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Top Oversight Democrat: We Want to Know Where the Missing Files Are; Hillary Clinton Testifying in Congressional Epstein Probe; U.S., Iran Negotiators Hold New Talks Amid U.S. Military Threat; More Americans are Choosing to Live Abroad. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired February 26, 2026 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We are following new developments in Hillary Clinton's deposition before the House Oversight Committee in their Jeffrey Epstein probe. And not long ago, Democrats on the panel addressed reporters outside where the former Secretary of State has been giving hours of closed-door testimony. Ranking member Robert Garcia used the time to make this plea to Attorney General Pam Bondi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE RANKING MEMBER: We want to understand right now where the missing FBI files are. These are files that accuse the President of the United States about serious, serious accusations around sexual abuse. And the fact that they're not in the files and have been apparently either removed or discarded is incredibly concerning.

And so we're calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to immediately release those files.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: I want to take you through CNN's reporting on this that shows dozens of FBI witness interviews from the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein appear to be missing from the files the DOJ released last month. CNN has done a review and found that more than 90 of the 325 FBI witness interview records that were listed in an evidence log provided to Ghislaine Maxwell's attorneys do not appear to be present on DOJ's website. And this includes three interviews related to a woman who told the FBI Epstein repeatedly abused her starting when she was approximately 13 and who also accused Trump of sexually assaulting her.

DOJ is now reviewing if these documents were improperly withheld. And we should note that President Trump has denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein.

I'm joined now by former U.S. attorney Harry Litman. Harry, this deposition of Hillary Clinton today, Bill Clinton tomorrow, how do you see the utility in these depositions?

HARRY LITMAN, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: Well, I got to say, Brianna, that Hillary Clinton sort of retort early on in her opening statement that I'm just being used as a prop in political theater. That certainly seems pretty persuasive as to her. She said, and the committee already knew, she never even met Epstein.

She maybe met Ghislaine Maxwell a couple of times, but zero involvement in any of the crimes. To me, it just seems like the kind of, you know, in a radical virus in the blood of right wing Republicans for anything having to do with Clinton. She really has nothing to give them.

And I have to say, from the reports that have come from inside the committee, she seems to have landed a couple kind of zingers on her own that we'll hear when they release the video and transcript, which the Dems are calling for immediately. And Representative Comer is saying, well, we'll see.

KEILAR: There are some inconsistencies when it comes to Bill Clinton that have raised a lot of questions. He has said he has not been to Epstein's island, but Steve Scully, who worked for Epstein on the island, and Virginia Giuffre, who was an Epstein victim, both said they saw him there. Giuffre stating she never saw Clinton do anything untoward, but she essentially didn't understand why he wasn't, from her perspective, you know, more forthcoming about being there, as she says he was.

Former top Clinton adviser Doug Band also told Vanity Fair that Bill Clinton visited the island in 2003. Is that something that it's important to get to the bottom of with him?

LITMAN: Well, it seems to me, Brianna, it doesn't go very directly to any of the crimes. And remember, when the DOJ first produced -- the day they were supposed to produce everything, they had 100 pieces of paper basically all having to do with Clinton. It's a good point that you make because he says otherwise.

Trump, of course, says 28 times no idea where he got that number from. And you can bet there's going to be forceful questioning on that topic tomorrow. You can also bet he'll be ready for it and is also, you know, Clinton in this posture is likely to be pretty combative and score his own points.

Any discrepancy from an important witness matters. But I don't see any accusation even that he's had any sort of serious involvement in what the country wants to know about, that is to say, Epstein's crimes.

KEILAR: Yes. And, you know, Virginia Giuffre is saying that essentially, or she said that. Pardon me, the late Virginia Giuffre.

She has said that and publicly. But there's also, you know, he was on Epstein.

LITMAN: Epstein, Maxwell. Sorry.

KEILAR: Yes, he was on, I suppose at this point, Maxwell may have some credibility issues. Right.

[15:35:00]

But Giuffre had also said that Clinton was at a dinner on the island in the presence of two brunettes who appeared to her to be very young, that she thought they were underage. There was also a young woman who was trafficked by Epstein, who was not underage, but was a victim of Epstein's, who was trafficked, who was also young, though not underage.

And said she was on a plane and took a photo with Bill Clinton on Epstein's plane. Even if Clinton wasn't aware that there was -- you know, and there's no the allegation of wrongdoing here. I just want to be clear about that.

LITMAN: Right.

KEILAR: But being in the there were so many people who were in these positions of being in the presence of young women, we know there were rumors. We know later at one point he's actually convicted.

That's not what we're talking about with Clinton. But there were just so many people who knew that there was, you know, like what's going on with these young women and Jeffrey Epstein. Is there utility in asking people like Clinton about that?

You know, did this occur to you? What did you observe? What did you think about what you were seeing?

LITMAN: I think there is. And I'm sure they will. And as you say, there are a couple really lurid sort of PG veering toward R kinds of pictures, one where he's in a hot tub.

But the point you make, I think, Brianna, is the important one. So many people. What Hillary has said today, I think what you'll see President Clinton say tomorrow is if you're really serious about transparency and accountability, you'll get to the bottom of all the allegations, the missing pages involving President Trump.

This is really a sideshow for that purpose. So I don't dispute that a thorough and apolitical investigation would leave no stone unturned. But there's some pretty big boulders that they're not going near, starting with the president.

And I think that's the immediate answer to what you're saying.

KEILAR: And Harry, I know you worked for DOJ under Attorney General Janet Reno during the Clinton presidency.

LITMAN: That's right.

KEILAR: There was more independence between DOJ historically and a White House than there is right now. But it was during the Clinton --

LITMAN: One hundred percent, yes.

KEILAR: -- it was during the Clinton administration when Epstein victim Maria Farmer first reported Epstein to the FBI. It was 1996. And she reported him for child pornography related concerns, but nothing came of it.

And that's raised questions because according to Chairman Comer, Epstein had visited the White House quite frequently, 17 times during the Clinton administration, he says.

I guess my question is, do you have any idea why Annie Farmer's complaint went nowhere? And are there questions to ask about whether it had anything to do about the fact that he was a frequent visitor? Are there questions to ask about that?

LITMAN: Right. I mean, look, I can give you the answers truly with confidence. Most complaints don't go anywhere, but I will state with 100 percent confidence that it wasn't because of any word or phone call from the White House that was so forbidden, so formalized and only certain routes.

I experienced it when the Whitewater allegations came up. So I am you have to, you know, can only take the word of people who work there, as I did. But no way the White House could ever get away with a little phone call.

Let's let this one go under the radar. That's actually how Nixon got impeached when he tried to do that to the head of the criminal division. This administration, truly unprecedented in its complete lack of any barriers between White House and DOJ.

KEILAR: All right, Harry Litman, big day tomorrow. We'll see how it goes down. Thanks for being with us today.

And ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL. Oops, she did it again. Why one woman is reportedly in trouble again with airport authorities and this time in Milan.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: We're learning major new details about the negotiations ongoing between the U.S. and Iran in Geneva. Iran's foreign minister now confirms that talks made progress with the two sides beginning to discuss, quote, elements of an agreement. A source with direct knowledge tells CNN that Iran has affirmed, quote, it will never have nuclear weapons, but that termination of all U.S. sanctions and U.N. Security Council resolutions are key to any agreement. A fourth round of talks expected next week in Vienna. It is an increasingly delicate time for all of this to say the least as the U.S. has deployed its largest military arsenal to the Middle East since the Iraq invasion back in 2003.

Joining us now, Dana Stroul, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, now research director at the Washington Suite for Near East Policy.

Good to have you. All right, so Iran is citing progress. Oman as well, which is helping mediate citing progress here.

Are those rosy interpretations of what we're seeing take place in Geneva? Do you think?

DANA STROUL, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR MIDDLE EAST: Absolutely. They're rosy interpretations. Oman is playing this active mediating role and is incentivized to push away the prospect of imminent military strikes.

So they're going to say that this was rosy. And the Iranians, of course, are incentivized to string out these talks as long as they can.

SCIUTTO: So presumably, President Trump has a time limit as to how long he will let the talks be strung out. But as a practical matter, do you see potential middle ground between the U.S. and Iran here? Some meeting of the minds where they can make an agreement.

STROUL: Well, right now, I think the two sides are really far apart. It looks like what the Trump team put on the table today are really maximalist demands and only offering sanctions relief far down the line. And the Iranians, of course, want minimal concessions at the negotiating table and sanctions relief up front.

[15:45:00]

SCIUTTO: Does President Trump want to go to war with Iran? We don't know what's inside his mind, but he has amassed this enormous force out there with enormous capabilities. But at the same time, it appears that he's being told by those inside the White House and the Pentagon that you can't control the size of this.

What's your read of his urgency to attack Iran?

STROUL: Well, first of all, this armada that he's built up in the Middle East, he cannot keep it there for the remaining three years of his presidency. So he has a timeline and he is clearly incentivized to show that he can get a better agreement at the negotiating table than any of his predecessors. But I think this isn't going to be as clean and short as the 12 day war last summer.

It's not going to be a one off operation like what happened in Venezuela. And as he thinks about all the ways in which it could spiral and escalate, he's probably looking for a way to climb down.

SCIUTTO: I wonder if there's a parallel here because I was in Israel, for instance, in the midst of the trading of Israeli and Iranian strikes. And there was a dynamic where when Israel struck and Iran retaliated, that there were some red lines, right? That Iran retaliated only so much because they were attempting to, well, deescalate in effect.

And you might even have seen some of that from the Israeli side. If there is a retaliation, retaliation is expected if the U.S. were to strike. Could you see Iran ratcheting it up or down to a degree to which, because perhaps they don't want a regional war either?

STROUL: So I think we're in a fundamentally different place right now than we were last summer when Iran's retaliatory actions were choreographed and sort of specifically escalated. And the reason is because the regime is so weak at home, the Iranian regime, it's so weak at home. It just committed the largest massacre against the Iranian people, tens of thousands, and they're weak abroad.

The ballistic missile arsenal has been set back. The nuclear program is set back and their network of proxies across the region is set back. The point is, the regime has nothing to lose this time and they're going to throw everything at it if they feel that the regime's survival is on the line.

And with this pressurized situation in the region and the amount of military buildup in the region, it's hard to see Trump going just for a limited strike.

SCIUTTO: So the big question as well is, what is exactly the U.S. strategic objective here? Is it re-set back the nuclear program, obliterate it before, obliterate it again? Is it about missiles or does it go all the way up to and including regime change?

I mean, it's certainly hinted at that, but, you know, you can't guarantee that.

STROUL: That's the exact problem we have. President Trump has not clearly articulated to the world or to the American people exactly what the objective is of using military force. He had an opportunity on Tuesday night at the State of the Union to say this is the imminent threat coming from Iran and this is why it's worth putting American lives on the line.

And he hasn't done that.

SCIUTTO: Well, perhaps that gives him the opportunity to define afterwards what the goal was as opposed to before. Dana Stroul, thanks so much for joining. Brianna, over to you.

KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour. A spectacular military parade in North Korea last night with one notable omission. The powerful weapons that are typically on display were left out this time amid the synchronized paratroopers and precision military formations. There were no intercontinental ballistic missiles or giant mobile launch trucks rolling past the cameras.

However, leader Kim Jong-un did promise to strengthen North Korea's nuclear weapons program. He arrived at the parade with his teenage daughter, who analysts believe he may be grooming as his successor.

Also, more people filing for unemployment. Data released today by the Department of Labor show the number of first time claims for benefits slightly rose last week. There were 4,000 more jobless claims for the week ending February 21st compared to the week before. But this estimate is in line with economists' expectations.

Continuing claims actually fell by 31,000 to just over 1.8 million. And Burger King is changing the Whopper for the first time in nearly a

decade. That's after years of customer complaints about smashed burgers that easily fell apart. Customers will soon enjoy a more premium bun instead of that soft one and creamier mayonnaise. Another change, the Whopper will be served in a box instead of a paper wrapping. The beef patty will remain the same.

It's not clear if these changes mean it will cost more. Those new changes will roll out this week.

Ahead is the new American dream to no longer live in America. Why a growing number of Americans are moving overseas next.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: U.S. mortgage rates dropped below 6 percent for the first time in more than three years. And industry insiders hope that seeing a rate starting with the number 5 will help nudge more buyers into the market. They've been stalled by soaring home prices and the high cost of housing, just one factor driving a historic trend.

The U.S. Census found in 2025 a major decline in migration to the United States. And it's not just about fewer people trying to get in the country during President Trump's immigration crackdown. Population watchers say it's also about many more people moving out. More Americans are deciding to live outside of the U.S.

Let's talk about it with Jen Barnett, who is the co-founder of Expatsi. It's a company that helps Americans move abroad. And Jen, you are joining us from Oaxaca, Mexico.

So you are outside yourself. How much has this trend of moving abroad picked up, and who exactly is moving, and how has that changed?

JEN BARNETT, CO-FOUNDER, EXPATSI: The growth is exploding. You know, we call it the move abroad movement, and our business in particular has grown 18 times over the past two years. From Americans, we only serve Americans who want to move abroad.

[15:55:00]

It's definitely people who are driven by politics, whether it's political division or the conservatism right now. There is also cost of living, health care, avoiding gun violence, and other causes.

KEILAR: Yes, because it seems like affordability is part of it, right? And politics is something that we also hear people talk about. Can you talk specifically about some of the things that people tell you they feel that they're gaining when they're moving abroad, that they're looking for with that move?

BARNETT: Absolutely. So essentially, the cost-benefit analysis of just living in the U.S. is changing for them. And so they start with this concept of, I want something different, I want something more. But then what they find is that health care is huge. I mean, the fact that you can get $8 mammograms and $150 monthly insurance payments and things like that, especially when insurance rates are soaring for Americans, and there's always that fear of one accident causing bankruptcy. And you just don't have that in other countries.

But then what they also find is a sense of community that they've lost in recent years.

KEILAR: That's really interesting. So do you hear from people who move abroad, and then maybe they have trouble adjusting? Be honest here, what are the hard parts about it, and what makes a smoother transition?

BARNETT: OK, so one of the biggest things is when people don't do enough homework up front, right? And so they just pick up and go, and they pick up and go somewhere that's challenging, they go through the whole process, and then they get to Spain or Costa Rica, and they didn't discover that they should have visited during the wet season and the dry season, or during the hot season and the cold season. And so they really just didn't know what they were getting into.

And so that's why we advocate for like going through a really careful six-step process to get moved. But most often, it is poor planning. But it doesn't mean that they can't pivot.

Maybe they didn't get to the right place to begin with, but we can get them to the right place next. That said, language is a big thing, right? Americans, especially native Americans, are famously monoglots, meaning people who were born in the U.S., not people who are Native Americans. And learning a new language can be challenging or daunting or scary, but it's so good for you.

KEILAR: Real quick, because we have like 30 seconds, the most popular destinations for Americans right now?

BARNETT: Portugal, Mexico, Spain, Costa Rica, Panama.

KEILAR: All right. It looks like a lot of people learning Spanish, as I'm sure you have, Jen Barnett. Thank you for joining us.

Really interesting segment.

BARNETT: Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: A notorious stowaway.

SCIUTTO: Was it you?

KEILAR: It wasn't me. I'm right here. No, but I do like to travel, but I do it the right way, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Pay for your ticket.

KEILAR: That's right. This stowaway is striking again. Maybe you've heard of her, Svetlana Dali. Does that ring a bell for you, Jim?

SCIUTTO: I remember the story.

KEILAR: So maybe this video from 2024 refreshes your memory. She managed to sneak past gate agents at JFK, got on that Delta flight to Paris. It was only caught after crew members noticed her spending so much time in the bathroom and they realized she didn't actually have a seat.

SCIUTTO: So, we've now learned that Dali has just been detained in Milan -- she's got good taste -- after boarding a United flight at Newark Liberty, again, without a ticket. This time, like the last, she made it all the way overseas.

In a statement to CNN, United Airlines says quote, "Safety and security are our highest priorities. We are investigating this incident and working with the appropriate authorities."

KEILAR: The FBI in Newark tells us it's aware of the situation and is working with the Port Authority and TSA.

SCIUTTO: Yes. I mean, I find it amazing. I mean, it's pretty hard to board a plane without your ID, your boarding pass.

I mean, I can't see the opportunity to sneak by them.

KEILAR: She's figured it out, though.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

KEILAR: Like, she clearly has looked. And I think at this point, maybe if you're a TSA agent, you've got to look at the face or the photo and just, like, have that one day.

That could be someone you hire.

SCIUTTO: Do you ever watch, like, the Home Alone movies, right? Like, he gets on a plane.

KEILAR: Oh, I do.

SCIUTTO: So, my kids, when they watch that, they're like, there's no way you could get on a plane today the way he snuck on a plane, but here it happened.

And it was an adult. It wasn't some, like, little kid running under the, you know, behind his dad.

KEILAR: Yes, I feel like you might be sort of forked or something, maybe. But this is getting through TSA, Jim.

SCIUTTO: I know. And she got to Milan. That's the point. Anyway.

KEILAR: Italy's great. All right, "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now. END