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Senior Officials Ordered FBI To Stop Renee Good Investigation; Interview With Congressman James Walkinshaw (D-VA); Kushner Witkoff Visit USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier; FBI Investigating New Message in NANCY Guthrie Abduction; FBI Conducted New, Intense Search Of Nancy Guthrie's Home; Trump Refuses To Apologize For Video Depicting Obamas As Apes; First Medals Awarded At Olympic Games. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired February 07, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

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[17:00:55]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York.

And tonight, new details on the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Renee Good by federal agent -- by a federal agent in Minneapolis last month.

"The New York Times" is reporting FBI agents had a search warrant to document bullet holes and blood spatter in that SUV she was shot and killed in as part of a standard civil rights investigation into the use of force in that incident. But multiple people with knowledge of the events told "The Times" that senior officials, including FBI director Kash Patel, gave the agents orders to stop.

And the reason -- they were worried a civil rights investigation could contradict President Donald Trump's public statements about the shooting.

Now, for context, it is typical for the Justice Department's civil rights division to launch an investigation into a law enforcement shooting, even if that investigation never leads to any charges.

CNN previously reported several federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned amid growing tensions between state and federal officials following Good's shooting. Good's shooting was the first of two deadly shootings by federal agents in Minneapolis last month.

Earlier today, people gathered for a public memorial to mourn Good and others impacted by the immigration enforcement actions in Minneapolis.

And here with us now to talk more about this new information is CNN's senior law enforcement analyst, Andrew McCabe. He's the former deputy director of the FBI.

Good to have you here with us. As always, it is good to have someone who has been in the FBI at the top to kind of walk us through what's normal and what's not.

So first, I just want to start by getting your reaction to this new reporting from "The New York Times". How out of the ordinary is this?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: My -- well, my reaction was just I was completely stunned reading it this morning. It is a complete abdication of the way that the FBI has worked civil rights cases and use of force cases for the last 50 years.

These are cases that are typically opened immediately after a critical incident, and you do not need headquarters' authority or approval to open these cases. These are cases that are left to the field offices to determine with their local partners when a civil rights investigation needs to take place.

And as you mentioned in your intro, they're not opened for the purpose of going after some perpetrator that you know is guilty. They are opened to uncover whether or not there's been a violation of someone's civil rights.

Often they are closed without prosecution. But you don't know that until you conduct a full and fair investigation. That clearly did not happen here.

DEAN: And so knowing all of that context that you just gave us, why do you think senior officials -- including in this reporting, the FBI's director, Kash Patel -- why would they want to avoid that type of investigation?

MCCABE: Well, the thing that I thought was most striking, Jessica, is that according to "The Times" reporting, senior officials, including Mr. Patel, directed the office not to execute a lawful search warrant they had already obtained from a federal judge because they were afraid that opening that case, pursuing that case in that way would contradict the conclusion that the president had already drawn, which was that essentially Miss Good was guilty of attacking the officer.

And if they thought that on the ground, it had to have been because they had good reason to believe that she did not, in fact, attack the police officer, which means that it was likely that a violation of her civil rights occurred, that that officer probably overstepped the bounds of his authority and violated her civil rights by killing her.

So this is a very, very serious thing. It means that everyone in the FBI who knew the facts, who knew what the office was doing, was afraid that by pursuing the truth, they would expose that the president had lied about what happened in Minneapolis.

[17:04:54]

MCCABE: And that is just, you know, sidetracking an investigation to protect the president's false statement is something that I never thought in my life, I would -- I would hear that the FBI had engaged in.

DEAN: Yes. I mean, if that is indeed exactly what happened here, which, again, is what this reporting indicates as you just laid out and as we were giving the facts here at the, you know, Before we brought you on, that is pretty astounding.

MCCABE: Yes. It's outrageous. I mean, people should be really concerned about this. We've had all kinds of indications in the last couple of months, over the last year, that politics have been injected into the FBI in an unprecedented and destructive way.

And this is a very clear example of that, and one in which the bureau, essentially walked away from an investigation that they knew they should open, an investigation that was essential to protect the reputation of this poor woman who had been killed by law enforcement action, and did that for purely political reasons.

It's, if the reporting is true, it's absolutely shocking and horrific.

DEAN: And just quickly, before we let you go in terms of recourse, what -- is there recourse here?

MCCABE: You know, I don't -- it's hard to say. I mean, suing the federal government over a tort claim or suing and pursuing a civil remedy against a police officer -- these are very hard things to do because it's a federal agent. Those cases automatically get taken into federal court. And of course, the law enforcement officers enjoy qualified immunity in federal court. So there's a lot of legal hurdles there.

But I mean, really, what justice would be in this case is to unshackle the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office to do their job, to do the job they knew they should have done right from the beginning and get to the bottom of what happened here so the rest of us could at least know the truth.

DEAN: All right. Andrew McCabe, thank you so much.

Stay with us. We're going to come back to you in just a little bit. We appreciate it.

MCCABE: Thanks.

DEAN: And I also want to bring in Virginia Democratic Congressman James Walkinshaw. Thank you so much for joining us as well.

I want to pick up where we just left off with Andrew McCabe there and get your reaction to this new reporting we're getting from the times that we laid out at the beginning of the show.

REP. JAMES WALKINSHAW (D-VA): Well, I think there's a risk that, you know, we fail to be shocked by the next shocking revelation from this administration. But this is absolutely shocking.

The idea that the FBI director would quash a legitimate and necessary investigation is absolutely outrageous.

And I have listened to many of my Republican colleagues in Congress say we shouldn't have rushed to judgment about Renee Good's killing. We should let the investigation play out before we make judgments.

But we now know the Trump administration quashed that investigation and isn't allowing it to move forward. Because of that, you know, we just -- we have to understand that they're just not going to let the truth get out.

DEAN: And it's worth noting that you sit on the House Oversight and also the Homeland Security Committees, so some pertinent committees here. Is there any oversight that is taking place right now?

Again, I think everyone knows this at this point, but Democrats are in the minority so you're not running the committee. But what is your sense of oversight?

WALKINSHAW: Well, it's important to note immediately after the killing of Renee Good, Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee called for a full and impartial investigation and for our committee to investigate the killing. The Republican chairman and Republicans have not allowed that to happen.

We will have before our committee next week, the heads of CBP, ICE, and USCIS, and they're going to have to answer questions about this very thing.

DEAN: Right. And that was the news that we got shortly after the killing of Alex Pretti. And so now we will see exactly what they tell you all when they sit down before you in the coming days.

And so let's connect the dots here, because also all of these actions now leading to this fight over Homeland Security funding, funding for ICE. Where do negotiations currently stand as you understand? And what kind of conversations have you been having?

WALKINSHAW: Yes. Look, Democrats after conversation have laid out ten very reasonable improvements and reforms, common sense things that could move the negotiations forward, things that the American people support. No masking, no secret police. The government should have a warrant before they can smash down your door while your wife and children are sleeping. We've laid those out.

There hasn't been any tangible, substantive response, either from President Trump or from Republican leaders in Washington.

[17:09:52]

WALKINSHAW: So right now, the ball is in their court to respond to the very reasonable offer of the protections the American people need from DHS, ICE, CBP, and others.

DEAN: Yes. And in the last reporting, obviously in the Senate, your colleagues across the Capitol there that they were going to try to talk this out over the weekend and get to a place where they could even have and begin formal talks.

So it does seem like we're a bit a ways away from any sort of resolution here. And so then my question becomes, if, you know, this funded DHS for two weeks because it pulled that funding out from the rest of those funding bills, if that does in fact happen, if DHS is then effectively shut down and it starts impacting agencies like TSA, like we saw with the shutdown, you know, several months ago. What is the Democrats' thinking around, around that scenario playing out?

WALKINSHAW: Well, if that scenario were to play out, I think what we would do is go to the American people and explain the reality that Republicans are so dead set on having masked secret police smashing down doors and breaking windows without warrants that they're willing to shut down the government over it.

Look, these items that Democrats have laid out have widespread support. Most of them are 70-30, 80-20 issues when you poll and ask the American people.

So the idea that Republicans would shut down the government before even engaging in a good faith negotiation about these items, you know, I think the American people will see that for what it is. And once again, they'll recognize that if there's a shutdown, it's Donald Trump and the Republicans to blame for it.

I hope that doesn't happen. I hope they respond substantively to the offer that Democrats have put on the table and have a real conversation and negotiation. Thus far, they're refusing to do that.

DEAN: All right. Congressman James Walkinshaw, thanks for your time. We appreciate it.

WALKINSHAW: Thank you.

DEAN: The president's envoy to the Middle East visiting a U.S. aircraft carrier now in that region after they held talks amid rising tensions with Iran. More on that next.

Plus, the search for Nancy Guthrie about to enter its second week. Has this new message sent to a local television station helped local, state and federal investigators get any closer to finding her?

An American skier, Lindsey Vonn, now just hours away from what could be the most -- some of the most memorable runs of her illustrious alpine career.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

[17:12:21]

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DEAN: Fresh off talks with Iran, U.S. Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner today visiting the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. That carrier is part of a recent buildup of U.S. military assets in the Middle East.

President Trump has described the indirect talks on Friday with Iran as very good. Both sides have confirmed further talks will be taking place, though Iran says no date has been set yet. Let's bring in CNN senior military analyst, former NATO Supreme Allied

Commander Admiral James Stavridis. He's also a partner of the Carlyle Group, an international investment firm.

Admiral Stavridis, thanks for being here with us.

As these talks were happening, there's also this kind of looming threat of a potential U.S. strike. How do you read this -- this visit then to the USS Abraham Lincoln today from Witkoff and Kushner, knowing all of that context?

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS, CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST: I'd quote Teddy Roosevelt and say speak softly and carry a big stick. And to jump out to the Abraham Lincoln, by the way named after our most iconic president in many ways. And then have all the visuals you were just showing and every television around the world is showing, it is a very direct signal to the Iranians to come to the table. Let's negotiate. We don't want to strike, but we have all the capability in the world.

And I think in that sense, it's a smart negotiating tool. Let's see where it goes next week, Jessica.

DEAN: And I'm thinking as you're -- as you're saying that they're trying to get this done with Iran, which has proved quite difficult for administrations past.

And these are really tricky negotiations. And they're showing these visuals and they have this buildup there in the Middle East.

Does it kind of get to a point where you have to -- if it doesn't work, if they cannot get to an agreement where you're forced into some sort of military strike or you're seen as bluffing?

STAVRIDIS: You have to worry about a credibility gap that can open up. If you say to, for example, the people of Iran, the protesters, I've got your back. Help is on the way.

Now you're building up. You're sending your son-in-law, your chief negotiator to a powerful nuclear aircraft carrier certainly feels like a last exit before the tunnel signal to the Iranians -- negotiate now.

And I would merely point out, if I were an Iranian leader, I would think this all reminds me of the 12-day war in which Donald Trump did strike, went after the Iranian nuclear program. So I think there's still credibility there.

But your point, Jessica, is right. If all of a sudden we just walk back away from it, that's going to be interpreted as, a falling away by the administration. I don't think that's where they want to be.

[17:19:53]

STAVRIDIS: And so final thought, they're going to continue to work up that ladder of escalation from diplomatic to cyber to information warfare. And then at some point you're going to have to strike. You're going to have to go kinetic if you want to continue to move up that ladder.

DEAN: Right.

And so Iran, going back to the talks though, because as you know, that's where we are right now. Iran is standing firm on enrichment, which it says will be peaceful. But officials said other matters like Iran's ballistic missile program and regional proxies were off the table.

So if that's the case, what then is considered a success in these talks? It's a -- as is often is these seem to be moving targets.

STAVRIDIS: It is a moving target. I think first and foremost is to get the Iranians to forswear any kind of nuclear enrichment. And there are -- there are kind of clever ways that can be handled. You could move it out of Iran, put it under joint turn to key management, maybe on an island in the Persian Gulf. I've heard that mentioned. There are ways to kind of finesse that issue.

I think the administration is absolutely right to keep the pressure on not only the nuclear weapons capability question, but also the ballistic missiles and the proxies.

It's really a trifecta. And if Iran only wants to talk about one leg of that triad, I don't think these talks are going to go very much longer.

DEAN: And I do want to ask you, because you mentioned the 12-day war, you mentioned the U.S. strike on Iran last year. After those strikes, those were in June, the president claimed that the military -- that the country's military program had been, he said, obliterated.

It turned out that realistically, it was more -- setback might be a better way to say it. What would you say that we know about Iran's nuclear capability now and where things stand, where they're trying to go?

STAVRIDIS: I think it's been significantly degraded. What I always try and do in a scenario like this is put myself in the shoes of the other. And so if I'm an Iranian leader right now, I do want to reconstruct that program, but I want to do it secretively and in smaller chunks around the country and distribute it more widely.

The bottom line is you can't obliterate the program while there are still Iranian scientists who have the knowledge of how to reconstitute it.

All you can ultimately do is control it. You can control it with negotiation, which is what Trump administration is trying to do right now. And if not, you're going to have to resort up that ladder of escalation to further strikes. Let's hope we don't get to that.

DEAN: All right. Admiral James Stavridis, always great to have you. Thank you for your time.

STAVRIDIS: Thanks, Jess. DEAN: The major question this hour for federal investigators continues

to be who is behind the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. We'll have the latest on that investigation.

That's next here on the CNN NEWSROOM.

[17:22:53]

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DEAN: Authorities have intensified their search for Nancy Guthrie, mother of "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie. The 84-year-old, of course, went missing from her home near Tucson, Arizona, last weekend.

On Friday night, authorities were back at her house, CNN capturing that footage there of a blue car being towed away from the area.

The FBI also investigating a new message sent to local news station KOLD that said is to contain sensitive information. FBI agents were also seen going door-to-door, interviewing neighbors Friday morning.

Let's bring in CNN's senior correspondent, Ed Lavandera, who has been following this story from Pima County. And Ed, we're about a week out now, and there's still no suspect or person of interest. What are you hearing?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the main headline, because that's what everybody here cares about at this moment is trying to find who is responsible for abducting Nancy Guthrie from her home here in Tucson.

We do know that investigators are expanding their search for her as they put up these digital billboards, really, across the southwest, expanding into areas like Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Albuquerque, all the way to Los Angeles. So clearly focusing on the border states from Texas to California as well.

And this comes as investigators returned Friday night here to her home in the neighborhood as they continue to canvass and recanvass these areas, talking to neighbors.

We've seen them going through the property, putting up evidence markers, searching the rooftop of her home as well. We even saw late last night a vehicle being taken away from the scene here as well.

So there has been a great deal of investigative work continuing to be done. But investigators reiterated again today that there is no suspect. There is no persons of interest, and they are trying to continue urging the public that -- to call in any tip that they might see.

The sheriff told me a few days ago, Jessica, that he still believes that not only is Nancy Guthrie out there, but he believes that she's still out there alive, and it's going to be a tip that breaks this case and leads them to her to be able to find her once again. But it is slow going here as we approach the almost one-week mark

since she was taken from her home here last Saturday, or actually early Sunday morning last weekend, Jessica.

DEAN: Yes. Ed Lavandera with the latest from Tucson. Again 1-800- callFBI. They're hoping, as I just said, that a tip could be what breaks this for them.

DEAN: I want to bring back in CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former FBI director Andrew McCabe. Andy, it is I think so many people are watching this, and it is now practically a week later. And we, as we just noted, no person of interest, no suspect in this case.

[17:30:04]

We now see the FBI going door to door as we were showing people, the FBI is there on site. What are they doing that could be different than what local authorities were doing? How are they all working in concert with one another?

MCCABE: Yes, Jessica. It's interesting to me that we didn't see that sort of activity immediately in the -- in the immediate aftermath of the -- of the kidnapping. So, it's good to see it happening now.

These are, you know, folks who lived in the area, the most likely, statistically, to have seen something that might be relevant to the crime.

And you really, you know it's not enough to just say, hey, if you saw something, call us. You have to make a personal contact. You got to send agents or police officers investigators out there to knock on doors. That's the only way you can really ask the thorough, kind of deep questions that might unearth something that the -- that the neighbor has not thought of, but occurs during the course of the conversation.

It's also better if people have the sort of ring camera video or security camera video. It's always better to just get that and review it, have the professionals review it, rather than have folks try to do that themselves. They might miss something. They might, you know, lose the video in the process of trying to find it. So, it's always better to do it in a hands-on way.

DEAN: Yes, there might be things that people don't think mean anything that could help investigators, and there is just this fact that we still don't have really any new information, we don't have a suspect, we don't have any person of interest. What does that say to you about this investigation and this crime?

MCCABE: Yes. You know, it's not -- it's not surprising that we haven't heard often law enforcement develops a suspect, but they don't let us know that, because, you know, taking that kind of invites so much scrutiny and attention to the person you are trying to investigate quietly. It doesn't -- it's not -- it's often not productive.

But I think what's really concerning here is we know for a fact that from the first three letters, purported ransom notes, which we have not fully verified yet, those did not contain proof of life.

Now, we know that, because the family and the aftermath of receiving those videos came out and issued several very, very strong requests for proof of life. They got another note yesterday. We don't know for sure, but they haven't -- they certainly haven't said that there is a proof of life in that video.

So, going this far and having had communications from someone who purports to have control over Miss Guthrie, and not having a proof of life is a very concerning development.

DEAN: Yes, it really is. And so, now, what are you looking for as we move into this second week?

What are you watching as this unfolds, knowing, as you point out that is important, that law enforcement may be holding back. We don't know. There may be some information they have that they are not sharing.

(CROSSTALK)

MCCABE: That's right. Yes, yes. There -- likely, there is. I'm pretty sure that there is.

But really, the most important development here would be establishing a legitimate communication with the sender of the notes that we have so far. So, somebody who knows how to communicate, you know, covertly. We know that they are utilizing message systems and servers that mask their identity and their locations. It's not that -- it's not hard to then take that one step further and develop a communication structure that would also protect them. So, it's a little bit concerning that they haven't had that kind of -- kind of negotiation, two-way conversation yet. So, that's really what I'll be looking for over the next few days.

And, of course, the public campaigns. It's obviously on the news a lot. But I think, like what you were showing before, the billboards -- the billboard campaigns have been very helpful in many cases, in the past.

Developed from someone who runs or is associated with a billboard company, who happened to go through the FBI Citizens Academy and thought about, you know, way that he could utilize his own access to these things to help us out, and it's just an amazing idea, and something the bureau has taken advantage of over the years. So, let's hope that it turns up some profitable leads in this case as well.

DEAN: We certainly hope that for Nancy Guthrie and for her entire family that this nightmare comes to an end and she can get back home safely. Andrew McCabe, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

MCCABE: Thanks.

DEAN: President Trump standing firm. He did nothing wrong when it comes to the racist post on his Truth Social account.

[17:34:31] More on that when we come back.

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DEAN: President Trump says, no, he will not be apologizing for that video posted on his social media account, depicting former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle as apes.

Trump said he had only watched the first part of the video, and not the part that showed the Obamas. The video was online for almost 12 hours, drawing bipartisan condemnation.

After it was removed, the White House blamed a staffer for including the offensive material.

Let's bring in CNN correspondent Julia Benbrook, who is joining us now.

Julia, what more did the president say about this?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica. He spoke about this a little bit on Air Force One last night, as he traveled out here to Florida for the weekend. And he was pressed on, should he apologize? Should he take some responsibility? He made it clear that he does not believe that he made a mistake here.

[17:40:00]

As you mentioned, he said that he watched the first part of this post, which included debunked voter fraud claims, that he did not watch it all the way through to see the racist image that was included.

Trump also said that his team took this down as soon as they found out that, that was in there. But it's important to note that there were 12 hours from the time this was posted to the time that it was actually taken down, and within those 12 hours, we saw a dismissive response from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who referred to the response to this as fake outrage.

The outrage, though, was very real, and it was coming from both sides of the aisle, including some of Trump's most loyal and closest allies. One of those notable responses came from Senator Tim Scott, who said that he was praying that this post was a mistake. He called it the most racist thing he has seen out of this White House, and that it needed to be taken down.

When the post was eventually taken down, they -- White House did say that an unnamed staffer was responsible for the error.

Now, as I mentioned off the top here, Trump was pressed on if he should take responsibility. But I want you to hear that interaction for yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, a number of Republicans are calling on you to apologize for that post. Is that something you are going to do?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, I didn't make a mistake. I am, by the way, the least racist president you've had in a long time, as far as I'm concerned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: Now, according to sources who are familiar with the president's social media use, he does often, personally post on his accounts. But a few others do have access to those accounts as well. Now, they do say that often in those late night posts, which is what we saw here early mornings, that he does do some of that on his own. Again, the White House has said that a staffer is responsible for this error.

When pressed on, if that staffer would be fired, Trump declined to say.

DEAN: All right. Julia Benbrook for us there in West Palm Beach, traveling with the president this weekend. Thank you so much.

Let's bring in CNN senior political reporter Aaron Blake, who is joining us now. Aaron, you've written a piece, some analysis over this. The president has said he reviewed only the first part of the video, then passed it on to a staffer. But a couple things you note, and I want you to walk everybody through this. One, that we've -- this is not the first time we have seen posts like this from him. He has a long history of posts that are really ugly. This one being a racist post.

And this video is a minute long. So, it's not like there's so much to review. So, what did you find?

AARON BLAKE, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes. I think that's a -- an important point here, which is that the video itself was a minute and two seconds long, actually. So, that's not a whole lot of content for the president to be reviewing in -- you know, his argument is that he basically sent this along to a staffer who didn't watch the entire thing, the entire minute and two seconds long.

But I think the larger point here is that this has happened over and over again, to some extent. This might be the most the ugliest example of this phenomenon. But we were talking a little while ago about Senator Tim Scott from South Carolina. The only black Republican in the Senate, who called it the most racist thing that he'd seen out of this White House.

Well, in fact, Tim Scott has, on at least two other occasions, said something like this about a social media post from the president. There was one time back in 2020, when the president posted one of his supporters that included his supporters saying white power. There was another instance in 2020 that people might remember where Trump told certain members of the Democratic Caucus in the House to go back to the countries they came from, even though three of the four of them were born in the United States. Both of those times, we also saw Tim Scott rebuke the president in pretty strong terms. And so, I think the lesson here is that this kind of thing just keeps on happening. And the question is, why is that? Why are there not safeguards in place, if indeed this wasn't Trump, and if indeed this wasn't intentional?

DEAN: Yes, the Tim Scott piece was significant, for sure. And to your point, there don't seem to ever really be repercussions for this sort of thing, you know. We don't know, Julia was just reporting if this so-called, the staffer that they are pointing to will have any sort of repercussion for this. And certainly, the president is saying he didn't do anything wrong.

BLAKE: Yes, and that's the thing really. You know, one -- you have one of these episodes, and you have the blow back from it, and you really care about the issue, you might institute some kind of safeguards. You would have several checks.

You know, in recent days, we've seen some discussions from former campaign aides from the Biden campaign, basically laying out the number of checks that they would have before something would get tweeted from one of their campaign accounts. And there was, you know, five or six different people who would approve what was going to be put out there.

[17:45:01]

You know, we've understood for a long time that President Trump's social media habits are not as refined as that. There is not as many safeguards in place. But that's what -- this is the kind of thing that happens if that's going to be the case. And I think, you know, there are a lot of people in the Republican Party, even more so than we have seen in these previous instances, that came out very strongly. They didn't wait around and kind of wait to be asked about this. They came out forcefully on their own. And I think that's a really notable part of this episode relative to the ones that came before it.

DEAN: Yes, and give us to -- just put the pieces together for everyone, Aaron, on the context of like, in which this is coming. Obviously, he is feeling pressure on immigration and on the economy. There is a lot swirling around at the same time.

BLAKE: Yes. And I think there's no question that members of the president's party are increasingly comfortable doing things like this, speaking out in certain cases like this. They are not all going to ditch him completely all at once. That's certainly not going to happen anytime soon. But I think what we saw was starting a couple of months ago, people might remember when Indiana was looking at doing its redistricting, which was, of course, something that Trump really pushed for. He wanted more Republican districts in this state.

And we saw the state senate actually reject that pretty resoundingly. And I think that really sent a signal, especially after the 2025 elections that Republicans are concerned about where their party's at right now, and that sometimes gives Republicans a little bit more courage to speak out against the president, to say what they really think about what he is doing, and to try and adjust his course.

You know, this is also something where these Republicans see what's coming out of the president's social media feed, and they might worry what that says about their own political future, if this is going to be, continue to be a problem for the party.

And so, I think it's all those things kind of coming together to create a situation in which Republicans are much more comfortable speaking out quickly on something like this.

DEAN: All right. Aaron Blake, great to have you. Thanks for being here.

BLAKE: Thank you.

DEAN: And will one of the greatest gears of our lifetime win an Olympic medal despite carrying her ACL, just a week ago? Lindsey Vonn's big run now just hours away. We'll check in on it here in CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:51:55]

DEAN: New tonight, what's being called a premeditated attack on Italy's rail infrastructure is triggering major travel disruptions on the first full day of the Winter Olympics, Italy state owned rail network says three separate incidents damaged train lines, including one involving an explosive device.

Officials say electrical cables were cut, a fire was set in an electrical cabin. Authorities are not ruling out anarchists who might be behind it, citing similarities to the sabotage attack that hit France's rail line during the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Also, on day-one of the games, Italian police clashing with protesters in the streets of Milan. Officers firing tear gas at demonstrators who were throwing fireworks and flares. Activists say they are rallying against the environmental impacts of the Olympic venues and their economic and social harm.

Five medals have so far been handed out at the games today. CNN's Amanda Davies has highlights from some key events, plus, what fans can look forward to tomorrow. Amanda.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORT ANCHOR: So, the first goals of the games has been decided, and what a way to kick things off here in Bormio. Thousands of Italians arrived with their flags waving, their faces painted, and expectations high of the hosts, kicking things off on the right note.

But Switzerland's reigning downhill world champion Franjo von Allmen had other ideas.

In his Olympic debut, the 24-year-old skied his way to gold with a near perfect run on the downhill course, dubbed by many as the toughest and most physically challenging track in alpine skiing.

We were watching surrounded by a group of his friends from his home just outside Berm. They said the party tonight is going to be so good, we just couldn't imagine.

For the hosts, a silver and bronze to kick off their medal campaign, a second-place finish for Giovanni Franzoni to add to his iconic Kitzbuhel victory as the season of his life continues.

And a bronze for the man dubbed the king of this Stelvio Hill, Dominik Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVIES: So, I know there was a lot of excitement --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sure.

DAVIES: That Italy might win gold today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

DAVIES: Do you see this as a win, a success, or a failure?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely, as a win.

DAVIES: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, we knew that the Swiss team was probably the better one and the strongest one. But, I mean, we had a lot of hopes for Paris and Franzoni. So, now, we are -- if the race finishes like this, we are pretty dissatisfied.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With von Allmen, I mean, it's such a nice story. Young guy, 24 years old, and he just brings it home. So, it's a brilliant story. And, as Swiss, we like the Italian friends. So, I mean, second and third for Italy, as being the host of the games. I think they are going to be happy as well.

DAVIES: But you are stealing gold from the Italians.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, that's OK. That's a fair trade.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's -- so, we are very happy for how our athletes are -- Franzoni and Paris, and we are very happy.

DAVIES: Toasting the success.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks, and thanks very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAVIES: Sunday will all be about the women over in Cortina. And Lindsey Vonn surprised a few people on Saturday morning, opting to take part in the final training session ahead of Sundays downhill rather than resting, despite taking on this race with that entirely ruptured ACL.

[17:55:15]

But let's not forget, for all the attention on the 2010 Olympic gold medal winner, there are 45 other athletes taking part in this race, all with their own Olympic dreams, including the Italian pair, the five-time Olympian Federica Brignone and the 2018 gold medal winner, Sophia Goggia.

Amanda Davis, CNN, Bormio, Italy.

DEAN: All right. Amanda, thank you so much.

Still to come, investigators in Arizona now using these digital billboards, hoping someone knows something that will help bring Nancy Guthrie home.

We are going to talk with a former hostage negotiator about this case here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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