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Trump Speaks to Troops at Fort Bragg; Dem Report Finds U.S. Spent Over $30 Million to Send Migrants to Third Countries; Afghan Whose Life at Risk for Family's Ties to U.S. May Be Deported; Quad God Looks to Clinch Gold in Men's Free Skate. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired February 13, 2026 - 13:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:31:42]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": These are live pictures at Fort Bragg Army Base in North Carolina where, in just moments, we are anticipating President Trump is going to speak. He's also set to meet with the Special Forces who were involved in last month's capture of Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro.

CNN's Betsy Klein joins us now from Fort Bragg. Betsy, what can you tell us about this visit by the president?

There was clearly some technical issue there. We do have retired Air Force Colonel, Cedric Leighton with us. He's a CNN Military Analyst. Colonel Leighton, we'll get back to Betsy in just a moment. I'm not sure what exactly happened there.

But how do you see this kind of recognition from the president going to these Special Forces troops?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, it's very important for the troops to be recognized by the highest levels of the command authority. And for the president to go down there and be there with them, greet them, that's always seen as a very big event not only for the post, Fort Bragg in this case, but also for the units involved.

And the very fact that he's probably going to also be talking to those that were involved in the taking of Nicolas Maduro, that indicates not only was that mission critically important to the president, but he's grateful for the forces that were arrayed to do that job.

And the Special Forces clearly did a very good job from a technical standpoint and from an operational standpoint. They basically came out there with no casualties except for a minor wounded situation. But other than that, it was a textbook military operation.

And so, for the Commander-in-Chief to be in a place like that, at Fort Bragg, which is really the nerve center of U.S. Special Operations Forces, that really is a big deal for the troops. And it also really kind of solidifies that relationship that he wants to have with those troops. SANCHEZ: Yeah, no doubt. And there is First Lady, Melania Trump addressing the crowd there. We anticipate the president is going to speak soon after that. And we still have Betsy Klien on the ground, so we'll get back to Betsy as soon as we get that shot figured out.

I do want to ask you about something that the president has discussed several times now. During that operation, a discombobulator weapon -- he brought it up in an interview this month, though in typical Trump fashion, he said -- he mentions it, and then he says, I'm not supposed to mention that.

LEIGHTON: Right.

SANCHEZ: What are you curious to learn about this supposed weapon?

LEIGHTON: Well, one of the things that I'm curious to learn, Boris, is this one weapon or is it multiple weapons? Now, most people that are looking at this are saying there are multiple capabilities, and I know of some myself, multiple capabilities that would take care of some of the types of things that were talked about.

The president talked about some of the effects of the operation. And as they went in, one of the things they did was they jammed the radar systems. Now, they don't need a so-called discombobulator to do that. There are jamming techniques that are currently on our aircraft, that are on drones, that can even be carried, in some cases, by troops into the area.

But, one of the key things is the testimony from the Cuban and Venezuelan soldiers that talks about being disoriented, that talks about them losing command of their faculties, in some cases being violently ill as a result of being impacted by something.

[13:35:11]

So it sounds a lot like a U.S. version of Havana syndrome.

SANCHEZ: Right.

LEIGHTON: And that's something that we really have to look into.

SANCHEZ: Let's go ahead and listen in to the president now, speaking at Fort Bragg.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: -- before me, amazing. And very proud of you. Somebody said -- I was just watching a little news coming down. They said, oh, it's amazing he can find the time in his busy schedule. Believe me, you have -- you're the time. My schedule's not the time.

Although we do have a couple of interesting things happen. We just had fantastic reports on inflation, way down. Costs of products, way down. We inherited a mess, total mess. And now, it's really coming along. We have the greatest numbers that we've ever had. We're hitting all-time high stock numbers. We're hitting all-time high S&P and Dow numbers. You saw that a few days ago, at the end of the first year. They said that it was going to take maybe four years, the end of the term, to hit 50,000 on the Dow. We did it in one year.

(CROWD CHEERING)

TRUMP: And likewise, to hit 7,000 on the S&P was going to take at least four years, could be five or six. We did it in one year. So --

(CROWD CHEERING)

TRUMP: -- and all I know is forget about the stock market, forget about Wall Street, your 401(k)s are doing very well. I don't have to ask you. Is anybody doing poorly with their 401(k)? If they were, you're a pretty bad investor, I'll tell you.

(LAUGH)

TRUMP: But I want to thank Melania. Our country is truly blessed to have such a phenomenal First Lady.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And now, she's a movie star on top. Can you believe it? She did a movie. It's the hottest thing she's ever -- it's crazy. Congratulations, by the way. Very good. You know who loves that movie? The ladies. They go see it three, four times. That's what I heard. They go see it with the husband. The husband really likes it a lot, but the women go back and see it.

But she's a great First Lady. And I'm thrilled to be back on one of the greatest and most celebrated military bases in the history of the world, Fort Bragg. We have your name back.

(CROWD CHEERING)

TRUMP: We got your name back from the radical left. The radical left is not happy about it. It's another reason you have to vote for us, because they'll change it back to whatever it might be. This is the home of the legendary Green Berets, the home of the Sky Dragons, and the all-American 82nd Airborne.

And in particular, I hear that we are joined by many exceptional soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, also known as the Devils in Baggy Pants. What's that all about?

(CROWD CHEERING)

TRUMP: The Devils. They are Devils. And you are Devils, I will say.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And I have no higher honor in life than to be your Commander- in-Chief. I'm so proud of you all. And so let me begin by saying a very, very big thank you to our great warriors and the men and women of the United States Army, unbelievable. Very special thanks also to all of the incredible military families who are here today. You know, without that family, our soldiers would not be the same. It's a whole big deal.

I don't think they get enough credit, but they do get credit with me. That's why I sent you $1,776 a couple of weeks ago, a little while ago.

(CROWD CHEERING)

TRUMP: We had a lot of money coming into our country from tariffs. And I said, let's send a little to our soldiers. So, you know, they came in. They said, sir, we could do $1,775. I said, oh, that's good. They put the number. I said, you know, if we add one more dollar, it's $1,776.

I said, add a dollar. Add a dollar. Did everybody get $1,776? I think so.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: You think the Democrats would have done that? Forget it. But it's really because of your incredible sacrifices to keep America safe and free. There's nobody more respected than the people in this room. We're also joined by General Gregory Anderson, General Brandon Tegtmeier, Secretary Howard Lutnick, Senator Ted Budd. He's doing a fantastic job, too.

Members of Congress, Mark Harris, Pat Harrigan, Brad Knott, David Rouzer, Addison McDowell, and your own Congressman from right here in the district, a really great guy. He's a real leader too, Richard Hudson. Where are they? Where are they all? Look at them. They're all dressed up.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: They have to be nice to you, because without your vote, forget it, they're out of commission. Right, fellows? But what a good job. And Richard, this is your area. Congratulations. He's always bugging me for more money for Fort Bragg. I said, Richard, get off my back and we're going to do that.

[13:40:00]

You know, they're talking about a big compound, right? And we're going to get that done. We're going to get it done for you. Now, if the Democrats get in, it's not going to happen. I guarantee you that. But we're going to get that done. That's your number-one priority, I think, Richard Hudson. So you have another man who is running for the Senate, who is phenomenal. The only thing is, he's not as well known. He was behind the scenes. He was the head of my three campaigns. I won all three times here by a lot. It wasn't even close.

SANCHEZ: We're going to continue monitoring the president's remarks as he speaks to troops at Fort Bragg. We'll get some perspective with Colonel Cedric Leighton after a quick break as we monitor the president's remarks. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: President Trump's deportation agenda is proving to be a pricey one.

[13:45:00]

A new report says his administration is spending tens of millions of dollars to deport migrants, notably sending some to countries they're not even from. Let's bring in CNN National Security Correspondent, Kylie Atwood. Kylie, walk us through these numbers.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: These are some really, really eye-catching numbers. More than $30 million, that's how much the administration, according to this report from Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has spent in terms of sending third-party nationals, deportees from the United States, to five countries only. More than $30 million.

When you break that down by country, in terms of how much it is per individual migrant that was sent, the numbers are really eye-catching, particularly in some of these cases. Rwanda, for example, it was more than $1 million to send a single immigrant there because the agreement between the United States and Rwanda cost the United States more than $7.5 million, and they sent seven third-party nationals to Rwanda.

Also, in many cases, Boris, these third-party nationals were actually not sent to their home country of origin. There was a Jamaican who had court orders to be sent to his home country. He was actually sent to Eswatini and then had to fly to Jamaica. Obviously, that means that they are doubly paying to deport that person.

SANCHEZ: Remind us, why are they being sent to these third countries? Again, many of them have never stepped foot in these countries.

ATWOOD: Yeah, that's right. I mean, basically what it boils down to is agreements that the U.S. government was able to secure with these countries, right? And so, there's money agreements here. There's also political agreements here. This report says that the administration is using these deportation efforts as a bargaining chip with these countries.

The argument from these Senate Democrats is that this is not the way U.S. foreign policy should be carried out. They should be focused on using bargaining chips, using that political capital the United States has when it comes to national security interests. Of course, the State Department responding and saying that is not the case at this report, contrary to what they might have hoped, underlines much of the unprecedented work that the Trump administration has done to enforce immigration laws. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Wow. Kylie Atwood, thank you so much for that reporting.

Turning now to the story of Lal Mohammad Noorwali, seen on the right with his brothers at this U.S. Veterans Day parade. Lal knows firsthand what American patriotism can cause. He was living in Afghanistan when he was nearly killed as the Taliban detonated a bomb outside his home, targeting his family because his brother, Said, translated for U.S. troops.

Lal later escaped to the United States. But now, the government his family risked everything to support is trying to deport him. The 28- year-old is being held in an immigration detention center in Laredo, Texas and next month, he'll find out if he's going to be forced to go back to Afghanistan. CNN's Haley Britsky has been following Lal's story.

Haley, this threat of being forced to return is something that's shared by many Afghans in the United States.

HALEY BRITSKY, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: That's right. So this fear is permeating a lot of the Afghan community, as we've heard from legal experts and folks who have been really involved in this, that, of course, for many of them, they see this as a possible death sentence, being sent back to Afghanistan, and it's certainly how Said sees the case of his brother, Lal.

His family is highly, highly concerned about what could happen to Lal if he is deported back to Afghanistan, given the public nature of Said's service, both as a civilian interpreter with the U.S. Army and then as a U.S. soldier himself, deploying back to Afghanistan and working with senior officials.

So it's a fear that is very real for them, as Said has made clear to us. It's not just a hypothetical fear for his brother, but it's based on real memories that he has from when his family was targeted by the Taliban. So, it's very top of mind for his family as to what dangers Lal could be facing if he goes back to Afghanistan.

SANCHEZ: And what response has Said gotten as he tries to prevent his brother from getting deported?

BRITSKY: Yeah, Boris, well, I mean, at first he got nearly no response. He lost contact with his brother when he was detained first in Laredo. He called around various Border Patrol stations trying to find him, kind of getting passed around, calls transferred. As he told me, you know, one agent told him to reach out to the Afghan embassy, and when he informed the agent that there isn't an Afghan embassy in the U.S. any longer because the Taliban took control of the country, the agent told him to try calling the Taliban, which he found particularly egregious response to be getting. But they have gotten, you know, really complicated responses here. They didn't know for several weeks when Lal was detained, why he had been detained, what he was facing, if he was facing deportation. Obviously, that was a top-of-mind fear for them, but they didn't have clarity on what exactly he was going through and what charges he'd be facing for quite some time. So now that they have a lawyer, they have legal representation, they're getting a little bit more clarity there, but it's been a very confusing and concerning process for them.

[13:50:00]

SANCHEZ: So, what happens next? What are the next steps?

BRITSKY: So the next steps at this point, there is a hearing in March that they are hoping will consider Lal's asylum case. He first applied for asylum several years ago after arriving in the U.S. Their lawyer says they're planning to resubmit an asylum application.

So on March 10th, at this point now, that hearing is scheduled. They hope to get that clarified, that he get approved for asylum. But at that hearing is when they're going to be deciding if he'll be deported or not. It's something that is weighing as huge concern not only on Said, of course, and Lal.

But as Lal told me from the detention facility when we spoke, is really weighing heavily on their mother, their mother who evacuated Afghanistan with them and who is living in Texas right now as well. And so, you know, as Said told me, it's something he never expected he would have to face, having served in the U.S. Army. He said that we believed in this country.

I risked my life for this country, and I never imagined I'd be begging one day to keep my brother alive here in America.

SANCHEZ: Wow. Hayley Britsky, please keep us up to date on their story. Thank you so much.

We're going to step aside for just a few minutes. We're going to update you on President Trump's speech to troops at Fort Bragg when we come back. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:55:50]

SANCHEZ: Figure skating Quad God, Ilia Malinin, is going for his second gold medal of the Olympic Games. Right now, the men are on the ice in the free skate competition. And as that event heats up, questions surround the Olympic ice dancing competition.

CNN's Coy Wire is in Cortina, Italy, to break down the controversy. Coy, there's a lot to get to here.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, there is. And big deal, this French team winning gold, Boris, over the three-time defending world champs, Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who put up a season-best performance. They won by fewer than 1.5 points. Five of the nine judges favored the Americans.

Three of the judges that gave top marks on the French did so by only a slim margin. But one French judge favored the French skaters by nearly eight points in the free dance, hence the controversy. Both teams actually have the same coach, Boris.

And they said that they thought Chock and Bates deserved to win. The International Skating Union says it stands by the judging. So if the global governing body is unwilling to investigate scoring, there is a little recourse for Team USA. They are actually past their window to appeal this.

After winning silver, though, Boris, Evan Bates said, we're married, so we're going to be fine. We're going to go home, and we're going to have a life with three Olympic medals to their name. They are tied for the winningest U.S. Olympic figure skaters of all time.

Now, tonight, you mentioned the Quad God. Finesse and fury, maybe a backflip on the ice, Team USA figure skating sensation, Ilia Malinin, nicknamed the Quad God, flipping his -- twisting his way into the men's long program. And he's nicknamed this because he's the only person ever to pull off a quadruple axel in international competition. He's already taken home team gold here.

So how did he get this nickname, one of the coolest nicknames on the planet? Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ILIA MALININ, GOLD MEDALIST, TEAM 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 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: All right, Boris, the Quad God will be the last to go today. He plans on doing seven quads, one of them the quadruple axel beast. Also beast, Quad God, is actually what I call my Instagram buddy, Boris Sanchez.

(LAUGH)

WIRE: Always posting pics by poolside. Skies out, thighs out. Like me, he doesn't have a good head of hair like Ilia Malinin. Still beast, nonetheless. Happy Friday, Boris.

SANCHEZ: You're way too kind, Coy. You're way too kind. I do appreciate your positive remarks about my Instagram feed.

I got to ask you about something that I want to see on your Instagram feed soon, and that's the food. I hear it's amazing out there. WIRE: It is so good. I had the best pizza I've had in forever.

(LAUGH)

WIRE: And they have the polenta up here. It warms the belly in this cold mountain air. It's 32 degrees right now. I did learn you can only eat certain types of snow. A local yelled to me, she yelled, [Foreign Language] which means stay away from the yellow snow. Words to live by, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Very, very good advice. Coy Wire, send some of that back. I don't know how you would, freeze it maybe. I don't know, but I would love to try some of that food.

(LAUGH)

SANCHEZ: It sounds amazing, Coy Wire.

WIRE: The pizza, not the yellow snow. Yes, you got it.

SANCHEZ: Indeed, yes, correct. No yellow snow.

(LAUGH)

SANCHEZ: Thank you so much, Coy, live for us in Italy.

We are watching live pictures of President Trump right now in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, speaking to troops at a military base there. We're continuing to cover his remarks and track them. We have a reporter on the ground.

We also have Colonel Cedric Leighton with us to break down some of what the president is saying. We'll keep following this as a new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

Back in court and vowing to fight back. Don Lemon facing federal charges following an anti-ICE protest inside of a St. Paul church. We have the latest on his arraignment.

Plus, growing frustration and more questions than answers as the search for Nancy Guthrie nears its second week with zero suspects --