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U.S. Orders Some Personnel Out of Beirut Embassy; States of Emergency in Effect as Bomb Cyclone Hits East Coast, at Least Five States Now Have More Than Two Feet of Snow; Violence Erupts Across Mexico After Military Kills Cartel Boss; USA Men's Hockey Team Arrives in Miami; Ex-U.K. Ambassador to U.S. Arrested Amid Epstein Probe; Messages Show Deepak Chopra Had Close Relationship With Epstein; Trump Warns Countries That Play Games Will Pay Higher Tariffs. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired February 23, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: -- in June. But it looks like we've now revised our intelligence estimate.

ERICA HILL, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": General Wesley Clark, always appreciate your insight and your expertise. Thank you. Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": A bomb cyclone paralyzing the Northeast, 40 million Americans under blizzard warnings as treacherous conditions force officials to issue travel bans and airlines to cancel thousands of flights. And tourists trapped, the State Department urging Americans in some parts of Mexico to shelter in place, after an outbreak of violence following the killing of a drug cartel leader. And a shortage of estrogen patches sparking concern as demand for hormone replacement therapy grows, what are the alternatives?

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

So we begin with this snow emergency that is impacting tens of millions of Americans. Right now, a bomb cyclone is barreling up the East Coast, more than two feet of heavy snow has already dropped in several states, and making matters even worse is the hurricane-force winds. Gusts up to 75 miles per hour have been crippling power lines and travel, this was the scene just a short time ago in Massachusetts. Power trucks and an ambulance getting stuck as they are trying to go about their very important business in this emergency weather.

From New Jersey to Boston, cars are simply buried. CNN's Brian Todd spoke with one man in Philadelphia who is ready to help his neighbors out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How tough has it been to navigate through all this? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's pretty tricky. You know, getting the cars out is probably the hardest thing and like you said, these streets are not plowed, but it's great because you'll see the neighbors later coming out and kind of doing their part, tackling the streets. So it's really, you know, it brings the community together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: What a positive silver lining approach. Let's go now to New York where CNN's Bill Weir is there in the snow. He's also looking very positive, although these are some really challenging circumstances. Walk us through what you're seeing.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: They really are. We have some of the young New Yorkers making snowmen and having snow fights out there that turn to tears, that's what happens on days like this sometimes, but we're just shy of 20 inches here in Central Park. The first fully day off school for New York public school kids in five years or so. First blizzard like this in a decade, and this is the winter wonderland version of it. Central Park where it still looks so pristine on the trees, but we've been around from Brooklyn to Manhattan today, and it is already turning to dirty slush in a lot of places.

The blizzard of '26 will be remembered for the heavy water-dense snow which is going to weigh down on trees. It's causing power outages in, we've heard in New Jersey and some surrounding states as well. New York City reporting 300 downed trees today and then they got to worry about transportation. Hopefully, a lot of this will melt. We're going to see temperatures above freezing, into the 40s later in the week.

But January was a nightmare in this city because there were these icebergs on city corners, creating Olympic events of trying to navigate your way around frozen dog waste and everything else. Hopefully, that is not the case anymore, but yet another test for new Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who's in charge of a city that has 6,400 miles of streets to plow and so far, he says mission accomplished. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI, (D) NEW YORK: As of 12:30 p.m., DSNY has distributed over 50 million pounds of salt and plowed over 99.5 percent of city streets at least once. As heavy snow continues to fall, every single street in every single borough will be plowed as many times as necessary to make it safe for emergency travel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WEIR: Because of the bitterly cold January, so far there have been at least 20 homeless deaths of people being exposed to the elements out here and they've expanded the outreach efforts, the warming centers or city buses that are roaming as warming centers as we speak, right now. But again, it's not as frigid as it was in January, so now, it's just so much snow. Where to put it? How long to navigate around it?

We'll keep an eye on it here. Kick it back to you in the studio. KEILAR: Yeah. It does look beautiful but you have to step carefully for sure. Bill Weir, thank you very much. Let's bring in Meteorologist Derek Van Dam now. Derek, I understand that an all-time snow record was just broken. Tell us where this happened.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, that's right Brianna. So we're watching history unfold right now and it still continues to snow. This took place in Providence, Rhode Island. They just set not only their one-day snowfall record, but their all-time snowfall record of 32.8 inches.

[14:05:00]

And here's a video from West Warwick. This is very near Providence. And you can just see how deep the snow is accumulated. Look at that vehicle, the trees in the background, also the fence lines, also just the sidewalk. And this is a very heavy wet snow, just like Bill alluded to a moment ago, it's still rather mild outside and that has major implications, especially when you start factoring in hurricane- force gusts.

We'll talk about that in detail in just a moment, but let's talk about who has gotten into the two-foot club and so many states have, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island. Here it is, the Islip region nearing 30 inches and by the way, that is also record-setting territory for that particular location. Second all-time snowfall amounts here in Newark. Wow, now we called this a snow-a-cane earlier, not literally a hurricane, but it's kind of that combination of a nor'easter, similar characteristics to a hurricane.

Its minimum central pressure dropped to 966 millibars, a testament to just how powerful this storm is. You can see the blizzard warning still in effect and look at the gust, 68 miles per hour in Nantucket. There's still a hefty band coming down across the boroughs of New York and Manhattan at the moment. But as we move into the northeastern portions of the country, this is looking between Boston and Providence, there's that heavy snow band, three to upwards of four inches per hour falling out of that dark blue, right here.

This is the area where we've seen the heaviest snow. We call that the deformation zone. It's part of this low pressure that will produce the most consistent heavy snowfall. There was even lightning included in that earlier today. Brianna?

KEILAR: Wow, yeah, that is quite a blizzard there. Derek, thank you very much. Erica?

HILL: Right now, the US State Department is urging Americans in Mexico that they should "seek shelter" and remain in residences or hotels. All of this, after the death of a powerful cartel boss has triggered widespread violence across the country. Mexican forces killed the notorious kingpin known as El Mencho during a raid early Sunday and that sparked immediate backlash in at least a dozen states. We know cartel members were clashing with security forces, fires being set to buildings and vehicles, hundreds of road blocks that were set up, and new satellite images just give to you a sense here of what was happening.

Look at the smoke in these images. That smoke coming from several businesses and vehicles that were burning. Jack Riley joins us now. He's a former DEA Deputy Administrator and also the author of "Drug Warrior: Inside the Hunt for El Chapo and the Rise of America's Opioid Crisis." Jack, it's great to have you with us today as we look at, what is happening in Mexico. I think, first, for people, help us wrap our head around how the killing of El Mencho could trigger unrest in, I believe, it's 20 of Mexico's 32 states?

JACK RILEY, FORMER DEA DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR: Well, you've got to understand, first of all, El Mencho himself. Clearly, the most wanted man in the Western Hemisphere and in my 30 years of experience, he's one of the largest and I think, one of the most vicious criminal leaders we've seen, rivaling El Chapo with the Sinaloa Cartel.

So, he has vast cells throughout Mexico that support him and of course, when their leader got taken down, they're going to strike back at anything, that includes the government, the press, obviously, the military, law enforcement and unfortunately, any innocent citizens that may get in their way. This is going to be a problem, I think, for the near future.

HILL: The near future, are we talking days, weeks, months?

RILEY: I would say a week or so for the Mexican government to really get a handle on this. But I think, it's important to understand that this can pop up anywhere throughout Mexico. That's how large his cartel is and how many committed soldiers he has. So, it's not necessarily that they're going to target Americans or tourists. It's simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that's what has me worried the most.

HILL: You talk about what could pop up, it's my understanding that according to the DIA, the cartel, this particular one was sort of structured more like franchises. So given that, with El Mencho gone, does this -- I mean, does this almost embolden those franchises?

RILEY: Absolutely. We've seen this time and time again. I think what you'll see in general, his organization was particularly modeled I think after the military. So when they take the leader out, the next guy will stand up. But there were many number of killed with him, so it's unclear who the leadership is going to be and you have their arch-rivals, Sinaloa Cartel, who is now I'm certain going to get in the game to try to take the complete control of all the narcotics leaving Mexico.

So, it could be a bloodbath. Now, the good news is and this is a -- yesterday was a great day for the good guys and I applaud the Mexican president for taking it to him.

[14:10:00]

I just wish they'd had done this 20 years ago. They just didn't have the will to. But now, since we've designated them terrorist organizations and the White House now is pushing, you're seeing that they are capable of doing this. But the important thing, Erica, is they cannot take their foot off the gas. This has to be a sustained attack and I can tell you that the men and women of DEA are going to do everything we can to help them.

HILL: Yeah.

RILEY: It's also an opportunity on this side of the border, for us to take shots at their organizations operating on the United States.

HILL: To take shots, how so?

RILEY: Law enforcement wise, because the organization itself is in flux, so communication becomes undisciplined. They make mistakes, alliances break up, and that's a great time for us to make good cases on both sides of the border.

HILL: I want to pick up on two things you said, so what you're saying is and I'm paraphrasing here, but tell me if I understood this correctly, that you're seeing a shift, right, in the way that Mexico is going after the cartels. But you also noted the role of the United States and Mexico's Secretary of Defense has said that they benefited, in his words, from intelligence and Intel agencies -- U.S. intelligence and Intel agencies, and the White House confirming in fact that the U.S. did provide Intel support.

Can you give me a sense of what that would look like and whether you're seeing a shift on that level?

RILEY: Well, we've always provided -- you know, we have DEA agents on the ground in Mexico. We've always provided intelligence information, but the problem has been to get them to do something with it. In my experience, much of the information we would provide them, two things would happen. Number one, they would compromise it or number two, they simply wouldn't do anything. This is a completely different way of going about cartel battling in Mexico.

We saw this when we captured El Chapo Guzman with the Mexican Marines finally being committed and working shoulder-to-shoulder with us. So, my hope is that this is the beginning of what they're going to continue to do and that information that we provide can be collections from phone interceptions, from patterns of life of these major targets that will help them narrow down where they are so that they can be taken into custody.

HILL: I have a last question and I only have about 10 seconds, I apologize. But we haven't yet heard from FIFA, there's a lot of concern about what this could mean for the World Cup coming up in Guadalajara, set to host a number of games including some playoff tournament action next month. Do you think that should continue?

RILEY: You know, I'm a little nervous about that, to be honest with you. Knowing the military apparatus in Mexico, it could take them some time to get their act together, so I'm a little nervous. I got to be honest.

HILL: Jack, really appreciate your insight, thank you. RILEY: My pleasure.

HILL: Still ahead here, the Breaking News in the Jeffrey Epstein investigations, another high-profile arrest in the U.K. A former ambassador to the United States now facing suspicion of misconduct allegations. Plus, four years after his country was first invaded, Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has a message for President Trump. This in a new sit-down interview with CNN.

And just coming into us here at CNN, the USA men's hockey team, the gold medal team is now back stateside, having arrived in Miami. You can see the water salute there for the team in Miami. They, of course, won gold yesterday, beating Canada 2-1 in a thrilling overtime at the Olympics. This is the first gold for the men's team since the famous miracle on ice in 1980.

Still much more ahead here, stay with us. This is "CNN News Central."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:18:27]

HILL: We are continuing to follow the fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein Files. The latest today concerning the former British Ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, who was taken in for questioning this morning in London on suspicion of misconduct in public office, which is the same language police used in describing last week's arrest of former Prince Andrew. Mandelson has been under investigation for allegedly passing information to Epstein when Mandelson was serving as Britain's Business Secretary.

KEILAR: In the meantime, documents from the Epstein files reviewed by CNN reveal health and wellness guru and best-selling author, Deepak Chopra had a close relationship with the late sex offender and the pair communicated often. CNN Senior National Enterprise Correspondent, MJ Lee has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Best-selling author and wellness guru, Deepak Chopra had a close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, discussing with the convicted child sex offender spirituality and sex, visiting his homes and bantering about women's appearance. According to a CNN review of the Epstein Files, Chopra and Epstein were in frequent contact between 2016 and 2019, the year that Epstein was arrested on charges of operating a sex trafficking ring and sexually abusing underage girls.

With Chopra telling Epstein in the summer of 2017, I'm deeply grateful for our friendship. Chopra has not been accused of wrongdoing related to Epstein, who was convicted in 2008 for soliciting prostitution from a minor. In a statement posted on X after the latest release of the Epstein Files, Chopra said, "I was never involved in, nor did I participate in any criminal or exploitative conduct.

[14:20:00] Any contact I had was limited and unrelated to abusive activity. Some past email exchanges have surfaced that reflect poor judgment in tone. I regret that and understand how they read today."

But CNN found that Chopra's interactions with Epstein were not limited, with hundreds of messages between the two men in the Epstein Files. The pair arranged to see each other in multiple cities with messages indicating that Chopra visited Epstein in his New York City townhouse, West Palm Beach home, as well as his Paris apartment. They frequently discussed everything from spirituality to health and wellness to mutual friends, and at times, girls.

On at least two occasions, Chopra who is now 79-years-old, invited Epstein to bring his girls on trips according to the files. If you want to use a fake name, bring your girls Chopra wrote in a 2017 email asking Epstein to come to Israel. The files show Epstein's passport identified him as a convicted sex offender. Chopra followed up with a subsequent note, your girls would love it as would you.

The same year, asking Epstein to join a workshop that he was hosting in Switzerland, Chopra again encouraged Epstein to come with your girls. Once discussing former Saudi Princess Ameera Al-Taweel, Chopra described her as being very sweet like your girls. The DOJ's Epstein files also contain videos of Chopra, including guided meditation and discussions about spirituality.

DEEPAK CHOPRA, MIND AND BODY EXPERT: Be aware, right now, of the space around you.

LEE: None of the videos that CNN reviewed feature Epstein or appear to be made specifically for him. In one of their more philosophical exchanges in 2017, Epstein asked Chopra, did you find me a cute Israeli? Chopra responded, universe is human construct, cute girls are real. And in one 2016 exchange that began with a link to a TED talk about the end of physics, Chopra wrote to Epstein, statistics is like a girl in a bikini, what she reveals is obvious, what she conceals is more interesting.

CNN has reached out to a spokesperson for Chopra for comment. The files show Chopra often showed warmth and respect towards Epstein, affectionately signing off some of his messages with love or XO.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: MJ joins us now. It's such continued important reporting from you, MJ, when it comes to the fallout over these Epstein Files. And (inaudible), when was their last correspondence?

LEE (on camera): Well, according to the files, the two men were in touch in the month leading up to Epstein being arrested in 2019. That was really when the walls started closing in on Epstein. He was lamenting to Chopra, according to these emails, I am aware that there is a lot of bad press around me and Chopra responded at one time, I'm not concerned about that. He also more than once, encouraged Chopra to meditate when he was complaining about the bad press. I will just finally note, again, Chopra has denied any criminal misconduct and also the presence of someone's name in the files, of course, does not necessarily indicate any wrongdoing. Just want to be clear about that.

HILL: Yeah, it's important.

KEILAR: Yeah. Really, really interesting reporting. MJ, thank you so much for that.

Still to come, President Trump is still fuming over the Supreme Court's decision to strike down his tariffs, his reciprocal tariffs. We're going to tell you what he's warning other countries today and how Wall Street is reacting to the tariff turmoil. Plus, we're tracking how the bomb cyclone has virtually shut down air travel across the Northeast. We'll have that and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:28:17]

KEILAR: President Trump is warning global tariff rates could jump even higher after he announced his new 15 percent across-the-board levies over the weekend. Today, the president threatened countries that play games will be met with a much higher tariff and worse. His comments come just days after the Supreme Court, of course, struck down his emergency tariffs.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich is watching how Wall Street is handling all of this uncertainty. Vanessa, what are you seeing right now?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: And that's exactly right, Brianna. We are hearing from investors that there is nervousness on Wall Street yet again. A lot of uncertainty again playing into the tariff story and what that means for businesses and for consumers. As you mentioned, the president increasing that global tariff rate to 15 percent over the weekend and then indicating that he wanted to push that rate further with countries who are "playing games" and added that he doesn't need congressional approval to do that.

If you're watching markets right now, you can see there the Dow down more than 800 points, the NASDAQ down over 280 points, and the S&P down 77 -- more than 77 points. This really, Brianna, started on Friday when markets had a bit of a tepid reaction to the Supreme Court decision because that's what largely they were expecting.

Then over the weekend, we heard that President Trump had decided to increase that initial tariff rate that he set in place at 10 percent under something called Section 122, which would go into effect for 150 days. He raised that tariff level initially from 10 percent all the way up to that maximum of 15 percent. Then just today, we heard from the president that he was thinking about increasing tariffs on any countries who he said, "play games," but also adding in another post on Truth Social that he did not believe he needed any congressional approval to add more tariffs.

That's what happened --