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Day 4 of Testimony in Trial of School Shotter's Father; Former Prince Andrew's Arrest Puts Spotlight on Lack of Accountability in U.S.; Tech Leaders Gather for World's Largest AI Summit; VA Says It Will Not Enforce New Disability Rule After Outrage; Team USA Women's Hockey Team Wins Gold. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired February 19, 2026 - 15:30   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... if this is -- whatever it was (INAUDIBLE).

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JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So it goes on, Colt comes out and he is asked by law enforcement, and his father says, by the way, just be real calm with him, he gets really upset at things and his face turns red, so he comes out. And the law enforcement asks him, and he says, "no, no," he said, "I never did that." He said, "I actually don't have a Discord account anymore because people were starting -- somebody was starting to hack me." But he said, "I swear, that was not me."

So then Colin, the defendant, says to law enforcement, "look, I want more information on this, you're leaving now, but can you get back with me, let me know what you find out on this." And he never received a call back.

And the law enforcement on the stand today said, "Why didn't you call him back?" He said, "I could never confirm that it was true, it wasn't confirmed." Brianna, so that is interesting right there.

What is the state of mind that's left with Colin Gray, the father, when law enforcement doesn't call him back because they can't confirm that it was true?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes, even if you can't confirm, should they have called back? That's also a really good question that should be asked. Jean Casarez, thank you, excellent reporting, and I think this is a trial that a lot of people are paying attention to and they should pay attention to.

And you can catch Jean in more of her excellent coverage of this trial on CNN ALL ACCESS. Just scan the code, that QR code there that you see on the lower right of your screen.

Ahead, more on the unprecedented arrest of the former Prince Andrew, the younger brother of King Charles, being investigated for possible misconduct in public office. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KEILAR: Happening now. Britain's former Prince Andrew was just released hours after his arrest this morning. Police providing this update a short time ago.

Quote, "On Thursday, we arrested a man in his 60s from Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The arrested man has now been released under investigation." Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was not named by police, but his arrest stems from his former role as a British trade envoy and apparently not from any possible sex crimes related to Jeffrey Epstein, according to what we've learned.

Police have not said what specifically prompted today's arrest. We should note that Andrew 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.

We're joined now by Spencer Kuvin. He's chief legal officer for Gold Law. He has represented nine victims of Jeffrey Epstein's over the years, including victim number one in the initial case against Epstein in Palm Beach County, Florida. That victim was just 14 at the time that she was abused.

Spencer, great to speak with you again here about this development. What are you hearing from your clients in reaction to this?

SPENCER KUVIN, ATTORNEY WHO REPRESENTED EPSTEIN VICTIMS: First of all, thank you, Brianna, for having me on again. You know, this is a watershed moment. The arrest of Prince Andrew, regardless of the exact charges at this time that the U.K. is describing that they may have with respect to Andrew, that's not what's significant here.

What's significant here, we think, at least on behalf of the victims, is that regardless of title, institution, social standing or power, that these men will be held to account. And while it wasn't specifically for any of the sex crimes that have been alleged over time, including from victims like Virginia Giuffre, discussed in her book, this was about holding him accountable based on conversations he had via e-mail with Epstein.

KEILAR: Yes, and look, as you say there, because he was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, which likely relates to his time as trade envoy from 2001 to 2011. It's interesting to hear you say that that doesn't matter here when it comes to the accountability. With that in mind, and with that being how you're looking at this and how your clients are seeing this momentous development, do you think that maybe this approach is something that should happen in the U.S.?

KUVIN: Absolutely. Absolutely. My clients are extremely upset at the lack of prosecution and investigation undertaken by the FBI themselves. Through the documents that have been disclosed even thus far that the Department of Justice has shown the world, I think everyone can look at those and just be amazed at how the FBI has blown them off, how Attorney General Bondi has just said, there's nothing to see here.

There's a lot to see, and there's a lot that should be done as far as prosecutions are concerned. I think what's important to understand, though, is that, you know, police, whether it be in the United Kingdom or here in the United States, may arrest a suspect on one charge while they continue to investigate other additional charges. So our hope is, at least the victim's hope is, that this arrest of Andrew only leads to further investigations, and what we would implore is the FBI to go to the United Kingdom and conduct an interview with him as well regarding what he may or may not have done on the island in the U.S. territories.

KEILAR: We're seeing different scenarios, different levels of accountability in practice, right, between the U.S. and the U.K. You have the former U.K. ambassador to the U.S., Peter Mandelson, quitting the House of Lords.

[15:40:00]

He's under investigation related to Epstein, also for alleged misconduct in office. He's been accused of passing on market-sensitive information to Epstein, and that was seen as an earthquake, and now you have this Prince Andrew development. How are you seeing that discrepancy between the U.S. and the U.K.?

KUVIN: It's frankly very sad and frustrating, and, you know, look, our government has completely dropped the ball with respect to both the release of the information and the prosecution of potential people based on the information that they have had for years. That frustration, remember, started back in 2008 with the sweetheart deal that Alex Acosta entered into with respect to Epstein. It has only continued up until today, and the only reason that we can see for that apparent lack of prosecution and investigation is because the current administration is wanting the world to just ignore it and look the other way. And the only reason I can think of to do that would be a fear of what might be in there if they start opening up these files and prosecuting the people involved.

KEILAR: Spencer, I think, you know, we continue to see headlines coming out of these documents just because there are so many, and reporters are still pouring over them. And with that in mind, that there were about 3 million of them in this latest huge document dump, it's easy to forget that's only about half of what was released. There are still a lot of documents that were not released.

DOJ used that discretion. Where are you on that? You know, speaking to clients, former clients, what do they think about that right now, and what is their recourse?

KUVIN: Frustration, obviously, because number one, they haven't released what they are required to release under the law that was passed. So the DOJ, as it stands right now, is breaking the law. Make no question about it.

They are breaking the law. And again, they broke the law when it came to the disclosure of information that they did disclose. Two of my clients, including victim one, was identified openly in these documents until I notified the DOJ to pull it down. But more importantly, Brianna, the most important thing that they are withholding is the internal surveillance footage that the FBI seized from inside of Epstein's home. He had surveillance cameras that I saw with my own two eyes when I inspected his home during the original litigation here in Palm Beach. We know there's camera footage.

One of my clients testified about footage that the camera system she saw in the Manhattan home. Where is the footage? Where is the video?

Where are the photographs? We want it all released. And you've got to ask, if we're already seeing this horrendous material that they've agreed to release, why are they withholding other information?

And the only reason I can think of is because it's even more damning than what we've seen so far.

KEILAR: Yes. I just want to put a point on what you said, which is victim one, who was 14-years-old at the time she was abused, and you're saying you had to tell DOJ to make her name be redacted. While you also have lawmakers saying that there are the names of many men that they felt should not be redacted that had been redacted, that they were flagging for DOJ.

Spencer, thank you so much. Great to have you.

KUVIN: Thank you for having me.

KEILAR: Ahead, after backlash from veterans groups, the VA says it is now not going to enforce a new rule that could have impacted benefits for disabled veterans. We'll have that next.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: World and tech leaders are meeting in India for a major summit on artificial intelligence. And while some welcome AI as the future, others fear it could potentially have devastating effects on jobs. Here's what Sam Altman said, the founder and CEO of OpenAI.

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SAM ALTMAN, CEO, OPENAI: It will definitely impact the job market, but we always find new things to do, and I have no doubt we will find lots of better ones.

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SANCHEZ: CNN Tech Editor Lisa Eadicicco joins us now. So Lisa, what is behind this wide range of opinions on AI?

LISA EADICICCO, CNN TECH EDITOR: Well, Boris, I think it's really because people are talking about fundamentally different things. Even though AI is kind of a catch-all term to talk about a lot of things that people are using in technology today, we're actually talking about pretty different specific tools. For example, there's the free version of AI, which is kind of like ChatGPT on the free tier.

Most people kind of use it as a Google replacement, maybe typing into it to find information, to generate a vacation itinerary, things like that. Very simple use cases and tasks. And then you have the paid versions of AI that are more sophisticated and include access to AI agents, which is a relatively new trend that we've seen in the past year, a big shift from companies like Anthropic and OpenAI that are building agents that instead of just typing in one command and having to kind of direct the AI to help you do things, you can give one blanket prompt and have it kind of string together multiple steps on your behalf.

And those agents are really something that you can only get right now in the plans that you pay for, which is not what the vast majority of people are using. There was a study last year from Menlo Ventures indicating that about 3 percent of AI users actually pay for subscriptions.

So that's a really small amount, even though that number is expected to be a bit higher now. So I do think that's why you see a lot of differing opinions. There's a lot of different experiences that people are having with AI, and the vast majority of people really aren't using the version of AI that I think a lot of people are talking about here.

SANCHEZ: Lisa Eadicicco, thank you so much for the reporting -- Brianna.

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KEILAR: The Department of Veterans Affairs now says it will not enforce a new rule that would have changed how the agency evaluates disability ratings for veterans. This rule was published just on Tuesday but immediately drew widespread criticism from veterans and advocates. CNN correspondent Brian Todd has been following this story. Brian, what's the VA Secretary Doug Collins saying about this?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He is saying basically we're not going to enforce this rule, Brianna. This was a giant S-show for the VA since this rule was published on Tuesday. And we have this breaking in the last few minutes.

The VA just announcing it is walking back on this new rule after significant backlash from veterans across the country, veterans service organizations like the VFW, Democrats in Congress, and other people. To set it up for you guys, basically this is what happened. On Tuesday, the VA published a new rule saying that basically from now on, a veteran's disability level, their disability rating, would be based on how that veteran responds to medication for an impairment, not based on the baseline impairment itself.

So if a veteran is taking, say, medication for PTSD and is functioning well as a result of that medication, their disability rating from the VA would be lower and they would get less money from the VA as a result of that, even though they still have PTSD. Now, previously the VA said the VA was not allowed to reduce those disability ratings based on the effects of medication. Since the VA came out with this rule on Tuesday, the backlash from, as I said, veterans, veterans service organizations, basically has been torrential.

The group's Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, and others came out strongly against it. The VFW demanded that the VA rescind this rule. And here's a clip of sound from Rebecca Bennett.

She is a former Navy helicopter pilot, a Democrat running for Congress from New Jersey. She posted this video on X about that rule.

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REBECCA BENNETT, FORMER NAVY PILOT AND DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS FROM NEW JERSEY: If you're a disabled veteran, now your disability rating is going to be impacted based on whether or not your medication is effective, which is just the most insane thing I have ever heard. If you are diagnosed with cancer and you are getting chemotherapy, you still have cancer.

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TODD: And to clarify, Rebecca Bennett said that before the VA just walked back that rule. So a new statement from VA Secretary Doug Collins posted on X just a few moments ago said that the VA is halting enforcement of this rule. Brianna will read part of this for you.

Quote, "VA issued the rule to clarify existing policy and protect veterans' benefits in the wake of an ongoing court action. But many interpreted the rule as something that could result in adverse consequences. While VA does not agree with the way this rule has been characterized, the Department always takes veterans' concerns seriously. To alleviate these concerns, VA will continue to collect public comments regarding the rule, but it will not be enforced at any time in the future."

So we will see if they try to enforce that. They say now they're not going to. We've got to keep an eye on this, obviously, see if they come back and try to do this.

KEILAR: It's really interesting. And the reason this is so important, we should tell people, is because the disability rating for a veteran determines the benefits they receive federally, but also even secondary state benefits they might receive, whether that is a veteran in the future who might become disabled, or someone in the past might also be worried, did they get grandfathered in? What does this mean?

TODD: That's right. So many veterans who are getting disabilities, they depend on that disability rating. That's the gold standard for them. And the number they get is just crucial to how much money they get.

And a lot of them need that money.

KEILAR: It's very hard to revise, too.

TODD: Yes. KEILAR: If you, you know, medical conditions change. Even according to medications are effective, sometimes they're not. And it's very hard to revise. Brian, excellent reporting on the VA as always.

TODD: Thank you.

KEILAR: Thank you so much.

And ahead, U.S. women going for gold in figure skating and hockey at the Winter Olympics. We're live in Cortina, Italy, next.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Right now at the Olympics, several medals are on the line, and the American women's hockey team just won. I don't know if I'm supposed to say that.

KEILAR: Oh, spoiler! Spoiler!

SANCHEZ: They just won.

KEILAR: At least it's good news.

SANCHEZ: They face defending champions Canada in the gold medal game, and it seems like they're taking home the gold.

KEILAR: That's right, CNN's Coy Wire is with us live from Cortina. Were we supposed to do that, Coy?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Bro. Bro. Boris, spoiler alert. Some people record these things so they can watch later. Now you're making me to be the bad guy. Listen, these two teams have won every single gold dating back to the 1998 Nagano Games.

It's one of the greatest rivalry in sports. The Canadians were ahead, and then, all of a sudden, Here comes Hillary Knight scoring the equalizer to send it to overtime. In scoring that goal, she became America's all-time leading goal scorer.

And then, in overtime, Megan Keller sinking home the game winner. The Americans beat the defending Olympic champs to take home gold. It's Boris' fault, y'all. I did not bring this up.

All right, next, America's speed demon, speed skater Jordan Stoltz is trying to win four golds overall at these games. Going for his third in the 1500 this time, he takes silver.

It's China's Ning Zhongyan taking the gold, setting a new Olympic record with his time of 1 minute 41.98 seconds.

Now, Boris, Brianna, we had a snowmageddon at the Olympics in Cortina today. Our photojournalist, Christian Streib, was battling the elements and snowballs, as was my producer, Dan Moriarty. Sorry about that, Dan. Our live shot survived the snow globe, but it was so bad we almost

missed our interview with Mikaela Shiffrin. That's me in blue pushing our van.

Did not work. We switched to a van with chains on the tires and made it to the winningest alpine skier of all time who finally cracked the code and won Olympic gold again for the first time in eight years. Here's Mikaela in part on how she did it.

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MIKAELA SHIFFRIN, 3-TIME OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: I've been writing sticky notes on my mirrors and all of this, like, self-talk stuff. It's been more than I've ever done in my career. But in these couple of weeks, I really bought into the self-talk idea.

You know, all the work that we do day in and day out to be able to just achieve this for two runs, 47 seconds on a slalom course, it just feels monumental.

WIRE: Cheers and congratulations to you.

SHIFFRIN: Thanks for this. Yes, sustenance.

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WIRE (on camera): So there you go, Boris, Brianna, the greatest alpine skier of all time. Keys to success. Plastering sticky notes all around your room, visualizing the goal and bringing home the gold.

And celebrating, of course, with espresso martinis. That's the key.

SANCHEZ: Love that. Love that. That was journalism in action right there. Like Coy Wire pushing the van. Coy Wire, Life Force in Italy, thank you so much.

Don't go anywhere. "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

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