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Interview with Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA): Former Prince Andrew's Arrest Puts Spotlight on Lack of Accountability in U.S.; New CNN Report Examines Jeffrey Epstein's Ties to Harvard; Mexican Officials: No Sign Nancy Guthrie is in Mexico; Powerful Winds Fueling Multiple Wildfires Across The Plains. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired February 19, 2026 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN Military Analyst: ... Qatar, for example, where you have Al Udeid airbase, you would have the capability of knocking out incoming Iranian missiles. And of course, they do the same thing for Israel, not only with U.S. naval assets, but also Israeli assets such as the Iron Dome and the other assets that they have as part of the air defense arena that they have put together.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes, we've seen how effective they can be here, obviously, in the last couple of years. And we should also note, the backdrop of this is that these indirect talks between Iran and the U.S. have just wrapped up here this week. No clear resolution in regards to that.

The U.S. is, though, expecting further proposals. So with that as the backdrop, how does that interact with this situation?

LEIGHTON: So one of the key things, you know, when you look at all the assets that are deployed in this region, they are poised to strike. And if the talks don't go well or if President Trump isn't satisfied with the results of those talks, he could, using the assets that are already in place, launch attacks against Iran. And we have to remember that the USS Gerald R. Ford is basically on its way right here. It's off the coast of West Africa, right now, northwest Africa, about to enter the Mediterranean. So if it does that and it moves into the eastern Mediterranean right here, it could serve as part of a protective umbrella for Israel.

That would then allow the Israelis to conduct operations along with us. And of course, it would allow us to defend our assets as well as allied assets in the region.

KEILAR: Well, we will be staying tuned. This could be a very interesting several days ahead here. Cedric, thank you so much for taking us through that.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Brianna.

KEILAR: We do have some breaking news into CNN. Former Prince Andrew has left a British police station after his arrest earlier today. Police previously said they were reviewing claims that Andrew shared sensitive information with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein while Andrew was serving as trade envoy.

We'll have much more on this story ahead.

[14:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Breaking news just into CNN. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has just left the police station following his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office. We are working right now to get you video of his release and we should have it at any moment.

This of course is the latest development in the years-long controversy over his ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. This morning's arrest stemming from his former role as British trade envoy and apparently not for any possible sex crimes related to Epstein. Late last year, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee requested an interview with the former prince as part of their investigation.

We should note he has denied all prior allegations of misconduct related to Epstein and has not commented publicly on these more recent allegations of misconduct in public office that emerged after the Epstein file release.

We're joined now by Democratic Representative Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia. He serves on the House Oversight Committee. Congressman, thank you so much for being with us.

Does the arrest of former Prince Andrew make it more or less likely that the Oversight Committee may actually get to hear directly from him?

REP. SUHAS SUBRAMANYAM (D-VA), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Well, I'm not sure. I don't know what his legal team's thinking is. I will say that he's being arrested specifically for giving information that he shouldn't have, but not for the sexual trafficking or misconduct in any way.

And so we still have questions about that and about Epstein's sex trafficking ring as well. And we can do it on his terms. I'll fly to the U.K. if I have to, whatever he wants to do.

But I want to make sure he's not lying to us like he's lied in the past. So something with penalty of perjury. And I want him to answer questions, hard questions about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

SANCHEZ: How do you respond to some of the criticism that we've already heard from survivors and others that this kind of accountability that we're seeing in the U.K., at least his arrest, is not being seen here in the United States?

SUBRAMANYAM: They're absolutely right. I mean, you know we're seeing a former prince now being arrested. I mean, think about that.

And a former prime minister, right, in Norway as well. You're seeing really powerful people being held accountable in Europe. You're not seeing the same thing in the United States.

I know a CEO just resigned, so there's something. Bill Gates isn't speaking at a conference now, but it's a far cry from what we're seeing in Europe. And we need to see more accountability from this administration when it comes to these folks who are involved in the Epstein saga.

SANCHEZ: We've just gotten our first images of the release of Andrew, and here they are. He appears to be in the back of a vehicle there as he leaves the police station. Our understanding is that he is out temporarily as investigators work to gather more evidence in the case.

No doubt this will be an ongoing investigation. Also in the U.K., Peter Mandelson is under investigation for alleged misconduct in public office as well. He's accused of sharing market-sensitive information that could have financially benefited Epstein during the 2008 financial crisis when he was Britain's business secretary.

When survivors demand that investigators follow the money, I imagine part of it undoubtedly means this because these kind of communications were found in the files but there's something more to that as well, right?

SUBRAMANYAM: Yes, well, again, the sex trafficking was related to the finances and financial crimes. It was all related, including his social life too. So Epstein mixed the three very carefully, but very well.

And the one thing that I am very disappointed in is that this Treasury Department under this administration, the United States generally has not looked enough into his financial crimes. It relates to his sex trafficking crimes, but it's also going to open up a whole different avenue of questioning that we have about his endeavors. And really, they're doing it in Europe and it's only because we got these files released.

There's still two and a half million files out there. So we still don't have the transparency we need, but even just getting this far, look at what's happened. So that's why we've been doing this entire investigation in the first place is to uncover crimes like this.

[14:40:00]

SANCHEZ: What about Les Wexner? He took part in this closed-door deposition yesterday. Your colleague, Ranking Member Robert Garcia, says that the retail billionaire told lawmakers he'd never been questioned directly by the FBI or DOJ about Epstein. He denies knowing anything about sex trafficking.

But after Epstein's death, an FBI official referred to Wexner in an e- mail as a secondary co-conspirator. His lawyers spoke to prosecutors way back in 2007 and in 2019 as well, but he was never directly questioned. Why is that?

SUBRAMANYAM: Exactly, it's part of the coverup. This is part of the reason why the American public is so upset about this entire Epstein saga is because they didn't ask the right questions. They didn't do a full investigation.

Then they gave him a sweetheart deal and suppressed all the work that the investigators did do. And so we have more questions. I mean, Les Wexner, his memories all of a sudden goes when it comes to talking about Jeffrey Epstein.

He's clearly not being forthcoming with our committee. And so that's why we need all the documents is to find Les Wexner and what he did in these files.

SANCHEZ: We're also going to see some depositions, at least they've been scheduled according to Oversight Chair Comer, with Richard Kahn and Darren Indyk. What do you want to learn from them?

SUBRAMANYAM: They're the executors of the estate. They have come up many times when we've talked to victims. They know a lot. More than maybe anyone else.

And so they were very cooperative. The estate gave us a lot of documents last year. If they're as cooperative as they were last year in the document release, I think we can make a breakthrough in getting more names, getting more information, maybe more insight into the crimes Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell committed.

SANCHEZ: Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, thank you so much for the time. Appreciate it.

SUBRAMANYAM: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course, Brianna.

KEILAR: Turning now to some more fallout from the Epstein files. Some new exclusive CNN reporting examines the links between the late convicted sex offender and scientists working at Harvard University. CNN reporter Sarah Owermohle joins us now with details on this.

And Sarah, we know that Harvard cut ties with Epstein in 2008 after being convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor. How was he able to circumvent that severed relationship and still maintain contacts inside of Harvard?

SARAH OWERMOHLE, CNN REPORTER: Yes, so he was able to do that a few ways. We do already know from a previous Harvard report on their relationship to Epstein that he had solicited donations, had helped donations from other people to Martin Nowak, someone he'd previously funded, who studies genetics and evolution. We also know, of course, that he maintained relationships for years with a lot of these scientists.

But these new document release really show the extent of those relationships. So besides Martin Nowak, there's the famed geneticist, George Church. He discussed investing $10 million in companies, including one that was co-founded by Church.

We also saw in the files these undated photographs that appear to show Church and Nowak on Epstein's island. While they're undated, an e-mail with them was sent in 2012. So these all continued for years after his previous conviction.

KEILAR: And according to the latest batch of e-mails released by DOJ, Epstein held a deep interest in the field specifically of genetics. You have reported on this. It showed that he paid for novel genetic testing to study regenerative medicine.

Were these connections tied to that same kind of obsession he had for researching ways to extend his own life?

OWERMOHLE: It definitely appears so. So George Church, who is a geneticist who worked on a lot of this research about gene editing, actually connected Church to the physician who started those genetic tests for him. And then we see in the e-mails between Church and Epstein that the proposals that Church is making for funding different investments, different companies, include gene editing animals and plants to be disease-resistant, studying the genetics of supercentenarians, or people who are over the age of 110, and even developing a cold-resistant elephant, which is a nod to Church's longtime publicly stated goal of resurrecting the woolly mammoth.

KEILAR: And have any of these scientists or Harvard, the university, responded to the findings in these latest e-mails, Sarah?

OWERMOHLE: So Harvard pointed us to their statement in November that says that they are reopening the investigation that they have had into the ties to Epstein. Nowak and Church did not respond to us directly, but they have said in the past, Church apologized in 2019 for his association with Epstein, and Nowak in 2021 said that he regrets developing that connection between Harvard and Epstein. It's important to note that neither of these men has been accused of any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein's crimes, but this does raise new questions or renew the questions about Harvard's policy and its previous investigation.

KEILAR: Yes, Sarah, great reporting. Thank you so much for sharing that with us.

[14:45:00]

And still ahead, we have got some new reporting in the Nancy Guthrie investigation. CNN learning, a team of federal prosecutors, is standing by to charge anyone who is sending fake tips or ransom notes to authorities and news outlets. We'll have details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: This just into CNN. Mexican officials say there is currently no indication that 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie was brought into Mexico, and there's been no specific request for assistance in the investigation from the FBI. The reward, meantime, for information leading to her safe return or to an arrest has now doubled. Private donors offering an additional $100,000 to help solve the case.

CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller joins us now. John, help us understand the significance of these statements coming from Mexico. [14:50:00]

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, I think what we've learned from our own reporting yesterday here at CNN was that the family had reached out to a group of women in Mexico that search for missing people who have been kidnapped or killed or abducted or held by the cartels, and they have a good deal of experience in that field. Now, there's no indication in this case that that has anything to do with the investigation, but the family reaching out to that group saying, look, we're 60 miles from the Mexican border.

One of the people they looked at early on in this case was just a couple of miles from the Mexican border, and while that subject washed out, they are still very conscious of the idea that scrutiny coming this way on the Mexican border is pretty tight, but not many Americans or others coming from the U.S. side across Mexico get an awful lot of scrutiny, so they're entertaining the possibility that with no sign of her here, somebody on the other side should be looking.

SANCHEZ: Also, an official familiar with the investigation is telling CNN that authorities will prosecute anyone found responsible for attempting to extort the Guthrie family. Do you think that will deter some of the fake ransom notes that have been circulating?

MILLER: Well, I think that the idea that one person has already been arrested, brought up on federal charges, by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles of attempted extortion because they tried to fake being the kidnappers and saying, send the Bitcoin to my phone, is an example of it. If they can identify the people behind these notes. And right now, according to my sources, they believe that most of the notes outside of the first two ransom notes were fakes or scams, if they can identify them, they will go after them.

SANCHEZ: John Miller, thank you so much for that reporting -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour. Search crews working to recover the bodies of skiers killed in that deadly avalanche near Lake Tahoe are bracing for another day of dangerous conditions. Forecasters are warning a new round of snow could dump another four feet in the area, raising the risk of additional avalanches and further complicating recovery efforts.

Nine members of a backcountry skiing group were killed, making this the deadliest avalanche in California's recorded history. Six others were rescued from the mountainside.

Also, Amazon has officially surpassed Walmart as the world's largest company, the online mega-retailer posting $717 billion in sales in 2025, and that broke Walmart's 13-year streak. The two companies are major retail competitors, but Amazon's other business ventures helped push it to the top spot. More than $100 billion in sales came from its advertising and Prime subscriptions.

And fresh off his Super Bowl halftime show, Bad Bunny is adding movie star to his resume. He's going to lead the cast of the film "Puerto Rico," teaming up with fellow Puerto Rican rapper and Grammy winner Residente, for what's being described as an epic Caribbean, Western, and historical drama about the island. The movie will also star Viggo Mortensen, Javier Bardem, and Edward Norton.

A dangerous wildfire has grown to nearly twice the size of Chicago, and it is burning the equivalent of three to four football fields every second. Next, we'll have an update on how weather conditions could make this blaze difficult to contain.

[14:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Wildfires across the Great Plains are forcing thousands of families to evacuate. Dry and windy weather are fueling the flames and creating dangerous conditions. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking all of this for us.

Allison, I mean, this looks devastating. What's the latest here?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: All right, so the unfortunate part is we still have not only the rest of today, but even tomorrow to get through for some of these areas. Now, the video behind me, this is from Oklahoma. This is from Tuesday.

So even though it's two days ago, the whole point in showing this is to emphasize that what this fire looked like even two days ago is not even comparable to where it is now just simply because of how much it has grown and intensified over the last two days. Now, here's where the fire weather threat is for the remainder of the day today. And you can see it's over a large area here, several different states looking at the potential for that critical fire weather threat.

You also have a lot of red flag warnings out here for roughly half a dozen states because the combination of not just the winds, but the dry conditions, as well as incredibly low humidity levels for many of these areas. And those winds, we're not just talking 10 or 15 miles per hour, although I would like to point out that even that low, they could still spread the embers of a fire pretty far away from the original source. But in some of these areas, you're talking 30, 40, even 50 mile per hour wind gusts.

That is more than enough to either start new fires from the embers or take the current fire and just spread it very rapidly over this area. Now, you will get a little bit of a lull in between the two waves, but the point in the whole thing is to talk about that all of that stuff that's on the ground, all of that dry brush is so dry because of the drought conditions in a lot of these areas. You have some areas that are moderate, severe, or even in some cases, extreme drought conditions.

And that's what's allowing a lot of that stuff to go up in flames so quickly because of how dried out that vegetation actually is. Then we head into Friday. And while it's not as wide of an area as we're seeing today, you do still have that critical fire threat for several different areas as we finish out the rest of Friday.

So it's still going to be a concern over the next couple of days. Now, this low-pressure system, that's what's really been kicking up a lot of those winds in these areas. That does finally start to exit.

It's what's going to help trigger some of those severe storms in areas of the Midwest. So in between, you'll start to see those winds die down. But then you get the secondary low-pressure system that comes in.

And while you'd like to think that it would maybe perhaps bring some rain or snow to the area and provide some relief, most of that ...

END