Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
Trump to Give State of the Union Address Tonight; Source: Masked Man Had Been to Guthrie's Front Door Before; Trump's Locker Room Call Draws Criticism. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired February 24, 2026 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Today, in the group chat, President Trump's address to the nation. Voters want to hear how he'll lower high prices. So, is he going to deliver?
[06:00:23]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything is so expensive, and our wages haven't changed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: With the midterms right around the corner, how will Trump set the tone for his party?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My daughter saw the cartel light a car on fire right in front of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Trapped in paradise. We'll hear from an American stuck in Mexico as cartel violence rages around them.
And a new clue in the search for Nancy Guthrie. A source says the masked man seen on her doorbell cam had been there before.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is the ultimate reminder of how often women in sports get treated as a punchline.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Pucks and politics. Gold medal hockey players turn down an invitation to the State of the Union.
CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: If I came up with a cure for cancer, they would say he should have done it years ago. There's not a thing I can do where these people are going to give me credit. And that's OK, because --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: President Trump, skeptical that he'll change a lot of minds with his State of the Union address.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. We begin with tonight's speech. In many ways, it is a test run for the GOP message as midterms approach.
Overwhelmingly, Americans across all parties want the president to address the economy and rising prices.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The cost of living, the cost of groceries, the cost of gas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most people are losing things like SNAP, WIC, things of that nature, and they can't even afford to live, yet buy food.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At this time, to provide gas, food, clothing, houses. Everything is so expensive, and our wages haven't changed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Doesn't look like they will get the answers they want, at least not yet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We have a country that's now doing well. We have the greatest economy we've ever had. We have the most activity we've ever had. I'm making a speech tomorrow night, and you'll be hearing me say that. I mean, it's -- it's going to be a long speech, because I have -- we have so much to talk about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Today in the group chat, Stephen Collinson, CNN Politics senior reporter; Mike Dubke, former Trump White House communications director; and V. Spehar, digital journalist and creator at Under the Desk News.
So, I feel like with that amount of clips from social media, V., I want to start with you.
V. SPEHAR, DIGITAL JOURNALIST AND CREATOR, UNDER THE DESK NEWS: Yes.
CORNISH: You live in TikTok land. SPEHAR: I do.
CORNISH: And I realize everyone's algorithm is biased, but what are you seeing? Are you seeing people who do think the economy is the thing? Or is immigration the thing they're talking about?
SPEHAR: So, immigration is definitely still the thing they're talking about. I think what has been interesting is the fact that it appears that folks on social media don't have a lot of high hopes or expectations for what he's going to actually say tonight.
CORNISH: Yes.
SPEHAR: A lot of folks are looking towards, like, the working family party response after the speech, or how this is going to manifest into policy later on.
But what I'm hearing is folks are confused: one, should they watch in the first place?
CORNISH: Right.
SPEHAR: Or is it just another campaign rally?
And two, what does this matter? What -- what is it going to change for them in their daily life?
CORNISH: Ooh, Mike's a good person to answer this question. Right?
MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Why does it matter? Well, first --
CORNISH: Why does it matter? Because it actually doesn't usually move the -- the needle, so to speak. Like, for a day or two, you talk about the speech.
DUBKE: It's supposed to set the agenda.
CORNISH: But it doesn't materially change things. OK, so say more.
DUBKE: It's supposed to set the agenda. Now, I don't think it's going to be a rally, given half of the people that are going to be in that room are not going to be cheering wildly for -- for Donald J. Trump.
But I do think that it sets the agenda. And this is, you know -- what the State of the Union has been in the past and what it can be for President Trump is an exclamation point on what the next few months are going to be in terms of legislation as we lead into the midterms.
So, this is a reset opportunity on affordability. Whether or not he takes that opportunity is -- I'm very curious to -- to see.
CORNISH: Yes. And let's talk about who he's talking to.
First of all, it is a K-shaped economy. Household debt is up. This means there are some people whose 401(k)s are killing it on fire. And there's a bunch of people who we saw who are struggling.
We also see the numbers of his job approval ticking down. I tend to dig into the numbers, so here are some specific groups.
In February [SIC], Latino voters 41 percent approved of Trump's job as president. Now, it's down to 22 percent.
Black voters. This is going to look like a small shift, but it was the small shift that made the difference. Twenty-eight percent in February [SIC] liked what he was doing as president. That is down 21 percent.
[06:05:03]
And then we put the ages across the board for young people.
I look at this, because this is the coalition that said, we are signing up for a second term. And they are feeling differently.
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Exactly right. And the question is: can the president talk to those people?
It used to be an occasion when the president speaks. But we get so much of Trump that it's going to be very difficult for him to do something different. We get a State of the Union almost every day, or a state of the Trump almost every day.
If he comes out there, and he's defending tariffs; he's defending a possible war with Iran, things that the American people don't want, I think a lot of Republicans will see this as a missed opportunity.
CORNISH: See, I feel like he's going to end up talking about immigration. We saw Karoline Leavitt online the other day, criticizing the media for not attending a press conference they did about the families of victims of immigrant crime.
And there's a sense of, like, you're not paying attention to this thing that's really great for us. But is it great for them? Especially after the deaths of two people?
DUBKE: Well, I think --
CORNISH: Two U.S. citizens.
DUBKE: Yes. It -- it's -- the argument is that we are focused on two deaths of U.S. citizens, or the news media is, rather than all these multiple deaths at the hands of illegal immigrants in the country.
And -- and part of -- part of the rhetoric for the administration is blaming the press that they're not focused on it enough.
I actually think there's some merit to that, given that, you know, we're not getting this -- this balanced conversation. And so, she has the right to do it.
But she's playing to a -- she's playing to a base that's saying, you know -- that's saying, basically, you know, right on. So, if you want -- if you're focused on that 40 percent that's supporting you right now --
CORNISH: Right.
DUBKE: -- that is an important message for them --
CORNISH: Or rather --
DUBKE: -- to make sure that that base does not erode.
CORNISH: We should say 36 percent, because if you're looking at Trump's job approval right now.
DUBKE: You know, margin of error.
CORNISH: Late February, 48 percent. Now, 36 percent.
SPEHAR: Like, I have to say, it's not just two people that got killed. I mean, those are the two American citizens that have been most in the news: Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
But there's been dozens of deaths in ICE detention centers that haven't been reported on nearly enough. There are other people who have been killed in the line of trying to do community defense that aren't still being talked about.
So, I think it's an apples to oranges comparison. Illegal people are doing this, and only two people died. That's just not true.
DUBKE: No. I will give you -- I will give you this, that there are many more facets to this whole conversation, and it is much deeper. And unfortunately, I think what we get is this black-and-white comparison going back and forth.
CORNISH: You can only care about one or the other.
DUBKE: Exactly right.
CORNISH: Yes. And if there's Americans actually --
DUBKE: And there's no nuance in any of this conversation.
CORNISH: -- the thing they care about is their everyday lives.
DUBKE: Right.
CORNISH: You guys stay with me. We've got a lot to talk about. We're going to have a lawmaker on later to talk about the State of the Union ahead.
And if you do plan to watch, you've heard the argument for watching. It's going to be right here on CNN and on the CNN app. The coverage starts at 8 p.m.
And coming up on CNN, a new development in the search for Nancy Guthrie. So, did the person who took her stake out her house?
Plus, more fallout in the U.K. related to the Epstein files. Another arrest, this time a former ambassador to the U.S.
And a former lawyer for ICE, speaking out. Why he is calling the agency's training deficient, defective, and broken.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RYAN SCHWANK, FORMER ICE ATTORNEY: ICE is teaching cadets to violate the Constitution. And they were attempting to cloak it in secrecy by demanding that I lie about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:13:07]
CORNISH: More than three weeks after the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, a new clue. A source tells CNN her suspected captor visited the 84-year-old's home before the night she went missing.
Officials sharing this new image showing the suspect without a backpack on.
Now, this is the footage we've been seeing from February 1st, the night that Guthrie was taken. In this video, the suspect is carrying a backpack.
Joining me now is Chief Charles Ramsey, CNN law enforcement analyst and former Philadelphia police commissioner.
Can you talk about the value of a video like this? They don't totally know the exact day, but to you, where's the value here?
CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I mean, any video or anything else that you get at this point in time is valuable. I mean, you know, investigators will look at it. They'll see whether or not they can pick up any additional clues.
When you look at that particular video -- and it's not surprising that some kind of surveillance would have been conducted prior to the abduction. And we don't know for sure whether or not the plan for the abduction was actually the same night you see this particular image.
CORNISH: Charles, let me jump in here, because we actually heard the chief saying that there is, quote, "There's no date or time stamp associated with these images. Therefore, any suggestion that the photographs were taken on different days is purely speculative."
RAMSEY: Well, I mean, yes. There's no time stamp or anything like that.
But you know, whether or not it occurred the same day or not, it didn't occur at the same time. He obviously does not have the firearm, at least not in the same position he had before. The backpack is not there.
Now, those items could have been nearby, and all this could have been from the same day.
But I'd be surprised if there wasn't some kind of surveillance of some kind prior to the actual abduction. I mean, that's what you would think someone would do --
CORNISH: Yes.
RAMSEY: -- unless they're already familiar with that particular residence, that particular neighborhood.
[06:15:05]
CORNISH: I just want to put up for people the new details we have of the suspect, or at least what we have at this point. The height, the fact that he's male, with an average build. And this backpack, black 25-liter Ozark Trail hiker backpack.
And this glove that had been analyzed for DNA. I know that people are starting to look at Ancestry sort of websites. They're going to gun shops.
What are you listening for, as this investigation continues for essentially a fourth week?
RAMSEY: Well, I mean, the longer this goes, the more difficult it is to really come to a, you know, successful outcome. These things can go on for a long period of time. And I certainly hope and pray that, you know, she's alive and that they will be able to recover her and find the person responsible for her abduction.
But, you know, trails can get cold, and the longer it goes, the more difficult it is. But they're still continuing to put all the resources they have available into this investigation.
As far as the -- the sheriff's statement around speculation, he's absolutely right. But everything we've done to date has been speculation, quite frankly, because we don't know what happened to her. We don't know the motive. We don't know any of that.
So, certainly, the pictures are different. They did not occur at the same time that the person approached the door. But at the same time, you know, it can contain valuable information. You have another shot of the individual --
CORNISH: Yes.
RAMSEY: -- even though he's wearing a ski mask and all that sort of thing. So, you use what you have is all you can do.
CORNISH: Charles Ramsey, thank you so much.
RAMSEY: OK.
CORNISH: Now, after the break on CNN THIS MORNING, some Democrats say they will not attend the State of the Union address. I'm going to talk to one who is going about the speech tonight. Plus, we'll pass. Why the women's hockey team is saying no to the
president's invite.
And good morning to Boston, buried in the snow this morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:21:23]
CORNISH: The gold medal moment turning political. President Trump's invite to the U.S. Men's Olympic Hockey Team to the State of the Union, even offering a military plane for pickup. But it's his comment about the gold-medal women's team that has set off a firestorm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP (via phone): I must tell you, we're going to have to bring the women's team. You do know that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two for two! Two for two!
TRUMP: I do believe I probably would be impeached. OK?
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: And thanks, but no thanks. The United States Women's Hockey Team, which also won gold at the Olympics, turning down Trump's invitation to his State of the Union.
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, ABC'S "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!": Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the games, the athletes are unable to participate. They were honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgment," which is a nice way of saying, "Puck off, Trump. We -- we got better things to do."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Both men's and women's hockey teams winning, in overtime, gold medals.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Getting the golds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Truly a -- just a remarkable job and honestly, that's what matters.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is the ultimate reminder of how often women in sports get treated as a punchline. Like, even if you just won a gold medal.
And we'll get told to get over it. And guess what? We will. We will. Because that's what women in sports that are around sports always have to do. You have to be the bigger person.
And you keep showing up, despite knowing that those are the kind of things. Those are the kind of -- hee-hee, ha-ha -- jokes that get said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK. I want to bring in "Washington Post" columnist Will Leitch.
So, Will, there's two comments in that montage I want to ask you about. One, Kimmel basically implying that the women were declining the president, not so politely. What's your read of them not embracing the invitation?
WILL LEITCH, COLUMNIST, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Well, you -- certainly, it would be difficult to blame them for -- for not accepting it after kind of that comment, but it should be noted there were actual logistical concerns. I think it's been forgotten a little bit.
The men won on Sunday. The women actually won back on Thursday. And, you know, the men are all on break for NHL. And so, they're all off right now. The season will not be starting for another week. They've got, actually, some time to be able to do this.
Women, there is no -- like, the league is not starting back. They actually are kind of scattered all over the country, because they won last week.
So, certainly, you can get -- no one would blame them. I understand where Jimmy Kimmel is coming from on that. But the idea that they're -- that when they said there were logistical concerns, that is true.
CORNISH: So, then, let's talk about the last comment from an athlete, this woman saying, look, this is what we live with as athletes, that we are going to be the punchline and the laugh line in these lighthearted moments about sports, but that are basically dismissive -- dismissive of women in these games.
LEITCH: I don't think there's really any question. Particularly, you know, I mean, so much has been made about the men's team not winning since 1980. The women's team wins all the time. This has been something they've -- they kind of commonly do.
And I think it's worth noting, too, you know, the hero Jack Hughes for the -- for the men's team. His mother works for the women's team. She's a great hockey player herself. She's a member of the New Hampshire Hall of Fame as a hockey player. The idea that, like, there's not a grand history of these women's hockey players, I think, is one of the reasons it's probably so frustrating for so many women.
In addition to, of course, the points that she brings up: the idea that, like, it's always -- particularly in the world of hockey. And I think this is a thing that's very much worth noting.
Hockey is generally a conservative sport. This has been a big issue. This is one of the things that led to the rivalry between the United States and Canada in the first place.
Remember just last year in the Four Nations Tournament, Trump called the United States team before their game against Canada to say, "Go beat the 51st state." And everyone laughed and chuckled again, then, too.
So, this -- there's a lot of context to this in, really, a lot of different directions.
[06:25:04]
CORNISH: So, does it mean anything for these men to be at the State of the Union tonight? How are you going to be watching it?
LEITCH: Well, certainly, I think that it's -- this is also part of a great history. It's not surprising that, after a big kind of victory like that, it was an exciting victory. Whatever you may -- may or may not feel about them being at the State of the Union or Kash Patel being in the locker room afterward.
I think it was inspiring for a lot of people across the political perspective -- perspective. I think that that's one of the reasons I think it was kind of hard for a lot of people to want to enjoy that moment, and then kind of have it soured a little bit with Trump's comments and Patel's presence afterwards.
But, you know, it is not uncommon for a team that has come after they won. Remember, after the 1980 team won, they immediately went to the White House to meet with President Carter. Vice President Mondale was with the Miracle On Ice team in Lake Placid when that happened.
This is -- that part's not necessarily uncommon. Certainly, calling to congratulate a team while dismissing the -- congratulate the men's team, while dismissing the women's team, that's pretty uncommon.
CORNISH: OK, Will Leitch, thanks so much for your time. Appreciate it.
And straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to talk to folks stuck in Mexico. A reporter who went to vacation there and now is trapped due to the violence.
Plus, digging out. Parts of the Northeast buried under snow this morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
