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Nancy Guthrie's Son To Kidnapper: "We Want To Talk To You"; Growing Bipartisan Outrage After Trump Posts Racist Video; Body Cam Footage Shows FBI Searching GA Election Office. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired February 06, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:01:28]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, a man in court accused of sending a fake ransom note in connection with the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. Meanwhile, her son is speaking for the family, pleading for her return.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Trump Rx is up and running right now, promising big savings on some of America's most popular prescription drugs. But who can use the website? And how much could they actually wind up saving?

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.

Happening now, new details but no breakthrough in the very desperate search for Nancy Guthrie. Authorities say blood drops found on the porch match the 84-year-old mother of NBC's Savannah Guthrie. And a security camera by the front door is missing. We're also learning more about alleged ransom demands received by three outlets this week.

BROWN: The FBI says one of those included two deadlines. The first passed yesterday. The other is Monday. Her family, desperate for leads, makes another direct plea to anyone involved in her abduction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAMRON GUTHRIE, NANCY GUTHRIE'S SON: Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you. We haven't heard anything directly. We need you to reach out and we need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward. But first, we have to know that you have our mom. We want to talk to you and we are waiting for contact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: CNN's Ed Lavandera has been following the disappearance from the very start and joins us from Tucson, Arizona. Ed, a California man is due in court today charged with sending fake ransom demands to the Guthrie family. What more can you tell us?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, investigators say that this California man is facing multiple federal charges, was tracked down after the man sent several text messages to members of the Guthrie family after they had put out that first social media video that Savannah Guthrie and her two siblings did together. That was the first one. Investigators say they were able to track down the phone number to this man in California.

The man was asking if they had the Bitcoin ready and they say that this person was simply trying to, as an imposter and trying to take advantage of this tragedy. All of this coming as the family continues clearly to take these ransom demands seriously. We should clearly point out once again that it's not clear whether or not these ransom demands are in fact authentic, but the Guthrie family clearly taking them seriously, putting out several videos, trying to establish contact.

As far as we know, there has still not any contact been made. This is one of the notes we know says that there were multiple, according to the FBI special agent in charge here in Arizona, saying that there were multiple deadlines that were put in these ransom demands. One of them was yesterday, the second one being Monday.

But as far as we know, still no establishment. And the sheriff here says that they are still operating under the assumption that Nancy Guthrie is out there somewhere and alive. So they say that they are pinpointing their investigation into this area, the early morning hours between 1:45 and 2:30 a.m. And they're continuing to urge the public to call in any tip that they might have in this investigation. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Ed Lavandera, thanks so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. I want to continue this conversation with CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller. John, thanks for joining us. The family released a second direct plea to anyone involved in the abduction. How important is it to establish that kind of communication?

[11:05:11]

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, it's critical right now. You have someone who writes a letter, has some details that could be from the kidnapper. But you are not going to engage in a discussion about transmitting possibly millions of dollars in crypto to an individual who may not be the person who actually has her.

So the second message, Wolf, told us something, which is they hadn't made contact after the first message. And they're basically doubling down on the message, which is we need to talk for two reasons. We need to know that you are actually the person who has our mom, if you are. And if you are, that she's OK. And we need proof of that.

Now, if contact has been made because of those two pleas, then we're probably not going to hear anything. And if we do, we probably shouldn't report it. This would be a most critical phase when they actually engage in dialogue with the kidnapper or kidnappers. On the other hand, if there is no contact and this deadline approaches, these are very tough decisions they have to make.

And they may come out with another appeal to make contact so that they can facilitate this. Wolf, while we talk about this in the background, nothing stops. They're still getting leads. They're still getting tips. And they still have their own investigative avenues where they're learning a bit more each day as they as they dig into this. And all of those leads are being pursued. But the part we're seeing is this attempt to make contact.

BLITZER: You know, it's interesting. I want to play some video for you, John. As you can see in this video, the neighborhood is extremely dark with a lot of vegetation. Take us inside the neighborhood. How does that affect the possibility of collecting clues when it comes to things like doorbell cameras?

MILLER: Well, I mean, we have a savvy operator here on the part of the perpetrator in that one of the first things we know from the timeline that they did was remove the ring doorbell camera from the front door of the house.

FBI agents and the sheriff's people have been up and down that street and not just in the immediate area, all the way up and down that street looking for cars going by at the time of the incident. Which way did it come in? Did it go out the same way? But they've also gone back days to look at where there are cars going by that don't -- that aren't from the neighborhood that don't fit in there that might have been doing reconnaissance. A lot of work goes into this. And it started with the sheriff saying to people, we're going to get to each one of these houses. But start checking your own video for us.

BLITZER: All right, John Miller, thank you very much for that update. And to our viewers, this is very important. If you have any information at all, please reach out to the Pima County Sheriff's Department at 520-351-4900.

And right now, growing outrage from Democrats and even some Republicans after President Trump shared a racist video on social media depicting former President Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes, monkeys in a jungle.

BROWN: Moments ago, Trump ally, Tim Scott, the only black Republican currently serving in the Senate, called on the President to remove the post, writing, "It's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House."

Let's go live now to CNN's Kevin Liptak at the White House. Kevin, how is the administration responding to this post by the President?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, the White House is essentially trying to downplay it. But I think that response from Tim Scott is so interesting. You know, so often the reflexive move by the President's Republican allies in these kinds of situations is to essentially say that they hadn't seen what the President posted, to say that they were sort of begging off any response.

Tim Scott, of course, the only black Republican in the Senate, very much castigating the President here, saying that it was the most racist thing that he's ever seen out of this White House and saying that the President should remove it, so really not mincing any words whatsoever.

You know, this clip came at the end of a video that the President re- truthed. It was one of, you know, many, many re-truths that the President was putting out overnight. The video itself was not sort of this A.I. jungle depiction. It was a video propagating, you know, debunked claims that voting machines could have been infiltrated in the election.

This clip of the Obamas sort of appeared very suddenly at the end of the video, and it shows the former president and the former first lady, their faces superimposed on animated apes. What the White House has said, and this is from Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, is that this was from an Internet meme video depicting President Trump as the king of the jungle and Democrats as characters from "The Lion King."

[11:10:10]

Although we should note that the video that the president posted did not depict any other Democrats and did not depict the President. It was cut from that original video and put at the end of this voting machine video. She goes on to say, please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public. Wolf and Pam?

BROWN: Well, it clearly matters to Tim Scott.

BLITZER: To a lot of people, it's really disgusting.

BROWN: And, you know, exactly. And Tim Scott is an ally of this President. You rarely hear him speak out like this.

BLITZER: That's why we're not going to show the picture.

BROWN: No.

BLITZER: It's really terrible. And it's so racist. All right, Kevin Liptak at the White House. Thank you very, very much.

BROWN: Still ahead here in The Situation Room, new video shows the moment FBI agents took 700 boxes of data from an elections warehouse in Georgia. Now we're learning new details about the controversial search.

BLITZER: And Lindsey Vonn back on the slopes just days after rupturing her ACL. What we're learning right now about whether she will be good enough to go for the Olympic Games. Stay with us. Lots going on. You're in The Situation Room.

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[11:15:46] BROWN: Happening now, CNN has obtained body camera footage from the Fulton County Police Department showing the FBI, as you see, searching the Georgia elections office last week there in Fulton County. The video shows two men discussing the warrant for the search.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was first to report on this body camera footage. And earlier this week, Fulton County officials asked a federal court to return the 2020 election ballots that were seized during the operation. There has been no evidence of widespread fraud. But that hasn't stopped President Trump from repeatedly stating the election was stolen so many years on.

Joining us now is president and publisher of the Atlanta Journal- Constitution, Andrew Morse. Andrew also previously worked here at CNN. Andrew, it's really nice to see you. I want to start by just asking you about something that you wrote for the AJC in an op-ed. You said, "If it seems far more likely the result of this effort to overturn a free and fair election fails again to produce any evidence of fraud, it is time to say enough is enough. You can wear a MAGA hat and still stand up for one of the most sacred tenets of our democracy." What do you think the search signals for future elections, Andrew?

ANDREW MORSE, PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Well, good morning, Pam, and thanks for having me on. I think the concern here among people in Georgia, both Republicans and Democrats and lawmakers and election officials, is that the efforts now in this Fulton County raid, taking 700 boxes of ballots out and opening the wound once again, that the effort is less about 2020 than it is about 2026 and 2028.

And the real concern amid the backdrop of the President talking about nationalizing elections is that there's a provision here in Georgia, thanks to legislation that was passed, that enables the state election board to step in and usurp the Fulton County Election Board if the state board determines wrongdoing on the part of the county board. And the state board here is represented by three people who have expressed publicly support for the President and his views that the 2020 election was rigged. That's the concern.

BROWN: And weren't two of them at the search, Andrew?

MORSE: Yes, two of them were actually at the scene of the search. So, again, that's the concern here. This election has been looked at time and time again. The votes were recounted. They were audited. They were certified. They were approved by a Republican governor and secretary of state and attorney general. You know, Joe Biden won the 2020 election in Georgia and Donald Trump lost. And that has been litigated and relitigated. And yet the wound is being opened again.

BROWN: Tell us how leaders, both Republicans and Democrats in Georgia, are responding to this FBI operation.

MORSE: Well, look, with concern and circumspection, you know, local election officials have expressed concern with it. It's taken on, you know, it has a bit of an interesting twist to it in that some of the central players in the 2020 election decision are also now running for governor. So Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state who President Trump famously asked to find over 11,000 votes, he's running for governor in the Republican primary.

Attorney General Chris Carr also running in the Republican primary. Former Lieutenant Governor Jeff Duncan now running as a Democrat in the primary race for governor. So you're seeing the candidates trying to get their heads around the issue. And by the same token, everybody looking at Governor Kemp, who so far has not weighed into the issue.

BROWN: Walk our viewers through the significance of this area that's being targeted. Why Fulton County? And I'm just wondering, Andrew, what this moment means for you as a journalist and executive running the premier publication there in the area. Like, how important is this moment?

[11:20:01]

MORSE: Look, it's critically important for the AJC. It's critically important for voters in Georgia. It's critically important nationally. The AJC has been covering this story of the 2020 election since November 3rd, 2020. I mean, we've had a team of reporters and editors that have focused exclusively on the election itself, on the recounts, on some of the, you know, on all of the controversy related to it.

So when we heard rumblings of the potential raid, our reporters sprung into action. And what we've been doing in the week or two since is we've been pulling on every thread, our reporters and our editors and our columnists have been weighing in front page editorial expressing our view that we need to ensure free and fair elections. And I wrote a column about it as well. So it's a whole port press.

BROWN: Yes. Quickly, I want to turn to another story. Earlier this week, there were some major cuts at "The Washington Post." Of course, the owner is a billionaire, Jeff Bezos. You've also had to make tough decisions at the AJC. I mean, as we watch local news organizations shrink and the stakes of reporting are so high as you just laid out, what -- tell us what you're thinking.

MORSE: Well, look, it was a really hard week in journalism. My heart goes out to everybody who has impacted every reporter, every editor, every journalist at "The Washington Post." I grew up in Washington, and that's my hometown newspaper. I have a great, tremendous amount of just sadness and respect.

Look, the business is hard. And what we're trying to do at the AJC, same thing that CNN is working through, or "The New York Times," or "The Washington Post," every newsroom in the world, whether it's a global organization or a local organization, is trying to figure out how to invest in distinctive journalism and also deliver it to people in the most effective ways.

And while we said goodbye to some really wonderful people, and that's always hard, we have a clear plan and a clear strategy. And it all centers around our commitment to distinctive local journalism. So our effort on the Fulton County story is a perfect example. We're putting resources into the areas where we'll have the most impact, even if it means making difficult decisions elsewhere.

BROWN: All right, Andrew Morse, thank you so much.

MORSE: Thank you.

BROWN: Wolf?

BLITZER: And thanks for me as well.

Up next, key nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran have started in Oman. How threatening rhetoric from the President potentially could play at the negotiating table. We'll update you.

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[11:27:03]

BROWN: We have breaking news coming into The Situation Room. Rare talks today between the U.S. and Iran have wrapped up in Oman. Iran's state media said the negotiations concluded with a, "A willingness to continue on Iran's part."

Iran was pushing to keep the talks focused on a nuclear deal. The U.S. has a carrier strike group, the Abraham Lincoln, in the region. And President Trump has warned he may resort to military strikes if no agreement is reached.

Joining us now, Ambassador Dennis Ross. He's a former special assistant to President Obama and was a Middle East peace envoy. He's also the author of the very important recent book just out entitled "Statecraft 2.0: What America Needs to Lead in a Multipolar World."

Dennis, thanks so much for joining us. What's your assessment right now? Are these talks going to produce anything or is the U.S. likely to be in a war with Iran?

DENNIS ROSS, COUNSELOR, THE WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: You know, if I were to predict today that these talks were going to succeed, it wouldn't be something I would put a big store and I wouldn't make a major bet on it. Having said that, the fact that Iran wants to talk right now after how many the Supreme Leader has said they would not talk with us is an indication that they don't want a war.

They know they're weak and they want to see, if nothing else, they can play for time and find a way to avert a war, maybe concede something on the nuclear issue and try to forestall any other concessions on their part on any other issues.

BLITZER: So how seriously do you take President Trump's threat to attack Iran if they don't agree to a deal?

ROSS: I take it pretty seriously because he's not only amassed a very significant force in the area, but he's built expectations that he will do something if there's no agreement. So to build a set of expectations and then do nothing would damage his credibility on the world stage. It would be seen by everybody in the region and outside the region.

So I think, in fact, he will need to produce something from these talks to explain why he's not using force. That leverage on the Iranian increases the potential that you will get something, but what you have to get is not just on nuclear weapons. You have to get it on ballistic missiles. You have to get an end to their military support for their proxies, Hezbollah, who they're trying to rebuild, Hamas, the Houthis, even some of the militias within Iraq.

If you get something on that, then you're really beginning to change things in a much more favorable way.

BLITZER: As know, Dennis, Iran says its ballistic missile defense is, in their words, off the table of these talks. Why is that so important to each side?

ROSS: For them, they see it as a deterrent against threats to them because each of these missiles carries very large conventional warheads. We're talking about a ton to two ton warheads. So they see it as a way to threaten, but also to deter. We see it as a way of avoiding what is going to be another war.

[11:29:53]

The Israelis are not going to be wait -- they're not going to wait to be hit again. In the aftermath of October 7th, the Israelis have a new defense doctrine. It's called no surprises. If you think you're going to be hit and it's going to cause inflict great suffering and damage, you don't wait to be hit.