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Les Wexner to be Deposed over Epstein Ties; Investigators go to Gun Shops in Guthrie Case; No DNA Match in Guthrie Case; Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) is Interviewed about the Wexner Deposition. Aired 9- 9:30a ET

Aired February 18, 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]

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS TECH REPORTER: Testimony today.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Which is why the outcome of this case and how this testimony goes is so fascinating, important, and will be closely watched.

Clare, thank you for this and for tracking it so closely.

DUFFY: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are standing by for members of Congress to question the billionaire former owner of Victoria's Secret in their Epstein investigation. What they want to know about the 88-year-olds close ties to the late sex offender.

Investigators are talking to gun shop owners as they chase down new leads in the Nancy Guthrie case. One shop owner indicating the FBI brought a list of names.

And caught on camera. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No. Oh, man, that was a car flying right into a house.

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

BOLDUAN: So, what can the founder of Victoria's Secret tell us about Jeffrey Epstein? Another key question today, what will he be asked? Les Wexner, the 88-year-old founder of Victoria's Secret, will be deposed by the House Oversight Committee at his home in Ohio over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Wexner has a deep connection to the convicted sex offender, dating back to I believe the '80s. Wexner even hired Epstein as his money manager. Wexner has not been charged with a crime and has denied wrongdoing or knowledge of Epstein's abuses.

But a CNN review of Epstein's files released by the Justice Department found that Les Wexner's name was among those initially redacted in a coconspirator document produced by the FBI. His name also appears in hundreds of other records showing federal authorities have closely scrutinized him and repeatedly tried to get information from him. Wexner says he cut ties with Epstein back in 2007. But a whole lot of questions today.

CNN's Kara Scannell is tracking this one for us, starting us off.

What is going to happen today, Kara?

KATA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, the House Democrats are going to depose Les Wexner at his home in Ohio, and he is someone that is on their radar because there's been so many questions about how did Jeffrey Epstein become such a wealthy individual and get entree into the circles that he did with all those powerful and high profile men. So, they're hoping to uncover more about that here.

Now, my colleague, Curt Devine and I, went through the Epstein files to try to figure out why Les Wexner's name comes up in here and what the FBI and DOJ did know about him. And, you know, as it comes to the money, according to a DOJ memo, they met with Wexner's attorneys in 2019, and they came to conclude from this meeting that Les Wexner was Jeffrey Epstein's primary source of wealth because their relationship goes back to the '80s. That is when Wexner hired Epstein to run his money for him. And so, Epstein was making money, fees, off of running that money.

But also, when the first investigation in Florida began into Epstein, he had told the Wexner's that he had a legal issue. So, Wexner's wife took over the finances, according to this memo, and she discovered that Epstein had stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from them. That is when they cut ties with Epstein.

But we also did learn that Wexner was on the FBI and DOJ's radar going back to that initial investigation. They had had -- an investigator had contacted his lawyer in the mid 2000s and then again when Epstein was indicted in 2019 the focus on Wexner again. That's where we see in that one internal FBI document, they call him a coconspirator, and that is when the prosecutors met with his lawyers just a few weeks after Epstein was arrested, you know, and then continued to field tips coming in from people -- this were from these redacted 302s that were also in the files, you know, showing that people had heard things about Wexner or maybe that, say, one person had said that she had become aware that he and Epstein had had private viewings of girls in, you know, some of the swimsuits, and that clothing. Wexner's spokesperson denies that ever happened.

They also deny, you know, there's one allegation that he was -- had -- one girl had been sex trafficked to him. That never seemed to be credible. And, you know even an attorney for one of the victims -- for numerous victims said that they had no knowledge or allegations involving Wexner.

But just the idea of who is this man behind Jeffrey Epstein's wealth, seems that is what the lawmakers are going to focus on, you know, here today in this questioning.

You know, his lawyers have categorically denied any wrongdoing, any knowledge of anything that Epstein was involved with illegally. But, you know, this is why this person is in the spotlight.

BOLDUAN: Yes, and will face -- I mean, as you know -- as you note, how deep the ties are, how long the ties date back is going to lead to a lot of questions today. What he will say, we will find out. Thanks so much, Kara.

John.

BERMAN: All right, in Arizona this morning, investigators are tracking down new leads in the now 18 day search for Nancy Guthrie.

[09:05:01]

The Pima County sheriff says investigators are going into gun shops trying to match the unique holster the suspect was seen wearing. One shop owner indicated to Fox, and our Ed Lavandera is also reporting, the FBI is bringing in photos and names.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP MARTIN, GUN SHOP OWNER: I was able to look at the photos that he was showing me. And I told the FBI agent, I was like, I'm no investigator, but my intuition is telling me, based on how these people's facial hair looks like, it looks like the guy that was on camera at that house doing the kidnaping. He was like, yes, that's why I'm here. He was like, we're going to be going to different gun shops, checking to see if any of these names that I'm showing you here, any of these people have purchased a gun in the last year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Any of these names I'm showing you here.

Let's get right to CNN's Leigh Waldman, on the scene in Tucson this morning.

Good morning, Leigh. What are you hearing? What's the latest?

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, good morning.

Yes, that's one element of this investigation that's going into its third week here as the family, as investigators, as the Tucson community is desperate to see Nancy Guthrie returned back home safely.

We know yesterday everyone was waiting, kind of holding their breath, hoping for some kind of hit from the DNA found on gloves, not found far from Nancy Guthrie's home with CODIS, the FBI's national database that holds the DNA profiles of over 19 million previous offenders. Unfortunately, that hit didn't come. The gloves also didn't match any of the DNA found on Nancy Guthrie's property as well.

But that's not where this DNA testing ends. We know that they will be going through genetic genealogy testing as well, trying to test it against these public databases where people are submitting their DNA publicly. But that's not necessarily as straightforward of a process here. The CODIS hit came within roughly 24 to 48 hours of the FBI getting that DNA confirmed. This could take anywhere from 20 minutes to even several years. There's also legal hoops that they might have to jump through with some of these sites. That's why experts are saying they're urging the Guthrie family to ask these sites to work with law enforcement, try and get these search warrants so we can start that process moving as quickly as possible.

All of this comes as our CNN teams have seen investigators revisiting homes in this area, looking at their surveillance camera videos, trying to uncover whatever they can. We know that that doorbell camera video from Nancy Guthrie's front door unveiled a lot for us, and they're hoping to continue on, pulling those strings to try and find who's responsible and where Guthrie is.

John.

BERMAN: Going down all kinds of avenues, some short term, some longer term, to be sure.

Leigh Waldman, on the scene in Arizona, thank you so much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about these developments now. Joining us now is former police commissioner of Philadelphia, Charles Ramsey.

It's good to see you, Chief. Thanks for being here.

What do you -- I want to ask you about that glove and what the sheriff was -- has been discussing now, the glove and what appears could be possibly an impression of a ring underneath that glove on the suspect's hand. We're showing our viewers one more time what they're talking about here.

What do you see in this, Chief? If it is a ring, what can law enforcement do with this news -- with this information?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I mean it could be helpful in terms of identifying a suspect. Anyone who has an idea that they may know who this person is, but they've been reluctant to say anything. And now, in addition, they know this person has a pinky ring, let's say, on the right hand, that might be enough to make them make that phone call. So, investigators will continue pixel by pixel to review that particular video and look for any kind of evidence at all that may lead them to the suspect. So, I mean, it's piece by piece. And as they get more information, they put it out publicly to see whether or not it would help.

As far as the DNA goes, that did not match on the glove. Well, the DNA found in the home didn't match either. So, that doesn't mean they discard it. It's in CODI now. Once they do find someone that they believe is a suspect, maybe they'll get a hit at that time.

But I thought one of the most interesting things was when CeCe Moore was on earlier talking about the major private companies that do the DNA testing for people trying to find their lineage. And many of them don't automatically cooperate with police. And that's where the majority of that DNA is held. So, it's important that law enforcement find a way to get to that particular database because it may yield some results.

BOLDUAN: It is -- it is quite interesting. She was talking about the major companies that you would know, you know, that most people recall by name when you think of this genealogy testing, they don't hand it over to law enforcement without a -- well, without a court order.

[09:10:06]

And then, she said, and then they face a legal fight over it when, as we know, time is of the essence is an understatement.

The sheriff is also talking about how Google is trying to work still with more surveillance video, especially from Nancy Guthrie's Nest camera, to kind of find more video that could otherwise have -- maybe they had been considered deleted or written over, essentially gone.

I had the founder of Ring on last night, and asked him just about this process, which the sheriff had described as scratching. Let me play what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIE SIMINOFF, RING FOUNDER AND CHIEF INVESTOR: Remnant data in databases can exist if you don't run sort of a deletion script. So, it's almost like -- to me it's more like putting trash in your can in the kitchen, and you just haven't taken it out to the street yet. So, it's still in there until you basically take it out. So, it -- but it is -- I think what they're describing is there's some data that's somewhere. It's hard. It's -- it is -- it could be in multiple places. It could be sort of broken and they're trying to put it back together is what it sounds like they're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: He also said that when it comes to at least Ring video, they could be approaching kind of the outer limits of how long many of their customers store that video, have their settings set to store it before it's deleted and overwritten. Do you still see hope in more video cracking this case, since it's kind of been the call out and the reminder from the FBI and the ask is still out there for more to come in.

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, there's still hope. I mean I'm amazed that they were able to recover the video that they did recover, quite frankly. And Google has apparently been very, very helpful in doing everything they possibly can to try to provide as much information as possible. If they can get the video, they will do everything they can to possibly get it.

But, you know, there's always going to be hope. And you have to just keep going at it. I mean anyone who's done investigations realizes that, you know, you get leads. Sometimes they take you to where you want to go, the suspect, make an arrest, so forth. Other times, maybe it doesn't. And so you just keep at it. Because this is such a high-profile case and people are paying close attention to it, every single thing you do is, you know, causes people to kind of wait. And then when it doesn't come out, to make it look as if, you know, it's all over. Well, it's not all over. They're still really working this case and they're working it very hard. It kind of reminds me -- you know, I was chief in D.C. during the Chandra Levy case which was in a way kind of similar in the sense of the kind of media attention it got, the length of time involved. There it was like five months, actually a year before her remains were found, but five months before it was no longer the top story in the news.

So, these are things that can sometimes drag on and on, unfortunately. You want to get it resolved for the sake of the family, but it doesn't always work out the way you'd like it to.

BOLDUAN: Yes, that's for sure.

Chief, it's good to see you. Thanks so much for coming in.

John.

BERMAN: All right, an urgent search for survivors as nine skiers are missing after becoming trapped by an avalanche. The conditions today really just as dangerous.

This morning, new testimony in the trial of a Georgia father charged with murder over a mass shooting allegedly carried out by his son. The jurors hear from survivors.

And then a federal judge finally weighs in on a crucial legal question. Is it actually a chicken wing if it's boneless?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:18:15]

BERMAN: This morning, members of the House Oversight Committee are in Ohio to depose 88-year-old billionaire founder of Victoria's Secret, Les Wexner, over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Now, Wexner previously employed Epstein as a money manager. And Wexner appears in hundreds of records related to Epstein. A CNN review, and you just heard Kara Scannell's report of this review of the Justice Department file release found that Wexler's name was initially redacted in a coconspirator document.

With us now is Congressman Robert Garcia, a Democrat from California, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, who joins us from Ohio, where you will soon depose Les Wexner.

What's the most important information to get from him, Congressman?

REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA): Right. Look, this is obviously incredibly important. The most important information for us is really about the money. We know that Wexner was Jeffrey Epstein's single largest benefactor. Wexner, of course, is incredibly wealthy, a billionaire, obviously very well known, not just here in Ohio, but across the country. And when you think about Epstein's wealth, whether it was the plane, the island, the amount of money he had, his homes, much of that came directly from Wexner. And it's not -- we're not exactly sure why. It's not clear. While Wexner has said that Epstein was a money manager, the amount of wealth, the amount of money that was transferred over is so large that we have significant questions.

We, of course, have financial records. We have interviews. When you talk to survivors, they'll all share with you that Wexner was at the center of what Jeffrey Epstein was doing. And so, what Wexner knows and why he gave Epstein so much of his own personal wealth is critical to this investigation.

[09:20:01]

BERMAN: You keep saying, you know, we don't know. It's 2026, you know, and Epstein was first convicted in Florida in, what, like 2008. This has been going on for so long. How can there be anything -- what does it tell you that there are things that, quote, we don't know?

GARCIA: Well, I think this is all part, of course, a long, long time issue here. We're concerned that this has been covered up. And look, clearly there's a White House cover up going on right now with the DOJ, and they've only released 50 percent of the total Epstein files to the public. Half of the files are still at the DOJ. That is not acceptable. It's illegal under the law that was passed and those should get released.

But beyond that, this -- we're talking about now decades. Decades of information not being released to the public. Where's the transparency been? By the way, in all administrations. Why have billionaires and powerful men and wealthy men been protected this entire time? And why do a lot of these names continue to be redacted in the files that are being released by the DOJ, while at the same time you have survivors and those that have been trafficked and terrorized and raped, some as children and minors, their names yet continue to be exposed.

And so the Epstein -- what's going on with this Epstein investigation more broadly, this cover up, it has to be unraveled. And the justice for the survivors, it's critical to why we're here, and why we're interviewing Wexner.

BERMAN: So you just said, you said the White House is covering something up. You call it a cover up inside the White House. I want you to listen to what the president most recently said about the Epstein investigation and the final release.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have nothing to hide. I've been exonerated. I have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. They went in hoping that they'd find it, and found just the opposite. I've been totally exonerated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: What's your response to that? GARCIA: I mean this is -- the president also called the Epstein

investigation a hoax. He spent the entire campaign saying he'd released the files. Then he spent his entire presidency trying to hide them and trying to stop the release of the files, including calling members, Republican members of Congress to the White House to demand that they not vote to release the files. I mean, the president clearly has been taking multiple different positions and flip flopping back and forth on the Epstein files. He has done everything to prevent their full release to the Congress. He won't meet with the survivors.

And so, first of all, he has not been exonerated about anything. And he's been actually at the top of the pyramid when it comes to folks that are trying to actually hide the truth.

BERMAN: Yes.

I want to put up just a list of names up there, because there have been some repercussions or consequences over the last few weeks or months in the release of Epstein files. These are some of the people who have either stepped away from their jobs or moved on from previous engagements. You can see right there, Kathryn Ruemmler, Casey Wasserman, Tom Pritzker, Larry Summers, Brad Karp, this is over, you know, some very recently, some over a long period of time.

When you see this, what do you think of that? What does it tell you that this is having an impact on some?

GARCIA: Look, I think -- I think, first of all, the accountability that that part is very important. Clearly when you talk about, especially in particularly folks like Larry Summers, when you talk about what's happening to former Prince Andrew, you know, Peter Mandelson, these are some really significant public figures that have had, of course, now face their people, their governments, their companies that they work with. And so I'm glad that there is accountability happening here. But also it's happening abroad.

But what's really important, and what continues to happen, is the names of Jeffrey Epstein's coconspirators. And we're talking about powerful men, as told to us by the survivors. Oftentimes billionaires, folks that are wealthy, top levels of business or government. Those folks, there has to be a significant pressure from the public that continues to support the survivors so that we get justice.

And so, not only do those names need to be exposed, but we need to ensure that we're putting together the evidence to ensure that those folks are prosecuted as well. Not -- until we have the names of those powerful men who brutalize those women and girls, and they are exposed, this investigation will not be over. And accountability needs to continue for anyone involved with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. But we need justice and we need the truth.

And why half the files still have yet to be released to the public is shameful. They should release all the files now.

BERMAN: Congressman Robert Garcia, in Ohio to speak to Les Wexner. You have a busy day ahead of you. We appreciate you taking some time out for us this morning.

All right, new developments overnight in a feud between Stephen Colbert and CBS and kind of the government too. Why an interview was scrapped and why Colbert is now calling the CBS explanation crap.

[09:25:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW": Between the monologue I did last night and before I did the second act talking about this issue, I had to go backstage. I got called backstage to get more notes from these lawyers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, a man robs a convenience store but doesn't manage to flee the scene before being set on fire.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: This morning, an urgent search is happening for at least nine backcountry skiers. They're still missing after getting caught in an avalanche in northern California. A live trail cam from Castle Peak shows snowy conditions in the area. This is where crews had been dispatched.

[09:30:01]

Six skiers were rescued yesterday in all of this. This morning we have new dispatch audio as this unfolded.