Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
Possibly Chilly Reception for U.S. at Olympics; Investigation into Guthrie Kidnapping; Karp Resigns over Ties to Epstein; Petra Rivera-Rideau is Interviewed about Bad Bunny. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired February 06, 2026 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Alongside Canada and Mexico because some fans are already threatening to boycott over the immigration crackdown.
So, I was talking on my show, "The Assignment" with "New York Magazine's" Will Leitch about Trump's looming presence over international sporting events.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILL LEITCH, AUTHOR AND SPORTS COLUMNIST: The Olympics are a big deal. The World Cup globally is like everyone is keeping an eye on the World Cup. Soccer is the biggest sport in the world. Everyone was watching that. And the World Cup draw is a huge deal. It lets you know who's going to play, when they're -- when they're going to be playing. We know this big event's coming up. To have Trump put himself, not just at the middle of that, but in a -- in a -- that kind of global villain sort of way where the entire world was watching basically FIFA and everyone hand this man a little trophy so he'll feel better about himself and let him go on stage and do all of his eccentricities for the whole world to see. Kind of struck -- got everyone to be -- being like, wow, there's like a lot of global events coming up, and is he going to be at the center of all of it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Hey, group chat is back.
I wanted to talk about this because last year there was a ton of booing at hockey events. I don't know if anybody remembers this. The Canadians, not happy. And there was rumors, of course, of maybe ICE being at the Olympics. That caused a little uproar. And then I'm looking at the papers this morning and we're seeing headlines in "The Independent," in "The Guardian," where people -- it's not unusual in global politics to bleed into global sports.
ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I mean, at an NBA game in the U.K. just a few weeks ago, someone shouted, get out of Greenland. And, you know, the U.S. has become what's --
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: During the national anthem. THOMPSON: Yes, exactly.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
THOMPSON: And the U.S. has become, you know, what's known in sort of professional wrestling as the heel, and it's the person that, especially in Europe, that, as like people like J.D. Vance and Trump have purposely antagonized long standing relationships, they have become sort of the team that people love to hate. And I think we are going to see a lot of that this Olympics.
CORNISH: I want to play for you J.D. Vance, because he's in Milan, you know, talking about unity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is one of the few things that unites the entire country.
The whole country. Democrat, Republican, independent, we're all rooting for you and we're cheering for you and we know you're going to make us proud.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Which is true.
ROB BLUEY, PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "THE DAILY SIGNAL": It is. And sports is one of those areas where personally, and I think a lot of Americans just would prefer to keep politics on the side because you can come together and cheer for a team, even if you're a Republican, Democrat or independent. And I think, at the end of the day, I'm hopeful that what J.D. Vance said there is right, that the American people will cheer for the athletes who've worked so hard --
CORNISH: We're not talking about the American people. We're talking about the people who are going online and saying, you know, if Russia isn't here for invading Ukraine, why is the U.S. here for its actions?
JERUSALEM DEMSAS, FOUNDER AND EDITOR, "THE ARGUMENT": I mean this is the problem, right, is like domestically what happens in the sporting events, in the international sporting events is that it unites the country, but that creates kind of a nationalistic feeling all over. So then people are like, well, if I'm thinking about my own country's interests in regards to this sporting event, then I'm looking at this person -- this country that is, you know, not just representing these players doing great, great athletic feats, but also is representing a country that is threatening the sovereignty of this other nation. It becomes -- I mean it's a bigger thing, not just now, but throughout history we've seen this, that it's become a place for international politics to really take root.
And I think that we've seen this beyond just the question of sports, right? Like America as sort of the villain has come up in many contexts. I mean Mark Carney was making a, you know, a speech about a -- about a heated rivalry -- CORNISH: Right.
DEMSAS: Which is the new hockey TV show that everyone's talking about. And even then he makes a joke about standing up to the Americans, and that's his -- that's his goal, and gets a laugh from this room in a really unrelated place. And I think that Americans are now getting used to a different image in the world. Instead of kind of being really on the side of a lot of our allies in both literally militarily or economically, but also just, are you a good person? Do we think you're a good actor in this world?
CORNISH: Right.
WILLIAMS: One fascinating thing with the World Cup coming is how much of Latin America is enormous soccer fans at a time when ICE is the issue in the United States that's causing a lot of division. So, when some of the biggest global powers in soccer, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and others, and also the fan base around the world, how will they react in the United States to the World Cup.
CORNISH: Especially when they've been told, if you come, please go home, right, because of our immigration --
WILLIAMS: Well, if you come (INAUDIBLE) here --
CORNISH: Yes.
WILLIAMS: And just what effect does that have on, you know, on a sporting event that's also taking place in Mexico partly?
CORNISH: Yes. Yes. I'm glad you brought that up. The NFL, as well, is eyeing growth in Latin America --
WILLIAMS: Yes.
CORNISH: Which makes the Benito Bowl make more sense. So, we'll see how this all goes.
If you want to check out "The Assignment," we've got episodes every Thursday. You can find us wherever you get podcasts.
Now, straight ahead, we want to turn back to the news. The new timeline, new evidence, new plea from the family of Nancy Guthrie. We're live from Arizona with the latest in the search for her.
And the new NFL MVP.
[06:35:00]
It's not the quarterback heading to the Super Bowl.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CORNISH: Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. Thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING.
It's half past the hour. And here's what's happening right now.
High stakes nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran now underway. U.S. Envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Iran's foreign minister in Oman. President Trump has threatened strikes on Iran if it does not agree to a new deal.
[06:40:02]
And the U.S. military conducts another boat strike, this time in the Pacific Ocean. Two people were killed. The military wrote that the boat was driven by a designated terrorist organization. At least 119 people have been killed in strikes on alleged drug boats.
And two Democratic lawmakers who taped a video urging service members to disobey illegal orders, well, they are defying the Justice Department's demand for an interview. Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Representative Chrissy Houlihan of Pennsylvania were among six Democratic lawmakers who had participated in the video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): One, I will not be complying with their inquiries and sitting down for an interview based on a 90 second video I filmed. And number two, urging them to retain their records on this case in case I decide to sue for infringement of my constitutional rights.
REP. CHRISSY HOULAHAN (D-PA): Free speech is not a favor that the government can revoke. It is a right. And I will not surrender it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: At least four of the lawmakers who appeared in the video have been contacted for interviews by the Trump administration.
And another personal plea from the family of Nancy Guthrie for the safe return of their 84-year-old mother.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAMERON GUTHRIE, SON OF NANCY GUTHRIE: Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you. We haven't heard anything directly. We need you to reach out and we need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward. But first, we have to know that you have our mom. We want to talk to you, and we are waiting for contact.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: An apparent ransom letter setting two deadlines, one last night, one on Monday. Authorities say they are following all leads.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF CHRIS NANOS, PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA: We've probably gone through well over 100 tips. But I don't want to discourage anybody. All tips. No -- there's no tip too small. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: CNN's Marybel Gonzalez is live in Arizona with the latest on the investigation.
Marybel, I know there's a new timeline. What else can you tell us about these ransom notes?
MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Audie, good morning.
Well, those ransom notes, the FBI still has not said whether or not these are legitimate, but they are taking them very seriously. And clearly the family is, too, as you can hear from those videos they have posted to social media.
Now, that ransom note has been sent to several media outlets, and the FBI has confirmed that we're talking about the same note. Now, those who have seen the note say that it says -- it says that Nancy is OK but scared, but also is demanding millions of dollars in bitcoin and also details information that, according, again, to those who have seen the notes, only someone privy to this case could know.
Take a listen to what someone from TMZ had to say about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARVEY LEVIN, TMZ FOUNDER, RECEIVED RANSOM NOTE: They do mention an Apple watch, as the FBI said, and they do mention the floodlight, the damaged floodlight. There is something else, and it is the placement of the Apple watch which has not come out. And if that placement is accurate, I'm sure that is something that puts this letter on the FBI's radar.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GONZALEZ: Now, TMZ is one of those newsrooms that received that purported ransom note.
Now, another key detail that we learned in the sheriff's latest update is that there was blood recovered from Nancy's home, the home that you see behind me, that was left behind on the porch. Now, after analyzing those blood samples, they were able to confirm that that blood did belong to Nancy.
Another key thing that investigators are saying is that they're operating as though Nancy Guthrie is still alive. However, up until this point, they have not received any proof of life.
Audie.
CORNISH: OK, that's Marybel Gonzalez talking to us from Arizona.
In the meantime, the longtime chairman of one of the nation's premier law firms has resigned over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Brad Karp had several email exchanges with Epstein after Epstein became a convicted sex offender. And in one of those messages, dated July 2015, Karp thanked Epstein for, quote, "including me in an evening I'll never forget."
The group chat is back.
I am glad you're here because we have been talking this week about, like, why hasn't there been more fallout in the U.S.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
CORNISH: Whereas you're looking at Europe and you've got people resigning, you got investigations. What happened with this law firm, why he resigned?
WILLIAMS: Right. What's fascinating is that Brad Karp's not a household name to normal people. But in the legal world, this is seismic. It's the chair of one of America's top law firms. I was a summer associate there. I don't want to say how many years ago. It was a long time.
But -- so, there are emails. There's always emails. There's emails in the record, number one, about the dinner. Number two, Brad Karp -- and this is the kind of stuff that people's heads explode over -- seeking help getting a job for his kid with Woody Allen.
[06:45:06]
He was reaching out to Jeffrey Epstein --
CORNISH: There's so many Woody Allen messages.
WILLIAMS: So many. It's -- oh.
CORNISH: And the wife. And it's a lot.
WILLIAMS: And that's the sort of icky side of all this. In addition to, my gosh, the horrific sexual assaults and all of those -- all of that behavior is just the back scratching and dealing with folks among the ruling class. And I think that's what a lot of people have a lot of trouble with here.
Also --
DEMSAS: I mean that's related, right? Like, that's the whole problem is that --
WILLIAMS: Yes.
DEMSAS: There was a collusion behind --
WILLIAMS: Culture, yes.
DEMSAS: With all of these people who were not just helping each other out, potentially get away with like literal crimes, but they were helping each other because they knew that they could get favors from each other.
WILLIAMS: Yes. So, all this to say, the firm, a group of top partners at the firm met secretly and said that he had to step down as chair of the firm.
Now, I will note, he's still a partner at the firm, making a lot of money for this. I guess, $2.5 billion entity, which is how much business they transact. He's still there. But they issued a statement, as did he, saying that because of recent headlines and news stories, his leadership was becoming a distraction. And as a result, he stepped down as chair. But it's a big deal.
CORNISH: Why do you guys think we aren't seeing more fallout for other figures?
DEMSAS: I mean, I think in the U.S. context there's been so much resignations in response to, you know, scandal, whether it's from MeToo or in the aftermath of Black Lives Matter, where executives, people who are high up, resigned. And I think what -- the lesson that people learned is, if you just wait out the storm, often it's going to be OK.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
CORNISH: Yes.
DEMSAS: That's a -- and that's a -- I mean a bigger, broader cultural shift that I think is more concerning for the country if, you can't shame people who have done really bad things, then like, that's not going to lead to a, you know, a senior elite class that's going to be self-cleansing.
CORNISH: What's your take on why?
BLUEY: In the age of Donald Trump, yes, there's just this mentality that you don't apologize, you don't resign. And I think that not only extends -- it extends far beyond politics now into the business world, the legal world. You know, wherever you want to look, people are taking a lesson from that and saying exactly what she said, that you can wait this out and there will be some other story that distracts in a day or two and maybe you will be able to survive. And that's maybe not quite the case in Europe and other places, Audie.
CORNISH: No. We will see if the survivors let that happen as well.
If you want to join this conversation, please check out our podcast. You can scan this QR code to find it because CNN THIS MORNING, it's available anywhere you get your podcasts.
Next on CNN THIS MORNING, the Benito Bowl just a few days away. And Bad Bunny says you only have one thing to worry about, the dance moves.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:51:51]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BAD BUNNY, MUSICIAN: People only have to worry about dance. I know that I -- that I told them that they had four months to learn Spanish. They don't even have to learn Spanish. They just - it's better if they learn to dance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK, Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny previewing his Super Bowl halftime show in English, but he's expected to become the very first artist to perform entirely in Spanish. And a new CNN Flashdoc hour reveals why his show on Sunday is already generating celebration and backlash.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. PETRA RIVERA-RIDEAU, PROFESSOR AND CO-AUTHOR, "P FKN R": Bad Bunny has shed light on many of these issues. I think one of the most recent ways he's done that is through his (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) residency that happened this summer in Puerto Rico. This was a 31-day residency, and the first nine shows were only for Puerto Rican residents.
MJ ACOSTA-RUIZ, NFL SIDELINE REPORTER: Bad Bunny has said publicly, I did not perform in the United States for fear that my fans would be attacked by ICE. And so, having that kind of concert, which felt like it was dedicated to Latinos, felt like, like a moment, like there was community around you
LYDIA SHAFFER, CONSERVATIVE INFLUENCER: I would say the most offensive things about Bad Bunny is the fact that he blatantly hates Trump. He's against ICE. They hate our government. People think that conservatives are outraged over the fact that he's from Puerto Rico. But that is fake news. We don't care that he's from Puerto Rico. We care that he is standing for open borders.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Joining me now to discuss, Petra Rivera-Rideau, who you just saw. She's a professor at Wellesley College.
Thank you so much for being here.
You know, it's interesting, we do sometimes put a lot of pressure on high-profile acts these days to be political in some way. I know my friends did the same with Kendrick Lamar. But how does Bad Bunny actually use politics in his music?
PETRA RIVERA-RIDEAU, CO-AUTHOR, "P FKN R": Yes, I mean, that's a great question. I think the thing about Bad Bunny is that he has always used politics in his music, and he's always used his platform to talk about things that he really cares about, particularly as they pertain to his homeland of Puerto Rico. And so sometimes this is direct statements, like what we saw at the Grammys when he said, "ICE Out." And oftentimes it's through his music. So, sometimes lyrical references, the types of symbols. For example, often you'll see in his music videos the Puerto Rican flag with the light blue triangle. The light blue triangle is affiliated with independence for Puerto Rico. So, so he uses a lot of aspects of his performance to make political statements. And that's what I think we're going to see at the Super Bowl.
CORNISH: I want to ask you about the alternative that's been offered by Turning Points USA. Trump ally Kid Rock headlining that show. And here's what he had to say. He's talking about Bad Bunny. And he said, "he's having a dance party wearing a dress, and singing in Spanish? Cool. We plan to play great songs for folks who love America."
[06:55:08]
Can you talk about this framing of not loving America?
RIVERA-RIDEAU: Yes. I mean, I think that Bad Bunny, first it's important to note, is a U.S. citizen. And U.S. citizens have the right to free speech. So, he has the right to criticize the Trump administration. I also think that, you know, to me, this controversy actually does boil down to the fact that we have a Spanish speaking artist on one of the biggest stages in the country, a stage that is imagined to be very patriotic and very symbolic of U.S. nationalism. And I really feel like in this particular political moment, when we have so much rampant xenophobia, we have racial profiling of Spanish speakers, I feel like in this context, to have a Spanish speaking artist on that platform is, of course, very controversial for many people.
At the same time, I think that Bad Bunny completely represents America. So, I'll point to the trailer he did for his halftime show, which is a very simple clip of him dancing with people from all walks of life, different racial groups, ethnic groups, occupations, ages, dance styles even, with the tagline "the world will dance." This is a trailer that's about inclusivity. That's about accepting everybody for who they are and celebrating joy and fun. And I actually don't know what could be more American than that.
CORNISH: OK, that's Petra Rivera-Rideau, thank you so much for your time.
She's the co-author actually of a new book as well, "How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance." You can watch that doc "Bad Bunny and the Halftime Show: Rhythms of Resistance" this Saturday at 10:00 right here at CNN and on the CNN app.
All right, so with that, we're going to talk about what's in your group chat because there's a lot of big events this weekend. People are having parties. Someone might be having a book party that I know about for his new book.
WILLIAMS: Oh, look at you.
CORNISH: What's in your group chat, Elliot?
WILLIAMS: You know, there's a lot of snow on the ground right now, and there's this great "Wall Street Journal" piece about Pittsburgh. As Rob Bluey will know, you don't mess with Pittsburghers and their dugout parking spots.
CORNISH: Absolutely. WILLIAMS: It's -- there's the -- there's a culture in Pittsburgh, right, that even if it's technically unlawful to do so or to like, you know, to block the space, that -- it's just not what you do in Pittsburgh.
CORNISH: I know.
WILLIAMS: And, you know, you don't want to be called a jagoff or anything like that.
CORNISH: Oh, yes.
WILLIAMS: These are people who gave us the pastrami sandwich with french fries in it. This -- they're not ones to be messed with. Like --
CORNISH: So, is this like the city saying, like, you're not allowed to have it or?
WILLIAMS: Oh, no, no, no, the mayor of Pittsburgh has said --
CORNISH: Oh.
WILLIAMS: You know, y'all, everything's fine if you dig out your parking spot and someone goes in it. You know, (INAUDIBLE) it's the law of the streets. So, in Pittsburg.
CORNISH: It is not fine. It's not fine. As a former Bostonian, it's not fine, and I fear for your tires.
WILLIAMS: It's not fine in Boston. Yes.
CORNISH: Alex Thompson.
THOMPSON: Well, Matthew Stafford, the L.A. Rams quarterback, who should be playing in the Super Bowl this weekend, did win the NFL MVP and announced, to our surprise, I think he's like 38 years old, that he's coming back next year. So, trying to run it back and get in the Super Bowl next year.
CORNISH: You said at 38 years old. Are we implying that's old?
THOMPSON: For a quarterback.
CORNISH: Oh, yes. OK. That's fair.
BLUEY: That is true. That is true. Aaron Rodgers is, what, 41, for the Steelers.
CORNISH: Yes. I was like, what's that supposed to mean?
BLUEY: Yes, exactly.
Yes, conservatives are talking about this decision by the American Medical Association, which followed another decision by a plastic surgery association warning that doctors should not perform gender transition surgery on minors and --
CORNISH: Before the age of 19.
BLUEY: Before the age of 19. And, of course, there are trial lawyers who now are involved. I think it's put a lot of insurance companies probably on notice. So, we'll see where this ultimately goes.
President Trump, once again, talked about it at the National Prayer Breakfast just yesterday. So, I think this is one of those issues which was a defining add in the 2024 presidential election, which might resurface this year.
CORNISH: OK.
Jerusalem.
DEMSAS: My group chats are dooming about A.I. largely. Claude just released --
CORNISH: I believe that, yes.
DEMSAS: Yes. I mean Claude is, right now, five percent of all comments on GitHub projected by the end of the year to be 20 percent of comments. I mean, this is the kind of --
CORNISH: Say that slower. Basically, when you're looking at comments online, a lot of it is --
DEMSAS: On GitHub.
CORNISH: Yes.
DEMSAS: Yes, is Claude. And the thing that's important is, GitHub is where software engineers are -- you can track how much software engineers are working. And 20 percent of that work by the end of the year is likely going to be done by A.I. This is -- people are describing this to me as like February 2020, when epidemiologists were like stocking up on toilet paper. And this is that version of what's going on in A.I.
CORNISH: Yes. And we should say that the head of Anthropic is very interested and sort of conscious of the pitfalls of A.I. Out of all those CEOs, he's the ones, I think, sort of most likely to speak publicly.
And I also, in my chats, people are talking about the bots talking to each other.
DEMSAS: Yes.
CORNISH: Yes.
DEMSAS: On Moltbook there's like a Reddit app for these bots. It's unclear how much of them are the bots and they're humans pretending to be bots, but --
[07:00:02]
WILLIAMS: You know -- you know how many people are starting to date and marry their chat bot?
DEMSAS: Yes.
WILLIAMS: When will be the first time two chat bots actually marry each other? And there's a chat bot (INAUDIBLE).
DEMSAS: Get married.
CORNISH: Yes. And --
THOMPSON: And there's a new website about -- for A.I. bots to hire humans.
CORNISH: Oh, great.
DEMSAS: I don't want to know about that.
CORNISH: What could go wrong?
BLUEY: And everyone's spending a ton of money on the Super Bowl ads, right?
CORNISH: What could go wrong with all of these things.
BLUEY: Right.
CORNISH: I'm sure it will be fine and that we'll report that fineness on this program.
Thank you to the group chat. Love laughing with you guys. Thank you for waking up with us. We've got some serious headlines up next. Stay with us.
