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Guthrie's Plea to Kidnappers; John Pistole is Interviewed about the Guthrie Case; USA Women Face Sweden in Hockey; Numbers on Trump and Bad Bunny. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired February 16, 2026 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[09:30:31]
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Savannah Guthrie is out with a new message and plea this morning to whoever is holding her 84 year old mother, Nancy Guthrie. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, "TODAY" ANCHOR: It's never too late. And you're not lost or alone. And it is never too late to do the right thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: And possibly today we could hear about final DNA test results on a possible crucial piece of evidence, a glove found about two miles from Nancy Guthrie's home. A glove they are hoping could possibly be a match to one worn by the suspect, as you're seeing this doorbell cam video the night that Nancy Guthrie was taken.
Here with me right now is Brian Stelter with more on this.
Let's start with the video that Savannah put out. This is several videos in now. Tell us more about the video.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: And this, I think it's the fifth one. Some of them with her siblings, some of them alone. And when I say the word alone, you can feel that sense of loneliness in so many ways right?
BOLDUAN: Yes.
STELTER: This woman, this daughter, just trying to find her mom. And speaking in the most raw, the most personal way possible. I found this to be the most heart wrenching of all the videos Savannah has released so far because so much time has gone by. I find myself thinking about the first couple of days of this ordeal, of this nightmare, and how at the very beginning the siblings didn't think that their mom had been taken for ransom, they thought their mom was in a hospital, that their mom had been injured, and they were searching local hospitals on day one.
Well, on day two and day three, it became much more clear what was happening. And then on day four and five, the family started releasing videos. But now here we are, more than two weeks in, and really all Savannah can do is hold up her phone and ask again for help.
BOLDUAN: Ask -- it seems she has a message for anyone out there that knows anything. It seems a message for her mother if she by any chance sees it.
STELTER: Yes.
BOLDUAN: And a message for the people who have her mother. It seems all to be coming out in that. Still saying they hold out hope.
STELTER: Yes. Yes.
BOLDUAN: Another thing, though, that is happening -- so, we're now into a third week of searching for Nancy Guthrie. Another thing that's happening, and the reason we bring it up is local officials are speaking out and telling people to essentially leave and go home. These internet sleuths, true crime influencers descending on Tucson.
STELTER: Yes.
BOLDUAN: And they say -- local officials are saying now that this is doing more harm than good. What's happening here?
STELTER: Yes there have been some warnings about that over the weekend. I think that's telling because I've been hesitant to talk about this. And I don't want to sound like some old fogy. You know, some old fashioned journalist trying to defend normal standards. They might seem old fashioned and out of date. There is value in having folks online doing whatever they can, trying to search, trying to feel like they can help.
BOLDUAN: Trying to help. Yes.
STELTER: Everyone wants to feel like they can help. And so, a lot of people are doing this in good faith. But we have seen several instances now of ideas about suspects being claimed that are not suspects. Lots of smears and lies spreading online. I think that's what the authorities are warning about, this danger in guessing -- playing a guessing game about something that's not a game at all.
BOLDUAN: It's really quite something.
STELTER: Yes.
BOLDUAN: Brian, thank you so much. It's good to see you.
STELTER: You too.
BOLDUAN: John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now, former FBI deputy director and former TSA administrator, John Pistole.
And we're actually going to tap into both your areas of expertise on widely different subjects. But let me start with the Guthrie investigation.
The idea that there is DNA testing right now on a glove that authorities say matches the visual description of this glove taken from the doorbell camera. What is this testing they're doing? And if it does come back as a match from DNA they found inside the house, what next?
JOHN PISTOLE, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: Well, that would be huge, John, if the DNA inside the glove matches what was inside the house. And that, obviously, establishes the person who was at the -- at the front door, who entered the house, and abducted Nancy Guthrie. So, that would be huge.
The DNA analysis takes a little while. And then one of the questions is, is the DNA in a known database for the FBI, it's called CODIS. Is it in that known database? That's the most obvious way of connecting the dots, if you will.
That being said, there's also other ways of doing it. It takes much longer. Even if it -- the person's DNA is not in a database but that's what would be called a good lead. And so, it's something that they are pursuing aggressively. And it's just something that, that we have to wait.
[09:35:00]
Whether it's today, tomorrow, the next day when they can make a definitive claim of -- of what that -- who that DNA belongs to or rule it out that it's not in a known database.
BERMAN: So, that's your former deputy director of the FBI hat. We're going to ask you to put on your former TSA administrator hat now because we are now in like day three of what is a government -- a very partial government shutdown, where funding for the Department of Homeland Security has run out. Now, I say funding has run out, but Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, ICE, got a lot of money. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has a lot of money also because they were funded last year for some time. So, what will the impact be on these other agencies, including your TSA?
PISTOLE: Yes. Well, unfortunately for TSA and Coast Guard and FEMA, some of the other DHS component agencies, they are not funded but many of them, in fact over 95 percent of TSA's 60,000 plus employees are considered essential personnel, which means they have to show up for work even though there's no guarantee that they will be paid. They're not getting paid right now. And so that's the challenge. And what will I believe happen has happened last fall with the record 43 day government wide shutdown, more and more TSA officers, TSOs, will call in, call in sick. And so they call it the call out to say I can't come to work today because I've got childcare issues, I've got whatever it may be, a sick person in the family I have to take care of. And last year, last fall, there were over 1,100 TSA employees who resigned by the end of that almost six-week shutdown. And so the longer it goes now, the question is, what happens to those employees who depend on their -- those paychecks? So, there's a number of issues and including the security for people traveling. How is that impacted? BERMAN: Yes. You know, it's interesting, I'm trying to remember, we're
all too used to shutdowns at this point because we've seen a lot of them. But I don't think that we've had one just like this where it's one agency that's shut down. How do you feel like that will affect the urgency to bring this to a conclusion?
PISTOLE: Yes, well, it's, of course, up to members of Congress to try to find some resolution that they can get the budget bill to the president for his signature. And right now they're -- most members of Congress are not planning to be back until next Tuesday. And so that's -- if there's not a sense of urgency, then I think it becomes problematic for the traveling public for -- on the one hand because they will start experiencing probably longer wait times at checkpoints. And then again, it becomes a security issue if people are distracted because they're trying to think, well how am I going to pay my childcare, or how am I going to pay this or that? Do they get distracted and frustrated and perhaps miss something?
Now, they -- I don't think that will happen with -- because they're professionals, but many of them are not high paid. Most are not high paid. The starting salary is anywhere from $35,000 to $39,000 for most TSOs. So, it's a problem.
BERMAN: Yes, they're professionals, but they are human beings. And TSA is not somewhere where you want anyone the slightest bit distracted.
John Pistole, great to have you on this morning. Thank you so much.
PISTOLE: Yes.
BERMAN: This morning, chaos in the world of curling. The allegations of cheating, swearing, covert filming. This is really grabbing everyone's attention at the winter games.
And it is considered the holy grail of all Pokemon cards. And it just sold for a whopping $16.5 million.
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[09:43:18]
BOLDUAN: So, if your mom, your dad, your husband, your wife, all of them tries to toss your trading cards, here is the proof that you have been looking for all along to tell them, not so fast. Influencer and WWE star Logan Paul just sold a rare Pokemon card for nearly $16.5 million. It is officially the most expensive trading card ever sold at auction, and it even came with a diamond encrusted necklace on the side. Paul bought the card for more than $5 million about five years ago. So, it looks like he turned a pretty little profit on this one.
Former President Barack Obama went to a basketball game and ended up getting in on the action, catching a loose ball in the middle of it. Wait, did I miss the moment? Did I miss the moment? There he goes. Great ball control. The Obamas were sitting courtside when it all happened. And by the way, Team Stars beat Team Stripes 47 to 21 in that all-star championship. At the Daytona 500, Tyler Reddick takes the checkered flag, driving a car co-owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan. I'm going to show you Michael Jordan celebrating the big win. Reddick surged ahead of the pack in a final -- tense final lap for a win that analysts are calling one of Nascar's most thrilling finishes in recent years.
And if you are wondering how close the robot apocalypse is, it has arrived. The robots now know kung fu. Also they can use swords and nunchucks. The robots were demonstrating their skills, fantastico (ph). Their skills with children in Beijing as part of a China -- as part of the Chinese new year festival.
John.
BERMAN: I would have liked it if the kids jumped off and started like kicking the robots or something.
[09:45:00]
BOLDUAN: Kung fu-ing with the kung fu robots?
BERMAN: Yes, exactly. Like, just destroying the robots.
BOLDUAN: Take them out.
BERMAN: Anyway. Didn't happen.
BOLDUAN: Nope.
BERMAN: Next time.
It is looking like it will be a seismic semifinal for the U.S. women's hockey team as they face Sweden today in their Olympic quest for gold.
Let's get right to CNN's Coy Wire, who is there.
Good morning, sir.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Good morning, John. Keep those kung fu robots away from Team USA women's hockey. They're back in action in the -- in the hour here facing Sweden in the semifinals. And they've been dominating, John, led by the team captain, the scoring machine, Hilary Knight, playing in her fifth and final games. With one more goal she'll become Team USA's all-time leading scorer at the Olympics.
I caught up with her earlier and asked her, where did you get that competitive fire from?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILARY KNIGHT, FORWARD, USA HOCKEY: My mom is one of the greatest competitors. And I think just having that inspiration in home and then also just being in a male dominated sport. And like so many people knows so many roster spots being left off. It kind of just like builds, right? And so all of a sudden you have this like pot of energy you can just really tap into and just unleash on the world, which is really exciting and brings out the best level of competition in me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: All right, next up, you heard John mention in the tease, we have a major alleged cheating scandal in curling of all sports. Team Canada's men's team accused of touching the stone after letting the handle go on Friday against Sweden. Then the next night, Canada's women's team accused of doing the same against Switzerland. There's no replay review in curling, but concerns are so high that world curling announced they will deploy extra officials for the remainder of the games.
All this in the wake, of course, of last summer Olympics where staff of the Canadian women's soccer team were suspended for using drones to spy on an opponent's closed training.
Now, on a much lighter curling note, we have a new Clark Kent of the Winter Olympics. Team USA curler Aiden Oldenburg. He's actually like a Clark Kent Rambo hybrid with that red headband that he rocks, and those specs. He fist pumps the crowd, John, throws hands up to his ear like this to get the crowd pumped up. He's been called "Headband Guy," and he almost looks like a clone of -- remember the summer Olympics breakout star "Pommel Horse Guy," Stephen Nedoroscik? They've even chatted virtually to dispel rumors that they are actually the same person. If you remember, Nedoroscik, he also went viral for his Rubik's cube skills. Well, the 24-year-old Oldenburg is not just an environmental scientist, John, he's a juggler, a yo-yo aficionado, a former e-sports captain, and an absolutely captivating curling character at these winter games. Definitely one to watch when Team USA take on China in the preliminaries tomorrow.
BERMAN: I mean, no one likes a showoff, I will say that. I mean, pick a lane there at some point, Coy.
No, he seems awesome. I will say, until we see them in the same room, I will not believe that they're separate people. But, for now, you know, we're on standby for that.
Coy Wire, in Italy, thank you very much. Getting ready for the U.S. women's hockey team.
All right, the Department of Justice sends Congress a list of names from the Epstein files. It includes Elvis, Janis Joplin and Marilyn Monroe. So, how serious is the Department of Justice about this? Congress, not at all happy.
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BERMAN: So, we are more than a week after the Super Bowl, and there are still some supporters of Donald Trump complaining about Bad Bunny's halftime show. And there are still other supporters of President Trump saying, you guys are picking the wrong fight. Why are they saying that?
With us now, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten. So, you know, how's Bad Bunny doing in the polls say versus some other people?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes, versus some other people. Let's say Donald Trump. How about this? OK, what are we talking about here? Idios mio, oh my goodness gracious, net favorable rating of Bad Bunny, plus seven points. Look at this, Donald Trump, minus 19 points. You don't have to be a mathematical genius or speak Spanish to know that seven points is greater than minus 19 points. Bad Bunny far more popular than Donald Trump. These numbers make Donald Trump moy mal.
BERMAN: OK. This is overall. What about among some key subgroups?
ENTEN: What about among some key subgroups? No me gusta if you're Donald Trump. Look at this, net favorable rating with independents, John's off there on the side laughing his butt off. With independents, Bad Bunny at plus 16 points. He does very well in the center of the electorate. A group that Donald Trump is really struggling with. Look at this, Donald Trump, 31 points underwater. His net favorable rating with independents. What is that, John? Quick math with me. That's -- what is that, 47 points? I think that's a 47 point --
BERMAN: Forty-seven points. That's big.
ENTEN: That's really, really big. If Donald Trump wants to win with independents, he should be taking lessons from Bad Bunny, not going after his halftime show.
BERMAN: All right, that's independents. What about younger people?
ENTEN: What about younger people? OK.
BERMAN: Oh, my God.
ENTEN: Oh my goodness gracious. Idios mio once again. OK, net favorable rating among gen z. Bad Bunny plus 32 points. Look at Donald Trump, 45 points below water his net favorable rating with gen z. This, of course, has been a group that Donald Trump has really gone underwater with. And we're talking about 32 plus 45. What is that, 77 point difference? I think I'm doing that math right there.
BERMAN: Yes.
ENTEN: In Spanish I can count up to like ten. I can't count all the way up to 77.
BERMAN: That is a colossal gap. So, people seem to be expecting some pretty big things from Bad Bunny going forward.
ENTEN: Yes, OK, some pretty big things from Bad Bunny going forward. OK, take a look here. It's not just about Donald Trump here. It's about Bad Bunny as well.
[09:55:00]
OK, he has seen some major increase in support since the Super Bowl, right? He's had two -- he has two albums right now in the top ten on the Billboard 200. And more than that, looking forward, what are we looking at here? Chance to be Spotify's top artist of 2026. On February 1st, look at that, he was doing pretty well according to Kalshi, 53 percent. But look at this, up like a rocket. Now we're talking about a 67 percent chance that Bad Bunny has to be the top Spotify artist of 2026.
So, the bottom line is this, looking at the data, we have seen that Donald Trump is far less popular than Bad Bunny. And more than that, guys, what do we see? We see that Bad Bunny's chance to be the top Spotify artist of this year, way up, along with the fact that his albums are already doing very, very well after the Super Bowl. Bad Bunny, the winner. Donald Trump, the loser in this matchup.
BERMAN: Along with the New England Patriots. Harold Enten, thank you very much for that.
ENTEN: Yes.
BOLDUAN: And thank you all so much for joining us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "THE SITUATION ROOM," up next.
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