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Ghislaine Maxwell to Speak to House Committee from Prison; Epstein Survivors Demand Withheld Files in Super Bowl Ad; Massie Calls for Commerce Secretary to Resign Over Epstein Ties; UK PM to Address Labour Party Amid Epstein Fallout; Seattle's Defense Dominated Pats in Super Bowl LX Win. Aired 9-9:45a ET

Aired February 09, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: It's a big week for the U.S. Congress in the search for answers on the Epstein scandal. It's 09:00

a.m. in Washington and 02:00 p.m. here in London. I'm Christina Macfarlane. Welcome. This is "Connect the World".

Also coming up, the search for Nancy Guthrie intensifies ahead of today's deadline to hand over millions of dollars in ransom to her abductors. And

Seattle's dominating defense the half time show and the ads. The moments people are still talking about after the Seahawks Super Bowl win over the

Patriots.

And stock markets in New York safe things in about 30 minutes from now. It looks like a slightly lower picture, as jitters are creeping back in over

the outlook for tech stocks. We'll bring you that in a little while. Now, U.S. lawmakers will get a chance to grill Jeffrey Epstein's associate

Ghislaine Maxwell today, but they may not get many answers.

The convicted sex trafficker is scheduled to appear before the House Oversight Committee from prison about an hour from now. However, she is

expected to assert her Fifth Amendment Rights and refuse to answer questions to avoid incriminating herself. Also today, members of Congress

will be allowed to look at some unredacted versions of the Epstein files.

But the Justice Department is still holding back millions of pages of information, it says to protect the survivors of Epstein's abuse who want

to stay anonymous. Some Democrats are calling it a cover up, saying it could be protecting other offenders. A vocal group of Epstein survivors is

also demanding that everything held by the DOJ be released and they made their appeal in this Super Bowl ad last night. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Being kept apart, we're standing together.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Standing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Standing together.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because this girl deserves the truth.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because she deserves the truth.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because we all deserve the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: The House Republican Thomas Massie is calling for the resignation of Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick for his links to Jeffrey

Epstein. Lutnick previously said he'd cut off communications with the late sex offender after 2005, but documents reveal he tried to contact Epstein

several times after.

Commerce Department spokesman told CNN last month, he, quote, had limited interactions with Mr. Epstein in the presence of his wife, and has never

been accused of wrong doing. Here's what Massie told CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): No, he should just resign. I mean, there are three people in Great Britain that have resigned in politics. Howard

Lutnick clearly went to the island, if we believe what's in these files. He was in business with Jeffrey Epstein. And this was many years after Jeffrey

Epstein was convicted, you know, lightly sentenced, but was convicted for sexual crimes.

So, he's got a lot to answer for, but really, he should make life easier on the president, frankly and just resign. If this were Great Britain, he'd

already be gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: As Massie alluded to there. The fallout from the latest release of the Epstein files is dominating headlines here in the UK, with the

Prince and Princess of Wales now speaking out about the scandal for the first time. The royal couple say they are deeply concerned about the recent

revelations.

According to a Kensington Palace spokesperson, that official went on to say Prince William and Princess Catherine, quote, remain focused on the

victims. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Keir Starmer will soon address his Labour Party. He's facing heavy criticism over the decision to appoint

Peter Mandelson as UK Ambassador to Washington, despite his links to Epstein.

Well, Salma Abdelaziz has been following all of this for us. And so, Salma for the Royal Family, first, of course, for the Prince and Princess of

Wales, this scandal hits incredibly close to home. Andrew Mountbatten- Windsor is Prince William's uncle. Why do we think the royal couple are speaking out about this now?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is extraordinary that they're speaking out. Absolutely extraordinary. It's very rare to hear from them so

directly on something like this, and it is the first time they've spoken out on this. And it is hard to imagine after that latest batch, that latest

release, where you had those images of the man, now formerly known as Prince Andrew on all fours over the body of what looks like a woman or a

girl.

Now there's no clear wrongdoing in the image, and he has denied any wrongdoing himself, but it is absolutely an image that sends shivers down

your spine, and that I think not a single dinner table in this country did not have a chat about over the course of the last week.

[09:05:00]

So, this, the royal couple is essentially saying, we hear you. We're worried too.

MACFARLANE: Yeah. And meanwhile, on the political front, it does feel today, especially if you look at the front papers, that the walls are

closing in around Keir Starmer. What do we expect to hear from him today? Because this scandal genuinely is threatening to bring him down now.

ABDELAZIZ: He has for months tried to contain this, right? The first leak last year where Lord Mandelson was mentioned and his relationship was

mentioned with Jeffrey Epstein. That's when the government took the steps to push him out as ambassador, of course, to the United States.

Now this latest batch not only shows the closeness of that relationship between Lord Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein, but it also shows that he may

allegedly have taken tens of thousands of dollars' worth of payments from this -- from Mr. Epstein, and he may also have even forwarded government

secrets to the financier.

So, this is extremely worrying revelations. Lord Mandelson has denied any wrongdoing, but Prime Minister Keir Starmer is under pressure. Why did he

hire this man? Despite, at the time his links to Mr. Epstein being clear, what has he done? What has Mr. Keir Starmer done since this late dispatch?

Well, he has apologized to the public and he has apologized to victims. He said that he may potentially take the actions necessary to strip Lord

Mandelson of his title as Lord. He now has his chief of staff, his closest aide, resign. His Director of Communications has resigned.

Is this enough to quiet the storm? We'll find out in a few hours when he meets with his party.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, and I think there has been criticism that, you know, we are feeling this fallout in the political spectrum here in the UK, but

there are still not being many concrete steps taken towards holding these individuals to account. We know that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in

particular has resisted all attempts to speak to the FBI appear in front of Congress.

Do we know what else is happening, perhaps just in the UK alone, at the moment, in terms of investigations being handled by UK authorities?

ABDELAZIZ: Well, what we do know is that Prime Minister Keir Starmer, after this latest batch, did take the steps to have an investigation launched

into Lord Mandelson's dealings, and that that investigation is ongoing. Two of his properties were actually searched over the weekend.

So that investigation may take much longer to reveal, and it's also made it more difficult for the government to be transparent with the public, why?

There were calls for government documents to be released that would include or reveal the extent of that relationship again.

However, the Met Police say, well, releasing those documents may compromise the investigation, so that's why you have this conflict of interest when it

comes to the investigation. Now, when you're speaking about the royal family, of course, those cries for Mr. Mountbatten to testify continue to

grow louder, but he's being more and more disconnected with the royal family by the day. Who represents him now, if not the royal family.

MACFARLANE: Yeah. Good question. All right, Salma, thank you for now. Let's turn to Annie Grayer, who is on Capitol Hill for us this hour. Ghislaine

Maxwell is due to appear. And Annie, we know it's very likely that Maxwell will plead the fifth today in a congressional deposition. So, can we expect

to learn anything new?

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, it is Maxwell's right to plead the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination, but that means she's likely not

to answer any lawmaker questions, and we're expecting this deposition as a result, to wrap up pretty quickly.

Lawmakers will be on Capitol Hill appearing for this deposition, but Maxwell will be appearing from prison, where she's currently serving a 20-

year sentence. She, over the summer, was moved to a lower security prison after speaking with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and the

accusations that Maxwell started receiving special treatment by the Trump Administration, started to fly.

In fact, there were some whistle blowers who came out to Democrats on the Judiciary Committee and raised concerns about Maxwell's treatment in this

lower security prison. And Maxwell was Jeffrey Epstein's girlfriend, who was convicted of the sex trafficking crimes.

And she has since then been trying to appeal her sentence, but lawmakers have a lot of questions for her. It is unlikely they're going to get the

answers here, but it's part of their broader investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. And members are going to continue to push here.

Just starting today, lawmakers are going to be able to go to the Department of Justice and actually view unredacted versions of the Epstein files that

the Department of Justice has released so far, those 3 -- over 3 million documents, and members are going to get a chance to actually look at those

unredacted materials.

They can't bring their phones in there, they can't bring staff in there with them, but they'll be able to look at it with their own eyes. And the

Oversight Committee who has been leading this investigation on the Hill is continuing to expand its probe as more information about the Jeffrey

Epstein files come out and the web of individuals who were involved.

[09:10:00]

For example, Les Wexner, who was the CEO overseeing Victoria's Secret, for example, has a deposition with Jeffrey up with the Oversight Committee

later this month, and of course, the Oversight Committee is still expected to have depositions with Bill and Hillary Clinton at the end of this month.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, still a lot to come. We'll, of course check back in with you next hour. Annie, appreciate it. Thank you. Now the Seattle Seahawks

are the Super Bowl champions. I'm sure you didn't miss that. The team got revenge on New England 11 years after the Patriots won the Super Bowl and a

last-minute interception with the Seahawks just a yard away from taking the lead.

This time, Seattle came out on top, 29 to 13 in a game dominated by the Seahawks outstanding defense. Well Seattle running back Kenneth Walker, the

third was named Super Bowl MVP. This marks the second Super Bowl win for the Seahawks. And CNN's Andy Scholes was there for all the action and joins

us live.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah.

MACFARLANE: Andy, still standing, I see the Seahawks then getting their revenge.

SCHOLES: Yeah, they did, Christina, barely, barely still standing right now. We're working on very little sleep after Super Bowl 60, but who's

complaining? Why we got to see just incredible performance from that Seahawks defense.

They were the story of Super Bowl 60, but the story of this NFL season was quarterback Sam Darnold. He completed arguably the greatest comeback in NFL

history, going from what people considered a bust, a player that was never going to be good, to leading a team to a Super Bowl title.

We've just really never seen that kind of story in the league before, but the Seahawks defense the reason they beat the Patriots in Super Bowl 60.

They just dominated this when they pitched a shutout through three quarters, they sacked Dray may six times, and for a while, Seahawks kicker

Jason Myers was the only person putting up points.

He made a Super Bowl record five field goals. It was a huge play. To the end of the third quarter, Derick Hall, sacking Maye, forcing the fumble the

Seahawks recover, and then we would finally get a touchdown in Super Bowl 60 came in the fourth quarter, Darnold to AJ Barner for the score that made

it 19 to nothing, Maye as well been 100 and nothing at that point, the way the Seahawks defense was playing.

Uchenna Nwosu then putting an exclamation point on this one late in the fourth returning the interception for a 44-yard touchdown. Seattle would

end up winning 29 to 13. Score wasn't really even that close. Running back, Kenneth Walker, great game, 135 yards rushing. He was the game's MVP.

And myself, along with Elex Michaelson, we were live on the field directly after the game, during all of the celebration, and we got to talk to a lot

of the Seahawks players as they were enjoying their Super Bowl Championship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: One touchdown reception in the game. You got it right here in the corner of this end zone. How did that feel?

AJ BARNER, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS TIGHT END: When you prepare and your opportunity comes, I think you just make the play. And that's what I did.

JARRAN REED, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS DEFENSIVE TACKLE: It's been a long road for me, man, you know, going from Hargrave Military Academy to East

Mississippi, Alabama, and 10 years in the league. Man, look, and we dreamed about, man, look. My family right here. My mom, my brother here --

SCHOLES: -- how proud of your dad? How proud?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very proud.

SCHOLES: Yeah.

CONNOR OTOOLE, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS LINEBACKER: Lots of victory cigar.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, do you want --

OTOOLE: Victory cigar.

SCHOLES: I don't know if you're allowed to smoke on the field, but you are if you win the Super Bowl.

MICHAELSON: How it feels?

OTOOLE: -- it's great. No better feeling than that.

SCHOLES: We've got some scenes for what's going on right now in Seattle. How big you think the party is going to be there?

GEORGE HOLANI, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS RUNNING BACK: Oh, yeah. Shout out to 12. You know, we bring in Lombardi back. It's going to be exciting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yeah. Christina, the party now is going to shift to Seattle, where they will have a victory parade at some point in the coming week. But get

this, Seahawks, they're actually for sale. They're expected to net somewhere between 8 to $11 billion which would be a record for a team. So

not very often, Christina, that the Super Bowl champ is for sale.

MACFARLANE: Yeah. What great timing, hey. And I have to ask you, Andy, because I know you were there for the half time show as well, and I know

you don't speak Spanish, but are you? Have you picked up a few words after that show last night? Because it was quite something, wasn't it?

SCHOLES: It was, you know, I didn't understand much that was said, but I tell you what I was vibing to it. It was great. You know, I felt like,

visually, it was awesome. The storytelling was cool. How there was a wedding in the middle of the halftime performance, and then Lady Gaga

showed up and wowed with her voice, as she always does.

So, while I couldn't really understand any of the songs. I thought was pretty good.

MACFARLANE: I mean, you didn't need to understand to pop along, did you? It was just phenomenal. Andy, what a moment to be there. Thank you so much for

the round up. And we are following a race against time in Tucson, Arizona in the search for Nancy Guthrie, the mother of NBC TV Host Savannah

Guthrie.

Ransom notes reportedly threaten Nancy's life unless $6 million in Bitcoin is paid by 05:00 p.m. local time today.

[09:15:00]

Her family say they are ready to pay even though authorities haven't been able to authenticate the ransom notes or name a suspect, yet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, NBC TV HOST: We received your message, and we understand. We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with

her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well CNN's Ivan Rodriguez is following this story for us. Ivan, this just continues to be so heartbreakingly sad. What more can you tell us

about the investigation at this point, following that video?

IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christina, in that video, you can see the exhaustion in the faces of Savannah and her siblings, the pain that

they're feeling, the stress that they must be under today, as that 05:00 p.m. ransom deadline looms. We're right outside of Nancy Guthrie's home.

People are continuing to bring and place flowers in front of a sign that's been here now for several days, that reads, dear Guthrie family, your

neighbors stand with you. On the other entrance of the driveway of Guthrie's home, there's a sheriff deputy, and he's been stationed here now

for several hours.

He was here before we arrived earlier this morning, and that's at the request of the Guthrie family. So, they'll continue to guard the home here

now for really the next several days now, as long as the family sees fit. Now, yesterday, we saw a little bit of the investigation unfold here on

property.

We saw investigators near a septic tank near the home, and it looks like they were using a large pole, from what video we were able to see, and they

were using that pole to go inside of the tank, also using a flashlight to get a better look deep inside of the tank.

We don't know any details exactly, Christina, of what they were looking for, but the sheriff's department did say that they're going back to

several scenes, and they're going back to investigate in several scenes, and that's certainly something that we've seen over the last several days,

because on Saturday night, they also went back to Annie Guthrie's home.

And Annie Guthrie is the eldest daughter of Nancy. Will remember that Nancy was there the night before she disappeared. They were there for several

hours. They left eventually with a bag that was placed in the back seat of a sheriff's vehicle. And at this point, we still don't have any suspects.

And in terms of Nancy Guthrie's health, which was a big topic of conversation last week, the Pima County Sheriff saying at that point,

quote, that she needs her daily medication. If not, it could be fatal for her to go without it. Now she has been potentially without that medication

for about a week.

And authorities, we know have been contacting pharmacies, also local hospitals, to see if anyone has potentially been looking for some of that

medication. So, in terms of what the rest of the day could hold, it's still unknown if there will be any sort of press conferences later today.

What's also interesting to see is if the family will release any new videos we know last week, with that first Thursday, at 05:00 p.m. deadline, we saw

a video that was released by Savannah's brother. So, will we see another video later today, Christina, will have to wait and see.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, this latest video was, of course, a very different tone. As you say, the situation becomes ever the more acute as time goes on.

Ivan, we appreciate it now. Thank you. OK, still to come, Japan's first ever female prime minister was gambling on her popularity when she called

for a snap election. Well, it paid off in a surprising way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

MACFARLANE: Hong Kong Media Tycoon Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in a landmark national security case. The sentence is the

culmination of a years' long legal saga for the 78-year-old billionaire. Kristie Lu Stout has more from outside the Hong Kong courthouse where Lai

was sentenced.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm standing outside the court where the former Hong Kong media mogul and longtime critic of China Jimmy Lai has

been sentenced to 20 years in prison. In December, he was found guilty of sedition and two counts of colluding with foreign forces.

Now collusion here in Hong Kong, under the Beijing imposed National Security Law is a very serious crime punishable by up to life in prison.

Jimmy Lai earlier pleaded not guilty to all the charges. In December, the three judges presiding over the case and convicted Jimmy Lai.

They called him a quote, mastermind of conspiracy. They pointed out his lobbying of U.S. politicians during President Donald Trump's first term, as

well as how he used his empire, namely his "Apple Daily" newspaper, to call for international sanctions against China and Hong Kong during the 2019

protests.

Now, this has been the most high-profile national security case since the law was imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong in 2020. It has been roundly

criticized by Western governments. The U.S. and other countries have called for the release of Jimmy Lai. In fact, U.S. President Donald Trump

reportedly pressed Chinese Leader Xi Jinping to free Jimmy Lai during their talks last year.

Now China has repeatedly warned against any interference, and Hong Kong has insisted that Jimmy Lai has received a fair trial. So, what happens next?

Well, an appeal could be a long, drawn-out process with a low success rate as for Jimmy Lai. He is 78 years old and has already spent more than five

years in prison. Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.

MACFARLANE: Japan's benchmark, Nikkei stock soar to a record high Monday after the prime minister's massive victory in a snap election this weekend.

Sanae Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party secured a two thirds majority in the lower house of parliament. That's the LDP's best ever result.

And it gives the ruling coalition the ability to override votes in the upper house of parliament. Hanako Montgomery has more from Tokyo.

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sanae Takaichi's huge political gamble, one where she literally put her job on the line has paid off. I

mean, to the extent that we could not really expect. I mean, most experts I've spoken to really said that it was likely that the Liberal Democratic

Party would secure a majority in Japan's lower house of parliament.

But the fact that the LDP was able to secure more than two thirds of seats is truly something unexpected and historic. And what that now means is

Takaichi will be able to pass through any bills, really, with little to no opposition. So, making her leadership and her really, I suppose, her job as

a politician much, much easier.

Now, Takaichi has a long list, a long laundry list of issues that she must tackle from the get go. First, of course, is the Japanese economy. We've

seen record high inflation, a sliding Japanese yen against the very powerful U.S. green back and, of course, just voters feeling very

frustrated with the fact that their wages aren't increasing.

So, she will have to tackle the Japanese economy to appease these voters, to appease the Japanese public and show that she's on the right track to

make Japan a much stronger economy. Now she must also deal with foreign policy. In her brief time as prime minister, less than four months, she has

shown that she's quite able and adept at really tackling different foreign policy issues and developing deeper ties with foreign nations.

For example, Italy's Prime Minister, South Korea's President, also the UK, Canada and including the U.S. President Donald Trump. In fact, when it

comes to Trump, take has shown that she has a very good personal relationship with him. In fact, last week on Truth Social, Trump went so

far as to endorsing her as the Prime Minister of Japan, encouraging the people of Japan to vote for her in this very local election.

Now Takaichi as early as Monday, so just a few hours ago, thanked Donald Trump for that endorsement and for his kind words.

[09:25:00]

Also adding that quote, the potential of our alliance is limitless. So really just emphasizing the strength of the U.S.-Japan alliance here, also

mentioning that her visit to the U.S. in March, her expected visit, will be one of greatness, and of course, will be an opportunity to develop that

alliance further.

So again, long list of issues Takaichi must tackle, but for now, a moment of victory for the Japanese Prime Minister.

MACFARLANE: And here's a live look at Capitol Hill today, where Friday's deadline to fund the Department of Homeland Security is fast approaching as

Democrats attempt to extract concessions from Republicans. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries says he's not willing to accept anything less than

their full list of demands. Here's what he had to say to CNN's Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): In our view, the ball is in the court right now of the Republicans, either they're going to agree to dramatically

reform the way in which I.C.E. and other immigration enforcement agencies are conducting themselves, so that they're behaving like every other law

enforcement agency in the country, or they're making the explicit decision to shut down the coast guard, shut down FEMA and shut down TSA, and that

will be very unfortunate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: House Speaker Mike Johnson has rejected two key democratic demands, banning agents from wearing face masks and requiring judicial

search warrants for immigration enforcement operations. OK, still to come, the opening bell on Wall Street, just a few minutes away.

Fresh off the DOW's 50,000 milestone. We'll look at what has investor's attention this week and whether the momentum will continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Welcome back. I'm Christina Macfarlane in London, and you are watching "Connect the World". These are your headlines this hour. In the

next hour, Jeffrey Epstein's imprisoned accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell is scheduled to testify to U.S. House members via video link.

The deposition is not public, and it is not expected to yield much new information. Lawmakers have expressed frustration at the heavy redaction of

the Epstein files by the Justice Department. In Arizona, the search for the missing mother of NBC Host Savannah Guthrie is intensifying ahead of a

purported ransom deadline.

Ransom notes reportedly threaten Nancy Guthrie's life unless $6 million in Bitcoin is paid by 05:00 p.m. local today. Her family say they are ready to

pay. Australian police have made arrests after clashing with protesters and a rally in Sydney. Thousands took part in the demonstrations against

Israeli President Isaac Herzog's role in the war in Gaza.

[09:30:00]

Herzog was invited to visit the country by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as a gesture of unity with Jewish Australians in the wake of the Bondi

Beach massacre. And ringing the opening bell, Actress Sydney Sweeney on behalf of clothing company American Eagle.

Let's have a quick look at how stocks are getting on at the open, as you can see, the DOW is down there. The rebound on Friday saw the DOW crossing

the 50,000 mark, and tech stocks recovered slightly, but the nervousness is clearly returning here. And we'll have a bit more analysis on that a little

later in the show.

But first we want to turn to the Olympics, because U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn is recovering after breaking her left leg at the Olympic Games in Italy on

Sunday. She is reportedly now in stable condition after undergoing two surgeries to treat the fracture. One was just 13 seconds out of the start

for the women's downhill when she hit a gate and fell.

She was then airlifted to hospital. I have a quick check of the gold medal count so far, and at the top of the pack is Norway, with three goals.

United States, right behind with two. Italy, Japan, Austria and Germany all have one gold medal each rounding out the top six. Italy leads with the

greatest number of medals overall.

Johan Eliasch, he's the President of the International Ski Federation. He's joining me now live from Bormio. Johan, thank you so much for being with

us. I really want to talk to you about Lindsey, because it was such a tragic moment yesterday to watch her crash 30 minutes out of the start

gate.

And I know that you are very close to her. Have you had a chance to be in touch with her at all since her fall? Is there anything you can tell us

about how she's doing?

JOHAN ELIASCH, PRESIDENT OF INTERNATIONAL SKI FEDERATION: Hi, Christina, yeah. No, it's very tragic. She had surgery yesterday, and I hope she will

recover very soon. It was very unfortunate. She was unlucky. It's sort of 1 in 1000 but it does happen.

She caught the gate, got stuck with the gate, and started rotating, and she was in the air. And there is no way to recover from such an impact unless

you do a 360. So really bad luck, I'm afraid. So, all I can say is she's been working so hard for the comeback.

MACFARLANE: Yeah.

ELIASCH: And won two records. So incredible. What she has achieved?

MACFARLANE: Yeah, I mean, the crash was hard enough to watch on TV. And there was such a long wait wasn't there for her to be airlifted to

hospital? I know, Johan, you were in the finish area. What was it like to see that play out? What was the energy among the crowd like there to watch

that?

ELIASCH: We were all in shock. I mean, the silence was deafening, literally speaking. And it was just horrible, because obviously her come back, that

race was going to be the highlight of the game. And what happened just took everybody by shock and yeah.

MACFARLANE: I mean, I know you've known Lindsey now for about 20 years. You know how brave she is, how fearless she is. She was in the midst of an

incredible season leading the women's downhill standings on track for a World Cup title. Do you think she will come back for this? Do you think she

will race again?

ELIASCH: I certainly hope so. I mean, she is so determined and so hard working. So, I wouldn't rule anything out. Obviously, with this injury, I'm

sure she will think very carefully about it, maybe not make a decision straight away, and I certainly hope that we'll see her competing very, very

soon.

MACFARLANE: Yeah. I mean, there's been a lot of, let's call it Monday morning quarterbacking going on here about whether Lindsey Vonn should have

competed in the first place. I mean, my personal opinion is it's her body, it's her decision. But some are questioning whether there perhaps should

have been a duty of care for FIS, the International Ski Federation, to intervene when there was an obvious risk of serious injury here with her

taking part.

What do you think about that? And whose job should it be to decide?

ELIASCH: That should definitely be the athletes' job to decide for themselves on the day.

[09:35:00]

And I mean, most of the athletes have injuries of some kind, and it's just ski racing. You live with it, you push through the pain and you compete.

And in this case, I don't think her, the injury that she sustained a week earlier had anything whatsoever to do with this. She was definitely fit to

race, and what happened was just very bad luck.

MACFARLANE: Yeah. How do you think this moment, Johan, will be remembered in Olympic history? And how do you think Lindsey Vonn will be remembered if

this season is to be her last?

ELIASCH: Well, she will always be remembered as one of the greats. I mean, let's not forget she's already Olympic Champion 2010. She's won the overall

World Cup, several world championships, and she's also won 84 World Cup races, which in itself has only been done better by the great Ingemar

Stenmark and of course, Mikaela Shiffrin.

So, I mean her claim to being one of the greatest is already secure. But more to the point what she's done for sport, for everybody out there that

aspire to be a successful athlete. She's proven that anything is possible, and she is such a hero story and very proud over that.

And that shouldn't take away from all the fantastic performances of all the other athletes I should say, were tremendous skiing and achievements that

we saw yesterday.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, well, it certainly doesn't, and I think that's well put. And we will let you, Johan, return now to the games, but we really

appreciate you giving us your thoughts on Lindsey Vonn, thank you.

ELIASCH: Thank you, Christina. Thank you.

MACFARLANE: And we'll be back after this quick break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Fresh off Friday's historic market milestone, U.S. President Donald Trump says Americans are now in for what he calls a Trump economy.

After months of blaming the Biden Administration for what he's described as an economic mess, the president says he's very proud of where the U.S.

economy stands under his leadership.

He was also quick to take credit for the DOW crossing the 50,000 marks, pointing to his tariffs in a social media post and making a bold prediction

that the blue-chip index would hit 100,000 by the end of his term. CNN's Senior Reporter Matt Egan is covering this from New York.

[09:40:00]

So, a bold claim there from the president, Matt, 100,000 by the time he leaves office. In what way do we get to that do you think? What's your

prediction?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Christina, yeah, look, the president does sound a bit like the stock picker in chief there, clearly taking a

victory lap after that major market milestone of DOW 50,000 for the first time ever on Friday. Normally, though, we don't really hear presidents make

specific market predictions within a specific time frame, right?

That normally market presidents don't want to hitch their ride to the ups and downs of Wall Street. But clearly, we've left the world of normal quite

a while ago. Now to get to DOW 100,000, I mean, this would really require an epic move, especially given how much the market has already rallied, you

look right there.

So, this would require about a 34 percent per year gain, some context, that's roughly triple the DOW's historical annualized return. Now it's not

unprecedented, though. It has happened in the past, especially when the market was starting at relatively low levels, right? So, for example, after

the 2008 financial crisis, the DOW did double in less than three years, and it happened after the COVID crash as well.

Of course, that's not really a great comparison for right now, because we're not starting at a low level, as you can see on that chart, the DOW

has already basically tripled over the last decade or so. The better comparison might be the mid to late 1990s when the DOW did double.

Of course, back then, that was driven by the internet boom, and in hindsight, those gains were unsustainable, because eventually that bubble

burst. Market Veteran R. Hogan, he told me, look, DOW, 65,000, 70,000 maybe that's doable within the president's term. But he said getting to 100,000

that sounds just overly optimistic.

And so, look, Christina, time will tell if the president proves right here, or if there's a reason that presidents don't make specific market

predictions like this.

MACFARLANE: Time will certainly tell, and we will stay quiet until that moment. Matt, appreciate it. Thank you. And we've got "World Sports" coming

up after this quick break. Stay with us.

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[09:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)

END