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FBI Analyzes DNA in Guthrie Case; Chip Brownlee is Interviewed about the Colin Gray Trial; ICE Agents on Leave; Homan Vows More Oversight; Democrats Call Voting Bill Jim Crow 2.0; Iran Nuclear Talks. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired February 16, 2026 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:34:28]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning, everyone, on this Monday, Presidents' Day. I'm Pamela Brown, in for Audie Cornish. Thank you so much for being here with us.

It is 6:34 here on the East Coast. And here's what's happening right now.

The Department of Justice is now turning over a list of politically exposed persons in the Epstein files. The six-page letter, obtained by CNN, includes the names of many prominent people in the files, regardless of context, and doesn't specify how they are connected to Epstein.

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REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): Donald Trump told us that even though, you know, he had dinner with these kinds of people in New York City and West Palm Beach, that he would be transparent.

[06:35:07]

But he's not. He's still in with the Epstein class. This is the Epstein administration.

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BROWN: Congressman Ro Khanna says the administration released a list with more than 300 names to, quote, "intentionally muddy the waters."

Well, President Donald Trump says the Board of Peace will announce a $5 billion pledge for humanitarian aid and reconstruction in Gaza. And he says the group has committed thousands of personnel for an international stabilization force in the area. The board's first meeting is set for later this week.

And the world's biggest street party returns to Rio. At least six million people are celebrating Brazil's annual carnival this year. It officially kicked off on Friday. Festivities, block parties and parades continue over the next few days.

The desperate search for Nancy Guthrie is entering a third week, and investigators still have no motive or clear suspects. This weekend her family put out a new video speaking directly to her abductors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, NANCY GUTHRIE'S DAUGHTER: We still have hope and we still believe. And I wanted to say to whoever has her or knows where she is that it's never too late. And you're not lost or alone. And it is never too late to do the right thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Our Leigh Waldman joins us now from Tucson, Arizona.

What's the latest there on the ground, Leigh?

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pam, I think you can see the desperation on Savannah Guthrie's face there, hear it in her voice as she's essentially pleading with her mother's abductors to give any kind of signal of life because, as far as we know, we haven't gotten any kind of proof of life since she was abducted 16 days ago from her home. She's desperate for any information. It's kind of coming at a fever pitch moment as this search enters its third week now.

Over the weekend we got some positive news from the FBI, who confirms that there is DNA on a glove that was found not far from her home about two miles from her home. So, they're currently testing that DNA to see if there's any kind of match in CODIS, the criminal database that has DNA, or any kind of familial DNA in those DNA mapping services used by the general public.

That also comes as we're learning there's been DNA found on the property, but the issue here is they don't know exactly who it belongs to. Just a big question mark.

All we know about this potential suspect is from that initial profile from the FBI, that it's a man with a medium build between 5'9" and 5'10". And they're continuing to ask all of Nancy Guthrie's neighbors here, send us your surveillance camera video between January 1st and February 2nd so we can see if there's any kind of suspicious person or suspicious vehicle in this area. They believe this was a targeted kidnaping, not just some random occurrence. That's why they're sending out that desperate plea to the neighbors.

There's been more than 30,000 tips sent in over the past 16 days that they're currently sifting through, but neighbors in this community says that -- say that this has changed their neighborhood completely.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA HANDLER, GUTHRIE NEIGHBOR: The Catalina Foothills, we have increased communication. Neighbors are texting and emailing, updating each other quickly. If we're seeing anything unusual occur, there's been more neighborhood watch efforts, more people actively observing, reporting suspicious activity if we see such a thing. Strengthening our home security systems has been a big, big plus in this neighborhood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALDMAN: And, Pam, it's important to center all of this back on Nancy Guthrie. She's 84. We know she's in fragile health from her daughter Savannah. She has a pacemaker and she relies on daily medication that, at this point, we don't believe she's had access to since this apparent abduction.

BROWN: All right, Leigh Waldman, thank you for bringing us the latest there.

Well, hours from now, opening statements begin in the trial of Colin Gray. He is the father of the Apalachee High School shooting suspect who is accused of killing two students and two teachers and injuring nine others. Prosecutors will argue that Gray allowed his son access to a firearm and ammunition after he was warned his son would harm and endanger others. Sources tell CNN, Gray brought an AR-15-style rifle for his son as -- bought, I should say, as a Christmas present in December of 2023. Nine months later, that same firearm was allegedly used in this mass shooting that killed those students and teachers.

Now, the trial is not unprecedented. James and Jennifer Crumbley were each convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison after their teen son killed four students at a Michigan high school back in 2021.

[06:40:06]

You may remember that. And that was believed to be the first time parents were held criminally responsible for a mass shooting committed by their child.

Joining us to talk about this is Chip Brownlee. He's a reporter for "The Trace" and author of "The Trajectory Newsletter."

Nice to see you.

So, we expect to hear emotional testimony. Could the jury's sympathy for the victims who will testify and the desire to blame someone make it a difficult case for the defense here?

CHIP BROWNLEE, REPORTER, "THE TRACE" AND AUTHOR, "THE TRAJECTORY NEWSLETTER": Absolutely. I think it's going to be a difficult case for the defense, you know, to show that the father wasn't negligent in this case. As you -- as you brought up earlier, he was made aware. Detectives came and interviewed him and his son about previous shooting threats that were alleged against him. And the father knew about that. And despite that still bought him a gun for his Christmas present and basically gave him unfettered access to it.

And I think the prosecutors are going to bring that up. They're going to bring up the injuries and the deaths. And they're going to make this probably a difficult case for the defense

BROWN: Yes, I mean, they will almost certainly bring up the fact that he bought his son a gun after that when he was questioned by authorities for those threats that he had posted online.

BROWNLEE: Yes.

BROWN: During the sentencing for the Crumbley's in 2024, the mom highlighted the fact that they weren't, quote, "bad parents."

Let's take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER CRUMBLEY, CONVICTED OF INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER: We were good parents. We were the average family. We weren't perfect, but we loved our son and each other tremendously. Everything we strive for was to make sure our son had the best life we could give him, to grow up with traditions and experiences we had, to be the best person he could be. I know we did our best

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Previous testimony stated that Colin knew his son was obsessed with school shooters. What legal standards do courts use to determine when a parent's negligence crosses that threshold into criminal liability?

BROWNLEE: They're going to have to show that he knew that this was a threat, a possibility of it happening. Like you mentioned, there were the previous -- the father knew that his son had been obsessed basically with some previous school shooters, the Parkland school shooter. He's accused of having a shrine to that shooter in his bedroom.

I think aside from that also going to the point of the father, you know, I think he's going to make a case that he was a single father doing his best. But there were previously allegations of abuse in the family. There was basically a year of truancy that led up to the shooting. I think he's going to have a difficult time showing that he was, you know, just a single father doing his best in this case with all of these other things going on. And I think that that May 2023 interview between the police and Colin Gray and Colt Gray, about those prior Discord threats that were brought up. I think that's probably going to be the biggest thing.

And also the son's mental health is going to be an aspect of this. The grandmother knew about it and had been trying to get him into counseling and to therapy, and the parents didn't do much to, you know, try to get that moving forward.

BROWN: All right, Chip Brownlee, thank you so much.

Well, two ICE officers on leave, potentially facing criminal charges. They are accused of lying under oath. And it all stems from the shooting of a Minneapolis man last month. Now, agents initially said they shot the man in self-defense, charging the man with assault. And video evidence later contradicted those claims and charges were dropped. Now, the officers themselves are under investigation and they are on leave.

Let's take this to the group chat.

I mean, this is a big deal.

MARIO PARKER, MANAGING EDITOR OF ECONOMY/GOVERNMENT, "BLOOMBERG NEWS": No, this is a huge deal because it continues to undermine the trust that ICE has had or the voters or citizens have in ICE, or the validity of the comments that they first hear. We've seen this now become a recurring theme with Alex Pretti as well after the initial reports from the federal law enforcement as to what happened there. The outcry, obviously, when it was disclosed that the facts didn't quite measure up with what people saw on videos.

BROWN: Yes. I mean there's a real credibility issue here with DHS because this is not the first time that evidence released does not match up with the narrative that was initially put out. There are at least a few examples of this, Zach.

ZACHARY WOLF, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER: Right. That's been the theme where the video that everyone has seen has contradicted the story that's out (ph). But I think the pattern is that the administration, the, you know, DHS, has come out and very quickly tried to, you know, create a narrative around each one of these shootings. And this is the first time where they've kind of dialed back on it. And is that because this particular instance is so egregious, or is it a shift in what they're doing in a larger way?

[06:45:01]

But, you know, I think that the, you know, the model has been set from the top on down.

BROWN: White House Border Czar Tom Homan addressed those concerns about these ICE agents and accountability this weekend.

Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, BORDER CZAR: I've seen videos and there's been pieces of the videos and pieces of that videos. In any instance where there has been allegations of misconduct or working outside the policy has been referred to internal affairs. My first press conference in Minnesota, I said I was bringing in more internal affairs officers to review the allegations. And those allegations are now being investigated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Is this move too little, too late, Seung Min? And do you think that what Tom Homan has done there on the ground in pulling out so many of the agents has shifted the narrative in Minneapolis? SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it certainly has,

because it does show a broader -- I mean even if they don't -- even if they don't say it themselves does show an acknowledgment by the administration that they may have been too aggressive in Minneapolis. And I think you saw that when the president spoke to NBC earlier this month that he kind of realizes they need to take a, quote, "softer touch" to what's going on, on the ground in Minneapolis. And I think when you sent Tom Homan there last month, that was seen as a pretty welcoming sign by a lot of Republicans who were concerned by these immigration actions, that he was kind of this voice of reason compared to the Border Patrol leader who had been there on the ground.

But certainly, these latest cases show that, again, we, as journalists, we, as the public, can't always take this narrative, whatever the first narrative is, as gospel. And I think that's why -- and you're getting that realization from DHS when you saw Secretary Kristi Noem say earlier this month that she has deployed -- she had deployed body cameras on every agent in Minneapolis. And if funding -- if the funding is there, that they would expand it nationwide. Now what is the funding? It comes from Congress. We're still in a deadlock. It always comes back to this fight in Washington and whether they can agree on these policy changes that were so -- we seem to be so far apart on.

BROWN: All right, we've got to leave it there. Thanks so much.

And up next on CNN THIS MORNING, the Trump administration says it prefers diplomacy when dealing with Iran but they're making a backup plan and beefing up the military presence in the region.

Plus.

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KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We have the right people voting, electing the right leaders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Is Kristi Noem saying the quiet part out loud there? How the president's SAVE Act could create new obstacles for millions of voters.

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[06:51:50]

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's the save America act and the Democrats are against it.

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BROWN: The Republican voting bill, called the SAVE Act, is heading to the Senate, where it's facing an uncertain future. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL HAGERTY (R-TN): I think the American public is with us on this one. We're looking at the talking filibuster. It's something that has not been used in a long, long time. It's a complicated process, but I think we're going to look at every way we possibly can to get this to the floor, to defeat the Democrat's obstructionism and do something that makes common sense for America.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): What they are proposing in this so-called SAVE Act is like Jim Crow 2.0. They make it so hard to get any kind of voter I.D. that more than 20 million legitimate people, mainly poor people and people of color, will not be able to vote under this law. We will not let it pass in the Senate.

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BROWN: And President Trump is already threatening to issue an executive order if it stalls, saying on social media, quote, "there will be voter I.D. for the midterm elections, whether approved by Congress or not."

All right, the group chat is back.

And just to be clear, because I think it could be confusing for people to kind of follow all of this, the polls show that actually a majority of Americans support some sort of voter I.D. to show that, yes, your name matches the voter rolls. This goes further, though, as you well know, Seung Min. This goes further in that it makes you prove your citizenship. And Democrats are worried that this could mean that millions of Americans may not be able to vote because perhaps, if you're a woman, you got married and your name doesn't match, you know, it could create issues.

KIM: Right.

BROWN: What is the likelihood this will pass through the Senate?

KIM: Very, very low. I mean we all know that most policy proposals in the Senate require 60 votes. Republicans do not control 60 votes in the Senate. And this issue of the filibuster, that rule in the Senate that requires most -- you know, that requires -- that requires most legislation to have 60 votes to advance has been a real point of contention for -- between President Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune and some of these other old guard institutional Republicans who don't want to change the rules of the Senate. And Leader Thune has had to indicate over and over that there are not the votes, there are not the sentiment among Republicans to change that policy. They have -- they know that, you know, if and when Democrats take power in the White House or the Senate, you know, years from now, or maybe even later this year, that they could -- if the rules are changed and they could pass a lot of policies a lot more easily that Republicans oppose.

But that argument hasn't, you know, hasn't really gotten through to Donald Trump because he still is very angry about the filibuster. But now he's threatening executive order. I would say that that would almost certainly be challenged in court, if and when that is released. So, this is a fight because Donald Trump is so fixated on the midterm elections and what that means for the last two years of his presidency. This is an issue that's not going away.

BROWN: Yes. And he continues to repeat the falsehood that the 2020 election was stolen. He has really been fixated on that. He has been making comments about, you know, we need to nationalize elections in 15 states.

When it comes to this legislation in particular, Zach, you heard there, Senator Schumer, say that this is Jim Crow 2.0.

[06:55:06]

But some in his own party, they don't agree with that message. They say it's not a winning message.

Here's what Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat, said this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): I would never refer to the SAVE Act as like Jim Crow 2.0 or some kinds of mass kinds of conspiracy. But that's part of the debate that we are having here in the -- in the Senate right now. And I don't call people names or imply that it's some kinds of things, as something gross about the terrible history of like Jim Crow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: What do you think?

WOLF: I think Fetterman is the most off message Democrat in the chamber right now, which doesn't -- you know, he is saying what he believes and, you know, representing exactly what he believes. But that's not what most Democrats believe. So, while he might be saying, I think most Democrats would get on board with what Schumer was saying, this is a solution to a problem that literally does not exist. There's still no evidence despite a decade of Donald Trump saying that there is widespread voting by people who aren't citizens. Every state has their own ability, you know, their own operation, except for one I think, to register voters. So, it's like -- it's a system that's been working.

BROWN: Yes.

WOLF: And so, creating a new layer for it, I mean, yes, it makes sense that you -- only citizens should be voting. But there -- all the evidence suggests that only citizens are voting. So --

BROWN: Well, I mean, the cases where that hasn't happened, it's like statistically insignificant. It is so few, right?

WOLF: Right. BROWN: And so --

WOLF: Exactly. I mean all the voting experts you talked to say this is essentially unnecessary. There are those out there that support, you know, this kind of thing, and every state has its own thing.

Is there going to be a national, you know, election law? It makes sense that, you know, maybe they could get together and do a bipartisan election law. But that's not what's happening here. This is way more partizan than that.

Democrats who want to get rid of the filibuster, on the other hand, maybe they should just take this and run with it because in a couple of years they could get a lot more done without the filibuster.

BROWN: Yes.

All right, well, we -- we'll leave it there and turn to this.

U.S. forces are bracing for what could be a long military operation against Iran if both sides fail to reach a diplomatic agreement on Tehran's nuclear program in Switzerland tomorrow. In the latest show of force, President Trump says he is sending a second U.S. aircraft carrier to the region. The USS Gerald R. Ford is the world's largest warship. And the stakes could not be higher as negotiators prepare to engage on Tuesday in Geneva.

All right, the group chat is back.

That wasn't long, was it?

What do you think about the tactics here? You know, while these negotiations are taking place, the president is sending the second aircraft carrier.

PARKER: Yes. Well, I mean it's tough negotiating, right? You get -- you're essentially -- if you imagine people at the table, you're like, we've got this army or these guns outside, by the way, right? So, it's a -- it's a subtle reminder there.

Iran, by all accounts, has signaled that it doesn't want to negotiate under such conditions at this point, which is in some ways you can kind of get their leverage there. We know that Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner will be in Geneva. We know that the president right now has faced, at least politically, some concerns that he's been too consumed with geopolitics, particularly as Americans deal with affordability and the midterms loom as well. And then he's -- he's, in some ways, tried to push back at Benjamin Netanyahu last week, for example, where Benjamin Netanyahu encouraged him to take a tougher tact. We saw the president having a more optimistic kind of outlook towards some of the talks. And again, I think that lends itself more to vis-a-vis what we saw earlier with Venezuela and Maduro, that he's a little reticent to take military action, even as he sends these armadas, as he calls them, to the Middle East.

BROWN: Right. OK. So, now let's start -- it's time for the fun part, I think. What's in

your group chat?

WOLF: That's a hard turn.

BROWN: I know. From Iran to what's in your group chat. But that's how we roll on this show, right?

All right, so this is something that is making the rounds. Former President Obama is having to clear up if he believes aliens are real after this comment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are aliens real?

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: They're real, but I haven't seen them and they're not being kept in, what is it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Area 51.

OBAMA: Area 51.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, then after that, he posted on social media saying he believes the odds are good that aliens are real, but chances are low they would visit earth. And he added, "I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!"

What does that tell you, that he had to, like, come back and clarify?

WOLF: I don't know. The Obama thing that I noticed was him courtside at the NBA basketball game yesterday.

BROWN: I did see that.

WOLF: And he's kind of getting out there. Maybe he's -- this is something intentional.

BROWN: A little loose there.

[07:00:00]

PARKER: Yes, that's what I was going to say as well. I saw Devin Booker make sure that Nikola Jokic didn't fall into the former president.

WOLF: Protect the president.

BROWN: And for what it's worth, I agree. I mean the odds are pretty good.

KIM: I mean it's a vast universe.

BROWN: Yes. KIM: But I think it was that last line of that tweet that people were looking for. Like, what did you know and what did you see during your presidency?

BROWN: Yes. Right.

KIM: So, I do feel -- I do understand why he had to go in and clarify that.

BROWN: So many conspiracies. Yes, so many conspiracy theories out there.

All right, thanks to our group chat. Thank you for waking up with us. I'm Pamela Brown. The headlines are next.