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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

FBI Says a Glove Found Near Nancy Guthrie's Property Matches that of a Man Who Approached Nancy Guthrie's Front Door on that Fateful Day of Her Abduction; Democrats and Republican Lawmakers Yearn to See the End of the Partial Government Shutdown; China Sees a Spike in Marriages After Law Change. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired February 16, 2026 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00]

RAHEL SOLOMON, ANCHOR, EARLY START: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us from the U.S. and all around the world, I'm Rahel Solomon, it is Monday, February 16th, 5:00 a.m. here in New York, and straight ahead on EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN REPORTER: The FBI says a glove found near Nancy Guthrie's property matches that of a man approaching Nancy Guthrie's front door.

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, DAUGHTER OF NANCY GUTHRIE: To whoever has her or knows where she is, it's never too late, and you're not lost or alone. And it is never too late to do the right thing.

CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Democratic and Republican lawmakers want to see this partial government shutdown end, but they're still trying to figure out a deal that both sides can agree on.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Republicans go along with this, and we'll fund the whole DHS bill.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: China changed one rule and saw a major rise in marriages last year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's really convenient. We don't have to go back to our hometown.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Let's begin this morning in Arizona where the desperate search for missing 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie now stretches into a third week on Sunday. Nancy's daughter, "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie, appeared to address her mother's alleged abductor directly. Here's her latest plea for Nancy's safe return.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) S. GUTHRIE: I wanted to come on and it's been two weeks since our mom was taken, and I just wanted to come on and say that we still have hope, and we still believe. And I wanted to say to whoever has her or knows where she is, that it's never too late, and you're not lost or alone.

And it is never too late to do the right thing. And we are here and we believe. And we believe in the essential goodness of every human being. And it's never too late.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: This comes as authorities are still trying to identify the person seen approaching Nancy Guthrie's home on February 1st just hours before she was reported missing. So far, no suspects have been named in her disappearance.

But the FBI says that they are now awaiting final DNA test results from a glove recovered about two miles from Nancy's home. CNN's Ivan Rodriguez is in Pima County, Arizona, with the latest on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RODRIGUEZ (on camera): The FBI says a glove found near Nancy Guthrie's property matches that of a man approaching Nancy Guthrie's front door when he was caught on that doorbell footage. The FBI says that DNA from that recovered glove is currently being analyzed and could take anywhere between 24 to 48 hours.

The FBI has described this man as anywhere between 5 foot 9 to 5 foot 10 inches tall, with an average build. Now, beyond the DNA testing, if the recovered glove is found to belong to that man approaching Nancy's front door, it could become an important clue for investigators to help track the movements of this person after they allegedly abducted Nancy Guthrie.

The sheriff's department is also asking neighbors who live within a two-mile radius of Nancy's home to check their surveillance cameras for any sort of footage between January 1st and February 2nd, and they can submit that footage through their online evidence portal.

Now, a big obstacle for investigators has been getting that clear image and videos from other neighbors in the area because homes are pushed back from the road, and there's a lot of trees obstructing the view here of the road. Throughout the day, we've also seen plenty of people come by and leave behind yellow flowers of hope, hoping for Nancy Guthrie's safe return. In Catalina Foothills, Arizona, I'm Ivan Rodriguez.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: Another news this morning. Congress may be in recess this week, but some lawmakers are still pushing to end a partial government shutdown.

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Tensions are high as Democrats and Republicans clash over funding proposals for the Department of Homeland Security. The department shut down over the weekend after Congress failed to agree on a spending deal. Democrats are demanding immigration reforms after federal officers in Minnesota killed two people.

But one Republican lawmaker accused Democrats of quote, "political theater", saying that they shut down the government for nothing. The top Senate Democrat had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHUMER: There's a simple answer to this. Republicans go along with this common sense -- these common sense proposals, and will fund the whole DHS bill, the whole Department of Homeland Security bill. Just go along. Again, I cannot repeat enough. These are common sense. Police departments across America use them. We have a rogue agency, why don't we rein them in?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: CNN's Camila DeChalus has more details on the shutdown from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DECHALUS (on camera): Well, in the last few hours, we're hearing more from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers that they want to see this partial government shutdown. And -- but they're still trying to figure out a deal that both sides can agree on in order to make that happen.

Now, the big issue here is that the Department of Homeland Security has really come under intense criticism in the last few weeks over the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal agents. And that's why you hear more Democratic lawmakers calling for reforms around immigration enforcement in exchange for them supporting a spending bill to fund DHS.

Now, recently, we had the House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, tell CNN that Democrats are kind of working on a counter-proposal to send back to the White House. And we are hearing more from lawmakers on both sides that bipartisan talks are underway to try to strike some type of a deal. But those details really haven't been ironed out yet. Take a listen to what both sides had to say.

SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLIN (R-OK): ICE and the Border Patrol is funded through the one Big, Beautiful Bill up until 2028. And so, the only thing they had shut down is the federal agents -- agencies that are named, like FEMA and the Coast Guard and TSA. So, they're shutting down thousands of workers for nothing but a talking point.

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): The outcry from Americans has caused the White House to be willing to negotiate with us on reasonable standards of conduct. That's a positive. We need to see that get into statute before we vote on this last piece of federal funding.

This isn't a big government shutdown. It is a hopefully temporary disagreement over the standards of conduct of the officers who operate under the Department of Homeland Security.

DECHALUS: Now, as a partial government shutdown continues with the lapse of funding for the Department of Homeland Security, that really doesn't mean that critical federal agencies that have nothing to do with immigration enforcement, like the Coast Guard, FEMA and TSA, they will also be impacted.

And the significance of this really is the fact that hundreds and thousands of federal employees under DHS will have to stay on the job, but many of them will go without pay. And so, what you're hearing now is more urgency from lawmakers to get something done.

But where things stand right now is that both the House and the Senate side, they're not expected to return back to Capitol Hill until February 23rd. But GOP leaders tell us that they could still call back members of Congress if a deal has been reached.

And so, that's something that we're actively monitoring. Camila DeChalus, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: In another political news, Democrats say that they're hopeful they can take back the House in November's Midterm elections. But Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries says that they can't afford to ignore the Republican push to redraw congressional maps in recent months.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Republicans started this redistricting war, and Democrats have made clear, we're going to finish it. We're going to make sure that there is a fair national map. So, at the end of the day, it's the voters who get to decide who is in the majority after the November Midterm elections and not Donald Trump. When they go low, we strike back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: All right, taking a live look now in Budapest, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is meeting there with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban today. We are looking at live pictures there where we're expected to see both men in a short time. They will both make comments before taking questions from the press.

Rubio's visit to Hungary comes ahead of a key election in the country, again once we see both leaders, we will take you there. And other news this morning, U.S. and Iranian officials are expected to hold a new round of nuclear talks in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday.

Sources say that U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are both set to attend. This comes as the Trump administration ramps up its military pressure on Tehran, sending a second U.S. aircraft carrier group to the Middle East. Satellite images show the USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of Oman on Sunday.

President Trump warns that if Iran wants to avoid a potential military strike, it should quote, "give us a deal". The Secretary of State Marco Rubio insists that President Trump is still focused on a diplomatic solution. Let's go to CNN's Paula Hancocks, who joins us live this morning from Abu Dhabi.

Paula, after the first round of talks earlier this month, both sides struck a somewhat tone of cautious optimism. Clearly, though, differences remain. What are the key issues for both sides heading into these talks?

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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rahel, you're right. Back on February 6th, we heard positive notes from both sides. We heard the U.S. President saying they were very good talks, from the Iranian side, you heard that it was a good start.

But certainly, over the last ten days, we've seen a more pessimistic tone being struck, for example, by President Trump. Just on Friday, he once again said that potentially, regime change would be the best thing that could happen, saying that Iran does not have a very good track record, that there's a lot of talking and no action.

And of course, that pessimistic tone comes at the same time as we see that second U.S. aircraft carrier being moved from the Caribbean into the region. Now, we've heard President Trump saying that in case we don't make a deal, we will need it. But if there is a deal, then it will turn around and come home.

So, certainly, that's being used as a show of force and a strong deterrent as well. So, what the two sides want is Iran at this point wants to focus simply on the nuclear program. And it has said consistently that it wants to maintain the right to enrich uranium, something which the U.S. has said is a red line for them, is a no for them.

From the U.S. side, we've heard that the U.S. wants to extend these talks to look at ballistic missiles, to look at the proxies in the region, and that is something that Iran has said no to.

Now, we know from the U.S. side that there has been some pressure from the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting with President Trump last week, pushing what he wants to see happen. Let's listen to exactly what he does want.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER, ISRAEL: The first is that all enriched material has to leave Iran. The second is that, there shall be no enrichment capability, not stopping the enrichment process, but dismantle the equipment and the infrastructure that allows you to enrich in the first place. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Now, Secretary Rubio has said that, that the President prefers diplomacy at this point, it's something we've heard from other Trump administration officials. It's not clear though, whether the U.S. President has decided whether or not, there will be a military element, a military strike involved in his response to what has been happening in Tehran over recent months. Rahel?

SOLOMON: OK, Paula Hancocks for us there. Paula, thank you. And U.S. President Donald Trump says that his newly-formed Board of Peace will announce a $5 billion pledge for humanitarian aid and reconstruction in Gaza. He posted on social media that members have also committed thousands of personnel toward a stabilization force and local police to maintain security in the enclave.

The first so-called Board of Peace gathering will take place on Thursday at the U.S. Institute of Peace, which President Trump recently renamed after himself. Meanwhile, Gaza's Civil Defense says that 11 people were killed and dozens wounded in Israeli strikes on Sunday.

According to Hamas-run television, a senior militant with the Islamic Jihad group was also killed. Still to come for us, more fallout from the Epstein files release, this time, it's impacting Hollywood. We'll have the latest coming up next. Also, back-to-back Pacific storms set to hit the western U.S., bringing possible flooding to parts of California. We'll have the forecast after this break.

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SOLOMON: Welcome back. Opening statements begin today in the case of Colin Gray; he is the Georgia father charged in a 2024 school shooting that authorities say was committed by his son. Police say that Colt Gray, then 14 years old, opened fire at Apalachee High School with an AR-15 style rifle.

The now 16-year-old is facing 55 felony counts, two students and two teachers were killed, nine other people were hurt. Now, more than a year before the shooting, police questioned the pair about online threats that Colt allegedly made about carrying out a school shooting.

Despite that, Gray still gave his son a gun for Christmas, Colin Gray has pleaded not guilty to the nearly 30 charges filed against him in this case. Now, to the new fallout from the release of the Epstein files. Casey Wasserman; a prominent sports and entertainment agent in Hollywood, and the head of the committee overseeing the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, is selling his talent company.

Newly-released e-mails reveal a deeper and more intimate relationship with Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell than was previously known. Wasserman has not been accused of any wrongdoing in regards to Epstein. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has more now on the story that has rocked Hollywood. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): On Friday, Wasserman sent an internal memo to his staff where he admitted that he had become a distraction, and emphasizing that his relationship with Maxwell and Epstein was limited to a humanitarian trip they took together in, quote, "a handful of e-mails that I deeply regret sending."

Now, those e-mails, of course, are shedding more light on a relationship that seems to be deeper and more intimate than it was previously known.

[05:20:00]

And sources close to the business telling CNN that investors were really upset about that disclosure, but also now the talent pool that started with Chappell Roan who issued a statement on her Instagram account saying, quote, "no artist, agent or employee should ever be expected to defend or overlook actions that conflict so deeply with our own moral values."

Following her lead, more artists including the band Dropkick Murphys, the country musician Orville Peck and U.S. soccer star Abby Wambach all announced that they were dropping the company. Now, in recent days, there have also been calls for Wasserman to step down as the head of the L.A. 2028 Olympics.

However, the L.A. '28 board issued a statement on Thursday saying that they are standing by Wasserman, and that they reviewed his past interactions with Epstein and Maxwell with an external legal counsel, and concluded that he should stay on.

We also heard from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who said that despite the decision of leadership for the Los Angeles games being up to the board, that she believes that the city should stay focused on the games and hosting exceptional games and minimizing any disruption.

And I should add that despite all of this disclosure of these e-mails, Wasserman has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing, and CNN has reached out to a company representing him. Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: In the U.S., multiple storm systems are lining up to hit the Pacific coast, bringing heavy rains and Winter weather advisories as they move inland. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar has the forecast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLISON CHINCHAR, METEOROLOGIST (on camera): Winter weather alerts are already in place across portions of California, Nevada, as well as Oregon as they brace for not one, but two systems that are set to arrive in the coming days. Now, the first wave already started to spread across portions of northern and central California Sunday evening.

Now, the bulk of that moisture is expected to spread eastward into the next 24 to 48 hours. You can see by Monday morning local time, areas of central and even southern California starting to see their rain chances increase as well as snow.

By later on into the afternoon and certainly by the evening, more of that moisture spreads into portions of the inter-mountain west and into the Rockies. But at the same time, the secondary system is right on the heels, meaning that some of these areas really aren't going to get much of a break in-between the two systems.

There is the potential for flooding due to the excessive rainfall, that highest risk is going to be right here, stretching from San Francisco all the way down to San Diego, and that does include the greater Los Angeles area. By the time we push into Tuesday, most of the focus is really just going to be in southern California for that flood threat.

Now overall, we are talking pretty substantial amounts of rain and snow for many of these areas. Rain is going to be highest along the coastal regions of Oregon as well as northern and central California, where we could be looking at 2 to 5 inches of rain.

Snowpack is going to be measured in feet across not only Sierras, but also into the Rockies, and the Rockies desperately needed. In fact, much of this western region here is actually dealing with portions of severe and even extreme drought. California, not so much, but they desperately need to see some more of that increased snowpack, and it looks like they're going to get it across portions of Colorado.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: Allison, thank you. Still ahead, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is meeting with Hungary's Prime Minister right now after a busy weekend in multiple European cities. We'll have a live report straight ahead.

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SOLOMON: Welcome back. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban today. Rubio arrived in Budapest after a visit to Slovakia and on the back of the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

That's where he told European leaders that the U.S. and Europe quote, "belong together". But on Sunday, Rubio said that the White House wants Europe to reduce its dependence on the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE, UNITED STATES: We don't want Europe to be dependent on -- we're not asking Europe to be a vassal of the United States. We want to be your partner. We want to work with Europe. We want to work with our allies. We want to work in cooperation with you.

And our point has been and continues to be the stronger you are, both on an individual basis in terms of countries and collectively as an -- as an alliance, the stronger the members of NATO are, the stronger NATO is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: OK, let's go to CNN's Melissa Bell, who joins us live this morning from Paris. Melissa, turning back to that meeting between Rubio and Orban, we know that President Trump recently supported Orban's bid for re-election. As we await both leaders comments, what more do we know about Rubio's meeting with Viktor Orban?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that these are allies. Hungary and the United States, the MAGA-aligned countries of Europe. No surprise that this is where Marco Rubio has chosen to make his European pit stop after the Munich Conference.

S, Bratislava in Slovakia, where he saw Robert Fico, but also Viktor Orban. We know that at the heart of these meetings is not just the symbolism of having the American Secretary of State head to these two countries that are in a fairly conflictual relationship with the European Union, close allies of Russia at odds with Europe on a number of issues, not least their energy supply.

And that is where the United States believes that it can help as well. They spoke about it with Robert Fico in Bratislava, and we understand that at the heart of the visit today is also what the United States can do to help in Hungary's fight with the EU over European plans to cut off Russian gas supplies specifically.

So, there are those very concrete issues, but also the important symbolism as you mentioned a moment ago, Rahel, the fact that in just a few weeks time, Hungary will go to the polls in an election that is likely to be the toughest that Viktor Orban has faced so far as he takes on Peter Magyar, he has the best chances of defeating Orban than we've seen in any recent elections in Hungary.

That is the important context.