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FBI Releases New Details About Suspect In Guthrie Disappearance; Medical Groups In Court To Reverse CDC Childhood Vaccine Overhaul; Strained U.S. Relations With NATO Loom Over Munich Security Conference. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired February 13, 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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[07:31:05]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Breaking this morning the FBI has released the first official description of the suspect they're searching for in the Nancy Guthrie case. It says the figure caught on the doorbell camera at the Guthrie Arizona home is a male, 5'9" inches to 5'10" inches tall with an average build. They say he was wearing an Ozark Trail Hiker backpack, a brand sold by Walmart. The FBI has also released images of the backpack. They have received more than 13,000 tips in the case.

With us now retired FBI supervisory special agent Richard Kolko, and former FBI special agent Ken Gray.

I want to put up this FBI post so people can see here. Let's talk first, Ken, if we can, about the idea that they're doubling the reward to $100,000 from $50,000.

In your experience how much does something like that make a difference in a case like this?

KEN GRAY, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT, CRIMINAL JUSTICE PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAVEN: So it may very well cause somebody that was reluctant to come forward before to come forward and provide critical information that could solve this case. As time goes on, if Nancy Guthrie is still alive out there, it's critical to get to her as soon as possible. The increase in the reward reflects that -- that it's time to be able to move forward with leads that are actually productive to find her.

BERMAN: And when you look at this also one other aspect of this notice that went out, the specificity in identifying the individual -- a male, 5'9" to 5'10". And then you have the details about the backpack, Richard.

What kind -- that type of specificity -- why now? How does that help?

RICHARD KOLKO, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: Rewards work. The FBI has 100 years of proof that it works from out Top 10 list. But now as you look around -- your neighbor -- we've asked people to pick up the phone and make that call -- it narrows it down. You can -- you can know if somebody was that size, that height, has that backpack. It just spurs your ideas or your memory.

And I think what's interesting is that we've got a lot of internet sleuths out there so they will help. People will be scouring social media. We know the FBI is going through the records at the Walmarts where these backpacks are sold. These are all things that --

Look at the whole investigation as a puzzle. There's a 500-piece puzzle that, you know, you buy and you do on your kitchen table. You're trying to put all these pieces together and each one of these is one more piece. And they're trying to get those 500 pieces together as quick as possible to resolve this case.

But everything we've seen over the last several days -- 72 hours -- several pieces to put together moving this investigation forward.

BERMAN: Yeah, yeah. Richard mentioned the backpack, Ken, and here's an image of the backpack we can see in the security camera footage right here. Here is a picture of the Walmart backpack -- the Ozark Trail backpack. You can see some more pictures of what it looks like here. And yes -- I mean, in theory, the FBI could then go to Walmarts all over the area and try to look for when these backpacks were sold.

But I was thinking, Ken -- you know, I've owned my backpack for like eight years and I can't remember where I bought it. I'm not trying to make a joke here but obviously it may be a good lead, but it's very possible that this backpack was, you know, bought by someone years and years ago.

GRAY: Well, the photographs of the intruder is still being processed. There may be other pieces of clothing items that might be identified. Then if you start looking at credit card information you might be able to go out and find a person that purchased that backpack and also purchased that jacket or may have purchased that pair of running shoes, and then you start building up a list of -- a pool of suspects that way.

That's what happened in the D.C. pipe bomb case was that credit card information led to identify Cole in that case. So the same thing could be true here.

[07:35:00]

The Bureau is not done with using the information that came out of the footage here. They're still in the process of trying to identify other pieces of clothing.

BERMAN: That's a great point. You can cross-reference maybe the shoes with the backpack with the mask there.

One other aspect -- one other new bit over the last day, Richard, is that the FBI officials are saying anyone within a two-mile radius of Nancy Guthrie's home to look at their security footage now for the full month before she was believed to be taken. We put this map up here. I don't know if you can push in just so you

can see. All these little dots are houses. It's actually a lot houses. A lot of homes in a two-mile radius. So I have to believe they're going to get a lot of footage, Richard.

How hard is it to go through that when you may or may not know what you're looking for?

KOLKO: Not hard at all. The FBI is good at it. One of the first cases I worked was the '96 Olympic bombing. We had photos and thousands and thousands of hours of video. They set up video and photo review teams to go through this.

But what they're -- they set up this two-mile perimeter probably because they got some information. You know we had that cellular team that was out there. There -- some of the subpoenas may have come back right now, which could have included some financial transactions that took place or witness interviews. All these things are put together in the command post. It helps them set these leads and they made that map and determined that that's a critical area.

We've talked about timelines I know, John, you know, going forward from the moment Nancy was taken. They're doing everything they can investigatively going forward, but they're also going backwards. And now that some of the results of the investigation that agents, deputies and police have done are starting to come back and that has helped them narrow that down.

Everything you've talked about is pieces to the puzzle. So they believe that piece of the puzzle is within that two-mile radius. So they're going to go knock on doors, talk to people, collect that video, and provide subpoenas if necessary. And they're going to get that and take that back to the command post. They'll have video review teams. They'll be looking through all that video.

There's other things that they have now -- advances in technology. AI will help them. There are people at the OTD that -- in Quantico that could review some of that video and develop images where people may not think they even see them.

So this is moving forward. This is -- this is -- this is all good news -- more pieces for that puzzle. And I look forward to seeing what's next in the investigation over the next few hours and days.

BERMAN: So Ken, so two weeks tomorrow since Nancy Guthrie disappeared. Almost every day that's passed there's been a new bit of information -- one piece or another here -- drips and drabs.

But as time goes on will this go silent? Will we stop hearing new things? Will there stop being this pace in the investigation?

GRAY: So John, 4,000 leads have come in due to the video being shared with the public. It takes time to go through 4,000 leads to determine which ones are viable and which ones are not and then set leads for agents and sheriff deputies to go out and conduct interviews or run down certain aspects of information being provided. So I think that over the near term this investigation is going forward

until they locate Nancy. But in the long term it may slow down somewhat if they don't turn up with a suspect. But I think right now we need to see the results of processing those 4,000 leads -- 4,000 tips to see whether or not the perpetrator may be somewhere within those tips.

BERMAN: Obviously, it's so important for the family to get this result. Two weeks tomorrow have been excruciating for them.

Richard Kolko, Ken Gray, thank you both very much -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Also new this morning, Secretary of State Marco Rubio just landed in Germany ahead of the annual Munich Security Conference -- the major gathering on international security policy that's closely watched every year. His arrival comes amid these enduring continued and growing tensions between the United States and NATO allies right now.

The annual Munich Security report that is released ahead of the conference described that unraveling, if you will, here in part. "More than 80 years after the construction -- after construction began, the U.S.-led post-1945 international order is now under destruction." It goes on to label President Trump as one of the most prominent demolition men.

We're also just learning this morning that the Pentagon is now sending a second aircraft carrier group to the Middle East, putting more pressure on Iran as President Trump says talks over a new nuclear deal will continue.

Joining me right now from Munich the former U.S. ambassador to NATO, Kurt Volker. It's good to see you, Ambassador. Thanks so much for being here.

Best case-worst case -- this scenario for me coming out of the conference?

[07:40:00]

Oh, he might have an audio issue. Ambassador, it's Kate. Can you hear me?

KURT VOLKER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO, FORMER U.S. SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR UKRAINE NEGOTIATIONS: I hear you.

BOLDUAN: Oh, perfection.

VOLKER: I hear you now.

BOLDUAN: OK, great.

Let -- can you just start -- let's just start off with kind of --

VOLKER: There's a long delay.

BOLDUAN: There sure is.

An overarching best case-worst case scenario coming out of this year's conference?

BOLDUAN: I think we very clearly have an issue. We're going to have to check that in the break. And we will be right back after this.

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[07:45:00]

BOLDUAN: Happening today several prominent medical groups will be meeting in court as their case against the CDC goes before a judge. On the line the future, they say, of childhood vaccines. The medical groups are asking the court to reverse those big, recent changes that were made to the CDC's childhood vaccine schedule. The groups argue that the new guidelines, which removed recommendations for hepatitis and meningitis shots, were made without new scientific evidence and they call it dangerous.

Joining me right now -- back with us is Dr. Georges Benjamin. He is the executive director of the American Public Health Association, one of the groups leading this effort to fight the CDC. Thank you for coming back in.

What is the case you will all be making to the judge that the changes to the vaccine schedule need to be reversed?

DR. GEORGES BENJAMIN, CEO, AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION: Thank you very much, Kate.

You know, we're making the case to the judge that this was done arbitrarily without any new scientific evidence. It was also done in an illegal manner. They just went into a backroom, made up a new schedule, and then rolled it out without a real look at the scientific evidence. And we're hoping that the judge will agree with us.

BOLDUAN: HHS, the CDC -- they stand by their findings and their changes, of course.

What is the expectation of how long it will be before there is a final decision one way or another?

BENJAMIN: Well technically these recommendations are in play right now. When the CDC -- acting CDC director --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

BENJAMIN: -- who I might add has no medical or health background -- signed off on these recommendations they became functional.

The good news is that there are other groups that have decided to not use those recommendations, like the American Academy of Pediatrics, and many other professional groups are aligning behind them because we think the evidence for those recommendations that AAP is using are the ones that we should use. BOLDUAN: And what I'm getting from -- what I'm gathering from you

while you wait to hear how a judge, you know, decides on your case -- and I've heard from others -- is that you're essentially saying don't follow -- don't follow what FDA, CDC, HHS are saying in terms of their recommendations when it comes to vaccines.

And on that front the American Medical Association, we've now learned, is launching their own vaccine review system separate from the federal government because as the groups says --

BENJAMIN: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: -- the CDC's review process they believe has effectively collapsed.

The group says that they're not going to make recommendations but they're going to provide evidence that they -- of what they find in terms of -- what they find and make that evidence -- give that evidence to those making vaccine decisions.

Do you support this move by the -- by the American Medical Association?

BENJAMIN: We do.

And let me tell you what they're doing. You know, the federal government used to use the best scientific evidence and get some of the smartest minds in the world to pull this information together, get a consensus, and then roll that out so that everybody understands this is the best science as we know it. And the AMA is now trying to reproduce that process so that we have national guidelines that are consistent that everyone can follow.

BOLDUAN: Doctor, here's one thing though. I believe we talked about it last time you were on and I've heard it from many others with regard to one of the chief criticisms about the approach from the Trump administration on vaccines is how confusing it is with the changes they are making of what is right and what families should follow, and that confusion breeds mistrust.

Does this -- what the AMA is now moving to do -- does this also add to that confusion though?

BENJAMIN: I think that once you get all the professional societies agreeing on the proper science and a recommendation of what people should get it'll make it easier. That means that when you go to your pediatrician, you'll get the right -- the same recommendation as when you go to your OB/GYN.

You know, if you're -- if you're a woman of childbearing age who is now moving from adolescence to adulthood, you know, do you follow the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendations or you follow the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology recommendations, or do you follow the federal recommendations?

The AMA pulling all of these together will at least make that consistent so all the professional societies are saying the same thing. And people, by the way, trust their health provider more than they trust the federal government.

BOLDUAN: A very interesting moment we are in, and your case heads to court today.

Dr. Georges Benjamin, thank you very much for coming in. I appreciate your time -- John.

BERMAN: This morning a SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts is making its way to the International Space Station. The Dragon spacecraft reached orbit this morning. This begins a journey that will bring the station back to full staff after operating for more than a month with a skeleton crew.

[07:50:10]

In Shanghai, a huge sinkhole swallowed a city block. The pavement cracked and collapsed within seconds sending workers running. Officials say the cave-in happened near a subway construction site after groundwater leaked into the tunneling area. No injuries reported there, but that didn't look good.

A thief broke into a Northern California bakery just days before the busy Valentine's Day rush. The suspect went straight for the register, ripped it out, and took off with it -- there you can see. The problem is the bakery does not accept cash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLIE VELASQUEZ, CO-OWNER, PALETTE CAKES: It was a couple of business cards, some pens, and then a small bit of cash just in case someone came in and really wanted a cupcake and only had a little bit of cash.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The husband and wife owners had just celebrated the bakery's two-year anniversary. All the damages have been fixed, and the bakery is back up and running.

So, wallaby on the lam. Colorado sheriff's deputies responded to reports of a runaway kangaroo hopping through a neighborhood. It turned out actually it was a wallaby, which basically is a small kangaroo. Forgive me, Australia, but that's basically a fact. This wallaby was named Charlie. There was a short chase, but it all ended inside with feeding Charlie the wallaby mango slices.

So this wallaby is kind of well-known, I guess, in the Denver area. He has his own Instagram account. No word yet on how he escaped.

So this morning a wonderful story out of Georgia. Normally people look for the shortest line at the grocery store, but at a Publix in Acworth, Georgia, shoppers are waiting 40 minutes to check out with a specific lane agent. Michael Masterangelo, a 10-year veteran cashier -- he has an intellectual disability. He greets every customer with so much enthusiasm like they're an old friend. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL MASTERANGELO, CASHIER, PUBLIX: I'm just so happy to be here every day to work. I love this whole community, and everybody loves and supports me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As soon as I walk in the door, I look for him. And if he's here, you know, it just changes everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That's so wonderful. And Michael raised $31,000 for the Special Olympics in just six days through all of these amazing interactions -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: That is a great story. That is a good one. Thanks, J.B.

Let's get back to Munich now. The technical difficulties we hope have been fixed where the annual Munich Security Conference is getting underway. This is that major gathering of international security policy closely watched every year.

And joining us now someone else closely watched, former U.S. ambassador to NATO, Kurt Volker. Ambassador, thank you. Apologies for the technical gremlins. It is what it is, as we like to say.

I want to get your --

VOLKER: Glad to be here.

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

I want to get your take of, in your view, best case-worst case scenario coming out of this conference for the future of NATO.

VOLKER: Well, the best case is that some of the emotional disagreements that we've had between U.S. and European allies over the last few months are kind of put back in the box.

There's a lot of irritation, frustration, and lack of trust in Europe right now because of the U.S. claims that we were going to take over Greenland, even by force if necessary. Even though that issue is now parked in a negotiation there is still a lot of raw nerves surrounding that.

So what we have here, we have Secretary of State Rubio coming. We have a large congressional delegation, bipartisan. And a lot of conversations that take place here both at the government level and informally. And I think people are looking to see whether we can put our transatlantic relationship back onto a normal footing. That's the best-case scenario and I think what everyone is looking for.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

Marco Rubio, Secretary of State -- he spoke with reporters on his way -- on his -- on his way to Munich laying -- maybe perhaps laying the groundwork for his approach while he's there.

Let me play this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: I think they want honesty. They want to know where we're going and where we'd like to go. Where we'd like to go with them. So that's our hope.

The old world is gone, frankly -- the world I grew up in -- and we live in a new era in geopolitics. And it's going to require all of us to sort of reexamine what that looks like and what our role is going to be. We're deeply tied to Europe, and our futures have always been linked and will continue to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: "And will continue to be," he says.

When he says that you hear what, Ambassador?

VOLKER: Well, I think that is a message of some reassurance from Secretary Rubio. He's trying to say that our civilizations are linked, our values our linked, our interests are shared in many ways. The world has changed so we're going to have to adapt, but we are going to have to figure out how to do that based on a common U.S. and European sense of shared interests and shared values.

[07:55:00]

That's a very similar message to what we heard from Senators Blumenthal and Sen. Wicker, who were here at an earlier event today, also saying the same thing. We are -- we are still here. We are coming back, but we do have to talk about the world that we're in and how we deal with it.

BOLDUAN: The -- you mentioned Greenland. The Danish prime minister says -- said this morning that she's going to be meeting with Rubio to discuss Greenland while in Munich.

And very clearly this is one of the issues that led to the Canadian prime minister's speech in Davos that is still getting quite a lot of talk. I think kind of encapsulating what you were getting at with the fears here when he talked about the rupture to -- rupture to international rules-based order.

Do you think that was a watershed moment? You know, a moment when middle powers, as he talked about it, are ready and can go it alone now?

VOLKER: Look, I think that the reaction to President Trump saying that he wanted to annex Greenland and take it away from Denmark, even by force if necessary -- that was a very angry, very emotional reaction coming from all of Europe, not just -- not just the Danes. It was very widespread. And now that has been put back into a negotiation basically. What are

the actual issues that we need to talk about concerning security in Greenland and security for all of North America and the Arctic? What does the United States do? What does Denmark do? What do other allies do? So that's in a good place.

But the emotional response to those comments from President Trump are still very raw. And that's what Secretary Rubio and the other members of the delegation are going to have to deal with here in Munich this weekend is trying to reassure European allies that this is not a kind of seachange in the U.S. approach to the world.

The U.S. is not a predator in the world. That's the way the Europeans are feeling right now. As I said, it's emotional and they need some reassurance from the U.S. that no, we're talking about substance and we're talking about shared interests, and we can work this out.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. As former ambassador Ivo Daalder kind of made the case yesterday in talking about what partnership. Maybe the United States needs to define what partnership really means to them right now in going forward with European allies.

It's good to see you, Ambassador. Thanks so much for coming in -- John.

BERMAN: All right, this just in. Valentine's Day is tomorrow. If you -- if you have not prepared accordingly, search your feelings as to why. That said, if chocolate is on your last-minute agenda be warned not about the calories but the price tag.

CNN's Matt Egan joins us now. This is something people are going to be thrilled to hear.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well John, I wish I was here with better news on this Valentine's Day eve -- but yes, chocolate is a lot more expensive. So chocolate prices have gone up by 14 percent relative to this point last year. That's according to market intelligence firm Datasembly. Some context -- that's about five times the rate of inflation and that is a much bigger increase than the eight percent increase at this point last year.

So what's happening? Well, this is all an aftershock related to the global cocoa crisis, right? There's extreme weather in West Africa. It really crushed the harvest of cocoa beans, and that's the main ingredient in chocolate.

And look at cocoa prices. They skyrocketed from roughly about $2,500 in late 2023 to nearly $13,000 per metric ton. And unfortunately, the chocolate on the shelves this Valentine's Day -- they're made with beans that were priced at those crisis highs.

And so --

BERMAN: Oh, old beans.

EGAN: Yeah. Well, that's just the way -- that's the way the supply chain works.

BERMAN: OK.

EGAN: And so those prices are still high.

The good news though is, as you can see on the chart, prices have started to come down. And analysts are hopeful that chocolate prices are going to start to even out around Easter, and hopefully by Halloween they'll start to come back down.

BERMAN: Yeah. Those holidays not quite as romantic though.

EGAN: No, not quite as romantic.

BERMAN: Right? Not usually. I don't know.

EGAN: That's right.

BERMAN: I mean, I'm not an expert on some of them -- but yeah.

So the cocoa prices are going down here. Any sense of how much that can boost the chocolate purchase?

EGAN: Yeah, yeah. Well look, this is chocolate. It's a go-to candy, right? I mean, 75 percent of all candy that's purchased on Valentine's Day is chocolate. And Americans are projected to spend over $2 billion on candy this Valentine's Day alone.

BERMAN: I like that 75 percent is chocolate. I mean, what would the other options be? Like, Necco Wafers? I've got you some Necco Wafers for Valentine's Day.

EGAN: Right.

BERMAN: I love you.

EGAN: Yeah, yeah. That doesn't really work.

BERMAN: That doesn't really work.

All right, Matt Egan. Thank you very much.

EGAN: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: Good to know that Easter this year might be romantic. I do have to say though if you haven't planned yet, the reason I haven't planned is because I -- you know, if you love as deeply as I do every day is Valentine's Day.

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