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Indonesian Muslims Kick Off Holy Month of Ramadan; Latest Round of Trilateral Peace Talks Ends in Geneva; Territorial Concessions Among Unresolved Issues After Talks; Witkoff and Kushner in Geneva for Talks on Ukraine War, Iran; U.S. Oil Squeeze Cripples Cuba's Already Devastated Economy. Aired 9-9:45a ET

Aired February 18, 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)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: You're looking at live pictures out of Indonesia, as the country with the world's largest Muslim

population begins the holy month of Ramadan with evening prayers. It is 09:00 p.m. there in Jakarta, it is 06:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi.

I'm Becky Anderson from our Middle East programming headquarters, this is "Connect the World". Coming up over the next two hours for you, President

Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, push ahead on multiple tracks of diplomacy with Ukraine talks just

wrapping up.

Meanwhile, the big question on Iran, how long will the diplomatic window remain open? As a U.S. armada edges closer, and Vice President J.D. Vance

says the Iranians have not acknowledged certain red lines. And no food, no fuel, no tourists. CNN's special report from Cuba as the country feels the

pressure from the U.S. Administration.

Well, the stock market in New York opens about 30 minutes from now. And arrows pointing higher on the futures market, if that is in any indication,

half hour ahead of the open, we can expect a moderate positive start to the trading day. More on that when the bell rings.

Well, there is progress. That is how Ukraine's Chief Negotiator describes the latest round of trilateral peace talks that ended a few hours ago in

Geneva. But will they lead to the end of Russia's grinding war on Ukraine? Will the official who led the Russian delegation says that the sides agreed

to meet again, when?

Well, that is still unclear. In a social media post earlier the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to drag out

negotiations while thanking the U.S. team, which includes Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law, for their attention

to detail during the talks.

He also criticized his U.S. counterpart in an interview with Axios, saying it was not fair for President Trump to pressure Ukraine to make concessions

without doing the same to Russia. We'll CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Geneva with a closer look now at these U.S. brokered talks. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tough trilateral talks to try and end the war between Russia and Ukraine have come to an end

here in Geneva, but it's unclear how much progress was actually achieved. Now, the way that these talks worked is that, at the beginning, there was

one big meeting with all the delegations the United States, the Russians and the Ukrainians, but they then later broke into smaller working groups.

Some dealing with political questions, others dealing with military technical questions. Now Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he came

out, he said the going was very tough, especially on the political level, but as far as military technical questions were concerned, apparently there

was some progress.

And a member of the Ukrainian delegation confirmed the same thing to us here as well. Now, at the end of the talks, both the leaders of the Russian

and the Ukrainian delegations came forward separately, and each spoke about how difficult the going has been.

VLADIMIR MEDINSKY, RUSSIAN PRESIDENTIAL AIDE: As you know, the negotiations lasted two days for a very long time yesterday in various formats, and also

about two hours today. They were difficult, but business like. The next meeting will take place soon. That's all we wanted to say. Thank you.

RUSTEM UMEROV, SECRETARY OF UKRAINIAN DEFENSE & SECURITY COUNCIL: There is progress, but no details can be disclosed at this stage. The next step is

to achieve the necessary level of consensus to submit the developed decisions for consideration by the presidents. Our task is to prepare a

practical, not merely formal, foundation for this.

Ukraine remains constructive. The ultimate objective is unchanged, a just and sustainable peace.

PLEITGEN: One of the toughest issues that the delegations are dealing with here and in general in these talks between the Russians and the Ukrainians

is the question of territorial concessions that the Ukrainians might have to make as part of any peace agreement.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came out and said that, quite frankly, the Ukrainians cannot be asked to give up the rest of the Donetsk

territory of Ukraine.

[09:05:00]

That's a territory that's mostly held by Russia now, but where the Ukrainians still hold key towns and where there's also some very important

Ukrainian defensive lines as well. Zelenskyy saying that he would never be forgiven, the U.S. would never be forgiven if Ukrainian soldiers had to

pull back from those territories as part of any peace agreement.

In general, the question of territories has been one that all sides acknowledge make it extremely difficult to make substantial progress.

Nevertheless, all sides say they want to continue the talks as soon as possible. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Geneva, Switzerland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well before those trilateral talks on Ukraine, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held in direct meetings with the Iranians in Geneva. Both

sides walked away, reporting some progress had been made, but the U.S. has undertaken a major military buildup in the region.

It's already sent in one massive aircraft carrier, and another is reportedly on its way. And the big question now is just how long the United

States will leave that diplomatic window open. Iran carrying out its own posturing as well. It closed off part of the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday to

conduct naval exercises with Russia.

And the supreme leader made this threat as talks were under way on Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER: They keep saying, we've sent an aircraft carrier towards Iran, very well. An aircraft carrier is

certainly a dangerous piece of equipment, but more dangerous than the carrier is the weapon that can send that carrier towards the bottom of the

sea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: I want to bring in Stephen Collinson, who wrote this about the two drivers of these tours, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. The two super

rich, well connected American deal makers are charged with ending one vicious war and preventing one that might be about to erupt.

Success in either case would be a huge achievement, but both goals seem intractable. And Stephen joining us now, we keep hearing these two names,

don't we, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. And you write that conflicts aren't just land disputes. Remember, these two are real estate developers,

but issues of identity and survival.

There are real people behind this, of course, thousands, dead. Can a deal maker mindset Stephen, really resolve wars and conflict like this?

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah, I think this pair of envoys for President Trump is interesting because they come from this -- at

this from the same position as the president does, that there's always a deal to be made. And I think history is also shown in the United States

that sometimes envoys outside the official channels of the State Department and elsewhere can make good progress.

The question here, though, is, I think that often when they talk about Ukraine or the Middle East, the Gaza situation, Witkoff and Kushner see

this almost as developers. It seems to me that although these are land disputes at their base, they see land as a commodity.

They seem to find it difficult to understand, for example, why Ukraine can't just cede 2050, kilometers worth of territory and move back and end

the war, because that would end the killing. That seems to them to be the logical position they don't understand, I think the spiritual, historic

sovereignty aspects of that land for Ukrainians.

In the same way, when they talk about their plans for the Middle East to create this almost Gulf state like cityscape in Gaza, they seem to find it

very difficult to understand why a Palestinian would not immediately want to move from a ruined refugee camp with terrible conditions.

So, you know, they are very transactional. They understand the language of business. Do they fully understand the ties of history and the connection

people have to that land? I think that's a much bigger question. And you know, a lot of successful peace negotiations, they aren't just deals.

They are intricate diplomatic dances whereby you often try to come to a solution that can satisfy both sides without a final deal on some of the

biggest most divisive questions. So, it's a lot more subtle than OK, let's sit at the table and we'll do a deal.

ANDERSON: You also wrote that President Trump may be, quote, inexorably dragged closer to a war with Iran. I quote you there, there is a massive

amount of within striking distance, pretty close to the country where I am to be honest. And Vice President J.D. Vance says this. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The United States has certain red lines. Our primary interest here is we don't Iran to

get a nuclear weapon. We don't want nuclear proliferation. If Iran gets a nuclear weapon, there are a lot of other regimes, some friendly, some not

so friendly, who would get nuclear weapons after them.

[09:10:00]

That would be a disaster for the American people, because then you have these crazy regimes all over the world with the most dangerous weapons in

the world, and that's one of the things the president has said he's going to prevent. The president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not

yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Stephen, when you note that Tehran is not acknowledging the administration's red lines. Does that signal that diplomatic options window

is shrinking at this point?

COLLINSON: Yeah, I think there is a little bit of time, simply because it's going to take the Ford aircraft carrier, which has been in the Caribbean

time to get across to the Middle East. So maybe there's 10 days or so of window here before the U.S. can mount the kind of attack that it might want

to mount.

It is interesting that Vance is talking about nuclear red lines there, according to the present the U.S. has already eradicated Iran's nuclear

program and its strikes last year, but put that aside, the problem here is it seems like Iran is willing to talk about what's left of its nuclear

program, but that its ballistic missile program and proxies throughout the region are seen in Tehran as the guarantors of the regime's survival.

Washington wants to talk about that and try to limit those capacities. Iran doesn't, at that point, Trump comes up against his own red lines. And is he

willing to start a war that probably would take a number of weeks? Has uncertain conclusions and which polls show overwhelming numbers of

Americans do not want him to wage.

So, he is every day getting closer to that dilemma. And you know past -- you know past history in Venezuela and Iran would say that he has a bias

towards action. But I think this is a really thorny question that the president is going to have to face. He doesn't want to do a nuclear deal,

for example, that could be compared to the one that Barack Obama did and which he destroyed.

ANDERSON: Yeah. Stephen, it's good to have you. Stephen Collinson is in Washington. My next guest is Hamidreza Azizi he writes the Iran Analytica

newsletter on Substack and is a Visiting Fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. It's good to have you sir, today.

Thanks for joining us. Iran said that, both sides said, and I quote them here, guiding principles of agreement. And we have heard that sort of

language before as we've come out of a round of talks. How are you reading between the lines on what that means, sir?

HAMIDREZA AZIZI, VISITING FELLOW AT THE GERMAN INSTITUTE & SECURITY AFFAIRS: Well, of course, if we take the statements by Iranian officials

and the state media at face value, it seems that there has been some progress, at least some understanding on what to talk about.

And based on that, one could assume that the next step would be to go into the details and provide kind of more detailed draft of potential

agreements. But what I can read from between the lines, we are looking at the statements by journalists who seem to have kind of internal knowledge

of the discussions.

The picture seems to be a little bit different. One thing that stood out to me was that, again, according to those statements, that the United States

has basically reiterated the same demands, which to me, it would include not just the zero enrichment of -- in the nuclear program, but also caps on

the missile range and the number of the missiles, and also the regional activities.

So, if that's the case, and then putting it alongside the report of a two- week window, which is reportedly given to, I mean, the two sides given to the delegations to prepare a draft. Then that two-week window might sound

more or seem more like a deadline by the American side, given also the military preparedness in the region and the limited time window that you

know, we can assume such a huge armada, can, you know, stay there in terms of the military preparedness?

ANDERSON: Yeah, I just wonder how patient you expect the U.S. to be given that military buildup that we've seen in the region?

AZIZI: Well, I think President Trump is not known to be very patient on these strategic matters. He wants to reach conclusions quite soon. We saw

that on the Gaza file. We saw that on the Russia file, although it's still, you know, somehow, up in the air.

[09:15:00]

But I think you know, given the recent deployments, because for almost two weeks, the deployments had mostly defensive nature in terms of, for

example, patriot missile batteries being deployed to U.S. bases and also to protect the interest of U.S. allies in the region.

Now, in the past couple of days, we've seen huge deployments of offensive, you know, like fighter jets, offensive assets to the region, and putting it

alongside the fact that the second you know group of -- like naval group is on its way to the Middle East. I think that's two weeks' time window might

be somehow plausible to think about.

ANDERSON: Yeah. OK, look, we are talking with very little sort of understanding of what is going on in Donald Trump's mind, of course, and

the buck will stop with him. Where this to come to military action. So, I want to park the conversation about what we expect to happen next and what

we think a deal might look like.

Suffice to say that the Iranians are clearly looking for some immediate sanction's relief. And again, that may not be forthcoming from the states

unless Donald Trump gets what he wants on this nuclear file. Meantime, I want to turn -- I want to bring up your latest analysis on Substack about

Ali Shamkhani, a Top Defense Official in Iran who has somewhat reemerged this year.

You write that his return suggests preparation for structural relevance in a post-Khamenei reality, that's the supreme leader, of course, in which the

regime's security institutions and personalities could attempt to engineer a managed transition towards a more overtly security authoritarian order.

So, who is he and what does the day after in Iran look like to your mind, with the inclusion of Shamkhani?

AZIZI: Well, of course, here, we need to think and speak in terms of scenarios. The one that I described in that piece includes the scenario of

a regime transformation, kind of initiated from within the system. And I have to say that the issue of post-Khamenei transition, this question was

already there before the 12-day war, but the war kind of accelerated this process and also highlighted some inherent vulnerabilities in the system.

For example, when Khamenei was not available and the whole system relied on him and still relies for strategic decision making. Afterwards, we saw kind

of a trend of strengthening the existing councils, like the Supreme National Security Council and the formation of this new one.

And Shamkhani is the head of this new one. He's a veteran of the Iran-Iraq War. He's kind of, you know, insider in the exact sense of the word, but

for some time, and given some controversies over his personal life, over his, you know, economic ties, you know, being involved in oil and smuggling

networks and so on.

It appeared, as you know, within the factional rivalries, he somehow sidelined, but him coming back to the scene together with his long-standing

alliance with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the Speaker of the Parliament, suggests that from within the system, they may really think of an immediate

like if you consider, for example, a decapitation strike by the United States.

A more -- it's a common, more immediate question, the issue of post- Khamenei succession, and they are getting prepared for that. Whether or not that's going to be the case, it depends on many factors, like the scale of

a potential U.S. attack, for example, or a campaign. But this is at least what I can see happening from within the system.

ANDERSON: Yeah, Hamidreza, it's good to have you. Thank you very much indeed. Your insight and analysis, of course, incredibly important as we

continue to watch and wait on how these talks go and the decision ultimately by the U.S. President of course. Thank you.

Ahead on "Connect the World". We focus on Latin America, the U.S. military has dropped three more alleged drug trafficking vessels in the Eastern

Pacific and Caribbean, killing 11 people. The latest on those strikes is next. And a scenario that seemed impossible six weeks ago.

The U.S. and Venezuela appearing aligned after the U.S. raid to capture Nicolas Maduro, how oil is playing a key role in the country's relations.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

ANDERSON: The U.S. military says it struck more than three more alleged drug trafficking vessels in the Eastern Pacific and the Caribbean, killing

all 11 people on board. Now that brings the total death toll from the U.S. campaign to at least 135. Democrats and legal experts say the strikes

amount to murdering civilians since the U.S. has not declared and Congress has not authorized a war on drug cartels.

Cuba, meantime, is dealing with the impact of growing U.S. pressure in the region. The island nations, oil supply has fallen off a cliff after

Washington cut off shipments, especially from Venezuela. CNN's Patrick Oppmann joining us now live from Havana. And the impact on ordinary Cubans,

as I understand, it is swinging. How are people coping with this crisis, Patrick?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are running out of fuel. I still have about a quarter of a tank in my car, so I was able to make it to

work this morning. I was noticing on you on the main avenues in Havana, you see more bikes and electric vehicles than you do gasoline running cars or

cars that use petrol.

So that is a big change. And you know, as this crisis goes on, you are just seeing this country essentially grind to a halt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OPPMANN (voice-over): Owning a classic car in Cuba used to be a gold mine until recently Mandy Pruna earned more from one hour driving tourists in

his vintage 1957 Chevrolet than most Cubans do in a month. But he's no longer able to make a living. Just before taking me out for a spin, Mandy

canceled his permit to work as a chauffeur.

Everything is uncertain at the moment, he says. There's no fuel. We don't know if there will be any and how we will pay for it. There's no tourism.

Cuba is becoming an increasingly paralyzed country as the Trump administration's policy of blocking oil shipments from abroad cripples an

already ailing economy.

We're just weeks ago cars lined up for hours at the pump, now there's no one because there's no longer any gas. Each day, public transportation is

harder to find. Many switch to bicycles.

OPPMANN: When I first came to Cuba, the Soviet Union had just fallen and there were more bikes on the road than there were cars. As this crisis goes

on it feels more and more like we're returning to those times.

OPPMANN (voice-over): The White House is strong, arming Cuba's communist run government to open politically and economically in exchange for the

fuel shipments to resume. Cubans are seeing food prices soar as the crisis drags on.

We are paying two, three times as much to restock and keep people happy, a vendor tells me. There's no food and there's no immediate solution in

sight.

OPPMANN: This is the kind of place that I buy vegetables from my family. Most of the products are coming from outside Havana. Transporting them from

the countryside is going to get more difficult, if not impossible. Cuban officials have responded by saying people need to start growing their own

food.

[09:25:00]

OPPMANN (voice-over): Cuba may just be weeks or perhaps days away from running out of fuel. A humanitarian disaster could be on the horizon.

Already many fishing boats sit idle. One can't work. The country is stuck. There's no industry. Nothing is happening, this fisherman tells me and we

will see how this ends.

Until then, the best many Cubans can hope for is to stay afloat as their country goes under.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OPPMANN (on camera): And Becky, President Donald Trump has said that his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is leading talks negotiations with the

Cuban government. Marco Rubio, of course, is Cuban American. He is a lifelong, fierce opponent to the communist run government here.

And he has said previously, the only thing he would want to talk to with officials in Havana is when they would relinquish power. So, no update on

how those talks is going to be a fly on the wall, frankly, because these are two sides that have a very different view of Cuba's future.

And certainly, for opponents of the communist run government here, they think the government here has never been weaker, and that this is a

government that is essentially holding on by its nails and could fall this year.

ANDERSON: Yeah, this would be historic stuff, were that to happen. Patrick, always a pleasure. Oppmann in Havana. Well, speaking of Venezuela, six

weeks after the U.S. raid to capture President Nicolas Maduro, the administrations in Washington and Caracas appear to be working together.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright was in Venezuela discussing the need for more oil investments. My colleague, Stefano Pozzebon has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): The threats, the pressure, the day in night raid it all led to this. United States is getting what it

wants from Venezuela, but it wants more of it, and this visit by Energy Secretary Chris Wright is conveying that message.

POZZEBON: Now, all of the oil that is stored in this massive tank already goes directly to the United States. It goes to Houston, but that is just a

tiny fraction of what this country could produce.

POZZEBON (voice-over): Wright and Acting President Delcy Rodriguez touring this facility. A partnership between U.S. major Chevron and Venezuela's

PDVSA. It pumps out 40,000 barrels a day, and it could produce 7.5 times more. But obstacles remain.

CHRIS WRIGHT, U.S. ENERGY SECRETARY: Oh, it's just to get the political and economic arrangements as smooth as possible between our countries.

POZZEBON (voice-over): The arrangements the U.S. wants don't seem to align with those of student protesters in Caracas. Oil is secondary here. They

want the Trump Administration to finish what has started and to see hundreds of political prisoners being released.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They can't release 123, they must all be freed immediately.

POZZEBON (voice-over): Six weeks since the U.S. forces stormed Caracas, capturing and taking President Nicolas Maduro, things have changed in

Venezuela. Relations with the U.S. are on demand, and the new hydrocarbon law was passed to attract investment.

Prices are dropping, and the country's National Assembly is discussing an amnesty bill for political prisoners. Ed. Miraflores, where Maduro used to

live, another sign of change. The stars and stripes now hoisted on the doorstep.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to set the Venezuelan people and the economy free.

POZZEBON (voice-over): But as time goes by, many wonder if the U.S. is actually interested in change or just wanted a more cooperative leader in

Caracas. Stefano Pozzebon, CNN, Caracas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Let's get you up to speed on some of the other stories that are on our radar right now. And DNA found on a glove near Nancy Guthrie's

Arizona home, as well as inside her residence, did not produce a match in the FBI's database, according to authorities who had hoped this evidence

could be a potential breakthrough in the search for the missing 84-year-old mother of the NBC News Host Savannah Guthrie.

Investigators are looking into other options to check for DNA matches. Rescuers were battling against blizzard conditions in Northern California

after a powerful avalanche. There six skiers have been pulled out alive with injuries, but at least nine others are still missing.

Crews say every step is dangerous, with heavy snow and high winds threatening more slides. You're watching CNN. I'm Becky Anderson. We will

be right back after this short break with the start of the trading day on Wall Street.

[09:30:00]

Infleqtion CEO, Matthew Kinsella today ringing that bell.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Right. Well, the stock markets in New York opened back two minutes ago. So, let's see how stocks are getting on. Very little changed

today has to be said. We are awaiting the release of some Fed minutes. And little bit of activity on the NASDAQ with Nvidia certainly expected to be a

little bit higher.

They've cut an extension deal on some of their chips with Meta providing a bit of a kind of base for tech stocks today. They've been having a bit of a

wobble of late as this concern about AI disruption continues to worry markets. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's top spokesperson is

stepping down.

Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs, Tricia McLaughlin is set to leave her job next week. She's been one of the most vocal defenders of the agency

after I.C.E. agents fatally shot two American citizens last month in Minneapolis, mother of three, Renee Good and ICU nurse Alex Pretti.

DHS is credibility and increasingly aggressive conduct on the ground are central to a partial government shutdown, with the Democrats holding back

funding for the agency. Now, the White House has rejected a counter offer from Democrats as the shutdown enters its fifth day.

Let's bring in Kevin Liptak at the White House. McLaughlin was important there. She's made statements about incidents even before the killings of

Pretti and Good that were later undermined by video or statements from local officials. So, what do you make of the timing of her stepping down?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, I think it caught a lot of people by surprise in Washington, just because she had become so

much an avatar of this really unapologetic approach to immigration, embodied at the Department of Homeland Security, where she was the

spokeswoman.

You know, aside from Kristi Noem, who is the Homeland Security Secretary. She was probably the largest face of this, really, you know, forceful

approach. The what we saw in Minneapolis, kind of these sweeping raids to find undocumented immigrants and deport them from the country.

[09:35:00]

But really, you know, her credibility has become in question even before the killings of those two American citizens, you know, she had put out

statements that were contradicted by video, contradicted by fact, you know, including about the number of American citizens who had been detained.

When it comes to those individuals who were killed, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, so much of what she said in the immediate hours after their killing

were later really refuted by the video, by facts on the ground you know that Pretti was a domestic terrorist. Those kinds of things that really, I

think, damaged the Department of Homeland Security's standing in the I.C.E., certainly of journalists.

And when you're the chief spokesman for an agency, you know, for however combative you are on television, for however ardently you toe the line of

the administration, I think credibility is something that you can't necessarily give away easily. That's sort of your entire stock and trade.

And so, you know, her departure now leaves an opening they say the Fox News analyst will take her job there, so no indication that they're backing away

from her very sort of vehement approach to this job, but certainly an open question of whether that credibility can be restored now that she is

departing.

ANDERSON: Kevin, always good to have you. Kevin is at the White House there in Washington, where the time is 09:36 in the morning. Thank you. Next,

hour U.S., lawmakers are set to question the Former Owner of Victoria's Secret about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

CNN reviewed the Justice Department's massive Epstein file release and found that Les Wexner's name was initially redacted in the co-conspirator

document. His name appears in hundreds of other records that show federal authorities have closely scrutinized him and repeatedly sought information

from him.

The 88-year-old billionaire employed Epstein as a money manager. A federal memo says he sever ties with Epstein in 2008 after Epstein returned $100

million in misappropriated funds to the Wexner family. CNN's Kara Scannell is live in New York with more. And the Republican Congressman Thomas

Massie, who, along with Ro Khanna, of course, the Democrats been behind the push for the release of these files.

Is calling this a quote cover up and bigger than Watergate. Just explain, if you will.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Rep. Massie was really focusing in on this issue of why people's names were redacted in the public release of the

Epstein files, and there was this 2019, internal FBI memo that listed a number of people they were viewing at the time as potential co-

conspirators.

And Les Wexner's name was initially redacted in that document and only became un redacted in the public document once representatives Massie and

Khanna had made it public this redaction being concerned about it, and DOJ reversed it. It made it public, but it really shined a spotlight on Les

Wexner, who is this billionaire benefactor to Jeffrey Epstein.

There have been questions swirling for decades about Epstein's wealth and how his wealth gave him entree into the have an audience with some of the

most wealthy and powerful people in the world. And what we learned from looking through the Epstein files was that Epstein's source of wealth,

according to the Department of Justice memo, it primarily came from managing Les Wexner's money.

What we found was that Wexner had met Epstein in the 1980s and Epstein then began managing his billions of dollars. So according to this DOJ memo,

Epstein's wealth came from managing the money and then also, according to Wexner's attorneys, Epstein had stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from

Wexner, and that was really the source of wealth.

And that only came to light once Jeffrey Epstein became under scrutiny in the mid-2000s and he handed the reins of the money over to Les Wexner's

wife, and she discovered that he was stealing money from them. But that is this question of the wealth. Why was Les Wexner allowing Jeffrey Epstein to

manage his money for so many years?

He even signed over a power of attorney to him. That is something that the lawmaker said they're going to focus on in this deposition today. Robert

Garcia, who is the ranking member on the committee, told CNN this morning that he is going to focus on the money.

You know, we do know, also from looking at the at the FBI files, is that Les Wexner has been on investigators radar since those early investigations

in 2000. We saw handwritten notes from one investigator who spoke to his attorney. And then, after Epstein was indicted in 2019 a subpoena went out

for Wexner's deposition.

Just a few days later, his lawyers met, and Wexner's lawyers say that they were told that he was neither a target nor a co-conspirator in the

investigation.

[09:40:00]

And then, of course, Epstein died. So, the investigation then shifted to Ghislaine Maxwell, but lawmakers today say they are focused on trying to

get answers about the money, Becky.

ANDERSON: Yeah, going to be one to watch. It's a closed session, of course, more as we get it from there. Thank you, Kara. We will be right back after

this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Well, you got to go back way back to 2014 when Mikaela Shiffrin was just 18 years old for her last slalom gold. She had not been able to

reach the podium in her signature event since then. But that has all changed in the last hour. Patrick Snell, here to fill us in. Patrick.

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Hi Becky. Yeah, just an amazing moment for Mikaela Shiffrin, you know, these games initially hadn't been going at all

well for her 2022 as well. She didn't medal at all in 2022 and of course, in 2018 that magical goal for her, but this is now making her a three-time

Olympic champion, Becky, absolutely incredible.

And she did it in the most dominant way possible. Absolutely incredible performance just a short while ago in the slalom. Her overall time a

dominant 01:39:10, but there was the second-place finisher was just way behind to the whole of the rest of the field, way behind, and her reaction

just priceless, Becky, in the end, just holding her head in her hands, utter disbelief, as though she was struggling to come to terms with it.

Back to you.

ANDERSON: How does she stay on her skis? Unbelievable. Good stuff. "World Sport" is up, straight after this.

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