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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
China Turning To AI For Policing, Propaganda, Surveillance; Minneapolis Struggles With Fear After Immigration Operation; Trump To Order Release Of Government Records On Alien Life, UFOs. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired February 20, 2026 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00]
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: They have been trying to continue their recovery mission for the bodies of eight skiers who died in an avalanche hear Lake Tahoe on Tuesday. One skier is still missing and presumed dead. The avalanche is the deadliest in California's recorded history and it has forced officials to close all lands and trails in the Castle Peak area of the Tahoe National Forest until next month.
And this year ski season in Europe has been especially deadly and an intense rainy season means that's more snow in the mountains, which has led to several avalanches. One led to some scary moments this week for people on a train in the Alps. No one was hurt but as you see in this video you can see just how sudden and forceful an avalanche can be.
Dozens have people have died in the avalanches across a large part of the Alps. Several communities in Switzerland and Northern Italy have had to evacuate due to heavy snowstorms.
And still ahead for us what sounds like a science fiction movie is becoming a reality in China. We'll take a deep dive into authoritarian AI when we return.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:35:38]
SOLOMON: Welcome back to EARLY START. The time now is 5:35 and this is your business breakout.
Let's start with where U.S. futures stand ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street. And at this point futures are all pointed to a higher open.
A few things for investors to sink their teeth into today. We have the first estimate of fourth-quarter GDP. We also have the PCE report being released -- of course, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge. So lots of data on the economic front.
Checking some of today's other business headlines, as tensions flare between the U.S. and Iran investors are seeing the impacts. Gold has risen more than two percent in the past few days, topping $5,000 an ounce. This is as oil prices spike to their highest level in nearly seven years amidst fears that Iran could shut down the Strait of Hormuz. About 20 million barrels of oil pass through the waterway daily.
Walmart no longer the world's largest company. Amazon has now surpassed Walmart in sales, breaking its 13-year streak. Amazon posted $717 billion in sales last year, topping Walmart's $713 billion. Revenue growth and cloud computing, advertising, and other businesses helped it overtake Walmart.
And Nestle says it's getting out of the ice cream business. The world's biggest food company said that it is in advance negotiations to sell its ice cream business to its joint venture partner Froneri. The company says that it is prioritizing coffee, pet care, and food. Another food giant, Unilever, spun off its ice cream unit in December.
Well, China is reportedly using artificial intelligence and millions of surveillance cameras to monitor its citizens to the tune of three cameras for every seven people.
CNN's Will Ripley gives us a chilling look inside China's expanding AI surveillance state.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Kung Fu meets artificial intelligence. Humanoid robots powered by advanced AI performing live on China's biggest stage. On Chinese social media this AI-generated video --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You roll up here dressed like a robot.
RIPLEY (voiceover): -- robot dogs and soldiers liberating a backward impoverished United States --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
RIPLEY (voiceover): -- seizing guns, commandeering churches.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They came here for the worst.
RIPLEY (voiceover): A dystopian vision of a future America under Chinese control powered by drones and AI tech made in China, some of it already in use.
These are robotic traffic police operating right now on streets in China using cameras and artificial intelligence to manage traffic in real time. U.S. experts refer to it as "authoritarian AI" tech- designed to watch people, maintain control, and in some cases step in automatically without a human having to make the call.
This report from ASPI says China is using AI to turbocharge surveillance of its 1.4 billion people with as many as 600 million cameras -- roughly three cameras for every seven people. Many are now AI-enabled, tracking faces, movements, and behavioral patterns. The report says Chinese authorities use algorithms to predict people's actions, forecasting protests, flagging what authorities call "abnormal behavior." Even claiming to monitor the emotional state of prison inmates to stop dissent before it ever happens.
China's foreign ministry in Beijing tells CNN, "ASPI is anti-China" and long known for "fabricating numerous lies and false information." "China's biggest tech firms are key to making this work," the report says.
ByteDance censors politically sensitive content on Douyin, the Chinese TikTok. Tencent assigns risk scores to users based on online behavior. Baidu sells AI moderation tools used in criminal investigations. CNN reached out to all three companies. So far, no response.
AI-powered weapons are also being deployed in China's military, the kind of technology Beijing imagines could play a future role in attacking Taiwan, a scenario illustrated in this AI-generated propaganda video from the People's Liberation Army.
[05:40:05]
China's military is also developing drones that swarm the way animals hunt, copying insects, hawks, even apex predators. AI-controlled weapons could someday coordinate, adapt, and keep attacking without waiting for human commands.
RIPLEY: China argues the U.S. is doing this too, pointing to a Georgetown University report. ICE has built huge AI-driven surveillance systems capable of pulling data on most American adults in the name of national security.
The big question: Are we heading toward a future where life and death decisions are made by algorithms and not people?
Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: Still to come, as the Trump administration defends its aggressive immigration enforcement tactics many are living in fear of deportation. How that's impacting Minnesota's economy coming up next.
Plus, why the U.S. government its worst of the worst website has hundreds of mistakes. This story and more after the break.
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[05:45:30]
SOLOMON: Welcome back. I'm Rahel Solomon, and here are some of the stories we are watching for you today.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor remains under investigation after being released from police custody. Right now authorities continue to search his former home in Berkshire. The former prince was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office but has not yet been charged. Actor Eric Dane has died at age 53. Dane steamed up primetime TV on
"GREY'S ANATOMY" at the height of the show's popularity. A statement from his publicist says that he died on Thursday following a courageous battle with ALS.
President Trump says that he will make a decision on possible military action against Iran within the next 10 to 15 days. Trump is trying to pressure Tehran to agree to a new nuclear deal after he pulled the U.S. out of the previous deal during his first term. Sources say that the U.S. could be ready to attack Iran as early as this weekend though officials do not expect strikes to happen that soon.
The Trump administration is still facing criticism over its immigration enforcement policy. That includes in Minneapolis where the recent immigration operation is causing fear for many residents. As CNN's Omar Jimenez reports, the city now struggles with the economic fallout from the operation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN You look out here -- I mean, look, there are plenty of tables here, but I don't see --
DANIEL HERNANDEZ, OWNER, COLONIAL MARKET: Plenty of tables, 99 percent closed --
JIMENEZ: -- anybody here.
HERNANDEZ: -- you know.
JIMENEZ (voiceover): It's typically full at this immigrant-led market in south Minneapolis, residents say. Danny Hernandez comes here often. He owns a set of grocery stores in the area and worries about what comes after ICE agents begin to leave Minnesota.
HERNANDEZ: After the storm there is the cleanup. There is the aftermath. How many people actually are going to be able to reopen their businesses? The next biggest need in Minnesota is going to be eviction.
JIMENEZ (voiceover): We walked this market just before the Trump administration announced it was ending its surge of federal agents, but the fear from it was already deep-rooted.
GLADYS RAMOS BENITES, SHOP OWNER, PERMANENT RESIDENT: (Crying) (Speaking foreign language):
TEXT: We only want to work.
JIMENEZ (voiceover): Gladys Ramas Benites flagged us down as we walked through. She owns two newly struggling shops in the market and tells us she has legal status but that for the first time in her decades working in the U.S. she's now behind on her house payments.
BENITES: (Speaking foreign language). TEXT: Go after the scammers. Go after the thieves, but not us. We pay taxes. We support the United States. I'm desperate. I'm sick. My nerves can't take it anymore. My anxiety is killing me. I can't sleep. But I can't stop coming.
JIMENEZ (voiceover): It hasn't just been business either.
CHIEF BRIAN O'HARA, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE DEPARTMENT: It's just been a dramatic increase in calls for service around ICE activity that's happening in the city.
JIMENEZ: In terms of task forces tracing weapons that are used in crimes -- I mean, you work with federal partners --
O'HARA: Yes.
JIMENEZ: -- every day.
O'HARA: Every single day.
JIMENEZ: Has this changed those relationships in any way?
O'HARA: It hasn't changed the individual relationships but many of the prosecutors have left. Some of the agents are now gone. So a lot of people's time is being diverted from the serious cases that had the most impact to immigration issues.
JIMENEZ (voiceover): Some of the federal immigration enforcement efforts have arrested or detained people with violent criminal records. But many haven't, like this refugee family here legally as they move forward with their process. They now largely stay indoors. Their son was detained for days. He suspects it was because he recently got a speeding ticket. They didn't want their faces or names used in this interview.
JIMENEZ: (Speaking foreign language).
TEXT: You still can't' sleep?
MOTHER: No.
TEXT: Why?
MOTHER: I have nightmares.
TEXT: What are you thinking of?
MOTHER: (Crying) (Speaking foreign language).
TEXT: Because all of this is really affecting my family, truly. Sorry.
JIMENEZ: No, no. It's OK. It's OK.
JIMENEZ (voiceover): In the middle of the interview a neighbor was at the door asking about one of our team members' black SUV parked outside. PHOTOGRAPHER: (Speaking foreign language)
TEXT: No, no, we're only doing a report.
JIMENEZ (voiceover): Our photographer reassures them we're just doing an interview.
PHOTOGRAPHER: (Speaking foreign language).
TEXT: Don't worry, everything is OK.
MOTHER: (Speaking foreign language).
TEXT: We're all scared.
PHOTOGRAPHER: (Speaking foreign language).
MOTHER: (Speaking foreign language).
TEXT: Relax neighbor. Nothing is going to happen.
[05:50:00]
JIMENEZ (voiceover): Neighbors vigilant. Business owners navigating a new reality.
BENITES: (Speaking foreign language).
TEXT: All vacant. This wasn't like this.
JIMENEZ (voiceover): This day she says she took a babysitting job later just for extra cash and that this shop may not survive.
BENITES: (Speaking foreign language).
TEXT: I'm almost 70 years old. My plan was different. But now, with one kick, they knocked it all down and this may possibly come to an end.
JIMENEZ: Now, for perspective, the city of Minneapolis estimates this federal surge cost the city more than $200 million in January alone and that it would take at least that for these community groups and businesses to be made whole.
Another business leader I spoke to likened the recovery here to COVID and that it's not going to happen overnight but it's going to a gradual return as people begin to feel more comfortable.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has defended its surge of federal agents to the city as DHS has claimed that they've arrested thousands of undocumented immigrants since the beginning of their operation there. But this is also an operation that included two dead Americans, included another person shot by an ICE agent whom is now being investigated by ICE for potentially lying about that incident. And now this trail of fear in its wake for some that, again, won't change overnight. Omar Jimenez, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: And now to a CNN exclusive. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is admitting that its website showcasing arrested immigrants that they claimed were "the worst of the worst" contained errors. They made the admission after CNN analysis of the site found discrepancies in the charges associated with hundreds of immigrants on the site.
The Trump administration has heavily promoted the site on social media to justify its aggressive immigration enforcement tactics.
In response to CNN's review of the site, a Homeland Security spokesperson said that the discrepancies were due to a glitch.
A large banner of Donald Trump is sparking controversy after it was hung outside the Justice Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. It makes -- and features the slogan "Make America Safe Again." The banner is a departure from previous administrations that tried to distance the DOJ from politics and emphasize instead its independence.
President Trump has been accused of using the Justice Department to target his political enemies, but the DOJ says that its investigations are not political.
Similar banners have been seen elsewhere in D.C. at other departments and other agencies.
Well, still ahead for us after the break, the comeback kid goes for gold. The near flawless Olympic routine from Team USA coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:57:05]
SOLOMON: It was a big day for Team USA at the Olympics in Italy as the women's hockey team took home the gold defeating the defending champs from Canada in a nailbiter.
Canada scoring in the first period and holding the lead at 1-0 for most of the game, but U.S. captain Hilary Knight tying it up with just two minutes left in the third period sending the game into sudden death overtime. American Megan Keller scored the winner just four minutes into the extra period.
Canada had to settle for the silver medal.
Team USA's Alysa Liu took home gold in the fiercely competitive women's figure skating at the Winter Olympics. Liu landed all of her jumps earning a final score of 226.79 between the short program and free skate. Well, that catapulted Liu to the top spot on the podium, beating out Japan's three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto. Liu is first American women's figure skater to claim gold in two decades.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ALYSA LIU, TEAM USA GOLD MEDALIST, WOMEN'S FIGURE SKATING: I have no idea how I'm going to deal with it. Probably wigs. I'm going to wear some wigs when I go outside. Um, no, I'm playing. Um, I hope that, you know, with all this attention I can at least raise awareness about, like, mental health in sports and mental health in general. Um, and I think my story is pretty cool and so I hope that it will inspire some people as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: And some thrilling Olympic events are scheduled for today, including the men's half-pipe final and the men's ice hockey semifinals where Canada will play Finland and USA will play Slovakia. The women's curling semifinals are also today. USA will play Switzerland and Canada will play Sweden.
And here's where the leaderboard stands right now. Norway is out in front with 16 golds and 34 total medals. The U.S. has nine golds and 27 total medals. Italy also has nine golds. France and the Netherlands both have six.
Well, President Trump says that he will direct U.S. government agencies to declassify and release government records related to extraterrestrial life and UFOs. His comments come days after former President Barack Obama appeared to confirm the existence of aliens in a podcast interview. It's an assertion that President Trump took some issue with.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN TYLER COHEN, YOUTUBER, PODCAST HOST: Are aliens real?
BARACK OBAMA, (D) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Uh, they're real but I haven't seen them and they're not being kept in, what is it --
COHEN: Area 51.
OBAMA: -- area 51. There's no underground facility unless there's this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the President of the United States.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, he gave classified information and he's not supposed to be doing that, you know.
REPORTER: So aliens are real?
TRUMP: Well, I don't know if they're real or not. I can tell you he gave classified information and he's not supposed to be doing that. He ran -- he made a big mistake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Obama later clarified that he was talking about the statistical likelihood of life existing on other planets. [06:00:00]
And after 25 years off the air "BAYWATCH" is back. Thousands gathered on a beach near Los Angeles Wednesday for a chance to audition for a reboot of the TV show. The original series ran for 11 seasons centering on beach lifeguards facing high-stakes rescues. The show later became the most-watched TV series in the world. Producers say the revival will be on the same California beaches that made "BAYWATCH" famous. It is set to air later this year.
And that'll do it for us here on EARLY START this week. I'm Rahel Solomon. "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now.
