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Family Offers $1 Million Reward In Nancy Guthrie Case; Defense Secretary Hegseth And Anthropic CEO To Meet Over Military A.I. Use; Axios: Pentagon Frustrated With Anthropic Over A.I. Tools Dispute. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired February 24, 2026 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:30:00]
REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): Yeah, if he sent those, he should go. And you know, Republicans have created a mess right now in the House. They have shown no interest in governing. They are completely distracted and the best thing we can do as Democrats is to bring a level of seriousness on all issues and show that put us in charge, and it's going to be a different Congress.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Congressman Gonzalez, up until this point, has denied an affair and says he thinks he is being blackmailed. Congressman Eric Swalwell, thank you for being with us today. Appreciate it.
SWALWELL: My pleasure.
BERMAN: The breaking news again, just a few minutes ago, we saw this new video released by Savannah Guthrie pleading for the return of Nancy Guthrie. New language than we have ever heard before, and now the family offering a $1 million reward.
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[09:35:00]
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, a new gut-wrenching video message from Savannah Guthrie, announcing a new $1 million reward for information leading to her mother, Nancy Guthrie's return.
For the first time, Savannah acknowledges the possibility of her mom already being lost.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, ANCHOR, TODAY: We still believe that she can come home. Hope against hope. As my sister says, we are blowing on the embers of hope. We also know that she may be lost. She may already be gone. She may have already gone home to the Lord that she loves, but we need to know where she is. We need her to come home. For that reason, we are offering a family reward of up to $1 million for any information that leads us to her recovery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: This has been hell for the Guthrie family to say the least. CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Tucson. You have been following this. You have been on the scene. What are you seeing and hearing there? And this video that has just come out is just soul crushing.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It really is. I mean, there's just no other way to talk about it. For Savannah Guthrie and her family, to be in this position is excruciating, and you can just see it in real time there as they release these videos. And it's significant because we haven't heard from anyone in the Guthrie family for more than a week.
This is the last time Savannah released a video, was not this past Sunday, but the Sunday before. So it has been some time, and clearly the family has gone and processed a lot of what these -- these last more than three weeks have been like for them. It's also interesting this morning, as the family announces this million dollar reward, the FBI office here in Phoenix, also posting to social media a short while ago that same information, as well as reminding folks that there is still also $100,000 reward on top of that.
That is -- that still remains as the family is making this announcement here this morning, and Sara, you were asking me earlier this morning about the reaction here in the neighborhood. You know, I think in talking to neighbors for the last week, they're just -- just kind of struck and -- and baffled by how in the world this could have happened.
How someone could have, apparently, up until now, gotten away with a crime of this magnitude. It sends shock waves, and it still does, but you also sense a great deal of effort from the neighbors to try to do whatever they can to help the family out as well.
SIDNER: Ed, this has been, I know, excruciating to report, because, you know, we know the family or a member of the family, but to watch all this happen and have to happen the way it has so far, has been really, really hard for anyone. But I do want to remind people about the number that's on your screen there. If you have any information, please call either one of those numbers. Kate?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up for us, a critical meeting at the Pentagon today over how the military uses artificial intelligence. Got new reporting coming up.
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[09:40:00]
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BERMAN: This morning, California Governor Gavin Newsom is pushing back after critics seized on comments he made at an Atlanta event accusing him of racism. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): I'm like you. I'm no better than you. You
know, I'm a 960 SAT guy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Newsom calls it all fake outrage. This as we're getting a sense, you know, President Trump is one year into his final term, but still, it's never too early to talk about the next presidential election. With us now is CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten. So we see Governor Newsom. He's got a book, I think, which actually publishes today. He's in the middle of the fray of possible Democratic intent. So what do the polls say?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yeah, they're all running, and this is just a downright clown car at this point on the Democratic side. I mean, just take a look here. Top choices for the 2028 Dem Pres nominee. You have a leader, but it's not really a clear leader. It's within the margin of error. You have Newsom at 19 percent. Then you have former Vice President Kamala Harris at 18 percent.
Quite a weak number for her, given that, of course, she was the nominee last time around. Pete Buttigieg, who, of course, has run before 13 percent. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at 12 percent. This is just a total clown car. It is a total mess. There is no clear front runner at this particular point on the Democratic side. Who the heck knows who the nominee is going to be in three -- two years?
BERMAN: And it's been a long time since we've had a Democratic race like this.
ENTEN: Yeah, it has been a long time. This is very unusual for the Democratic side to not have a clear front runner at this point. National Early poll leader at, at least 25 percent. Look at this. This year, we get the giant question mark, no one, no one, no one, no one. In 2021, there was no incumbent, it was Joe Biden who was there.
Hillary Clinton in both 2008 and 2016 and Al Gore in both 2000 and 2004. At this point we're at least at 25 percent. You have to go all the way back, all the way back from when I wasn't even in elementary school yet, not even in pre-K yet, to 1992 that was the last cycle in which there was no clear front runner at this point. Very unusual.
BERMAN: Just to be clear, this isn't predicted, because she didn't win in this primary.
ENTEN: Correct.
BERMAN: And he didn't run. But this gives you a sense of a year out. So what about Newsom? What are the prediction markets saying his odds are?
ENTEN: Yeah. OK, so it seems to me that Gavin Newsom is flailing a little bit, at least compared to where he was prior.
[09:45:00] Because just take a look here. OK, chance, Newsom is the 2028 Democrat nominee three months ago, according to the Kalshi prediction market, look at that. It was a 37 percent chance. Now it's just a 28 percent, down he goes. He's definitely flailing a little bit. And I will note, John, I will note that it also seems to me, people are a little less interested in Gavin Newsom than they used to be.
Look at this. Google searches for Gavin Newsom down 63 percent from the August peak. You remember back then? It was when he started that social media right going after President Trump, there was a lot of interest from Democratic voters, but maybe that interest is waning off just a little bit. And of course, you don't necessarily want to wane it off just yet, because I think we still have a lot of time for the votes, right?
BERMAN: There is still some time to go. Harry Enten, thank you very much. A lot of news this morning. We'll be right back.
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[09:50:00]
BOLDUAN: Just into CNN, the Pentagon has confirmed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will meet with Anthropic CEO, Dario Amodei today for what sources say could be quite the battle over how the military uses Anthropic A.I. model, Claude.
New reporting from Axios details just how tense this meeting actually could be, with one defense official saying, Anthropic knows this is not a get to know you meeting. This is not a friendly meeting. This is a shit or get off the pot meeting. What led to this moment? Reporting by Axios that the Pentagon is threatening to cut ties with and cut off Anthropic, the company -- if the company continues to say that the military should not use their A.I. for mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.
The top Democrat on the House Science and Tech committee was just on the show. Here's her take.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA): Anthropic is trying to do the right thing, so far as I can tell, and put their own guardrails in even in the absence of legislation. I think, as best I can tell, the Pentagon is trying to talk Anthropic out of doing the responsible thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Joining me now is one of the reporters behind all of this new detail and reporting, Dave Lawler, the National Security Editor for Axios. It's good to see you again, Dave. Tell me more about what you're hearing in terms of what could happen in this meeting and come out of it.
DAVE LAWLER, NATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR, AXIOS: Sure. So the Pentagon is saying it is unacceptable for Anthropic to put any limitations on how they use their model. They're saying that if you're a contractor with the military, you give us your tool and we use it however we see fit. But Anthropic is saying we have some concerns. We -- you know, we have built our software with some safeguards in it around things, as you mentioned, like surveillance or developing weapons that fire without humans.
We're not willing to drop those guardrails. The Pentagon is saying, if you won't play ball, if you won't come over to our way of thinking, we will cut off your contract. And there are a plethora of other penalties that we could apply, including this supply chain risk designation to Anthropic to basically say that anyone who does business with the Pentagon cannot do business with Anthropic.
So you know, a lot of brinksmanship leading up into this meeting. We've been texting with sources on both sides ahead of the meeting. They're expecting it to be not a particularly friendly occasion at the Pentagon. It should start in about a half hour, 10:30-ish. And so, you know, I think that that right now both sides are very dug in.
The Pentagon says our policy is not going to change. Anthropic says our policy is not going to change, and so we'll see, you know what happens coming out of this meeting, whether the relationship completely breaks down.
BOLDUAN: Yeah, like the wild card factor here is, like, our policy is not going to change, but like, you don't even know -- we don't even know we're dealing with -- with A.I. and how it develops. Like, policy doesn't apply to the thing that's going -- that's changing our world as we speak. I digress. Why is Anthropic and its Claude model so important to the Pentagon?
LAWLER: So Claude is currently the only A.I. model that's available in classified systems at the Pentagon. So if the Pentagon wants to do research and development on weapon systems or wants to conduct a raid to capture the President of Venezuela. Claude was actually used as part of that operation. Claude is currently the only A.I. model that's available in that space.
Now, we reported last night that Elon Musk's xAI has signed a deal to move into classified spaces. They're working with Google and OpenAI to try to move them in there as well. But defense officials, even though they're very mad at Anthropic, they admit that Claude is very, very good. It's very useful for them, and so they don't want to sort of cut off their nose, despite their face by blacklisting Claude.
And yet, like you know, as we're discussing, they're so dug in on this position that you cannot restrict. You know, we have our own protocols at the Pentagon about how we do and don't use things. You as the vendor don't get to tell us what we can't do with your technology. So, you know, but again, part of the problem for them is that Claude is just very, very useful to the military.
BOLDUAN: Dave, is there an obvious or compromise on middle ground here that you're picking up like what the Pentagon wants and what Anthropic wants to protect, like where they could meet in the middle on this? LAWLER: So I see a potential solution where they keep Claude in their
systems until they feel like there is a replacement that's ready to roll.
[09:55:00]
And so some kind of accommodation where this tension plays out for a period of months, and then if they can't resolve it, they rip out Claude and they move Google's Gemini or some other system in. I don't currently see a point where Dario, the CEO of Anthropic goes into this meeting and says, fine, have it your way.
BOLDUAN: Right.
LAWLER: You know, he has written and spoken a lot about his concerns on these issues, and I also don't see a point where the Pentagon entirely backs down. So there may be a point where neither side is able to declare victory. They muddle on for a bit, and then they rip- claw it out later on.
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
LAWLER: But I don't expect you know, handshakes and hugs at the end of this meeting.
BOLDUAN: Dave, you continue to have great reporting on this. Thank you so much for coming on and bringing it to us. See what happens from this meeting.
SIDNER: And thank you for joining us. This is CNN News Central. The Situation Room up next.
BERMAN: Handshakes and hugs.
BOLDUAN: Handshakes and hugs, that's what we do. That's what we do.
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