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TMZ Receives Fourth Email Demanding Money in Guthrie Search; FBI Analyzes DNA From Globe That Appears to Match Suspect's Glove; DHS in Partial Government Shutdown After Funding Talks Stall; DOJ Suing More Than 20 States to Access Sensitive Voter Info; NATO Allies Signal Sustained Support for Ukraine After Munich Conference; Obama Clarifies His Comments on Aliens After Saying They Are Real. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired February 16, 2026 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:30:07]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Three weeks into the search for Nancy Guthrie, and celebrity news and entertainment outlet, TMZ is now saying that it's received a fourth email from a person claiming to have information about the 84-year-old's whereabouts. This person is allegedly willing to turn it over for a price.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": TMZ Founder, Harvey Levin says this is the same person, in his view, who initially demanded one Bitcoin for information last week. And again, the sender is insisting on money upfront.

Levin says he turned the letter over to the FBI, but also had this message for the person who sent it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARVEY LEVIN, TMZ FOUNDER: I don't know if you're real or not, if you're watching this, but if you are, and I have told the FBI that we're going to do this, they know this, that if you're worried about getting this money and you really do have this information, send it to us. You're sending us these letters. Send it to us. We will forward it to the FBI.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, let's discuss this now with former FBI Profiler, Gregg McCrary. So, Gregg, how potentially impactful is that coming from Levin? Also, similar to Savannah Guthrie in her video posting on Instagram, reaching out directly to anyone who is responsible for Nancy Guthrie's disappearance.

GREGG MCCRARY, FORMER FBI PROFILER: We don't know if that individual has anything to do with it or is just a kind of a shakedown artist. And we've had some of that in other cases. And I think they've made an arrest in this case of an individual who is trying a type of extortion on this. But because we don't know, we need to pursue all leads. What's to me suspicious about this is a Bitcoin is worth $65,000 - $66,000 maybe. The FBI will pay $100,000. So just come forward, give us the information or give the Bureau the information, and they'll give you the $100,000 if it checks out. You know, that's the way to go.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. Investigators revealed the DNA found on a glove near Nancy Guthrie's home is now undergoing forensic testing. Walk us through that DNA analysis process. What should we expect to come next?

MCCRARY: Right. The DNA will be -- they sent to the local lab, the state lab. The Bureau has it now. They're going to double check for quality and consistency in order to put it in the CODIS database. And then, they'll see if they get a hit or not. But put that into perspective, there are probably 20 million to 25 million DNA profiles in CODIS. But we're in a country with a population of 350 million.

So that's around 7 percent of the population that's in CODIS. So there might not be a hit. But the other way they'll go with this is to begin investigative genetic genealogy, familial DNA, looking if they can pare this down and beginning to work backwards from other databases to see if we can begin to focus in on a potential suspect.

This has been done in other cases. The Bryan Kohberger case in Idaho, the guy who killed the four individuals there. Richard Heuermann, the Gilgo Beach killer. These things, the DNA there has come down to different ways of obtaining that. But that's the way this will go.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. And because time is of the essence, while it may be, what, between 24 hours and 48 hours for the CODIS system, it takes much longer, right, for the private sector. I mean, compare how much longer that would take and how they kind of pool these resources together to potentially reach a conclusion.

MCCRARY: Yes, you're right. It does take longer, typically, Fredricka. So that's a concern because no one can lose sight of the fact we got a life in the balance out here. So everything is a priority.

In the Kohberger case, for example, they had him as a suspect. They pulled -- they did a trash pull from his parents' home, got a Q-tip which they analyzed, and the results were that the DNA in the Q-tip was the father of the killer.

And that led to Kohberger's immediate arrest. So something like that could happen as well if they have a suspect or suspects on the radar screen.

SANCHEZ: Well, we hope that family gets some answers soon. Gregg McCrary, thanks so much for sharing your expertise.

MCCRARY: Indeed. You're welcome. Thank you.

[13:35:00]

SANCHEZ: Of course. Up next, new questions surrounding Princess Eugenie and Beatrice over their parents' ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The sisters' names appearing hundreds of times in the newly released tranche of files. We'll take you live to London ahead.

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SANCHEZ: The Department of Homeland Security is caught in a partial government shutdown as Republicans and Democrats remain locked in a bitter standoff over immigration policy. Nearly all DHS workers will stay on the job even though Congress failed to fund the agency before last Friday's deadline, that is unless the shutdown is prolonged.

Chuck Todd joins us now. He's the host of "The Chuck Toddcast." Chuck, great to see you as always. I want to ask you about the leverage and the efficiency of this shutdown in terms of it actually getting the change that Democrats want to see when it comes to these demands that they've made.

[13:40:00]

You have Democratic Senator, John Fetterman claiming that the shutdown literally has zero impact on ICE functionality. He's pointing to the fact that ICE and CBP got a boost of funding, over $160 billion, from the OBB. Effectively, doesn't that mean that the administration can just keep doing what they've been doing?

CHUCK TODD, HOST OF "THE CHUCK TODDCAST": They can, but here is where the shutdown does affect people, and it is TSA agents, right, it's the flying public. And I just want folks to step back a minute. This is where I think members of Congress are really sort of playing with matches next to a propane tank here. How often are we going to make these TSA agents have to work without pay? This is, I believe, the second time now in four months where you've got to move money around, OK?

These are not independently wealthy people that maybe some can float a month or two, maybe some can float six months. But a lot of people can't float like that, your rent or your electric bill or this or that. And we're making them do it again, which is going to do what now? This has now happened twice in four months.

Would you recommend somebody becoming a TSA agent, right? Can you count on pay when you need it? And now, you're just going to have worse and worse people in charge of our security, the front line of security, an agency we created in response to 9/11 because of the vulnerability we had in our -- so, look, I don't -- I think ultimately, the leverage is going to be on this shutdown where it has been for the last couple, which is when TSA agents start calling in sick, you'll start to see lawmakers try to figure this out because even they want to be able to go home and fly an airplane.

So that's how this thing is going to get resolved in the next couple of weeks. So I think the payday is down the road. Fetterman is right about the technicalities of this, which is this shutdown doesn't impact that. But you do have an increasingly bad public response to what the administration is doing. So, they're not on good standing polling-wise. So, there is general support for the reforms the Democrats are calling for.

The question is how much patience does the public have for this, especially if we go through yet another round of flight delays, cancellations, disruptions, coming up spring break and stuff like that?

SANCHEZ: Yeah, that's a good point. I wonder what reforms you think of these 10 demands Democrats absolutely need to walk away with before they agree to reopen DHS.

TODD: You know, just I'm surprised that the administration is not giving on at least one of them. I mean, you have Kristi Noem saying, well, we're in theory OK with body cams. We just want to decide when to turn them on and off. Like, that should be an easy, yes, body cams, or yes, we're going to get rid of the masking.

Or yet, you know, it doesn't -- I will say this. I think the demands are the type of demands that poll pretty well. They don't seem unreasonable. This doesn't come across as something, you know, they're trying to defund ICE or stop any of this, any of the deportations. They're not doing that. They're basically, I think if the administration agreed to get ridding of masks and the body cams, this thing is solved tomorrow.

SANCHEZ: Wow. I also wanted to ask you about how you're seeing this so-called integrity, election integrity push from the Trump administration. They're suing 25 state election chiefs, largely in blue states, for their voter rolls. What do you think they're trying to achieve?

TODD: That's a great question of how much of this continues to be about Donald Trump's personal quest to try to prove he didn't lose the 2020 election, whether they think this somehow helps them politically. I don't see how it does. Every time they do this, I think they're only helping to get out the vote efforts of the Democrats and of Trump opponents.

That the more they lean into trying to strong arm some of these election offices, trying to sue these states, I think it boomerangs. I think it only fires up Trump opponents. And if anything, I don't think this is the base, the type of sort of base issue that the MAGA base is going to crawl to the polls on.

And I think this is something -- this feels like this is more about Donald Trump and his personal hurt for losing in 2020, and he's trying to go about this. And they kind of, you know, they target states and they kind of quasi-claim it's about immigration as well, that these are also many of these states, sanctuary states. So they kind of claim they're doing that.

I don't think they're going to win these arguments in court for what it's worth, one.

[13:45:00]

But two, I don't think this helps them politically because I do think it fires up the left.

SANCHEZ: Chuck Todd, we have to leave the conversation there. Always great to see you.

TODD: All right, my friend. Thanks, Boris.

SANCHEZ: You bet. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right, Boris. U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio is on his way back to the U.S. from Europe, leaving behind an E.U. that remains in doubt about what to expect from Washington for the next three years of Donald Trump's presidency. The one thing both sides do seem to agree on, that the world order in existence since the end of the Second World War is all but over.

Let's discuss now with Admiral James Stravidis. He is a partner at the Carlyle Group, an international investment firm, and he serves on the board of advisors for a handful of defense-related companies. Always great to see you.

So, following Rubio's speech that Europe and the U.S. belong together, cue the music, what does this support or reinforce as it pertains to military collaborations?

ADM. JAMES STRAVIDIS, CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST: Fred, when I was Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, which is why I decided to become a CNN Contributor to talk about these kind of issues, I went many times to the Munich Security Conference.

And I think what Secretary Rubio sought to do was to kind of put a little oil on the water that was seriously roiled last year by Vice President, J.D. Vance. So Marco Rubio talked about the connectivity between the United States and Europe. We're all children of Europe. I certainly am as a Greek-American.

And at the end of the day, his tone was very reassuring to the Europeans. But -- and it's a pretty big but -- but there are still fundamental disagreements of approach over tariffs, over the status of Greenland, over intellectual property, over Ukraine, about climate.

There is more to disagree at the moment between the United States and Europe than to agree about. So, it's a pretty good moment in terms of a reassuring message. Tone was good. How he said it was pleasant. But the fundamentals continue to be challenging on both sides of the Atlantic.

WHITFIELD: And on Ukraine, should President Zelenskyy feel relieved or remain concerned about the U.S. continuing to help provide arsenal and intelligence resources?

STRAVIDIS: That's a smart question, Fred, because the way the United States is doing it is kind of splitting the difference, if you will, between the full-throated, 100 percent support that the Biden administration provided and simply backing away and not supporting Ukraine. We're selling weapons. The Europeans are buying them. But they're the very best weapons in the world, and they're going to the Ukrainians. So I think Zelenskyy is reassured by that. And my takeaway on Ukraine specifically here, Fred, is that the daylight between the United States, the Europeans, and the Ukrainians is coming closer and closer together. That's a good thing.

And it means that the possibility of getting to a negotiation as the year goes on will increase. The problem is not Zelenskyy, it is not the Europeans, it is not the United States. The problem, of course, is Vladimir Putin.

At some point, we need to continue the pressure on his economy. And that's why shutting down the shadow fleet oil tankers all over the world is the best way to force Putin to the table.

WHITFIELD: So, what signals from the Munich conference might have been sent to Russia's Putin?

STRAVIDIS: I think that this was also part of Secretary Rubio's speech, was to send a message to Moscow that, yep, we have disagreements here in this camp, this transatlantic camp, but fundamentally, the long-term prospects of unity are better than disunity.

I think he sent that message pretty clearly, and that will help get Putin to the negotiating table as the year goes on. Let's hope so.

WHITFIELD: All right. Admiral James Stravidis, thank you so much.

All right, next, the truth is out there. Former President Obama clarifies his answer that went viral when he was asked whether aliens exist.

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[13:54:20]

SANCHEZ: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. Former President, Barack Obama is pulling back his comments about aliens. This was his response when asked in a podcast if aliens were real.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, (D) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: They're real, but I haven't seen them. And they're not being kept in, what is it?

BRIAN TYLER COHEN, HOST OF "NO LIE WITH BRIAN TYLER COHEN" PODCAST: Area 51.

OBAMA: Area 51.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: His words quickly spread online over the weekend. And Sunday evening, Obama posted the clip on Instagram, along with this statement, saying, "Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good, there is life out there." But he reiterated that he saw no evidence of extraterrestrials during his presidency.

[13:55:00]

Stay with us on this, because we're going to be talking about aliens with an expert and Obama's comments in our 3 p.m. hour. So stay tuned for that.

Also, memorial events are being held in Russia and Europe for Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on the second anniversary of his death in a Russian prison. Five European nations on Saturday released results of samples taken from Navalny's body. They found that he was killed with a toxin from a South American poison dart frog, not usually found in Russia, not naturally found in Russia.

They say Moscow, "have the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison to Navalny," a claim that Kremlin is rejecting.

And new footage out of Italy showing a rescue team digging out a hiker after he was buried in an avalanche. The man was trapped nearly five feet underneath snow for three hours until a search dog was able to pick up his scent.

He was airlifted to a hospital with hypothermia. His rescue comes after officials say a separate avalanche killed two skiers and injured another on Sunday in northern Italy between the border of France and Switzerland. Officials there say a record 13 people died in the Italian mountains during the first week of February. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Wow, incredible rescue. All right, more members of the British monarchy are entangled in the fallout from the release of the Epstein Files. Recently published documents show the daughter of the former prince, Andrew, are named hundreds of times.

Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie appear to have been introduced to Epstein by their mother, Sarah Ferguson. Their parents have long been caught up in this controversy, but now, many are raising questions over how much the two princesses knew about the convicted sex offender.

Let's bring in now CNN International Correspondent, Max Foster. Max, what can you tell us about these new discoveries, these documents, the mentioning of their names?

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, so they're mentioned hundreds of times basically, which obviously has become a big talking point. Let me give you a few examples here.

So, a series of emails indicate that Ferguson, Eugenie and Beatrice all visited Epstein in Miami. So this was 2009 and that was just five days after he was released from jail, which you would assume they would have been aware of. Do you need a ride, Epstein asked, before they get lunch? No, thank you, the former Duchess replies, adding it'll be myself, Beatrice and Eugenie.

Then we have a subsequent email where Ferguson tells Epstein, cannot wait to see you. So, many more mentions of Sarah Ferguson throughout all of these documents and their obviously very deep relationship. In a separate thread between Epstein and his personal assistant dates before also appears to indicate that he paid $14,000 or around $14,000 for the trio's flights to the United States.

Now, of course, being named in these documents doesn't imply any guilt necessarily. But we don't know how much the princesses actually knew about Epstein, what their mother had said about Epstein, but he had just been convicted in that earlier incident.

We also know that there's another exchange where the former Duchess says that Beatrice had advised her on how to handle a British journalist who Ferguson had given a statement to about Epstein. So, they were in discussions about Epstein and fully aware. And this was all after Ferguson's spokesperson had said that she'd cut off all relations with Epstein as soon as she was aware of the extent of the allegations. But these files simply undermine that narrative.

Also, worth noting that the princesses were 20 and 19 around the time of the lunch and obviously, a bit older for the other email exchanges. So they weren't young girls. They were adults. We've reached out to the princesses' representatives, also Ferguson's representatives, but we haven't actually heard any comment from them since all of these revelations came to light.

WHITFIELD: And these sisters are royals, but they're not working royals. So, I wonder if you could explain that.

FOSTER: Yeah, so they have princess titles, which was an exception made by the former queen. So their cousins, for example, haven't taken titles, but they did take titles, but they're not working royals. So, they're not paid by the government to perform any royal duties.

At the time, of course, Prince Andrew, as he was then, was a senior working royal. So, whenever we go to the palace and ask questions about this, they say they don't represent Andrew anymore. But certainly at the time, they did represent him.

And ongoing questions about how much King Charles might have known about this. No evidence that he knew about any of this relationship. But more and more questions being really, really heaped on the monarchy and what they knew when.

And we have a criminal investigation now into Andrew Mountbatten- Windsor. So, I don't think this story is going away for them anytime soon.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, it keeps getting even more curious. All right. Max Foster, thank you so much. A new hour of --