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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
Violence Flares After Mexican Military Kills Cartel Boss El Mencho; Many Tourists Anxious to Escape Mexico Amid Unrest; Trump to Deliver State of the Union Address on Tuesday; Northeastern U.S. Reeling from Historic Bomb Cyclone; More Than 6,000 Flights in U.S. Cancelled Monday Amid Storm; Historic Nor'easter Winter Storm Begins to Wind Down; Ukrainian President Speaks to CNN as War Enters 5th Year. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired February 24, 2026 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much. And thank you all for watching. Polo Sandoval picks up the coverage next.
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to all of our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Polo Sandoval live in New York in tonight for my colleague Elex Michaelson who's hopefully enjoying a well-deserved night off.
And tonight the top story is in Mexico. A calculated decision by the Mexican government to take out Mexico's most wanted drug lord. It has set off a wave of violence across the country, and it's left many Americans stranded at this hour. They've been flooding the U.S. State Department's crisis hotline and told to seek shelter and to stay put. Mexico deploying thousands of troops amid this unrest.
Mexico's president says that they are maintaining peace and security and that things are slowly getting back to normal. And this is after the Mexican military killed a notorious kingpin known as El Mencho in the state of Jalisco. He was known to be a co-founder and leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. You look at this map, we want to show you, and you can see that it actually operates throughout most of Mexico.
And the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in the U.S. says that the cartel and its affiliates, that they operate in almost all U.S. states. Washington calling it one of the five most dangerous criminal organizations in the world. About a year ago the Trump administration labeled it a foreign terrorist organization. And since Sunday its members have had clashes with security forces, igniting fires and setting up hundreds of roadblocks at various Mexican states.
And there are growing worries at this hour that chaos, it could devolve into an all-out turf war among drug traffickers. Some of that infighting that we've seen in previous instances, or possibly that the cartels could declare a narco-war against the Mexican government.
Here's one concerned person in Mexico. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FABIOLA CORTES, ELEMENTARY TEACHER (through translator): Well, the truth is, the whole situation that's happening is very serious. Unfortunately, it's not the first time we're experiencing this, but this time it does seem a bit more worrying because there's no successor to the cartel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: CNN's David Culver traveled to the Mexican city of Guadalajara, a base for many of the cartel's operations. Here's his report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're about to touch down. This is one of the few commercial flights that's actually able to land in Guadalajara today. This plane will be fully booked with a very long standby list of people eager to get out.
I mean, this is what you see as soon as you walk out of baggage claim. You've got crowds of folks who are sitting with all their luggage. You've got people who have turned their luggage into furniture, propping their legs up. Some of them essentially camping out under blankets. And many of them seem to be here without even anywhere to go.
They don't have flights. They don't have a confirmed ticket. They don't even know if they have a ticket, if the plane will take off.
And how confident are you you'll be flying out tonight?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hopefully.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sixty percent.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like it's a 50-50 for me.
CULVER: You don't feel internally at ease.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. It feels like eerily quiet right now and then like you read online, that, OK, maybe the cartels are regrouping and maybe it's going to get worse now. And --
CULVER: You just want out of here at this point.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. 100 percent. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Just want to go home.
CULVER: You just want to go home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes. I'm five months pregnant.
CULVER: You're five months.
ANITA EGSDAL LUTTA, STRANDED TOURIST: Yes.
MARTIN EGSDAL LUTTA, STRANDED TOURIST: We cannot run if anything actually happens.
A. LUTTA: No.
M. LUTTA: And then also, like, just to keep the baby healthy, how are we going to get food? Are we going to be able to have clean water?
CULVER: So where will you sleep?
A. LUTTA: We don't know yet. We'll just take it --
M. LUTTA: (INAUDIBLE).
A. LUTTA: Yes. Take it by the minute and see what happens.
CULVER: Is it possible you'll end up sleeping here tonight?
A. LUTTA: Possibly. Yes.
CULVER: You've got army national guard, and then let's see, they're searching some of the vehicles it looks like there. I mean, in the middle of the highway the car burnt out. I mean, another very obvious sign of narcoterrorism targeting a popular convenience store. This OXXO, look at it, torched.
(Voice-over): The chaos erupted Sunday after Mexican authorities launched an operation against the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. The main target, the cartel boss himself, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, better known as El Mencho. Mexican special forces raided his compound in the town of Tapalpa, led there, officials say, through a romantic connection of El Mencho.
Video recorded by locals and geolocated by CNN showed the Mexican military swarming the area after confirming his location. The cartel leader captured and injured during the operation. Officials say he died en route to Mexico City for treatment.
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El Mencho was wanted on drug trafficking charges by both Mexico and the United States. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called him a top target for both countries, and said the U.S. provided Mexico with intelligence support ahead of the operation. His death sparking a wave of retaliatory violence across at least 20 Mexican states, but nowhere worse than in the cartel's stronghold of Jalisco and especially in the coastal city and American tourist hotspot, Puerto Vallarta.
Large plumes of smoke seen covering the city. As tourists hunkered down inside one of the many hotels, the cartel set barricades on fire across the city. Many stranded after airlines suspended flights amidst the violence.
Here in the state capital Guadalajara, set to host World Cup games in just a few months, fierce clashes between gangs and the police. One video showing a man seemingly trying to set a truck on fire.
And what you see over my shoulder is not normal. That's the Mexican army posted here at a gas station right next to the airport, and the reason they're here is because gas stations like you saw there, convenience stores, and even just vehicles in the highway have become targets. And so they're hoping to at least show some force so as to deter any of that further violence. As far as when things will get back to, quote-unquote, "normal" here, as of now, there's no indication that that will be anytime soon.
David Culver, CNN, Guadalajara, Mexico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: With me now is Christopher Sweeney, who is staying at an Airbnb vacation in Mexico when these attacks began.
Christopher, tell us a little bit about how long you've been there, when were you supposed to go back to Canada?
CHRISTOPHER SWEENEY, CANADIAN TOURIST STRANDED IN MEXICO: Well, the attacks started early yesterday morning and I was in my -- in the Airbnb overlooking Puerto Vallarta, and clouds started pouring out the back, the outside the building. And I was watching the Canadian- American hockey match and so I started ignored it for a bit. And then you started hearing some gunshots. What, again, I thought was backfires.
But then we went out the window and we saw some vehicles burning, and then it started spreading across the city. So it was really quite shocking actually to see it all happening so quickly and unexpectedly. So, yes, so we were, I was supposed to be leaving yesterday, and it's been delayed at least until tomorrow. We will see. I'm with Air Canada, and it's day to day, so, any case, but yesterday was really quite something and seeing the spontaneous violence right across the city, it was all really quick.
And so within half an hour there was fires throughout the city. So, yes, it was really -- and right away we were told you couldn't leave the building and because this is an Airbnb condo situation there's no real restaurant and so there's no food. Plus another issue which affected the whole community was a lot of the workers couldn't get to work on Monday morning to service -- you know, work in the hotels.
And so there was no food. Everything closed down. Everything closed down. That was the strangest thing that just everything completely shut down. There was nothing open. And so the biggest concern, not concern, but obviously for safety, but then it's like, OK, where are we going to eat? And there's nobody has any information. The locals are all terrified as well. This has never happened before in Puerto Vallarta. So it's a shock for them as well.
SANDOVAL: Mexican resort towns in general, I mean, they have usually been spared much of this decades old narco violence. But the Mexican military said on Monday that it has deployed additional troops to try to safeguard Mexican communities. Based on what you've experienced, what -- I mean, is that reassuring to you? And then when you speak to people who live there, do they feel safer with that?
SWEENEY: Well, the locals are terrified because this has never happened in this area before. It's always happened in other parts of Mexico. And so they're as uncertain about everything as we are, but what there is no sign from my viewpoint, I was overlooking the city, there was no sign of the police. There was no sign of the military, you know, but seven hours after the attacks began, a helicopter, a marine helicopter, a Mexican marine helicopter, went over the town.
It was really, it was more performance art than anything. Flying around with a guy with machine gun hanging out of it but it was too little too late. And for -- it appeared from our viewpoint that there is no security whatsoever for a number of hours. And I actually went out just to get, you know, see what was going on. And I encountered a cartel guy with a mask on telling me to get -- go away.
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The streets are completely empty and there was no police. There was no military. There was nothing.
SANDOVAL: Yes. That's an absolutely horrifying account. Just this idea that you came face to face with one of these gunmen that was on the streets of a very popular tourist town. But fortunately, as you said earlier, things slowly returning back to normal. But I can imagine very tense nonetheless.
Christopher Sweeney, thank you so much for sharing your story with us. We wish you a safe return home.
SWEENEY: Thank you. Thank you.
SANDOVAL: And we still have a lot more to discuss on Mexico. In the next hour, I'll be speaking with an expert on drug traffickers and drug cartels, and asking, what's next for this particular organization? And also, why did they seek to terrorize civilians in the wake of their leader's death?
U.S. President Donald Trump, he's set to deliver his State of the Union address to the American public on Tuesday, and he's already indicating that it may take some time to cover his lengthy -- his pretty lengthy agenda. He offered a preview of it on Monday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have a country that's now doing well. We have the greatest economy we've ever had. We have the most activity we've ever had. I'm making a speech tomorrow night and you'll be hearing me say that. I mean, it's going to be a long speech because we have so much to talk about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: Well, Americans, they don't seem to share or at least many Americans, they don't seem to share President Trump's optimistic tone, as many of them remain dissatisfied with key issues like the cost of living.
I want to show you a recent poll, a CNN poll that shows 63 percent saying that they disapprove of President Trump's job performance thus far.
President Trump hoping to shift public sentiment toward his policies but his address, it comes as his administration weighs potential strikes on Iran and also battles the fallout from the Epstein files, not to mention a partial government shutdown and also backlash against federal immigration enforcement and the action we've recently seen in Minneapolis.
Meanwhile, the Dow closing down more than 800 points on Monday, roughly 1.7 percent, amid uncertainty over President Trump's new 15 percent global tariff. All of this set to take effect in the coming hours, so we'll certainly see how the markets react the rest of the week.
And Trump did announce them after the Supreme Court struck down other emergency tariffs, saying that he didn't have the authority to issue them. But the new tariffs only last for 150 days before requiring congressional approval to continue, and it remains to be seen just how the president will actually face that hurdle.
On Monday, he posted online saying in part, quote, "As president, I do not have to go back to Congress to get approval of tariffs. It has already been gotten." Again, the words from President Trump.
For more on this let's bring in CNN senior political analyst and Bloomberg opinion columnist Ron Brownstein joining us.
Hey, Ron, it's great to see you.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good evening.
SANDOVAL: So, Ron, tariffs, immigration. These are two issues that President Trump always likes to discuss. No doubt he will certainly spend a lot of his time on Tuesday night on those issues. But given this polling, I mean, do you think that the crucial section of voters, the independent swing voters, will actually have an appetite to hear about those topics versus things like cost of living and other kitchen table issues?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, first of all, you know, part of the way the State of the Union has changed over my life covering politics is that it tends now to be watched primarily by people who already agree with the president, and you don't reach as many independent voters as you used to. I think clearly, you know, Trump is looking at historically low
numbers going into this State of the Union. If he can't recover at least somewhat between now and November, it's going to be a very bad election for Republicans, even though they are defending fewer vulnerable seats in both the House and the Senate than they were in 2018.
So how can he begin to rebuild that support among independents? Well, he's got two big problems, Polo. You know a big slice of voters who moved to him reluctantly in 2020 for those last few million that put him over the top because they thought he would be better on the economy than Joe Biden, they are frustrated both by what he has and what he has not done.
I mean, the has not part is, as you note, they do not feel that he has alleviated the squeeze on their cost of living as much as they expected. And the things that he has done that they are disenchanted with are primarily the tariffs and the way the immigration enforcement has unfolded as well as, you know, a series of other moves like tearing down the East Wing of the White House.
So he has a lot of ground to make up in this speech, and we'll see if he has an inclination to speak to those independent voters and not just really just double down on his base supporters.
SANDOVAL: And then you look at the -- let's talk more about these poll numbers. In fact, we have just the latest CNN polling that shows that that number, below 40 percent, according to that latest CNN poll, specifically when you see some of the numbers there with 48 percent strongly disapproving of how the president is handling his job.
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What do you think, though, the president and certainly his advisers should be focusing on right now? And you briefly touched on what he has been talking about, immigration and certainly terrorists. But what are some of those winning items that the president should perhaps highlight on Tuesday?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, first, can I just underscore the stakes in this? If you look back at the two elections when President Trump was in the White House previously, 2018 and 2020, 90 percent of people who said they disapproved of his performance voted Democratic for the House in each of those elections, according to the exit poll. And at least 89 percent of people who disapproved of him voted Democratic in every Senate race during his first term.
And we saw over 90 percent of the disapprovers vote for Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger in Virginia. So Republicans have an enormous stake in him improving his situation because, you know, you do the math. 90 percent of voting against the Republican Party, if 90 percent of the 60 percent disapprove, that's a clear majority of the country.
So how can Trump get, you know, win some of those voters back? Some of them are probably gone because, I mean, you know, what he has done over his first 15 months is really govern at the farthest edge of the demands of his base, and I think there are voters who have been alienated and are probably not coming back. But for the ones that he can get back, I think it is the economy, stupid, as James Carville would say.
Ultimately, these were voters who had doubts about him in the first place, voted for him anyway because they thought he would make their living -- cost of living situation better, and now that he has failed to do that their original doubts I think are resurfacing and are becoming more salient. I think the only way back for him is to convince them he has answers on the economy. But doubling down on the tariffs, which most Americans believe is compounding, not alleviating their cost of living problems, really isn't a first step toward doing that.
SANDOVAL: Yes. As you mentioned, this cross-section of voters that doesn't seem to be coming back, I did notice that there's another potential warning sign for the president and that has to do with Latino voters, according to this polling.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
SANDOVAL: We should mention, remind viewers around the world that this is a cross-section of voters that he was quite successful with during his last election. Well, now that CNN poll is showing a 19-point plunge over the last year. What do you think is behind that? Is it some of the nation's Latino voters have been witnessing firsthand some of the immigration actions? Or really, does it come back down to economic issues?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, I think it's -- I think it's the combination. You know, first of all, the -- to underscore what you were saying, Trump ran better among Latino voters in 2024 than any Republican presidential candidate in the history of modern polling. And by most accounts, he even won a narrow majority of Latino men. Extraordinary. And I think what's happened to him is really with Latino voters is kind of a purified example of kind of the combination effect that I was just talking about.
They voted for him above all because they thought he was going to make their cost of living better. They don't feel that way at all. They are very frustrated with the economy. And secondly, even though I think you had to twist yourself into knots to reach this conclusion there does seem to be a lot of evidence that many Latino voters, particularly men, believed him when he said that the deportation effort was going to focus on the worst of the worst.
And there's no question that the ubiquity of these videos of kind of routine brutality, often by white male ICE agents against Latino women, you know, I mean, that has had an unbelievable effect. And I was talking about this the other day with the Republican -- Latino Republican activist, it's hard to think of another example where a president made an inroad with a group and then squandered it as quickly as we have seen with Trump here routinely now, you're seeing in multiple polls, not only the CNN poll, 70 percent of Latino voters saying they disapprove of him. He's not only back to where he was in 2020, he's arguably further back
even than that. Now again, you know, when you get to election day, it may be a little better. But there are other major warning signs, you know, in this poll. I mean, you're seeing disapproval ratings among women running up to the mid-60s, significantly higher than it was even in 2018 when Democrats won women by 19 points in the exit polls.
You're seeing disapproval among college educated whites, also running into the mid-60s, much higher than it was again in 2018. The only group that is really sticking with him are his core, those non-college educated, working class whites. But even among them, he is not as strong today as he was in 2018.
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He has work to do between now and November because, as I said, the single best predictor of how midterms turn out in modern American politics is the approval rating of the incumbent president.
SANDOVAL: Yes. It's still just February. There's still some time but there -- and they are just polls. However, there's all sorts of alarms and whistles that should certainly be going off within the Republican Party.
BROWNSTEIN: Can I make one quick point?
SANDOVAL: Yes, go ahead.
BROWNSTEIN: Really quick?
SANDOVAL: Please, yes.
BROWNSTEIN: Really quick. You know, the only -- in his first term he was only down this low after Charlottesville and January 6th. Charlottesville was in August of 2017. It was more than a year away from the midterm election to your point. Now, he's only about eight months away from the election. So the runway is actually quite a bit shorter for recovery than it was leading into that 2018 midterm.
SANDOVAL: That's a really important point. I'll definitely be keeping my eye on Tuesday night, especially the front row. We'll see what Supreme Court justices will be there after Friday's ruling. And I'm sure we'll have a discussion after that.
Ron Brownstein, as always, really appreciate your expertise and all this insight. Thank you.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.
SANDOVAL: And you can watch special coverage of President Trump's State of the Union address right here on CNN. Coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. in Washington, 9:00 a.m. Wednesday in Hong Kong so tune in.
A new clue emerging in the Nancy Guthrie investigation. A source now telling CNN that the last person seen on a doorbell camera footage of the 84-year-old's home the morning she is believed to have been kidnaped, or that that person was also at her doorstep on another night.
Here's why. According to the source the photos and videos of the suspect were taken on two different days. The split screen that you're looking at. Now, one of them was actually taken on February 1st, which is the one that we previously showed you. They do believe that that photo again was taken, on the right, the night that she was abducted. And that's because the masked man is not wearing a backpack in the other photo that you see there, where he appears to be a bit darker, or at least a little bit further away from the camera.
Guthrie, the mother of "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie, she disappeared from her home after she was last seen on January 31st. Investigators still have no leading theory about motives or her whereabouts. Authorities have not ruled out the possibility that more than one person was involved.
London police have made another high profile arrest amid the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. What they're saying about the former British ambassador to the U.S., Peter Mandelson. Plus Ukrainians they've now endured four years of full scale war with Russia. We'll hear from Ukraine's president, says that there needs to be -- and exactly what needs to happen to ensure a lasting peace.
But first, the northeastern United States, it is reeling from a powerful winter storm. A look at all this stunning snowfall that was left behind.
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SANDOVAL: Welcome back to THE STORY IS.
A historic bomb cyclone, it is now exiting New England after blasting the northeastern United States with extreme snowfall, hurricane force wind gusts and blizzard conditions. The storm, it broke records across the region. Take Providence, Rhode Island, for example. It saw the most snowfall, more than three feet, and this as the bomb cyclone turned out to be the city's biggest snowstorm on record.
This drone footage we want to show you from Massachusetts. I mean, we look at it, it shows the storm's fury along that coast as well. There were plenty of watches and warnings that were issued by authorities there along the coast. Extreme winds, they hammered cities and also even took down power lines. The system sparking whiteout conditions and also led to treacherous travels as well as some power outages. In fact in Massachusetts alone, more than 275,000 customers were still without electricity as of Monday night.
And here in New York, snow covered streets and even some frozen bicycles. They can be found in Times Square after this brutal winter storm. Officials have urged residents to avoid unnecessary travel as cleanup efforts continue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK CITY: Frankly this emergency snow shoveling program is one that allows every single sanitation worker to be on the plows, to be on the salt spreaders, to get this city back up and running. It's why they've been able to disperse about 50 million pounds of salt. And then these snow shovelers are the ones who supplement the work, frankly, of the department.
And what we've seen is here in New York City, as is the law, property owners have to clear the sidewalk in front of their property. They have to clear the crosswalk that's abutting them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: And look at these postcard images from Central Park, which is now marking the ninth biggest snowstorm in more than 150 years, with nearly two feet of snow. It really is beautiful.
And for passengers in some of the nation's busiest airports, there's hope that tomorrow will be a better travel day. You see more than 6,000 flights were canceled on Monday because of this winter storm. About 1500 of those were at airports here in the New York area.
CNN's Jason Carroll is in New Jersey with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it has just been a nightmare for travelers on this day. I mean, you can look at it and see what it looks like at this point at Newark International. You could hear a pin drop out here. Basically no flights coming in, no people coming in, no people going out. That's why what you see here are empty security lines and so many cancellations on the board here.
This board actually isn't pretty -- is inaccurate, because it do -- it does still show some flights being -- showing on time. That's not true. This board has not been updated. Those flights are not going to be going out on time.
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At one point, FlightAware, the flight tracking website, put it this way. Throughout the day, flights at all the major airports in New York City, basically, were not taking off.
And not just New York. They also included, at one point, Boston and also Philadelphia International.
So, what happened? The travelers that we spoke to, many of them who couldn't get out, had to end up using this airport as their temporary hotel room. Take a listen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was dropped off at 6 a.m. yesterday morning, because who was going to ride [SIC] you during the day? So, our flight was supposed to leave at 11:45. It got delayed twice.
And then finally, I guess, they fixed the plane, and they were sending a rescue plane. But they winded [SIC] up -- we ended up going on the original plane that was delayed coming in.
CARROLL: Oh, boy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, we got on the actual plane. They were deicing it. And by the time they deiced it, it was the winds, I guess, picked up.
CARROLL: And what time was that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe around -- we were supposed to board. We board at six. Maybe 6:30, 7 p.m. So, we all got off the plane, and then winded [SIC] up sleeping here. So, this is something I'll check off my bucket list.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yesterday, we was out in New York, and then we received an email saying that our flight had been canceled. That's fine. They're going to rebook it.
So, they rebooked the flight for today. No way. Our flight was meant to be for today at 6 p.m. And then they canceled that. Then they rebooked it for 10 p.m.
And we're on our way now in our Uber, right? And then we get another --
CARROLL: A notification.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, a notification, another email saying that our flight has been delayed.
CARROLL: So, what happens next? Many of those travelers that we spoke to won't actually be able to get out tomorrow. They're, in all likelihood, going to have to get out the following day, or maybe even the day after.
It depends, because the carriers don't want to overload the system by taking all those flights that were canceled today and moving them to the following day. So, for many of the folks that we spoke to, that nightmare of trying to get home continues.
Jason Carroll, CNN, Newark.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump, he is pushing back against reports that top military leadership are concerned about a potential conflict with Iran.
He says that it would be easily won, rejecting any concerns about potential casualties and the cost of a major conflict.
U.S. and Iranian officials, they are due to meet in Geneva on Thursday for the latest round of nuclear negotiations. Another U.S. carrier strike group, the USS Gerald Ford, is currently making its way to the region amid the U.S. military buildup.
And President Trump says that he is considering military strikes if Tehran does not agree to a new nuclear deal.
And meanwhile, in Tehran, students, they are still protesting at university campuses. These demonstrations, they are coinciding with mourning ceremonies for those who were killed by security forces during last month's anti-government protests in Iran.
London police say that the former British ambassador to the U.S., Peter Mandelson, has been released on bail. He was arrested on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office amid the growing Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
Mandelson is accused of passing sensitive government information to the convicted sex offender while he was the U.K.'s business secretary. Police have not confirmed any specifics over the investigation that has led to his arrest.
He's also not publicly commented on the allegations, but he did previously apologize for his association with Epstein.
Here in the U.S., celebrity Doctor Peter Attia has resigned as a contributor at CBS News over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Newly -- newly released documents are showing that Attia and the late sex offender exchanged lewd and personal messages with each other.
Now, the doctor was just named as a CBS contributor last month.
Attia has not been accused of any wrongdoing. A spokesperson says that the doctor stepped back so that he wouldn't become a distraction at CBS.
Attia has said that he was never on Epstein's private plane or on his island, and that he never attended his parties and also that he never witnessed any sort of illegal behavior.
CNN has reached out to CBS for comment.
One activist group called Everyone Hates Elon hanging this photograph of Prince Andrew [SIC] in Paris's Louvre Museum. The photo is -- you see there, Andrew, seemingly attempting to hide from photographers in the back of a car. Last week it was on, basically, every newspaper and tabloid.
Well, after -- and the photo actually shows him after leaving that police station following his arrest on Thursday.
[00:35:03]
Well, the photo was accompanied by a label stating, quote, "He's sweating now."
[00:35:07]
The group says that they wanted to send a message that the disgraced royal should be brought to justice. The display was only up for 15 minutes before staff at the museum removed it. Still to come here on THE STORY IS, we'll tell you what Nick Reiner,
the son of Rob Reiner, could face if convicted for killing his parents. Don't go anywhere.
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SANDOVAL: When will winter end? Here in the Northeast, more than a day after heavy snow and hurricane-force winds, that powerful bomb cyclone that's been slamming the Northeastern U.S. is finally winding down.
And while the snowfall is -- seems to be tapering off, the impact of this storm, it is still far from over. You see, as the system begins to leave New England, these strong backside winds will be continuing to gust in that region, making it harder for crews to get out there to fix those utility poles and restore power right now to more than half a million Americans that are still in the dark.
Officials say that the repairs, the clean-up, that it could take days.
Let's go now to CNN meteorologist Derek van Dam for the full forecast.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Step aside, Blizzard of 1978; 2026 just rewrote the history books across the Northeast. Impressive snowfall totals from this latest nor'easter. It was a bomb cyclone. It deepened and strengthened very quickly.
So, not only was the snow impressive, but so was the wind that accompanied the snowflakes flying from the sky.
But get a load of these totals. This is incredible. Keep in mind that millions of Americans reside along this I-95 corridor. This busy stretch from Boston through New York, all the way to Philadelphia, down to the nation's capital.
Now, many locations topped over two feet. Some choice locations saw over 30 inches of snow. That includes Central and Southern portions of Rhode Island, all the way down to the coastline. Yes, Providence actually received their single most amount of snow in a snowstorm. That's something to really consider.
Now, with the snow came the wind, and we're talking about hurricane- force gusts. Look at Montauk Point in New York: 84 miles per hour. Nantucket at 83.
Remember, 74-mile-per-hour sustained winds is equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane.
And this visible satellite imagery taken on Monday shows kind of that definitive eye that was within our nor'easter as it bombed out on the East Coast.
Now, the good news is this storm is exiting very quickly, right? So, we'll get a brief break, a lull in the activity. I don't like to be the bearer of bad news, but we need to face reality. There are additional chances of snowfall later this week, namely Wednesday into Thursday, across some of these hardest hit areas.
This will not be a blockbuster nor'easter once again, but it does have the potential to bring a couple more inches of snowfall to these areas that have already picked up record-setting snow.
So, this is a cumulative right through the weekend, or at least early parts of the weekend. So, two different chances of snow that could lay down 2 to 4 inches of additional snowfall on the coast. So, keep that in mind.
The good news is that temperatures will rise above freezing most days, especially into this weekend, and that should hopefully, quickly melt some of that latest snowpack on the ground.
Back to you.
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SANDOVAL: Nick Reiner has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his parents, Hollywood director Rob Reiner and photographer Michele Singer Reiner.
The 32-year-old was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with his parents' stabbing deaths. Reiner waived his right to a speedy preliminary hearing and was not granted bail.
The charges, carrying a maximum sentence of life in prison or the death penalty. And that's a decision that the L.A. district attorney is not taking lightly.
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NATHAN HOCHMAN, LOS ANGELES COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: This case is a death penalty eligible case. Along those lines, we take the process in which we determine whether or not the death penalty should be sought extremely seriously. And it goes through a very rigorous process.
We will be looking at all aggravating and mitigating circumstances. And we have invited defense counsel to present to us, both in writing and orally in a meeting, any arguments that they would like to make in consideration for our -- our going forward or not going forward with the death penalty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: Rob and Michele Reiner, they were found stabbed to death in their L.A. home last year. Nick Reiner was -- at least he has been in police custody since his arrest in December.
A preliminary hearing in this case, now set for April 29.
Still ahead on THE STORY IS, CNN's interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He tells us what Ukraine would like to see in a peace deal.
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SANDOVAL: Well, it's Tuesday morning in Ukraine, and that, it marks the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion and the start of the full- scale war.
After all these years, Russian airstrikes are still killing civilians across the country, and attacks on power infrastructure is plunging hundreds of large parts of the country into darkness, in the middle of this frigid cold.
Since the war started, nearly 80,000 Ukrainians have officially gone missing. And that's according to the International Commission on Missing People.
But Russians have also suffered the cost of war. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, nearly 1.2 million of its forces have been killed, wounded or missing.
E.U. officials have extended sanctions to pressure Russian President Vladimir -- Vladimir Putin to end this war. But Ukraine is asking its biggest ally, the United States, to stay on its side.
CNN's Clarissa Ward sat down with Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
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CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I've been coming here regularly throughout the war, and I can honestly say that this time it feels different. The morale is the lowest that I have ever seen it. And I wonder, as things stand, do you believe that Ukraine can still win this war?
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: We didn't lose our country, our independence, and freedom. We have it. Now we speak in the capital. Russia is not winning. This is very important. And everybody is asking how long we can hold the line and how long we can stay.
WARD: And how long can you?
ZELENSKYY: You know, it's not about it. We -- we want to do it yesterday. We wanted Putin to stop this war yesterday. And when we speak about how to stop him, first of all, to give the Ukraine security guarantees.
WARD: So, help us understand. What is going on with these security guarantees? What is the holdup?
ZELENSKYY: We have mostly everything. Everything. I think everything in the paper. But it's not still signed it. It's not signed in by the United States.
WARD: Why?
ZELENSKYY: This is the first. I think that the United States wants to sign security guarantees at the same, very same moment when the 20- point plan will be accepted by all of us.
WARD: And is that a problem for you?
ZELENSKYY: I think it's not the problem, but I think I can tell you what is better. For me, it still is not clear that, if Russia will begin again aggression against us. What I wanted very much to have in this, security guarantees.
My question is how partners will react on the aggression of Russia, if it will be.
WARD: So, you want a very specific, in writing, guarantee?
ZELENSKYY: I -- I want very -- I will have good things in this guarantees -- it's true -- between us. It's true. But I want very specific answer, what partners will be ready to do if Putin will come again.
WARD: If you get those security guarantees, would you be willing to accept a frozen front line, whereby Russia keeps the territory that they have already seized?
ZELENSKYY: We already said that we are ready for the compromise to freeze the points where we stay, the places. It's a frozen contact line. We are ready for this.
But if Russians or partners, with -- in dialogue with Russians, want just to withdraw our army from our fortifications, I mean this. We can't be such -- sorry -- foolish guys. We are not children.
WARD: What would you like to hear from President Trump tomorrow at his State of the Union address?
ZELENSKYY: I want him to stay on our side.
WARD: This woman said to me, I never want to hear the word "resilient" again. I am so over being resilient. I am so exhausted. I am so broken.
What do you tell Ukrainian people right now who are feeling that, that they're -- they're done?
ZELENSKYY: It's very difficult. It's very understandable and painful; that we want to end this war and as quick as possible.
And really, we each day, we do all we can. I speak with all the partners. I try to negotiate. I'm asking different parts in different continents: help me to stop Putin.
But if we will give him all he wants, we will lose everything. Just everything. Our houses, our lives, our families. Everything. Because all of us people will have to run away from the country or be Russians.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: Our thanks to Clarissa Ward for that interview.
Mexico's government says that the situation is calmer and safer in parts of that country. This after the killing of a drug kingpin. But is it really? And what's next? We'll ask an expert on cartels what we could expect.
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[00:59:16]
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MATTHEW TKACHUK, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: It's been a whirlwind. It's been amazing. It's a dream of ours. It's -- was such an amazing way to unite the country.
We felt the support being across the -- the Atlantic. And now, being back on home soil, we can feel it the second wheels hit the ground.
JACK HUGHES, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: Gold medal. It's so important for us, because we worked so hard to get to that point. And, you know, it's for us. But the best part is it's for, like -- I was saying this the day of the gold medal. It's for all the guys that have come before us and, you know, all the young kids that are going to come after us.
AUSTON MATTHEWS, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: Feeling -- feeling great, a little tired, but it feels good to be home. And celebrating with the guys, our families last night. It's special. It means a lot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: And you just heard from some of the members of the gold- medal-winning U.S. men's hockey team as they return back to the United States.
And after spending some time on the ice with better place to go than Miami.
