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Interview with Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA): Maxwell Offers to Clear Trump's Name on Epstein if Given Clemency; Members of Congress Viewing Unredacted Epstein Files; How AI Could Enhance Radiology Jobs Instead of Replacing Them; Seattle Seahawks Dominate New England Patriots in 29-13 Win. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired February 09, 2026 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: ... in Americans, they were among the largest demographic moving to the U.S. at the time, and they were frequently depicted this way, as in this political cartoon from the era, as vermin, as rats, subhuman animals dumping murder and mafia right under Uncle Sam's nose into the United States. And that sentiment went beyond political cartoons. In 1891, one of the single largest mass lynchings in American history happened in New Orleans.

A group of Italian-Americans suspected to be mafia members had been acquitted for the murder of the city's police chief -- acquitted. An angry mob of thousands stormed the prison and murdered 11 of them. And in writing of that incident, the editors of The New York Times called those Italian immigrants cowardly Sicilians, murderers, the descendants of bandits and assassins, saying their kind is a pest without mitigations.

The next year, seeking to ease tensions, avoid a war with Italy, promote assimilation among those migrants and get reelected, President Benjamin Harrison decided to honor the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's landing with a one-time federal holiday describing the Italian as a pioneer of progress and enlightenment. After another decade-plus of violence toward Italian immigrants, Colorado became the first state to declare Columbus Day an annual state holiday to show appreciation for Italian-Americans. In 1905, the city of Pueblo erected this monument to him.

And at the time, Angelo Noce, the Italian-American who championed that monument, wrote that he hoped that American children would see it, that they would hear about the struggles and courage of Columbus, because that might allow them to see past demonization, past derision and racial slurs, and make them kinder to their, quote, dark-eyed, olive-skinned comrades at school. I should point out, Colorado no longer celebrates the holiday. They've replaced it with one honoring the patron saint of immigrants. Nevertheless, it is striking that arguably the most famous or notorious immigrant to the Americas in history was originally used as a symbol to teach tolerance and inclusion.

Columbus Day began as a way to foster empathy for people who leave everything behind and come to this country looking for a better life. It's a history President Trump may want to consider, given his own long record of demonizing immigrants.

Still to come on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, Ghislaine Maxwell taking the fifth at her deposition before a House committee, her attorney, though, making an offer for her to talk openly under one condition.

We have the details and we'll talk to a member of that committee when we come back. Don't go anywhere.

[14:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Today, members of Congress are reviewing unredacted versions of the Jeffrey Epstein files at the Justice Department. Congressman Jamie Raskin said the Justice Department has provided only four computers to view the millions of pages of documents. Epstein survivors have condemned some of the redactions.

They included entire pages of text blacked out, while in other cases, some victims names and identifying information were not concealed, which the DOJ scrambled to fix. Also today, Epstein's accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, avoided being deposed by invoking her Fifth Amendment rights. But the convicted sex trafficker said she would talk to the House Oversight Committee if President Trump gave her clemency.

Her attorney vowed Maxwell would clear both the name of President Trump and former President Clinton if she testified. Let's talk about this now with Democratic Congressman Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia is a member of the House Oversight Committee. And I know you didn't get answers.

It sounds like they were very short, nonexistent here. But what did you ask Maxwell today?

REP. SUHAS SUBRAMANYAM (D-VA), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: You know, we were asking her about her association with Jeffrey Epstein and any of the crimes that he committed and her knowledge of them. And she was very simply pleading the Fifth Amendment over and over again. She was, you know, very robotic, I would say.

She was very unrepentant. She's shown a complete lack of remorse throughout this entire process from the very beginning when she was charged. And that continued today.

But certainly what they're putting forward in the message they wanted to get across to the public is that, you know, her silence is for sale, that they want President Trump to pardon her. And then at that point, she may be open to talking to us. We don't know how reliable that information would be when she does talk to us.

But we know that the president has not ruled out a pardon, which I think is outrageous, because I do think she should spend the rest of her life in jail.

KEILAR: So let me ask you a little more about that, because let's read exactly what Maxwell's lawyer said here. Quote, "If granted clemency by President Trump," that she would speak honestly, said, "only she 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."

I know you're saying her silence is for sale there. But as she's saying that about President Trump and President Clinton and saying some may not like what they hear, what do you think that means? And what do you think people can take to the bank if they do get to hear what she has to say?

SUBRAMANYAM: Well, she's right that she has the most thorough account because she was a main figure in these crimes and this trafficking. And so I don't want to detract from that. But I will say that we will find the truth one way or another.

[14:40:00]

And we're not going to let her hold the truth hostage and know that she have a monopoly on the truth. But the reason I think she's mentioning both Trump and Clinton is because I think she wants bipartisan support for her clemency so that, you know, she'll have support no matter who's in charge and who's in office or who's in power.

And I'll just say that she doesn't have my support. She doesn't have the support of, I think, pretty much every Democrat on the committee. I doubt she has the support of most Republicans either.

But the real question is, does she have Donald Trump's support? Remember, you know, it was after talking to Todd Blanche, she was shifted over to a minimum security prison and given VIP treatment. And so I do wonder if the president is still considering or has a plan to pardon her at some point.

KEILAR: Chairman Comer outlined five depositions here in the next few weeks, including the depositions of the Clintons at the end of the month. What's your first question for former President Clinton?

SUBRAMANYAM: Well, I just want to know from for both of them, you know, what do you know about the crimes Jeffrey Epstein committed? And then, you know, what role did you play, if any, in those crimes? And then we have specific information like records of White House visits, records of Clinton using the plane.

And so we will ask them about that as well and see what they have to say. I'm glad we were able to work out a situation where we can talk to them. I think there's more negotiations about whether those conversations should be public.

But in the end, we want to talk to everyone. And certainly the other depositions this month should not be downplayed. Either Les Wexner helped bankroll a lot of these activities.

And then the estate executors are also getting very important in this conversation. KEILAR: So your Democratic colleague, Congressman Ro Khanna, says he's going to view the unredacted files at DOJ today. Jamie Raskin just reviewed them and is saying a little bit about what he understands from them. Have you heard anything about what is in these unredacted files?

SUBRAMANYAM: Well, I plan to go there myself in a couple hours and look at them myself. I will say it is unacceptable that they only have four computers and that we have this staggered system now. I think it's very disorganized.

But in the end, I will take a look at it. And the thing that I'm looking for is where do they redact perpetrators and co-conspirators and people who have nothing to do with victims or aren't victims themselves? I'm looking for that kind of information that's going to help inform us in our investigation and see who else we need to talk to.

KEILAR: Four computers and how many members of Congress who need to read through these documents?

SUBRAMANYAM: I believe it's open to almost anyone, certainly the oversight committees and the Judiciary Committee. And so that's dozens and dozens of people, 435 members of Congress, plus senators as well. I think that in the end, that's unacceptable, four computers.

KEILAR: Yes, that seems like a lot of time. So, Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, thank you so much for being with us. We do look forward to hearing what you observe.

Obviously, you're not going to have time to go through all of those documents, but we'll be curious to see what you find. Thank you for being with us.

SUBRAMANYAM: Thank you.

KEILAR: Still to come, there's at least one occupation that apparently won't be replaced by AI anytime soon. So what is it? We'll have the answer right after this.

[14:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: As artificial intelligence advances, so are concerns about how it is going to impact the American workforce. Now, the field of radiology is emerging as a leading example of how AI can enhance human expertise instead of replace it. CNN business tech editor Lisa Eadicicco joins us now.

Lisa, what are you learning?

LISA EADICICCO, CNN BUSINESS TECH EDITOR: So, yes, as you mentioned, radiology does come up a lot in conversations about the future of AI and work. Just last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, this came up in a couple of answers to questions about AI's impact on the workforce. And so I spoke to some radiologists about this to kind of understand why and how they're using it.

And it really comes down to a couple of things. One is that AI is actually really helpful in radiology because, you know, radiology is a job that involves scanning a lot of different types of scans and X- rays. And AI is really good at kind of going through a lot of that type of visual data at once and identifying patterns. So radiologists are using it for things like figuring out which scans to prioritize first that might need more attention and scrutiny and for also taking scans faster, reducing the amount of time that it might take to take an MRI so that more patients can be seen.

The second thing is that this hasn't really impacted the demand for radiologists. We're actually seeing based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that jobs in radiology are expected to grow by 5 percent between 2024 and 2034, which is higher than the 3 percent average for other occupations.

And then lastly, about 10 years ago, the sentiment around this was pretty different. There was a real concern that radiology would be one of the first jobs to be wiped out by AI. A prominent computer scientist, Jeffrey Hinton, made comments related to that about almost 10 years ago in late 2016. But that didn't turn out to be the case.

So I think for AI optimists, those in the tech industry, this is a good example to point to of how we should be thinking about AI's impact on work. But one thing I will say is that I don't know if that comparison really kind of captures a lot of the broad concerns around AI and work, because a lot of the worries really stem from how AI can impact knowledge work. You know, we kind of know that AI is very helpful in fields like data, fields that require a lot of data analysis like medicine and science.

But I think the big concern is how does it impact other types of knowledge work? So I think we'll have to see how that plays out.

SANCHEZ: And what about the risks of using AI in radiology itself?

EADICICCO: Yes, so there are some really important risks. For one, these systems are not perfect. They can be biased.

There was actually a study from MIT in 2022 that mentioned that AI could detect a person's race based on their X-ray, which is not something that human doctors can do, right? So that raises questions around bias, of course. And then also the issue of over-reliance on AI. If these AI systems become really, really good, there could be the temptation to maybe make staffing decisions around that, maybe not by cutting jobs, but by replacing a radiologist with maybe a general physician in certain cases.

[14:50:00]

And this is something that one radiologist pointed out to me as being a concern that while in some instances that might be OK. For the vast majority of things, that wouldn't be sufficient.

SANCHEZ: Lisa Eadicicco, thank you so much for that reporting -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour. Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. The 78-year-old self-made billionaire is known for using his now defunct pro-democracy tabloid to criticize the government in Beijing and Hong Kong. Chinese officials say he used the paper to distort facts and beg foreign countries to impose sanctions on China and Hong Kong. Lai was arrested in 2020 and found guilty of national security and sedition charges after a year's long court battle. His sentence is the longest delivered under Beijing's national security law.

Also, chaos ensued after the University of North Carolina Tar Heels scored a last second three pointer to beat the Duke Blue Devils Saturday night. Jon Scheyer says some of his staff members were punched in the face after UNC fans stormed the court to celebrate. UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham says he apologized to Scheyer after the game, but he didn't have details on who was injured or how.

Cunningham says the school is reviewing video replays to figure out exactly what happened.

And imagine winning an Olympic medal, but as soon as you get it, the thing breaks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BREEZY JOHNSON, WOMEN'S DOWNHILL GOLD MEDALIST: So there's the medal and there's the ribbon. Here's the little piece that is supposed to go in the ribbon to hold it in the medal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Oh, no. OK, that was American skier Breezy Johnson explaining what happened to her gold medal. She says it came apart while she was jumping in excitement.

Figure skater Alysa Liu posted this video showing what happened to her medal. All right. This is a thing.

It's been a problem for several early medalists at the Milan Cortina Games. One athlete even saying the ribbon to the medals, quote, looks a bit rubbish. CNN has reached out to the Olympic organizers for more answers, perhaps a super glue sponsorship of some sort. I don't know.

Still to come, the Super Bowl turned into a tale of resilience and retribution from the players to the coaches, to the fans. That's coming up as CNN NEWS CENTRAL continues.

[14:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: The Seattle Seahawks are your Super Bowl LX champions. Fans in Washington crowded the streets outside Lumen Field, the team's home, to celebrate their victory over the New England Patriots. Earlier today, we heard from Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III, reacting to what turned out to be a blowout.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNETH WALKER III, RUNNING BACK, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS: You go through a lot of ups and downs, but when Mike came in, you know, he talked about winning and I believe everybody on the team bought into that. And, you know, we built a brotherhood, a strong brotherhood. And, you know, I believe that's really what got us here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN's Andy Scholes has more from San Francisco.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, the story of Super Bowl LX was the Seahawks dominant defense and how they just completely shut down Patriots quarterback Drake Maye. But the story of this NFL season is Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold. He threw for 202 yards and one touchdown in the 29 to 13 win.

And the victory completes one of the best comebacks in NFL history. Darnold, he was considered a bust after it did not work out with the New York Jets, but he kept grinding, kept working. The Seahawks, his fifth team, and now he is a Super Bowl champion.

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

SAM DARNOLD, QUARTERBACK, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS: I'm here because of their belief in me and they believed in me throughout my entire career. And I think that's why I was able to believe in myself almost at nauseum. Like I, some people called me, called me crazy throughout my career for believing in myself so much and having so much confidence.

But, you know, it was because of my parents, because of the way that they believed in me throughout my entire career. And it allowed me to go out there and play free and have a ton of confidence.

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

And he joined me and Alex Michaelson on the field after becoming a Super Bowl champ.

MIKE MACDONALD, HEAD COACH, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS: Now, you know, 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 want to want, what we want to create. And we just went to work and ...

END