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The Situation Room

Sheriff Expands Request For Video From Guthrie's Neighbors; Partial Govt. Shutdown Could Take Effect After Midnight; Border Czar: MN Immigration Enforcement Surge Will Soon End. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired February 13, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:01:09]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, hunt for evidence. Arizona investigators say they have, "good leads" in their search for Nancy Guthrie, as the FBI doubles its reward for any information that leads them to her or whoever took her.

And partial shutdown lawmakers leave Washington without any kind of plan to keep Homeland Security fully funded, as Democrats hold onto their list of demands.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Pamela Brown. Wolf Blitzer has the morning off. And you're in The Situation Room.

Happening now, the FBI releases new details and is expanding its efforts in the search for Nancy Guthrie. The Bureau says the masked gunman captured on her doorbell video is now officially a suspect. He stands between 5'9 and 5'10 and has an average build. This new profile identifies the backpack the suspect was wearing.

It's a black 25-liter Ozark Trail hiker pack. You can see a new one right there on the left. The FBI also says it has received more than 13,000 tips and has doubled its reward to $100,000.

Let's go live now to CNN's Ed Lavandera in Tucson. Ed, authorities are reaching out to Nancy Guthrie's neighbors for that camera video and expanding the distance and time frame of that search. What more can you tell us?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, they're pouring through a mountain of video evidence, presumably coming into them, and this is, we've learned over the last 24 hours, that investigators are trying to expand as much of the video collection that they can. One of the things that they're asking for is residents within a two-mile radius of Nancy Guthrie's home to look for video on their home camera systems of anything suspicious or a vehicle from January 1st to February 2nd, so that's a great deal of time there.

We've also seen another alert to some more specific areas in the neighborhood asking for video from January 11th between 9:00 p.m. and midnight, as well as January 31st from 9:00 to 11.30 in the morning, so those are a little more specific time frames in a more specific area of this neighborhood, but clearly they are trying desperately to find something suspicious in these videos that would lead them to the man that was seen in these video images that were taken and captured by the front doorbell camera there at Nancy Guthrie's home. Pamela?

BROWN: And you have this new reporting on the conflicting reports over the handling of the evidence in this case. What can you tell us about that?

LAVANDERA: Yes, last night there were a couple of news reports talking about how, accusing Sheriff Chris Nanos, the sheriff here in Pima County, of blocking the FBI from accessing DNA evidence. One law enforcement source confirmed to CNN that story. Another law enforcement source told CNN that the stories are overblown and that the agents and investigators are all working side by side.

I spoke with Sheriff Nanos this morning, and he told me that no one is blocking anyone, that it's just crazy stuff that is being said, that they are focused on finding Nancy Guthrie. And he says that they have some good leads because of these new video images. They're following up on that this morning. He says the entire experience in this investigation has felt like a rollercoaster ride, but that they're still hopeful that they'll find Nancy Guthrie. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Ed Lavandera, thanks for bringing us the latest there. And of course, we just want to say it again, if you have any information that could help investigators, call the number on your screen. The FBI tip line is 1-800-CALL-FBI and the Pima County Sheriff's Department at 520-351-4900.

Happening now, another partial government shutdown seems likely at midnight. Senate Democrats are holding up funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes Customs and Border Patrol, ICE, and other agencies. But notably, those immigration agencies have already been funded, so they will not be impacted.

[11:05:12]

The Democrats are demanding changes to how federal agents operate, prompted by the recent deadly shootings by agents in Minneapolis. So let's go live now to CNN congressional correspondent Lauren Fox. Lauren, is there any progress toward ending this funding impasse before the midnight deadline?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, right now, it doesn't look like that's going to be the case, Pam. And the biggest evidence we have of that, right, is that Republican leaders have told their members that they can go home for this week-long recess. They're on standby in case some deal comes together in the 11th hour. But these negotiations have just been very painstaking, very slow. The White House and Senate Democrats have been trading paper back and forth, trading legislative text back and forth, but they are nowhere near close to a deal, according to sources that we are talking to. Instead, Senate Democrats were not even willing to vote yesterday on the floor for a short-term extension of DHS funding, arguing that they didn't believe that these negotiations were serious and detailed enough to warrant them to vote for that. Obviously, Democrats are trying to make this about immigration enforcement, arguing they don't want DHS to get one more penny of funding until they see reforms for the way that immigration enforcement is happening around the country.

Now, it is important to point out that the President's big, beautiful bill that was passed over the summer includes seven times the amount of funding for ICE and CBP immigration enforcement than the annual appropriations process would typically give them. That means that it's very easy for DHS to reprogram this money and ensure that they can continue with immigration enforcement around the country, which is why Republicans are arguing that this is really going to be a shutdown that impacts agencies like the TSA as well as the Coast Guard, and their argument is essentially that Democrats are having a messaging moment rather than really trying to impact policy.

Meanwhile, Democrats are arguing, you said you were willing to come to the negotiating table on some of these reforms we want, and yet we haven't seen serious progress. So, we will continue to track these negotiations, it's just really unclear right now, Pam, how they're going to thread the needle because it doesn't seem like they are close at all in coming to an agreement.

BROWN: Here we go again. All right, Lauren Fox, thanks so much.

Well, still ahead here in The Situation Room, cautious relief. How the mayor of Minneapolis is reacting this morning and looking ahead to what's next as a month-long immigration enforcement surge in his city comes to an end.

And the impact of tariffs, who's bearing the burden of President Trump's signature economic policy as his own party shows signs of tariff fatigue. You're in The Situation Room. And we'll be right back.

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[11:12:31]

BROWN: Happening now, Homeland Security is preparing to wind down its massive surge in Minneapolis. It was the largest immigration enforcement operation in U.S. history, resulting in mass protests, the deadly shootings of two U.S. citizens, and bipartisan backlash.

White House Border Czar Tom Homan said it will end soon. CNN's Kaitlan Collins asked Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey about it just last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR JACOB FREY (D), MINNEAPOLIS: Obviously, it's a step in the right direction. I know that there will be hundreds of thousands of people that are extraordinarily relieved, and at the same time, we'll believe it when we see it. This has been an operation that has been devastating, even catastrophic. So it's kind of a set of emotions that I'm experiencing at the same time, and I know that I'm not unique in that, of course, there is great relief, but it is cautious relief.

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TAPPER: With us now is Deborah Fleischaker. She's a former acting chief of staff of ICE. Thank you so much for joining us. So I just want to start by asking you, what do you make of the withdrawal announcement in Minneapolis?

DEBORAH FLEISCHAKER, FORMER ACTING CHIEF OF STAFF, ICE: Thanks so much for having me. Look, I think it's clear, the announcement that they're going to draw down in Minneapolis is good news, as far as that goes. I think that the question is what comes next, and I don't think that's clear.

I think that there are -- is some sense that the administration wants to take the temperature down, which is good, but I don't think that the emphasis on immigration enforcement is going to change. It just may either be focused in a different location or be more intense enforcement nationwide.

BROWN: Yes, that's a big question, sort of what's next here. In your view, what can ICE do to avoid the kind of community friction for the next operation?

FLEISCHAKER: I think ICE could go back to doing its operations in the way that it used to do them, which caused much less friction. I think that there are -- they could really be doing very targeted enforcement, with limited or no enforcement on the people around that target. I think they could be doing the majority of their enforcement by picking people up out of prisons and jails, which focuses enforcement on real public safety threats as opposed to the general public.

I think that they could stop doing enforcement in what are called sensitive locations, like churches, hospitals, schools, which have real wide impact on the community at large. I don't get any sense that ICE is interested in sort of tying its hands in those ways, but those are the kinds of things that ICE could do that would cause much less chaos on the streets and many less problems in communities.

[11:15:28]

BROWN: So ICE is, of course, part of Homeland Security. It is funded, and other immigration and CBP is funded as well because of the so- called Big Beautiful Bill. But bottom line is Homeland Security is set to run out of funding tonight. Democrats have a list of demands. So while the immigration enforcement won't be impacted, there are other areas under DHS that will, including TSA and FEMA, cybersecurity, that kind of thing. How feasible are these reforms that Democrats are demanding here?

FLEISCHAKER: There are a lot of reforms that the Democrats are demanding that are very doable and that have been done for years and years and years until recently. So you should follow the Fourth Amendment. You can't enter a home without consent, without a warrant, right? That seems very common sense. That was the consensus agreement on what the Fourth Amendment required until recently.

You can require agents to wear badges and not be masked. Those seem like very common-sense reforms that shouldn't be controversial, and they wouldn't have been until the past year. You can require body cameras with appropriate restrictions on when they're used, when they aren't, and how to protect people's privacy. That seems like a no- brainer. Some of these things shouldn't be controversial, and yet we find ourselves in a place where they are.

BROWN: But what do you say to those who, you know, say these reforms go too far? For example, the mask, like, these agents are wearing the mask to protect themselves because they've been doxed. Attacks have gone up against ICE agents and threats as well. What do you say to that argument?

FLEISCHAKER: I think people should take doxing very seriously. I support treating doxing seriously. But that's a separate question. Law enforcement and public officials all around the country do not wear masks. ICE are the only people who are wearing them. They are not the only people who are at risk of being doxed. And so I think that it's a little bit of a red herring. We need to separate the two arguments. If ICE agents are being doxed, that's inappropriate and should be handled seriously. But it's not an excuse to wear a mask and to hide your identity.

BROWN: I also want to ask you about the Marimar Martinez case. She was shot by a Customs and Border Protection agent in Chicago last year after her car had collided with an agent's vehicle. All charges against her were dropped. I want to take a look and look at this new evidence from the case, the body camera video, I believe we have it.

All right. So there's no audio, obviously. But what you see in this video does not align with the initial narrative from DHS that she was intentionally ramming the car and so forth. And I wonder what your reaction is when you see video and text messages that dispute the government's initial account of what happened.

FLEISCHAKER: I think that it is a demonstration of how this administration has handled immigration enforcement from the beginning. It's defend the actions of the agents at all costs, rush to judgment, indicate what's happened before all the facts are there, and then maybe walk it back a little bit later when we understand what's actually happened or when the proof refutes what they've been saying.

I think it's a clear demonstration of the type of overreach that's happening over and over. And we should all be concerned about what we're seeing.

BROWN: Yes, we just had this other case where the DOJ filed a motion to dismiss charges against two Venezuelan men who DHS initially claimed assaulted a federal agent in Minneapolis. So there are now several examples where the initial account from DHS doesn't hold up, whether it's in the court of law or the evidence that's released to the public. All right, Deborah Fleischaker, thank you so much.

FLEISCHAKER: Thank you. [11:19:47]

BROWN: And up next, the FBI is now doubling its reward for information in the Nancy Guthrie investigation as authorities share their clearest description yet of her suspected abductor.

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BROWN: Happening now, sentencing for the au pair who was charged in the Brendan Banfield murder trial. Juliana Peres Magalhaes admitted to plotting with Banfield to kill his wife and another man. She pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges after testifying against Banfield during the trial. A jury ultimately found Banfield guilty on all counts in the murders. And according to the au pair's plea deal, the recommended sentence is time served.

[11:25:05]

All right, happening now, Canada reels from the shock of its deadliest school mass shooting in decades. The province of British Columbia held a day of mourning yesterday for eight people killed and dozens wounded in the tiny town of Tumbler Ridge. Police say the shooter killed the mother and 11-year-old stepbrother before going to the secondary school and killing five students and a teacher. Investigators say the 18-year-old killer, who was transgender, then committed suicide.

The heartbroken parents of a 12-year-old girl who was gunned down praised a fellow student who tried to save their daughter's life. Let's listen.

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LANCE YOUNGE, FATHER OF 12-YEAR-OLD KYLIE SMITH: There's a hero named Maddie Levesque who did CPR on my daughter for 45 minutes. And she was the one who came and told us nine hours later that our daughter had passed because the police hadn't said anything to us. These are the heroes. You want to put someone's picture up on the news, put Maddie's picture up, put my daughter's picture up and Takaria and Abel and Ezekiel and Maya who's still fighting for her life, put all their pictures up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: You can just look at that and just feel their pain. Police say the killer posted about guns and hunting on a YouTube channel and then appeared to have written about struggling with mental health online. But investigators are still searching for a motive. We'll be right back.

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