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Feds Investigating ICE Officers, Whether They Lied About the Shooting of a Venezuelan Man in Minneapolis; Trump Meets with Special Forces Involved in Maduro's Capture; Search for Savannah Guthrie's Missing Mom Nears 2 Weeks; SpaceX, NASA Launch Astronauts to Relieve Bare-Bones ISS Crew. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired February 13, 2026 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: This just in, federal authorities are investigating whether two ICE officers lied about the shooting of a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis. Yesterday, in a highly unusual move, the U.S. attorney for Minnesota filed a motion to dismiss charges against the Venezuelan man, saying that newly discovered evidence was materially inconsistent with the allegations against him.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is on the story. What is the administration saying about this, Priscilla?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, this is certainly a significant development in what has been a string of high-profile shootings involving federal agents, particularly in Minnesota, where there have been conflicting accounts. This is yet another example of that. So here, this case happened in January.

It involved two Venezuelan men who officials said had assaulted a federal agent, who then shot one of them in the leg. Now, both of these men had denied that they assaulted anyone with either a broom or a snow shovel, as Homeland Security officials had said at the time. And in addition to that, there was no video or testimony to support what the Department of Homeland Security had been saying.

[15:35:00]

And as you just mentioned there, what we learned yesterday was that the Justice Department had actually filed a motion to dismiss criminal charges against these men. And now we are learning that there is an investigation that is happening into whether these two agents had lied under oath.

I want to read you a statement from Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons, where he said quote, "Today, a joint review by ICE and the Department of Justice of video evidence has revealed that sworn testimony provided by two separate officers appears to have made untruthful statements." He goes on to say that, "Both of these officers have been placed on administrative leave pending the completion of this internal investigation, and that lying under oath," I'm quoting here, "is a serious federal offense." The U.S. Attorney's Office is actively investigating these false statements.

He also goes on to say that they may face termination of employment as well as potential criminal prosecution. And again, Boris, this incident had happened after the shooting of Renee Good. It was a moment in which the Department of Homeland Security had said that federal agents were at risk of these protesters and agitators.

And in this case, during an enforcement action, these officers had taken self-defense shots when they were assaulted. But now what we're learning just about a month later is that those statements may have been false and that now there is an investigation into whether they lied under oath and could now potentially lose their jobs.

SANCHEZ: Wow. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much for that update. A story we will continue following.

Right now, President Trump is meeting with special forces soldiers who were involved in last month's capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. In the last hour, he spoke to troops at Fort Bragg, where those special forces are stationed.

CNN's Betsy Klein joins us now. Betsy, what can you tell us about this visit to Fort Bragg?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Boris, historically, when U.S. presidents visit U.S. military bases and speak to troops in uniform, those remarks are largely apolitical. That was not the case here at Fort Bragg. President Trump taking aim at former President Joe Biden, who he said was a terrible president.

He talked about the results of the 2016 election. He also brought to the stage Michael Watley, who is the former co-chair of the RNC, who is now running in a competitive Senate race here in battleground North Carolina in the midterm elections. But then the president turned his attention to what he described as a very significant raid in Venezuela.

There was a months-long campaign by the Trump administration in the lead-up, trying to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to leave office. And President Trump himself was concerned about the possibility of consequences of U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, ultimately giving the green light a few days before Christmas. And that raid took place on January 3rd.

He called those troops, quote, very brave. And the Trump administration now is very keen to leverage this new relationship with acting President Delcy Rodriguez in Venezuela to bolster U.S. oil companies' work in the country. Look no further than Energy Secretary Chris Wright's trip to Venezuela just this week, talking about U.S. companies' investment in Venezuela oil, as well as the president's own remarks about Rodriguez, who he says is doing a very good job.

But I want you to listen to how he addressed the troops on this issue. He's meeting right now behind closed doors with some of those special forces who were involved in that mission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No other country on Earth could have done what we did. No other country has the weapons. No other country has the skill.

No other country has the guts. And no other country has the extraordinary warriors that we have. We have the best warriors in the world. You can have the greatest equipment, but if you don't have the warriors, the equipment doesn't mean much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now, President Trump says that he will make a trip to Venezuela in the near future but did not talk about timing of that trip. This is all part of a broader effort to get President Trump on the road in the lead up to those midterm elections to talk about the economy and other successes. This, he believes, is one of his signature foreign policy achievements, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Betsy Klein, live for us outside Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Thank you so much.

Coming up, we're following all the new details about the search for Nancy Guthrie. A former FBI special agent will join us after a quick break.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Thirteen days have now passed since Nancy Guthrie was last seen. She's the 84-year-old mother of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie. The FBI is now looking for this man, who they are now calling a suspect. They describe him as somewhere around the height of 5'9 to 5'10 with an average build. The FBI also describing the backpack seen on that doorbell camera video as a black 25-liter Ozark trail hiker pack.

With us now to discuss retired FBI supervisory special agent, CNN law enforcement contributor Steve Moore. Steven, there are these conflicting reports over the handling of some evidence gathered from a glove that was discovered not far from Guthrie's home. Initially, there had been reports that the Pima County Sheriff didn't want to share potential DNA evidence with the FBI.

They have since denied that. I wonder what you make of that reporting.

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Well, in any investigation like this, especially one that's gone so long and has got so much pressure on it, there will eventually be some issues, some interpersonal issues, things like that.

[15:45:00]

So it's possible that this is just the result of some stressed relationships here. But the sheriff says they wanted to send it to a private lab instead of sending it to Quantico, which actually does present some potential issues. I'm not thinking that the lab that they sent it to is incompetent.

But a good defense attorney can challenge that and say, well, you did everything else at the Quantico lab. And this crucial DNA evidence you sent to a private lab. What were you trying to hide?

SANCHEZ: That's really interesting. I also wonder what you make of the release of this suspect description, as well as the backpack. In other cases like this, when surveillance footage has been put out, some of these details are announced not only at a press conference, but they come side by side with the footage, with the images.

That didn't happen in this case. Does that seem unusual to you?

MOORE: A little bit, Boris, and I think you probably will understand that they've got -- they don't want press conferences right now because you can ask them things and they don't want to talk about things and they don't want to get pressured about why one person went to a basketball game or have you got enough people here? They just want to get information out to the to the press and the public. So, yes, you usually would send something like that or disseminate this at a press conference.

But sometimes press conferences in the eyes of law enforcement are counterproductive.

SANCHEZ: That is a fair point. I ask in part because something like a press conference would help keep the case in the public eye. We would take it live on CNN, as would other networks, I imagine.

How important is that keeping the press engaged and not just the press, but the public engaged at this point when they're still asking for tips?

MOORE: I don't think I mean, it's essential to do that with this kind of case. But I don't think there's been a problem in this case so far in in the public's interest or the press's interest. In fact, I would say that right now, one of the things they have to do and one of the reasons they probably didn't do that press conference is exactly managing press and public interest.

And press and public interest is helpful to a point. And if it's not managed correctly by law enforcement can result in issues.

SANCHEZ: What do you make of these leads that we've got, the height of the suspect and the kind of backpack? How does that help investigators?

MOORE: You know, I used to think of information like that as is this going to affect me right now? And do I need to do something right now? Or is this going to be something that will help me tomorrow or the next day?

Or will it not help me until trial? I would say that this is something that's not a today thing. You can't just take 5'9 and average build, go out and arrest everybody who's 5'9 and average built. But what it will help is tomorrow and the next day when somebody says, hey, I've got a guy who's got this backpack and he didn't show up for work for the last three days. Is that an issue?

And then you say, can you give me a description of him? And they say, oh, 5'9, average built. Then that description becomes very important.

SANCHEZ: Steve Moore, thank you so much for sharing your expertise.

MOORE: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: If you happen to know anything related to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, officials are hoping to hear from you. Call either of the numbers on your screen for the Pima County Sheriff or 1-800- CALL-FBI.

Now to some of the other headlines for watching this hour. A new report released today by Senate Democrats says the Trump administration has spent more than $30 million of taxpayer money deporting migrants to countries that were not their own. It says the White House struck big deportation deals with several third party countries to take in migrants, in some cases paying a million dollars per person. CNN has reached out to the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security for comment.

Also, the IOC under fire for selling T-shirts commemorating the 1936 Berlin Games. Critics say Adolf Hitler used that event to promote his Nazi ideology on the global stage. The shirts are part of the Olympic Heritage Collection and are currently sold out.

In a statement to CNN, an IOC spokesperson defended its decision to sell the shirt, saying the collection celebrates 130 years of Olympic art and design and features all previous games.

[15:50:00]

And LeBron James keeps etching his name into the NBA record books, the 41-year-old now the oldest player to post a triple-double in league history. The King had 28 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds in the Lakers' Thursday night win over the Mavericks. Former Utah Jazz star Karl Malone was the previous record holder at 40-years-old back in 2003.

A new crew is on the way to the International Space Station. We'll talk with a former astronaut about what they can expect next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Right now, a SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts is making its way to the International Space Station.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And liftoff. Go Falcon. Go Dragon. And Godspeed, Crew 12.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:55:00]

SANCHEZ: The Dragon spacecraft reached orbit shortly after lifting off just after 5 this morning, beginning a journey that will bring the station back to full staffing. The ISS has been operating with a skeleton crew for more than a month.

Joining us now is former NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao. Leroy, thanks for being with us as always. So they are expected to arrive tomorrow morning. What does their first few days look like?

LEROY CHIAO, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Well, of course, it's getting acquainted with the station. You know, even the ones that have been there before haven't been there for a while. So they're going to spend about a week or so with the crew doing a, you know, kind of a familiarization, if you will.

And then, but they're going to get right to work. You can bet on that as well. So the station, as you know, has been down a crew of three since, you know, since Crew 11 had to come back a little early because of a medical incident.

So this, again, will bring the U.S. segment and the European segment back on to full operations. And so we'll see more results coming down from that.

SANCHEZ: I'm sure the three folks that were up there since that previous crew left are going to be grateful to have some of their workload lessened. Help us understand the significance of having a full crew up there.

CHIAO: Well, sure. So, you know, the crew that's up there now is two Russians and one American. So the Russians are working on their segment.

As you might imagine, the American is doing mostly maintenance and repair work on the rest of the station. And so you really kind of need more than one person on board to operate, you know, a lot of experiments and things like that. So with the new crew coming on board, there'll be some welcome relief, and you'll see a lot more experiment operations going on.

So everyone's looking forward to their arrival tomorrow, and I'm sure they are too.

SANCHEZ: What kind of experiments are they doing up there?

CHIAO: Well, broadly speaking, there are two big classes of experiments being done on the ISS, the research work, life sciences, of course, to understand the impacts of long-duration spaceflight on particularly the human body, and so that we can develop countermeasures so that humans can safely travel to Mars and spend long durations there. And also the other big class of research is materials work. You can do a lot of things that you can't do here on the Earth or are more difficult to do here on the Earth. In the absence of gravity, you can form, for example, metal alloys with potentially different properties. You know, you can make more perfect protein crystals for pharmaceuticals research, so a lot of different things. We also do experiments related to basic fluid physics as well, verifying theories and conducting, you know, investigations to gather more data, a lot of different kinds of things, plant experiments.

So, yes, kind of you name it, there are a lot of different things going on on the ISS.

SANCHEZ: Yes, that's just stuff that goes way over my head, I'm sure. Leroy, I also wonder, when you say that the one lone American that was still up there was conducting maintenance and repair, what are they repairing? What are they maintaining?

Do you think they get bored?

CHIAO: No, it's never boring up there. There's plenty to do. You know, maintenance and repair, it's just think about your own house, right, or a laboratory or any building.

There are things that need to be changed out on a regular basis, be it filters or, you know, things like that. Things that have to be replaced, simple things like light fixtures, light bulbs, or possibly having to replace a pump because it's time for it to be serviced. Then there are things that break down.

You know, in your house, maybe your water heater breaks down, your heater, your HVAC system shuts off. Somebody's got to go and fix it and put replacement parts in and things like that. That can be kind of an all-day, all-consuming thing on a vehicle as complex as the ISS.

So I would bet that the majority of what that one American has been doing has been maintenance and repair work.

SANCHEZ: Is cabin fever a real concern? Is this like Jack Torrance in The Shining where being alone so far away with few people around you just increases tension and just drives you nuts?

CHIAO: No, not at all. In fact, you know, you're kept so busy your day is planned down to the minute. I mean, you do have built-in breaks and, you know, exercise periods and things like that.

But I would imagine if you were set up there with not much to do, yes, that kind of thing could set in, right? If you don't have enough to do, you know, in a way, it's kind of like being in jail with a wonderful view. Fortunately, everyone's got plenty to do, so we don't have any issues with that.

SANCHEZ: Yes, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy except on the ISS, which Leroy Chiao just described as a prison with a beautiful view. Leroy, thank you so much for joining us. Always appreciate having you on.

CHIAO: My pleasure. Thank you. SANCHEZ: And we're grateful for you joining us this afternoon. "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

END