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Savannah Guthrie: "We Are At An Hour Of Desperation, Need Your Help"; Trump Threatens To Block Opening Of New U.S.-Canada Bridge; Rep. Dave Min (D-CA) On Lawmakers' Concern After Viewing Unredacted Epstein Files. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired February 10, 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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[07:30:50]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Day 10 of the search and still no sign of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of NBC "TODAY" show anchor Savannah Guthrie, who police say was abducted from her home. Eighty-four-year-old Nancy was taken from her Arizona home without a trace.

In a new video Savannah Guthrie says they are now in an hour of desperation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, NANCY GUTHRIE'S DAUGHTER: I just want to say first of all thank you so much for all of the prayers and the love that we have felt -- my sister, brother, and I -- and that our mom has felt because we believe that somehow, some way she is feeling these prayers and that God is lifting her even in this moment and in this darkest place.

We believe our mom is still out there. We need your help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: The FBI is saying it's deploying additional personnel to Tucson to work on the case. But in a statement the FBI says they are not aware of any continued communication between the Guthries and any suspected kidnapper or kidnappers. The FBI goes on to urge the public to report information saying "Someone has that one piece of information that can help us bring Nancy home. We need that person to share what they know."

Joining us now Joseph Scott Morgan, a forensic expert at Jacksonville State University. Also, former NYPD lieutenant Darrin Porcher. Thank you so much, both of you gentlemen, for being here.

Darrin, I'm going to start with you. The deadline has come and gone. There does not appear to be, according to the FBI, any communication with the family.

I mean, is that unusual if all the kidnappers want are -- is money? DARRIN PORCHER, FORMER NYPD LIEUTENANT: Well, no, it's not unusual. What's interesting is we have a Bitcoin account with an alphanumeric code which anyone can see, which clearly shows that no money has been transferred. We've had two letters that have been introduced as it relates to the request for the $6 million.

In addition to that, when we look at what happened over the last few days we had the reestablishment of a search at Nancy's daughter's house.

And one of the things that I believe that the FBI is doing is they're using something referred to as LUDS and tolls. What LUDS and tolls does is introduces the calls that were incoming and outcoming -- incoming and outgoing as it relates to the family. I want to say over 90 percent of these kidnappings involve either a family member or close associate. So what the FBI is doing now, they're looking to either find suspects or disprove someone is not a suspect.

And it's the natural order to do something such as search the residence. In addition to that you also saw FBI agents using lights outside --

SIDNER: Yeah.

PORCHER: -- to determine if there was blood. And what happens with this when I say lights, you have a --

SIDNER: A fluid light or a fluid -- something that --

PORCHER: Yes, yes. You have a fluorescent light which will actually show you what the -- what the Luminex -- the luminol, which is the powder that lights up when we do have blood.

In addition to that there was a septic tank --

SIDNER: Yeah.

PORCHER: -- and this was somewhat -- something that stood out to me because --

SIDNER: They were using a pole to, like, sort of move things around inside of the septic tank.

PORCHER: Right. Because what happens with a septic tank, if you do have any bodily remains you will be able to make that assessment.

So it's an ongoing and arduous task but fortunately we have the triangulation of local, federal and state law enforcement that are working in unison to find anything that they can.

SIDNER: All right.

Joseph, I do want to ask you because we're seeing these pictures of them using that long pole going into the septic tank.

JOSEPH SCOTT MORGAN, DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR OF APPLIED FORENSICS, JACKSONVILLE STATE UNIVERSITY, FORENSICS EXPERT (via Webex by Cisco): Um-hum.

SIDNER: What could they be looking for?

Well, to Darrin's point, I think that certainly they would obviously be searching for human remains in that space. They -- you know, it seemed their approach was a bit odd to me because they didn't really take their time. It wasn't very well illuminated. They didn't set up lights outside of it. So I don't know if this was just a box-checking event at that moment in time.

SIDNER: Hmm.

[07:35:00]

MORGAN: Also, the way the hatch for the opening there was kind of handled as well. Because one of the things I'm very interested in here not just at that septic tank but also within the interior of the house is going to be any kind of biological deposition on any of the surfaces. And what I mean by that is going to be DNA -- potentially for contact trace DNA.

What we refer to is those bits of DNA that are left behind that are not complete, but they're fragmented. And if you can get your hands on that then you can build out, say, an investigative genealogical profile on an individual leading back to somebody.

The important thing here is to exclude everyone that you would have in her intimate circle and any foreign DNA in there you go down that path. So I'm very curious about that. I want to see if they're building out these profiles right now.

SIDNER: Yeah.

I do want to ask you Joseph why -- if it makes it less credible that there hasn't been any communication between the family and these alleged abductors. The ransom note that was -- that was -- that was put out there.

MORGAN: Yes -- yeah. I'm sorry, Sara. Yeah, it seems rather problematic for me because generally with a kidnapping for instance you're going to have a very specific set of rules -- of parameters that you have to work within. And to our knowledge, at least at this point -- I'm not saying this is not going on behind the scenes -- there are nothing that has been presented to us.

Also the ransom demand. How do you transfer that money? It needs to be very, very specific as to how this is going to go down. I'm just wondering if maybe there's something else afoot here. That someone has taken advantage of the situation and that there is actually no ransom.

But I'm really worried about Nancy in this particular case. Maybe something went --

SIDNER: Yeah.

MORGAN: -- awry. Somebody came into the home and now she's in deep, deep trouble.

SIDNER: Yeah. She doesn't have her medication, and we know she needs it. And the family desperately asking --

MORGAN: No.

SIDNER: -- as you both have seen, for any information that could help find Nancy Guthrie.

Joseph Scott Morgan, Darrin Porcher, thank you gentlemen very much for this. Appreciate it -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: A new threat from President Trump against Canada yet again. Trump now saying that he's ready to try and block the opening of a major new bridge connecting the United States with Canada, making clear also in his threat that he's lashing out over the ongoing tension with the country's prime minister.

I want to read for you what Trump wrote in part on social media when he said this -- writing, "I will not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them and also, importantly, Canada treats the United States with the fairness and respect that we deserve."

CNN's Kevin Liptak is at the White House for us with more. What are you hearing about this, and can the president block this bridge from opening?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: It's not entirely clear how he plans to do that, and I think this is catching a lot of people by surprise. You know, this bridge is pretty much done. It was expected to open early this year. It connects Detroit with Windsor Ontario. It's one of the busiest trade routes in the continent.

President Trump, in his first term, actually praised this project and said it was a vital economic link between our two countries. But now, of course, as the relationship between the U.S. and Canada deteriorates as his own personal relationship with the prime minister Mark Carney kind of bottoms out, the president is finding reasons to oppose this project.

He says that it didn't use American steel. He is complaining that the toll revenues won't go to the United States. But he's also expanding it out into all of these other grievances with Canada, including that they have stopped stocking U.S. alcohol in their stores. That the -- that Carney is opening up trade talks with China.

The president wrote on Truth Social, "Now the Canadian government expects me, as President of the United States, to permit them to just take advantage of America. What does the United States of America get? Absolutely nothing."

He goes on to talk about these trade talks with China, saying that China "will eat Canada alive. We'll just get the leftovers." And then he says somewhat perplexingly, the first thing China will do is terminate all ice hockey being played in Canada and permanently eliminate the Stanley Cup. I don't know what the president is talking about there.

You know, Canada has already paid for this bridge. It was more than $5 billion. They had planned to recoup those costs from the toll revenues before eventually down the line splitting the revenues with the United States. Now President Trump is suggesting that the U.S. take ownership of this bridge or at least half ownership. He says, "We will start negotiations immediately."

[07:40:00]

It's drawn a lot of criticism from leaders in the state, particularly the Democratic leaders. Gretchen Whitmer, the governor -- her office says that this bridge was going to open "one way or another." And Elissa Slotkin, the Democratic senator, said that "The president's agenda for personal retribution should not come before what's best for us." Kate.

BOLDUAN: Well, yeah. And how Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, kind of responds here will be very interesting because she's been a governor -- a Democratic governor who has walked a fine line pretty successfully in working with President Trump when it is to the advantage of her state. Let us see.

It's good to see you, Kevin. Thank you -- John.

LIPTAK: Yeah.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. New this morning Republican Thomas Massie, one of the congressmen who really forced the release of the Epstein files, has now reviewed the apparently partially unredacted versions and says he has made a discovery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): What I saw that bothered me were the names of at least six men that have been redacted that are likely incriminated by their inclusion in these files.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So Massie and Ro Khanna, who you saw there -- they're calling on the Justice Department to un-redact the names of the six individuals. Massie left open the possibility of revealing the identities either in a committee hearing or reading them on the House floor.

With us now is Congressman Dave Min, a Democrat from California on the Oversight Committee.

Congressman, I understand you have not yet personally had a chance to review the partially unredacted Epstein files but plan to.

What's your knowledge though of what Congressmen Massie and Khanna are talking about these six names, and what's your feeling about making them public?

REP. DAVE MIN (D-CA): Thanks for having me, John.

And you just had a whole segment about Canada and some bizarre threat to close down a bridge to Canada from President Trump and let me suggest an alternative theory. What he's really trying to do right now is distract from these Epstein files, but all of us are focused like a laser beam on this.

I am going in later this week, probably Thursday and maybe Friday, to review the unredacted Epstein files.

And what we have seen so far from the ones I've reviewed is a lot of unnecessary redaction of names, including, it looks like, Donald Trump's name quite a lot. We've also seen them not redact the identities or faces of a lot of girls and young women. So there's a real problem here.

And the other problem is that 50 percent of the Epstein files have not been released to us. We don't have any good reason for that. I'll take Rep. Massie on his word that if he saw some documents and that fits in with the larger narrative that they are covering this up.

And I really want to go back to last year because around this time last year you had Kash Patel and Pam Bondi saying repeatedly that they would do everything in their power to release the Epstein files to get to the bottom of this sex trafficking ring. And yet, sometime in May, reportedly, Pam Bondi told President Trump he was in the Epstein files.

That launched this whole coverup. We saw them then deny that the Epstein files existed. Ghislaine Maxwell had a weird visit -- a private visit from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche who used to be Donald Trump's personal attorney. No line attorneys were present. And then a few weeks -- a few days later Ghislaine Maxwell got transferred to a minimum security prison.

Now we had that subpoena -- that deposition earlier this week. She took the Fifth Amendment and said that she would not say anything unless she was given a full pardon by President Trump.

So this all wreaks of a coverup right now and we need to release the entire Epstein files. The DOJ needs to explain why they seem to be redacting certain names of people who are implicated in the Epstein files.

BERMAN: Yes or no, would you support reading those names on the House floor?

MIN: Uh, if the DOJ is not willing to produce them, then I think assuming it's legal and there's no national security or other reasons to withhold them, absolutely. The survivors deserve justice. I don't understand why we don't have transparency right now. I don't know what the DOJ is trying to cover up.

BERMAN: You mentioned Ghislaine Maxwell and her deposition, and I think it was just yesterday. Her lawyer said, "Ms. Maxwell is prepared to speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump. Only she can provide the complete account. Some may not like what they hear but the truth matters. For example, both President Trump and President Clinton are innocent of any wrongdoing. Ms. Maxwell alone can explain why."

So how do you explain her unwillingness to answer questions to you but that statement from her lawyer basically pleading for clemency?

MIN: Uh, I will just say that Ghislaine Maxwell was charged with and was going to be convicted of perjury, except she got convicted of a higher charge. Obviously, nothing she says is relevant. That is why we've been seeking the Epstein files for months and months now because the person at the heart of this is a known liar.

And that fact that she is saying I will tell you -- basically, Donald Trump, I will tell you exactly what you want to hear if you grant me a pardon -- that's not a deal that I think anyone wants right now. We want to get to the bottom of this and get the truth.

BERMAN: So Julie K. Brown, who is really the reporter who broke open the Epstein story over several years, had a story in The Miami Herald last night which recounts the former Palm Beach police chief Michael Reiter in a conversation with the FBI recounting a 2006 conversation he said he had with Donald Trump.

[07:45:15]

In it, this police chief --

MIN: Um-hum.

BERMAN: -- says that Trump told him "Thank goodness you're stopping him [Epstein]. Everyone has known he's been doing this."

Now, we should say the Department of Justice --

MIN: Um-hum.

BERMAN: -- says, "We're not aware of any corroborating evidence that the president contacted law enforcement 20 years ago."

But this report of that conversation, if that's accurate, what does that tell you?

MIN: Uh, it tells me that Donald Trump was caught lying because he said that he did not know about Epstein until, like, 2019. He -- that he'd quit affiliations with Epstein at some point. So the fact that as early as 2005 or 2006 Donald Trump clearly apparently knew something about what was going on with Epstein and that he was continuing to send girls from Mar-a-Lago to Epstein's employment, that tells us a lot about what Donald Trump knew and when, and I think that's a smoking gun honestly.

And I think the problem right now is that Americans are seeing this all happen and they're seeing what looks like a coverup. What looks like an attempt to rig the judicial system in favor of some of the richest and most powerful people in the world. What we've seen so far with the 50 percent partial production of the

Epstein files is a lot of the most famous and richest people in the world, including a lot of people in Donald Trump's orbit -- Howard Lutnick, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk -- named over and over in the Epstein files. Donald Trump is named 13,000 times in the Epstein files. And again, they're trying to protect him at this point it looks like.

So what else is in there and why don't we have justice? Why does it seem like the justice system is being rigged right now to protect the rich and powerful? America has a chance right now to show the world that there is one rule of law here. There's not an Epstein elite that's going to get away with, you know, literally committing maybe murder, child rape, human trafficking. That we are going to apply the rule of law to everybody no matter who you are in this country.

BERMAN: We'll see if the White House is asked directly about this report. I should note the White House has consistently said that Donald Trump believed at that time that Jeffrey Epstein was a creep and their idea is that --

MIN: They also said it was a hoax over and over and over, and that there were no Epstein files to be produced. Obviously, that is not true. So a lot of what the White House has said over the past year about Epstein is clearly lying.

BERMAN: Congressman Dave Min, appreciate you being with us this morning. Thank you -- Sara.

SIDNER: Happening today, Team USA is making a push to catch up in the medal race in Milan. Big events include Americans Mikaela Shiffrin and Breezy Johnson racing in the combined downhill and slalom event. And is U.S. curling glory approaching? American duo Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse will play Sweden for the gold medal after knocking out the defending gold medalist from Italy.

CNN's Amanda Davies joins us now from Milan. You lucky girl. What did you see?

AMANDA DAVIS, CNN WORLD SPORT: Oh, I'll tell you, if there's one thing you can always rely on at an Olympic Games it is curling -- all day, every day. Literally, the only event that takes place every day of the Games.

But we're going to start in the mountains because if the first few days here have been about Lindsey Vonn you suspect the next few will be all eyes on her U.S. teammate Mikaela Shiffrin, the most decorated, successful female alpine skier of all time. She is set to take to the snow for the first time in the next hour or so.

And for everything Shiffrin has won -- her record-breaking feats on the World Cup stage -- she really has a sense of unfinished business with the Olympic Games, of course. She's a two-time gold medal winner. You might remember those awful pictures of her in Beijing. She went into 2022 as favored to win gold in at least three of the six events, but she was pictured crying on the side of the mountain having failed to medal.

And she's had a really tough couple of years with those major crashes and injuries since. She's been very open about how they've impacted her and her approach to racing, talking about suffering from PTSD. So she wants to take the pressure off herself heading into this one.

And she's got the second leg of this new team combined event today. Her teammate, downhill winner Breezy Johnson, skied the first leg this morning. The U.S. are in the lead. Shiffrin, the best slalom skier in the world, very much looking to keep them there. And, of course, victory would mean a third gold of the Games for Team USA.

Now in terms of Olympic rivalries though, USA-Canada -- that's the one in women's hockey and that is what we're looking forward to down here in Milan. Later on Tuesday, a rematch, of course, of the 2022 final which Canada won. They're meeting this time in the group stage. They both know they're through, but this is about fighting for the seeded places in the knockout rounds.

[07:50:05]

Canada have won five golds since Nagano in 1998. They are the defending champions. But the U.S., the reigning world champions who took the victory in their latest rivalry series between the pair. Both very much determined to lay down a marker.

SIDNER: Should we call the U.S.-Canada rivalry on the ice a heated rivalry? Just asking for a friend. (Laughing).

DAVIES: (Laughing).

SIDNER: John did not like that one.

DAVIES: It's so easy, isn't it? I mean, you are the first to do it but oh yeah, we're all in.

SIDNER: I couldn't help it.

DAVIES: We are all in.

SIDNER: Thank you, Amanda. Appreciate it -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Uh, not the same type of a heated rivalry.

But there is some heat on the basketball court we need to tell you about. We're sticking with sports, you people. A major brawl on the court to tell you about. Four NBA players rejected after all of this. It happened during the game between the Pistons and Hornets.

The fight started midway through the third quarter when Jalen Duren and Moussa Diabate -- apologies -- came face-to-face and started butting heads. That ended after about 30 seconds and a brief police presence on the floor. But that is not where it truly ended. Then another scuffle broke out seconds later between Isaiah Stewart and Miles Bridges. Punches were thrown in that one.

After the game the Pistons coach defended his players saying that they did not initiate the fights.

No word yet on what the league is going to do about all of this now.

And to football. The glow of a Super Bowl win shines on. Seahawks stars Sam Darnold and Kenneth Walker celebrated their Super Bowl victory at, where else, Disneyland. They were the guests of honor at the victory parade down Main Street.

And then they took a whirl in the teacups. Honestly, it's like the hardest thing to do is to survive those things. They are legends for being able to handle the teacups. I actually get super uncomfortable in them. I digress.

Walker and Darnold's visit there continues a tradition and campaign that dates back to 1987 when, you guessed -- yes, you remember New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms first delivered the now-famous line as part of an ad campaign -- "I'm going to Disneyworld" and also Disneyland.

Ahead for us, a possible breakthrough in the largest nurses' strike in New York City history. We've got details on that ahead.

And when a business saw signs of a break-in, they feared the worst and they called police. There's even blood involved, people. Then their surveillance video showed the really hilarious culprits in action.

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SIDNER: On our radar for you this morning, 19 monks and their rescue dog Aloka completed their 2,300-mile walk for peace today. They set out on the journey in Fort Worth, Texas in October. It is now February and they have finally made it to Washington, D.C. They've crossed 10 states on foot to spread a message of healing, unity and compassion.

The monks held their strict code of just one meal per day, and they often slept beneath trees at makeshift campsites. This afternoon they'll participate in an interfaith ceremony at Washington National Cathedral.

All right. Your morning coffee might be doing more than just waking you up. It could be actually protecting your brain. Researchers at the Harvard Public Health Medical School found in a brand new study that your morning coffee can protect your brain against dementia. The study suggests two or three cups of coffee -- I wish someone had told me -- or one to two cups of tea per day can also be effective.

We can have three, John. We can have three cups of coffee. It is safe.

Employees at an Oklahoma nonprofit came into work thinking that they were at a crime scene. There was blood on the walls, scattered files, and a caved-in ceiling. But this is the culprit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of my coworkers was like, don't touch anything. It's been a crime scene. So the police came up to me and he said yeah, there's been blood all over the wall. And I look and I jump back, and I was like what? And then she said yeah, I guess it was a crime scene. And it was blood trampled everywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: You notice that those don't look like human hands because they weren't. Even police suspected though there was a human break-in, but surveillance video revealed who the real culprits were. You see them there. Those darn raccoons.

It was three raccoons, actually, who fell through the ceiling and somehow managed to kick open the back door. The blood police suspect was from an injured paw. You can see the pawprint there.

Two escaped the scene but there is a third on the loose, John.

BERMAN: Yeah, and if they're rabid, watch out.

All right. Happening today a landmark trial in Los Angeles. Meta and YouTube accused of having "engineered addiction in children's brains." The tech giants say the claims are not true.

CNN's Clare Duffy reports.

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CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yes, opening statements kicked off with the plaintiff's lawyer Mark Lanier referring to these social media platforms as digital slot machines for children.

The plaintiff in this case is a 20-year-old woman known as Kaley who says she started using Instagram and YouTube as a young child and accuses the platforms of intentionally developing addictive features -- things like their endlessly scrolling feeds and late-night notifications. And she says those features caused her to develop mental health challenges, including anxiety, body dysmorphia, and suicidal thoughts.

Now we also expect during opening statements to get a sense of how the companies, Meta and YouTube, will form their arguments in this case. And the companies have said that they reject this idea that their platforms cause young people mental health challenges.