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CNN This Morning
Search Continues for Nancy Guthrie; Bondi Engages in Shouting Matches in House Committee Hearing; Anti-ICE Protests Echo America's Civil Rights Movement. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired February 12, 2026 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:00:15]
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Today in the group chat, a glove and a thousand -- and thousands of tips. But are investigators any closer to finding Nancy Guthrie?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was startling and a bit terrifying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Neighbors on the lookout as investigators comb for clues about what happened to the 84-year-old.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAM BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I'm not going to get in the gutter with these people. I'm going to answer --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Pam Bondi says she won't get in the gutter, but she stayed there with her binder full of insults for Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every American should be raving pissed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: And vindication for Democrats as Trump's retribution tour hits the skids, with more failed indictments.
And Montgomery to Minneapolis. How today's ICE protests echo America's civil rights fight of the past.
CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
OK, so there's a new piece of evidence and 18,000 tips.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish, and we are going to start there, with this desperate search for Nancy Guthrie, which is now on day 12. So, investigators were back out at her home Wednesday, looking for any
clues. A "New York Post" reporter witnessed agents pick up a glove off the side of the road. Since dropping these photos, investigators have received thousands of tips.
But a source tells CNN the man they detained and released yesterday was on their radar before these images were put out to the public. But he says something different.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought I was being kidnapped. They didn't tell me why I was being dragged into a car and being handcuffed. They told me I was -- that I was detained, but they never read me my rights until the FBI got there. That's an hour and a half or two hours later.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, they thought you looked like that person in the video?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what they told my -- my mother-in-law.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They showed her a video.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They thought you were a suspect?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Because they said that my eyes and my eyelashes looked the same.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Joining me now, Chief Charles Ramsey, CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former Philadelphia police commissioner.
Good morning, Charles.
CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Good morning.
CORNISH: I want to just start with what we heard from this man who's spoken publicly. You rarely hear this, frankly. Like, if -- if police go for someone and don't hold onto them, that person is speaking out. What do you make of what you're hearing from him?
RAMSEY: Well, you don't usually hear about someone speaking out, but then again, you don't get many high-profile cases like this, where you have this kind of intense -- intense media scrutiny taking place.
I don't know why they singled him out prior to the release of the video, but he was one person that they did have under surveillance. So, when they stopped them, they stopped him for a reason. We just don't know what that reason is.
It's my understanding the search warrants they obtained are sealed, so we don't really see the affidavit to be able to determine what information they had that would establish enough probable cause to go forward with searches.
But there are going to be other people that are going to be brought in for questioning, as well. This video has led to a lot of tips now, and they're going to follow up on those tips. They still have to find Nancy, and the longer this goes, the more difficult it becomes.
CORNISH: But you do have this video now; maybe this glove. Are you seeing enough advancement in this investigation?
RAMSEY: Well, there's some advancement. There's always something that they've got -- hopefully a lot -- that they have that's not being made public. That's pretty typical in any investigation, not just a high- profile investigation.
But now that they know who they're looking for in terms of many of the factors that you can see on the video -- gloves, the backpack, the jacket, the ski mask, all those kinds of things. They're combing through the area now, looking for those particular items. They found the glove.
If you remember, there was blood found at the scene where Nancy was taken. They might get lucky and find blood on that glove. If, in fact, that glove was one that was discarded by the individual responsible for this.
So, every bit of evidence can help them put together a picture. But so far it hasn't led to a specific person. And that's really what they need. Who is the person who actually kidnapped her? And hopefully, they can still find her and find her alive.
CORNISH: This is helpful, because we've just learned that residents have been asked to kind of check their cameras for, like, two very specific days in January between the 11th between 9 p.m. and midnight and January 31st around 10 a.m.
RAMSEY: Well, I mean, maybe they have some information around someone doing surveillance on that particular home, trying to find out more about Nancy's movements and so forth. That would be why those two particular dates, maybe, were selected.
They may have some information that came in through a tip from someone that this person had been there before to conduct some kind of surveillance.
Now, it's going to be difficult because that particular area, it's my understanding there's a lot of shrubbery. It's very dark. It's very difficult for any kind of door camera to pick anything up.
But you never know. They may find something, something that would add to the clues they already have. And again, that's the way you put these cases together. And, you know, not everything is solved quickly, but they're going to keep at it.
CORNISH: Yes. It's Charles Ramsey. Thank you for being with us.
RAMSEY: You're welcome. CORNISH: Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, the clock is ticking for a DHS funding deal. Republicans want the president to hold out. I'm going to be talking to a Democratic congresswoman about her party's red lines.
Plus, a veterans group has a warning for active-duty troops. And they are using billboards to spread the word.
And Pam Bondi brings her burn book, but was it enough to fight off questions about the Epstein files? I think the group chat has a few thoughts.
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[06:11:14]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. BECCA BALINT (D-VT): These are senior officials in the Trump administration. This is not a game, Secretary.
BONDI: I'm attorney general.
BALINT: My apologies. I couldn't tell.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: It wasn't your typical hearing. Attorney General Pam Bondi, fighting with the House Judiciary Committee as she faced tough questions over her department's handling of the Epstein files.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-WA): You're not going to answer this question, so let me just say this.
BONDI: Chairman, I'll direct it to --
JAYAPAL: What a massive cover-up.
BONDI: No, I'm answering a question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chairman, will you restore her time? The witness is interrupting.
BONDI: I'm not going to get in the gutter with this woman.
REP. TED LIEU (D-CA): I believe you just lied under oath. There is ample evidence in the Epstein files.
BONDI: Don't you ever accuse me of a crime.
REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): How many have you indicted?
BONDI: Excuse me. I'm going to answer the question.
NADLER: Answer my question. BONDI: No, I'm going to answer the question the way I want to answer
the question. Your theatrics are ridiculous.
NADLER: No, you're going to answer the question the way I asked it.
BONDI: Chairman Jordan, I'm not going to get in the gutter with these people.
REP. TOM MASSIE (R-KY): Here's -- here's the question.
BONDI: This is a political joke. And I need to give my answer on that.
This guy has Trump derangement syndrome. He needs to -- you're a failed politician.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Epstein --
MASSIE: I want you to watch video.
BONDI: He needs to --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chairman, she's embarrassing you.
BONDI: What? He's about to be --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is your committee, and she is embarrassing you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can let her filibuster all day long, but not on our watch. Not on our time. No way. And I told you about that, Attorney General, before you started.
BONDI: You don't tell me anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, oh, I did tell you, because we saw what you did in the Senate.
BONDI: Loser lawyer. Not even a lawyer.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CORNISH: Joining me now in the group chat, Matt Bai, national affairs columnist for "Rolling Stone"; V. Spehar, digital journalist and creator at "Under the Desk News"; and Jonah Goldberg, CNN political commentator and co-founder, editor-in-chief of "The Dispatch."
Where do we begin? Where do we begin? First, we could begin with that binder that she had. So, she was sort of flipping through it, ready for responses to Democrats were Democrats ready to respond to her?
V. SPEHAR, DIGITAL JOURNALIST AND CREATOR, "UNDER THE DESK NEWS": I think they were a little surprised that she had a clapback binder. Normally you need to, like, have those within yourself like how you're going to respond or critique somebody. But she had the Cliff Notes for it.
I think they did a great job navigating her tantrum, and I think it was unfortunate they didn't get answers.
CORNISH: But did they get anything?
SPEHAR: They didn't. And I think the most unfortunate thing is that there were victims in the room that were watching, again, sort of like the theatrics and the lack of answer and the -- the grandstanding. And I can't imagine as a victim standing there being like, this is my government. Both sides, like, please help me.
CORNISH: After some time, it feels like it all hearings are theatrics, frankly. I've been to a lot of hearings. There is always an element of, like, trying to have a gotcha, trying to have a moment.
And it just didn't play like that for nearly anyone involved. Maybe that's my review. What did you think as you're watching how she played between Republicans and Democrats?
MATT BAI, NATIONAL AFFAIRS COLUMNIST, "ROLLING STONE": Honestly, I find this isn't the first time I've felt this way during this administration. I find it stunning. As sort of an institutionalist, as someone who's been here for a long time, forgetting the -- even the merits of the hearing, I don't honestly care that much about the issue in terms of the investigation.
But to speak to Congress as a cabinet secretary. First of all, to have reached a point, as V. says, where you now need to show up, you don't have the briefing materials on the content. What you really need is to go to a joke writer before you come, and then come as if you're coming to host an award show rather than testify for Congress.
And then to show up and show so much contempt for the institution and the people. You call one person a washed-up lawyer, Jamie Raskin. You call another person a failed politician.
I understand that she's performing for a single audience, and that is the president only. But I -- what really shocks me every time is that the Republican members of Congress, even where we are today, aren't protective enough and proud enough of their institution and their life's work to not accept that kind of treatment and to not let the country see Congress degrade it that way.
[06:15:03]
CORNISH: OK, but here's the thing. Jim Jordan was running the hearing. He's not someone who's known for shying from insults.
And to your point about her performing for Trump, in a way, she was sort of trying to perform as Trump. Did you feel like there was a little bit of an attempt. Or here's her defending him. We'll show people that to start.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BONDI: You're about as good of a lawyer today as you were when you tried to impeach President Trump in 2016. Have you apologized for that? The Dow is over 50,000 right now. The S&P hit almost 7,000, and the
NASDAQ smashing records. Americans' 401(k)s and retirement savings are booming. That's what we should be talking about. We should be talking about making Americans safe. We should be talking about -- what does the Dow have to do with anything? That's what they just asked. Are you kidding?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well so first of all, I don't think she's very bright.
Second of all, the idea of somehow, the attorney general, during constitutionally necessary oversight before the supreme branch of government, saying we should be talking about the stock market is just -- like if you wrote it in a political novel, the informed reader would say, "Well, this makes no sense that they would say that."
More broadly, like, I agree with Matt. I'm on a hobbyhorse about how Congress has essentially become a denuded institution. And it breaks my heart in all sorts of ways.
I think the -- I don't think she's trying to be Trump. I think what Trump -- the only thing Trump respects is people who talk like him. And he's wanted -- he wants all his people to be like Roy Cohn, to be -- do his fights for him.
And I think that it's -- and I agree entirely with Matt that she's doing this performatively for an audience of one, which is why all the Sunday shows are weirdly, on a meta level, more interesting than they've been for about 20 years. Because you have cabinet secretaries saying stupid things that the president wants to hear --
CORNISH: Yes.
GOLDBERG: -- even though they're bad politically for them.
CORNISH: Although lots of people noted yesterday that FOX did not carry the hearings live.
GOLDBERG: And they -- they covered it pretty sparsely afterwards. I checked in.
CORNISH: Yes.
GOLDBERG: But the one point I'll add as -- also as an institutionalist is, it is now almost a -- obvious that it was a mistake to introduce cameras to Congress.
CORNISH: Wait, wait, wait.
SPEHAR: I disagree.
CORNISH: You think -- I have been -- I covered Congress for a while when there was cameras. This is not a camera problem.
GOLDBERG: It's partly a camera problem. And I'll debate you that for hours.
BAI: Only in the sense that we introduced cameras to the world and this president is --
GOLDBERG: One of the reasons why this --
CORNISH: You don't think this is a little bit of a Trump era problem?
GOLDBERG: Oh, no, I don't. I mean, Trump makes everything worse. But this is a problem, this kind of transparency. It is impossible to have serious conversations when you're performing for constituencies.
You cannot compromise. You cannot float controversial proposals. If you're -- if everybody is watching, people perform and --
CORNISH: Do you think people trust things anymore that happen behind closed doors?
GOLDBERG: If we don't get back to that, the country is ruined. And all of all --
(CROSSTALK)
CORNISH: Let me jump in. I'm supposed to be doing this panel.
GOLDBERG: One of the reasons why these hearings suck so bad, not just this, but all of them, whenever they're televised, is everyone performs to send out their little five-minute dumb social media clips --
CORNISH: That's fair. That's fair.
GOLDBERG: -- to raise small donor contributions. So, they're performing for their fan base. It's audience capture. It's not their jobs, and it's ruining the institution.
CORNISH: OK. Let me get a word in here.
SPEHAR: To say that having the cameras and the transparency means that people can't tell the truth, or they can't defend their honest-to- goodness position is false.
I think we have a more educated, more civically engaged public because of the cameras, because of social media and the ways that they can replay the clips on the second screen. Like to the point that FOX --
GOLDBERG: I don't think there's any data to support that contention at all.
SPEHAR: To the point that FOX isn't going to air something where they know that Pam Bondi is perhaps not going to come off good, or perhaps going to get caught in a question that she can't answer, where the Epstein survivors are standing behind her. The public is very sensitive to that.
And if we don't have those cameras, then we're to trust, like you said, what just happens behind the screen? I don't think that the trust in the institution is there to not have cameras.
CORNISH: I understand your frustration coming from radio also, and it's a toothpaste back in the tube situation. So, I will let you shake that fist at the sky.
In the meantime, coming up on CNN, we're going to be talking about some other things after the break. If a grand jury can indict a ham sandwich, why is Trump's DOJ having such a hard time with its indictments?
Plus, how the civil rights movement of the past is inspiring the resistance of the present.
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[06:23:57]
CORNISH: Seventy years ago, the Montgomery bus boycott became the center of the fight for human dignity in the face of state-sanctioned segregation.
And it wasn't just about a seat on a bus. Black Americans were told where to sit, how to move, and what they were worth. They responded with nonviolent protests, demanding to be seen as simply human.
And that fight did not end in Montgomery. Seventy years later, we're watching echoes of that same struggle in Minneapolis. People there are protesting immigration enforcement. And federal officers are clashing with demonstrators.
Journalists and U.S. citizens have been arrested as a result.
We're seeing the civil rights movement of the past inspiring the resistance of the present. And joining us now is Karen Gray Houston. She's a veteran journalist and civil rights historian and the niece of Fred Gray, the legendary attorney who represented Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. And she's the author of a book called "Daughter of the Boycott."
Thank you so much for being here.
KAREN GRAY HOUSTON, JOURNALIST/CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORIAN: Good morning. Thanks for having me.
CORNISH: So, we are drawing some parallels here between what we're seeing with the protests in Minneapolis and the protests for something like the Montgomery bus boycott, et cetera.
[06:25:06]
I'm under the impression those -- those protests were really organized and planned. They weren't kind of spontaneous in the way of what we've been seeing in Minneapolis. What do you see as the differences or the similarities?
HOUSTON: Well, you know, in -- in the Montgomery bus boycott, as you were saying, there was all of that planning. Rosa Parks wasn't just tired on the bus that day. She had been meeting with Fred Gray, who was my uncle, and talking about what I should do if I -- if I'm in a situation where a bus driver disrespects me.
So, she seized an opportunity that presented itself.
And the people in Montgomery were seething with anger about how they were being treated on the busses and about how segregation just permeated their entire lifestyle. Everything.
And so, they -- these were ordinary people who just decided to sit down one day and start organizing and planning, and so that they could, you know, get beyond what was going on. And so, that's where you start.
CORNISH: I was thinking that people often look to the past, and they say it was nonviolent protests. And I think that there's a difference between nonviolent and peaceful, so to speak. Meaning everyone I've met from that period says they anticipated violent backlash, backlash from state and local officials.
HOUSTON: Thank Dr. Martin Luther King and his -- who was heavily influenced, as you know, by Mahatma Gandhi, for feeling that nonviolent civil disobedience was going to be the way that black people would be on the right side of history, that they would have the moral high ground. And so, it was important for them to just be nonviolent.
CORNISH: Yes. But they took a lot of beatings as a result. When I think the Freedom Riders, when I think of even Selma or Birmingham, I mean, we're watching people being attacked in that nonviolent --
HOUSTON: Freedom Riders were attacked by the KKK with a bombing. Protesters in Birmingham stood up to firehoses and dogs. The -- the -- who else was it? The lunch -- the sit-in at the lunch counters. The people sat there all day long, waiting to be served, and were harassed.
So, you know, where do we go from there?
CORNISH: One of the things that we hear now is that people are professional agitators; that they're putting themselves in harm's way on this issue; and going so far as to criticize people who lose their life as a result, like Alex Pretti or Renee Good.
HOUSTON: They are putting themselves in danger. You know, I have a friend who wrote a book, Charlie Cobb, "This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed."
And, you know, that goes from -- back a ways. And -- and you are taking a risk.
And it speaks -- it's a powerful statement that they're making, that they are willing to go out and take the pictures of the -- the ICE and Border Patrol agents and, you know, put their lives on the line.
I mean, that's what happened to Freddie.
CORNISH: Yes. And the government response, this saying that you're perpetuating violence, that you're agitators, does that language feel familiar?
HOUSTON: During the bus boycott, there were -- when Martin Luther King was the -- the new pastor in town, people were saying that there were outside agitators, because who -- who else? You know, there -- our regular old black people in Montgomery wouldn't be doing this by themselves.
CORNISH: Yes, there was a lot of that. And also, I look at the Gallup polling at that time. And people did not like King or what he was doing and did not see those mass protests as helpful to the cause of black people.
So, it's interesting seeing public sentiment.
HOUSTON: Mm-hmm.
CORNISH: Well, thank you so much for speaking with us. The book is called "Daughter of the Boycott" by Karen Gray Houston.
Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, how a balloon and a laser led the FAA to shut down airspace over Texas.
Plus, a possible clue to Nancy Guthrie's disappearance. What it is and where it was found.
And good morning to Seattle. You're probably still celebrating those Seahawks. Thousands of people out yesterday for the victory parade.
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[06:30:00]
