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Guthrie Makes New Plea; Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) is Interviewed about Rubio and DHS Funding; Opening Statements in Trial of Georgia School Shooter's Father. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired February 16, 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]

DR. SANDRA FRYHOFER, INTERNAL MEDICINE PHYSICIAN: Credible and grounded in evidence.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Michael Osterholm, Dr. Sandra Fryhofer, thank you so much for coming in.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A new emotional plea from Savannah Guthrie, "it's never too late to do the right thing," she says. And this morning, waiting on DNA tests on what could be a key piece of evidence.

And then, who can be held responsible for a school shooting other than the actual gunman? Opening statements set to begin any minute in the trial of a father of the teenager accused of killing four people at his Georgia high school.

And never, ever let anyone throw away your card collection. A rare Pokemon card just sold for a record $16 million with a diamond necklace thrown in.

Sara is out today. I'm John Berman, with Kate Bolduan, and this is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: It is never too late to do the right thing. That is the new message and plea that Savannah Guthrie is making and also making directly to whoever took and still has her 84-year-old mother, Nancy Guthrie.

Let me play more of what she posted on social media.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, "TODAY" ANCHOR: We still have hope. And we still believe. And I wanted to say to whoever has her or knows where she is that it's never too late. And you're not lost or alone. And it is never too late to do the right thing. And we are here. And we believe. And we believe in the essential goodness of every human being.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BOLDUAN: With the search now entering a third week, authorities are hoping that this could be their big break. A glove found about two miles from Nancy Guthrie's home in Arizona. They could be getting final DNA testing results as soon as today. And what they find on that glove. The FBI says that at least visually the glove appears to match ones worn by the suspect that was captured on Nancy Guthrie's doorbell camera the night she vanished.

And yet there is also this -- the sobering reality. A source close to the investigation tells CNN that there is still no leading theory tying all of these threads together. Investigators are examining still all possibilities of why this happened, including whether it was a burglary gone wrong or a targeted abduction.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is live in Tucson for us.

Ed, what's the very latest that you're picking up this morning?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Kate.

We're watching the DNA results on that glove very closely. So, anticipate and hope to hear some clarity on that today.

But let me walk you through some of the scenarios that would take place there. Remember, on --end of last week, on Friday, the sheriff here in Pima County told us that they had recovered some unknown DNA inside Nancy Guthrie's home. And then we learned from the FBI that one of the many gloves that have been picked up has a DNA profile that they want to examine closely.

So, if you take that, if you have the DNA from the glove and it matches what was found here, then you have a pretty significant breakthrough. And then that DNA sample would be put through various databases to try to come up with some sort of match.

Now is that likely? Impossible to say here. But for that glove to have been picked up in this general area, you'd have to presume that the abductor somehow lost the glove or threw it out the window as they were fleeing this scene here. It seems rather difficult that that would be the scenario that played out with whoever abducted Nancy Guthrie back here in the early morning hours of February 1st, but these are all the types of leads that investigators have to continue to follow down. So, we will continue to follow that throughout the day as well.

And it also comes after another long weekend and many calls coming in. You can hear the despair and the pain in Savannah Guthrie's voice in the social media video that she posted last night. On Friday night there was a massive search of a property just up two -- within two miles of Nancy Guthrie's home. But that, from what we understand, has not amounted to any clear connection to Nancy Guthrie's abduction.

But we do know that investigators, really still based on that video of the suspect at the front door of Nancy Guthrie's home, are continuing to get thousands of tips and leads. [09:05:10]

And that is exactly what they say they will continue to chase down.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Ed, thank you for your continued reporting on the ground there. Really appreciate it.

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us, CNN law enforcement contributor Steve Moore and former FBI executive assistant director for intelligence Joshua Skule.

And I want to focus on the video that Ed was just talking about. This is a frame of that video taken from the doorbell camera. And this, of course, is the glove and now authorities say they are testing a glove that resembles this found not terribly far, within two miles, of Nancy Guthrie's home. Ed pointed out, Steve, that they have DNA, not from Nancy Guthrie, not from the family, they found in the house. So, if there is that DNA on this glove, Steve, what then?

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Well, if the DNA on that glove matches the stuff in the house, obviously, then you've got -- you've got something very, very important and significant. The problem is, it's going to be hard to say that this is even tied to the house if they do pick up DNA off this. And so it's complicated and it's kind of a hail Mary at this point.

BERMAN: And, Josh, we have this new video that Savannah Guthrie put out that uses some very specific language. She says, you know, "you're never alone," "there's always hope." But she also says, and she says this twice, "it's never too late to do the right thing. It's never too late to do the right thing." So, why this message to a potential kidnaper?

JOSHUA SKULE, FORMER FBI EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR INTELLIGENCE: Well, John, I think it's because there's been such a prolonged period of time. She's pleading with them. She's pleading with associates of the potential abductors to say, hey, it's time to reveal who these bad guys are. We've had very little contact with the kidnapers. There's was purportedly two initial notes and then a third from somebody unknown. There has been no ongoing dialog, which really brings into question what the theory of the abduction is. If they're looking for money. So, she is looking to keep this in the media, intense media scrutiny, and have additional leads come in to law enforcement.

BERMAN: And, Josh, while I have you here, this is a map of a couple of the searches that have happened over the last few days within a two mile radius of Nancy Guthrie's home, which is right here. One of the things we're hearing from officials is they have no leading theory as to what's going on here. Whether it was a kidnaping or a burglary gone wrong, which they specifically list in our reporting there. So, Josh, if this was a burglary gone wrong, do you approach it

differently when you're trying to make contact with the person holding and responsible for Nancy Guthrie?

SKULE: Well, I think if it was a burglary gone wrong, you wouldn't take the person from their home. You know, she was not going to be a threat to them. Clearly they brought tools with the -- with the backpack that appears to be very full. That doesn't lead to going to get stuff out of the house. You could certainly leave her there, detain her, tie her up, something like that.

But when you take somebody away from the home, you're now responsible, in some way, shape or form for them. It's a higher risk. So, I don't know. I understand why investigators would be looking at all theories because, in a kidnaping, you're -- somebody who wants money is going to want to have a constant dialog. They're going to want to get paid. And we haven't seen that. So, they have to explore all of these theories.

BERMAN: And just a little more on the searches that we did see over the weekend. This was searching a nearby home. This happened Friday night. While it was happening caused, I think, a lot of interest, a lot of heightened interest. But we just don't know at this point what came of that.

This, again, is the map, Steve. You can see the home searched here. You can see there was a Range Rover, a car, searched down there. And then Nancy Guthrie's home right here. All within a two mile radius.

Can you read this or do you look at this and say, hey, maybe authorities have some reason to believe that this abductor didn't get very far? What do you see in this?

MOORE: Are you asking me on that?

BERMAN: Yes , Steve, go ahead.

MOORE: Oh, I'm sorry.

Yes, I think what it shows is that they do have some kind of indication on, you know, their theory of crime. And nobody has come out and said that the search at the other home was a mistake. It seems to me that they do have some ideas. They may have more than one theory of the crime, but they certainly seem to be making progress in the direction that they feel they need to go.

[09:10:06]

BERMAN: Again, obviously, we haven't seen activity like this since Friday night when the home was searched, when the Range Rover also searched there. We can see all of this happening within this two-mile radius. Obviously, we are looking for more signs that they are closing in on something, maybe anything that will help lead them to Nancy Guthrie. Steve Moore, Joshua Skule, thank you both very much.

Kate. BOLDUAN: New this morning, Secretary of State Marco Rubio met in

Budapest with Hungary's authoritarian leader, Trump ally, Viktor Orban. The secretary of state, while there, highlighting close ties between the governments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: The relationship between the United States and Hungary today is as close as I can possibly imagine it being. And it's not just close rhetorically, it's close in action.

We are entering this golden era of relations between our countries, and not simply because of the alignment of our people, but because of the relationship that you have with the president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: This also comes just after Secretary Rubio wrapped up a much anticipated speech at the Munich Security Conference, striking a less aggressive tone to European allies than they heard last year from Vice President J.D. Vance. Also offering more reassurances than they heard from President Trump in Davos just weeks ago.

Joining us right now is Democratic Congressman Adam Smith of Washington. He is the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. It's good to see you, Congressman.

There was a lot of anxiety over what the kind of official line would be and message would be from the Trump administration going into this much watched security conference. After Rubio's speech, people are described as being in the room as offering an audible sigh of relief. From what you've heard from him, should they be relieved?

REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): Well, it helped. I mean he gave a speech that basically was far more conciliatory and unifying than what Vice President Vance did last year, where he basically attacked Europe. So, I think it showed a tone that was different. And that's a positive because, look, I mean most of us want to maintain a positive relationship with our European allies. And Secretary of State Rubio sort of gave a speech that implied that that was possible.

The other part of it, look, the idea that Europe should do more to defend itself I think we can all get behind. The question is, is the U.S. going to continue to participate in that alliance? So, as good as the speech was, I think the concerns that linger from the people I've talked to is, actions speak louder than words. You know, if the president is still out there threatening to make Canada the 51st state, threatening Denmark, putting more pressure on President Zelenskyy in Ukraine than he is on President Putin, that's what's a little troubling by Secretary Rubio's visit to Hungary. Hungary certainly reflects an approach to Ukraine that is less supportive.

So, the actions are going to matter. The speech calmed people down, but is there going to be a change in the specifics of what the Trump administration does towards Europe, towards Ukraine, and towards just our system of partners and alliances all across the country that he's done so much to undermine in the last year.

BOLDUAN: Very much related to exactly that, as we're just learning from "The New York Times" that Canada is planning to announce a new defense policy this week. And as part of it, planning to move to divert billions of dollars in military spending that it had long given to U.S. defense companies, instead directing it to domestic manufacturers. And "The New York Times" has a quote from the policy document that says this. "Long held assumptions have been upended about the end of the imperial conquest, the durability of peace in Europe, and the resilience of old alliances. It is more important than ever that Canada possess the capacity to sustain its own defense and safeguard its own sovereignty."

What does this mean for the United States?

SMITH: Well, it means our system of partnerships and alliances is weakening and under threat, number one. I mean that's always been the great strength that we've had since the end of World War II. We have more partners and allies than anybody in the world. And when you look at our competition with China, that's always been one of the biggest advantages that we have. China doesn't have that.

The other thing that's really troubling about this is, we have been working now probably for the last six or seven years on a, quote, de- risking strategy from China. And other countries have felt that way as well, because China has used coercive power against countries like Australia and South Korea and others in the region to sort of bully them. So, those countries have looked for other options. We have wanted to be that other option.

Now you have a situation where our partners and allies are talking about de-risking from us because they don't think they can depend on us. Forget depend on us. They view us potentially as hostile because we are threatening their territory, we're threatening sovereignty, we're threatening some values that Secretary Rubio didn't talk much about.

[09:15:05]

He talked about the cultural connections between Europe and the U.S. and Christianity. He did not talk about the values of sovereignty, about a rules-based international system, about the right of everyone to have a say in how they are governing -- governed and respect for borders. So, those values have gone away. So, now we've got our partners and allies de-risking against the U.S. Unquestionably, that weakens our country.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I mean, if Canada is saying, hey, guys, we're going to take our billions and spend it elsewhere, that's not a message that you think would -- should sit well with -- well, any of those U.S. defense companies or the White House at this point.

You are also, at the very same time, all of you, facing a funding fight continuing on Capitol Hill to end this government shutdown that went in place over the weekend. I want to play for you what Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin said on CNN just yesterday blaming Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLIN (R-OK): They're not stopping ICE from doing their job. They're not stopping the Border Patrol from doing their job. All this is, is a political theater, because the State of the Union is coming up a week from Tuesday. Because if this was really a serious conversation, they wouldn't be holding the TSA workers or FEMA or the Coast Guard hostage over something that cannot be done by their -- by their ridiculous shutdown of DHS.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Congressman, what do you say to that

SMITH: Yes. I've worked very closely with Markwayne. Consider him a friend. I think that's willfully ignorant to say that.

What we are after is blocking ICE from violating the rights of people all across this country. And I think from what we've seen in Minneapolis and elsewhere in the country, there is widespread support for the idea that ICE is violating the individual rights of people all across this country, certainly not just in Minneapolis. We've seen it in their violent confrontations. They are detaining people without probable cause or due process for weeks. Detaining U.S. citizens. They are smashing in windows, dragging people out of cars, breaking into people's homes without warrants. We need protection against that. And to vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security without getting those protections would be incredibly irresponsible. And Senator Mullin can disagree with that. He can say, hey, I support what ICE is doing. I think it's just fine. But to say that it's political theater to try to protect the rights of the American people, I mean, two people were executed by the ICE forces in Minneapolis and lied about it, OK. This is very serious. We are doing this because ICE needs to be reined in for the protection of the rights of people in this country. So, let's have a debate about that. That's not political theater. I can't think of a more important, substantive issue for us to be debating in this country right now.

BOLDUAN: Let's see where that debate goes from here.

Congressman, thank you for coming on.

John.

BERMAN: All right, happening now, opening statements set to begin any minute now in the trial of a father facing criminal charges over a mass shooting allegedly carried out by his son.

And the unbeaten U.S. men's hockey team takes a next step towards what they hope will be their first goal since the Miracle on Ice. They've been winning, but, really, have they been playing well enough to get the gold?

And then Michael Jordan wins. Yes, that happened a lot in basketball, but -- BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: Right. Always, right. But now he can claim victory in Nascar's biggest race.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:23:14]

BOLDUAN: So, opening statements are set to begin really very soon in the trial of Colin Gray. He is the man in Georgia now charged with murder for the school shooting that authorities say his son carried out. Colt Gray was 14 years old when police say he opened fire at Apalachee High School in 2024. Two students and two teachers were killed. Nine other people were injured. Investigators say that the father now should be held, and prosecutors say, held criminally responsible for this horrible tragedy.

Joining me right now, CNN's Jean Casarez. She's been following this from the very beginning.

And this is a big moment as these opening statements are about to begin, Jean.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a very big moment. The judge has taken the bench. And he warned the courtroom that this is going to be an extremely emotional trial.

And that it is because this is precedent setting for the case of Georgia. This is only the third time in this country that a parent has been charged with the alleged son's school shooting. And I say alleged because Colin Gray's son Colt, who was 14 at the time, has pleaded not guilty. His trial has not happened. But at Apalachee High School in 2024, two students were killed, and we're talking 14 years old, two teachers were killed, numerous children were injured, and the father, Colin Gray, is facing 265 years in prison. This is a life sentence for him.

And this trial is critically important because he didn't pull the trigger, he wasn't at the school, but after his son allegedly, online, made threats that he was going to shoot up the school and there were going to be guns, months later he bought him an AR -- AK-15-style rifle. And that is how this case began. And from that, that gun allegedly was the one that was used in the school shooting.

[09:25:05]

And the father has said in the defense, and we've got to see where the defense goes, but he has said, I was trying to teach my son gun safety.

The jury is eight men, five women, including alternates. A lot of prospective jurors, though, said last week during jury selection they couldn't be on the jury because they just could not understand why that gun was purchased for him, for the son, so close to making alleged threats to shoot up the school. BOLDUAN: All right, this is getting underway as we speak. Much more to

come on this.

And you can watch Jean's coverage of the trial. You see that QR code we're going to put up at the bottom of the screen. You can get that and continue with Jean's great coverage on all of this.

Thank you so much, Jean.

The search for Nancy Guthrie, the new plea from her daughter and the DNA test results that authorities are hoping could crack this case wide open, now entering a third week.

And former President Barack Obama getting into action at the NBA all- star game, even coming up with a loose ball courtside.

And all the robots were kung fu fighting with swords and nunchucks. Further evidence that, I don't know, we're doomed or let the party begin. I'm not sure.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)