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Nancy Guthrie's Children Post New Plea; Joshua Skule is Interviewed about the Guthrie Case; Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) is Interviewed about Maxwell Testimony and Epstein Files; Trial Begins for Father of School Shooting Suspect; Numbers on Trump and the Economy. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired February 09, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

LISA EADICICCO, CNN BUSINESS TECH EDITOR: An example of the rosy outlook of A.I.'.s impact on jobs.

That said, we don't know if that's going to apply to every single industry. Just last week we saw what happened with software stocks after the release of an update to Anthropic's coworking tool, right? There's a lot of concern about how A.I. is going to impact knowledge work. So, it's unclear if, you know, these kinds of benefits will apply to every field. But that's kind of why radiology comes up often in this conversation.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. I was going to say, but radiology, it's easy for these A.I. titans to get up there saying put radiology, we're going to wipe out entire industries, but go do radiology. I'm sure there's no barriers to entry there. It's easy for everyone to become a radiologist just on a dime. But it is instructive about what makes that industry work.

Lisa Eadicicco, great to see you. Thank you very much.

A brand new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the search for Nancy Guthrie enters day nine. Her family desperate to find her. They now say they are willing to hand over millions of dollars to her abductors.

Convicted sex offender and Jeffrey Epstein's girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, facing lawmakers this morning. What she is likely to say and also not say, as some members of Congress are now getting a first look at the unredacted versions of the Epstein files.

And Bad Bunny's halftime show getting a lot of talk this morning. The fans, the critics, and, of course, the president weighing in.

I'm Kate Bolduan, with John Berman and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL

BERMAN: This morning, approaching a ransom deadline for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie. That time is fast approaching. This is her ninth day missing or in captivity. CNN affiliate KGUN has said it received a reported ransom note for $6 million in bitcoin and the time it needs to be delivered by is 5:00 p.m. today. They also say the note includes a threat on Guthrie's life that -- that threat is if the deadline is not met. Guthrie's children, Savannah Guthrie and her brother and sister, posted a new plea for their mother's return.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, NANCY GUTHRIE'S DAUGHTER: We received your message, and we understand. We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Carefully chosen words. They are still so devastating to see.

Let's get right to CNN's Ivan Rodriguez, live in Tucson, Arizona, with the very latest this morning.

Ivan

IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, good morning.

We can only imagine the stress that the Guthrie family is feeling with that looming 5:00 p.m. deadline. We're right outside of Nancy Guthrie's home. People are continuing to place flowers here to this sign, which we've now seen for the last week, saying, "dear Guthrie family, your neighbors stand with you." There's also some religious items that have been placed near there as well.

Now, on the other side of Nancy Guthrie's driveway, there is a sheriff's deputy who's been stationed there this morning now for several hours. That's at the request of the Guthrie family. And they're going to stay out there for the foreseeable future, guarding Nancy Guthrie's home.

Now, there's been a lot of investigation happening for the last several days now, especially this weekend. Yesterday afternoon we did see investigators near the property here looking at a septic tank. Video showed investigators using a large pole, poking inside of that tank. Also even using a flashlight to get a better look inside. Now, we don't have any context or details as to what exactly they were looking for, but the Pima County Sheriff's Office did say that they are going back to multiple locations to continue that investigation. And that's something that we've seen now, John, for the last several days.

They also went back Saturday night to Annie Guthrie's home. Annie is the eldest daughter of Nancy. We'll remember that Nancy was there at Annie's home the night before she disappeared. And that night, on Saturday, investigators spent several hours on what appears to be taking photographs inside of Annie's home as well. They left Annie's home around 10:30 p.m. local time with a bag that was placed in the rear seat of one of those vehicles. Again, no suspects so far here, John, or no confirmed press conferences either as of yet. BERMAN: No, no suspects, no confirmed press conferences. But this sort

of type of communication now happening between the videos from the Guthrie family and these notes going out to media outlets.

Ivan, great to have you there. Thank you for sharing your reporting.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, joining us now is the former FBI executive assistant director for intelligence, Joshua Skule.

[09:05:01]

Thank you so much for being here.

Look, let me let you kind of break down the wording of this latest video by the family. It's short. It's to the point. What does the wording of the video indicate to you knowing that the FBI does normally help craft these messages?

JOSHUA SKULE, FORMER FBI EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF INTELLIGENCE: So, first of all, they're -- they are still trying to establish a line of communication with the kidnapers. And they're stating directly, obviously, that they'll pay the money, just contact us. Give us proof that our mother is still alive. Likely the FBI is saying, do not pay the ransom if you do not have that proof.

SIDNER: Yes. And they said, "we will pay." But they've also been asking for direct contact.

So, I guess the question is, why do you surmise that the alleged abductor or abductors keep communicating with the media and not directly with the family or negotiators, if what they want is the money?

SKULE: Well, I think they're trying to obfuscate their identity. They don't -- they want their money and they don't want to get caught. Those are the two big things. Every kidnapping I've worked has been the same, they want their money, they want to stay anonymous. And so, that is what's going on. And the family is stating, hey, we'll give you the money, just show us our mother.

SIDNER: Look, our reporter on the scene has been saying this morning that investigators are using a large pole to poke around in the septic tank. Why would they be doing that?

SKULE: So, I think what you're seeing in total for the investigation is a constant review of the evidence they have. Interviews, when the forensics come back, any other indicator where they might have missed something, the pole, you know, they're going through that to see, is there anything that they could get out of the septic tank? Is there DNA there, you know, like we saw a couple days ago on the roof? There's just a constant screening of the evidence.

SIDNER: You have been through this. You have worked through something like this. Although this has huge, huge publicity because of Savannah Guthrie, who is the, you know, NBC "Today" show anchor. How do you get through this? What is -- what is the communication like with the family and with, you know, sort of the FBI? How does this all work?

SKULE: So, as the FBI, you are sitting there. You are trying to console the family. You're trying to tell them what is happening to the best of your knowledge. And trying as best you can to keep them calm. And then you are saying, OK, we're going to do a third message, a second message, and this is what it's going to look like in order to establish lines of communication. It's the same thing I told you, Sara. But all along the way we -- if I'm in the FBI, we're saying, hey, we need a proof that your mother is still alive, and these are the abductors.

SIDNER: Joshua Skule, thank you for walking us through that. It is a terrible time for this family. You can see the stress on their faces. Our heart goes out to them and Savannah. And we've been -- every time we tell the story, there's a reason we've been putting the number out there because, if you have any information, you should -- you should call the -- either the FBI or the -- or the local number that we keep putting there.

Thank you so much for helping us through that. Appreciate it.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up next hour on Capitol Hill, Ghislaine Maxwell, the only person to be convicted and imprisoned for offenses directly related to Jeffrey Epstein's abuse of young girls, she will be facing lawmakers now. She's going to appear virtually before the House Oversight Committee from federal prison in Texas. The committee's chairman, though, says that it's likely that Maxwell will assert her Fifth Amendment right and not actually say much at all.

But also notable today, it's the first day that lawmakers are able to see the unredacted version of the FBI's Epstein files.

Joining us right now is one of the lawmakers that will be in the middle of all of this, Democratic Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury. She's on the House Oversight Committee.

Congresswoman, thank you for being here.

So, the chairman -- let's talk first about Ghislaine Maxwell. The chairman says that he believes Maxwell is going to assert her Fifth Amendment right, not say much at all. What are you hoping to get from her then?

REP. MELANIE STANSBURY (D-NM): You know, it's -- when Congress subpoenas somebody, they have to appear before Congress. And whether she invoked her Fifth Amendment rights or not, we are here to get to the truth. And we have a lot of questions for her about other coconspirators, about other perpetrators. I am particularly interested in understanding the international networks of sex trafficking, money laundering and influence peddling. As a New Mexican, we're trying to get to the bottom of what happened at Zorro Ranch in New Mexico. And also, it's really, really important that we understand Donald Trump's ties to both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. We understand why she was transferred to this minimum security facility in Texas, and why he's named in these files 38,000 times, along with other federal officials.

[09:10:09]

And I just want to note that, you know, nine other countries have now taken action with leaders either asking them to be removed or investigations. And Donald Trump is asking the American people to move on. Well, it is not time to move on. It is time to convict. And we want to know what Donald Trump's association was with Epstein and the nature of that relationship.

BOLDUAN: So, I do want to ask you then about -- is that what you're looking for in the unredacted version of the FBI documents when you're going to -- you're specifically looking for Donald Trump references?

STANSBURY: As I have the opportunity to review these files, we want to review all names of any perpetrators and coconspirators. We know that there were dozens of individuals that the Department of Justice investigated, both as being complicit in these crimes and participating in them. And we know that the Department of Justice did not redact the names of victims, but did redact the names of perpetrators. So, we'll be looking at who should be further investigated. I think it's important to understand the nature of Donald Trump and his associates, and folks like Elon Musk and Howard Lutnick, and what their association is.

But also, we want to understand why there was a miscarriage of justice in this case. And it's notable that DOJ has taken down the memo that was written by lead investigators in the 2006 through 2008 case, which explained that the -- Epstein was facing over 20 counts of sex trafficking and federal crimes and was never convicted. So, we are after a lot of information and will be uncovering every single stone.

BOLDUAN: You know, also necessary to be noted that none of the three men that you mentioned right there have been accused of any wrongdoing related to Jeffrey Epstein.

You mentioned, though, something that has been called out quite a bit of recent and how the Justice Department has been handling this rollout, if you will, that they've blacked -- they failed to black out identifying information about many of Epstein victims, but successfully redacting names of individuals who may have aided in the convicted sex offender. So, are you working with the victims? Have you talked to them about what they want to see in unredacted files, as they are not the ones with access to it?

STANSBURY: Yes, absolutely. So, let me just say that it is actually not lawful. It is illegal. It is not allowed for the Department of Justice to redact the names of perpetrators. In fact, we were very clear in the Epstein Files Transparency Act that no name or no information could be redacted just to save the reputation of somebody. And so, the DOJ is actually violating the law in redacting those names. And we believe, as do the victims who we've been in touch with on a regular basis since these files dropped, including will be in touch with them this week when they come here to Capitol Hill, that they are trying to intimidate the victims by unmasking them, by putting their names forward. We have Jane Does who gave sworn statements privately, who have never had their identities publicly revealed, their addresses, their phone numbers. And we believe this is part of a larger strategy by DOJ to try to silence them.

BOLDUAN: You're also one of nine Democrats to vote in committee to hold Bill Clinton in contempt, Bill and Hillary -- Bill Clinton in contempt for not coming to testify. You were one of just three Democrats to also vote in support of holding Hillary Clinton in contempt for the same.

Why did you vote in support of those moves? And are you satisfied with how things have turned out?

STANSBURY: Yes. Well, both of the Clintons were subpoenaed to appear before Congress. And as I just stated, if you are subpoenaed to appear before Congress for a deposition, you show up. And on the morning that they were scheduled to appear, they did not show, even though they released a statement. The vote did not go to the floor because ultimately they negotiated to appear for a sworn deposition that is scheduled to happen in a few weeks. And so we'll see what happens during their statements.

BOLDUAN: We will see.

It's good to see you, Congresswoman. Thank you for your time.

John.

BERMAN: All right, his son is accused of killing four people in a school shooting. This morning, the father goes on trial for murder. We're standing by for jury selection this morning.

And a terrifying and weird bit of video. These balloons, look what happens to them, they explode in an elevator, which is pretty scary, I have to say. This morning, questions about what they were filled with and why.

And this is a horrible sentence and horrifying images. A woman is impaled with a metal pole while driving. You won't believe what happened to her next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:19:31]

BOLDUAN: Court is in session in the trial of Colin Gray. Jury selection should begin any time now. He's the father of a Georgia teenager accused of killing four people, two students, two teachers, injuring many others at Apalachee High School in 2024. Prosecutors say Colin Gray bought and gave the weapon to his son, Colt. Colin Gray has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

This trial is one of very few where a parent is being held criminally responsible for the mass shootings allegedly carried out by their children. [09:20:01]

CNN's Jean Casarez is here with that.

It is a very -- a growing trend, I guess, but a very -- it's still very rare.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's the third parent that has been charged, the first being James and Jennifer Crumbley in Michigan, which I covered through all of those trials. But it's a very novel theory.

Jury selection is starting right now, and this is such an important part of the process because the defense asked for a change of venue, which is totally understandable because when you're in a community where this happened, the emotion lives on. And they were denied a complete change of venue to an absolute other part of the state of Georgia. What the judge is allowing is the neighboring county, the jury will be selected in. So, that's where they are right now. And then they'll go to Barrow County every day, a 27-mile commute, for the trial. But it's the same media market. But they really have to ask these potential jurors, do you know the victims? Do you know families? Are you aware? What's the pretrial publicity?

But this -- this father right here is facing 29 charges. He's facing potentially a life term. And those charges are two counts of second- degree murder, which is really reckless conduct, that he knew a substantial risk existed and he continued to buy his son that gun. Also involuntary manslaughter. And then there's charges with the cruelty to the children. And -- because children were injured.

But here's one of the prime pieces of evidence of the prosecution. About a year before this happened, the son, on social media, allegedly wrote that he wanted to shoot up the school. So, the police found out about it. The school found out about it. Big meeting with the father because the father was raising him by himself it appears. And then after that, about a year later, it happened. But in the interim, for Christmas, he gave his son an AR-15-style rifle for Christmas.

We've got to watch the evidence here because was that gun locked up? There are reports that he said he was trying to teach his son gun safety. Was that gun actually locked up so that his son couldn't get it? And he was so determined, the son, who has pleaded not guilty, that he got the rifle, or was purchasing the gun enough to show that recklessness when your son had written something like that on social media. And it was that weapon that was used, allegedly, to carry out this school shooting in Georgia.

BOLDUAN: Yes, as you describe it, I'm hearing a lot of comparisons to the Crumbley trial that we -- that we talked so much about, the recklessness, the warnings, what was done or not done in order to mitigate any risk is really the --

CASAREZ: And that's the key.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

CASAREZ: Novel theory, though, because he didn't pull the trigger.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

CASAREZ: And he could be convicted.

BOLDUAN: All right, Jean, just -- jury selection getting underway this morning. Appreciate you.

CASAREZ: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, guys.

Coming up later, this is terrifying. A fair swing collapses suddenly in India. Dozens of people on it. We will tell you what happened and how the victims are this morning.

And we're just minutes away from the opening bell on Wall Street. Let's take a look at what futures are telling us. Is this the future for today? The Dow down. We'll see how the market reacts after the Dow did make a big milestone, crossing the 50,000 point mark for the first time ever Friday. Investors are expecting a flurry of economic data this week as well, much of which was delayed due to the partial government shutdown. The data includes the January Consumer Price Index and the weekly jobless claims. We'll see what happens.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:28:08]

BERMAN: So, in a new interview, President Trump said he is very proud of the economy right now. That's not how Americans feel, by and large.

With us now, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

And not only do they not feel that way, Harry, there is a staggering difference between how they feel now and they did in President Trump's first term.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Staggering. You know, the economy used to be the wind beneath Donald Trump's presidency wings. And now it's his Titanic.

Because what are we talking about here? Well, let's just take a look here, Trump's economic net approval one year in. In term one, hey, yeah, plus side of the ledger, plus eight points. It was his best issue, arguably. But now it's one of his worst. Look at that. Way, way down in the basement. Eighteen points below water. What is that, John, quickly some math, what is that, a 26 point switcheroo in the wrong direction. This is the type of number that Democratic midterm dreams are made of and Republican nightmares are also made of.

BERMAN: So, by and large, are voters saying it's Trump's fault? ENTEN: Yes, this is the answer, right, which is, why? What is driving

these numbers? And it is because folks believe, the voters believe, it's the Trump administration's fault.

Take a look here. OK, the Trump admin has made the economy worse or better? You go back to January of 2018, term number one, the plurality winner there was better at 40 percent, just 22 percent said worse. Look at this side of the screen. The exact opposite story. What a switcheroo. My goodness gracious. Fifty-two percent, fifty-two percent of Americans say the Trump admin, their policies have made the economy worse. And look at that, just 28 percent say better. Even among the GOP, just 57 percent say they make it better. When you're only getting 57 percent of the Republican base to agree with the positive position for Donald Trump, you know you are in some massive trouble, which the Trump administration and Trump in particular are on the economy right now.

[09:30:01]

BERMAN: And just to remind people, everyone says the economy is the number one issue. And they say the president's not helping.

ENTEN: Correct. This is -- this, more than anything else, it is what.