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No Arrests After Search in Guthrie's Home; Partial U.S. Government Shutdown; Rubio to Visit Trump Allies; New Claim About Navalny's Death; Next Round of Iran Nuclear Talks Tuesday in Geneva; ICE Plans to Spend $38B on Detention Centers; ICE Aftermath in Minneapolis; Zelenskyy Urging Allies to Ramp Up Pressure on Russia. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired February 15, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Brian Abel in Atlanta.

Coming up on CNN Newsroom. The search for Nancy Guthrie has now reached two weeks. The latest on the investigation and where it may go from here. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's speech still echoing through the halls of the Munich Security Conference. Details, plus the startling new claim made there about how a Russian opposition leader died. And feeling the impact of the White House's aggressive immigration enforcement surge. I'll speak with a local reporter about the aftermath in Minnesota.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with Brian Abel.

ABEL: We start with the search for today's show host Savannah Guthrie's 84-year-old mother. It's now two weeks into the search for Nancy Guthrie, and the desperation to find her is intensifying. Authorities did not make any arrests after searching a residence near her home in Tucson, Arizona. It was carried out Friday night after authorities received a lead.

CNN's chief intelligence analyst says operations like these could happen more often as authorities sort through thousands of tips. CNN's Leigh Waldman begins our coverage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN REPORTER: The search for Nancy Guthrie officially two weeks old now. There is desperation in this community to bring the 84-year-old grandmother safely back home and to find the people or persons responsible for her disappearance. We saw a lot of law enforcement activity at a home just the other day about two miles away from where we are right now.

We've learned now that law enforcement was serving a federal warrant that resulted in no one being arrested. Another traffic stop led to a man being questioned but subsequently released. We heard from the sheriff who said people in this community can expect more of that in the days going forward as they continue to pursue all of the leads that are coming into their agency, that flurry of police activity.

Meanwhile, what we know about the person responsible, the FBI releasing that profile after the doorbell camera footage came out showing an armed and masked man. They say he's medium build between 5'9 and 5'10. They're still asking this community to submit any surveillance video that they might have that could shed light on the days leading up to Nancy Guthrie's disappearance or even the day afterwards to see if they can pinpoint this person's movements.

We know that they've collected DNA. They don't know who it belongs to at this point. They've also collected multiple pieces of evidence including gloves in this area but I spoke with neighbors today who are a bit skeptical about how this investigation is going.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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)

WALDMAN People have stopped by Nancy Guthrie's home consistently leaving yellow roses behind messages of hope and support for the Guthrie family. We have to remind you her children made a desperate plea to bring their mother back home reminding people that she is in fragile health. She needs medication to be comfortable to survive. We know from sources she has a pacemaker. That's why this search is reaching a desperate level at this point.

Leight Waldman, CNN, the Catalina Foothills, Arizona.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: And joining me now to discuss this case is Scott Curtis, a former agent at the FBI. Scott, thank you so much for joining us. I first want to get your reaction to hearing that resident there say maybe the FBI didn't come in soon enough. What do you say to that?

SCOTT CURTIS, FORMER FBI AGENT: Yes, I think that's a valid point in this situation here. I mean you had an alleged kidnapping of a high- profile victim. I mean kidnapping is a federal offense, a high-profile victim in this situation here. I think it would have been appropriate for the local law enforcement to bring in the FBI right from the beginning there so they could utilize all the resources that the FBI could bring, personnel resources, technical components, forensic analysis and all that other stuff there that maybe would have been more efficient in doing that initial crime scene investigation there at the residence.

[04:05:00]

ABEL: And despite significant police activity, as you're mentioning, in the last 24 hours where law enforcement swarmed that nearby home and then also towed a car, the search right now it does continue. What stones are still left unturned in this investigation that could bring this case to a close?

CURTIS: Well, from my vantage point here there's three major avenues that investigators are working on right now. One is additional surveillance video footage from people in the neighborhood, from commercial establishments in that whole general area to review, to try to identify this individual as we have seen in the surveillance nest camera footage from Nancy Guthrie's home. See if that individual shows up on anybody else's video footage or to see if there's any suspicious vehicles, for example, in that area that time of night, you know, 2:00, 3:00 in the morning there that would draw attention where they should look further into seeing who belongs to those vehicles and what they were doing in those areas.

The next avenue I think that they're doing right now is reverse engineering. They are trying to identify cell phones that could have been in that area not only on that evening of the abduction but at any point during the last 30 days in a period between probably midnight and 3:00 a.m. where people may have been casing that location.

So, they're going to, you know, go back to Google for example and see what cell phones maybe were using geolocation there hitting off those cell towers at that time of night during that period of time there and then working to try to identify who the users are of those cell phones.

The third area that they're going to be also pursuing is now that we've identified the type of backpack that that individual was wearing that night of the abduction and they know that that backpack was sold through Walmart. They're going to go to Walmart now and try to get a purchase history of people that purchased that backpack hoping that that individual may have purchased that backpack within the last few months for example. They're also identified the jacket that he has worn there and will, again, seek a purchase history hoping to narrow down who purchased that type of jacket. I wouldn't be surprised also if they come out and tell us what type of sneakers he was wearing and do the same thing for that piece of clothing.

ABEL: OK. So, a lot of legwork there. The Pima County Sheriff also, Scott, says there was DNA found at the scene that doesn't match anybody close to her, Nancy Guthrie, and that DNA is being tested. We've heard of genetic genealogy helping crack cases, helping to identify serial murderers. Walk us through that process. How long it takes to play out and do private companies like 23andMe and Ancestry cooperate?

CURTIS: Well, they have and they're -- as you mentioned, there's been notable cases. One in the New York City area here that I recall in the last year or so where a serial rapist from -- going back to his college days up in New England there they used that cooperation there to match his DNA with DNA from those rape crime scenes back I think 15 or 20 years prior. So, yes, that is a possibility. If again this individual or family members connected to that individual, who we don't know who it is right now, have utilized that system in the past. ABEL: And, Scott, how does public pressure for this case -- how does the pressure for answers impact the investigation and at what point does this case go cold if there continues to be no sign of Nancy and no arrest?

CURTIS: Well, law enforcement needs to gauge how much they want to reveal to the public to get the public to further cooperate. You know, unfortunately, in this situation here you have a sheriff a local law enforcement who is an elected official where you have the FBI who are, you know, federal law enforcement officers there. So, you know, in some ways they're looking at this through a different type of lens there but you would hope that they're working together.

One thing that I want to point out that I've learned here over the last few hours is that there was a neighborhood watch app that individuals living in that area were using to report on suspicious activity there and supposedly Nancy Guthrie had actually reported about theft and potential burglars in her neighborhood maybe about a year ago. So, that's something that law enforcement should also be looking into. Has anybody in the neighborhood reported on suspicious activity there? What did police do if they received that information?

[04:10:00]

And it could be a situation where maybe reports were filed and just never followed up over the last year or so that they need to then go through their files and see what potential leads are there that would be relevant right now. So, many different avenues to hopefully find some answers.

ABEL: Scott Curtis, former FBI agent, thank you for sharing your expertise with us. Appreciate it.

CURTIS: Thank you.

ABEL: The partial shutdown of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is now in its second day and it's not yet clear when it will end. The White House is still holding talks with Democrats to reach a deal that would fund the agency. Democrats are demanding reforms to immigration enforcement operations after federal agents fatally shot two people in Minneapolis. CNN's Camila DeChalus has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, tensions are really high on Capitol Hill over the funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Now, the fighting between Republicans and lawmakers and Democrats around funding for this department really intensified after the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal agents in Minneapolis. And it led a lot of Democratic lawmakers to come forward and demand a number of reforms to be made in exchange for them supporting a funding package for DHS.

Now, Democrats say this is really about holding the Trump administration accountable and making sure that there is priorities when it comes around funding and that it's aligned to American values. Take a listen to what Democratic Representative Maxwell, Frost had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MAXWELL FROST (D-FL): House Democrats are using our power and the power of the purse to say enough is enough. The people have spoken. We see poll after poll that people say this administration have gone way too far as it relates to this. I don't call it mass deportation. It's a mass kidnapping campaign of our own neighbors.

And so, we're representing our constituents by saying no. We know that through the big, beautiful bill that they passed to give ICE essentially unlimited amounts of resources and give huge tax breaks to billionaires at the cost of health care for working people. We know they did that last year. But what we're saying is we're not going to give them a penny more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DECHALUS: Now, several Republican lawmakers I spoke to say that they could be open to having discussions around reforms to federal agencies, but they say the top priority for everyone should right now be passing a funding bill in order to fund the Department of Homeland Security. But where things stand at this point in time, both chambers are expected to return back to Washington, D.C. until February 23rd.

And Republican leaders we spoke to say that they could still call back members of Congress to return back to Capitol Hill if a deal is reached. But now with the lapse in funding for this department, that means that nearly all federal employees under this Department of Homeland Security, they will have to remain on the job. And that really does mean that many of them will not get paid until this ends. And so, you see a real urgency for something to get done.

Camille DeChalus, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: All right. Let's turn now to this year's Winter Olympics and a few of the highlights from an eighth day of action-packed events. CNN's Coy Wire is in the Italian Alps with a recap of the latest medalist and a Sunday preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COY WIRE, CNN WORLD SPORT: History was made in the Italian Alps on Saturday. Skiing sensation Lucas Pinheiro brought in putting up some stunning runs in the men's giant slalom, propelling the first ever Winter Olympics medal. It's all of South America's first ever gold at a Winter Games. The 25-year-old retired in 2023 before returning a year later to represent his mother's country. A monumental medal for Brazil and a continental one for South America.

All eyes on American speed skating sensation Jordan Stolz. He had already won the 1,000-meter gold at these games, setting a new Olympic record. Now, in the 500-meter, he's done it again. Gold and a new Olympic record. With two more events, he has a chance to win four golds overall here. That's like some Katie Ledecky or Michael Phelps type of dominance. His name is Stolz, meaning proud. He's right now one of the pride and joys of Team USA at these games.

In the new event, dual moguls, where you see not one but two skiers plummeting down the slope side by side. Australia's Jakara Anthony made history. Her trademark tenacity and skill helping her fend off a packed field that featured all three medalists from the previous moguls event. Anthony takes the gold, becoming Australia's first ever two-time Winter Olympics gold medalist. Team USA's Jaelin Kau, the defending world champ, took the silver. Team USA's Liz Lemley claimed the bronze. Anthony had finished eighth on the previous moguls event.

So, this was a sweet and historic redemption. On Sunday, Mikaela Shiffrin will be hitting the slopes again, this time in the Giant Slalom, with a disappointing performance in the team competition where she failed to medal. Now, the winningest alpine skier of all time is going to be on a mission. The Olympic pressure, likely at an all-time high, pressure something Mikaela is very aware of. And she says she will be ready to combat it. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:15:00]

MIKAELI SHIFFRIN, U.S. ALPINE SKIER AND TWO-TIME OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: I would like to go to Cortina with like an open mind. I'm excited, for sure. I'm a bit nervous. And I always have the question, what if it goes wrong? And I don't want to be embarrassed. I don't want to be -- I don't want it to go wrong. But at the same time, you can't really control the outcome, but you can control the outcome. So, I'm excited. I'm excited to go to Cortina. what you bring to the Hill. So, I've tried to focus on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Mikaela will look to add to her three career Olympic medals and help the U.S. chase Norway, who is leading the medal table for now. On Sunday, there will be nine gold medals up for grabs.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: All right. Coy Wire in Italy. Meanwhile, Team USA toppled Denmark during Saturday's men's ice hockey matchup. Both teams attempted to distance themselves from geopolitical tensions as President Trump's pursuit of Greenland loomed over the contest.

The Danes, they jumped out to an early lead in the first period as the U.S. struggled to find its groove, but the Americans would rally to take control of the game in the second period, ultimately winning the match six to three. Team USA remains undefeated and is now set to face Germany on Sunday. A win there will allow the U.S. to advance directly to the quarterfinals.

American skiing champion, Lindsey Vonn, is cleared to head back home now to continue her recovery after having her fourth surgery in Italy. It's been one week since Vonn's devastating crash in the downhill final that ended her Olympic dreams. In a heartfelt message to fans, Vonn urged them to not feel sorry for her, saying she has no regrets. She wrote on Instagram, quote, "When I think back on my crash, I didn't stand in the starting gate unaware of the potential consequences. I knew what I was doing. I chose to take a risk."

The U.S. Secretary of State sends a mixed message to Europeans, offering to work together, but with strings attached. We'll explain.

Plus, European countries point a finger at Russia, saying its top opposition leader was poisoned in prison. We'll hear what evidence they have to back up that claim.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:20:00]

ABEL: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has left Germany for stops in Slovakia and Hungary, two countries led by Trump allies, after telling the Europeans, my way or the highway at the Munich Security Conference. The event wraps up in the coming hours. Rubio assured allies on Saturday that Washington will not walk away from the NATO alliance, but he also drove home a core America First agenda, warning the U.S. is ready to go it alone if Europe doesn't cooperate on a number of issues.

Rubio later met with the Ukrainian president in Munich, telling him that U.S. President Trump is trying to end the war in Ukraine once and for all. Mr. Zelenskyy said the Kremlin is not offering any compromises at the ongoing peace talks, which are set to resume in Geneva this week.

Meanwhile, five European countries say Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny was killed in prison, and they claim to know how.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YVETTE COOPER, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: Well, U.K. scientists have worked with our European partners to pursue the truth about how Alexey Navalny died. And they have found and confirmed that there was a lethal toxin in Alexey Navalny's body when he died. And only the Russian state had the opportunity, the motive, the means to be able to do this while he was in prison. The Russian government has tried to silence its opponents. We are determined that the truth be told.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: European officials say that toxin is found in South American poison dart frogs. It can be up to 200 times stronger than morphine, and it is not naturally found in Russia. Now, Moscow dismissed the claim as propaganda. The announcement came almost two years to the day after Navalny died at a remote Arctic penal colony.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more on the suspected poisoning and Europe's reaction to Rubio's speech in Munich.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly a sigh of relief among the U.S.'s European allies at the Munich Security Conference after the speech of Secretary of State Marco Rubio. And Rubio did have a lot of criticism for America's European allies. He accused them of what he called possible civilizational erasure, saying that there were some severe mistakes, he believed, that European countries were making, among them allowing what he called mass migration, deindustrialization, and also, as he put it, following a green climate cult as well.

At the same time, though, the secretary of state seemed to be extending a hand towards the Europeans, saying that Europe and the United States belong together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We should be proud of what we achieved together in the last century. But now we must confront and embrace the opportunities of a new one. Because yesterday is over. The future is inevitable and our destiny together awaits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: Now, one of the other major topics here at the Munich Security Conference was, of course, Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine. The U.S. Secretary of State saying the Russians say that they want peace, but that negotiations, while there has been a lot of progress, still remain difficult.

Another thing that certainly impacted the Munich Security Conference was new allegations by several European countries about the death of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny. He, of course, died in a Russian prison colony almost to the day two years ago. And now, the European countries say that analysis of Alexey Navalny's body shows that there was traces of a toxin that is linked to an Ecuadorian poisonous dart frog, and they believe that he was poisoned in prison.

Now, I asked the European foreign relations chief about all this, and here's what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAJA KALLAS, E.U. HIGH REPRESENTATIVE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND SECURITY: Well, it's not really surprising, is it? I mean, he's working like regular dictators are working.

[04:25:00]

I mean, eliminate all the competitors and, you know, keep the power structures and oligarchs happy and you stay in power and you can do whatever you want even if, you know, the people are not pleased.

PLEITGEN: It's a long way to go, though, to use dart frog poison, isn't it? That's -- on someone who's in a prison colony anyway.

KALLAS: Yes, but I think it also shows how the Russians are thinking, exploring new ways to actually use. So, this is the way they operate, against their own people, against people in prison.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: Some Pretti strong words there from Kaja Kallas towards the Russians. We also did reach out to the Kremlin and asked them about these allegations. So, far, we've gotten no response.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Munich, Germany.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: The U.S. and Iran are working on a potential nuclear deal. Sources telling CNN the next round of talks will take place Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland. U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are expected to attend, but President Trump is not convinced the talks will be successful. On Friday, he warned that if they want to avoid a potential military attack, Iran should, quote, "give us a deal that they should have given us the first time." Republican Senator Lindsey Graham echoed the president's stance at the Munich security conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): There's no negotiating with these people, in my view. They're hell-bent on enacting an agenda based on religion that teaches them to lie, teaches them to destroy, in the name of God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Meanwhile, the U.S. is expanding its military presence in the Middle East. President Trump told reporters Friday that he is dispatching a second aircraft carrier group to the region. And around the world, the drumbeat is growing louder for regime change in Iran. Massive rallies were held Saturday as part of a global day of action, called by the exiled son of Iran's last monarch.

In Munich, police say around a quarter of a million people gathered in one of the city's largest demonstrations in recent years. In Toronto, up to 350,000 people came together in what authorities called one of the largest Iran-related demonstrations in recent months. And in Los Angeles, home to a large Iranian population, demonstrators carried huge banners showing the former Shah's son, and messages like, help is on its way.

Still to come, the Trump administration says it is winding down its aggressive ICE operations in Minnesota. We'll see what that looks like on the ground just ahead.

Meanwhile, the agency is wanting to ramp up its presence in other states by transforming industrial buildings into new detention centers. The reaction from state leaders when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:00]

ABEL: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Brian Abel, and this is CNN Newsroom.

The Trump administration's Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency is planning to spend tens of billions of dollars on new detention centers by the end of this year. According to the Washington Post, ICE has already spent more than $690 million buying up industrial sites in several states, including Texas, Arizona, and Georgia. But the agency is facing pushback from lawmakers and local leaders who don't want to see massive new prisons popping up in their states. CNN's Rafael Romo has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It appears the federal government plans to build detention centers for migrants on a massive scale in multiple states across the country over the next several months at a cost of tens of billions of dollars.

According to documents published on Thursday, the estimated total cost for the new detention center model is $38.3 billion designed strategically to increase bed capacity to 92,600 beds. That's because ICE expects an increase in enforcement operations and arrests in 2026, and the plan is to activate all facilities by November 30th. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement plan was referenced in a press release by New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte.

One of the proposed sites for a detention center is in her state in the town of Merrimack. The ICE plan also calls for what it calls the acquisition and renovation of eight large-scale detention centers and 16 processing sites, as well as the acquisition of 10 existing turnkey facilities where ICE ERO already operates. One of the new detention centers is located here in Georgia.

CNN has confirmed with officials in the town of Social Circle, population 5,000, located about 45 miles east of Atlanta, that a million-square-foot facility there has been purchased by ICE to be converted into a migrant detention center for as many as 10,000 people, possibly as early as April. According to a deed filed earlier this month and obtained by CNN, the Department of Homeland Security paid more than $128.6 million for the facility. That's more than four times more expensive than the building's last assessment value of $29.3 million in 2023.

Social Circle officials told me they're very concerned about the impact this will have on their water and sewer systems that are already strained because the opening of the detention center means its population would effectively triple.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC TAYLOR, SOCIAL CIRCLE, GEORGIA CITY MANAGER: As I've stated multiple times over the last month, we only have a limited amount of water to draw from to begin with in a capacity infrastructure system that is already stretched to its capacity.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMO: In response to ICE's plans to build two detention centers in Georgia, Senator Raphael Warnock filed an amendment to, quote, "prohibit" the use of federal funds for the acquisition, construction, renovation, or expansion of ICE detention centers in both Social Circle and Oakwood, located about 48 miles northeast of Atlanta, a town that also has expressed its opposition to the plan.

According to The Washington Post, in recent weeks, ICE has spent more than $690 million acquiring at least eight industrial buildings in Maryland, Arizona, Georgia, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is expressing cautious relief after the Trump administration announced it would wind down its ICE operations there. He is asking the White House to pay up to clean up the mess left behind. He says the Trump administration's brutal crackdown inflicted $203 million in economic hardship on the city last month alone.

[04:35:00]

That includes lost income and business revenue. And that's not to speak of the psychological damage. Activists say many people are still afraid to leave their homes to go to school or work.

Two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were killed by ICE agents in January. But when Donald Trump's border czar announced the drawdown of ICE agents on Thursday, he said they made the state safer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: I'm not going to sit here and say anybody did anything wrong, and that they were unprofessional. I'm going to say there are some issues here. We fixed those issues. We've had great success with this operation. And we're leaving Minnesota safer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: There are Minnesota officials that disagree with that assessment, including the state's attorney general. He told Congress that the Trump administration's operations caused real harm to the state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEITH ELLISON, MINNESOTA ATTORNEY GENERAL: The surge is contributing to violent crime, members. It's contributing to violent crime. Two of the three homicides committed in Minneapolis in 2026 have come at the hands of federal immigration agents.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ABEL: Max Nesterak is the deputy editor of the Minnesota Reformer, and he is joining us from St. Paul. Max, thank you so much for your time and the work that you do for Minnesotans. I know when the drawdown was initially announced, there was reluctance by many in the community to trust that a pullout was truly happening and that anything had actually changed when Tom Homan arrived. What's the pulse of the community now and the reality of ICE's presence there?

MAX NESTERAK, DEPUTY EDITOR, MINNESOTA REFORMER: You know, I do think it still feels like, you know, the day after a tornado when you come out from the bunker and you're looking around and hoping the storm has passed, wondering if it's actually over, and then surveying the wreckage.

So, now it does seem like ICE activity has slowed down. It does seem like the pullout is happening. But at the same time, people are still on edge. I mean, even the day before that, the day before Border Czar Tom Homan announced the withdrawal, there was a three-car accident caused by a high-speed chase from an ICE agent in a residential neighborhood in St. Paul. And that was after the initial drawdown of 700 agents.

So, I would say right now people are still doing ICE patrols. They're still watching on a high alert to see that this drawdown is really happening.

ABEL: So, people are still acting as observers. One of the things I noticed while in Minneapolis in the wake of Renee Good's killing was how the community was coming together to help each other. Around her memorial, for example, I saw Somali aunties walking around offering sambusa. How have you seen that sense of community manifest and transform throughout the time that immigration enforcement has surged in the Twin Cities?

NESTERAK: It is really remarkable and I think will be a lesson for the entire country of how people came together to serve one another. These networks that people set up for food distribution, we're talking just pallets and pallets of diapers, groceries, moving through not just churches but schools. A sex toy store in Minneapolis became a distribution center for supplies for people who were too afraid to leave their houses and so had to have groceries and other necessities be delivered. So, we saw that step up.

There's a huge effort now underway to help people pay rent because they've been missing work. I've also heard of people getting medical care at home because people are afraid to go to the hospital.

ABEL: Well, Mayor Frey and Governor Walz want federal compensation for what they say is damage to the state's economy there. City leaders say some of the financial impacts through January from Operation Metro Surge are $81 million in restaurant and small business revenue, $47 million in lost wages, $15.7 million in rent assistance because of lost household income, and there's more. Max, do those figures match what you and your colleagues are seeing, and does that encompass the damage? NESTERAK: I think it's going to take a while to really calculate and figure out how much damage there's been from more than two months of Operation Metro Surge. We certainly know that businesses have really been hurting. Governor Walz announced a proposal for a $10 million forgivable loan program for small businesses. But really, with the numbers that you just rattled off, that shows just how not very much in that proposal. So, we'll see at the legislature this year if there's any appetite for more relief.

[04:40:00]

But it's not just constrained to the Twin Cities Metro. My colleague Alex traveled to Worthington in the southwestern corner of the state, which has the highest percentage of foreign-born residents. One in three people in Worthington is an immigrant. And she talked to a bakery store owner who said his sales are down 50 percent. Another music store is down 70 percent. She talked to a car dealer. He normally sells 10 to 15 cars a month. He sold three in January.

So -- and even though we hadn't seen as intense of ICE activity in that part of the state, the fear, nonetheless, kept consumers home, kept workers home. And so, we saw those economic ripple effects throughout the entire state.

ABEL: All right. Max Nesterak, Deputy Editor of the Minnesota Reformer. Max, thank you for your time. Appreciate you.

NESTERAK: Thanks for having me on.

ABEL: The U.S. sends a mixed message at the Munich Security Conference. Still ahead, we look at how European leaders are reacting to Marco Rubio's speech on the future of the transatlantic alliance.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ABEL: European leaders are weighing a message from the U.S. Secretary of State following his speech at the Munich Security Conference. Marco Rubio appeared to try to mend fences saying the U.S. doesn't plan on leaving NATO. But he also said Washington is ready to act on its own if Europeans don't cooperate on key issues. The speech was still a far cry from last year's address by U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance. He lambasted Europeans over purported failures on immigration and backsliding on democracy.

[04:45:00]

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy was also in Munich on Saturday saying the Kremlin is not offering any concessions at the ongoing peace talks. Rubio said the U.S. is not sure if Russia is even serious about ending the war. Still, the next round of negotiations is set for this week in Geneva.

For more on all of this, we are joined by CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger, also the author of "New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West." David, speaking from Munich, where the conference will end in the coming hours. So, you are there now, more than 24 hours since U.S. Secretary of State Rubio gave his speech. European leaders having time now to digest its content. So, what does the speech taste like to them?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST AND AUTHOR, "NEW COLD WARS": This was a really fascinating speech because, as you suggested, Brian, the effort here was to try to keep the message similar to what Vance had done, but package it in something that was a lot more pleasant for the Europeans to hear. And I think Secretary Rubio succeeded at that.

For example, you'll remember that the national security strategy, which was published back in November by the Trump administration, referred to a Europe that was risking civilizational erasure if it allowed uncontrolled borders and lost, you know, the traditions of what Europe used to look like.

When Rubio spoke on this topic, he said it was both Europe and the United States that took that risk, right? So, in that way, he was embracing President Trump's crackdown on the borders and effort to oust illegal immigrants and so forth. But the core message was still the same, which was that America and Europe had to keep their native identity, which I think sounded to a lot of people in Europe as if he was saying, don't let immigrants overrun your country. And so, there were a fair number of people who were Pretti critical and thought that this sounded like he was pining for a Europe that hasn't really existed in 20 or 30 years.

ABEL: David, you write in the New York Times this week that European leaders were talking about de-risking from the United States because of President Trump's unpredictability. What could that de-risking look like and what would be its implications?

SANGER: Well, think about the term to begin with, Brian. We first heard the word de-risking in relationship to China, right? This was a sort of a supply chain thing, which was to say, we don't want to decouple from China. We can't separate the economies, but we don't want to be dependent on them for rare earths and, you know, critical minerals and semiconductors and so forth.

But now here at Munich, which is sort of the Davos of the national security world, what you heard was de-risking from the U.S. and its unpredictable leadership, that is to say, President Trump and others, where you heard leaders say, we can't put our entire defensive strategies, making them dependent completely on the United States. I thought it was an interesting use of the term.

ABEL: And there was another major speech there, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy really urging the U.S. and Europe to put more pressure on Putin to end the full-scale war that's now entering its fifth year. Is there any indication, David, that something will change on this front coming out of the conference?

SANGER: No, there isn't. And I think one of the things that was most striking was that the Europeans are following a very different strategy than the Americans in dealing with Russia. The U.S. effort is not to criticize Russia, not to arm the Ukrainians, but instead to sell weapons to Europe, which the Europeans are free to resell or give to the Ukrainians. And that's exactly what's happening. That's how the pipeline operates.

The Europeans, on the other hand, think that, in fact, Putin is beginning to run out of troops, that while he is making gains, they are coming at enormous human cost for the Russians, and therefore that this is the opportunity to sort of step in and strike. And so, their view is don't be making deals with Russia right now. In fact, I heard a lot of skepticism about the negotiations from European leaders who said a bad deal will put them in worse shape in dealing with Russia in the future than no deal at all.

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ABEL: David Sanger in Munich, Germany, appreciate your expertise, sir. Thank you, as always.

SANGER: Great to be with you.

ABEL: Thank you. Storms could dampen Mardi Gras celebrations across parts of southeastern U.S. this weekend. We'll have your forecast after the break.

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ABEL: The International Space Station is back to full capacity. Now, that a SpaceX capsule delivered a group of astronauts to the station, the previous group had made an emergency exit due to a health concern, leaving behind just a small skeleton crew. But now it's back up to full capacity. The Crew 12 mission lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Friday. The 250-mile trip took more than 30 hours.

And now, to the U.S., where storms and heavy rains are sweeping across the southeast this weekend, bringing the possibility of flooding. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar has the forecast.

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ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: More than 15 million people across the southeastern portion of the U.S. have the potential for strong to even severe thunderstorms. And the bulk of it really is going to be focused from Louisiana all the way over towards the East Coast.

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On the northern side where there's less of a chance of severe storms, but a higher risk for flooding. So, we kind of break down the timeline here. You can see overnight the main focus is going to be really across Nashville, down through Memphis, Little Rock, even New Orleans, and then starting to spread eastward into cities like Atlanta. That's where the main focus is going to be across much of Sunday morning. And then by the afternoon, it begins to spread into portions of the Carolinas, as well as Virginia. And then also notice too down across Florida, especially late into the afternoon and the evening hours when the best chance for some of those strong to severe thunderstorms will exist. Some of these areas are looking at the potential for four, even five or six inches of rain total. The concern is going to be if they get that in a very short period of time.

Overall, however, if it's spread out, that's actually a good thing because a lot of these areas across the southeast are actually dealing with drought condition. A lot of them in moderate severe, but you'll notice even a few of those red patches indicating the extreme category of drought. So, yes, the rain is needed in a lot of these areas. You just don't want to see it all come down in a very short period of time because that in turn is what causes a lot of the localized flooding that some of these states could end up seeing through the rest of Sunday.

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ABEL: Allison, thank you. Downing Street's Chief Mouser is celebrating 15 years on the job. Larry the Cat was adopted by number 10 Downing Street in 2011 after the U.K. government admitted to an issue with rats in the building. The 19-year-old tabby has since served under six prime ministers and is still fit and healthy. Larry's caretakers say despite his old age, he was still seen catching mice last year. Looking good doing it.

Thank you for joining us. I'm Brian Abel in Atlanta. That wraps up this hour of CNN Newsroom. I'll be right back with you right after a short break.

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