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The Situation Room

Bad Bunny Performs at Super Bowl Halftime Show; Seattle Seahawks Win Super Bowl; Trump Refuses to Apologize For Racist Video. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired February 09, 2026 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:01]

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: But what I find even more notable is just the mass response we heard from some of the president's fiercest allies, Republicans, people like Senator Tim Scott, Senator Roger Wicker. The list goes on.

And that is very rare. And I think it shows kind of just how big of a mistake they believed that this was. Now, the president for his part, despite many people on both sides of the aisle, again, many Republicans calling on Trump to apologize for having shared that video, he said that he didn't believe that he needed to because he said he didn't make a mistake.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I looked at the first part. And it was really about voter fraud and the machines, how crooked it is, how disgusting it is.

Then I gave it to the people. Generally, they'd look at the whole thing, but I guess somebody didn't.

QUESTION: Mr. President, a number of Republicans are calling on you to apologize for that post. Is that something you're going to do?

TRUMP: No, I didn't make a mistake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So you heard him there saying he didn't make a mistake. He doesn't think he needs to apologize.

I will say, though, from my conversations with people in that building behind me, Pamela, they said that the reason that the president ultimately or the White House team ultimately took it down was because so many senators and lawmakers, Republicans, had been calling Trump, telling him to please remove it.

And I do want to just give you -- I think there's been a lot of questions about the president's social media use, particularly his use with TRUTH Social, around all of this. And I can tell you, I know from extensive reporting I have done on this issue that Trump does post a lot by himself personally.

And, typically, late at night and early in the morning, especially those reposts, which we saw, this was one of several posts that he had reposted that night, those tend to be him who are doing it late at night. He also does have some staffers, though, people like Natalie Harp, one of his aides, as well as his deputy for staff, Dan Scavino.

They do have access to his TRUTH Social as well. The White House continues to maintain that this was a staffer who had erroneously share this, again, not wanting to apologize. But removing the post in itself was a pretty big deal, I think, for a White House that doesn't like to admit mistakes -- Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: If this was a staffer, I mean, why isn't the White House identifying who this was?

TREENE: Yes, I think they're trying to protect whoever that may be. And there's a lot of questions around this. I think a lot of people still need some answers into exactly how this happened and how this was posted, especially given, of course, just how blatantly racist that post was.

BROWN: Yes. And, of course, President Trump is not known for apologizing for mistakes.

Alayna Treene live for us at the White House, thanks so much.

I guess that was an understatement of the century, right?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Yes. He doesn't apologize.

BROWN: He doesn't.

BLITZER: All right, just ahead, we're standing by to hear from the new Super Bowl champs after defeating the Patriots last night. What the Seahawks' head coach and MVP are now saying about that historic team win.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:37:20]

BLITZER: We have breaking news.

The Seattle Seahawks coach, Mike Macdonald, and the Super Bowl MVP running back, Kenneth Walker III, are expected to make an appearance soon following Seattle's dominant win over the New England Patriots.

Let's go live right now to see that sports anchor Andy Scholes, who's in San Francisco for us.

Andy, not the greatest game, but Seahawks fans and players won't care.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes. Yes, certainly not, Wolf, right? But Super Bowl LX, it probably wasn't for you unless you love dominant defense performances or you're from the city of Seattle, because what a night it was if you are a Seahawks fan. The defense definitely the story of Super Bowl 60, but when it comes to the story of this season, it ends up being the story of quarterback Sam Darnold.

He threw for a 202 yards and a touchdown in Super Bowl 60, but with the win, he completes just one of the best comebacks in NFL history. He was once considered a bust, but he never gave up, just kept grinding, the Seahawks his fifth team, and now he's a Super Bowl champion.

I caught this special moment Darnold was sharing with his family on the field as he completed his epic comeback journey. And he always said through it all it was his family that got him through it.

Now, Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald, meanwhile, just painted a defensive masterpiece in Super Bowl 60. And at 38 years old, he's now the third youngest coach to ever win a Super Bowl. And he did it in just his second season in charge in Seattle.

And he joined me and Elex Michaelson on the field after the game. And I asked him just what made this Seahawks team so special.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE MACDONALD, HEAD COACH, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS: Man, it's just been such a special group, so much fun. Really proud of them. It's just incredible. I'm just so happy for the guy, because you realize what they do every day and the amount of work that it takes to get to this point. And, man, it's just incredible.

SCHOLES: And, Coach, you're only 38 years old for all the people watching that don't know that, the third youngest coach...

(CROSSTALK)

MACDONALD: Making me feel...

(CROSSTALK)

SCHOLES: Yes, third youngest coach to ever win a Super Bowl. I mean, when you were on the Ravens staff and getting promotions and make it to defensive coordinator, and then here, did you think you were able to be able to do this so fast?

MACDONALD: No, it's hard to have expectations. And I think what we did -- did a great job was to say, look, we had a vision of what we wanted to create, and we just went to work. And there's some things that didn't go our way sometimes, and we had a lot of support to help us.

And you learn along the way. And you just keep growing, get around the right people. And this is the type of stuff you can do. So it's pretty awesome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes, and, Wolf, you talk to a lot of players, throughout the week and after the game, and they all just rave about Coach Macdonald. They all love playing for him so much.

[11:40:02]

And whatever he's saying, clearly working, Wolf, because not only was his defense the best. He's now a Super Bowl champ.

BLITZER: He certainly is.

Andy, I know you also caught up with some of the other players on the field after the game. What did they say?

SCHOLES: Yes.

Well, Wolf, there's nothing quite like the feeling of winning a Super Bowl. So everyone is just in the best mood. We had guys smoking cigars, guys playing with their kids. Here's a little bit of what we were able to gather on the field after the game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: One touchdown reception in the game, you got it right here in the quarter of this end zone. How did that feel?

A.J. BARNER, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS: When you prepare and your opportunity comes, I think you just make the play. And that's what I did.

JARRAN REED, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS: It's been a long road for me, man. You know, going from Hargrave Military Academy to East Mississippi to Alabama and 10 years into league. Man, look, it's something we dreamed about, man. Look, my family is right here, my mom, my brother.

(CROSSTALK)

REED: Yes, they're -- all right, man. Come on. Look at them.

SCHOLES: How proud are you of that? How proud?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very proud.

CONNOR O'TOOLE, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS: Well, it's a victory cigar, victory cigar.

(CROSSTALK)

SCHOLES: I don't know if you're allowed to smoke on the field, but you are if you win the Super Bowl.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN HOST: How does that mean?

O'TOOLE: Man, it feels was great. No better feeling than that.

SCHOLES: We have got some scenes for what's going on right now in Seattle. How big do you think the party's going to be there?

GEORGE HOLANI, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS: Oh, yes. Shout out to 12. We're bringing the Lombardi back. It's going to be exciting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes, and, Wolf, just got word that the victory parade is going to be Wednesday in Seattle. And you know that's going to be a party as they celebrate their second Super Bowl title.

BLITZER: Andy Scholes in San Francisco.

Andy, thanks very, very much -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right, coming up here in THE SITUATION ROOM:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAD BUNNY, MUSICIAN: God bless, America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Bad Bunny serving Latin culture and a lot of love at his historic Super Bowl halftime show.

We're going to unpack the cameos, stunts and powerful messages you might have missed up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:46:06]

BROWN: While the Seattle Seahawks won the big game last night, some viewers declared Bad Bunny as Sunday night's winner.

In fact, a lot of viewers did. The Puerto Rican superstar brought the island culture onto the field in an electrifying show rich with symbolism, dancing, even a real wedding, apparently. His unifying message expanded God bless America to include all countries in the region from Chile to Canada.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAD BUNNY: God bless, America, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba, Republica Dominicana, Haiti, Jamaica, Antilles, United States, Canada (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) Puerto Rico.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: I'm here with Lulu, who was just shaken to it, right, of course, CNN contributor, "New York Times," journalist and podcast host, also co-creator and co-host of NPR's show "Alt.Latino" Felix Contreras.

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: We're about to dance. We're going to do a...

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: I know.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: There was some dancing happening, watching that. And I think you were probably doing the same when you were watching the real deal. What was going through your mind as you were watching this last night?

FELIX CONTRERAS, CO-CREATOR AND CO-HOST, "ALT.LATINO": You know, I think you have to view it on a couple of different levels.

The first of all was that it was a high water mark, a historic expression of Latino culture, when you consider the size of the audience, when you consider the context, the messages, which was basically the history of Latin America told through the history of Puerto Rico, and the lesson from that history about how despite all the tragedy, there's still the celebration of life and joy through music.

And the other thing to look at is the entertainment, the showbiz value of it, right? I'm a music geek. I'm a music geek of a certain age, OK? And I -- Prince, Springsteen, James Brown, Celia Cruz, I have seen them all. And they all have this certain it, this intangible, this ability to connect to their fans and their audiences at almost an existential level.

And Bad Bunny has that in droves, man. And, yes, we saw that last night.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, what was so incredible about it is that it was an invitation, right? It was an invitation into Latino culture. It was into an invitation into our homes. It was into our bodegas, into our weddings, into our living rooms, right?

You got to see this beautiful expression of what it means, not only to be Puerto Rican, but to be Hispanic and Latino in our culture. And it's funny.

From the ladies in the green room here who are Hispanic, who are talking to me about how they were crying, to my family WhatsApp group, to my friends, we all found this to be a beautiful, empowering expression, an invitation to people to not look at us as other, but to look at us as part of the United States, as part of the Americas, as part of this beautiful culture that makes us all unique.

BROWN: There was this really sweet moment when he walks up to a family watching TV -- and hopefully we can show that moment here on the screen. And he hands -- here we go -- and he hands his Grammy that he just got last week to this little boy right here.

The Internet thought the boy was Liam Ramos...

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yes. BROWN: ... who was taken into ICE custody with his father, but CNN

has learned the moment was meant to symbolize his younger self getting the statuette. A powerful scene either way.

CONTRERAS: Yes.

And it speaks to both the past and the present and the future. That little boy was the future of Latin America, future of Puerto Rico. It's like, OK, this is what's possible. Like, he was coming from the same background, coming from a working-class neighborhood, and achieving the kind of things that he's achieved simply -- strictly on skill and everything that goes along with it.

But that -- it was symbolized right there in that moment. It was very touching.

BROWN: And there were some other stars that were included in this. I wonder what you thought about that. There was Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin who made appearances. What were your thoughts on that?

[11:50:02]

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, when Ricky Martin showed up, I have got to tell you, it's like boo, hoo, hoo, because, again, he is just someone who is very much beloved.

But the song that he was singing is actually a very political song in a way. It's about the history of Hawaii and it is about not making Puerto Rico into Hawaii, this idea of losing your culture, losing your identity, losing your language, having it being taken away.

And so to have him sing that song was a really powerful moment. Lady Gaga, again, this wasn't handed over to Lady Gaga. It was an invitation for Lady Gaga to partake of Bad Bunny's culture. What was she doing there? She was singing a Hispanicized version of her own song. She was dancing salsa.

BROWN: Right.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: It was beautiful.

BROWN: And we have this wedding right here, apparently. This was an actual wedding on the field, tying to the underlying theme of love being stronger than hate.

Wow. Can you imagine what it was like for that couple getting married on the Super Bowl halftime show stage?

CONTRERAS: No words, right?

I mean, like, that's a story for the ages, definitely.

BROWN: Yes, and Lady Gaga's right there singing. I mean, seriously?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yes, it was like they actually got married. But I saw the funniest comment on that. I saw it, like, props to that lady who I'm sure had second thoughts when Bad Bunny was there, going, is it too late? Maybe I can get Bad Bunny, instead of my husband.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

GARCIA-NAVARRO: ... looks really happy, so I'm glad she stuck with him.

BROWN: I also, of course, when you get your reaction to President Trump and what he said. He was not shy with his critique, calling it one of the worst halftime performances ever.

He said -- quote -- "Nobody understands a word this guy is saying." But of course, census data paints a different picture. Around 42 million people in the U.S. speak Spanish at home, about 20 percent of the population. And by 2060, the U.S. could be the second largest community for Spanish speakers worldwide.

What is your response to comments like that and, also, the counterprogramming with Kid Rock, where around six million people, according to "The New York Times," streamed during the same time?

CONTRERAS: I think that it was significant that it was strictly in Spanish, except for those few moments when it wasn't, especially when you consider the context where even the Supreme Court has ruled that it's OK to pull people aside because they do speak Spanish and with the whole immigration roundup and stuff.

So it was a very, very strong statement that, yes, we're going to do it all in Spanish. And I think that it was -- it was his way of answering the moment that we're in right now.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And I personally think it was a very sad response to a show by an American citizen and a group of people who are part of this country.

And I also think it just showed that he wants to expand what America first actually means to include every country in the Americas, to include Mexico, Canada, to Chile. That was his invitation at the end. It wasn't us alone. It was us together. And I think that, again, while not an explicit political statement, is certainly understood by everyone who was watching that at that particular moment.

BROWN: A statement of unity. All right, Lulu Garcia...

BLITZER: We all learned a lot about Bad Bunny, but we also -- more importantly, I think, we all learned a lot more about Puerto Rico.

BROWN: Yes.

BLITZER: Beautiful place, indeed.

BROWN: Certainly. GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yes.

CONTRERAS: Yes.

BROWN: All right, thank you so much, Lulu Garcia-Navarro, Felix Contreras. We appreciate it.

BLITZER: And an important note.

The Super Bowl wasn't the only big game yesterday. Sunday also marked the 22nd annual Puppy Bowl, arguably the most positively adorable competition in all of sports. Team Fluff fetched the Lombarky Trophy, barely beating out Team Ruff 73-69 for the win.

Talk about a paw-biter.

BROWN: Well, we had some very special pups in THE SITUATION ROOM last week to help promote that Puppy Bowl and, more importantly, to raise awareness about why it's important to adopt when it comes to our furry friends.

I have always been a dog lover. And as you can see, that adorable puppy in my arms completely stole my heart, and she fell asleep.

And I have a bit of breaking news to share today. We have a new SITUATION ROOM mascot I am such a softy, I volunteered to foster her and then quickly became a foster fail. Her name is -- her formal name is Lucine (ph), but we call her Lucy Blitz Brown.

And she was just too cute to leave behind, so right after the show, I brought her home. Lucy is adjusting well and enjoying her new family. She's very curious about my 5-year-old Lab, Bingo, although Bingo is still warming up to her and went on a short-lived hunger strike, but he's a good boy. I think he will come around. He loves dogs.

But any tips on speeding up that relationship, they're welcome. As for my family, we're all smitten. Lucy's doing great. She's with the kids, the three kids, is a perfect fit for our family. And so far her favorite hobby seems to be sleeping, truly a girl after my own heart.

So, if you're looking to add a furry friend to your family, please consider adopting. According to a new report from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, an estimated 5.8 million cats and dogs entered shelters and rescues across the country in 2025.

[11:55:01]

A lot of them are down south in America. About 4.2 million of them were adopted, which is great. But that still means millions of animals just like little Lucy here are still looking for their forever homes. And you can go to my Instagram @PamelaBrownCNN for more information on how to adopt.

And check out, by the way, Operation Paws for Homes -- that's where I adopted her -- if you're in the DMV area to find your very own Lucy. Several of her siblings, I just checked this morning, they're still available for adoption, Wolf Blitzer.

BLITZER: I know. And I love the name, Lucy Blitz Brown.

BROWN: Lucy Blitz Brown, in honor of you.

BLITZER: And you.

BROWN: I feel like I just did a birth announcement here. But...

(LAUGHTER)

BLITZER: And the kids like Lucy.

BROWN: Oh, yes, she's been great with them.

BLITZER: Yes.

BROWN: And I know I'm a little bit crazy, but, you know...

BLITZER: You're not crazy.

BROWN: We have a mascot, so...

BLITZER: Good work.

And, to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning.

BROWN: "INSIDE POLITICS" with our friend and colleague Dana Bash starts after a short break.