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FBI Deploys More Personnel to Tucson; Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) is Interviewed about the Epstein Files; Trump and the Jobs Market. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired February 10, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS TECH REPORTER: Notifications, claiming all of that led Kaley to develop anxiety, body dysmorphia, and suicidal ideation. He also pointed to internal documents from both Meta and YouTube that he said indicated these companies have gone to great lengths to attract teens and young users.

Now, Meta's lawyer, during his argument -- opening argument, he is arguing that it was Kaley's difficult childhood, and not Instagram, that led her to develop these mental health challenges. He brought in testimony from two therapists who he said have worked with Kaley, neither of whom believed that Instagram played a major role in her mental health challenges. And he also shared testimony from Kaley herself, saying that she used Instagram as a creative outlet and then talked about some of these features that Meta has developed, like parental controls and content restrictions, to try to protect young users.

So, we're starting to get a sense of how these things are shaping up. We are expecting to hear from YouTube's lawyer today. The company has previously said they believe their -- these allegations are simply not true. But certainly an important early look at how this trial is going to progress and what these arguments are.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, important precedents could be set here.

Clare Duffy, great to see you. Thank you very much.

A brand-new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: No contact, no named suspects and a new video plea for the public's help. NBC "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie says, "we are at an hour of desperation" as the search for her 84- year-old missing mom, Nancy, reaches day ten. The FBI now deploying more personnel to Arizona.

And powerful men are being protected. That's what two members of Congress are saying this morning after seeing the unredacted version of the Epstein files. They are now threatening to expose the names of six men they say are likely incriminated in those files.

And headbutts and throat punches. Sounds like ultimate fighting, but it unfolded on a basketball court. Four NBA players, ejected after a brawl between the Pistons and the Hornets.

I'm Sara Sidner, with Kate Bolduan and John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, this morning, the FBI and the family are calling on the public to help find Nancy Guthrie. The FBI saying that they believe one piece, just one, one piece of information could break this case open. The agency also saying that it is now sending additional personnel to Arizona to help with the search. A heartbreaking and urgent effort now entering a tenth day. Yesterday, Savannah Guthrie sent out a new plea asking anyone with information to please come forward, saying that their family have now reached an hour of desperation. It's the fourth personal appeal that the family has posted since Nancy Guthrie disappeared more than a week ago.

This morning we have also just learned a little bit more about what was supposed to happen. That Nancy Guthrie was expected to watch a church service livestream with friends on the morning that she was reported missing.

CNN's Ivan Rodriguez is on the ground there and joins us now.

Ivan, what's the latest?

IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kate, good morning.

As you mentioned, that one friend supposedly called the Guthrie family after Nancy Guthrie did not arrive to view that church livestream at a nearby home. Now, last night, the FBI released a statement saying that there is currently no suspect, no person of interest in this case. They also continued on to say that even just one piece of information can help bring back Nancy Guthrie. And the FBI, as you mentioned, is deploying more personnel here to Tucson. They also say that they're not aware of any aware of any communication as of last night between the Guthrie family and also these alleged abductors.

Now, Guthrie's suspected kidnapers demanded $6 million by 5:00 p.m. yesterday. And that same note also included a threat to Guthrie's life, according to CNN affiliate KGUN.

Now, TMZ's Harvey Levin, who also received that very first ransom note, revealed a direct line in that ransom note. And he -- it says, quote, he reads, "it's in everyone's interest to have this completed as soon as possible." The writer or writers also bragged that they wouldn't be able to figure out the potential sender and that police would not be able to help the family. The FBI still has not confirmed the authenticity of those notes.

And over the last week, Kate, as you mentioned, the family has released four videos. And they're very different in their tone and in audience. That latest video released by Savannah Guthrie is asking the entire country to keep an eye out and call in with any new information. This is the first video where the family is directly asking the public for help.

Kate. BOLDUAN: Ivan, thank you so much for the latest and being on the

ground there for us.

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now, criminologist and behavioral analyst Casey Jordan and retired supervisory special FBI agent Steve Moore.

[09:05:06]

And, Steve, let me just start with you with that statement that the FBI put out where they said they're not aware of any ongoing communication between the Guthrie family and the suspected kidnapers. Why put that out? I have to believe that every communication now from either the FBI or the Guthrie family is directed not just to the public, but to whoever may have Nancy Guthrie.

STEVE MOORE, : Yes, I think that's the FBI kind of playing their cards close to their chest there. They're going to define what they mean communication is. And really, I think this is put out to keep the dust down a little bit because, you know, people are going to wonder, hey, the deadline passed. It's like -- we're all involved in this. The deadline passed. What did she do? It's -- and the FBI's kind of pointing out, this isn't a -- this isn't a screen drama. This is real life.

BERMAN: Casey, you know, we still don't know whether these ransom demands, whether these notes are real or they're some kind of hoax. But what do you see as we are now ten days into this, that might lead one way or another. Any red flags?

CASEY JORDAN, CRIMINOLOGIST AND BEHAVIORAL ANALYST: Well, to -- in my mind, the biggest red flag is that we have no indication that proof of life has been provided. And the Guthrie family asked for it. Demanded it. And, you know, they say in the note apparently, it's in everyone's best interest that this is resolved quickly, and yet we don't get that communication for two or three days? And it comes through a news station, you know, instead of directly to the family, which would not be that hard to do. And then two deadlines with an increasing amount over time. I mean, usually if you have a kidnaping for ransom, it is in and out. It's not 43 minutes hanging around the house. The communication is instant. Proof of life is given to leverage the amount and to incentivize the family. And they're given 24, 48 hours to respond. This is dragging out to ten days.

I -- right now, I don't mean to waffle, but I would give you 50/50 chances that these communications from the extortionists are completely unrelated to Nancy's disappearance. It just -- they're intelligent and digitally sophisticated, but there's just so much that doesn't fit.

BERMAN: And, Casey why go public the way that the Guthrie family is? And when I say go public, making a direct plea to the public everywhere in the country for help.

JORDAN: Well, the Guthrie family, you know, just a few hours before yesterday's 5:00 deadline asked -- just -- there was a sense of exasperation in Savannah's voice when she said, we need your help. And I like to see that she was emotionally and psychologically strong. You've seen her go kind of full circle in the past week. But I don't know, we don't know, nor do we need to know whether or not any ransom was paid last night. But without proof of life, you could just be throwing money into the wind and never hear from the extortionist again. And they go away with your six million crypto. The Guthrie family may not have decided -- may have decided to not pay it, which many people would advocate because that leaves the extortionist in a position of power.

BERMAN: I should note that I'm in awe of the strength that Savannah Guthrie and her siblings are showing every day. I don't know where they're finding that strength.

Steve Moore, to you. If there was a deadline, if these notes were real, the deadline has passed. So, how does that impact or change the behavior of investigators and what maybe is going on behind the scenes that we're not seeing?

MOORE: Well, I don't think it's going to change the investigation dramatically because we're still investigating a kidnaping. They just haven't followed through with one of their -- with one of their demands. So, what's going on now is, they're sending more agents there. So, you know they're not sitting around phones. What that means to me is they are following multiple leads and they could be around the country, but they seem to be sending agents to Tucson, not to other cities or labs somewhere else. This seems to be centered in Tucson. And I believe they're following just dozens of leads, and that's why they're so bent on getting agents out there.

BERMAN: They need a break. It'd be great to see this case come to a successful close with Nancy home.

Casey Jordan, we lost you there for a second, Steve Moore, thank you very much.

[09:10:03]

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much, Don. John. Lord, it's one of those days.

BERMAN: I've been called a lot worse. So.

SIDNER: All right.

All right, now to the latest developments involving another huge case. The public is watching the release of the Epstein files. Some members of Congress have now seen the unredacted Epstein files. And what they saw was at least a half dozen men who they say are being protected by over redactions. Democrat Ro Khanna and Republican Thomas Massie both agree these men are coconspirators. Massie says he's ready to name names with one caveat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Are you willing to say those names on the floor?

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): Oh, absolutely I am. If that --

COLLINS: When?

MASSIE: If that will serve the survivors. If the survivors want me to, I'll do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: With me now is Democratic congressman from Illinois, Raja Krishnamoorthi.

Thank you so much for being here.

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): Hi, Sara.

SIDNER: Congressman Massie says he's willing to name names on the House floor if the survivors want him to. I'm curious, doesn't the redacting of coconspirators names literally break the law that Congress passed about these files just weeks ago?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Yes. I don't understand how they could have been redacted. And I think that there's now a lot of pressure on the Justice Department to unredact them because they don't fit the categories for redaction under the law. I'm told that they are now considering unredacting them, but this has to be done.

SIDNER: Do you know the six names that Massie and Ro Khanna are talking about?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: No, I am arranging to see those names myself. And I'm a little bit shocked that these names and other redactions are continuing to hamper our efforts to get transparency into what's happened. As you know, there's about 2.5 million pages of documents yet to be produced. And those documents are absolutely essential for us to be able to get to the bottom of what's happened here.

SIDNER: And also what's happened with the case that everyone saw as a sweetheart deal for Jeffrey Epstein in Miami. A lot of people wondering what happened there and how did that transpire.

I do want to talk to you about something else that's come up. "Miami Herald" reporter Julie K. Brown, whose reporting was one of the big catalysts for helping get these files released, she's now reporting this that she found in the files. She writes, "President Donald Trump has repeatedly maintained that he had no knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes. But in July 2006, Trump called the Palm Beach police chief then to tell him that Epstein's activities with teenage girls were well known in both New York and Palm Beach. That police chief saying in an FBI interview that Trump told him, quote, "thank goodness you're stopping him. Everyone has known he's been doing this." The police chief told FBI agents that Trump said Ghislaine Maxwell was Epstein's operative and to look into her too.

Now, CNN reached out to the DOJ. Here's what they say. "We are not aware of any corroborating evidence that the president contacted law enforcement 20 years ago."

And now the Trump administration has moved Ghislaine Maxwell to a much less harsh prison. And she's now promising to clear Trump's name if he grants her clemency. I know that was a lot to get through, but it's important. The detail's important. How do you describe what is happening here?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: It looks like a cover-up to me. And I think that -- by the way, the reason why there's so much bipartisan resolve to get to the bottom of this and end the cover-up is the victims and the survivors. They actually met with us for hours. There are more than a thousand then girls, now middle-aged women, who have not received a single measure of justice in 20 years. And they've kind of stiffened the backbone of resolve of members of Congress to actually uncover what has basically been hidden from view by powerful men for 20 years.

I think that in this particular case Ghislaine Maxwell is a monster. She's a sex criminal. She has shown no remorse. She hasn't even admitted to guilt. And so, for her to seek clemency is preposterous. I've actually introduced a resolution that would call on the White House not to give her a single measure of leniency or clemency or a pardon. However, I think Donald Trump is basically dangling a pardon in return for possibly false testimony or silence on her part.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you about something else that came up in these files that a lot of folks are talking about. Key Trump strategist Steve Bannon. One of the people, the architects of the America first movement, is all over these files, making friends with Epstein after his 2008 conviction. The day Epstein was arrested, a second for -- the first time for child sex crimes. There was this text exchange between Bannon and Epstein.

[09:15:03]

It said, "if we can arrange it, can we film on the island?" That was Bannon asking Epstein. And Epstein responded, "yes, perfect." "Can we do late morning at 11:00 a.m.," Bannon replied. And then Epstein wrote, "all canceled." And Bannon wrote back, "you're not coming?" That was the very day that Epstein was arrested.

Does it surprise you that Bannon, who has raged about Democrats and Epstein, called Epstein a friend at some point and was using him to politically strategize?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I guess I should -- I should say that it no longer surprises me how many influential people basically were connected to Jeffrey Epstein.

However, yes, I think in this Steve Bannon case, I'd like to know more. I'd like to know more about what he knows about Jeffrey Epstein. It's kind of like what you were talking about with Donald Trump. There's pieces of evidence that show that Donald Trump, quote/unquote, knew about the girls, as Jeffrey Epstein's email indicated from -- an email produced by his estate. And now we see Steve Bannon may know about the girls as well. And so, he needs to -- he needs to cooperate with the investigation, just like everyone else.

SIDNER: All right, well, the Clintons have now said that they will cooperate. It sounds like you would like to hear from everyone who is named in these files to come and speak to Congress.

Congressman, thank you so much for joining us with this story that just is not -- is not going to die. There are so many more questions than answers.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Team USA makes a push to catch up in the medal count in Milan. Next, the biggest events to watch for today.

And the latest that we're learning this morning on what led to the death of actress Catherine O'Hara.

And why your morning coffee routine may be a very good thing and may lower your risks of dementia.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:21:37]

BERMAN: All right, breaking news. We just got some brand-new economic numbers. Retail sales were flat in December. Unexpectedly flat in December. That's a little bit worse news than people were expecting. And there's more big economic news coming out tomorrow. The January jobs report is due, delayed because of that partial government shutdown. But it's a coming.

CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten is with us now.

Jobs are this area where there's just so much concern right now.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes, he -- Donald Trump took a beautiful swan and turned it into an ugly duckling as far as the American people are concerned, because these numbers, as John and I were discussing just before this segment, absolutely crazy in how the American people have totally turned on Donald Trump.

Take a look here, Trump's net approval rating on jobs and employment. In January of 2025, look at that, overall plus nine points. Hey, that's pretty good. But down he goes, minus 13 points overall.

But you think that's nuts. Take a look at the independents. They go from plus seven way, way, way down off the screen to minus 30 points. That's a 37-point drop in the net approval for Donald Trump among independents on the issue of jobs and employment.

BERMAN: Again, with independents just consistently, we're seeing these staggering changes over just a year. A pretty quick period of time.

ENTEN: Oh, this is just, just, just one years as of time.

BERMAN: All right, this next chart is actually the one that really blew my mind. It's about people's views of the job market in general over a similar period of time.

ENTEN: Yes, OK, if you think these numbers are crazy, this next one, these are bonkers.

OK, what are we talking about here? Americans rate the job market as bad or good. February 2025, equal share say fair or say bad or good, 42 to 42. Look at this now. Over just a year's time, now the clear majority, 52 percent, up like a rocket, rate it as bad compared to just 33 percent, down to the basement, who rate it as good.

So, what we've seen is Americans rating the job market. It was an even split a year ago, and now the clear majority, by a 19-point margin, rate it as bad rather than good. And that goes a long way to explain why Donald Trump's numbers on jobs and employment have fallen to the floor.

BERMAN: Just to be clear, this is Donald Trump's presidency. During Donald Trump's presidency, these views have changed a lot.

What are people's views in general of the jobs market?

ENTEN: OK. So, you know, we -- we're looking at the current state of the jobs market. What about going down the line, right, views towards the future. OK, the jobs outlook. Expect unemployment in the next six months to go up or go down. Well, back in January 2025, right, when the Donald Trump presidency was about to begin, 38-38. But look at this, views towards the future, 50 percent now expect unemployment to go up in the next six months. That is the highest saying that they expect unemployment to go up since the great recession. No wonder why Donald Trump's approval rating on jobs and employment have fallen through the floor.

BERMAN: And this is interesting because this is people's feelings.

ENTEN: Right.

BERMAN: It's not the jobs data. People vote on their feelings.

ENTEN: Correct.

BERMAN: If they feel like it's going to get worse, that could impact how they vote.

About the data, which we are going to see tomorrow, what are people predicting on that front?

ENTEN: Yes, what are the prediction markets? What's the Kalshi prediction market predicting on that one? Chance U.S. adds 70,000 jobs or fewer? Well, 64 percent chance that it's 70,000 jobs or fewer. And keep in mind, the economy added 111,000 jobs back a January ago. So, the real numbers at this point, what -- the folks who are putting their money where their mouth is are predicting, is it's going to be worse than a year ago.

[09:25:05]

No wonder why just yet another data point to explain why Donald Trump's job approval rating on jobs and employment is falling.

BERMAN: We'll have the actual numbers to chew over tomorrow.

Harry Enten, thank you very much.

ENTEN: Thank you, Mr. Berman.

BERMAN: A lot of news this morning. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:01]

SIDNER: Fear and desperation is mounting for the Guthrie family. It has been ten days now since Nancy Guthrie was taken from her home. Her daughter, NBC.