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The Situation Room

'Washington Post' Layoffs; Interview With Sen. Mark Warner (D- VA); Trump Holds Phone Call With Chinese President; Search Continues For Mother of Savannah Guthrie. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired February 04, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And whistle-blower warning. There's a new complaint accusing National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard of wrongdoing. She says it's bogus, but some lawmakers say they're very concerned.

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.

We begin this hour with new details in the intensifying search for the mother of "Today Show" anchor Savannah Guthrie, a source now telling CNN that Nancy Guthrie's pacemaker last sent a signal to her cell phone very early on Sunday morning. She was last seen on Saturday night at her home outside Tucson, Arizona.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: The Pima County sheriff says authorities believe she was taken from her home against her will. At least two alleged ransom notes have been reportedly received by TMZ and a local TV station.

Let's go live now to CNN senior national correspondent Ed Lavandera.

In Tucson, Ed, what more do we know about this pacemaker signal received on Nancy Guthrie's iPhone and what that could mean?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All right, we will walk you through some of these details.

But a source tells CNN that this pace -- her pacemaker synced up with her iPhone. And that iPhone was discovered here in her home in this Tucson neighborhood. But what exactly that means for the timeline or what she was going through at that moment isn't clear at this time.

And you also mentioned this news of possible ransom notes that several media outlets have received. The trouble with that right now is that we just do not know or have any indication about whether or not these are authentic. The sheriff's department here in Tucson says they have received them.

One of them has been shared with the Guthrie family, but that they are treating this like any other piece of evidence, taking it seriously, but trying to weed out whether or not this is authentic in any way. And that's simply something that we do not know.

But we are now entering the fourth day of this search for Nancy Guthrie. The mystery surrounding all of this continues to deepen. Investigators here continue asking the public for any kind of help, either with video or photos or any kind of tip that could lead to information that leads them to finding where Nancy Guthrie is, because the mystery surrounding all of this just continues to deepen as we get longer and longer away from the days that she was discovered missing -- Pamela.

BROWN: Yes, and anything else we know about these reported ransom notes received by the news organizations? I know law enforcement is saying, look, they're taking all tips seriously, but my understanding at last check was that they haven't been fully verified yet, correct?

LAVANDERA: Yes, we just -- that's the trouble with this. They get sent purportedly through various media outlets. We do know that TMZ said that they shared the note with investigators here.

But investigators at this point and leading up to the revelation of these notes, it has been a question that we have been asking investigators, that if this -- whether or not this could be some sort of ransom or kidnapping situation. All along, investigators have not ruled it out, but they haven't said that that is something that is happening either.

And that really kind of speaks to the confusion and the mystery around all of this, because there is just -- there are just so few answers. But, at this moment, from what we have, we don't have any indication that these are truly authentic and legitimate notes that are being -- that are of really true investigative value.

At this point, we don't have any indication to suggest that that's what's happening here.

BROWN: All right, I know you will stay on top of it. Ed Lavandera, thank you so much.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the Pima County Sheriff's Department. That's at 520-351-4900 -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Let's hope they get some good information.

There's breaking news coming in from the White House right now. That's where President Trump says he has just finished what he called an excellent conversation, his words, an excellent conversation with China's President Xi Jinping.

Let's go live right now to our senior White House reporter, Kevin Liptak.

Kevin, what more is the president saying about this conversation with Xi Jinping?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, he's calling it a long and thorough phone call. Always significant when the leaders of the U.S. and China get on the

phone, the world's two largest economies, probably the most important bilateral relationship in the entire world. They last spoke in late November, so it had been a couple of months before they got on the line again.

And the president is listing quite a number of topics that they were able to discuss, including very contentious ones, like Taiwan, the trade relationship between the U.S. and China, but also issues that aren't directly related to ties between Washington and Beijing, all of these other geopolitical issues that the president is contending with, including, as he says, the current situation in Iran.

[11:05:12]

Of course, we expect talks between the U.S. and Iran to proceed at the end of this week. We also understand, according to President Trump, that he discussed the war between Russia and Ukraine with President Xi today. And that's significant because, in the hours before this phone call took place, President Xi was on the phone with Vladimir Putin.

And what the Kremlin said is that Putin was informed that this call between Xi and Trump would proceed today as well. The other thing that the president mentioned in this readout was that China would potentially discuss purchasing oil and gas from the United States.

Of course, China is one of the world's top purchasers of Russian oil, which is something that the president has been working sort of country by country to wean them off of their purchases of oil products from Moscow, and so clearly an important discussion proceeded there.

The president says that:"The relationship with China and my personal relationship with President Xi is an extremely good one, and we both realize how important it is to keep it that way."

We should note, Wolf, that the president is expected to travel to China in April for a state visit. That was among the points of discussion in the phone call today. But, clearly, that will be a very, very critical trip for the president as he works to stabilize this relationship between the U.S. and China.

BLITZER: Really critical developments.

Kevin Liptak at the White House, thank you very, very much -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right, Wolf, still ahead here in THE SITUATION ROOM: new body camera video from inside a Georgia election office where the FBI seized hundreds of boxes of voter records just last week.

Up next, we will talk with Democratic Senator Mark Warner, who says he's worried this is part of a broader effort to interfere with elections.

BLITZER: And back in court. What President Trump's lawyers are now asking a judge to do, as he continues to fight his hush money conviction. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:11:53]

BLITZER: Happening now: President Trump is doubling down on his very controversial calls for Republicans to -- quote -- "nationalize elections" in the United States, telling reporters, if states can't run elections, the federal government should step in.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to see elections be honest.

And if a state can't run an election, I think the people behind me should do something about it, because if you think about it, a state is an agent for the federal government in elections. I don't know why the federal government doesn't do them anyway.

Go to 2020, and look at the facts that are coming out, rigged, crooked elections. If we have areas -- take a look at Detroit. Take a look at Pennsylvania. Take a look at Philadelphia. You go take a look at Atlanta. Look at some of the places that -- horrible corruption on elections.

And the federal government should not allow that. The federal government should get involved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We should note that the people behind him were members of Congress.

We should also note the president's claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election have repeatedly been debunked and proven to be false.

I want to discuss what's going on, this and other important issues, with Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia. He's the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

What's your reaction to what we just heard from the president about nationalizing all these elections?

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): Well, if it's beyond wacky. The Constitution makes very clear that elections are the responsibility of the state and local government.

And, matter of fact, historically, any time there's even an effort to increase security, for example, in elections in 2020 by Trump's own CISA agency, cybersecurity agency, Republican jurisdictions fought back, saying, over my gosh, we don't want the feds anywhere around here.

So this is a guy that's obsessed about the fact that he lost in 2020, he lost Georgia. It's bordering on the bizarre that we're six years later and he's still obsessed about this. But what I tell you it says to me, Wolf -- and I have to acknowledge, a year ago, when people said, hey, do you think we ought to be concerned directly about the safety of '26 and '28 elections, and I thought maybe that's an overstatement. We have got enough guardrails in place.

But I don't believe that in. I think we have seen the dismantling by this administration of the Foreign Malign Influence Center, the FBI, the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, who I get to, is -- who shouldn't be anywhere near this criminal domestic investigation in Georgia, the cutbacks at the Cybersecurity Agency.

And the concerns that I have is, whether it's an ICE patrol, whether it's his efforts to use the Insurrection Act, or God knows whatever else. Donald Trump, I think, has an intent on trying to interfere in the '26 and '28 elections.

And I think it could come in primary elections. It could come in a state like mine, where we may have a statewide referendum on redistricting. And I have got a lot of things on my plate to try to do to make sure that we raise the alarm and make sure that we get pushback.

[11:15:02]

Luckily, John Thune said Trump was not accurate or appropriate about federalization, but this is a guy with no guardrails.

BLITZER: That would be a violation of the U.S. Constitution as well.

I know there are a lot of voices in your Democratic Party right now that are really concerned that the federal government could actually try to intrude in this year's midterm elections. Are you worried about that?

WARNER: Yes, I am, Wolf.

I mean, a year ago, I wasn't. Even six months ago, I was getting more concerned. But now I am. And, again, I keep asking, when are my Republican friends going to find a backbone and a spine to actually follow the law or honor the Constitution? We saw a little bit of that a week ago when folks acknowledged that ICE has run amuck at this point and we have to put some guardrails.

We will see if that moves into anything. But I think what I have got to do is continue to stay on top of those agencies, particularly on the intelligence community, whose job, the intelligence agencies are looking at foreign influence, not at American domestic interference.

That is mostly due to the FBI. And we have seen Kash Patel basically decimate the leadership of the FBI, to the point that that raid that was made last week in Fulton County in Georgia on the ballots, the FBI agent in charge of that office got fired because I don't believe he felt this was legal.

And then to have a few days later the director of national intelligence, who showed up at that domestic criminal investigation where she had no right to be there, suddenly gets the president of the United States on the phone with the frontline FBI agents who are working on that case.

I know Trump doesn't know the law, but wasn't there anybody in the White House counsel that said, Mr. President, you shouldn't be talking to FBI agents on the front line of what is supposedly a domestic criminal investigation?

But this is a guy without rails. This is a guy that's being enhanced by a rogue DNI who's way over skis in terms of knowledge or competency. And I think we all got to really raise our game to protect basic democracy in this country.

BLITZER: And I want to follow up on this important issue, because, last week, the FBI, as you correctly point out, raided an elections office in Georgia, seizing truckloads, not just boxes, but truckloads of ballots from the 2020 presidential election.

"The Atlanta Journal-Constitution" obtained new body camera footage from local police officers on the scene during that raid showing just how chaotic the search was. And I want you and our viewers to watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's happening now is that their warrant is wrong. It had the wrong -- it's not in elections' possession. It's in clerks' possession. So it had the wrong department.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The warrant will be amended slightly, but, for all intents and purposes, what they had is what it's going to look like. We wanted to let her facilitate us moving through the building to unlock the gates so that we don't have to breach it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Republicans and the White House insist there's nothing wrong or illegal about conducting an investigation into results of the 2020 election.

What's your response to that?

WARNER: I'm not sure, on national TV, I can say, other than the fact that baloney would be an understatement.

The 2020 elections, and particularly in Georgia, had been litigated, recounted, tabulated, scrutinized. There has been no evidence. And now we're six-plus years later and there's this obsession, and it is so chaotic, that, my understanding, they didn't even bring the right warrant. So this is an FBI that I fear is being overtly used for political

purposes by a president who's obsessed about his loss, who may use that loss in 2020 as a rationale to try to take away America's right to have a free and fair election in 2026.

That is as dramatic and as important a threat as anything that's going on, on the international front around the world.

BLITZER: Before I let you go, Senator, I want you to talk a little bit about the increasing tensions between the U.S. and Iran right now. The U.S. military yesterday said it shot down an Iranian drone headed toward the U.S. aircraft carrier the USS Abraham Lincoln.

It's a battle group in the Arabian Sea right now, not too far away from Iran. How close is the United States right now -- put your hat on as the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee. How close is the U.S. right now to war with Iran?

WARNER: Well, Wolf, there's going to be negotiations this week between America and Iran about trying to lower the tensions.

[11:20:01]

And, believe you me, if there was any way we could get rid of the Iranian regime, that would be better for the Iranian people and it would be better for the world. But the chaotic approach of Donald Trump -- let's play this out.

Two weeks ago, when the Iranian people were on the street, mass protests, and Donald Trump said, don't worry, we got your back, we're going to intervene, he hadn't notified Congress, but one of the reasons why he couldn't intervene is that the aircraft carrier that was usually there was off the coast of Venezuela trying to blockade Venezuelan oil.

And any action against Iran a couple of weeks ago when the protests were on the street, when the time might have been right, a normal president would have been using that time to rally support from the Europeans to put pressure on as well. But he couldn't rally support from the Europeans because he was off on another tangent on NATO and potentially breaking up NATO with his threats against Greenland.

All of these issues are interrelated. This chaotic approach makes America less safe. It makes our ability to put real pressure on the awful Iranian regime cut back. And I really fear that he could now stumble into a conflict without a real plan.

BLITZER: Yes, let's not forget that Iranian regime killed thousands of Iranians, almost all of them Muslims. It was a brutal, brutal situation, the protesters on the streets of Tehran and other cities in Iran.

Senator Mark Warner, thanks so much for joining us.

WARNER: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Pamela.

BROWN: Up next here in THE SITUATION ROOM, Wolf: Massive layoffs are hitting "The Washington Post," with the paper set to lose a third of its staff.

We will talk with longtime contributor Sally Quinn about the impact on journalism and the rest of the media.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:26:26]

BROWN: We are following the breaking news.

"The Washington Post" says it is laying off a third of its staff. This has been expected for weeks, especially after the paper decided not to send reporters to the Winter Olympics, but later changed course. Sources tell CNN the restructuring, as they call it, includes shutting down almost the entire sports section and canceling the daily "Post Reports" podcast.

The paper's metro desk is also being restructured and there are plans to shrink the paper's international coverage.

Joining us now to discuss is Sally Quinn, a "Washington Post" contributor and founder and editor of "On Faith," also longtime "Washington Post" columnist and the spouse of the late legendary Ben Bradlee, who was executive editor of the paper for many years, including during Watergate.

Sally, what is your reaction to these layoffs?

SALLY QUINN, CONTRIBUTOR, "THE WASHINGTON POST": I think the only word I can say is grief. Everybody is in a state of grief. It's really like -- in the last year, it's just been one funeral after the other. We have had nothing but going-away parties, people being laid off, people being -- taking the buyout, people just quitting.

And it's just tragic what's happening to "The Washington Post." And I don't -- there's nobody who doesn't feel that way. It's not just me, it's not just the people at "The Post," but it's everybody in journalism. My colleagues at "The New York Times" are just as upset as anybody, because they don't -- they don't want to see journalism dying, and they certainly don't want to see "The Washington Post" dying.

"The Washington Post" is an institution, just like "The New York Times." And the idea of having the paper just wither away is just so sad. And given what else is going on in the country, it's sort of a double whammy. So there's a sort of double sense of grief going on in this community, particularly in the journalism community.

BROWN: Why does it matter beyond just the journalism community? Because, obviously, we care about it. I know Wolf and I, we were talking about this. We care deeply. But why is it a bigger issue for the American public, in your view? QUINN: Well, we're talking about freedom of the press and freedom of

speech and knowledge. Knowledge is power.

And if you can't be educated and informed, you can't be a good citizen. And we have a situation now where we really need a lot of good citizens. We need people who are educated and informed. And a lot of places, news outlets, you don't find the truth. You find lies and all kinds of conspiracy theories.

And so it's really important to have a news organization that you can trust. And "The Washington Post" has always been a news organization you could trust. And you can now, because the news side of the newspaper is fantastic.

I mean, the editorial side, that -- and the reporting is fantastic right now. And given the fact that we have lost so many great reporters, I mean, over 100 fabulous reporters, we still are putting out a great product.

And it's -- I just can't tell you how fantastic the people who are left are still -- what kind of job they're doing, because, given all the cuts and the layoffs and the budgets and everything else, they're really doing their best job.

And so I think this is so important for the American people to have access to the news and the fact so that they can make informed judgments when they get ready to vote.

BROWN: Well, Jeff Bezos, a billionaire, is doing this apparently to increase profitability as the justification for this.