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The Situation Room

Soon, Immigration Officials Testify Ahead of DHS Funding Deadline; Savannah Guthrie's Plea for Help in an Hour of Desperation; Commerce Secretary Lutnick Pressed on His Appearance in Epstein Files. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired February 10, 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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[10:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, the acting ICE director under pressure on Capitol Hill amid bipartisan criticism.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And the desperate search for Nancy Guthrie stretches into a second week. Hear the new plea just released from her family.

We want to welcome 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 this hour with the breaking news. Lawmakers will hear from the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, in a highly anticipated appearance on Capitol Hill any moment now. The acting ICE director, Todd Lyons, will testify before the powerful House Homeland Security Committee, which oversees the Department of Homeland Security.

BROWN: We expect Lyons joined by other top officials to face some tough questions about the Trump administration's nationwide immigration crackdown, and we also anticipate he'll be pressed on the two fatal shootings of American citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Goode by federal agents in Minneapolis during immigration enforcement operations.

BLITZER: This amid an escalating showdown among Democrats, the White House, and Republicans over funding for the Department of Homeland Security. The agency is set to run out of money in just a few days.

BROWN: Democrats are demanding significant reforms to how immigration agents operate, like banning masks and requiring judicial warrants to enter private property.

BLITZER: Let's go live right now to CNN Congressional Correspondent Lauren Fox up on Capitol Hill. Lauren, set the scene for us. What are you hearing from lawmakers about Lyons' appearance and what this could all mean for the Department of Homeland Security funding debate?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. Obviously, this hearing has been in the works for several weeks. In fact, the chairman, Andrew Garbarino, was among the first on Capitol Hill to call for ICE and CBP officials to come and testify in the wake of the shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

But, you know, one key thing to be watching for is how Republicans strike that middle ground between asking ICE and CBP to please explain their actions in Minneapolis and other cities across the country, while also making sure that they are not crossing a line with the president and the White House when it comes to the administration's top priority on immigration. So, that is the fine line that you're going to see Republicans walking in this hearing.

And as you noted, this all comes amidst the backdrop of a huge funding fight on Capitol Hill. Right now, you have Republicans and the White House on one side fighting against Democrats who are pushing for some of these significant reforms that they say they need in order to get behind another funding bill. Funding lapses for the Department of Homeland Security Friday at midnight. Already, you have folks saying that they're going to need more time, and you have some Democrats who are really digging in, saying that they are not willing to vote for even a short-term funding bill at this point unless they see significant negotiations over some of these key sticking points.

Now, it's really interesting because yesterday we saw that the White House sent a counteroffer over to the Senate Democrats. Although last night, around 11:00 P.M., you saw Senate Democrats as well as House Democrats in a united statement from leadership saying that they are opposed at this point to what the White House sent over because there's just not enough detail in the White House's counterargument. So, you see a lot of this back and forth and meanwhile just a couple of days until funding runs out. Wolf?

BROWN: All right. Lauren Fox, thanks so much.

BLITZER: And thanks for me as well.

Meanwhile, a new plea is issued and an ominous deadline passes as the search for Nancy Guthrie now enters its tenth day. The FBI is dispatching investigators from across the country to help in the search for the 84-year-old.

[10:05:03]

BROWN: Investigators still have no suspect. A purported ransom note demanded $6 million by 5:00 P.M. yesterday and threatened her life that the deadline wasn't met. NBC's Savannah Guthrie made no mention of that as she shifted the focus to the public, begged for any help and finding her mom, any tip that could come in. This is the family's latest message in its entirety.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, NANCY GUTHRIE'S DAUGHTER: Hi there, everybody. I wanted to come on and just share a few thoughts as we enter into another week of this nightmare. I just want to say, first of all, thank you so much for all of the prayers and the love that we have felt, my sister and brother and I, and that our mom has felt, because we believe that somehow, someway, she is feeling these prayers and that God is lifting her even in this moment and in this darkest place. We believe our mom is still out there. We need your help.

Law enforcement is working tirelessly around the clock, trying to bring her home, trying to find her. She was taken and we don't know where, and we need your help.

So, I'm coming on just to ask you not just for your prayers but no matter where you are, even if you're far from Tucson, if you see anything, you hear anything, if there's anything at all that seems strange to you, that you report to law enforcement. We are at an hour of desperation and we need your help.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: An hour of desperation.

Let's go live now to CNN's Ed Lavandera and Tucson, Arizona. Ed, what more are you learning this morning?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first you got to acknowledge that it's so difficult to hear Savannah Guthrie talk about the desperation of their family is feeling in this tenth day of this investigation, the search for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie. But it's interesting that we also around just shortly after Savannah put out that video, we heard from FBI authorities saying that they had not, they do not, or not aware of any further communication between the writer of the alleged ransom notes and the Guthrie family. So, we still try to kind of monitor and kind of figure out where this aspect of the story is headed now.

But we also know that investigators here in Tucson tell us that they're going to continue coming out to the neighborhood where Nancy Guthrie lives, resume searching around here. We know that searching and leads are taking them to other parts of the city as well. And there's also been a push to expand just beyond Tucson, and Savannah Guthrie alluded to that in her video message, as they've put out billboards across the southwest, from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California as well, expanding the search to get people to be aware of their surroundings.

Maybe they see something strange, maybe they see something out of the ordinary and that could lead them to Nancy Guthrie. But they continue to do that work here in Tucson as well following all the leads, we have seen investigators coming back to this neighborhood, re- canvassing the area, talking to neighbors over and over again about whether or not they might have seen anything suspicious of a vehicle or a person. All of that work continues.

But the bottom line, Pamela and Wolf, is the authorities still say that they do not have a suspect or a person of interest at this time.

BROWN: Just awful. Ed Lavandera, thank you so much. And, again, if you have any information that could help investigators, no matter how small you think it might be, please call the numbers on your screen. The FBI tip line is 1-800-CALL-FBI, and the Pima County Sheriff's Department at (520) 351-4900. Wolf?

BLITZER: So important. Even if you think it's not important, it potentially could be very important.

BROWN: Any little thing.

BLITZER: And still ahead, we're waiting to hear from the acting ICE director and other top immigration officials as they testify up on Capitol Hill. We're going to bring it to you live when it happens.

Stay with us, lots going on right here in The Situation Room.

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[10:10:10]

BROWN: Breaking news, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is on Capitol Hill right now answering questions about his connections to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

CNN's Kevin Liptak is at the White House. And, clearly, Lutnick is trying to distance himself despite these emails that have surfaced, Kevin.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. And the commerce secretary has come under an enormous amount of scrutiny for his own relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. You know, they lived next door to each other on East 71st Street in New York City for quite some time. But what Lutnick had said is that he had all but cut ties with Epstein in the mid-2000s, so before his conviction in 2008 for crimes.

What these emails seem to reveal is a relationship that did in fact extend past that date. So, you saw, for example, an email arranging drinks with Jeffrey Epstein. You saw emails arranging a visit by Howard Lutnick and his family to Epstein's island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

[10:15:00]

And so an enormous amount of scrutiny piling on top of Howard Lutnick as well as calls for him to resign, including from at least one Republican, Thomas Massie, who had helped orchestrate the release of all of these Epstein files.

Lutnick is very much defending himself here. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You led people to believe that you had cut off all contact with Jeffrey Epstein after the 2005 encounter you and your wife had in his apartment. But as I'm sure you know, the Epstein files show a very different record of interaction. Why did the Epstein files show you coordinating a meeting and planning a visit with Jeffrey Epstein on his private island in December 2012?

HOWARD LUTNICK, COMMERCE SECRETARY: Thank you for the question. I'm glad to be here to make it clear that I met Jeffrey Epstein when he moved -- when I moved to a house next door to him in New York. And I met him then.

Over the next 14 years, I met him two other times that I can recall, two times, and that is none for six years. So, six years later, I met him. And then a year and a half after that, I met him and never again. Probably the total, and you've seen all of these documents, of these millions and millions of documents, there may be ten emails connecting me with him, probably about ten emails connecting me with him over a 14-year period. I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with that person, okay?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIPTAK: So, you hear Lutnick basically saying that he barely had anything to do with Jeffrey Epstein, that he was not present for anything untowards that was happening around Jeffrey Epstein, really trying to tamp down and diminish his own relationship with the late convicted sex offender, particularly after his 2008 conviction.

Now, whether this is enough to tamp down on those calls for his resignation remains to be seen. I will say, at least from the White House's perspective, they have maintained utmost confidence in the commerce secretary.

BROWN: Right. And he didn't answer the question too why he said he had cut off ties or it didn't have any more interactions after 2005, which clearly the evidence shows that he did.

All right, Kevin Liptak, thank you so much.

Meantime, we are tracking this hearing on Capitol Hill with the Homeland Security Committee with the acting ICE director, Todd Lyons. He will likely face some tough questions on immigration enforcement in the United States. We're monitoring that and we'll be right back.

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[10:20:00]

BLITZER: New this morning, the search for Nancy Guthrie is now in its tenth day. The FBI says it has no suspects and a second deadline has now passed. A purported ransom note demanded $6 million by 5:00 PM yesterday and threatened Nancy if the demand was not met.

Savannah Guthrie made no mention of that in the newest message that pleads with the public to come forward with any information. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUTHRIE: So, I'm coming on just to ask you not just for your prayers, but no matter where you are, even if you're far from Tucson, if you see anything, you hear anything, if there's anything at all that seems strange to you that you report to law enforcement. We are at an hour of desperation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And joining us now, Joshua Skule, a former FBI executive assistant director for intelligence. Joshua, thanks for joining us.

In this newest message from the family, Savannah Guthrie is no longer speaking to anyone involved in the abduction. She's speaking to the public and pleading for help. And the FBI has echoed that appeal. What does that tell you about this investigation?

JOSHUA SKULE, FORMER FBI EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR INTELLIGENCE: It tells me that law enforcement wants to continue to leverage the public for additional information tips. They're combing through mounds of data now, but it's never too much, and you never know which tip associated with which person is going to lead to hopefully a resolution.

BLITZER: The Guthrie family had emphasized that they wanted a direct line of communication with their mother's kidnapper. Do you believe they have abandoned hope of that now?

SKULE: I don't think they've abandoned hope with that. I think we will see what happens in the coming days. They were trying to establish a line of communication with the abductors. They wanted, of course, to prove that their mother, Nancy, was still alive before they paid any money, and that would be also what law enforcement would be encouraging them to do. Establish a line of communication before you pay any ransom.

BLITZER: There's been no mention of a kidnapper or kidnappers for that matter, delivering what's called proof of life, as the family has demanded. Does that make you question the validity of the ransom notes?

SKULE: I think that the ransom notes were always in question as to whether or not they were valid. Unfortunately, law enforcement has to go down that track. They cannot abandon that theory while they have other teams of investigators looking at other potential leads that could develop into recovering Nancy.

[10:20:02]

But they cannot abandon this.

BLITZER: Law enforcement officials are stressing the value of the public sharing information, even if it seems minor or unimportant. Could one seemingly very small tip make all the difference in an investigation that appears to have stalled?

SKULE: So, all that information from the public, if you look back historically on huge cases, small cases. It is often tips from the public that help solve some of these things, and it ranges from everything from a police officer on patrol, finding something curious about somebody and having investigative curiosity to a member of the public seeming something's weird or off with their neighbor.

And this investigation, even days later, we heard neighbors come forward with saying, hey, I had reported this, and then went back to the police talking about strange people in the neighborhood.

BLITZER: The FBI is now sending more personnel to the Tucson area to help in the investigation. What does that tell you?

SKULE: It tells me that the FBI's continued to work with the sheriff's office and increasing resources as they go through a dearth of information. We know they've already deployed the cast team. CBP had their tracking folks out there. They're a very professional group. And resources to go through all of the information that's undoubtedly still coming in, that's forensics, digital, and then also having a fresh look at some of the interviews that were conducted over the last several days and see if there's anything missed.

BLITZER: Joshua Skule, thanks so much for joining us.

SKULE: Thank you.

BLITZER: And once again, if you, our viewers, have any information that could help investigators, please call the numbers on your screen. The FBI tip line is 1-800-CALL-FBI, and the Pima County Sheriff's Department is at (520) 351-4 900, so important. Pamela?

BROWN: It absolutely is. Our hearts just go out to that family.

And still to come here in The Situation Room, top officials with ICE and CBP are now on Capitol Hill. They are expected to get tough questions about the administration's immigration crackdown and the recent shootings and killings of U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.

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