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The Situation Room

Don Lemon Looking Forward to Trial on Federal Charges; Mother of Savannah Guthrie Missing; Trump Threatens to Sue Trevor Noah; Deep Freeze Grips East Coast; DOJ Releases Million of Documents in Epstein Investigation. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired February 02, 2026 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: It does seem that chilling journalism might be the goal here, but we've heard from Lemon and many other members of the media saying they will not be deterred, they will not be chilled by these charges.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And we're also following, Brian, a disturbing story, the mother of NBC's TODAY Show anchor, Savannah Guthrie, is missing from her Arizona home. We're standing by for a news conference from officials there about this situation. First of all, what can you tell us?

STELTER: Yes, our hearts go out to Savannah and her family about this really disturbing development. Nancy Guthrie was reported missing yesterday. Apparently, she was last seen at home on Saturday night, and a family member called 911, called the police yesterday around noon to report that she was missing. This morning, the TODAY Show led with the news about the TODAY co-host's mom. Savannah issued a statement urging anyone with information to contact the local sheriff's department there in Tucson, Arizona.

And as you said, Wolf, a press conference is expected in the next hour from the local authorities there. Hopefully, they'll have more to share about this investigation. But we know search and rescue was activated yesterday and was working overnight and through to this morning looking for Savannah Guthrie's mom.

BLITZER: Yes. So sad. Let's hope they find her very, very soon. Before you go, Brian, a quick question. President Trump is now threatening to sue Trevor Noah for a joke he made during the Grammys last night about the president's past relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. How significant is that?

STELTER: Yes, and I know this might sound like a punchline, but this is real life. We should cue up the joke itself. Here's what Trevor Noah said when he was riffing with the audience during the Grammy Awards last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TREVOR NOAH, HOST, GRAMMY AWARDS: That is a Grammy that every artist wants almost as much as Trump wants Greenland, which makes sense. I mean, because Epstein's island is gone. He needs a new one to hang out with Bill Clinton. So, oh, I told you it's my last year. What are you going to do about it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: Having fun telling a joke, but Trump has previously said he never visited that island off St. Barts. He called the joke a, quote, "defamatory statement." And in a post on Truth Social at 1:01 a.m. Eastern time, Trump said, it looks like I'll be sending my lawyers to sue this poor, pathetic, talentless dope of an emcee and suing him for plenty of dollars. That was the comment from the president overnight.

We have seen many, many cases of the president threatening lawsuits. He oftentimes does not follow through, but every once in a while, he does. He's suing the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the BBC. Those media outlets are fighting those lawsuits. Now, he's adding Trevor Noah to the list of people he is threatening to sue. But it's very clear from that clip, Trevor Noah was poking fun at the president, having fun with a joke. And we live in a reality now where the president will threaten a lawsuit against a comedian for doing so.

BLITZER: All right. Brian Stelter, appreciate it very, very much. Thank you. And just ahead, parts of North Carolina right now are digging out from a truly historic snowstorm. When warmer temperatures will when will warmer temperatures arrive to help melt the snow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:35:00]

BLITZER: Happening, now, a bitter deep cold has its grip on millions of people along the East Coast of the United States after the bomb cyclone storm moved out to sea. Officials of North Carolina telling people stay home today after more than a thousand car crashes and two deaths were reported during the weekend storm.

And take a look at this, big waves destroyed houses near Cape Hatteras on North Carolina's outer banks. The chill even extends down to Florida, where iguanas stunned by the cold are falling from trees.

Let's go live right now to our meteorologist Chris Warren. How long is this deep freeze going to stick around, Chris?

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Wolf, I'll you why. It is gradually getting warning, even as early as today. But let's keep in mind here, it's February. Warm up in February, for a lot of areas means getting above freezing. And when you this, when you look at Myrtle Beach and see snow on the beach, it is a reminder of just how cold the air mass is and has been now. The snow. What that does is it reflects some of that light back up to space there so you don't get as much warming but the sun angle this time of year is a little bit more intense, so there will be some warming.

This is the snowfall footprint, so a lot of areas from South Carolina, North Carolina, seeing several inches of snow falling and with current temperatures combined with the wind, what it feels like is it's almost like when you walk outside. In Raleigh, it still feels like it is 19 degrees. In Jacksonville, FL, feeling like 32.

Now, the temperatures have warmed up considerably since this morning in Florida 20s and 30s widespread. Now, we're up about 15 to almost 20 degrees warmer than it was this morning, so we are seeing a bit of a moderation in the air mass. Low temperatures going forward here across the Sunshine State will be for most areas above freezing, and it's a little odd to be talking about temperatures getting above freezing in Florida, but that is kind of the benchmark what we're dealing with this milder air returning here to Florida.

32 tomorrow morning in Jacksonville, 33 in Orlando. But temperatures still below average. When it's this cold, when it's been this cold it takes a while to rebound. So, still below average for the next few days in Florida.

To the north, getting above freezing for high temperatures in New York, but just barely. Again, it is February. Still cold in Chicago. Temperatures in Atlanta in going to be up to around 61 degrees by tomorrow afternoon.

[10:40:00]

Now, temperatures while there's that brief warm up are going to be getting colder for the weekend, with another shot of cold there moving into the Mid-Atlantic and throughout the Great Lakes and the Northeast for the weekend. So, temperatures are going to go up and down a little bit this week, but a definite reminder we're still in February for the end of the week.

But Wolf also it is Groundhog Day, February 2nd and the Groundhog did see its shadow. So, that means an extended winter as far as the Groundhog says. But I'll tell you what, Wolf, the Groundhogs track record hasn't been great right about less than 40 percent of the time. So, it might actually be good news.

BLITZER: We'll see how that unfolds. It was about 15 degrees here in the Washington, D.C. area when I got up this morning, it's now about 25 degrees, so it's warmed up a little bit, but it's still very, very cold. Chris Warren, thank you very, very much.

Coming up, new reaction this morning from survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse after a report that that disturbing images were apparently left unredacted. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Happening now, new reaction this morning from survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse. This following the U.S. Justice Department's release of more than 3 million pages of files from the Epstein investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[10:45:00] JESS MICHAELS, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: There is not a single bit of closure today. There's no way for me to say to you that there's closure here. This is the exact opposite of transparency. This is a Department of Justice that's showing the American people who they are. And everyone should be concerned about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And joining us now, CNN Legal Analyst Elliot Williams and CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst Andrew McCabe. Good morning to both of you. Elliot, the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, told our colleague, Dana Bash, that the U.S. Justice Department is not considering bringing any additional charges related to Epstein. Does that surprise you at all?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, FORMER DEPARTMENT ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS AND FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Honestly, Wolf, it does not surprise me that much. And it's not in for a sinister reason. Unfortunately, right now, today, what is it, February 2, 2026, what the public is hungry for and what the Justice Department can lawfully provide doesn't quite align. And the guest you had, or the individual before, is absolutely right. None of what we see has provided closure. There are a lot of survivors who are in a tremendous amount of pain.

But if you look at the disclosures that the Justice Department made, there isn't a lot of legally, and I say legally relevant, new information that's come out that would allow the charges against a new person. And more to the point, if you were to charge anybody with anything, number one, the person you'd charge is dead. And number two, the sort of the second person you'd charge is already behind bars. And so, it's hard to see right now what new things could come up that could be charged. But again, more information may come out in the future.

BLITZER: And, Andy, I want to bring you in. You're the former deputy director of the FBI, acting director at one point. The New York Times reports that the U.S. Justice Department published dozens of unredacted nude images on its website showing young women, or possibly even teenagers, in the Epstein files. Officials have largely removed or redacted the images the Times flagged for them. And a Department of Justice spokesperson said the department was, quote, "working around the clock to address any victim concerns." How could this possibly happen?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST AND FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FBI: Yes, Wolf, if I share your surprise, it's inconceivable that the Justice Department would have released photographs that they didn't at least have human beings look at first. Now, I know that we're talking about a lot of documents here so they've kind of backed themselves into a tight corner. They've got such a massive amount of material to look at. And clearly, they didn't comply with the deadline in the statute.

So, you know, they're trying to do this quickly, but doing it quickly leads directly to mistakes like this one, things that should be redacted, aren't redacted, whether it's photographs or victims' names and things like that. So, they've really created this mess for themselves. There's no way out of it now, except to put the resources that are required on this job to do it correctly.

BLITZER: As they should. Elliot, can the women in those photos actually wind up suing the Justice Department for publishing those nude images?

WILLIAMS: Absolutely, they do have a cause of action. So, again, what I was talking about earlier was potential criminal charges against defendants, but this is a whole separate legal issue. What happens when an individual's privacy rights or personal rights have been violated? Number one, I would expect many of them to sue the Justice Department.

And I would also think they might have something against the New York Times for putting that material out there. That's a tougher one to win, only on account of the times as a media organization and its First Amendment right to publish information in its possession. But, oh, but I absolutely think that there might be an avenue for them to file a private lawsuit there too.

So, certainly there is some measure of recourse for survivors, it's just not, I think, the closure that would come for many for seeing those criminal charges that we were talking about before.

BLITZER: Yes, good point. Andy, we also saw in these just released documents a draft indictment that would have charged Epstein alongside apparently three others who are described as having been, quote, "employed" by Epstein. Why is that so notable?

MCCABE: It's incredibly notable. And in many ways, certainly from my perspective, the most significant document probably in this tranche that we received on Friday. And the reason is, to me, this is the core question of this Epstein in multiple investigation saga. Why were the decisions made back in 2007, 2008 when that prosecution memo was drafted? What was behind the decisions to let Epstein off with a sweetheart deal in which he was able to go to jail at night and return to his home office every day only for about a year and a half?

I still think we've yet to hear testimony publicly from the people who were involved in that process.

[10:50:00]

We should hear from the assistant U.S. attorneys who felt that a case should go forward. We should hear from the former U.S. attorney, Alex Acosta, about the decisions he made not to do that. We should hear from the state and local officials who basically received the case from the feds and were forced to kind of put it through as a local offense.

That's the part that I think will provide the most satisfaction, the most relevant information for victims and for the many, many Americans who are concerned about what might've happened here. BLITZER: Elliot, the bipartisan authors of the law that actually compelled the release of these files, Congressman Ro Khanna and Tom Massie, are prepared to potentially move forward on impeachment or contempt proceedings against Attorney General Pam Bondi. Do you have -- do they have the legal grounds, you think, to do that?

WILLIAMS: Of -- they certainly have the legal grounds to take action against the attorney general in the form of calling her up for hearings or some form of congressional oversight. And if they think a high crime or misdemeanor has been committed, of course they can start impeachment proceedings. The one body that we really haven't heard a lot from in the last year plus on most things involving the Trump administration is, in fact, Congress. And they do have the power to haul people up there and take serious action against them, whether it's a contempt or impeachment. So, that's one of Congress's jobs.

If they think they have the evidence there and they think that the administration has sort of blown them off or thumbed their nose at them, which, as Congressman Khanna and Massie have said, then it is certainly within their power to do so.

BLITZER: We'll see if that happens. All right. Elliott Williams, Andy McCabe, to both of you, thank you very much.

Coming up, we're standing by for an update from officials in Arizona, as the search now continues for the mother of TODAY's show anchor, Savannah Guthrie.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:55:00]

BLITZER: Happening now, the two teams set to clash in Super Bowl LX are now in the San Francisco Bay Area preparing for this weekend's big, huge game. The Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots both arrived in the Bay Area last night. Both teams had long odds of making it this far when the season actually started. Let's go live right now to CNN Sports Anchor Carolyn Manno. Set the scene for us, Carolyn.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, Wolf, these two teams as the last standing really further proves that the only thing predictable about the NFL is its unpredictability. I mean, in a year defined by parody, we've ended up with this throwback showdown, the business trip of a lifetime officially on. After touching down on Sunday, the Patriots will spend the week practicing at Stanford University in Palo Alto.

Before the big game, Mike Vrabel's squad back on the sport's biggest stage just two years after the Bill Belichick era came to an end. And then you've got Seattle, which has been on this Redemption Tour led by Sam Darnold. They're ready to settle an 11-year-old score in this historic rematch between the two. Both are going to participate in tonight's opening night festivities to kick off the media blitz that comes with this week.

Meantime, the NHL Stadium Series delivered in a big way in Chile, Florida on Sunday. In a nod to the Patriots, the Boston Bruins arriving to Tampa Bay as 18th century colonial patriots. The lightning leaning into the history of the stadium's NFL tenant, they arrived in the full 1970s. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Creamsicle uniforms complete with the classic orange jerseys and the white pants. I love it.

Tampa's Brandon Hagel actually scored just 11 seconds into this game. It was the fastest goal to start an outdoor game in NHL history. But then the Bruins stormed back. They had five unanswered goals to take a five one lead midway through the second period. And with Boston Up five 5-2, both of the goal tenders dropping the gloves at center ice, the first ever goalie fight in NHL outdoor game history.

So, this was a moment that really shifted the game's momentum, Wolf, as the Lightning ended up clawing back four straight goals, including three power play tallies in just six minutes to tie the game in the third period. And then, after this scoreless overtime, and it was Jake Guentzel who scored the only goal in a shootout to secure the 6-5 win for Tampa Bay in front of nearly 65,000 fans who got their money's worth, Wolf.

It is about 40 degrees in Florida. That's not Buffalo Bills' weather, but for the Floridians there, pretty cold, I must say, with this recent cold snap. Back to you.

BLITZER: Yes, I was in Florida the other day and they thought it was cold when it was 60 degrees and I thought that was beautiful. 60 degrees. All right. Carolyn Manno, thank you very, very much.

The next hour of the Situation Room starts right now.

Happening now, urgent negotiations. The house speaker Mike Johnson with the tough task of rallying his own party behind a must pass funding bill, and it's unclear if he has the support to end --

[11:00:00]