know, where are the Americans? We promised them we would have their back. Do we still have their back?

TRUMP: Well, we've had their back. And look, that country's a mess right now because of us. We went in, we wiped out their nuclear.

LLAMAS: We wiped them out, yeah.

TRUMP: So listen, if we want -- we have (PH) peace in the Middle East.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: With us now CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier, and CNN military analyst Col. Cedric Leighton.

Kim, first to you. There was a period of time yesterday when these talks were off, and then on, and then in a different place now.

What is Iran doing --

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah.

BERMAN: -- in the leadup to these talks?

DOZIER: Yeah, Iran starting campaigning a few days ago to move the talks from Turkey to Oman -- Iran is very close to the Omanis -- and also just as a powerplay. The fact that they pulled it off signals to their own people that they are not being bullied by the American president.

That said, just the fact that their meeting might delay a strike for a few days, but the stuff they're talking about -- the U.S. wants them not only to abandon their nuclear program in a way that would keep them from building a nuclear weapon but to discuss their ballistic missiles, which they consider their key self-defense against Israel, and also to stop their support of proxy groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen.

This is how Iran exerts its foreign policy. Basically, the U.S. is asking to cut the Iranians off at the knees diplomatically, and I just don't think they're going to agree.

BERMAN: Colonel Leighton, what does Iran get out of time -- the time they're trying to buy here? COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah, John. One of the things they get is the ability to prepare even further for a possible U.S. strike. So that's one aspect of this.

The other thing that they might be able to do in this particular case is prepare their population. You know, as Kim was kind of alluding to here, we have a population is definitely in favor of regime change, but they will probably turn their views if the U.S. attacks. So that is something that the regime is also preparing for. Basically it gives them time from a military perspective as well as a propaganda perspective to basically change the battlefield in their favor.

BERMAN: And Kim, to an extent, you think the U.S. may be trying to move the goal post here a little bit even if military strikes are inevitable. What do you mean?

DOZIER: Well, President Trump was calling on the people in the streets to keep going, saying the U.S. was locked and loaded to support them. But when he made those threats to Iran the U.S. didn't have a carrier strike group in the Gulf or the Indian Ocean ready to protect Israel, protect U.S. bases in the Gulf.

So I think his military advisers had to tell him at the time sir, we can't attack right now until we get assets in position. Once those assets got into position the other thing they got a chance to explain to him is you can't do a decapitation strike in Iran like you could in Venezuela. Maduro was a key leader that you could seize and take out but Iran is a theocracy that's well entrenched with its security system. If you take out the ayatollah in some manner, shape or form you really turn the people against you, as Cedric was alluding to. Plus, it's a really tightly-knit system where you replace one. Somebody will take that person's place, and the machine stays in power.

[07:55:00]

BERMAN: So you may not be able to do regime change with the types of strikes the United States is contemplating. You may not be able to stop or to crack down on the Iranians' treatment of protesters with the types of strikes you're contemplating.

Cedric -- you know, Col. Leighton, what can the United States then do with the types of strikes it may be thinking about?

LEIGHTON: So one of the things that it could do, at least in theory John, is it could take out a large portion of the Iranian ballistic missile system. That ballistic missile system is something the Israeli's want us to take care of and if we don't, they will try to do that as well. It's one of the key threats to Israel as the Israelis see it. So that's one thing that could happen.

The other thing that could happen is we could restrike some of the targets in the nuclear arsenal that Iran has basically a nuclear weapons program. The president alluded to basically a restrike but not of necessarily the same exact targets that we hit the last time, but new targets. Because he talked about targets that -- where the Iranians were really starting their -- restarting or trying to restart their nuclear program. So that's the kind of thing that we could actually take care of in the event of military action against Iran.

BERMAN: Kim Dozier, Col. Cedric Leighton, thanks very much. Obviously, watch very closely if and when these talks start and then the exact language used by each side after. Appreciate it -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right.

On our radar for you this morning a TikTok challenge with dangerous consequences. A 9-year-old in Illinois is now recovering from burns after he put a popular squishy toy called a Nee Doh Cube in the microwave after seeing the trend online. And we've got to warn you before we show what happened to him. Take a look -- oh. When he put the cube in the microwave it exploded, covering and burning his face.

The local medical center there says this is the fourth case that they have already seen this year involving that toy. The boy, although in a lot of pain, is expected to recover.

All right, Trump's RX -- his answer to bringing down medicine prices -- is expected to launch today. The portal claims to allow cash-paying customers to buy directly from drugmakers at cheaper prices. At least 16 pharmaceutical companies are saying that they'll be on board, but the launch has seen delays and calls for oversight. Right now the website appears still stuck in the 'coming soon' phase.

And Draco Malfoy, the icy blonde antagonist from the Harry Potter series, has taken to an unlikely role in China. Here's our Mike Valerio.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE VALERIO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What does Draco Malfoy have to do with good luck in China?

TOM FELTON, ACTOR, HARRY POTTER SERIES: Draco Malfoy.

VALERIO: So these decorations have popped up all over Chinese social media ahead of the start of the Lunar New Year. That starts on February 17 and, of course, it ushers in the Year of the Horse in the Chinese zodiac.

It even got the attention of Tom Felton, the English actor who played the character in the Harry Potter movie series sharing this on his Instagram story.

All of this sudden popularity is thanks to the Chinese translation of Malfoy, which is Ma'erfu with ma meaning horse and fu meaning good fortune. It's a tradition for people across China to put the character fu on their front doors in hopes blessings and good fortune in the year ahead.

So I wonder why Malfoy wasn't everywhere during the Year of the Snake since he is a Slytherin. Well, better late than never. Whoo -- Happy New Year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: That's so cool. Happy New Year. The Chinese New Year is here. It's always fun.

All right, move over ray gun. A new smooth dancer is at the Olympics. This, as you can see, is a dancing robot at the Chinese hospitality house in Milan. It showed off some of his hip-hop dance moves. Better than Mike Trier (PH) -- goodness. He even showed a little Mike Trier is behind the camera here and he's acknowledging that his snake and his robot aren't quite as good. But he is showcases also some Tai Chi.

The Milan Cortina opening ceremony is tomorrow. Robots are, by the way, not allowed to compete. But this guy maybe should be given a little something. I don't know, maybe some oil.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, Savannah Guthrie and her siblings release a video pleading for the safe return of their mother, 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie. They -- we're going to be decoding the language they used. What they're saying to whom and why now.

This morning a not on the same page alert. President Trump saying he does not know why Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was in Atlanta for the FBI's seizure of 2020 election ballots. So why does Gabbard say Trump ordered her to go?

And gondolas gone wild. Skiers stuck high in the air.