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Trump Administration Focused on Diplomacy with Iran; Republicans and Democrats Battle Over Redistricting Maps; No Arrests After Two Weeks of Searching for Nancy Guthrie; No Arrests After Two Weeks of Searching for Nancy Guthrie; White House Tries to Focus on Affordability Ahead of Midterms; Why Some States Don't Celebrate President's Day in February. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired February 15, 2026 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:01:10]

PAULA REID, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Reid in Washington. Jessica Dean has the night off.

Tonight, the Trump administration says it is pushing for a diplomatic deal with Iran in nuclear talks this week. But President Trump is keeping his options open. Sources tell CNN negotiations are set to resume on Tuesday in Geneva. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are both expected to attend.

Trump struck a more pessimistic tone on Friday, saying he's sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East in case diplomacy fails.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The second aircraft carrier that you decided to send.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Talk about why you made that choice?

TRUMP: Well, in case we don't make a deal, we'll need it. If we don't have a deal we'll need it. If we have a deal, we could cut it short. It'll be leaving, it'll be leaving very soon. We have one out there that just arrived. If we need it, we will -- we have it ready. A big, a very big force.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: CNN's Julia Benbrook is in West Palm Beach, where President Trump is spending the holiday weekend.

Julia, what is the administration saying tonight?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we heard from Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier today. He is abroad right now. But he was speaking on this and said that President Donald Trump has made it clear that he prefers diplomacy when it comes to dealing with Iran and that they are focusing in on those negotiations.

As you mentioned, we expect those to take place on Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland, and we do expect U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, as well as Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to be in attendance. As Rubio confirmed that those two are going to have important meetings in the coming days, he said that the goal here is to come to a successful deal but he also highlighted the complexity of this situation. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: We're dealing with people who make political -- geopolitical decisions on the basis of pure theology. And it's a complicated thing. I mean no one has ever been able to do a successful deal with Iran, but we're going to try. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be traveling. I think they're traveling right now to have important meetings, and we'll see how that turns out. And we'll always comply with the applicable laws of the United States in terms of involving Congress, any decisions. But right now we're not talking about any of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: So, again, he says that they are focusing in on negotiations. That is the key part of this right now. But let's take a quick step back here to look at what Trump has said about this in recent days. As he left the White House on Friday, he was asked, will these ongoing negotiations with Iran ultimately be successful? And he said, yes, that he thought that they would be. And if they're not, that it would be a bad day for Iran.

And then later on, you heard him say, using a more pessimistic tone, that he does not think that the Iranians have a good track record when it comes to things like this. Now the United States recently dispatched a second aircraft carrier group to the Middle East, and Trump says that it is there if they're not able to come to a diplomatic solution, and that if they are, that those ships would leave.

REID: And Julia, President Trump is set to host the first Board of Peace meeting this week. What are we expecting there?

BENBROOK: Yes, lots of questions around this Board of Peace meeting as it gets started. This is expected to be the first formal gathering taking place on Thursday. But Trump is giving a bit of a preview of what we can expect as far as announcements go. I want to pull up a post from him earlier today where he said this.

He said, "On February 19th, 2026, I will again be joined by Board of Peace members at the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C. where we will announce that member states have pledged more than $5 billion toward the Gaza Humanitarian and Reconstruction Efforts and have committed thousands of personnel to the International Stabilization Force and local police to maintain security and peace for Gazans."

[19:05:25]

Now the invitations for this went out earlier this month. It's expected to take place at the U.S. Institute for Peace, which has recently been renamed. It's one of the buildings in Washington that now bears Trump's name.

REID: Julia Benbrook, thank you.

And we're joined now by CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas. He's a former Pentagon official and is now the director of the Counterterrorism Program at the Atlantic Council.

Now, I want to turn back to the upcoming Iran talks. There are somewhat mixed messages coming from the Trump administration saying they're willing to give diplomacy a chance. But if it fails, there are military options. What does all of this signal to you?

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Sure. So I think they're all consistent, believe it or not. I know it looks like mixed messaging, but the president needs to be prepared as commander-in- chief in the event he wants to order military action. Sources inside the Pentagon have told me that Chairman Kaine has made it clear that he wanted a second carrier battle group to be available in the area to pursue all options should that be required.

But the president is quite serious about pursuing diplomacy. And so to that end, right now, the U.S. is focused on a nuclear only deal to start with, that Steve Witkoff structured, which has caused some consternation with the Israelis, but is consistent with his approach of a multi-tiered deal-making. Very similar to Gaza, where we saw a multi-phased approach. So I think the Israelis and others would like to see proxies and missiles included in the deal immediately.

But the Iranians have signaled that they would prefer to try to get the nuclear issue worked out first and so far the U.S. has said yes. So Tuesday's meeting will be very important to see where these talks head.

REID: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today reiterated that any deal must involve the removal of all enriched uranium from Iran. Is that realistic?

PLITSAS: So we've heard back from the Iranians so far is there may be a willingness to dilute the 60 percent enriched uranium that they had prior to the 12-day war, in which the United States ended up striking the nuclear facilities in Operation Midnight Hammer. So whether it's diluted or comes out of the country, I think there may be room for some negotiation there.

I was in the region last week speaking to the Qataris, Iranian officials, the Israelis, U.S. officials as well, to kind of get a feel for where everybody is. So it's possible there'll be some concessions on the nuclear side. Whether that will be sufficient to satisfy the Israelis is unclear. But again Tuesday is really where the nuclear framework is going to become primary on the table for discussion. REID: Well, CNN analyst and Axios correspondent Barak Ravid is

reporting that in a meeting last week President Trump and Netanyahu agreed the U.S. will increase economic pressure on Iranian oil exports. What impact will that have?

PLITSAS: You know, I think the root causes of the protests that were, you know, taking place several weeks ago, which was the original cause of the president to say help is on the way and suggest military action, especially in light of the number of civilians that were killed, are deep rooted economic issues that are not solvable in the short to mid-term. So additional pressure on Iran's oil sector for the illicit oil trade and sales that come out of there is meant to put pressure on the Iranian government at that point to come to a deal, which is what the president is looking for.

So if they're not giving the concessions he's looking for now, he's looking to apply additional nonmilitary power to see if he can get to a deal and see if he can bring them to the table in a way that needs to, to prevent a conflict, because there's more than one party. Even though there's only two negotiating at the moment in terms of the United States and Iran, Israel is actually potentially the most likely to strike, and they shouldn't be seen as a spoiler so much as a primary negotiator who just happens not to be in the room.

REID: U.S. Central Command on Friday completed the transfer of more than 5,000 Islamic State group detainees. AP reporting that these men are expected to stand trial in the future. How significant is this?

PLITSAS: You know, we've heard nothing but doom and gloom out of the Middle East for the last couple of months, and I have to say, this is quite a significant win for the United States from a national security perspective. So for the last decade or so, you know, this is not a partisan issue. This has just been a security issue in general. You know when law and order sort of broke down in Syria and the country was broken into different factions before Assad fell and then afterwards, you had essentially a terrorist army that was sitting in prison camps inside Syria.

And then after Assad fell, we had two main groups that were in power. Right? We have the Syrian government now largely backed by the Turks and others from the outside, and then the SDF or the Kurds in the northeast, which were the U.S.'s primary partner on the ground for combating ISIS. Over the last year, they have really failed to work out or execute an agreement they had reached for control of the country and sort of unifying everybody.

And in the background was this giant army of terrorists and camps. And over the last few weeks, there was a push by the central government to try to force the Kurdish group, the SDF in the north, to sort of integrate.

[19:10:04]

And there was a big concern that these terrorists would somehow be released, it would plunge the region back into chaos, potentially a security threat for the United States. But U.S. Central Command successfully navigated the situation with support from the special envoy Tom Barrack, who's also our ambassador to Turkey, President Macron of France, Iraqi Kurdish leaders in Kurdistan, and then, quite frankly, our NCTC director Joe Kent, was on the ground in Baghdad helping to coordinate.

So in combination, they were able to successfully see those prisoners transferred to Iraq, where they are secured and avoided potentially another geopolitical crisis on the ground. So quite a significant event this week.

REID: Alex Plitsas, thank you.

PLITSAS: Thanks so much.

REID: Still ahead, California launches a civil rights probe over evacuations in a historically black neighborhood during last year's wildfires. Plus DNA linked to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie gives new hope to the case. We're live from Tucson with the latest.

And for many, tomorrow is a holiday. But for some others it's not. We dig into why some states don't observe President's Day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:15:46]

REID: Democrats are hopeful of taking back the House in November's midterm elections. But Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries says he can't afford to ignore Republicans' gerrymandering.

Here's what he told CNN's Manu Raju earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Republicans started this redistricting war, and Democrats have made clear we're going to finish it. We're going to make sure that there is a fair national map. So at the end of the day, it's the voters who get to decide who's in the majority after the November midterm elections, and not Donald trump.

When they go low, we strike back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: We're joined now by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Mr. Attorney General, California of course successfully passed a new congressional map last year aimed at flipping several House seats. What would you say to other Democratic states that are undertaking this process?

ROB BONTA, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, it's up to them what they -- what process they want to take going forward. But we had a position here in California that if Texas was going to have a governor who was doing the bidding of Donald Trump, who said that they are entitled to five more Republican seats, that was not going to be left unaddressed, and that there would be a response in California.

And there was a partisan redistricting response that is completely legal and lawful and California voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50, as you mentioned, on the ballot. And six times the Republicans and some of those times the Trump administration have attempted to undermine the overwhelming will of the voters, and we beat them all six times, including a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in our favor. So the Republicans maintain a perfect losing record in trying to challenge the redistricting efforts, successful efforts of California.

So to the extent our efforts are a successful roadmap for redistricting if other states wish to follow that, they may, but it's up to them. Probably the best idea is a national independent redistricting commission policy, where every state has an independent redistricting commission, like California has, and that California will return to once Trump starts meddling with the redistricting in different states like he did in Texas.

REID: I want to shift gears now to this investigation that you've opened. Of course, it's been more than a year since the Eaton Fire. This week, you announced a civil rights investigation into the emergency response in the historically black neighborhood of West Altadena.

Why did you open this investigation?

BONTA: Well, this is the lane that no one has filled yet, and it is our area of expertise. An area where we have authority and jurisdiction to investigate potential civil rights violations. We do it all the time when it comes to law enforcement entities. Sheriff's departments, police departments, other types of discrimination based on all sorts of protected classes, whether it be race or age or disability, other protected classes.

And here, we have a community that was ravaged by the Eaton Fire and west of Lake Avenue, West Altadena, is a historically black community and of the 19 deaths that occurred tragically because of the Eaton Fire, 18 were in West Altadena. The average age of those killed was 77 years old, and nearly all of those who perished had a disability. So we're examining whether there was were civil rights violations based on race, based on disability, and based on age.

And we're going to look closely and the surviving families deserve answers. They are wondering why so many people in West Altadena died. Why the notice, the evacuation alert was hours later than it was in East Altadena, and so we're going to look at the systems and structures that were in place that may have led to the disparate impact that appears to be present here and examine whether there were any civil rights violations and take action as appropriate.

REID: After you complete your investigation, make your findings, what are the possible outcomes after this investigation is wrapped?

[19:20:01] BONTA: Well, since we're looking at systems and structures, and whether they led to a disparate impact that violated the civil rights of residents in Altadena, the likely outcome will be with respect to addressing and changing those systems and structures. There could be additional training. There could be different patterns and practices. There could be different notifications. There could be different approaches, policies, practices going forward so that's most likely the outcome.

If there is even any civil rights violation, we haven't pre-judged that. We're going to conduct the investigation. We're not starting from scratch. We see some beginning preliminary facts that are very disturbing but the possible outcome is changing -- changes in policies, practices, training to ensure that this type of outcome never happens again.

REID: And the primary responding agency was obviously the L.A. County Fire Department. What about their role will you be looking into and will you go broader than just that agency?

BONTA: Yes, they were the lead agency, but there was also mutual aid. So there were other city fire departments in the surrounding area that responded. The sheriff's department was involved as well. So anyone involved in the evacuation alert when it went out, when it went out to East Altadena versus West Altadena that are part of the, you know, the four-hour delay that seems to have occurred with respect to the notice of the evacuation alert in West Altadena, and, you know, the fire response generally.

Any entity that is involved in any potential disparate impact and civil rights violations, we will investigate. So we're going to start broad. Of course, there's primary agencies. As you mentioned, L.A. County Fire Department, but that will not be the exclusive source of potential information here. We'll look more broadly to the mutual aid agencies as well.

REID: California Attorney General Rob Bonta, thank you.

BONTA: Thanks for having me. Honored to be with you.

REID: And new developments tonight from the FBI in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, including what we're now learning about a glove found near her home.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:26:37]

REID: The FBI is awaiting DNA analysis from a glove found near Nancy Guthrie's home. The FBI says the glove appears to match those worn by the suspect in a video recorded by Guthrie's doorbell camera the morning she disappeared. The 84-year-old has now been missing for two weeks, and there have been no arrests. Investigators are also analyzing DNA that was found at her property, which officials say does not match Guthrie or anyone close to her.

CNN correspondent Ivan Rodriguez is on the ground in Tucson. He joins us now.

Ivan, what are you hearing there on the ground tonight?

IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, I can tell you that throughout the day we've continuously seen people approach the front of Nancy Guthrie's home here, leave behind yellow flowers, signifying hope for her safe return. Other people maybe just wanting to drive by, just to be able to see what all this media presence here looks like as Nancy Guthrie's search continues on now as we enter that third week.

In the last two weeks, though, Paula, we can really say that we've witnessed different kinds of breakthroughs. We saw the images released by the FBI showing that man approaching Nancy Guthrie's front door caught on camera, wearing dark clothing, a backpack, a gun in front of him, on a waistband, in a holster. FBI have described this man as anywhere from 5'9" to 5'10" tall, with an average build.

And now this latest development here with the FBI saying that a glove found near Nancy Guthrie's property visually matches a glove that this man is seen wearing in that doorbell footage is again that next latest breakthrough that hopefully can bring about another lead. We know that the FBI is still analyzing the DNA of that glove, and we're told that process could take anywhere between 24 to 48 hours so we're anxiously awaiting as you can imagine the Guthrie family is if they can identify this person, they'll first go through their criminal database, see if this person has any sort of criminal background.

That would be the fastest way to be able to identify this person, experts say. But also a sign from this DNA evidence the location of where this glove was found could also be an important clue in this investigation because if that glove is said to be the glove that this person is wearing in that doorbell footage, it could also help trace the route that he took once he allegedly abducted Nancy Guthrie and the route that he took to get out of this neighborhood.

Now, in terms of the neighborhood itself, anyone who lives within a two-mile radius is being asked by the sheriff's department today to submit any sort of video or images that they may have. But a big, really obstacle that a lot of investigators have been facing in the last two weeks is the fact that a lot of these homes are pushed far away from the road, meaning that for neighbors in this area, there's a sense of privacy. But also it's been very difficult to find that footage that could, again, bring in that one clue.

REID: Ivan Rodriguez, thank you.

And joining us now is former deputy director of the FBI, John Pistole.

John, there has been some criticism over how this investigation is being handled. So I want you to take a listen to what one of Guthrie's neighbors had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STEVE LIPPMAN, NANCY GUTHRIE'S NEIGHBOR: Absolutely wish they were giving more information. I think the sheriff is a very experienced veteran of law enforcement but that doesn't necessarily mean that he's experienced with what this case is all about. And, I mean, I feel like they got in -- they invited the FBI in or the FBI came in pretty quickly, but maybe it wasn't quite quickly enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[19:30:00]

REID: What is your assessment of how this investigation has been handled so far?

JOHN PISTOLE, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: Well, I think there's a lot of frustration out there because unfortunately she hasn't been found and back to safety and so there's finger pointing that happens anytime there's a major investigation like this when things don't go according to what people hope it will be, that's a 24 to 48-hour resolution. Here we, it is two weeks later.

And so, I think that's a natural process that are part of the process. I think the key is, are the FBI and the Sheriff's Office working closely together now and I'm assuming that is the case. And this glove that's been found separating it from "The New York Post" glove that was a couple miles away I think that's a positive development.

The real issue, I think, gets back to the timing of the kidnapper does not want to be keeping her for any longer than necessary to get paid and to move on with their money. And obviously her health is just a key issue here for an 84-year-old with health conditions. So, there's a lot of things going, the clock is ticking and there has to be the sense of urgency that I think we are seeing, it's a question of what are the outcomes and when will we know about them.

REID: Now, this law enforcement officials, they have received tens of thousands of tips one of your former colleagues was on a short time ago, sort of joking you know, you need to triage these, maybe ignore the ones from the psychics, there are others that are more serious. Walk us through the process of how agents go through this pile of information.

PISTOLE: Yes, it's a great question, Paula, because you have to separate the wheat from the chaff, and it's something that is done with a lot of expertise to say, okay, does this sound like it's reasonable? Does the person who's submitting the tip have a basis of knowledge and were they in

a position or are they in a position now to have that "inside information" that may be part of that what they call rich picture of intelligence, information that can go together and form almost a tapestry of information that can hopefully lead to her safe recovery and the arrest and conviction of the kidnapper or kidnappers.

So, it's that analysis that is done in terms of yes, you triaged the ones that appear the most likely, and then the other ones, you still will follow up on. But going back to any major investigation I've been involved in you do have to triage. And then those that you find credible and relevant, then you make sure you're doing everything possible, all every type of, of investigative resource would be applied to those to say, lets rule this out. And before we do anything else, and if we can't rule it out then well pursue it until a logical end.

REID: We are currently at the two-week mark in this investigation. How does a probe like this change as time passes? What should people expect?

PISTOLE: Well, I think people are frustrated because this investigation is playing out in the public and oftentimes kidnaping cases are not played out in the public where the ransom note is delivered to the family and with typically a note to in the note to say do not contact law enforcement, do not involve outsiders because if you do, then we will harm your relatives, in this case, her mom.

And so, that's part of it. And so, this is just, takes on a whole different perspective with it being Savannah Guthrie's mother and being such a well-known figure, Savannah. And then what is the end for this kidnapper? And hopefully it's to try to get to ransom but again, without a proof of life, there will be no, there should not be any ransom paid because they just don't know whether, they're not going to pay ransom unless they know she can be returned safely.

REID: Yes, I want to turn quickly to another major story we're following. The partial government shutdown impacting the Department of Homeland Security, which of course, includes the Transportation Security Administration.

A former TSA administrator -- as a former TSA administrator, what kind of impact could this have on travel?

PISTOLE: Well unfortunately, Paula, again this this follows up the 43- day government shutdown back from last October, early November. And for TSA, who are 90-plus, 95 percent are required to be at work as essential employees. And so, what happened last time was the longer the shutdown went, the more and more people called out sick, didn't show up for work. And in the final analysis there were over 1,100 TSA employees end up resigning after that long shutdown because many weren't able to pay their bills and they were in a situation where they had to have another job and not knowing how long it will go on. They were put in a very difficult situation.

Look, the starting pay for TSA employees, the TSA security officers is typically $35,000.00 to $39,000.00 a year. So, these are not high paid employees who can go without a paycheck. So, they just got paid on Friday but at the end of the month, where many bills are due, they won't get paid even if there's a resolution.

Of course, many lawmakers are in Europe at the Munich Security Conference or doing other things in their home district, and so it's unlikely and most are not scheduled to return until next Tuesday. So, its greatly deeply frustrating.

[19:35:59]

REID: Yes, I also want to ask you something. I'm sure our viewers are wondering. I mean could this shutdown have any impact on safety when it comes to the TSA?

PISTOLE: Well, right, so, the people will probably see slightly longer wait times at checkpoints at the 430 or so TSA airports around the country. The concern by everybody, especially the acting Administrator and the Secretary, obviously the administration, everybody is that security may be impacted, that the bad guys will see this as an opportunity to try to do something to exploit what they perceive as vulnerability because people might be distracted because they haven't been paid.

So, it's just not -- it's a bad situation. Lawmakers should just get back to work and get this budget passed. So, they can do their work and the irony, of course being that ICE and CBP, this is all an issue with, they're unaffected by it because they got the big plus up from last year's Big Beautiful Bill.

REID: John Pistole, thank you.

PISTOLE: Thank you, Paula.

REID: And a live look at the Capitol tonight where the partisan fight to win control of Congress and this year's midterm elections is at stake. My next guest breaks down which party has the best chances, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:42:04]

REID: This week, the House passed legislation that would require photo I.D. to vote in federal elections. The GOP Bill would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration. But the bill has little chance of passing the Senate. The President spoke about the bill on social media saying, "There will be voter I.D. for midterm elections whether approved by Congress or not."

Frank Luntz joins us now. He's a pollster and communication strategist.

Frank, how do you think the public would react if the President tried to enforce voter I.D. without Congress, presumably through executive action?

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER: Well, here's the thing. The public supports, over 70 percent positive voter I.D., so he's on the right side. But if he were to do it without Congressional approval, the public would turn against that. And that's one of the stories of the election now in 2026.

They support much of the agenda. He's on the right track, but they don't like the implementation of it. They don't like the noise around it. And so, if the President commits unilateral action, he will get significant opposition. But I want to emphasize, more than 70 percent of Americans believe that you should have to produce a positive I.D. to prove who you are before you vote.

REID: Yes, and it's likely if he does that, of course through executive action, it would likely be challenged. I am not sure the Supreme Court would clear it up before the midterms and I want to talk to you more about those midterm elections coming up. What does each party need to do? Where do they need to focus in order to come out ahead?

The Republicans have to focus on results. They've been in charge now for a year, and they have to be able to show that what they've done has had a meaningful, measurable impact on the average voter and they have not succeeded up to this point.

In fact, at the end of 2025, they were leading the Democrats in almost every generic vote poll. But what we have seen over the last 100 days is that Democrats and some of this is because of the health care legislation. The American people cannot afford their health care, and they look at the Republicans who don't seem to be doing anything about it and saying why? We can't afford our food, we can't afford our homes. But health care is something that everyone needs.

On the Democratic side, they seem to want to make a statement rather than make a difference and so much of their stuff has come across as being political, and partisan and simply critical rather than making a difference in people's day-to-day lives.

So, at this point, both political parties are at their -- very close to their all-time lows in terms of public credibility. And by the time we get to November, we may have a situation where the public simply doesn't want to vote for either political party because they're so angry and frustrated and what they're saying to Americans is enough already, do something, get something done.

REID: Well, a lot of high-profile Democrats we saw attended the Munich Security Conference this week, sort of looking to counter President Trump is this sort of their opportunity to start campaigning for 2028?

[19:45:19]

LUNTZ: Well, you've got that log that's up right now, all of those people have been talked about as Presidential candidates and all of those people have opinions that are separate from the administration and what he's trying to accomplish in foreign policy. I'm not surprised that they went. I think it's somewhat of a distraction. And frankly this is the one place foreign policy

where we used to be not Republican, not Democrat, but American. And the fact that that has dissipated over the last year is problematic.

I've delivered on this show several times a warning to the public that at some point we can't recover. At some point, you simply break the system. And I'm very concerned, I will have the opportunity to address governors later on this week. And my message to them is the public trusts you more than anyone. The public looks to you for leadership more than anyone. For the governors, they need to work together, they need to cooperate, and they need to lead.

The public is very frustrated with what's happening or not happening in Washington, and they believe that the governors are the solution. So, let's get at it. Let's move forward.

REID: It will be interesting to see how that message is received.

Frank Luntz, thank you.

LUNTZ: Thank you.

REID: And for some states, tomorrow is a federal holiday, but others are not celebrating Presidents' Day.

CNN's Harry Enten explains why when NEWSROOM returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:51:10]

REID: For most of the nation, tomorrow is Presidents' Day, the federal holiday celebrates George Washington's birthday but some states don't even observe the holiday in February.

CNN's Harry Enten joins us now to tell us why.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Hey there, Paula, happy Sunday to you. You know, tomorrow, the third Monday in the month of February is a holiday for some of us, including myself. For others, it's not a holiday at all. And for those of us who are in fact celebrating on the third Monday in the month of February, what the holiday is exactly called. We'll it depends on what state you're in. What are we talking about here?

Well, for some of us, tomorrow is President's Day. But how the heck do you spell Presidents in the President's Day? Well, in Hawaii. Look at this. You get Presidents' an "s" and then an apostrophe. Nebraska though, well, they disagree out there, the cornhuskers, what do they say? Well, they have the apostrophe, but it comes after the "t" and before the "s". How about an Oregon, how about Oregon? We'll the ducks out there they say you know what? We don't need that stinking apostrophe, so it's just Presidents Day with no apostrophe whatsoever.

Of course, maybe tomorrow isn't President's Say. Maybe it's some version of celebrating Washington's birthday.

Well, that's exactly the case in Iowa. It is Washington's birthday. That's who's getting celebrated tomorrow. How about in Ohio? Well, they say, you know what? One president is not enough. All of them is too many. So, in Ohio what we're doing is we're celebrating both Washington and Lincoln of course, Lincoln's birthday taking place earlier in the month of February, and they say, you know what, we're going to combine, we're going to combine two Presidents into one day being, of course the third Monday in the month of February. How about in Alabama? Well, down south, they say, you know what, were going to drop Lincoln. We're going to drop Lincoln from this holiday, instead we're going to add a guy from Virginia. We're going to celebrate two guys from Virginia. We're going to add Washington and Jefferson together, two for the price of one.

Of course, sometimes maybe were not celebrating Washington at all. Maybe were not celebrating the Presidents at all. How about this? Okay, is tomorrow a holiday? Yes, in California it is a holiday but according to the State Code, guess what? It's no name, there's no name for the holiday tomorrow. It's not Presidents' Day; it's not Washington's birthday. How about in Georgia? How about in Georgia where, of course, CNN was born. CNN was born in Georgia.

Well tomorrow, guess what they decide. You know what? We are going to celebrate Washington's birthday. But were going to push it. We're going to push it all the way to Christmas Eve, so Washington's birthday is actually observed on December 24th.

And then in Delaware, you know what they say we've got enough holidays already. So tomorrow it isn't no holiday at all. So, the answer in Delaware, in Delaware, of course, the first state to ratify the Constitution, you know what they say? We don't need no holiday tomorrow, not Washington's birthday, not Presidents[' Day. Nothing. Nada! Nothing.

But the question is okay, is tomorrow holiday? Most states say yes. Okay. Is it Washington's birthday of some version thereof? Is it Presidents' Day and some version thereof? And of course, if it is Presidents' Day, how exactly do you spell it?

Well, we go to Google for the answer. What do most people Google? Well, the most Googled version of tomorrow's holiday is, it's right here. It's Presidents Day with no apostrophe.

So, Paula Reid, I wish you a happy early Presidents Day. Of course, maybe you know what you decide, it's going to be like the state of New York. It's just going to be were going to celebrate Washington's birthday, observe. Because, of course keep in mind Washington was actually born on February 22nd which can never be the third Monday in the month of February.

This entire holiday, you know what? It's a little bit screwed up, but I'm just going to take the day off. Paula, happy early -- well, I guess Washington's birthday, at least for us here in New York, back to you.

REID: Any excuse for a holiday, right? Harry Enten, thank you. NEWSROOM will continue after this quick break.

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[19:59:39]

REID: Right now, investigators are awaiting DNA analysis from a glove found near Nancy Guthrie's home. The FBI says the glove appears to match the one worn by a suspect seen in her home's doorbell camera footage shortly before she disappeared. That suspect has been described by the FBI as a five-foot-nine to five-foot-ten male with an average build. He is seen in the footage wearing an Ozark Trail Hiker backpack. Investigators also analyzing DNA that was found at her property, which officials say does not match Guthrie or anyone close to her.

And stay with CNN for "The Whole Story" with Anderson Cooper, "What Happened to Nancy Guthrie?" That starts next.

Thanks for joining me tonight on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Reid, have a great evening.

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