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Friends Alerted Family about Nancy Guthrie; Pleas from Family in the Guthrie Case; Young People's Feeling about the U.S.; Trump and Olympians Clash over Comments; High-Tech Landscape in Guthrie Case; Temperatures Change from Cold; Landmark Trial over Social Media Harm. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired February 10, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:30:08]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The FBI is deploying more personnel to Tucson, Arizona, in an effort to try and find Nancy Guthrie, who has now been missing after her abduction ten days ago. Her daughter, "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie, posted a new video overnight asking the public for help, saying that they have now reached an hour of desperation as they've been missing her.

We've also just learned that Nancy Guthrie was expected to join or watch a church service livestream with friends on the morning that she was reported missing on that Sunday morning.

CNN's Ivan Rodriguez is in Pima County on the ground there with the very latest in this investigation.

What are you learning?

IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kate, good morning.

A person close to the family tells CNN that Nancy Guthrie typically watched a church livestream at a friend's nearby home, and she had been doing that since around the pandemic. When she did not show up for that livestream at the friend's home, that's when they contacted the Guthrie family.

Now, last night the FBI released a statement and saying they have not identified a person of interest in this case as of yet. The agency also says, quote, "someone has that one piece of information that can help us bring Nancy home."

The FBI also says it's bringing in more personnel from around the country here to Tucson and says it's still not aware of any direct communication as of last night between the Guthrie family and any alleged abductors.

Now, as of yesterday, that deadline of 5:00 p.m., the ransom note had indicated that these alleged abductors were asking for $6 million. As of what we know so far, we don't have any indication that that sum of money was paid. TMZ's Harvey Levin, who also saw that ransom note that was initially

sent out last week, says quote, in that note, revealing a line saying, "it's in everyone's interest to have this completed as soon as possible." Harvey Levin also went on to say that the writer or writers appeared to brag about the fact that they would not be found by police, and that police could not help them to be found essentially.

And the FBI again has not confirmed the authenticity of any of those notes.

Now, over the last week, when we're looking at a timeline of the videos that have been released by the Guthrie family, we see a difference in tone and also in audience. In that latest video from Savannah Guthrie, where she's speaking alone, she's asking the entire country to keep an eye out and asking for any information to be reported directly to the FBI.

As of now, as of this morning, we still have no indication if there's going to be any future press conferences by the sheriff's county -- sheriff's department here.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Ivan Rodriguez, thank you so much.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, joining me now, CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson and former FBI agent Bryanna Fox. She is now a professor at the University of South Florida.

Thank you both for being here.

Bryanna, I'm going to start with you.

We're now in day ten, and the FBI says there has been no known contact with the family by the abductor or abductors. Is this a sign, potentially, that the ransom note is simply a faker just trying to take advantage of a situation? I mean if all you wanted was money and the family says, look, we just need to see proof that our mother is alive and they didn't do that, what do you surmise from this?

BRYANNA FOX, FORMER FBI AGENT: Yes, that is certainly a possibility, and we're hoping that's the possibility that is true. Of course, there's a worse possibility that we don't want to talk about right now because, you know, I wouldn't want to upset anyone in the family, but that is the other possibility.

And I'm thinking at the moment that the more likely is that these are just people that are trying to take advantage of this moment, just like we saw others. So, there's precedent for this. The FBI made arrests in this case for other people actually trying to extort this family in this time.

SIDNER: Yes. We talked to Elizabeth Smart's father, who was abducted for nine months, and he said they also had people who took advantage, which is just sick and disgusting.

Joey, does it surprise you, though, that this type of case, with this kind of publicity, has gone this long? We have no suspects that the FBI or local police are talking about, and no persons of interest that we know of so far.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, you know what, Sara, so this is my thought process. On the one hand is the FBI and local authorities, are they throwing us off? Let me tell you why I say that. Are they lulling potentially someone they're focusing on into a false sense of security, and they're not going to tell us that they have a person of interest at all. That's one theory, right?

Another theory is that it's a call to action to the public, right? People are very valuable resources in terms of giving information. We all have patterns. We follow things that we do every day. If you see something, say something. And so, could the public be a partner here to unmask this?

[08:35:03]

I think so. But, at the same time, I think potentially investigators know more, are not saying, because people get overconfident and it takes one mistake, one mistake, Sara, and it's over.

SIDNER: I was going to ask you, in past cases, I mean, how important have tips been from the public?

JACKSON: Extraordinarily. And we see it all the time. You know, even in those cases that we don't get to cover, right, in the media, but just every day. I mean it's a slogan, right, on the subway, see something, say something.

SIDNER: Right, say something. Yes.

JACKSON: And the fact is that people know, people live in neighborhoods, they know their neighbors, what they're doing, and this woman has to be somewhere, right? You can't just hibernate in a home. And so, to the extent that you may have seen something and come forward with it, it could potentially crack this.

SIDNER: Yes, Bryanna, now to you. I think this is the fourth video that the Guthrie family has sent out. And it's hard to watch because you can see the desperation and pain. And they actually used -- Savannah used the word, "we're at our desperate hour." What is the calculation as to whether to do these and what to say, and what does it tell you that we're now seeing another video come out?

FOX: Well, that was actually the turning point where I was feeling really nervous about what was coming. And when Savannah released that video on her own, it made me think, well, they don't think that the kidnapers know or they, you know, that this was a true ransom. It made me think that she is willing to appeal to the public. That's obviously something that would upset, you know, a kidnaper if that was a true ransom note. So, I think that they have changed their calculus in this. And I am so

happy that she did this because I think it is the public that will solve this case.

SIDNER: Yes, and we have those numbers just to remind people on the screen for a reason, because we are, of course, hoping that someone uses them and gives that one tip. And you see the local number there at the top, and then the 1-800-CALL-FBI there as well.

Joey, to you. Speaking of which, if it does turn out that police figure out who is sending these ransom notes, even if they are fake, how serious of a crime is that?

JACKSON: I think it's important and it's problematic. First of all, you know, in terms of the ransom note and people questioning that, I'm one that believes that it could potentially be real, right. Why? I think a motivation here would be money. Who takes an 83-year-old woman if not for some other imperative like money.

At the same time, you cannot have this type of discourse if it -- if it is, in fact, phony. And there has to be consequences for it. And so, by all means, whether you're otherwise obstructing justice or engaging in behavior that's throwing police off, it's not something that authorities are going to look to with an eye that's very charitable, nor will prosecutors.

SIDNER: Yes.

JACKSON: And so that will certainly be brought to justice.

SIDNER: Yes. I mean someone's already been, as you -- as you say, which is not a legal term, popped for doing this sort of a fake one. And we've seen this in other cases as well. I mean it's just a terrible, hurtful, disgusting thing to do to a family who is so desperate. But we have seen it before.

Joey Jackson, Bryanna Fox, thank you both so much for walking us through this really, really terrible scenario for the Guthrie family.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: U.S. Olympic snowboarding star Chloe Kim is now calling for love and compassion after President Trump went after her fellow Olympian Hunter Hess. Trump calling him a loser over Hess' comments about representing the United States. Chloe Kim is now defending her teammate and saying that she is proud to represent Team USA, but that it is time to stand up for one another, especially coming from parents who are both immigrants.

So, that is how they feel. How do other young Americans feel about the country right now?

CNN's Harry Enten is running the numbers on that one for us this morning.

What -- give us a baseline. What are you seeing among young adults? HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes, there has been a major shift

over the last decade among young adults in terms of how they feel, their pride in being an American.

Because what are we talking about here? Well, let's just take a look. Under age 35, pride to be an American, extremely or very proud. You go back a decade ago under Barack Obama, it was 71 percent of those under the age of 35 were extremely or very proud to be American. That number has fallen through the floor. Look at this now. That number has fallen in half. Now just 36 percent of those under the age of 35 are either extremely or very proud to be an American. And this is a number that we've seen across the polling data. There has just been a major shift, a historic shift in the pride that young Americans feel for their country.

BOLDUAN: Let's go -- let's break that down by party over -- do you have this over the same period of time among Democrats?

ENTEN: Yes, OK. So, there are two reasons why pride in this country are falling. One is younger Americans. The other is Democrats. OK, let's take a look here. This is from 2013 to late 2025, a slightly different survey. But if you look at the same survey that I was looking at in the first slide, it's the exact same story. Democrats pride to be an American, extremely or very proud. In 2013, it was 83 percent under Barack Obama.

[08:40:00]

Look at this number now, just 31 percent of Democrats say they are extremely or very proud to be an American. That is the lowest -- the lowest number on record. When you combine both youth and being a Democrat, that number falls into the 20s, falls into the 20. Young Democrats, generation z Democrats, less than 30 percent of them are either extremely or very proud to be an American.

So, what we're seeing here is both age, as well as partisanship playing a major role in the fact that pride and the proudness to be an American, either extremely or very proud, is at record lows.

BOLDUAN: Yes, and the motivations, just look at the time period for Democrats, is in line with how politics have changed.

How about Republicans?

ENTEN: OK, this is where it gets interesting, right, because you mentioned, right, and I had mentioned that Barack Obama was president in the mid 20 teens and now Donald Trump, a Republican, Democrat to Republican being president. But what about Republicans? Their numbers have actually stayed pretty steady. So, let's take a look at this exact same poll.

Republicans pride to be an American, extremely or very proud. In 2013, it was 92 percent. By late 2025, pretty close, right, 80 percent. Maybe a slight fall in this PRRI survey. But I will note in the Gallup poll, which measures over a similar period, there was no change. There was no change. So, what we're seeing is, we see younger people and Democrats really

shifting away, shifting downward in their proudness to be an American, while Republicans have stayed pretty steady despite the partisanship of the presidents changing. But Democrats very much shifting away as the partisanship of the president, saying, Donald Trump has really sort of changed the equation for young Americans and Democratic Americans or those who identify as Democrats, while he really hasn't changed the equation when it comes to Republicans, whose pride levels have actually remained fairly steady over the same period.

BOLDUAN: A very interesting look. Thanks, Harry.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, I want to bring in CNN political analyst, White House correspondent for "The New York Times," Zolan Kanno-Youngs.

And I actually want to go back to the -- how Harry and Kate set this whole segment up. It's about Donald Trump, the president, kind of sparring with U.S. Olympians competing overseas right now to bring back the gold. And the president went after U.S. skier Hunter Hess, called him a "real loser, says he doesn't represent his country in the Winter Olympics. If that's the case, he shouldn't have tried out for the team, and it's too bad he's on it. Very hard to root for someone like this. Make America great again."

He's misquoting what Hunter Hess originally said there. But the idea of a president attacking an Olympian, and there's been other statements as well here, it's going to be an interesting two and a half weeks left at these Olympics if the president of the United States isn't necessarily 100 percent supportive of the athletes.

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, this is just, you know, another break with how presidents usually go about their job, and in this supporting the Olympians, right? Usually in the past you would see the president send a delegation to the Olympics while rooting for athletes across the board, despite what they do.

Also, I think it's worth noting that the Olympics in particular has a long history of protest, right? I was just looking at the -- the Council on Foreign Relations has this timeline of protests at the Olympics. And we're talking about going back to 1906, Jack O'Connor protesting, being labeled as a British competitor when he wanted to celebrate his Irish heritage. I think about the black power movement as well, and Mexico City and the Olympics as well. So, there's a long history here of not equating patriotism with overall compliance with the government's policies of that time.

You think about the many people in our own country's history who have said that at times criticizing and being honest with your country also can equate to loving it and being patriotic for it. But also, President Trump does have a long history of engaging in sporting events and criticizing athletes as well when they tend to speak out against his policies.

BERMAN: It's so interesting you frame this as, you know, an attack on norms or a breaking of norms here, because that is something that we see all the time with this president, including this dinner at the White House with the nation's governors, where the White House did not invite or disinvited two Democratic governors, Wes Moore of Maryland and Jared Polis of Colorado. The White House put out a response to this, "many Democrats were invited to dinner at the White House and others were not. These are White House events, and the president reserves the right to invite whomever he wants."

I mean, it's true, he's living in that house, but traditionally they've invited all the governors. And when you don't, it does send a statement.

KANNO-YOUNGS: It does send a statement. And quick correction, that was actually Peter O'Connor in 1906.

[08:45:01]

I want to make sure I get my Olympics history correct.

But, absolutely. Look, the -- I recall that last year, same time last year, February of last year, the president had an event at the White House with a number of governors. And actually you saw him break out into an argument with the governor from Maine. This was over the administration potentially restricting funding, federal funding, over how that state was handling the involvement of transgender athletes as well. And you saw that Maine governor also threaten to sue the president, right?

So now, a year later, you are now going to have an event that seems to have the intention of having those that are politically aligned with the administration. This is also an administration, I've said this before, that through their actions, both through, you know, installing loyalists throughout government, pushing out government officials that push back against the president, doesn't embrace -- embrace dissent all too well. But this is an interesting time to do this, particularly as the president is trying to implement economic policies and address cost of living issues. That requires some collaboration with state governments, right? So, you could see this meeting also being helpful towards that endeavor.

BERMAN: Sure. And look, the White House priority, at least nominally, is on the economy and creating jobs. We just don't necessarily see that on a daily basis with all these other things that pop up.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs, great to see you this morning. Thank you very much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much, John.

Quote, "they don't want users, they want addicts." That's what law -- lawyers in a landmark social media trial are saying about Meta and YouTube.

And an icy rescue caught on camera. How three people are doing after being pulled from freezing temperatures. You see all that ice there? Uh.

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[08:50:44]

SIDNER: This morning, the search for Nancy Guthrie enters day ten. Her daughter, Savannah, making a brand-new plea for the public's help, saying the family believes she is, quote, still out there.

CNN's Brian Todd is taking a look at some of the tools that investigators and the kidnapers may have at their disposal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The Guthrie case is a two way battle in the technology sphere. The purported kidnapers are tech savvy too, something the Pima County sheriff acknowledges.

SHERIFF CHRIS NANOS, PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA: What are they doing? Covering their plates. Removing the camera. Whatever it is, they know. And so, it is a -- it is a cat and mouse thing.

TODD (voice over): Officials say, early on, Nancy Guthrie's doorbell camera was disconnected and removed. Motion was detected on the camera's software, but no video was available, apparently because Nancy Guthrie didn't have the required subscription. If the video isn't retrievable, one expert says, one tool that could provide clues is touch DNA technology, which could be used in the area near the doorbell camera.

PROF. JOSEPH SCOTT MORGAN, FORENSIC SCIENTIST, JACKSONVILLE STATE UNIVERSITY: You're leaving behind dead skin cells. And in that context, we're going to have access to a partial DNA profile. And they can actually create that and kind of amplify that to get an idea as to whose DNS this is.

TODD (voice over): Forensic expert Joseph Scott Morgan says authorities are also likely analyzing any data they can find from the connection between Nancy Guthrie's pacemaker and her cell phone or other technology, a connection that was severed in the early morning hours before her disappearance was reported. Other ways officials are casting a technological net.

JOE EDWARDS, FBI ASSISTANT SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: We're downloading and analyzing cell phones, obtaining cell tower information.

TODD (voice over): Surveillance footage is also crucial, experts say, try to put together a video trail of the possible captors.

MORGAN: I think the bread and butter here are going to be Ring cam, CCTV, anything that they can, you know, kind of pull in. And they will have gone to, I would imagine, just about every residence up and down that street and also places like churches, convenience stores, maybe a dry cleaner, anywhere where a car would have passed through that area.

TODD (voice over): Technology could also help investigators track the captors through their reported demand for millions of dollars in bitcoin. Experts say that while you cannot immediately see who bitcoin is being sent from or to, the movement of funds on the bitcoin network is still traceable. That trail becomes especially clear once criminals receive the payment and try to cash out by moving the bitcoin through a cryptocurrency exchange.

ARI REDBORD, GLOBAL HEAD OF POLICY, TRM LABS: That is where ultimately law enforcement can send legal process or work with a compliance team, an exchange, to block those funds and ultimately seize them back. It's also the place where you can get the most valuable information about the user behind that cryptocurrency address.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right, this morning, you know, it has been cold when these temperatures we're showing here on the screen are a vast improvement over the way things have been.

Let's get right to CNN's Derek Van Dam for this massive heat wave we're experiencing.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You got to take the small wins in life, John. That's the most important part here.

Here's perhaps a bit of a sign that things are changing. So, you're looking at satellite imagery of the ice that's formed in this deep freeze the past couple of weeks across the Great Lakes. This is Lake Erie. But look at what's formed yesterday. That's a crack in the ice shelf along Lake Erie that extends from southern Ontario, in Canada, all the way to Cleveland, Ohio. Pretty impressive. Maybe that's a sign of things to come. We'll see.

There is some hope in this -- in the long-range forecast that things will only improve from here. Of course, we're getting closer to spring. But in the immediate kind of near term, these temperatures are a far cry from what we've been experiencing. John alluded to that. And Port Albany, I mean these guys haven't risen above the freezing mark in over two weeks. It looks like today they will teeter on the freezing mark once again. But other locations will edge above freezing anywhere from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, New York, Providence, even in towards Boston. I think upstate Maine and upstate New York, that's where we'll see temperatures hovering at or just below freezing.

[08:55:06]

Still continuing for the afternoon today. But we'll take what we can get.

And the warmth is really coming from the central parts of the country where yesterday Omaha reached 75. This is the first time they've experienced that warm of a temperature this early in the year. It was a daily record temperature. That's where the warmth is originating. And it's trying to slide east. And you can see that on this kind of a temperature departure from normal map. So, there's a lot more red on this map.

Theres a brief shot of slightly cooler than average air, but all in all things are going to change. The pattern will flip and will bring the snow and the cold where it deserves to be this time of year, the ski resorts of the west.

John.

BERMAN: Yes, they need it. They have been bone dry so far this year.

All right.

VAN DAM: They've had more snow in Florida than Salt Lake City.

BERMAN: Oof! All right, Derek Van Dam, thank you very much.

BOLDUAN: I mean that's something to wrap your mind around right now. That's pretty wild.

Let's talk more about all things, shall we?

BERMAN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Let's do that.

A plane was forced to make an emergency landing on the middle of a road in Georgia Monday. As it came down, it crashed into multiple cars. The pilots say that they started having engine trouble shortly after takeoff and tried to abort the flight but then realized they didn't have enough power to make it to the airport. Two people were taken to the hospital, we're told, including one driver with injuries.

Video also captures the moment New York police and fire crews used a helicopter to rescue three people who had fallen through the ice in the frigid waters surrounding New York City. NYPD says members of their scuba team, aviation unit and emergency services unit were deployed for the rescue in Far Rockaway. All three of the people who fell through, they were safely returned to land. No word yet on why they were out there on that ice.

Lindsey Vonn says she has no regrets, speaking out for the first time since her terrifying crash in the Olympic downhill final. She now says that she will have to undergo multiple surgeries still on the complex fracture that she suffered to her left tibia. Vonn posted to Instagram that the crash, though, had nothing to do with her recently ruptured ACL, saying, though, that it came down to just five inches that she just cut her line, her route five inches too tight, and that's when her arm hooked on the gate. Her big takeaway as she recovers, though, is this. She wrote this on Instagram, "I tried. I dreamt. I jumped. I hope if you take away anything from my journey it's that you all have the courage to dare greatly. Life is too short not to take chances on yourself. Because the only failure in life is not trying."

(VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: So, the wackiest thing is going down at the Olympics as well. Broken gold medals, broken medals piling up all over the place at the winter games in Milan. Germany's ski team, you saw just right there, they were celebrating a win when one of their athletes medals slipped right off the ribbon. Same thing happened to two gold medalists on the U.S. Olympic team, including downhill champion Breezy Johnson

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BREEZY JOHNSON, U.S. SKI TEAM 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)

BOLDUAN: Little piece that's supposed to hold it in the medal and is not. These are the most expensive medals in Olympic history because, of course, the massive spikes that we've all been tracking in the prices of gold and silver. Olympic officials assure that they have promised to fix the damages. I mean, that -- can you imagine, J.B., jumping up and down and being pumped and then it breaks.

BERMAN: You know, all the gold medals that I've ever won have actually held together. I will say, these are the most expensive ever. They're going to be even more expensive after the repairs, right?

BOLDUAN: Exactly.

BERMAN: They're going to get soaked when they send them in for repairs.

BOLDUAN: Exactly. That' exactly right.

BERMAN: Anyway, this morning, social media platforms on trial in a landmark case. And now a 20-year-old woman says Instagram and YouTube were built to keep her hooked and that the apps damaged her mental health.

Let's get to CNN business tech reporter Clare Duffy, covering this case.

Good morning.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS TECH REPORTER: Good morning, John.

So, we got opening statements yesterday from lawyers for both the plaintiff and Meta, and we're expecting to hear from YouTube's lawyer today. And this case deals with this 20-year-old woman, Kaley, who started using Instagram and YouTube at a young age. And she also had a difficult childhood. Her lawyer has said that her father was abusive, that her mother raised Kaley and her two siblings mostly as a single mom. And Kaley's lawyer argued in court yesterday that that made her a more vulnerable target for what they're calling these addictive features of social media platforms. He compared these platforms to digital casinos. And I'll just read you a portion of his testimony from yesterday, he said, "this case is about two of the richest corporations who have engineered addiction in children's brains. The swipe, for a child, like Kaley, this motion is like the handle of a slot machine."

He also talked about these features like endlessly scrolling feeds and late-night notifications, claiming all of that led Kaley to develop anxiety, body dysmorphia, and suicidal ideation.

[09:00:07]