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Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), Is Interviewed About Dems Call On Noem To Resign As DHS Secy Or Be Fired; Update On Search For Savannah Guthrie's Mother. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired February 02, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:01]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: 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 this partial government shutdown.

And doubling down, new CNN reporting about the U.S. Justice Department and President Trump's demand to investigate the people who investigated him.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is off today. You're in The Situation Room. This is CNN Breaking News.

BLITZER: And we begin this hour with the breaking news on the search for the elderly mother of "NBC Today" show anchor Savannah Guthrie. Eighty-four-year-old Nancy Guthrie apparently disappeared Saturday from her home near Tucson. We're awaiting a news conference from the Pima County Sheriff's Department. We'll bring that to you live once it starts.

I want to bring in CNN's senior correspondent Josh Campbell. Josh, deputies say the scene at the home raised serious concerns and crews are now searching with volunteers, canine units and helicopters. What's your read of this situation?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, that statement from the sheriff saying that the scene was very concerning to them, obviously raising a lot of questions. The law enforcement officials haven't elaborated on what they actually found there at the home. As you mentioned, we are standing by for an update from local officials on this ongoing search.

What we know is that Nancy Guthrie was last seen on Saturday evening, and it was yesterday on Sunday that she was actually reported missing, that then causing law enforcement there near Tucson to launch this massive search and rescue effort, which is including "not only local police, also border patrol agents, as well as volunteers who are out in this area trying to see if they can locate Guthrie."

Again, no details yet on what was actually there at the scene or where the search stands. We are hearing from Savannah Guthrie in a statement who is thanking people for their thoughts and their prayers, Wolf. She's saying that obviously their focus is on finding her mother, and obviously they're asking anyone with any information to call local law enforcement.

BLITZER: Yes, we'll have that news conference coming up with the Pima County Sheriff. That's coming up very soon. We'll get some new information. Josh Campbell, thank you very, very much.

Also happening now, the House is back in session and looking for a deal to end the partial government shutdown that began early Saturday. This one comes on the heels of a record long shutdown that dragged on for 43 days. The U.S. Senate has already passed a bipartisan package that extends homeland security funding for only two weeks. It marked a concession to Democrats demanding reforms to immigration enforcement.

Joining us now, Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana. He serves on the Judiciary Committee and is the author of an important brand new book. Here's the front of the copy, the cover of the book, "How to Test Negative for Stupid and Why Washington Never Will." That's the title of this important new book by Senator Kennedy. Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: You're someone who writes bluntly, very bluntly about what happens here in Washington, D.C. How confident are you, first of all, that this partial government shutdown won't be prolonged?

KENNEDY: I think that by the end of the week, the House and the Senate will have passed 11 of the 12 appropriations bills. Now, it'll be a bumpy road for the House. It'll be a clown circus for a few days, but I think they'll ultimately pass. The only bill that will not pass is the Department of Homeland Security budget. And frankly, I don't know if it's possible to pass that bill.

BLITZER: Because?

KENNEDY: Because both sides are dug in. There are Republicans who will not vote for any type of reform. There are Democrats who will not vote for any type of funding for ICE. Their base, whatever you want to call it, the Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, Mamdani wing of the party is going to demand don't vote for anything. Now, are there enough votes of those in the middle? We don't know yet.

BLITZER: What about the Democrats calling for making ICE agents remove their masks and requiring judicial warrants? Where do you stand on those specific proposals?

KENNEDY: Well, I've been real careful about talking about specific proposals because it's a moving target. I would not support removing masks. There are people out there who mean these agents harm and not only them, but their family members. And if they can find out where they live, that's dangerous.

In terms of the warrants, I guess my question is going to be when we get down to negotiating what -- in what context and some context you already have to have a warrant. Are you saying in all cases, does that mean the standards of reasonable suspicion under Terry v. Ohio can be thrown out? I just don't know enough about about their -- the details of what kind of warrants they want to they want to require.

[11:05:13]

BLITZER: They want judicial warrants, not administrative.

KENNEDY: I know. And and the Supreme Court has already said in a case in 1960, I think was able the U.S, Wolf. They have suggested that administrative warrants prosecuting final orders of deportation or constitution. I don't know if it's just judicial warrants that some of my colleagues are talking about, though.

BLITZER: I want to play with the Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said yesterday and then we'll discuss. Listen to this.

KENNEDY: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: I would say that we can always do better and we learn from every situation that we're in. We see a very organized, well-funded campaign of violent protests against our law enforcement officers. And so we're going to continue to get as much information as soon as possible to give a strategy to protect people, protect our federal buildings like the President laid out yesterday. And we're going to make sure that the American people are safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: In your view, Senator, has Secretary Noem sufficiently acknowledged the mistakes she's made and her people made in Minnesota?

KENNEDY: Well, I haven't heard it. She might have. And I just didn't hear it. I guess I'd make three points quickly, Wolf. Number one, I'm a big Tom Homan fan. I think he knows what he's doing. I think he exercises prudential judgment. I would leave him in charge. Number two, I think most Americans agree with me that illegal immigration is illegal.

Our immigration statutes are not some second tier laws. I support enforcing them. How you enforce them matters, due process, equal protection, a reasonable suspicion of Terry v. Ohio. You can legislate stuff. But if you don't have the leadership to execute it, then it's of no moment. I think Holman knows how to do that.

BLITZER: A specific question. Some of your own Republican colleagues, and you're a Republican, Senators Thom Tillis and Lisa Murkowski, for example, they're calling for Secretary Noem to resign. Do you agree with them?

KENNEDY: No, I don't. I don't have enough information to be able to make that bold declaration. We're going to have a hearing and I hope the secretary comes before us and answers questions truthfully and honestly and transparently and tells us why she took the approach that she took and why she said the things that she said. In the meantime, I would let Tom Homan run the show.

BLITZER: Instead of her?

KENNEDY: Yes, yes. In terms, yes, I think the President made a wise decision.

BLITZER: So he should be the secretary of Homeland Security.

KENNEDY: No. I didn't say that. I'm talking about in charge of all the ICE operations in terms of whether we have a new secretary. That's frankly up to the President. But I think a lot of Americans on both sides of the aisle have questions about our secretary. And if I were she, if she asked for my advice, she hasn't. But if she did, I would tell her to move up that date to appear before the Senate Judiciary and the House Judiciary Committee. I would look the American people in the eye in front of God and country and I would answer every single question. And if she was wrong on something, she should admit it. She should explain why she said what she said, why she made the decision decisions that she made.

BLITZER: Senator Kennedy, another important story I want to get to the Justice Department finally releasing its tranche of files related to Jeffrey Epstein. They did so on Friday. The deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, says the Department of Justice is not considering bringing any additional charges related to Epstein. Is that acceptable to you?

KENNEDY: Well, I don't know yet. They haven't released all the documents. That's my understanding.

BLITZER: And they released 3 million additional pages. But there are reports that another 3 million that are still being held.

KENNEDY: Here are the two things that I'm fairly certain of. Number one, this issue is not going to go away until the Justice Department releases every single document, every single picture, every single e- mail.

BLITZER: And you want them to do that?

KENNEDY: I want them to do that. I've said that from day one. Number two, there are some of my colleagues who have boldly stood on the floors of their respective bodies and said, we know who needs to be prosecuted. We have the names.

Now, there are only two possible reasons for them saying that, one, maybe they're on real strong drugs or number two, they know. If they know and they're making those kind of allegations, then by God, they ought to give us the names and they ought to be prepared for the litigation that follows that they're wrong. But this has gone on long enough. And the American people don't trust government. That's the fault of both sides. And if I were they, I would release every single document and picture.

[11:10:03]

BLITZER: We'll see if that happens.

KENNEDY: And protect the victims, but do it.

BLITZER: Yes. And redact the pictures of the nude girls and women.

KENNEDY: Well, I don't even know if I would do that. I would redact their faces. I would protect their privacy. I haven't researched it, but any simple excuse that people can find not to believe the Justice Department, they're going to believe it. And I don't blame. I mean, this thing has been a -- this whole thing on both sides has been a goat rodeo.

BLITZER: Yes. All right. A quick political question before I let you go, Senator.

KENNEDY: Sure.

BLITZER: Thanks so much for your time.

KENNEDY: You bet.

BLITZER: Senate, a lot of people are noticing that Democrats just flipped an important Texas Senate district in a special election that President Trump actually won by a whopping 17 points back in 2024.

KENNEDY: Yes, yes.

BLITZER: Does that concern you at all looking ahead to the midterms that are coming up?

KENNEDY: Well, sure it does.

BLITZER: Now, I don't know the candidates in the race and obviously the candidates matter.

KENNEDY: But there's no question in my mind that right now, Democratic voters seem to be more motivated than Republican voters. Can that change? Yes. But when moms and dads lie down to sleep at night and can't walk, they're worried about the cost of living and just telling them, don't believe your lying checkbooks is not going to get it. We're going to have to take action.

BLITZER: Senator, thanks very much for joining us. Thanks very much for writing "How to Test Negative for Stupid and Why Washington Never Will."

KENNEDY: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: I appreciate it very much.

KENNEDY: I enjoy your show.

BLITZER: Thank you very much.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:16:22]

BLITZER: Soon, we're expecting an update from officials in Pima County, Arizona, as they search for the mother of "Today Show" anchor Savannah Guthrie. Nancy Guthrie was last seen Saturday night near her home and was reported missing on Sunday. And the sheriff says the scene at her home was, "very concerning." We're going to bring you this update that's coming up very soon once it starts, stand by for that.

Also new this morning, a source now telling CNN that Justice Department officials are expected to meet today to discuss ramping up probes that President Trump considers top priorities. CNN's chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid is here in The Situation Room with her latest reporting.

Paula, those probes include reviewing officials who investigated Trump during the Biden administration, as you well know. First of all, what more are you learning?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So back at the beginning of the administration, the attorney general laid out what she called the weaponization working group. And she established this group to look into about seven specific issues.

Several of them are, of course, prosecutors who investigated President Trump while he was out of office. There are also some issues that are pet issues, not just for President Trump, but for Republicans at large, including investigating allegations of Catholic discrimination, a Biden era memo on protecting school officials against threats, protections for whistleblowers and prosecuting anti-abortion demonstrators.

BLITZER: I'm going to interrupt you for a moment. We're going to continue this, but I want to go to this news conference in Pima County. The Pima County sheriff, Chris Nanos, is now speaking about the Savannah Guthrie mother who is missing.

SHERIFF CHRIS NANOS, PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA: That we typically always do. Our search and rescue volunteers, our search and rescue teams, other agencies, BORSTAR from Border Patrol sent their canines out. They worked tirelessly all day yesterday and all day tonight. I'm sorry, all day yesterday, all last night. To know about, as I said yesterday, we saw some things at the home that were concerning to us.

We believe now after we process that crime scene that we do, in fact, have a crime scene, that we do, in fact, have a crime. And we're asking the communities help. This community is always stepped up to help us solve some pretty tough crimes. I'm looking for that again.

This is a 84-year-old lady who suffers from some physical ailments. Has some physical challenges. Is in need of medication. Medication that if she doesn't have in 24 hours it could be fatal. So we make a plea to anyone who knows anything about this, who has seen something, heard something to contact us, call 911. We don't need another bad, tragic ending. We need some help. Our team is the best. I couldn't speak any higher. I think you know that. We have done some great work with our partners in the valley.

You know, this community, I have to give a lot of thanks to our law enforcement agencies all across this valley, whether it's the Tucson Police Department or some of the smaller agencies. They've all reached out. They've all offered to assist.

[11:20:05]

The FBI, all of them. We work so close with them and they are all plugged in. We'll continue to work closely with them. But what I really need is I need this community to step up and start giving us some calls. Let us know if you've seen something.

If -- we are right now at a time. And I apologize. I just may talk too softly. We are at a time where in this investigation, we are now moving forward where we need to depend on technology. You know, our license plate readers, our camera systems throughout the community, anything, everything. And we will download all that data we have from the home, from different pieces of technology we've gotten. And we will use that to our advantage.

But the reason I bring this up is that, you know, I'm a cop. I hate politics, but I have to remind our political leaders that they need to quit this banter of every time law enforcement leaders come to you for a need that you give up these ridiculous remarks about how it's going to be misused.

The A.I. is a bad, evil word. The cameras are very bad and evil. I'm tired of that. Those tools in the right hands with the right minds and the right approaches are extremely valuable to solving crimes just like this. We need this. We need more staffing. We need a lot of things. But what I really need is I need the committee's help with this.

So I want to make sure I didn't, before I take any questions, it is a crime scene. We know that. We -- she needs her daily medication. And anybody that sees anything that even looks, hey, maybe that's her. Just take a quick picture and take a video, send it to us. The number is real easy here locally. It's 911. And you can contact our 88 crime and remain anonymous. You can call me anybody. I am here to take any questions you may have.

It will be a little limited. I apologize for that. But we do have a crime that we need to protect its integrity. I have here Sergeant David Stivers from our homicide team. He has been up all night. So bear with us if we are a little bit fuzzy in our answers and responses. But we're both here for any questions you may have. Let's start. Please.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure, recognize your limitations. But can you elaborate at all on what makes you believe it's a crime scene as opposed to someone who left home and couldn't find her with that? NANOS: Well, I think I told you she is very limited in her mobility, right? We know she didn't just walk out of there. That is that we know. There are other things at the site -- that the scene that indicate there was there was a -- she did not leave on her own. We know that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're -- if you know that plate readers, is there a vehicle associated with this?

NANOS: Where we're -- when I told you we're now at this phase where we're looking at all the technology. All of that is being evaluated as we speak. Let me say this. We not just on our search and rescue team out there. They're going to be doing some door to door with our criminal investigation team. It is not just our homicide unit. All of our criminal investigation detectives.

I went out last night to the scene. There were probably 100 cars out there, all from the sheriff's department. All work in this case. It takes a lot of manpower and a lot of energy. This team of mine worked throughout the night. They continue to work. David's had zero sleep, but he and his team are working as hard as they can.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there anybody else associated with her, a caregiver, a family member, acquaintance who is also missing?

NANOS: No, no, no, no. The family, all of the family has been very cooperative with us. They're working with us. They're staying in touch with us. They have complete access to anybody on this department. Savannah has been in touch with us as well. We -- our hearts go out to them.

This is their mom. She's, yes, just a great lady, from what I've heard, and I feel for the family. We just want to find her and bring her back safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff, you mentioned that she didn't just walk out, but is there any like additional information that you can give us on what may have alluded to this being a crime scene?

[11:25:08]

NANOS: You know, I wish I could. I really do. I know that everybody wants to know certain things, but I can't do that for them. Just it would be inappropriate at this time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are there any signs of breaking and entering or any force entry, anything like that?

NANOS: I'm not -- again don't want to get into that. David, do you can you see anything here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, at this time, it's still very active in investigation that we -- there were circumstances on scene that we believe are suspicious in nature, I think is the best way to put it. But we can't really get into a whole lot of details with that now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe that this was targeted or they just happened to have Savannah Guthrie's or if this was just random?

NANOS: We don't know that. We don't we look at all of that, but we just don't know that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do they have cameras at the home?

NANOS: They do. And we're looking through some of that. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Being an active crime scene is very fresh for the general public?

NANOS: I'm going to figure out my phone. Well, you know, no, I don't think there's an active threat, but I hate to say that because, you know, we're going to canvas that neighborhood and maybe there's a power been seen around. There's a lot of work still to do. We don't have any indication that that the public is in danger.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what does that search look like today beyond what you've already told us?

NANOS: So we have we have shut down our search and rescue mission. And we've given them sent them home to rest. They were out all night. We put all our air assets into this. Our drone systems, our aircraft, our helicopters, the heat sensors, infrared, everything we've had, we've thrown at this.

They're going to step aside. We'll call them out again if we need to do more searching. And right now, we don't see this as a search mission as much as we do a crime scene.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff, can you tell us a little bit about that map?

NANOS: That is and David probably can better answer it than I. But that is our search patterns, I believe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. So with all the assets that we deployed yesterday with the search and rescue teams, the map that's on the screen is basically tracks that were followed. Those are all the colored lines are all ground tracks of different teams and different assets that were used on the ground to include the canines, the volunteers and our own search and rescue team.

The circles are going to be representative, if not, not necessarily perfect of our air circulation with both our helicopter and our fixed wing aircraft at night, working with the night time cameras. So it's difficult to see where the house is.

This house is basically pretty, pretty close to center in that. And then all of the searching that went on throughout the day with those folks out there on the ground.

NANOS: What this really helps with is our search teams. When they come back and reassess, maybe they've missed an area. We can look at it and say, hey, you know what? This area could use a little more coverage. And so they concentrate again. Our search and rescue team is top notch. They're out every single day. If it's not a lost person, it's a hiker. It's somebody who's wandered away from a care home, whatever it may be. I want to stress to you. And it is really important.

Miss Guthrie, Nancy Guthrie is of great sound mind. This is not a dementia related. She is as sharp as a tack. The family wants everybody to know this is somebody who just wandered off. She -- her physical limits are based on just age. And, you know, you get old and so it's more physical but clearly she is as sharp as a tack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have her cell phone and does that prevent presenting tracking potential?

NANOS: We're looking at that as we speak.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But do you have it or do you not?

NANOS: We do have it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you give us a little bit more of a timeline? Because you said she didn't leave on her own. She was last seen at 9:45. She wasn't reported missing until noon, but --

NANOS: I believe what happened there was it at 9:45 in the evening. Her children left her off at some time earlier that morning they got a call from somebody at the church who said, hey, your mom's not here. The family went to the house. I think they spent some time looking for her themselves before they called us. So I'm guessing maybe they got there around 11:00. So they did some searching and realized we need some help and they called 911.

[11:30:01]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any idea what time Nancy would have been taken from the home?

NANOS: There's a lot of things working there and I just can't --