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The Situation Room

Border Czar Says, Trump Admin Will Pull 700 ICE Agents from Minneapolis; Nancy Guthrie's Pacemaker Last Sent Signal to iPhone 2:00 A.M. Sunday; Melinda French Gates Says, Ex-Husband Bill Gates Has Questions to Answer Over Epstein Ties. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired February 04, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, a pulling back of federal agents in Minneapolis. Border Czar Tom Homan just spoke about the Trump administration's operation there. What he's saying about who will remain.

Plus, possible ransom notes, TMZ and a local T.V. station say that they received letters with demands in connection with Nancy Guthrie's disappearance as the search for her now enters its fourth day.

And suspected bio lab, the shocking discovery at a Las Vegas home connected to a previous investigation where officials found vials labeled HIV, fever and malaria.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, quote, happy to be away from all the muck. Melinda French Gates is speaking out about her ex- husband's ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Bill Gates is now responding.

Plus allegations of wrongdoing, a new classified whistleblower complaint targeting the director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. I'll speak to the vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Senator Mark Warner.

And later, ICE at the Olympics, Italian authorities are now forcefully responding to the agency's presence at the Olympic Games as outrage grows.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

And we begin with the breaking news out of Minneapolis, where just moments ago, President Trump's border czar announced, an overhaul of the Trump administration's aggressive immigration crackdown in the city. Listen.

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TOM HOMAN BORDER CZAR: Effective immediately, we'll draw down 700 people effective today.

My goal, with the support of President Trump, is to achieve a complete drawdown and then this surge as soon as we can.

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BLITZER: I want to bring in CNN Law Enforcement Correspondent Whitney Wild. Whitney, walk us through what this new development looks like.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Border Czar Tom Homan laid out a new strategy here, calling it targeted operations that prioritize national security and public safety risks, and also said that he's getting an unprecedented level of cooperation from local law enforcement and local leaders throughout the state.

What that means in practice, Wolf, is that they have more opportunity to get some of these people who have been charged with a crime or taken into local custody from jail and bring them into ICE custody. That is a shift in strategy there. Mr. Homan also laid out a change in the chain of command there, saying it is now one chain of command. Customs of Border Patrol will still be working under that chain of command, but they will be working in tandem with ICE under a single unit. So that is another shift there as well.

What Mr. Homan said over and over was that it is the unprecedented level of cooperation again from local law enforcement and local leaders that is allowing them to draw down. He thanked multiple times Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, but he did not expand upon specifically what cooperation he might be getting from Hennepin County and Minneapolis.

Moving forward, Wolf, he also said that just because law enforcement, ICE, Border Patrol is going to prioritize national security and public safety risks does not mean that anybody who is undocumented is off the table, saying that they may still eventually be a target as well. Here's more from Border Czar Homan.

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HOMAN: A complete drawdown is going to depend on cooperation, continued cooperation of local and state law enforcement, and the decrease of the violence, the rhetoric, and the attacks against ICE and Border Patrol.

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WILD: Wolf, he also praised President Trump, saying that this level of effectiveness here is unprecedented, while also praising Governor Walz, and, again, the leaders in Minneapolis.

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Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Whitney Wild reporting for us, Whitney, thank you very much. Pamela?

BROWN: And, Wolf, we have some breaking news on the search for the mother of NBC Anchor Savannah Guthrie. A source tells CNN that Nancy Guthrie's pacemaker sent a signal to her iPhone around 2:00 A.M. on Sunday. That phone was left behind at her Tucson area home where authorities believe she was taken in the middle of the night. That is the last time the phone recorded a signal from that pacemaker.

And here's another new development. The celebrity website, TMZ, and a local newsroom in Tucson have reported receiving what appears to be a ransom note. Investigators stressed that it has not been verified, but they are taking all tips seriously.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there anything in that note that seems credible at this moment that you are giving weight to?

SHERIFF CHRIS NANOS, PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA: The entire note. That's what I would tell you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The entire note?

NANOS: When the note comes to us, we, look, it's like any piece of evidence. You give it to us, you give us a lead. We're going to look at every aspect of that lead and work it as a lead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, you're not dismissing this note at this point?

NANOS: Absolutely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: All right. Let's go live now to CNN's Ed Lavandera right there in Tucson, Arizona. Ed, where does the investigation stand this morning?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we just heard from the sheriff's department here in the Tucson area saying that there are still no suspects, no people of interest in this investigation as we enter the fourth day of the search for Nancy Guthrie. And we have seen investigators return back out here to the crime scene. There was a helicopter flying over the house, a sheriff's department helicopter doing several passes over this neighborhood yesterday afternoon.

As you mentioned, there's the note and the information about these potential ransom notes and whether or not they are authentic or legitimate. Anyway, investigators say that they, as you heard, continue to investigate all of that.

So, clearly, as the anguish and the concern continues to mount over the search for Nancy Guthrie, no clear indication that investigators are any closer to finding who is responsible or what is happening in this situation. So, the investigators say they are continuing to carry out and follow all the leads.

They do say that the interest in the story has generated a number of leads and information for them. They continue asking the public for help on that front. The sheriff's department says there's more than a hundred different law enforcement officers working this investigation at this moment. They have help from the FBI trying to analyze technical cell phone evidence as well as cell tower evidence as well. So, presumably, you know, all of that continues, but still no major breakthrough in this investigation. Pamela?

BROWN: Ed Lavandera, thank you so much. And, again, anyone with any information about this case is asked to call the Pima County Sheriff's Department. That's at (520)-351-4900. And you see there, there's a Q.R. code on your screen as well.

BLITZER: And our hearts go out to the Guthrie family. Let's hope the mom is back soon.

Still ahead, a suspected bio lab under investigation in Las Vegas, thousands of samples taken for testing, the connection to another unauthorized lab in California.

BROWN: And Melinda French Gates speaking out about her ex-husband and his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

You're in The Situation Room and we'll be right back.

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BLITZER: New this morning, Melinda French Gates is responding to her ex-husband Bill's ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Listen.

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MUNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For me, it's personally hard whenever those details come up, right, because it brings back memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage. But I have moved on from that.

So, whatever questions remain there of, what I don't, can't even begin to know all of it, those questions are for those people and for even my ex-husband. They need to answer to those things, not me. And I am so happy to be away from all the muck. That was there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have to put more words to the muck for context for our listeners. The emails in the files suggest that Bill Gates had additional affairs and that he tried to get medication to treat a sexually transmitted infection, and that he was going to give you the medicine without you knowing. His representative has said all of this is false. It is not on you to have to respond to the details of that alleged behavior, but I wonder what your dominant emotion is when you read these news articles with these details.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sad, just unbelievable sadness, unbelievable sadness, right? And, again, I'm able to take my own sadness and look at those young girls and say, my God, how did they -- how did that happen to those girls, right?

And so for me, it's just sadness, sadness for -- you know, I've left -- I had to -- I left my marriage. I had to leave my marriage. I wanted to leave my marriage. I had to leave the -- I felt I needed to eventually leave the foundation.

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So, it's just sad. That's the truth, right? And it's kind of like, at least for me, I've been able to move on in life and I hope there's some justice for those now women, right? We see them standing up in front of microphones in D.C. What they went through was just unimaginable, I think.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And this comes after newly released documents appear to show draft messages but from back in 2013, saved in Epstein's email account. It's unclear who wrote the message, but it seems to describe feelings of betrayal aimed at Bill Gates. The Microsoft co-founder has not been accused of any wrongdoing related to Epstein.

Joining us now is CNN Chief Media Analyst Brian Stelter. Brian, how is Bill Gates responding?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, you really see the deconstruction of a marriage and wrenching ways there, and you also see the impact of decisions that Bill Gates made years ago that have now come back to haunt him, that he has repeatedly said he regrets. And he was asked about his ex-wife's new comments and interview with CNN-affiliate 9 News in Australia overnight, and here's what Gates said in response.

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BILL GATES, CO-FOUNDER, MICROSOFT: Apparently Jeffrey wrote an email to himself. That email was never sent. The email is, you know, false. So, I don't know what his thinking was there. It just reminds me, you know, every minute I spent with him I regret and I, you know, apologized that I did that.

It's factually true that I was only at dinners, you know, I never went to the island. I never met any women. And so, you know, the more that comes out, the more clear it'll be, that although the time was a mistake, it had nothing to do with that kind of behavior.

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STELTER: So, you hear, you can hear gates there saying again it was a mistake, but he had nothing to do with the behavior. And a spokesperson for the software billionaire told NPR overnight, quote, the claims are absolutely absurd and completely false. The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein's frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to to entrap and defame someone like Gates.

So, here we are years later, even more still spilling into public view about those relationships.

BLITZER: Brian, has there been any fallout for Bill Gates related to this newly released information? STELTER: You know, I think he has been, you know, certainly in the realm of public opinion, right? When he is out, when he is giving speeches, there he is in Australia, for example, he continues to be asked about this. He continues to be dogged by these questions, continues to say he regrets that relationship. It is so striking how this has changed the public's perception of Gates, at least to some degree.

BLITZER: And, Brian, as you know, we're following some other important breaking news, The Washington Post announcing massive layoffs just now. Just how many people are being impacted?

STELTER: That's right, a really troubling development at one of the most important news outlets in the United States. About one in three staffers of The Washington Post are impacted, I'm told, that means laid off today, one in three staffers laid off, including many in The Washington Post newsroom.

The owner, Jeff Bezos, is pressing his management team to make the Post profitable, but it is the choices Bezos has made in the last couple of years, turning the opinion section in a Trump friendlier direction, that turned off hundreds of thousands of subscribers and led to many subscriber cancelations.

So, now, we see The Washington Post Metro section shrinking, many international correspondence being laid off, the sports section being shut down, many cutbacks of the Post today and many reporters and former editors there saying that shrinking the Post is no way to return to growth, that shrinking the Post will actually hurt the Washington area and hurt the American people because of the lack of reporting.

Former Editor Marty Baron this morning called this a case study and, quote, near instant self-inflicted brand destruction. He's putting the blame on Bezos, and so is former post fact-checker Glen Kessler. He was known for giving those four Pinocchios back during Trump 1.0. Kessler writing in a blog post this week, Bezos is not trying to save The Washington Post. He's trying to survive Donald Trump.

Bezos was seen earlier this week with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at a space event. Bezos has been focused on his Trump administration relationships and many Post staffers feel they are the victims of that kind of attempt to curry favor and cozy up to the Trump administration.

BLITZER: Yes, so sad indeed as someone who for many years has been reading The Washington Post every day. It's a heartbreaking development indeed.

Brian Stelter, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: It really is. All right, coming up here in The Situation Room, happening now another round of trilateral talks are underway with officials from Ukraine, Russia, and the United States. We are live in Moscow with what we're learning about negotiations, up next.

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BROWN: Well, new this morning, 21 Palestinians, including several children, were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza. The Israeli military said it launched the strikes and response to militants opening fire on Israeli troops operating near its line with Hamas.

The strikes come as President Trump's ceasefire plan nears its second phase. More than 500 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire went into effect back in October. Wolf?

BLITZER: And happening now, the latest round of talks between Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S. just wrapped up for the day in Abu Dhabi. They come one day after Russia launched its largest attack on Ukraine so far this year. Missiles and drones struck at Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure just one week after the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, supposedly agreed to pause the attacks at the request of President Trump.

[10:25:02]

He clearly has not.

In a visit to Kyiv, the NATO chief, Mark Rutte, reaffirmed the alliance's commitments to Ukraine and said the latest round of attacks indicate Moscow is not serious about peace.

Let's go live right now to CNN Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen in Moscow for us. Fred, what are the sticky points? What do you know?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Wolf. Well, there still is an array of sticking points. One of the things that can certainly be seen as a positive potentially out of the talks that happen today is that both sides not only have now said that the talks have concluded but they've also said that the talks are going to continue tomorrow as well. This comes from the TASS news agency of Russia who says, quote, the talks will continue on February. Everyone agrees, meaning all three sides. Of course, these are trilateral talks now and not bilateral talks anymore.

One of the things that we've seen over the past couple of weeks is that both presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, of course, have worked very hard to make that this trilateral format now instead of talking only to the Ukrainians and only to the Russians, having everyone in the room together. And one of the things that we know, Wolf, is that they want to move from talking about major overarching issues to try and compartmentalize things, and, for instance, talk about some of the main sticking points, like security guarantees for the Ukrainians, but also, of course, first and foremost, territorial issues.

And that's what we're hearing is one of the biggest problems. The Russians, of course, want the Ukrainians to essentially withdraw from areas that they still hold, especially in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. That, for the Ukrainians, is something very difficult to do. Certainly, the Americans are trying to bridge that gap. And they hope that there is going to be substantial progress in the days ahead. Wolf?

BLITZER: We shall see. All right, Fred Pleitgen in Moscow, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. Just ahead, still no suspects. That's what law enforcement is saying this morning as the search continues for Nancy Guthrie. The new developments coming into The Situation Room.

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