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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

New Evidence In Guthrie Case; On The Verge Of Another Shutdown; Impact Of Trump's Tariffs. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired February 13, 2026 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:26]

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Danny Freeman. It is Friday, February 13th, 5:00 a.m. here in New York.

And straight ahead on EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN HOST: New developments in the apparent abduction of Nancy Guthrie.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Investigators are expanding their call for video evidence.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: What they're going to do is shut down FEMA, Coast Guard, TSA and things that hurt real people.

BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR: A partial U.S. government shutdown is less than a day away after Democrats demanded reforms to immigration enforcement operations.

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: A report from the New York Fed says Americans are paying the overwhelming majority of Trump's global tariffs.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: It is still bringing in a huge amount of money, but it is also costing U.S. consumers a great deal of their salaries, wages and pay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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FREEMAN: A lot going on at the end of a very busy week but we begin with new developments in the apparent abduction of Nancy Guthrie, the FBI now sharing new details about the suspect. Now, the person seen in images and video from Guthrie's doorbell camera is described as five foot nine to five foot 10, with an average build, and he was seen in that video wearing a black backpack like this one you see on your screen right here. Now, authorities hope these new descriptions will help narrow the

thousands of tips they receive from the public. The FBI also increased that reward for information that helps find Guthrie or leads to an arrest or conviction from $50,000 to $100,000.

Meanwhile, "Today Show" host Savannah Guthrie shared home video and photos on social media as a tribute to her missing mother, writing that the family, quote, "will never give up on her". Authorities are asking neighbors, meanwhile, to submit any footage they may have from the days and weeks leading up to the Guthrie disappearance.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Tucson, Arizona, with the latest on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To reach Nancy Guthrie's home in this neighborhood. The suspect had to take a series of winding roads to get there.

It's not super easy the culprit would have to study or be familiar with the area to navigate the spider web of roads to get to her home especially in the pitch dark.

LAVANDERA: We've learned that investigators are expanding their call for video evidence in hopes of finding any suspicious vehicles or people that were in the area that night.

One of the alerts is asking residents who live along this specific road, which were not going to name for the safety of the residents who live here, to look for videos on January 11th between 9:00 p.m. and midnight. That's almost three weeks before Nancy Guthrie was abducted, and video on January 31st, between 9:30 and 11:00 a.m. That's about 16 hours before Guthrie was taken against her will, as authorities have said.

This roadway is one of the main entryways to reach Nancy Guthrie's home in this neighborhood. So, it's significant that investigators are asking neighbors and neighbors along this street whether or not they could have captured video of a suspicious vehicle in these new time frames. Pima County Sheriffs acknowledged the dates and times are accurate, but FBI authorities aren't commenting.

In the last day, we've witnessed FBI agents walking this road looking through the desert brush and spotting cameras on homes along the route. But this isn't the only area that investigators are trying to crowd-source video from.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Authorities have also put out a call for video from anyone who lives within a two-mile radius of Nancy Guthrie from January 1st to February 2nd. That is a massive amount of video to process hunting for a clue.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: FBI authorities say they have received more than 13,000 tips since Nancy Guthrie went missing, and that one of the tips includes information about a white van seen in the neighborhood. And that is one of the things that investigators are asking the public to be aware of as they look through all of this video that they're calling for.

FREEMAN: All right. Ed, thank you for that.

Joining me now from Washington, homeland security analyst Donell Harvin. He's also a faculty member in Georgetown University's emergency and disaster management masters program.

Donell, thank you so much for joining us so early.

A lot to sift through but listen, I mean, it seems hard to imagine were essentially entering day 13 almost two full weeks since Nancy Guthrie was abducted.

[05:05:02]

I just wanted your take. What are you thinking about? As we enter another day with no sign of life here?

DONELL HARVIN, HOMELAND SECURITY ANALYST: Yeah. As we're coming up on two weeks, I think inevitably, the public and many of us in the law enforcement community are asking, is there some level of incompetence that's going on with this investigation? Now, I've given them a lot of space. These -- these are very difficult and complex investigations but they're now just asking residents for video -- video that may have been deleted already because most home cameras only record or store for week to maybe 30 days.

You know, the road hasn't changed in the last few weeks. Why wasn't this asked in the first couple of days? I mean think back to the beginning of this investigation. We didn't even know that there was a ransom note for over four days. Law enforcement didn't want to admit that there was a ransom note.

So, I think the dribs and drabs of information coming out to the public isn't really helping the investigation. They need to be a little bit more timely and a little bit more specific.

FREEMAN: Well, I want to continue on that note of scrutiny of this investigation, frankly, just because listen, I've covered a lot of manhunts in a lot of different scenarios. One of the things that, as far as I know, is fairly routine is holding a lot of press briefings just to try and shake something loose, try to keep it in the minds of the public, the story.

What do you make of that? We haven't really seen something like that and now, at least a week.

HARVIN: Well you know, you've done a lot of these you know, if its driven by county or state, you know, everyone has a kind of different mode of operation. The FBI is heavily involved in this. They may be taking a lead from the locals, but this is really -- I mean, when you go out to the public and you ask millions of people to get eyes to help them with an investigation, you really need to provide more updates.

I'll give you a great example. The video footage that came out and the more specific details about the backpack, that was quite helpful. I would also tell you that that's a commonly sold backpack brand. I won't mention the store. But you can get that backpack brand.

But the other thing they came out with that I thought was really intriguing was the fact that this individual was anywhere from five foot nine to five foot ten. Well, the bad news is that that's 50 percent of American males. I'm five foot nine.

And so once again, what do you do with that information? You know how do you process that? And if you're a member of the public and I think that's what's missing. And that's what some of these briefings would help.

FREEMAN: Yeah, I think that's well said. And I think that's what a lot of us thought when we got that description. Great that we have one out. But it seems like it describes or can describe quite a lot of people in this country.

I'm curious to get your perspective on these ransom notes, because this has been one of the more puzzling elements of this case. They keep going to TMZ or some other outlets as well. Can ransom notes be taken seriously without them giving some evidence in good faith of life here?

HARVIN : Well, this is the million dollar question and this is not a pun. I'm not making light of this. I mean, the fact of the matter is, you almost have to take it seriously because you have nothing else to go by. We've already seen one individual, about a 40-year-old male who sent a fake ransom note in.

And so, you also have nut jobs out there that are just looking to capitalize on this tragedy. GoFundMe sites have been sprung up that are fake but unfortunately, just like every lead, thousands of lead that's been called in by the public, they have to run all of these things down.

Now, if you remember, one of the original ransom notes that came in, the law enforcement had specific details of the crime scene that normal people wouldn't have. I think that's the one that they take seriously. The problem is that, as you mentioned, there's been no proof from the abductor or abductors because we don't know how many involved of signs of life. And so, that's where we're at right now.

FREEMAN: One last thing I wanted to get your perspective on just looking ahead to today. Today, we understand there's going to be a forecast of rain in Tucson. Weve seen video of investigators combing this desert area.

Are you concerned that the weather might impact the investigation, potentially washing away any evidence?

HARVIN: You know normally -- I did forensics for many years. Normally I would say no. I mean we do know that the weather can, you know, disturb forensics. Normally, I would say no. But in this case, I would say, yeah, there's a huge chance, because we keep on seeing them come back and come back and come back to the scene to relook at things like from, you know, the rooftop or to go and look for, you know, gloves on the side of the road or to set up a tent in front of the house or to tow a car.

And so, it seems like they keep on coming back to the scene. And if you're going to continuously do that, that scene in those forensics will erode over time.

FREEMAN: All right. A lot still to come through with this very important case.

Donell Harvin, thank you so much for sharing your expertise, as always with us this morning.

[05:10:02]

Appreciate it.

HARVIN: Thank you.

FREEMAN: All right. To this now, Thursday was a day of mourning across British Columbia after Canada's worst school shooting in decades. We're learning more about the six people fatally shot in the tiny mountain town of Tumbler Ridge. Five were students, including 12- year-old Kylie Smith. You can see her pictured on the bottom row, second from the left.

Now, her father spoke out about the loss of his daughter and urged parents to hold their kids tight and tell them you love them every day. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LANCE YOUNGE, LOST 12-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER IN MASS SHOOTING: She was just a beautiful soul. She's a light in her family. She he loved art and anime she wanted to go to school in Toronto and she just loved her so much. She was thriving in high school.

She never hurt a soul. She was a supporter of -- LGBTQ supporter and she -- she just -- she was -- she was the last person who ever deserved this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Police say the shooter killed their mother and stepbrother at home before going to the secondary school. They identified the shooter as an 18-year-old woman who dropped out of school around four years ago. Still no word on a motive.

Dozens of others were injured in the shooting including a 12-year-old girl who remains in critical condition.

All right, let's take a live look now at Capitol Hill, where a partial U.S. government shutdown is now once again, just hours away. That's after congress once again failed to pass a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security. Now, money for the agency was held up after Democrats demanded reforms to immigration enforcement operations. Democrats dug in after two American citizens were fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis last month.

Here's what House leaders had to say about the ongoing negotiations.

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REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Funding for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security should not move forward in the absence of dramatic changes that are bold meaningful and transformational. Period. Full stop. That's the House Democratic Caucus position, and that's the Senate Democratic Caucus position.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: It seems to me the appearance here is that some Democrats, House and Senate, want a government shutdown. They want to impose more pain on the American people. For what? I have no idea.

The ICE funding is already done for the for the entirety of the Trump administration. So they're not affecting that in any way. What they're going to do is shut down FEMA, Coast Guard, TSA and things that hurt real people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Now, nearly, all DHS workers will remain on the job, but many won't get paid until a funding bill is passed. Lawmakers have left Washington, and on a recess next week.

Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem warns that if her department shuts down, there would be serious consequences. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: So this is a dangerous situation that were in, that the Democratic Party has chosen to shut down the department that was created after 9/11. This department was created recognizing that we are vulnerable to terrorist attacks and that American Homeland needs to be funded and focused on keeping us safe within our own borders.

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FREEMAN: During Noem speech there in southern California, dozens of people stood outside the venue protesting the immigration crackdown. Border officials reportedly tried to muffle chants for Noem's resignation by blaring sirens.

To this now, the White House border czar says he's ending the federal crackdown on immigration in Minneapolis, now the massive operation began more than two months ago, and at its height, some 3,000 federal officers were deployed to the city.

CNN's Brian Abel has more, but a warning that some of the videos in his report are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM HOMAN, BORDER CZAR: I have proposed, and President Trump has concurred, that this surge operation concludes.

BRIAN ABEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota coming to an end, as U.S. Border Czar Tom Homan announces agents are leaving the state.

HOMAN: A significant drawdown has already been underway this week.

ABEL (voice-over): The aggressive surge that began in December, called the largest immigration operation ever by DHS was met with fierce criticism and resistance by Minnesotans almost instantaneously, with clashes between protesters and agents in Minneapolis and residents becoming observers, filming immigration enforcement actions in real time, leading to the first major flashpoint -- the killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent.

Her death sparking at times violent confrontations between protesters and federal agents, tensions exacerbated by a second U.S. civilian killed in Minneapolis by a federal agent, Alex Pretti. The deaths upping pressure on the White House to end the operation, as protesters mobilize and Democratic lawmakers threaten to withhold DHS funding unless ICE reforms happen.

PROTESTERS: Shame, shame!

ABEL (voice-over): The Minnesota A.G. saying this about the crackdown as senators on Capitol Hill the day Homan announced the end of the enforcement operation.

KEITH ELLISON, MINNESOTA ATTORNEY GENERAL: The surge is contributing to violent crime numbers. It's contributing to violent crime. Two of the three homicides committed in Minneapolis in 2026 have come at the hands of federal immigration agents.

[05:15:06]

ABEL (voice-over): In Washington, Brian Abel reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREEMAN: The Trump administration announced the revocation of a scientific finding that's been the basis of the EPA's climate policy for more than 15 years. Now, the 2009 endangerment finding determined that six greenhouse gases could be categorized as dangerous to human health. It allowed the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, cars, and the oil and gas industry. Now, critics say the changes threaten public health, but the administration insists they will benefit consumers and boost the auto industry.

Moving overseas now, world leaders are gathering in Munich, where an annual security conference gets underway in just about two hours. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio landed there earlier and the Munich security conference is a major gathering where world leaders debate security policies. But this time, it's happening as transatlantic relations and global norms are being tested by U.S. President Donald Trump. Rubio says he could meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Munich and before his departure, the U.S. secretary spoke about Russia's relentless strikes on Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It's terrible. It's a war. That's why we want the war to end. People are suffering. It's the coldest time of year. It's unimaginable the suffering. That's the problem with wars. That's why wars are bad and that's why we worked so hard for over a year now to try to bring this one to an end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: All right. Switching gears now, we want to take you to Cape Canaveral, live the space station in Florida, they're on the launch pad. A SpaceX rocket just moments away from blasting off. Let's take a listen

ANNOUNCER: Six, five, four, three, two, one, ignition -- and liftoff. Go, Falcon! Go, Dragon. And Godspeed, Crew 12.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And liftoff! Freedom flies! Bound for the International Space Station, 1.7 million pounds of thrust now propelling Falcon Nine through 12. Vehicle is pitching downrange, and all nine merlin vehicles have lit. We're getting good callouts on the first stage. Performance and propulsion so far.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Plus 30 seconds into the Crew 12 mission onboard Dragon and Falcon Nine. The vehicle is going to throttle down in preparation for Max-Q. That's the largest structural load that the vehicle will see on ascent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our telemetry.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Read call outs there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stage one throttle down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's that call out for stage one throttle down. Pass through Max Q in a few seconds here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Max Q.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Great news. We have passed through Max Q.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vehicle is supersonic.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That call out that the vehicle is supersonic means its traveling faster than the speed of sound.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stage one, throttle up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stage one. Now throttling up. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One Bravo.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That call out for one bravo means were in the second and final abort mode for the first stage continuing to get good performance. The crew is now already pulling over 2G's. Next up, we'll have a couple events happening -- happening in rapid succession. First is that engine chill on the second stage and back engine and then well have MECO or main engine cutoff where the nine engines on the first stage will cut off ahead of the first and second stages separating from one another.

Then the single merlin vacuum engine on the second stage will ignite, continuing to carry crew 12 to orbit while the first stage begins its journey back to earth.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The nine merlin engines are starting to throttle down and standing by for MECO or main engine cutoff

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Throttle down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's that call out, and in just a few seconds here we will have MECO stage separation. Stage one flip maneuver for the booster to make its way back to earth. SCS-1 and the start of the boost back burn.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two alpha.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Copy, two alpha

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stage separation confirmed. And that mission

FREEMAN : An incredible --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We had NECO. Stage separation. You can see that booster.

FREEMAN: Absolutely incredible live images that were watching right now of a SpaceX rocket blasting off from Florida off to the International Space Station. Now on board is a crew consisting of two NASA astronauts, Commander Jessica Meir and pilot Jack Hathaway. They're joined by a European Space Agency astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut.

Now, very importantly, this mission brings the orbiting laboratory to its full crew complement.

[05:20:02]

The ISS has been operating with only three people on board since mid- January. That's when you might remember, four astronauts had to return home early when one of them had a medical issue. NASA says this team will begin an eight-month rotation aboard the space station, conducting a host of experiments that includes ultrasound scans of their blood vessels to investigate changes in circulation and research related to bacteria that cause pneumonia. They will also conduct a simulated lunar landing in an effort to

assess how abrupt changes in gravity affect the human body and cognition. Again, you're watching all of this live a beautiful SpaceX launch from Florida, and we'll be right back.

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[05:25:13]

FREEMAN: The second week of the Winter Olympics is underway in stunning Milan, Italy, and athletes from around the world are competing for seven gold medals up for grabs. Today, there are several events for the men including figure skating, 10,000-meter speed skating, snowboard, halfpipe and the biathlon 10 kilometer sprint.

The women's snowboard cross is also coming up and meanwhile the court of arbitration for sport is hearing an appeal from the Ukrainian skeleton racer, who was disqualified for wearing a helmet with images of athletes killed in the war with Russia.

For more on all this, let's go now to Milan and CNN's Amanda Davies.

So good to see you this morning. Tell us what's the latest in Milan.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yeah. Good morning.

Nothing unlucky about Friday the 13th. The nicest weather day. Glorious sunshine. And there is only one place to be here this evening in Milan.

And that is the men's figure skating free skate. Former U.S. Olympic medal winner Ashley Wagner, describing it as Ilia Malinin against the world, Ilia against himself. Massive expectations around the two-time world champion, the 21-year-old American superstar, the only man to have completed the quadruple axel. That's a four and a half rotation in a jump to you and me in competition.

He'll be looking to be the first person to do it in Olympic competition this evening and to claim the one major medal missing from his haul. But his closest rivals, Japan's Yuma Kagiyama and Adam Siao Him Fa of France, less than six points back in the standings. That is the less than the value of one missed quad jump. It is so tight.

There were really big winning starts for both the USA and Canada and the NHL star packed rosters on Thursday, the U.S. beating Latvia, 5 to 1, Canada beating the Czech Republic five to nothing ahead of a brilliant women's quarterfinal in prospect later it's going to be a great atmosphere.

Host Italy at this stage for the first time in their history, up against the might of the U.S. women, many peoples favorites now for gold. Its team GB's Matt Weston who smashed the skeleton track record and has become the one to beat this morning up in Cortina, in the final two runs.

But as you mentioned, down here in Milan, the court of arbitration hearing underway hearing an appeal from the Ukrainian slider Vladyslav Heraskevych, who was disqualified from competing yesterday because of his determination to wear a helmet picturing 24 Ukrainian athletes who have been killed since the start of the war. He traveled from Cortina down here to Milan last night and we caught up with him, he said. He still does have hopes of being able to compete.

(BEGIN VDIEO CLIP)

DAVIES: You have decided to appeal to the court of arbitration for sport. Do you still have hope that you can compete?

VLADYSLAV HERASKEVYCH, UKRAINIAN ATHLETE: I think if we have a desire and if I have desire, we can figure something out. I believe still that I'm right and it's not my job to decide how to do it. I believe that IOC was wrong with this decision, and its work of IOC to decide how to make this situation fair to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIES: The hearing are underway, 2-1/2 hours ago. We haven't heard anything as yet. But we will of course, bring it to you when we do.

FREEMAN: All right. Wonderful. We'll look forward to that. And mostly well look forward to the Quad God tonight. All right. Wishing all of our competitors. Very good luck.

Amanda Davies in Milan, thanks so much as always.

And let's take a quick check of the Olympic medal count so far. Norway leads the pack with seven goals and 14 overall. Host country Italy has 17 total medals and six of them are gold. The U.S., Germany and Sweden each have four gold medals. Again, good luck to all those competing today.

And we'll be right back after a quick break.

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