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FBI Releases New Details About Suspect in Guthrie Disappearance; DHS Set to Shut Down at Midnight in Funding Lapse; Communications Breakdown Over Airspace Closure Sparks Blame Game. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired February 13, 2026 - 07:00   ET

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

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KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, the clearest description yet of the suspect in Nancy Guthrie's abduction, the FBI now doubling the reward for any information that helps find her or the person behind this.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Question, how do you prevent a partial government shutdown if all the lawmakers leave Washington? Answer, you can't. It's coming at midnight.

And where did the ground go? A huge sinkhole in one of the world's most populous cities.

Sara is out today. I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan, and this is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: The breaking news, this morning we now have the first official description of the suspect in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. The FBI says this person that we know and see from the doorbell camera at Guthrie's Arizona home is a male, 5'9" to 5'10" with an average build. They say he was wearing what they've now identified as a black Ozark Trail Hiker backpack, a brand sold by Walmart. The FBI also released images of a backpack like that one that they believe he was wearing, just to show it obviously exactly what it would look like if you're purchasing it.

The reward for information in the case has been doubled now to a hundred thousand dollars. The sheriff's office is now expanding its request for video from Guthrie's neighbors to a two-mile radius from her home going back to January 1st.

Now, investigators, they were back at the home on Thursday setting up a white tent outside her front door. A source says that it was part of a testing procedure to try to create nighttime conditions, similar to when Guthrie went missing, using replica clothing and a similar backpack to the one that's now become such a focus. The FBI also used specialized equipment to determine the suspect's height.

CNN's Leigh Waldman is live on the scene on the ground in Tucson for us this morning. There's a lot of new details, a lot of new focus coming from this investigation now. LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kate, you're absolutely right. For the very first time in the nearly two weeks since Nancy Guthrie was taken from her home here in Tucson, we finally have a profile from the FBI about who they believe is behind this. This comes from that doorbell camera video showing an armed mask man outside of her door. They're saying it's a man who's between the height of 5'9" and 5'10", an average build.

And you mentioned that tent we saw pop up yesterday around 8:00 A.M. local time, it was up for just over an hour. But we're learning from law enforcement sources that that was strategically done so they could recreate those nighttime conditions to try and identify the clothing that this person was wearing, trying to identify the height that this person was and trying to identify different brands.

For the first time, we have confirmation from the FBI about that backpack, a black 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker backpack. Next, we know that the FBI is going to start looking at how many of these backpacks have been sold in this area and when they were sold. They're going to continue to try and identify other brands that that person was wearing, like the jacket, the ski masks, the gloves that we saw in that video. So, that's some of the work behind the scenes that's going on and what we saw in that tent.

We know just to the FBI alone, more than 13,000 tips have come in since February 1st from people trying to offer up information. One of those investigative leads is pointing towards a white van. We know that there's been a call to these neighbors in this area in a two-mile radius of Nancy Guthrie's home, asking them to look at their surveillance camera video from January 1st to February 2nd, looking for anything and everything, any people, cars, traffic, anything that could look out of place, send that in. They want to look into those tips to try and find either where Nancy Guthrie is or the people or person behind her disappearance almost two weeks ago now.

We've seen the community coming out here and you can see this growing memorial behind us, yellow roses, yellow ribbons left outside of her home.

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People say that this used to show troops that they're welcome back home. They want Nancy to feel welcome home again when she comes back. There's also law enforcement presence outside of her home constantly making sure that this scene is locked down. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes. Leigh, thank you very much for being there and for your continued reporting on this. John?

BERMAN: So, in just a matter of hours, the Department of Homeland Security will run out of funding and shut down. I say that with confidence because both the House and Senate have left town and there's no real way to vote today. Some members did not plan to be back for another ten days. They're traveling overseas. At the center of this funding fight, Democrats want changes in federal immigration enforcement.

With us now is Congressional Reporter for Axios Andrew Solender. Andrew, great to see you this morning.

What's the incentive structure here for members of each party to reach some kind of a deal?

ANDREW SOLENDER, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, AXIOS: You know, I think the average person sees polling where 55 percent, 60 percent of voters either think that ICE should be reformed or think that it should be abolished all together. But what you got to understand is that Congressional politics is all based politics now. Most members are in seats that are decided in the party primary, not in the general election. So, they're not thinking about the whole electorate or the middle that might be souring on ICE. They're thinking about their base.

And in that sense, Democrats and Republicans are moving in opposite directions on this issue. Democrats have almost no incentive to vote for ICE funding at this point, even with the reforms that Democratic leadership, you know, Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer are asking for, those, in the eyes of a lot of progressives, are the bare minimum. But to Republicans, they don't even want to reform it at all. They would rather expand ICE operations. They want to crack down on sanctuary cities.

So, the indications that we have are that the White House and Senate Democrats are negotiating pretty seriously. But the fact is the votes are going to be tough once any sort of deal actually materializes. And so, in that sense, this shutdown could take a while.

BERMAN: And you get the sense that, in a way, certainly, the basis of each party that you correctly point out, they may be further apart than they were ten days ago in the wake of the worst -- the two killings of American citizens on the ground in Minneapolis by federal immigration agents, it does seem that maybe they're further apart than they were at that moment.

SOLENDER: For sure, for sure. I think, you know, the Alex Pretti shooting in Minneapolis has it caused even some establishment, mainstream Democrats who, a year ago, two years ago, you know, during the first Trump administration, would have stayed away from the defund ICE slogan like the plague. But now, you increasingly hear members who are in swing districts who have very centrist politics, who believe that, fundamentally, immigration law should be enforced, who are saying we need to cut funding to ICE, because remember, it got $75 billion in the big, beautiful bill. That's enough to keep it funded for the next three or four years.

And so at this point, where Democrats are is they think that the agency should have a huge funding cut. And all they're really asking for from the administration at this moment is reforms, which, even if they get that, a lot of them are going to struggle to cast votes to fund this agency.

BERMAN: All right. Andrew Solender from Axios, big fan of your reporting, thanks so much for coming on and sharing some of it with us. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Drones, lasers, and now a blame game over the abrupt decision, unprecedented decision by the FAA, announcing it was completely shutting down the airspace around El Paso for ten days earlier this week. New reporting on how the White House is furious now over the move.

And overnight, SpaceX sending four astronauts on a mission to the International Space Station after a smooth launch. What's the plan for Crew 12 when they arrive?

And two months later, the driver from this viral -- this crash that went viral has now been charged.

The very latest coming up.

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BERMAN: All right. This morning, a Trump administration blame game after this week's abrupt closure of El Paso's airspace. Sources tell CNN key officials say they had not received a heads-up about the plan to shut down the airspace for ten days. One official says, President Trump's aides view this as a, quote, F up by the FAA, not the Pentagon. There are some different stories elsewhere in the administration.

Kevin Liptak has the very latest from the White House. Kevin, what are you hearing?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. And to be sure, this set off a scramble across the entire administration when the FAA put this restriction in place on Wednesday, including here at the White House, where officials told us they were left totally in the dark. They essentially found out about it in real time as it was happening. They had to quickly call the FAA to reverse course, which, of course, they did, but not before an enormous amount of confusion, worry and, frankly, a lot of embarrassment inside the administration, and it has led to this blame game now.

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You know, at the White House, the blame is being laid squarely on the FAA for not alerting them to what they were planning to do. A lot of that blame is being heaped on the transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, whose agency houses the FAA, but we're getting pushback from other parts of the administration. One official put it to us as it's baffling that White House officials are upset with Duffy for protecting the airspace and not the folks who launched the laser.

And, of course, the laser is this high energy counter drone laser that the Pentagon has been testing. They had loaned it to Customs and Border Protection who were testing it in remote areas. That is eventually what led the FAA to close this airspace. The FAA and the Pentagon had been set to meet, to discuss this new technology on February 20th. The FAA wanted assurances that it wouldn't interfere with commercial aviation. But when the Pentagon went ahead and began testing it before then, that's when they shut down the airspace.

So, a lot of blame going around, very complex web of finger-pointing. I think it also underscores what has become quite a contentious relationship between the Pentagon and the FAA. It had already really been on the rocks since that plane crash last year when an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines flight and left 67 people dead near Ronald Reagan Airport.

All of this, of course, leading to furious reaction from representatives in El Paso. The Democrat, Veronica Escobar, wrote on social media, quote, this was the result of incompetence at the highest levels of the administration. John?

BERMAN: I mean, air safety does seem pretty important, the type of thing you would like to see administration officials on the same page over, not the case here.

Kevin Liptak at the White House, thank you very much.

A sinkhole the size of a city block swallows up a busy road in just seconds.

And the back-flipping quad god going for gold in men's figure skating. Let's hope the Russian judge -- that's the Russian -- it's the French judge who's the problem, right, that ice dancing judge. Woo.

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BOLDUAN: Let's talk about the Olympics, my friends. And Olympic action today, the quad god, Ilia Malinin, will try to back flip his way to Olympic gold. It's as another Olympic superstar fell just short of the three-peat in the snowboard half pipe, but still amazing, but still amazing.

Let's get over to CNN's Coy Wire at the Olympics.

I would pay -- I don't mean I don't have the money to pay, but I would do lots of things and I would do it myself if I could get you on a half -- see you on a half pipe.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Oh my goodness. Are you kidding me? Give me like one of those old saucer disc. I'll ride down on one of those.

BOLDUAN: Exactly, exactly.

WIRE: These women are incredible. They're incredible. It's another beautiful day. Happy Friday to U.K. We had that huge upset in the women's snowboarding half pipe. Two-time defending champ American Chloe Kim looking to pull off the first ever three-peat in the event, but fell on two of her three runs. And I say settling for silver, but it's a silver. It was 17-year-old Korean sensation Ga-on Choi who took the Olympic gold just two years after she fractured her back, had a nasty fall. Kim is one of her idols. So, it was a special moment afterwards when Kim, all smiles, hugged and celebrated, a sobbing Ga- on after the run, quintessential sportsmanship.

Now, Chloe Kim was very emotional, reflecting on what it took just to get here to Italy.

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CHLOE KIM, TWO-TIME OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: A month ago. I wasn't even sure if I would be here. And so, God, I could get emotional thinking about it, but I really worked so hard to get here, and so this medal means so much to me.

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Wire: Powerful stuff, Kate.

Now, tonight, we have finesse, we have Fury, maybe even a back flip on the ice. The quad god, as you mentioned, Team USA figure skating sensation Ilia Malinin, he'll be flipping and twisting his way into the men's long program. How did he get one of the coolest nicknames on the planet? Let's find out.

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ILIA MALININ, U.S. FIGURE SKATING: Quad god, it all started from this small joke of just accidentally changing my username and then everyone being like, why'd you change your username? You only landed one quad at the time. So, that kind of gave me the fuel to, you know, go on to land all the rest of the quads. It's not only just now a nickname but it's also part of me, and there's so many more parts of me to come in the future.

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WIRE: Let's go. Hey, last night we had those NHL players back on the Olympics for the first time, Team USA that is, in 12 years. And Brock Nelson wanted to have some bragging rights at the family reunion, I think, because Brock's family has a rich history when it comes to their games. His grandfather won Olympic gold in 1960. His uncle was part of that 1980 Miracle on Ice team that also won gold. Brock off to a great start here in Italy, two goals as USA dominated Latvia 5-1.

Now, Team USA Curler Rich Ruohonen is now officially the oldest American to compete in the winter games. At 54 years old, Kate, USA's game with Switzerland was out of reach, so they subbed him in and he made history. The first time he tried to make the U.S. Olympic team 1988, his current teammates weren't even born yet. They weren't going the second or third times he tried to make the team.

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His teammates are in their mid-20s, says he's like their team dad. They begrudgingly laugh at his dad jokes. He is a personal attorney, Kate. Now, he adds oldest American to ever compete in the winter games to his resume. Some things just age like fine Italian wines. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Well, I mean, and some things don't age at all, which would be you, Coy Wire. But, I mean, every story coming from the Olympics, about the Olympians is so good. Like the fact that the hockey player blinking on name, the hockey player has like every member of his family in one playing in previous Olympics is just -- I love these stories.

WIRE: We need that. And this today's divisive times that we're living in, you see the whole world coming together and celebrating people and accomplishments, and it's just something I think we are all going to enjoy for these next couple of weeks while these games go on in Italy.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. It's good to see, Coy. Thank you so much, buddy.

Ahead for us, speaking of today's times, growing tensions between the United States and NATO allies are expected to be on full display. All of this at the major international security policy gathering happening starting today, starting right now in Munich. We have the very latest from there.

And in an age where many people are opting for the self-checkout lane, why are customers at one grocery store choosing to wait up to 40 minutes in line to check out with one particular cashier.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As soon as I walk in the door, I look for him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's my buddy. He's one of the few people I trust.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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