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Trump Says Nuclear Talks with Iran to Resume Next Week; Ukraine Needs Infrastructure Repairs; Manhunt Underway for Shooter of Top Russian General; Trump Won't Apologize for Racist Video; Neighbors React to Disappearance of Nancy Guthrie; Vonn Finishes Training Run without Issue One Week after Fall. Aired 3-3:30a ET
Aired February 07, 2026 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello. Wherever you are in the world, you are now in the CNN NEWSROOM with me, Ben Hunte in Atlanta. And it is so good to have you with me.
Coming up on the show, another meeting next week; U.S. president Donald Trump says Iran wants to make a deal as talks about its nuclear program continue.
Investigators head back to the home of Nancy Guthrie in light of receiving a new message related to her disappearance.
And the Winter Olympics are officially underway. The latest on the games in a report from Milan.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Ben Hunte.
HUNTE: U.S. president Donald Trump is taking a stick-and-carrot approach following Friday's indirect nuclear talks with Iran. Hours after the meeting, the U.S. slapped new sanctions on Iran's oil and some vessels that carry it. And Mr. Trump reminded Tehran that the U.S. is continuing its military buildup in the region for possible strikes.
But he also praised the talks as very good and said they'll resume in a matter of days.
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TRUMP: The results today were with Iran. It was a meeting we're going to meet again early next week and they want to make a deal. Iran, as they should, want to make a deal. They know the consequences. If they don't, they don't make a deal. The consequences are very steep. So we'll see what happens.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNTE: Mr. Trump also said there would be consequences if Iran doesn't agree to a new nuclear deal. But as Nic Robertson reports, Friday's talks were mostly about more talks.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The Iranians are -- and they're the only ones who have spoken so far. The foreign minister coming out after the meeting and saying that he thought that it was positive, the way that this seems to have happened.
There were proximity talks, as you say, not face to face; the Omani foreign minister, the interlocutor speaking first with the Iranians and the U.S. delegation, then back to the Iranians, back to the U.S. delegation.
Was -- the meeting took place -- or these meetings took place over a number of hours. They've broken up now. The Iranian foreign minister coming out and describing what sounds a lot like talk about talks, coming from a place of mistrust. He said he thinks that there is a path forward here. This is what he said.
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ABBAS ARAGHCHI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): We want to create a framework for the negotiations. The plenary stage of negotiations as, finished now. But the negotiations will continue in future if we build a trust, then we can agree to some framework for the longer negotiation.
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ROBERTSON: You know, and I think that's the key there. He's talking about longer term negotiations. That's going to be one of the key points here.
Is the United States prepared to get into long and detailed and arduous discussions over a range of issues that we don't know about yet with the Iranians?
The Iranians have form, if you will, that they will run negotiations long to squeeze out everything they want to get.
Is it going to go that way this time?
It certainly seemed to in 2015, the last time the U.S. and the Iranians had a nuclear deal.
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HUNTE: A suspect in the deadly rampage 13 years ago of a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, will face charges in the U.S. Zubayar Al-Bakoush was brought to Virginia on Friday after he was arrested in Libya.
He's described as a key participant of the terror attack in 2012, which left four Americans dead. Officials say he'll face several charges, including the murders of U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and a State Department employee.
Court documents say the suspect was a member of an Islamist group that claimed credit for the attack. Two other men, including one of the operation's leaders, have already been arrested and sentenced in the U.S.
We are getting word of new Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy system.
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HUNTE (voice-over): Emergency officials released this video showing firefighters battling a blaze about 50 kilometers southeast of Kyiv.
They say the fire broke out after Russian drone struck a warehouse there, while energy facilities were reportedly hit in several other regions. The energy minister called the attack massive and said emergency blackouts have been implemented throughout Ukraine.
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HUNTE: Meanwhile, president Zelenskyy says more than 100 buildings in Kyiv are still without heat after months of Russian strikes.
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And he says there's no time to waste when it comes to the repairs.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Every day matters. All decisions must be implemented as quickly as possible. The same approach applies to the energy sector. There are no weeks or months available for repairs or equipment supply. Many, many things are being actively accelerated.
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HUNTE: An emotional moment for one Ukrainian family as a mother hears from the soldier son she thought was dead.
The soldier, Nazar Daletskyi, went to fight with Ukrainian forces when Russia's full-scale invasion began in February of 2022. They soon lost contact with him and he was listed as missing in action.
Then his family was told he died in the Kharkiv region in September of that year. Fast forward to July of last year, when a Ukrainian prisoner of war, who was released, said Daletskyi was in fact alive. Two other freed Ukrainian soldiers confirmed the same. That led up to this emotional moment, which the local governor called a miracle.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
HUNTE: The governor added he hoped the soldier, whom he called "our defender," would have many years of life.
A manhunt is underway in Russia for a second day following the shooting of a top general in Moscow. Officials say the deputy head of Russia's military intelligence was seriously wounded on Friday. This is the latest attack on military figures since Russia launched its operations in Ukraine. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more for us from Moscow.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Another one of Vladimir Putin's top generals targeted right here in Moscow. This time, it was the deputy head of Russia's military intelligence service, the GRU, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev.
Now the investigative committee here in Russia says, in the early morning hours of this morning, he was gunned down inside a residential building in the northwest of Moscow. The investigative committee says so far they have not apprehended any suspects.
However, they are saying that there is forensic work going on, that they are going through surveillance camera, video, CCTV video and have also talked to eyewitnesses as well.
The lieutenant general himself, the Russians say, is in a hospital now and, as they put it, in serious condition. Now this is not the first time top Russian military officials were targeted here in the Russian capital. In fact, about a month ago, a top military commander was killed in a car bomb incident here in the Russian capital.
And at the end of 2024, there was a major car bombing also here in Moscow that killed another top military official. So far, the Russians say they do not have a suspect, they don't know who is behind this.
However, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has come out and blamed the Ukrainians and accused the Ukrainians of trying to derail a negotiations process that, of course, is going on at the moment.
The Ukrainians themselves have not commented on the matter but the Kremlin has, the Kremlin saying they understand that their top military brass is at risk, of course, with the military operation in Ukraine ongoing. At the same time, they also say that they wish the general a recovery and a speedy one, at that -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.
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HUNTE: A suicide bomber killed at least 32 people and injured 169 at a Shiite mosque in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad. A warning to our viewers, the video that you're about to see is disturbing.
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HUNTE (voice-over): This is the aftermath; bodies covered in blood, surrounded by shards of glass and debris. One worshiper said Friday prayers had just started when they heard gunfire. That was followed by a loud explosion.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack on its Telegram channel and warned that more was to come. Here's what the country's interior minister said about the suspect.
TALAL CHAUDHRY, PAKISTANI INTERIOR MINISTER (through translator): We have collected information about the terrorist who carried out the attack. He is not an Afghan national but he has traveled to Afghanistan several times. And we have gathered all information from the forensics of his body parts that we found on the spot.
HUNTE (voice-over): At least 400 worshipers were inside the mosque at the time. This was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since 2023.
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HUNTE: Donald Trump is refusing to apologize as he faces bipartisan backlash for posting a racist video.
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It depicts former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes.
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TRUMP: I looked at the first part and it was really about voter fraud. And the machines, how crooked it is, how disgusting it is. Then I gave it to the people. Generally, they look at the whole thing but I guess somebody didn't. And they posted it and we took it down.
QUESTION: A number of Republicans are calling on you to apologize for that post.
Is that something you're going to do?
TRUMP: No, I didn't make a mistake.
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HUNTE: The U.S. president eventually removed the post after it was up for nearly 12 hours. And I want to warn you before we show it. But it is disturbing and it is offensive. But it's important to show what was posted on the account of the president of the United States.
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HUNTE (voice-over): You can see here the faces of the Obamas put onto the bodies of apes. His decision to delete the post came after the White House initially doubled down. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, quote, "This is from an
internet meme video depicting president Trump as the king of the jungle and Democrats as characters from 'The Lion King.' Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public."
Well, that came after senator Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, called it the most racist thing out of this White House.
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HUNTE: Now to new developments in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, mother of "Today" show anchor, Savannah Guthrie. A new message connected to the case and a suggestion from president Trump that the government may soon have something to add.
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TRUMP: We have some things I think that will maybe come out reasonably soon from DOJ or FBI or whoever that could be.
QUESTION: A suspect?
TRUMP: Yes, it could be definitive.
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HUNTE: Investigators went back to Guthrie's home on Friday after a second message was sent to local news station KOLD. Officials are now probing its authenticity. A KOLD anchor who saw it said she thinks it's a response to the family's pleas for the return of their mother, now missing for nearly seven days.
That anchor provided crucial details to CNN.
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MARY COLEMAN, KOLD ANCHOR: We did get some information from them. I'm going to read some of my notes here so I don't speak incorrectly. But they say that this is not the same IP address. But it appears the sender used the same type of secure server to hide their IP address.
So that's all that we know about the sender at this point, which, unfortunately, really isn't much. And this new note does contain something that the senders seem to think will prove to investigators that they're the same people or person who sent the first note.
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HUNTE: Authorities returned to Guthrie's home within an hour of receiving the communication. A vehicle was towed from a spot near the residence on Friday evening. CNN's Ed Lavandera is there in Arizona with more for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For nearly a week, the desert neighborhood where Nancy Guthrie was abducted from her home has felt frozen in sorrow.
LAURA GARGANO, NANCY GUTHRIE'S NEIGHBOR: You see that there that's called a pack rat nest.
LAVANDERA: Laura Gargano has lived around the corner from Guthrie for 11 years. She's tried to help investigators searching her home security cameras, hoping to find the clue that could identify the culprit who abducted her 84-year-old neighbor. But she says it doesn't feel like enough.
It's also like a helpless feeling, right?
Like there's not much you can do. Or do you feel -- do you feel that?
GARGANO: Yes, I think that there are some people who feel that way, for sure. I definitely feel that way. I wish there was something more I can do. And it almost feels like time is standing still right now, that it almost feels inappropriate to go on and continue with our lives.
LAVANDERA: Investigators keep scouring the neighborhood, returning day-after-day, looking for any evidence that will bring them closer to bringing Nancy home.
There are no videos or photographs that you guys have been able to release. Does that mean you're not getting anything that is of true value?
SHERIFF CHRIS NANOS, PIMA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: We're still in the process, right?
But so far, we've gotten some things back but there's nothing that's that you would say, aha, this is it. So we're just working. It says -- these things are done in an hour on law and order. This is real world and it's just take some time.
LAVANDERA: This is not a television show and it's time that stretching longer as each day goes by with no word of Nancy's whereabouts. For neighbors like Shirley Harvey, it's hard to make sense of a tragedy that hits so close to home.
What has this week been like for those of you who live around Nancy Guthrie?
SHIRLEY HARVEY, NANCY GUTHRIE'S NEIGHBOR: There's still no news. So I think the general consensus is people are in shock because we still don't know where she is.
LAVANDERA: She says they're haunted by what's happened to their neighbor taken from her home in the middle of the night while those around her slept.
HARVEY: And I can't even imagine how she would cope with something like that.
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What she would even do and how it would affect her if that happened to her in the middle of the night, it's just a very unnerving thing to happen to somebody, especially an elderly woman.
LAVANDERA: Another day passes, investigators keep returning to the rolling hills in this neighborhood, searching for a clue that might be hiding in the desert brush, while everyone desperately waits for this dreadful moment to end.
This search that started Friday night here in Nancy Guthrie's neighborhood, started right after news of the second message from the alleged ransom author emerged and was reported by CNN affiliate KOLD.
We do not know if the search here or the return of law enforcement activity is connected in any way to that letter and we don't know what investigators have found here but we do know that they were put down evidence markers in various areas and that they were on top of the roof belonging to Nancy Guthrie's home.
So the wait here continues after this sixth day of the search for Nancy Guthrie -- Ed Lavandera, CNN, Tucson, Arizona.
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HUNTE: Wall Street was down earlier this week and then Friday happened. Just ahead, we'll take a deep dive into why the Dow Jones reached a new all-time high. See you in a moment.
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HUNTE: The Dow hit a new all time high on Friday. The blue chip index soared over 1,200 points, hitting 50,000 points for the first time ever. This was a sharp rebound after tech stocks dragged Wall Street down earlier this week. Investors were selling them off after getting spooked that AI would disrupt business models.
President Donald Trump is taking credit for the market rally. Have a listen to this.
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TRUMP: As you probably saw today, the stock market, the Dow just hit 50,000, three years ahead of schedule. They said probably couldn't be done in the four-year period. We did it in one year. So we're three years ahead of schedule, broken all-time record 50,000, which they say couldn't happen.
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HUNTE: The fallout from the latest release of the Jeffrey Epstein files is intensifying across Europe. U.K. police are searching properties connected to Peter Mandelson, a former ambassador to the U.S., who's accused of passing on market-sensitive information to Epstein.
And in Norway, outrage is growing over the crown princess' close personal relationship with Epstein. CNN's Melissa Bell has more.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Two addresses have been searched in the United Kingdom by the Metropolitan Police as they carry out this criminal inquiry to try and figure out what Lord Mandelson may have passed on when he was business secretary in 2009.
These revelations, some of the very latest to come out of the Epstein files, now the subject of that criminal inquiry. But there is also the political fallout that has continued for the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, with questions now about whether he will survive.
The British government has pledged to make public all of the documents involved in the vetting process when Lord Mandelson was appointed as ambassador to Washington and political heat surrounding the question of the prime minister's judgment.
Now that in the United Kingdom is some of the latest fallout from the Epstein files. But there has been fallout elsewhere as well.
Norway, for instance, is seeing a former prime minister now the subject of an investigation into fears of aggravated corruption. That as a result of the ties that have emerged between the former prime minister and Jeffrey Epstein as part of the latest documents.
And for Norway's monarchy, the latest revelations have proved embarrassing as well. The crown princess of Norway, Mette-Marit, has apologized and expressed regret and embarrassment over the course of the week, after it emerged that she'd had a close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. Again on Friday, she repeated that apology.
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HUNTE: Flood threats are intensifying in southern Spain, forcing residents from their homes. More than 7,000 people had to evacuate in Andalusia region.
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HUNTE (voice-over): Police tried to stop this man -- oh, wow -- from swimming through floodwaters to his business. Both Spain and Portugal have been hit with torrential rain and strong winds over the past few weeks. And landslides are a major concern. At least one death is being blamed on the flooding.
Forecasters warn another storm on Saturday is set to bring even more rain.
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HUNTE: The 2026 Winter Olympics are officially underway in Italy. The opening ceremony kicked things off on Friday night, with a 3.5-hour celebration paying tribute to the country's rich history, art, fashion and culture.
Italy's president formally declared the games open at the main event in Milan. For the first time, two Olympic cauldrons, one of the symbols of the games, were lit simultaneously and will burn throughout the competition; 2,900 athletes from more than 90 nations will compete in these games.
The unprecedented show also linked to celebrations in co-host city, Cortina d'Ampezzo, more than 250 miles or 400 kilometers away.
The full competition heats up in the hours ahead, with five events awarding medals on Saturday. CNN's Amanda Davies is in Milan with the latest.
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AMANDA DAVIES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Friday night may have been the official start of the 25th Winter Olympic Games here in Milan, Cortina. Dancing coffee pots, catwalk models Mariah Carey and all but for so many of the athletes, their main job is well underway already and that, of course, is the competition.
Whilst we were enjoying that always iconic moments of the lighting of the Olympic flame here in Milan, up in Cortina, Lindsey Vonn and her team were working on creating magic of their own.
After the 41-year old made her much anticipated first appearance on the snow for her first downhill training run in Cortina on Friday, just a week after that crash in Switzerland that saw her rupture her ACL.
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Her coach, Aksel Lund Svindal described it as smart skiing as she posted the 11th fastest time from a group of 43 athletes. It wasn't perfect but she made it down much to the relief of those of us watching on, holding our breaths and wincing with every landing.
And the decision now is whether or not she takes part in Saturday's second training run or goes full steam ahead to Sunday's race and her quest for a fourth Olympic medal, 16 years after her first.
You wonder what will be running through the mind of U.S. figure skater Ilia Malinin, too. He is finally set to make his Olympic debut on Saturday.
The superstar known as the Quad God, the reigning world and U.S. national champion taking to the eyes for his short program as part of the team competition. His teammates have given themselves a two point lead over Japan after the first day of competition.
And also on Saturday, the fastest male skiers on the planet will get their moments on the mountain to shine their downhill race set to take place in Borneo. The man known as the Alpine's version of Shohei Ohtani, Marco Odermatt, because he excels in all forms of the game of skiing, as is the case here.
He's many people's favorite but the USA is Ryan Cochran-Siegle won his only World Cup victory on this course and home favorite Giovanni Franzoni would love to follow up the best season of his career so far.
Winning Kitzbuhel just a few weeks ago, he is hoping to bring home Italy's first gold of the games -- Amanda Davies, CNN, Milan.
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HUNTE: And that's all I've got for you. Thanks for joining me and the team. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta and I will see you tomorrow. "CONNECTING AFRICA" is next. And then there's more CNN NEWSROOM in about 30 minutes' time. I'll be back with you tomorrow, starting at 2 am Eastern, 7 am London time. CNN.
