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Savannah Guthrie and Siblings Plea for Safe Return of Their Mother; Trump Says Fatal Minneapolis Shooting Should Not Have Happened; January was Worst Month for Job Cuts Since 2009 Great Recession. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired February 05, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

BERMAN: Order her to go. Then gondolas gone wild, skiers stuck high in the air, were ropes enough to get them down.

Kate is out today, I'm John Berman with Sara Sidner, this is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, please bring her back. That's the message from Today's show host, Savannah Guthrie, and her siblings to whomever may have abducted their mother. The desperate search for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie is now entering day five.

Authorities believe she was abducted from her home outside Tucson, Arizona. In a video posted on social media, Savannah Guthrie, her sister and her brother, spoke directly to their mother and to her kidnapper, pleading for proof of life and for her to be brought home. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, "TODAY" HOST: On behalf of our family, we want to thank all of you for the prayers for our beloved mom, Nancy. We feel them and we continue to believe that she feels them too. Our mom is a kind, faithful, loyal, fiercely loving woman of goodness and light.

She's funny, spunky, and clever. She has grandchildren that adore her and crowd around her and cover her with kisses. She loves fun and adventure.

She is a devoted friend. She is full of kindness and knowledge. Talk to her and you'll see.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The light is missing from our lives. Nancy is our mother. We are her Children.

She is our beacon. She holds fast to joy in all of life's circumstances. She chooses joy day after day.

Despite having already passed through great trials of pain and grief, we are always going to be merely human, just normal human people who need our mom. Mama, Mama, if you're listening, we need you to come home. We miss you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: It is hard to watch and know the pain that that family is going through. The family is very clear that they want concrete proof that Nancy Guthrie is alive, acknowledging the possibility that AI could be used to, for example, fake her voice. Investigators, including the FBI, were back at Nancy Guthrie's house on Wednesday, and President Trump now says he's spoken with Savannah Guthrie and is, quote, deploying all resources to help find her mother.

Authorities are expecting to hold a news conference today to update us on the investigation. Joining me now are Casey Jordan, a criminologist and behavioral analyst and former Boston Police Commissioner, Ed Davis. First to you, Casey, how important is it to be calculated with your words?

I noticed both of the sisters were reading, and we know that Savannah is a wonderful journalist and could just speak off the top of her head very, very well. But how important is it that the words they're using in the way they are asking for -- to speak directly to their mother and talking directly to whoever took her?

CASEY JORDAN, CRIMINOLOGIST AND BEHAVIORAL ANALYST: So a few different things about this message. And by the way, I mean, whoever took her is sophisticated enough to know that the FBI helped them write this message and that it is very scripted. I mean, the fact that she did -- they were reading from pages.

I mean, that's a judgment call. It looked almost disingenuous. But the big two messages were we want to humanize Nancy and ourselves by referring to her children and grandchildren, how much they miss her.

Try to get -- they pounded it with the human factor. If there's any chance that these captors have any sense of sympathy for their situation, they really went for it. But the other goal, of course, was to ask for proof of life.

So it was really a business demand couched in a very emotional appeal. Now, there was no fakery. They are genuinely disturbed and sniffing back tears.

But it was interesting because the filming of this, it was echoey. It might have happened in a police department. It's such a contrast to Savannah on the Today show that I think all of that was very much staged to make her look as human as possible.

[08:05:00]

She's not asking this as an anchor for Today show. She's asking this as a daughter in a human, hoping that the captors will have something in their heart that would, you know, feel for them.

SIDNER: Yes, it certainly wasn't disingenuous. They are beside themselves with grief and trying to navigate all of this as their mother is still missing and taken from her home and needs medication.

Now to you, Ed, what did you see in this video? And what did you hear in this video that might give us some clues as to some of the things that they know that they're trying to get out there?

ED DAVIS, FORMER BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: Well, it's highly likely in situations like this, the higher the profile, the more likely it is for bad actors to try to profit off it, not really have anything to do with the crime. And that's what I was thinking at first. But based upon what the sheriff's office is telegraphing and the most important piece of information I got yesterday was that the people who are writing the ransom note had inside knowledge or knowledge that no one else would have.

You've got to look at it as if things are going in that direction. What I heard yesterday was an impassioned plea from the family of the victim and your heart goes out to them. And it's a tragic set of circumstances.

But the police are trying at all costs to establish a dialogue with the suspects here. If you're communicating, you can move the investigation forward. There's some hope of being able to locate the victim, which is uppermost in everyone's mind right now.

So, the sense of urgency and the fact that they've used the victim's family to try to do outreach to the suspects here, I think it's remarkable and sort of points us in the direction that this is a legitimate kidnapping ransom demand. And you've got a well planned crime that probably involves surveillance and all sorts of complicated processes on the part of the suspect.

SIDNER: You know, Ed, I just want to stick with you here for a second because you talked about this being well planned. And there is so much technology out there that can fake images. They can make fake videos.

They can do fake voices. So in this day and age with the technology that's available, how do you prove -- for proof of life, how does someone who has, you know, kidnapped someone, how would they prove that there is proof of life?

It used to be that you would hold up a newspaper, right, with the date and time and the person who had been taken would hold that up to prove that they are indeed alive. In this day and age, how does that work?

DAVIS: Well, I testified before Congress last year on this very issue. The presence of deep fakes throws enormous complication into the legitimacy of anything that you see. And this is the first really high profile crime that's occurred since deep fakes became a possibility.

So they have to comb through everything and not only look at what they're seeing but also augment that with independent information. So whoever the suspect is, is going to have to provide more information than just a videotape of the victim. In the old days of holding up a newspaper have long past us, but I'm sure the FBI is working right now coming up with ideas that would verify and authenticate any kind of communication from the suspects. And this could be a pivotal issue.

SIDNER: Casey, can you glean anything about what we know? The details we know? We are learning from law enforcement that there was forced entry.

We're learning from the Los Angeles Times that there may have been blood on the scene. We know she needs medication. Does this tell you anything about the suspect here?

JORDAN: Well, first of all, they didn't leave any footprints that we know of. No tire tracks that we know of. They presumably ripped the ring camera off the front of the house.

And if we had any video of them from neighbors or from Nancy's ring camera system, you would think we would have it by now so that the public could be looking for these people. So they're very, very sophisticated. But the good news is that we saw yesterday, Sara, the police went back for the first time.

You know, they had finished their crime scene investigation and then let the family return to the house, which I thought was a huge mistake. And then they returned yesterday. Police tape went up.

They went in with evidence bags, came back out with evidence bags. That search or collection of evidence may have been driven by details in the ransom demand that make you realize that they not only planned but perhaps left some clues that would again validate that they are the true captors.

[08:10:00]

SIDNER: I mean, you do make the point that they left the scene and then came back to it, which has caused some consternation and some judgment about how police are going about dealing with this case. But at this point, the family just wants their mother, Nancy, back.

We're all praying for them. Casey Jordan and Ed Davis. Thank you both so much for walking us through that at this difficult time.

All right, the president is weighing in on the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis at the hands of federal agents and calling for a, quote, softer touch on immigration enforcement.

Plus a huge blast at a train station, a fuel train derailing and setting off that fireball. More on that story ahead.

And a man pulled over and arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. But it's what police found in his trunk that was shocking.

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[08:15:00]

BERMAN: New this morning, the president now says he learned there needs to be a softer touch in the immigration crackdown. This after federal agents killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Tom Homan announced they were throwing 700 agents from Minnesota.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I learned that maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch, but you still have to be tough. These are criminal. We're dealing with really hard criminals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Let's get right to CNN's Alayna Treene at the White House. Part of a lot of new comments from the president overnight -- Alayna.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, John, I mean, particularly on these kind of issues when it relates to a policy subject that the president believes is one of the strongest for his administration. In this case, of course, immigration and his crackdown across the country. The president often never admits when he believes that either he or even his broader team has made a misstep.

But that is exactly what he did in this interview yesterday, saying that, yes, they could have used a softer touch when approaching Minneapolis and their immigration efforts there. Now, he also was asked specifically about the deaths of American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti by the hands of those ice agents on the ground in Minneapolis. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm not happy with the two incidents. It's not, you know, it's both of them. Got one or the other.

He was not an angel, and she was not an angel. You know, you look at some tapes from back, but still, I'm not happy with what happened there. Nobody could be happy and ICE wasn't happy either.

But I'm going to always be with our great people of law enforcement, ICE police. We have to back them. If we don't back them, we don't have a country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You mentioned Renee Good and Alex Pretti not being angels. Do you think any of that justified what happened to them, though?

TRUMP: No, I don't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So a bit of more of a nuanced answer there, John. Him first saying that, you know, he has to stand with America's law enforcement and also recognizing, though, that despite him kind of arguing that Good and Pretti were perhaps not angels that that didn't mean that they're killing was justified. Look, all of this, I think, speaks to what I'm hearing in my conversations with people in that building behind me, which is essentially that the president knows where the public is on this. He is reading the room despite him and his team coming out very strong in defending these agents early on. They recognize that the public is not necessarily with them on this issue, particularly around these shootings. And I just want to reference some of the recent polling that I know he's probably looking at as well before answering this.

This new Ipsos poll -- or here, I'll start with what's up on the screen. A Quinnipiac poll saying whether or not the shooting of Alex Pretti was justified.

55 percent of Republicans said it was justified compared to just 2 percent of Democrats. 20 percent of Republicans said it was not justified compared with 94 percent of Democrats.

But I think in very interesting numbers as well comes from the Ipsos poll that recently came out. Only 33 percent of Republicans believed that the shooting of Alex Pretti was a necessary use of force. 24 percent saying it was excessive. So just shows you where the public is here and why the president may be using a bit more conciliatory language.

Something that's very rare for him -- John.

BERMAN: Yes, not so much reading the room, he's reading the polls, which are crystal clear on all of this. Alayna Treene at the White House this morning. Thank you very much for all of that.

All right, not the way you're supposed to get off a gondola. What happened here? And did everyone get out safely?

And the new jobs fears data just out shows the worst month for jobs since the Great Recession.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: New this morning, a troubling sign for the labor market. New data showing that January was the worst month for job cuts in nearly two decades since the Great Recession, after a wave of layoff announcements from major companies.

Let's get straight to CNN reporter -- senior reporter, excuse me. Matt Egan, who is joining us now. You deserve the title.

What are you learning in this new report? What does it tell us?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Sara, I think this is another flashing yellow light about the state of America's job market. So during the month of January, 108,000 announced layoffs by U.S. based employers. That's according to outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas. This is basically double what it was January 2025 and triple what it was at the end of last year.

In fact, to get to a higher number than this, you have to go all the way back to January of 2009. Of course, that was during the great financial crisis just months after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. As far as where the job cuts are, transportation and technology really leading the way.

In fact, just two companies, Amazon and UPS, accounted for roughly 40 percent of the announced layoffs last month, but also significant layoffs in health care, chemicals and finance as well. Now, as far as why companies are laying off workers right now in January, the leading reason was loss of contract, likely tied to UPS. They had a lot of announced layoffs, and they're winding down their business with Amazon. But look at this, market and economic conditions restructuring closing as well.

And as many people might have guessed, artificial intelligence also playing a role. Now, one thing I do want to stress is that we're talking about announced layoffs. That can be an important signal.

SIDNER: Those could be adjusted, right?

EGAN: Well, yes, they can be adjusted and economists, they put more weight on actual applications for unemployment, and those do remain low.

[08:25:00]

And there can be a bit of a disconnect. That's because sometimes those announced layoffs they don't kick in right away.

SIDNER: Right.

EGAN: Sometimes people get severance. Other times they get rehired quickly. We hopefully we'll get some more clarity on the state of the job market from the official government jobs report that's coming out on Wednesday. It was delayed by the government shutdown.

SIDNER: Right.

EGAN: One other thing to point out is hiring. Hiring was also disappointing in January, just about 5,300 announced hiring plans that month. That's down 13 percent year over year.

In fact, this is the lowest since Challenger started tracking back in 2009. So look, all of this comes after last year, weakest year for job growth for the U.S. economy outside of a recession since 2003. And this report suggests there was no big rebound in January.

SIDNER: I mean, Challenger Gray & Christmas has been pretty accurate. I mean, when the other things come out, when the other government reports come out, they've been really close every single time.

EGAN: They've been especially accurate on hiring, being really low, but we still have not seen the massive spike in unemployment, thankfully.

SIDNER: All right, we will see what happens in that next report next week.

EGAN: Thank you, Sara.

SIDNER: Matt Egan, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

All right, coming up, Nike accused of bias against white workers. The company is now facing a federal probe from the Trump administration.

And we're standing by to hear from President Trump as he meets with lawmakers at the annual prayer breakfast in Washington, D.C. A lot of things could potentially be discussed. Those stories and more ahead.

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