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Lindsey Vonn Crashes at Olympics; Questions Emerge Over Stock Trading in Congress; Ransom Demands Made For Nancy Guthrie's Return?. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired February 09, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: We shared something in common about how we watched the Super Bowl.

(LAUGHTER)

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Right.

GANGEL: You want to...

SEUNG MIN KIM, AP WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right. I think the halftime show was the only part that Jamie and I watched, because...

BASH: You know what? That was a smart thing to do. As a Patriots fan...

(CROSSTALK)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: ... Seahawks.

(CROSSTALK)

KIM: It wasn't much of a game.

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: As a Patriots fan, I also think Bad Bunny won the Super Bowl.

ZELENY: Congrats to the Seahawks.

BASH: Congrats to the Seahawks. I know.

ZELENY: Come on, that defensive line.

BASH: Very -- oh, yes. Look at you. Very good defensive line.

ZELENY: I'm a football fan.

BASH: I know you are. I know you are.

(LAUGHTER)

BASH: Thank you for joining INSIDE POLITICS.

"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: One week later, pleading for the return of Nancy Guthrie, Savannah Guthrie and her family say they will pay for her return. But a possible deadline looms over the investigation.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus: seeing for themselves. Members of Congress can now finally get a look at the Epstein files without redactions, as Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice stonewalls the House Oversight Committee.

And music with a message, Bad Bunny throwing a halftime party celebrating all of America. What President Trump is saying about the 13-minute performance, as we follow these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: Nancy Guthrie's family is once again begging for their mother's safe return. It has been nine days since the 84-year-old was forcibly taken from her Arizona home.

Ransom notes sent to several news organizations purportedly demand that the Guthries hand over $6 million in Bitcoin by 5:00 this afternoon. Over the weekend, they agreed to those terms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, CO-HOST, "THE TODAY SHOW": 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)

KEILAR: CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller is with us now.

I think what we should say probably more clearly than they agreed to those terms, John, is that they appeared to agree to those terms because this is a somewhat vague message. We are not privy to everything that is in this note that they received, and we don't have full confirmation that it is a legitimate demand that they got, although they do appear to be acting in good faith that it is.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, that's right.

And our gap here is, we don't have much insight into what the content of the kidnappers' reply to the family -- when they said, please recontact us and give us more information, we don't know what the content of that was, but we do know what the answer is. And it begins with, we received your message and we understand.

So that means that there was some communication in substance by the people who are the kidnappers or are purporting to be the kidnappers, where they said, here's what we need to tell you. We don't know what that message was.

The tone of this video is different. It is not demanding proof of life. It is not demanding that you have to show us you still have her. And we don't know what information may have affected that. So this is a shorter, more tactical, more directed message from the family to the kidnappers.

KEILAR: And, John, how much is -- are law enforcement keeping things quiet, playing things close to the vest in an effort to try to further this investigation?

MILLER: Well, a lot, because, in a kidnapping, it's not just the whodunit. It's not just the manhunt for the bad guy. In a kidnapping, you have the dynamic of this live victim caught in the middle.

So you have to proceed with extreme caution, because whether you're law enforcement or really even the people reporting on it on television, anything you say or do could influence that or change the outcome. So I think what we're seeing is multiple things at once.

Number one, they're getting in those leads and they're running down the leads. Those are leads that may operate outside the kidnapping theory. Number two, they're pretty comfortable that they know that the first note and the second note come from the same people, but they don't know, other than the words of the people who are saying, we're the kidnappers, beyond that, that there's an actual kidnapping here.

And, number three, time is not really -- most of these things where you involve a complex negotiation, time is on your side, you talk past deadlines. You have got an 84-year-old victim who left blood on the front steps as she came out the door with whoever took her or whatever happened that night who was in very fragile health and needs medication.

[13:05:18]

In this case, time is not on their side. So with this so-called deadline coming up today, with the communication that came out over the weekend, we don't know the dynamics between them, so all we can do is hope.

KEILAR: Yes, we can hope.

John, thank you so much for the latest -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Now to a request for clemency. Jeffrey Epstein's convicted accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, pleaded the Fifth and avoided being deposed today by the House Oversight Committee. But her attorney says Maxwell would talk, promising to clear President Trump's name if he commuted her sentence or pardoned her.

Maxwell is serving time in Texas on charges of sex trafficking minors. Here's a statement from her attorney that was read during the deposition today -- quote -- "Only Maxwell can provide the complete account. Some may not like what they hear, but the truth matters. For example, both President Trump and President Clinton are innocent of any wrongdoing. Mrs. Maxwell alone can explain why."

Neither Trump nor Clinton have been accused of any wrongdoing related to Epstein.

Let's get some perspective now from Sarah Fitzpatrick of "The Atlantic." She's an investigative reporter who's covered Jeffrey Epstein extensively.

Sarah, what did you make of this statement from Ghislaine Maxwell's attorney, in contrast to her pleading the Fifth?

SARAH FITZPATRICK, STAFF WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC": I mean, it was an extraordinary statement, because there's such a tension here between, yes, she wants to share and she wants to -- she alone could share this information, and the fact that there is such a clear message to the president that, if she has clemency, only then will she share what she has to know.

And I just think that is a stunning thing to put out into public. I think we have known behind the scenes that these kinds of deals were perhaps a strategy. But to see that said in public right after not taking -- taking the Fifth on everything. She did not provide any information.

And it was such a frustration for everyone in the room, sources that I spoke to Republicans and Democrats, just like, why are you wasting our time?

SANCHEZ: Yes, former President Clinton actually questioned the strategy behind Oversight Chair James Comer's decision to not allow for a public hearing. They have been trying to get the Clintons, both former President Clinton and Secretary of State Clinton, his wife, to testify.

The former president came out and asked,who benefits from this arrangement that Comer has put out there? He essentially says that it serves only partisan interests. Comer wants to do this in private, but to videotape it and then get the tape out there. What do you make of that statement from Clinton and the way that that is progressing?

FITZPATRICK: I think there's two things going on here. One is an optics thing. This is Congress in their oversight capacity. And so they want to believe that they are setting the terms. And so the idea that anyone would be making demands always runs any congressional committee the wrong way, but especially this committee, which takes this responsibility so seriously.

Secondly, the reason that you generally would have this kind of thing happen in a closed setting is because both sides need to sign off on the transcript. And given the legality, the potential for information that is under seal or other kind of sensitivities that really could be material and open people up to additional litigation, generally, that's why you have this delay, so that both sides can look at the transcript and make sure that there's nothing inadvertent that could be problematic. It's not that they want to hold it behind closed doors forever. It's

just an additional check to make sure that there's nothing inadvertent. So that doesn't surprise me.

Of course, the Clintons would prefer it all be out in the open because they believe that it is a stunt. And many other Democrats believe that as well.

SANCHEZ: What about these other associates of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell? Comer says the committee has scheduled depositions for them, Les Wexner, Richard Kahn, Darren Indyke.

What could we learn from their testimony?

FITZPATRICK: Oh, this is a huge development. If those people actually do come before the committee and actually do provide information, it could be explosive.

These are some of Epstein's closest associates, not just in terms of the sex trafficking operation and kind of allegations that have existed there, but about his money and his financing, which has always been in my mind one of the biggest mysteries and one that we know that the federal government has never fully investigated.

So this could be a great opportunity for the American public to understand what really went on here.

SANCHEZ: The saga over the Epstein files actually made an appearance during the Super Bowl last night. There's an ad that was released yesterday showing several Epstein survivors.

The call to action reads. "Stand with us. Tell Attorney General Pam Bondi it is time for the truth."

What are they looking for out of the A.G.?

[13:10:01]

FITZPATRICK: They're looking for actual, true accountability and actual true transparency. I think you have these victims, many of which are Republicans who voted for Trump because they thought that this would be the one way that this information could come, and they have been so severely disappointed.

I also think that ad lends itself to the fact that this is no longer simply a niche issue or a law enforcement issue. This is now one of the most important political issues. And the fact that an ad on the Super Bowl, everyone watching knows exactly what that story is. That's to put pressure on the Justice Department and put pressure on members of Congress throughout.

SANCHEZ: We will see how the administration responds.

Sarah Fitzpatrick, thank you so much.

Still to come: more fallout over the Epstein files. Prince William and Catherine are now speaking out as British police assess allegations against the ex-royal formerly known as Prince Andrew. We have a live report from London.

And there are new concerns about members of Congress cashing in. A brand-new CNN analysis finds multiple lawmakers make stock trades in industries directly overseen by the committees they serve on.

And, later, the latest on skier Lindsey Vonn after her Olympic fairy tale ends in a dramatic mountainside rescue.

That and much more coming your way on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[13:15:40]

KEILAR: A new CNN analysis finds that at least 10 senators reported stock purchases or sales last year that directly overlapped with their committee work. While these trades are legal and the senators who disclose them deny having any personal control over how their stock portfolios are invested, the practice is raising conflict of interest questions and concerns.

CNN's Annie Grayer is with us now from Capitol Hill.

Annie, what else can you tell us about these trades?

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: So, when lawmakers file their stock trades, senators have to disclose whether or not they personally own the stocks or not.

And I looked through the filings to zero in on the senators who say that they own the stocks that they're trading and then what those companies were. And I found at least 10 senators, a mix of Democrats and Republicans, who own stocks in companies that are in industries that directly overlap with their committee assignments.

Now, a lot of these senators have big stock trading portfolios, but these trades just provide -- and not all of them present a conflict of interest, but these trades provide a window into why there's such public outrage about lawmaker stock trading and why there's a bipartisan push to ban it.

So going into some of the specifics here, two senators I want to focus on with you. There's one Republican senator, Ashley Moody from Florida, who sits on the Senate Health Committee and in 2025 made trades with five health care companies, including a stock purchase between $100,000 and $250,000 in the health company Eli Lilly.

Now, I presented this all to Moody's office, who said that Moody didn't personally make any of these trades. I'm going to read from you some of her statement, where her office says -- quote -- "When she was appointed to the Senate at the end of January 2025, she was a part of an extended family investment partnership where a partner independently made investment decisions in consultation with a third- party financial adviser and with no input from the senator." And since then, Moody's office says the senator -- quote -- "immediately took steps to withdraw from the partnership and has not traded stocks since April 2025. As a sign of this commitment, Senator Moody introduced legislation to restore trust in Congress and ensure there is no appearance of impropriety as it relates to members trading individual stocks" -- end quote.

Now, another lawmaker that I examined through this analysis was Democratic Senator John Hickenlooper, who is a co-sponsor of stock trading legislation that would restrict member stock trading. And he, while serving on the Senate Commerce Committee, invested between $100,000 and 250,000 into a cybersecurity company called Palo Alto Networks.

Now, when I presented this to Hickenlooper's office, they said that the senator -- quote -- "does not personally trade stocks. His stocks are already in a blind trust and have been since he was mayor of Denver in 2003. All decisions were made by a manager without the senator's prior knowledge or input."

So, all of this is -- all of these trades are legal. We're not suggesting insider trading or anything like that, but it's more just to show the proximity that these members have to these trades and while they're also doing their committee work.

And because of trades like this, there's a bipartisan push on Capitol Hill to push for the ban of -- to ban the practice entirely. But it is sort of stalled in both the House and the Senate. There was a bipartisan bill that now is being altered with some changes from both Republicans and Democrats.

So we're trying -- we're waiting to see what this legislation will come to fruition. But there are ethics experts, outsides experts who are really pushing for more restrictions on lawmakers' stock trading because of trends like this.

And I should also note that House lawmakers also have to disclose their trades, but they don't have to disclose whether they personally own the stocks or not. And so that's why I ended up landing on these 10 senators.

KEILAR: Really interesting.

And just really quickly, Annie, before I let you go, so you said, for instance, like, Hickenlooper, he is, I think, co-sponsoring, you said, this legislation. So is he supporting then legislation that would actually prevent him from this very practice that you found in your analysis, or is it a different practice?

GRAYER: So, Hickenlooper supports putting trades into a blind trust, which is in line with what he is doing. And he doesn't -- his office says he is no direct knowledge of the kinds of trades that are being made on his behalf.

[13:20:08] And that's sort of what he supports for all lawmakers, that they should be able to put this into a blind trust for a third party to manage. But that doesn't go as far as some other bills, like Senator Moody's bill, which would ban lawmakers stock trading in its entirety.

So there -- as you can see, there's just a lot of different variations of what members support both on the Republican and Democratic side, and there's not really consensus of how far to push these bands. But experts that we talked to for this story say these kinds of trades are troubling and is why the practice in its entirety needs to be banned.

KEILAR: All right, Annie Grayer, thank you so much for that great reporting.

U.S. Olympians respond after President Trump calls their fellow teammate a -- quote -- "real loser."

Plus, why Britain's prime minister is under pressure to resign over the Epstein files, despite not being named in the millions of DOJ documents.

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[13:25:20]

SANCHEZ: One of the most talked about stories in the Olympics has a not-so-happy ending.

U.S. alpine skier Lindsey Vonn is in stable condition after a frightening crash just 13 seconds in her final downhill race on Sunday. Reuters reports that she underwent two surgeries to correct a serious fracture to her left leg, the same leg she injured just days before in a crash in Switzerland in which she fully ruptured her ACL.

CNN sports anchor Don Riddell joins us now.

Don, what more can you tell us?

DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boris, well, that's pretty much the medical update as we have it.

And it's just further confirmation of how devastating that crash was for Lindsey Vonn on Sunday. And it really was such a tragic end to what had been an absolutely compelling comeback story. But, clearly, now her Olympics are over, and it remains to be seen if she will ever ski competitively again.

Interesting, the head of the International Ski Federation has been speaking to CNN about this today, basically defending her right to ski, despite the injury to her ACL, saying that injury had nothing to do with this. He described it as a one-in-1,000 incident, clipping that gate, said it was just very, very unlucky.

And he said all skiers are injured, and it's up to them if they think they are able to compete or not. Of course, there was a happy ending to the day for the American team, albeit a mixed emotion kind of day, because Breezy Johnson won this event.

And what was just so absolutely fabulous for her is that this was a comeback of her own, because she missed the previous Olympics because she was injured on this very mountain, and here she was returning to take the gold medal in the women's downhill.

It means the Americans are sitting somewhat pretty on the gold medal table at the moment, behind only Norway and Switzerland, who have two -- three gold medals each. The U.S. have two, the other one courtesy of the team's figure skating event, Ilia Malinin leading the Americans to their second gold medal later on Sunday.

SANCHEZ: And, Don, the Games have not been without controversy.

President Trump called skier Hunter Hess a real loser over comments that Hess made about representing the United States. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTER HESS, U.S. OLYMPIC ATHLETE: I think it's -- it brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now, I think. It's a little hard. There's obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren't. Just because I'm wearing the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that's going on in the U.S.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Fairly tepid criticism, lukewarm criticism of what's happening in the United States, Don. How are other athletes responding?

RIDDELL: Well, a lot of athletes are speaking out, as is their right. They're not allowed to protest within the Olympic arena, so, for example, the field of play or on the podium, but they are allowed to express their opinions in media interviews, and many of them are doing so.

Interesting, Hunter Hess actually followed up to Donald Trump's reply with a post on social media, saying: "I love my country, but it could be better. The amazing thing about the U.S. is that we have the right and freedom to point that out."

Other athletes, other freestyle athletes have been speaking about it, saying they're absolutely heartbroken by what's happening in this country at the moment. Amber Glenn, who is a figure skater, has talked about it being a hard time for the LGBTQ+ community. She says now she has received a scary amount of responses on her social media to her position.

But Chloe Kim, the two-time Olympic champion in snowboarding, also addressed the situation today. This is what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHLOE KIM, U.S. OLYMPIC ATHLETE: I'm really proud to represent the United States. It's -- the U.S. has given my family and I so much opportunity, but I also think that we are allowed to voice our opinions on what's going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIDDELL: Yes, she's quite right on that.

And you really get a sense that these athletes. Many of them do want to speak out. But they are being quite careful in choosing their words very carefully. Stephen Miller's wife, Katie Miller, Stephen Miller, the White House aide, basically said, if you can't say you love America, then you shouldn't be competing in the Olympics.

So, the athletes are well aware of the blowback they might get for speaking out, but many of them are speaking out regardless.

SANCHEZ: Don Riddell, thank you so much for the update.

Up next: the landmark trial involving Meta and Google. For the first time in history, jurors are going to decide whether social media companies are deliberately harming children.

We will be right back.

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