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Arizona Police Swarm House Near Nancy Guthrie's Home; U.S. Department of Homeland Security To Go Into Shutdown Due To Funding Lapse; Rubio Talks U.S., European Relations At Munich Security Conference; Trump Delivers Remarks To Military Families At Fort Bragg; Flood Risks Rise In Southeast US. DHS Hit By Partial Government Shutdown; Marco Rubio Says U.S. and Europe Belong Together at Munich Security Conference; Authorities Swarm Area 2 Miles from Nancy Guthrie's Home. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired February 14, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

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[06:00:30]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you get a line of cars, 20 cars, 20 federal cars plus all the equipment, trucks, things like this. This is a pre- planned operation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, a heavy police presence at the home of Nancy Guthrie. What that tells us about the investigation as it has now been two weeks into her disappearance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): ICE needs to be dramatically reformed, period. Full stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Hours into a partial government shutdown. Democrats are demanding changes to ICE as the condition to fund the Department of Homeland Security where talks stand right now.

Also happening now, world leaders and U.S. lawmakers are at the Munich security conference. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy spoke just moments ago what he's saying about the effort to end the war with Russia.

Plus, a man in Florida is being called a hero after what he did when he saw a car veer off the road.

It's Saturday, February 14th. Welcome to CNN This Morning. I'm Victor Blackwell. There are new developments in the search for today's show anchor

Savannah Guthrie's missing mother. Last night police, including SWAT teams swarmed an area about two miles from Nancy Guthrie's home in Arizona. Authorities cleared out and reopened the roads just before 4 Eastern Time this morning.

The sheriff's department said a statement would be released soon. But police have been combing through neighbors security video for clues. And CNN spoke with a neighbor who explained that many would have plenty to contribute.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARLA HANDLER, NANCY GUTHRIE'S NEIGHBOR: We have very extensive security on our home as well as our street. It's very extensive. We have outdoor cameras. We have motion detective cameras. We have sensor lights, smart locks. We have door and window sensors. We have ring cameras, 24, 7 security and wireless outdoor cameras that face the street. So we are fully equipped.

I think just from the neighborhood, from our HOA. I just we feel like it's very vigilant over the years to have security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN's Ed Lavandera has more on the latest details in the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What we witnessed in this neighborhood just two miles away from where Nancy Guthrie lives is some of the most significant law enforcement activity we've seen in this two-week long investigation and search for the 84-year-old mother of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie.

This neighborhood is part of Nancy Guthrie's neighborhood. You can access it without reaching any of the major roads. We saw a long stream, law enforcement vehicles, forensic vehicles, SWAT vehicles descending down this street on Friday night. It is not clear what has happened in terms of who, if anyone, has been taken into custody.

Authorities here are simply not sane at this point. Local law enforcement officials said that the information was being held at the request of the FBI. Presumably this means that they're working to get more clarity.

And this still remains a very fluid situation, but it has been a very intense scene. As I mentioned, this is not like anything we have seen in this two week long investigation since Nancy Guthrie disappeared on February 1st in the early morning hours of that Sunday morning.

And this part of the neighborhood is on the northern part, just north of Nancy Guthrie's neighborhood. It sits on a bluff overlooking the city. As we know and we reported over the last few weeks, this part of the neighborhood where Nancy Guthrie lives sits in the foothills of Tucson overlooking the city.

And so we await and see what kind of news this brings. This search has lasted several hours, presumably will continue lasting caretakers or landscapers and that they do not know whose DNA that is. So that is a huge piece of evidence at this moment as we await to see where that might lead them.

And we also know that the sheriff said that they have received tens of thousands of tips, especially after the video of the suspect on the front porch of Nancy Guthrie's home emerged several days ago. But it is not clear whether or not a tip from that video release is what led investigators to carry out this operation here tonight in Tucson. Ed Lavandera, CNN, Tucson, Arizona and CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[06:05:10]

BLACKWELL: And CNN spoke with experts who say this nighttime operation is a good sign that they're close to a break in the case. But of course, we'll have to wait to see exactly what police discovered if they found anything.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE MOORE, RETIRED SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT, FBI: They've got information that they think is important enough to get a warrant for, to get people's hopes up. Lots of manpower and emotional energy on that's a big part of this keeping people in the game. And so they must believe it's a pretty good lead.

JOHN CURTIS, FORMER FBI AGENT: Every little bit of evidence here that can help narrow the scope will benefit law enforcement here. The big question with tonight is how does this residence fit into the bigger picture here with this investigation? Is this a location that relates to the individual with the backpack as seen on the video footage from Nancy Guthrie's house? Or is this location a tip related to somebody else who potentially is involved in this crime? Or is this relate to the individual who's sending demands to TMZ saying that they have information about the individual wearing the backpack? We just don't know at this point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos tells CNN that while frustration is mounting, they have several leads that they are tracking. Investigators are currently fast tracking forensic analysis on several recovered gloves. One found just two miles from Guthrie's home.

The sheriff's office also said that they have DNA evidence from an unidentified individual outside of Guthrie's known contacts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF CHRIS NANOS, PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA: We have DNA, so trust me, if we knew who it was, we'd be on it. But we do have some DNA and we continue to work with those with the lab on that DNA analysis.

LAVANDERA: Is that DNA that you have you believe might be the suspects? It just doesn't match anyone in a lab or?

NANOS: What we have is we have some DNA and we don't know whose it is. So we'll keep looking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The doorbell camera video from Guthrie's home recovered by the FBI has given investigators the biggest leads in the search for this 84-year-old. The sheriff says that after the release of that video, authorities received nearly 5,000 calls within hours with investigators reviewing every tip.

As Sheriff Nanos is determined and tells CNN that Guthrie will be found.

Well, the clock has run out for the Department of Homeland Security. As of midnight, the department and the 22 agencies and offices under its umbrella are in a partial government shutdown. Congress failed to strike a deal on immigration reform.

Nearly all of DHS is 260,000 workers will remain on the job even if many will not a paycheck until the lapse ends. With lawmakers not scheduled to return to Washington until February 23, the stalemate is effectively on pause. CNN's Camila DeChalus joins us now from Washington. So where do things stand now and when do we expect these negotiations to continue?

CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN REPORTER: Well, Victor, there is a lot of fighting right now on Capitol Hill, especially around the funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Now this fighting really did start and it really intensified after the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti, Rene Good by federal agents under the Department of Homeland Security.

And that really led Democratic lawmakers to demand a number of reforms made around immigration enforcement and just law enforcement that was especially taking place in Minneapolis. And they basically said that they would only agree to passing and supporting a funding package for the Department of Homeland Security if this number of reforms were made.

And they really say at this point it's about accountability and making sure that the administration and also these federal agencies are taking their appropriate steps. Take a listen to what the Representative Maxwell Frost really had to say that encapsulates it all.

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REP. MAXWELL FROST (D-FL): House Democrats are using our power and the power of the purse to say enough is enough, that 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.

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DECHALUS: Now, Victor is important to know. I spoke to a number of Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill and their essential argument is saying, hey, I do agree there should be more conversations around reforms, if there is going to be any, but this is just not the time to do it. What should be a priority right now is passing a funding package in order to reopen and give funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

Now, Victor, at this point, where things stand is that lawmakers in both chambers, both the Senate and the House, they're not expected to return back to Washington until February 23rd.

[06:10:09]

Now, Republican lawmakers and leaders on the House and the Senate side both say that they could still call back members and give them a 48 hour notice in order for a deal to be reached, if there is one. But this really does mean at this point in time, there's a lapse in funding for the Department of Homeland Security. And that means federal employees under this department will have to remain on the job and go to work. And that means that a lot of them will not get paid.

BLACKWELL: Camila DeChalus reporting from Washington. Thank you very much.

Also happening now, world leaders are gathered at the Munich Security Conference. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke just a short time ago, reinforced the Trump administration's message of a new world order. But he also struck a tone of U.S. unity with Europe after recent tensions.

(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)

BLACKWELL: Let's go to CNN's chief international security correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh. Nick, hello to you. How was the secretary's message received?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: There were two moments in which this European audience looked traumatized, frankly, over the last year of up and down over Ukraine and the last month of extraordinary developments around Trump's threats to militarily seize Greenland, Danish territory. The European crowd, they were relieved.

I think it was anxious applause that we heard when Rubio referenced how Europe and America's histories would always be intertwined and how America was Europe's child. But do not mistake the warm tone in which he spoke here about a shared history, shared cultures, about the possibility for future growth together in a partnership. Don't mistake that for a sudden change in policy.

What actually Rubio was demanding here or saying the U.S. needed to see if there was to be this rebuilt partnership is a sea change in some European values. Ultimately, he kept invoking Christianity, spirituality, the need for no shame over heritage, the damage that open borders has done, globalization, a long list of things very similar to that which we heard in a much more bombastic, aggressive tone last year from U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance.

We didn't hear Rubio repeat the false claims of a lack of free speech and democratic values across European nations. But Rubio is essentially saying that much of the centrist liberal politics espoused by the big European leaders we've been seeing here needs to change and become much closer to their opponents, the far right populist movements who potentially in the U.K., France and Germany will gain ground in the months and years ahead.

So no real change, I think in the issue about this being a values based decision for Europe. He did indeed say that there's no point talking about the details of defensive. You're not actually clear about what you will be defending, the values you're defending. And we've even seen after that speech now too, the Europeans still cognizant very much of the need to create their own defense base here.

Here's what UK's Prime Minister Keir Starmer had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We must move forward together to create a more European NATO. As I see it, Europe is a sleeping giant. Our economies dwarf Russia's more than 10 times over. We have huge defense capabilities. Yet too often this adds up to less than the sum of its parts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH: Quick reminder, the U.K. has massive financial problems when it comes to funding that surge in defense. At the same time, though, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, something of a carrot he threw to the European audience here when asked if he felt that Russia was serious about peace. A paraphrase here, but he said you essentially think they did not. And they were still testing that premise that they were not sure at this point whether Russia was serious about peace and they were pushing to find out.

But ultimately nervous relief here that it didn't get worse, the transatlantic relationship. But I think real clear vision that there is something severely amiss, that America wants to see Europe change at its values core, if that have a rebuilt future partnership together.

BLACKWELL: All right, Nick Paton Walsh for us there in Munich. Thank you. Stay with CNN This Morning. Later this hour, I'll speak with Democratic Congressman Jason Crow of the House Armed Services Committee, also Intelligence Committee. He's at the Munich Security Conference. We'll talk Russia's war with Ukraine and also rising tensions with Iran. That's coming up.

[06:15:00]

President Trump, he made another visit to Fort Bragg Friday. This was supposed to be a speech praising the U.S. military, but as it often is, it turned into more than that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We had a great first term. We had the best economy in history, but this is blowing it away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Plus, body cam video shows the moment a Good Samaritan rescued a mother and her three children from a car that overturned into a canal.

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[06:20:07]

BLACKWELL: On Friday, President Trump took the stage at Fort Bragg to address service members. Now, historically, when presidents travel to military installations, their remarks avoid politics. Not the case for President Trump. He used this time to rail against his predecessor and other Democrats. He also brought a Republican Senate candidate onto the stage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And I'm thrilled to be back one of the greatest and most celebrated military bases in the history of the world, Fort Bragg. We have your name back. We got your name back from the radical left. The radical left is not happy about it.

Michael, will you come here for a second, please? He's running for the Senate and if he gets in, you're going to be taken care of. If he doesn't get in, we're going to be stripping the military like they always do. The Democrats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He also used the time tout the U.S. operation in Venezuela that led to the capture of Nicolas Maduro and his wife. And later in the day, he met with special forces involved in the operation and their families. Journalist and former CNN anchor Don Lemon pleaded not guilty on Friday to federal charges stemming from his presence at a protest at a Minnesota church last month.

Federal prosecutors alleged that Lemon and another independent journalist, Georgia Fort, participated in a takeover style attack of the church and intimidated congregants by live streaming a group of anti-immigration and custom enforcement protests protesters rushing into the church on January 18th. Fort and four other defendants also pleaded not guilty.

A Florida man is being called a hero after he rescued a mother and three young children after a dangerous car crash. Look at this. Casey Curtis was driving home from work and he saw this car behind him accelerate, veer off the side of the road and flip upside down into a canal. They managed to help the children out of the back seats while holding their mother's head above water. According to investigators, the mother suffered a seizure while she was driving.

Well, there is a winner of the annual greasing of the poles competition at the Royal Sonesta, New Orleans. The hotel originally started the Mardi Gras tradition to keep partygoers on Bourbon Street from climbing the hotel's poles to reach balconies above. Well, they're going to use the bow of her fiddle to help her secure the win.

Something else we'll keep an eye on during today's Mardi Gras. Rising flood risks with storms possibly disrupting the festivities there. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is with me now. What are you watching today?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We are watching a lot of rain. A lot of rain. And now some of these areas need the rain. So I don't think there's going to be a huge complaint from some. But yes, if you've got some activities planned, some festivities.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CHINCHAR: Rain is not exactly what you want to have in the forecast. So let's take a look at where it's raining right now. You can see the bulk of it is kind of over the southern plains here. You can see again across portions of Oklahoma into Texas, but it is going to continue to spread eastward as we go through the rest of the day today.

So states like Arkansas into Louisiana, but even farther north, you've got areas of Kansas, Nebraska, even into Missouri that are also looking at some of those heavier showers. Right now the thunderstorms, however, are focused solely over the state of Texas. That line is going to continue to slide off to the east as we head throughout the morning hours and even into the afternoon.

But the heating of the day later on today is actually going to help fuel some thunderstorms and possibly even some severe thunderstorms. So you do have the potential for damaging winds and even a few tornadoes, especially in this yellow shaded area here that includes Baton Rouge and even into Houston, the surrounding green area. While a lesser potential for that, it's not a zero threat for it. So we will still have that to focus on. Here's a look at that line as

it continues through the afternoon into the evening hours and eventually making it to New Orleans later on this evening.

BLACKWELL: And the nighttime hours worst. All right, Allison, thank you. Next, bipartisan outrage over accusations of spying against the Department of Justice. The agency is accused of tracking lawmakers' searches of the unredacted Epstein files.

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[06:28:38]

BLACKWELL: We are now six and a half hours into the second government shutdown of President Trump's second term. The first one lasted 43 days. Lawmakers left town on Thursday before deciding how to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Actually, they probably decided not to because they didn't get to a vote that agencies that handles ICE and CBP, but also FEMA and TSA and the Coast Guard. Democrats are demanding reforms to ICE before agreeing to funding the agency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I know what they want. I know what they can live with. The Democrats have gone crazy. They're radical left lunatics. That's why their cities are so unsafe. The blue cities are the cities that are unsafe. So we have to protect our law enforcement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Lawmakers are not expected to return to D.C. until February 23, although Republican leaders could call members back if there are signs of a potential deal.

Let's bring in now Erik Wasson. He's a congressional reporter for Bloomberg. Erik, good to see you this morning.

So tell me, where do things stand now? I mean, when they left on Thursday, they weren't close to resolving this. What's the status?

ERIK WASSON, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, BLOOMBERG: Yes. Well, first, I just want to say this is actually the third government shutdown. There was a brief one two weeks ago --

BLACKWELL: Right.

WASSON: -- and extended homeland security for a couple of weeks. And here we are. It's now expired.

[06:30:00]

We were hearing from Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, that Democrats will send a revised offer to the White House. They're really haggling over things like body cameras taking masks off of these agents, requiring judicial warrants to go into people's homes and search for undocumented immigrants. They are saying that this announcement by Tom Homan, the border czar,

that they're pulling out of Minneapolis, is not enough. They need things in legislation, and they're still going to push for that. I'm not expecting really anything over the next week.

The way these things work, when Congress will come back, they'll start talking again. And the -- really, you know, the Homeland Security officers really got paid last Friday yesterday, and they won't get -- need to pay check again for two weeks. So, that really creates a deadline there.

So, this thing could be shut down for quite a while, and, you know, even if the two weeks is reached, we expect CBP and ICE agents to continue to be paid out of that Trump tax bill. It's really your TSA agents, you know, your FEMA disaster workers who will miss a paycheck.

And then when do they start calling in sick? And we see lines at airports, that could finally force Congress to come to some kind of deal here.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND: Yes, let me ask you about this. This rare rebuke from House Speaker Mike Johnson this week after the Attorney General Pam Bondi testified before the House. She was photographed with pictures of her binder showing Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal's search history. Here's Johnson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): I think members should obviously have the right to peruse those at their own speed and with their own discretion. And I'm not -- I don't think it's appropriate for anybody to be tracking that. So, I will echo that to anybody involved with the DOJ, and I'm sure it was an oversight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Is that the end of this, or could there be some bipartisan support for some action?

WASSON: You know about action, but there is continuing outcry. I see, you know, complaints from everyone from Nancy Mace to Pramila Jayapal, not people who are usually on the same page, but they certainly are on the Epstein files. And the Epstein files continues to bedevil House Speaker Johnson and Republicans.

They want to talk about their tax cuts and other initiatives, you know, crime initiatives. But they keep getting asked about the Epstein files. And the way the administration has handled this, this is just another sort of self-own here, you know, tracking lawmakers, really limiting their ability to go and look at these files.

You know, there's millions and millions of pages, just really looks like a cover up. And you've got Republicans and Democrats saying, you know, you need to stop the way you're handling these Epstein file. BLACKWELL: And what has been the assessment on the Hill from even

some of the Republicans of the Attorney General's performance this week?

WASSON: You know, it certainly was very combative. I think you know, Republicans tend to stick with the administration, but you know, there's a sense privately that you know, there are things that really deteriorated. We're not seeing administration officials come up and respond to requests for hearings.

There's just a sense that, you know, even with the Homeland Security issues, it's going to be another month before we see, you know, Kristi Noem up on the Hill testifying. There's -- there is frustration that the way the administration is handling Congress in general on issues like oversight and, of course, spending, refusing to spend money that Congress has appropriated.

BLACKWELL: Erik Wasson of "Bloomberg", thank you. Later this morning on "FIRST OF ALL", I'll speak to a former TSA worker about the impact these government shutdowns have on the morale at the agency he went through a shutdown and then left the agency. That's at 8:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

All right, let's talk more about this and other topics with Democratic Congressman Jason Crow of Colorado, he joins us live from Munich. I want to start there. Let's start with where you are and why you're there. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, this morning, he spoke, struck a more conciliatory tone. Let's play a bit of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE, UNITED STATES: Under President Trump, the United States of America will once again take on the task of renewal and restoration, driven by a vision of a future as proud as sovereign and as vital as our civilization's past.

And while we are prepared if necessary to do this alone, it is our preference and it is our hope to do this together with you, our friends here in Europe. For the United States and Europe, we belong together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: We belong together. What's your reaction to what you heard there from the Secretary?

REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): Well, I welcome a more conciliatory tone, and I welcome the gesture of an out -- reached extended hand to Europe. The problem with all of this is that 120-minute speech doesn't negate a year of destruction of our alliances and our partnerships of weaponizing tariffs against our allies, threatening to invade not just sovereign nations, but our NATO treaty partners.

[06:35:00]

And the other rhetoric coming from Donald Trump in the White House that undermines everything that Secretary Rubio just said.

BLACKWELL: And so, we also heard from Secretary Rubio that he's not certain whether Putin wants a deal to end his war on Ukraine. President Trump seems to think that Putin does. We also heard from Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, that only the U.S. can pressure Russia toward peace. Do you -- do you believe that, that only the U.S. can achieve that?

CROW: Yes, I do agree with President Zelenskyy on that. It's very clear that only the United States has the power and the economic ability to pressure Putin to the -- to the table. I mean, I've dedicated most of my adult life to the national security of the United States and to protecting Americans.

I'm a three-time combat veteran way before I was in Congress, I served as an army ranger and paratrooper. And now, I sit on the Armed Services and the Intelligence Committees. And what I can tell you with total confidence is that Vladimir Putin, sitting here today thinking that he's winning, right.

He thinks he can just wait us out, he can grind this war out. And until this administration and the rest of Europe gets serious about imposing real costs on Russia, that's economic costs, that's sanctions, that's going after the ghost fleet that's exporting oil illegally, and that's seizing the Russian assets that's frozen in banks in Europe, in the United States.

Until those things happen, Vladimir Putin is going to continue to send hordes and hordes into Ukraine, and Ukraine is going to continue to fight for its survival.

BLACKWELL: There's a lot to get to. Let me move on now to Iran. The President has dispatched the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier group toward the Middle East to join the Abraham Lincoln group as well. Let's listen to the President on Friday about talks with Iran and what he's looking for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, it seems like that would be the best thing that could happen. Let's see what happens. In the meantime, we have -- meantime, we have -- tremendous power has arrived. And additional power, as you know, another carrier is going out shortly. So, we'll see how we could get it settled for once and for all, that would be good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: He also said that regime change could be the best thing that could happen. Do you believe that a strike, a U.S. strike on Iran now is more likely than not?

CROW: Well, I'm really concerned about a yet another strike by this administration. It seems like Donald Trump doesn't see a problem that he thinks that a bombing can't handle, right? This is one of the most interventionist presidents of my life-time, seven countries have been bombed in the first year of this administration.

You know, I went to war for this country. What I know is that Americans are pretty sick and tired of endless conflict and military adventurism that's costing us trillions of dollars and thousands of American lives, and they would like to see it end. At the same time, what I also know is that Iran is a terrorist regime, and the regime in Tehran has to come to an end.

But it's the people of Iran who have been actually standing up, protesting, mobilizing, pushing back, and yearning for their own freedom, right. They're the ones that are putting pressure on the regime and who will ultimately take control of their own future and sovereignty.

And what I also know is that every time the United States or someone else bombs Iran, there is a rally around the flag effect where the regime gets more power, and they suppress even more. And then the folks who are protesting against the regime actually coalesce around the regime.

So, listen, it would be a mistake for us right now to undermine the protests and the mobilization that's happening within Iran by bombing at this time.

BLACKWELL: Representative Jason Crow, thank you so much for being with us from Munich. Next, the staggering cost of the immigration surge. The Minneapolis mayor says it drained more than $200 million in just a month, and now he's asking for help.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:00]

BLACKWELL: The search for Nancy Guthrie intensified overnight. SWAT and forensic teams swarmed a location just two miles from her home. There were also seen at a second location, investigating a gray Range Rover in a restaurant parking lot.

You're looking at aerial videos of some of those investigative vehicles. It's unclear if the new location is related to the Guthrie investigation. Officials have still not identified Guthrie's location or the identity of her abductor. The mayor of Minneapolis is asking the state and federal government for help following Operation Metro Surge.

Mayor Jacob Frey says the operation cost the city more than $200 million. He said it upended daily life and led to millions in lost revenue for local businesses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wrote you every day for a year.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You wrote me?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't over. It still isn't over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Iconic scene from the notebook. The search for passionate love like that has been the muse of authors and artists for forever.

[06:45:00]

It's been said that it only happens once in a lifetime. But is that true? We may have an answer this Valentine's Day. A new study from the Kinsey Institute found that, on average, adults reported experiencing love like that twice in their lifetime. Joining me now is one of the researchers from that study, Melissa Blundell Osorio. Melissa, hello to you.

So, let's start here on this Valentine's Day. What qualifies as passionate love? We're talking about what I think we're talking about.

MELISSA BLUNDELL OSORIO, RESEARCHER, KINSEY INSTITUTE: Sure, so passionate love, typically when we think of passionate love, it's the -- what we feel at the beginning of a new relationship. It's the excitement, the novelty, the newness of the relationship. Like sort of the butterflies that we feel is typically what we think of when we're talking about passionate love.

BLACKWELL: OK, so, these are like the six-hour phone calls that you have, and you're all getting into that initial tingly stuff. Here's one of the things that I found interesting. Heterosexual men reported more passionate love experiences than did heterosexual women. What explains that?

OSORIO: Sure. So, men are romantic. Actually, in this study, as well as in a lot of other research we've done, men tend to report sort of greater frequency or greater desire for the typical romantic milestones that we usually associate with women desiring. So, even things like saying, I love you first and like wanting to get married, the levels are pretty similar.

But they do tend to report like slightly higher frequency of doing it or desiring it. So, it wasn't really surprising when we saw this that heterosexual men -- men in general, and then specifically, heterosexual men compared to heterosexual women, report experiences of passionate love a little bit more often.

And we see this starting sort of like in the teen years where sort of like teen boys report falling in love, earlier and a little bit faster than teen girls. So, it's in line with a lot of other research that we've done and that we've seen.

BLACKWELL: Are there differences based on sexual orientation?

OSORIO: There actually are not, except when it comes to heterosexual men and women. So, if we're looking at gay men and lesbian women, there really aren't differences in terms of frequency of reporting, passionate love experiences. The difference that we do see is just when it comes to heterosexual individuals, heterosexual men and women.

BLACKWELL: OK, so, are these passionate relationships happening earlier in life? And then you kind of are a bit reflective and say, man, in my teens and 20s, or my 20s and 30s, because I had them, and then when you get older, you don't see them. What do you see as the difference in age here?

OSORIO: In our study, we found that there was a small age effect so that as people got older, they reported a slightly higher passionate love experiences. And so, we definitely -- we tend to associate passionate love experiences with youth and sort of teen love and our early adulthood.

But as people get older, they still absolutely can experience passionate love experiences. It's possible that when we're younger and we don't have the very serious life responsibilities of taking care of children or major financial responsibilities, that it might be that passionate love is easier to ignite or easier to sustain.

But absolutely, as people get older, they still can and do feel passionate love. And part of the -- and we saw that in the study that as people get older, I mean, they're accumulating more life experiences.

BLACKWELL: Yes --

OSORIO: And so they report a slightly higher number of passionate love experiences.

BLACKWELL: Melissa Blundell Osorio, thank you. And listen, if you're home this Valentine's Day, and you had that one romantic, that passionate relationship and it didn't work out, on average, you got one more in you. So, stay out there. All right, thanks, Melissa. Next from the Winter games, America's so-called quad god proves to be mortal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ILIA MALININ, AMERICAN FIGURE SKATER: I blew it. That's honestly the first thing that came to my mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: American figure skater fell out of medal contention. We'll take you live to Italy with reaction.

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[06:50:00]

BLACKWELL: Disbelief in Milan this morning. Figure skating's quad god Ilia Malinin fell from gold medal favorite to a shocking eighth place finish despite a 5-point lead entering the final. Twenty one-year-old says he became overwhelmed by the pressure of the Olympics. CNN's Coy Wire joins us now from Cortina. Coy, what happened? COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Man, you could hear the echoes of

the what happened all the way up here in the mountains in Cortina, Victor. This might be the biggest shock of these 2026 Winter games when all is said and done.

Team USA figure skating sensation Ilia Malinin, failing to even medal in the men's individual. He's 21 years old, hadn't lost a competition in more than two years. You almost never see him fall. He fell twice. Afterwards, Malinin said that he couldn't even process what had just happened.

Now it was 21-year-old Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan taking the gold. He finished second to Malinin at the world championships last year, but comes out of fifth place, heading into the free skate to claim gold. It's Kazakhstan's second Winter gold ever.

[06:55:00]

Malinin still takes home team gold. Afterwards, he said, there's nothing like the Olympic stage. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALININ: I blew it. That's honestly the first thing that came to my mind was, there's no way that just happened. Like, I mean, I was preparing the whole season, you know, I felt so confident with my program itself, with everything and just go out, that happened was -- I have no words honestly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: And women's hockey team USA in the quarterfinals, Megan Keller starting the party with a one-timer Kendall Coyne Schofield, proud mama out there doing her thing, scoring two goals, Victor, in this game, the American women continue their dominance, knocking out host nation Italy, 6-0.

They've now outscored opponents 26 to 1 through five games so far. They skate into the semifinals on Monday. Sportsmanship taking center stage here at these Winter games, deep snow causing trouble for a lot of cross-country skiers, including Saudi Arabia's Rakan Alireza, who damages a ski, loses a pole, but support staff rushed in from multiple countries.

Looks like a Formula One pit stop, the way they help get them back out there and finish the event. Olympic spirit on full display, Victor. The curling center is right behind me, and I had so much fun with you and Allison, I know you got to show you some love because you wore that heated vest.

Look, I got me one, too. Lots of love, Victor, love is in the air, happy Valentine's Day to you and all of our viewers and especially my Claire, Wrenn and Ruby, happy Valentine's Day, brother.

BLACKWELL: Same to you. Your heart it frozen, but still warm. Thank you, Coy. All right -- WIRE: You melt my --

BLACKWELL: Much more ahead, next hour of CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND, a carjacking ends with a fiery crash in Florida. What we're learning from police and a woman, one year old, they were pulled from this wreckage. More of this video.

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