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What We Know with Max Foster

Savannah Guthrie Pleads For Return Of Her Missing Mother; U.S. Justice Department Accused Of Trying To "Muddy The Waters"; Rubio Ends European Trip In Hungary, Praises Orban; Obama Appears To Confirm Existence Of Aliens In Podcast; Five European Countries: Navalny Killed With Frog Poison; British Government Plans Tougher Rules On Chatbots; U.S. Women Beat Sweden 5-0 To Reach 7th Olympic Final. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired February 16, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: New calls and -- well, new clues and calls for help in the search for Nancy Guthrie.

This is WHAT WE KNOW.

So, there's been an emotional plea from the NBC News anchor, Savannah Guthrie, asking for the person responsible to return her missing mother,

Nancy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: The search for 84-year-old Nancy is now in its third week. The FBI is now analyzing the DNA of a glove found near the home of Nancy Guthrie.

Investigators say that glove appears to match the glove on the person in this doorbell camera video.

And now, U.S. President Donald Trump is pledging a severe penalty for the person responsible if Nancy Guthrie is not found alive.

CNN's Ed Lavandera has more now from Tucson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Investigators FBI put out a statement yesterday saying that there had been more than a dozen

gloves found in the area, and that one of those gloves matches the description of the gloves that were used by the suspect in that video from

the doorbell camera. And in that glove, they have DNA that they are testing. Now why that's important is because on Friday, the sheriff told us

that DNA was recovered here on the property of Nancy Guthrie's home. And it's of an unknown person.

So, if they can get those two DNA samples to match, then that becomes a much stronger lead. From there, investigators would put that DNA sample

through various databases and try to come up with a match. It's not guaranteed that it's going to lead you to someone specific. That person's

DNA would already have to be in these databases.

So that is the series of steps that investigators, we understand are going through right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Well, John Miller joins us now. He's CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst.

John, thank you, as ever for joining us.

First of all, on that heartbreaking video from Savannah, she says it's never too late to do the right thing. Does that mean were beyond the

conversation of paying any ransoms and are just appealing for these kidnappers to release? Nancy?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, the people who wrote the ransom note or what investigators believe was the

ransom note, have broken contact. I think what Nancy Guthrie is trying to say is whatever happened there if my mom is alive, leave her somewhere safe

where people can find her. If she succumbed in the process passed away in the process of this kidnapping, then then tell us where to find her.

But I think what she's saying is -- she's appealing to humanity, Max. She's saying, you know, whoever you are, you know, hope is not lost you're not

alone. Just do the right thing. It's never too late to do the right thing. It's purely an emotional appeal again to, you know even for a person. I

don't know what kind of person could commit a crime like this, but even to their own best human instincts to think about this and to do the right

thing for the family.

FOSTER: What are you hearing about leads? Because publicly, they're only talking about the glove, aren't they?

MILLER: Right. So, there are leads and leads and leads. The forensic leads are the things connected to the glove and the DNA in the house, but those

could lead to other leads, including familial DNA. If the DNA doesn't match anybody in their database, there are private DNA collection companies that

can say, well, if we don't match that to somebody, here are their family members, and then you can investigate your way through that. It's been

successful in the past.

There's also the thousands of tips that come in on the phone. None of these should be discounted. They triage them. They prioritize them, but they

intend to look at each and every one and do some investigation on all of them, because any one of them could break the case.

And then, of course, there is what we've seen. Twice, they've been out, they've raided houses, they've taken people into custody briefly those

people have cooperated answered all the questions and been cleared. But we are likely to see that happen one or more, more times.

FOSTER: Okay, John, thank you. Sorry can't report more tonight, but it\s an ongoing investigation.

U.S. lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, meanwhile, pushing back on the Justice Department's letter to Congress over the Epstein files. The

six-page letter, obtained by CNN, includes the names of many prominent people in the files, regardless of context, and doesn't specify how they

may be connected to the sex offender. Several lawmakers argue the DOJ is intentionally muddying the waters on who was a predator versus someone just

mentioned in an email or press clipping,

Democrat Eric Swalwell, whose name is on that list, calls it a distraction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): I and many others that they're trying to muddy us up with are not going to rest until every single one of them has been

brought to justice. So, this is just a distraction. The American people want to see justice on these files. The congress has asked for this. It's

not going away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Kara Scannell joins us now from New York.

What do you think is going on, Kara?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Max, as Eric Swalwell there says, you know, there are -- he is continuing the sentiment of some of these

lawmakers who are frustrated by the names that the Justice Department has released. Now, they were required to, under the Epstein Transparency Act,

to send to congress a list of people that are within the files, if they are government officials or politically exposed persons. Now this list that

they transmitted over the weekend included more than 300 names. It does include government officials, including lawmakers, but it also includes

celebrities and other individuals where it's not really clear what their association is.

And if you try to search their names like I did, in some instances, you find a celebrity whose name is mentioned because they were in a news

clipping that was sent to Jeffrey Epstein, but they have no other interaction or connection to him, at least based on this database of

material. So that's the rub that the lawmakers are frustrated by is that the there is no designation of exactly what role these people had. Some of

these individuals did have pretty frequent email communications with Epstein. Others were mentioned in witness statements.

But the document itself just is one long list of names. And that is part of the frustration that the Democrats have had. And also some Republicans.

We did hear from one lawmaker who has been critical of the redaction process here. The underlying suspicion is that the Justice Department is

withholding or protecting some individuals and not redacting their names. So there's continued calls for transparency, even as the Justice Department

has said, they have released all the files. They intend to release more than 3-1/2 million of them.

But the controversy over the redactions is one that is not yet going away, and lawmakers are still continuing to have witnesses come in in these

closed door depositions, including, we expect at the end of next week to hear from President Bill Clinton. He will testify behind closed doors. He

has been on Epstein's plane. He has not been accused of any criminal activity or any wrongdoing.

FOSTER: Kara, thank you very much for joining us from New York.

Now, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio heading back to Washington after his whirlwind trip to Europe. His last stop was Hungary, where the top U.S.

diplomat met with right wing leader Viktor Orban in Budapest. Rubio heaped praise on the prime minister, who faces a major election challenge in

April.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Under President Trump, it is our expectation that every nation on earth is going to act in their national

interest. That's what nations are supposed to do. If prime minister of Hungary does not act in the national interest of Hungary, he won't be prime

minister for long. But who's going to act in the national interest of Hungary if their prime minister doesn't do it? If your government is not

acting in your national interest, then who will? By the way, we feel the same way about America.

So, in those instances in which our national interest and some other country's national interests are aligned, that is an opportunity for

extraordinary partnership. And we have many, many areas where our national interests are aligned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Kylie Atwood joins us from Washington.

Rubio really walking a bit of a tightrope. It felt at times he's trying to define this new world order. Europeans have some issues with it. How is it

being seen from America?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: A pretty remarkable set of comments from the secretary of state there, ahead of Viktor Orban's

forthcoming election. Typically, U.S. diplomats try to make it very clear that they are not going to try and put their finger on the scale when it

comes to elections in other countries. But the secretary of state, in these remarks, standing next to the prime minister, saying that person to person

connections that you've established speaking to Orban with the president have made all the difference in the building of this relationship, this

relationship being between the United States and Hungary.

Obviously, this is an alliance that is not one that the U.S. has typically doubled down on but one that the Trump administration has really looked to

fondly. U.S. officials believe that Hungary is one of the only countries that can really bring Russia to the table to try and end the Ukraine war,

so they see a benefit there but this also comes at a moment when all Europeans are questioning their relationship with the United States. And

the secretary of state is going out of his way to make sure that Europe knows that the U.S. Hungary relationship is one that the Trump

administration is putting really atop that list.

FOSTER: Okay. Kylie, thank you so much. As Rubio heads back to the U.S.

Now, there are increasing calls here in the U.K. for Andrew Mountbatten- Windsor to be probed over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The U.K.'s former business secretary, Vince Cable, telling the BBC that Mountbatten-Windsor

should be investigated for possible corruption. The latest release of Epstein files appeared to show him sharing confidential reports with

Epstein whilst he was the U.K.'s trade envoy. The former prince, who was stripped of his titles last year over his association with the convicted

sex offender, has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

So, what we want to know is will the former Prince Andrew face another investigation here in the U.K.?

Joining me now is the freelance journalist Quentin Peel.

Thank you for joining us. I say another investigation because Thames Valley Police are also looking into similar accusations.

QUENTIN PEEL, FORMER FOREIGN EDITOR AT "THE FINANCIAL TIMES": Yes, absolutely and I think the two things would possibly go in parallel. The

police investigation and demands for the former Prince Andrew to actually give evidence in in parliament and I think that that could -- it'll really

put him on the spot and it really is damaging to the monarchy.

FOSTER: So, we're talking about a corruption probe which would be led by parliament. So away from the police investigation, which is where you're

suggesting he would be called to testify?

PEEL: I think that both -- there is -- there is a big push for both. I think the lead actually is the police investigation because I think that

that raises a whole lot of very interesting possibilities, one of which would be that actually the police will formally approach the Department of

Justice in the United States and say to them, we want evidence that maybe you've redacted out and therefore stuff may come out now in the United

Kingdom that has been rather muddied, as you were saying in your earlier report in the United States.

FOSTER: Obviously, there's this congressional investigation and they can't compel Andrew to appear but can't they work with the U.K. authorities to

compel him to appear? What's the relationship between the two setups?

PEEL: Well, it's not entirely clear, because I think that you have this extraordinary situation where in the United States, it's not entirely clear

that the Department of Justice really wants everything to come out whereas in the United Kingdom, there's been a much stronger reaction both in the

case of Andrew but also in the case of Peter Mandelson, the former ambassador to Washington, where there is real upset.

So, in the U.K., you have a situation where both the government and the monarchy seem to be in danger of getting very seriously damaged by the

scandal to a degree that actually very high profile people in the United States, including President Trump. But former President Clinton as well

seem to be just accepted in getting away without any trouble.

FOSTER: We saw Prince William in Saudi Arabia trying to get on with the royal tour and every day deal with questions around this. We saw King

Charles being heckled by people asking questions about Andrew. They pretty much can't function can they, as long as this goes on, because the very

essence of what they do is to highlight issues and causes, they're not able to do that. And then, you know, the great lingering question about whether

Charles knew more than he's letting on.

PEEL: That, I think, is the is the problem for King Charles, because it's now come out that when Andrew made a settlement with Virginia Giuffre, if

you remember that there was an out of court settlement, it now would appear that not only did his mother the queen, and his father, the Duke of

Edinburgh, both actually pay very substantial sums of money for that settlement. But secondly, the king himself actually contributed to this.

So, the suggestion would be, did the king actually know something that he could have?

FOSTER: Well, the palace is saying he didn't contribute to it, but there is this gap in the finances, isn't it, that people have been reporting on.

[15:15:03]

PEEL: Yeah.

FOSTER: But the -- how vulnerable do you think the monarchy is because of this, especially as the Andrew investigation, if it does continue formally?

PEEL: Well, I think it's wide open. I mean, you can see already, clearly, the media in Britain is very keen on the whole story. And they sent blood,

but also in politics you've got not only the is the government really in a very weak situation because of this. And Keir Starmer, the prime minister,

has been very badly damaged by the fact that he appointed Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington. So that has made a weak prime minister look

much weaker.

And that really I think is so it's a two-fold scandal in the U.K. and as I say, in an extraordinary way, much more dramatic than anything yet that

we've seen in the United States.

FOSTER: Interesting difference between Europe and the U.S., isn't it?

Thank you so much, Quentin.

Coming up, Barack Obama has some explaining to do after the former U.S. president seemed to confirm that aliens exist. Are we alone in the

universe? We've asked it before. The astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson though, will join me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: In space, no one can hear a podcast, which is just as well for former U.S. President Barack Obama. He's having to clarify his remarks

about whether or not aliens exist.

Obama was speaking to Brian Tyler Cohen, who brought up extraterrestrial life during the quickfire round of his popular podcast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN TYLER COHEN, PODCAST HOST: Are aliens real?

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: 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. Theres no underground facility unless there's this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United

States.

COHEN: What was the first question you wanted answered when you became president?

[15:20:05]

OBAMA: Where are the aliens?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: The former U.S. president has since clarified what he's saying, though. "The distances between solar systems are so great that the chances

we've been visited by aliens is low. And I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!"

What we don't know is, is the truth on aliens out there somewhere? The one person who can answer this, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. His new

book, "Taking Me to Your Leader", is a practical guide to alien encounters. There you go.

Neil, are there aliens?

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, ASTROPHYSICIST, HAYDEN PLANETARIUM: Well, so here's what -- here's how that goes. They ask scientists, are there aliens in the

universe, intelligent aliens? And anyone who's done the math and our former president has been -- if he hasn't done the math, he's certainly seen the

math that the universe is vast. It's old. There's countless stars. Theres even more planets than stars.

So, to run around saying there isn't intelligent life in the universe is not to come to terms with those numbers. That's a very different statement

than to ask, are such aliens among us? Have they visited us? Is the government stockpiling it? And those are two separate questions.

So, you can get any scientist to say yes to the first one. And that sets you up to get you ready to embrace the possibility that they have visited.

And all I'm saying is, if there's a conspiracy, he said exactly what you'd expect him to say if he's in on it. So --

FOSTER: I know --

TYSON: You can't just take what the president says and use that as the truth if the president isn't on the conspiracy. That's all

FOSTER: But he's raising the idea that even the president didn't know.

TYSON: Well, okay, that's just what he'd say if he was in on it.

No, here's my -- here's my response to that. Let's take a rational look at it. This is something I've explored at great lengths in the book. And by

the way, it's the first public visibility of that cover. The book is still a couple of months away from coming out.

FOSTER: Thank you.

TYSON: Thanks for the shout-out for that. I've put a lot of energy into this and thought and science. So, ask yourself if there's a cover up, why

would there be a cover up?

Well, one might be that that we want to. They have secret alien technologies that we want to reverse-engineer so that we can maintain a

geopolitical advantage in the world and people are citing great advances in our technologies as evidence of this, except to cite that as evidence is to

not understand how a fully funded scientific enterprise works. It moves exponentially.

Three months after the Roswell crash in 1947, just put this on a graph, three months after that, Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in for the

Air Force, for the U.S. Air Force. First person to do that. And then a decade later, we had satellites orbiting the earth. And a decade after

that, we were walking on the moon.

This sounds so impressive, but you're denying human ingenuity in this, and you're denying my fellow scientists and engineers our capacity to be clever

in this. You're taking it away from us and saying aliens did it. So that's my first complaint.

Second, one might say the government is afraid of how the people would react if we knew the truth.

Well, just consider how many people have paraded in front of Congress in the past three years insiders, people who say they have direct contact with

aliens. That's not a cover up anymore. If everybody if insiders are saying they've met aliens, how much of a cover up is that? So - and they worried

how the public will react.

By the time you roll out an alien, it'll be anticlimactic, because everyone would have already confessed to having seen one.

FOSTER: Yeah. When he says unless they were hiding it from me as president, I don't want to dwell on this too much longer, this part of it.

But, you know, is there a they? Is there some part of the scientific community that has autonomy?

TYSON: So, I can tell you this -- if I or any of my colleagues who are active in search for extraterrestrial intelligence, this is the whole SETI

program, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. We have people searching for life, not only for intelligent life, but any kind of life at all, it's

a major piece of what we do professionally.

If we find life, the world is going to know about it. We're not going to, like sneak up to the white house and only tell the president no, the world

will know. We're scientists. We share discoveries.

[15:25:01]

And so, I think the public is mature enough to learn this. Would that be any different from learning that earth is not unique in the universe, and

that there are other planets and our sun is not unique? There are other stars. There's been a -- there's been a demotion of our ego ever since

science was birthed, especially the astronomical sciences. So, to suggest that it's being hidden again when you have a parade of insiders telling you

they've seen the aliens, tells -- seems to me it's kind of not hidden anymore.

I'm just saying now, now that brings us to the question what constitutes evidence as a scientist? Testimony is not evidence, not even if you pinky

swear. That's not evidence. Evidence is show me the alien and that hasn't happened yet.

So that's a little curious. Imagine, I had a whole investigation and I had all these eyewitnesses saying that elephants exist. Okay? And I have a two-

hour documentary saying elephants exist. And we have naturalists testifying, and they're swearing on oath. And then no one shows an

elephant. So, what gives?

So, I'm still -- I'm just kicking back, waiting for somebody to bring forth the alien.

FOSTER: What about if aliens had communicated with earth, even if it was a tiny record of that and that was covered up? Is that realistic?

TYSON: No. You have to ask. Why would you cover it up? Why? What are you afraid of?

We wouldn't. My colleagues wouldn't. No, we wouldn't. The public would be the next thing to learn about it. And then maybe later on, the government.

And by the way, the people who are certain that the government is masterminding some kind of major cover up tend to be the same people who

are certain that the government is this huge, bloated bureaucracy that's inefficient and needs to be trimmed. You can't have it both ways.

And the title of my book, which is "Take Me To Your Leader", if an alien came down and said, take me to your leader, would you take the alien to

your leader? Probably not, depending on who your leader is.

I would take it. Well, I would first like I'd have a whole conversation with it if I could, but I'd take it to my science colleagues. That's what

you would do with an alien, find an astrobiologist.

You wouldn't take it to a politician. They wouldn't know what to do with it. And -- but they want the leaders.

The leaders wouldn't have to be politicians. It could be pop stars, okay? It could be the billionaires. These are people who actually run the world.

Maybe that's who the alien wants to see.

And by the way, I gave a lot of thought to how much bias we have in our first encounter. Like the alien could be anything different from us. And if

the alien just -- just imagine this. If the alien had, like, a little bit of dog in it, just imagine the first thing they'd want to do with you is go

around and sniff your butt. Okay? And so that would feel weird, but that's completely natural when dogs do that to each other.

So, you can't make any assumptions on your first encounter with an alien. Just be completely open minded.

FOSTER: It's interesting, isn't it? Because humans just aren't very good at dealing with things they don't understand. That's the truth of this,

isn't it? So, we try to fit --

TYSON: Another side of this --

FOSTER: These ideas, into ones we've already got. So that's what you're saying with this encounter.

TYSON: Right? Way to think about that. That's -- that is a very perceptive understanding of how we have reacted to aliens. More specifically, how

we've reacted to aliens in our pop culture, representations of them.

For example, so many representations of aliens have them as evil. And, you know, it started with H.G. Wells "War of the Worlds". He was the first evil

alien author here.

And you can ask yourself, why? Why should we presume aliens? Do we -- you know, this is this is supposed understandings of aliens behavior. But wait

a minute. If you unpack it, it's really the actual behavior that humans have exhibited to other humans. When one side was more technologically,

scientifically proficient than the other. It's never boded well for the other civilization.

So, this fear factor that we have for aliens, I think, is more a fear of ourselves, and we're loath to admit that.

FOSTER: Neil deGrasse Tyson, absolutely fascinating. And you've spent so much time clearly thinking about this book, and we really appreciate you

sharing it with us for the first time.

TYSON: It's not out yet. Give it a couple of months and it'll be out.

FOSTER: I'm sure there are preorders.

[15:30:00]

Thank you again.

Now, we're going to move on. The search for missing Arizona woman Nancy Guthrie now in its third week. Still to come, we'll take a look at why

investigators have so few clues or motive behind her disappearance.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: It's now a week three into the search for missing Arizona woman Nancy Guthrie. Investigators think she was abducted, but they still don't

have a solid motive for why. Guthrie has the daughter of well-known NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie, it's not known how much of a factor, if any that

played into her abduction. Other theories include a burglary gone wrong. Investigators are still trying to find the suspect captured on her doorbell

video camera.

Joining us now is CNN's Josh Campbell.

I mean, what's striking when you, when I say it like that is how little we know at this, you know you know, quite well into this investigation as

well.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right. You know, a law enforcement source tells me that they don't have a primary theory right now

about what actually happened. There are, of course, a lot of various different possibilities, but no leading theory, which is notable because of

the lack of leads so far in this investigation. That said, authorities did announce yesterday that they recovered a glove that could -- stress could -

- be part of this investigation. They're analyzing that now to determine if that can lead to an identity of the suspect.

We know that after this abduction, there were these search parties that were out around Nancy Guthrie's residence looking for any items that the

suspect may have discarded. Authorities said they found a glove that looks very similar to that glove that you see on your screen that this man was

wearing, and it contained DNA. Authorities say that they sent that off to a laboratory for additional testing.

[15:35:01]

Now in the U.S., there are different criminal databases that law enforcement uses. So, if there is a known or suspected criminal, someone

who has been convicted in the past, they will run that DNA against that to determine if this was someone already known to them.

There's also this burgeoning field around the world called genetic DNA mapping, which law enforcement now uses quite prolifically. And what they

try often times is determined. Is there anyone out there that has used these popular services that are available to the public to determine what

your own lineage is, even if this suspect himself didn't use one of those services, a family member may have, and because of the unique nature of

familial DNA, there could be some type of indication that leads them to the person who might be responsible.

A long ways to go, but were still waiting from the FBI and then the final point, Max, is that up to now, authorities have had no indication what

direction that the suspect even went after this alleged abduction the location where that glove was found could be the biggest clue yet about

this possible route of travel.

FOSTER: Okay, Josh Campbell, thank you so much for that. As we continue to watch.

Now, vigils are being held in Russia today on the two-year anniversary of Alexei Navalny's death. The mother of the late opposition leader was

amongst those attending a graveside memorial in Moscow amid the tributes. Arrests have also been reported in several cities.

This comes just days after a joint statement from five European countries alleging Navalny was killed by toxin from a poisonous South American frog.

Russia's government continues to deny responsibility for Navalny's death.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Tiny, brightly colored yet deadly and found in Ecuador or Peru. But 8,000 miles away in Siberia, the naturally occurring toxins of the South

American Anthony dart frog were used to murderous effect by Russian authorities to kill President Vladimir Putin's leading irritant opposition

figure, Alexei Navalny.

That's according to an investigation by the U.K., Sweden, Germany, France and the Netherlands announced ahead of the second anniversary of Navalny's

death. They said studies of samples from Navalny's body left them, quote, confident the rare substance epibatidine killed Navalny. Inside the IK-3

prison in Kharp, northern Siberia, given by touch or injection and likely a synthetic version lab made, said an expert.

ALASTAIR HAY, TOXICOLOGIST: Never have I come across anything to suggest it's been used to poison anybody deliberately. I think there's only one

instance in the literature of a laboratory worker having what was clearly a much smaller dose. It would have been made synthetically the structure of

this chemical has been known for some time. Epibatidine is so toxic that it's never been used clinically, because doctors just can't take the risk.

YULIA NAVALNAYA, WIDOW OF ALEXEI NAVALNY: I think it will be --

WALSH (voice-over): An answer for his widow yet still pain, she told "Politico".

NAVALNAYA: It's difficult for me to say that it's good news, you know, because my husband was killed. And of course, I knew that he was killed. He

was very young man. He was less than 50.

WALSH (voice-over): Moscow has formed here. Several detailed western investigations evidencing its use of exotic and savage poisons. In 2018,

former Russian spy and defector Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned on his homes door handle by the Russian nerve agent Novichok. They

survived but an abandoned bottle discarded by the suspected Russian agents killed a passerby, Dawn Sturgess.

Navalny himself narrowly survived Novichok being put in his underpants in 2020. You can hear his agony here on a visit to the Siberian city of Tomsk.

He was later imprisoned after his return to Russia.

And in 2006, another Russian spy who defected Alexander Litvinenko, was poisoned by polonium 210 in his tea, in an operation likely approved by

Putin. A British inquiry concluded the kremlin has always strongly denied any involvement.

The Kremlin spokesman resolutely rejected the latest claims and called them negative biased and unfounded, painful imaginative and rare. The list of

substances the Kremlin has been found to use on Russians it sees guilty of the highest crime, turning on Putin's Russia.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: It is Presidents Day in the U.S., so no trade on Wall Street. European stocks are mostly flat. Only the Dax in Frankfurt was lower.

This is our Business Breakout.

No end in sight for the latest government shutdown in Washington. Democrats are yet to make a new offer to the White House on funding the Department of

Homeland Security. Lawmakers are away on a week-long recess. TSA and coast guard employees are likely to be affected while a deal remains unresolved.

Logan Paul has made more than $8 million profit by selling a rare Pokemon card.

[15:40:02]

The wrestling star sold the Pikachu illustrator card at auction on Monday for more than $16 million. The card is one of just 39 in existence. It now

holds the Guinness World Records for the most expensive trading card ever sold at auction. Now, A.I. chatbots could soon face tougher rules.

Here in the United Kingdom, the British government is planning to change the law so that chatbot providers could be fined if they don't protect

young people from illegal content. Other features, such as infinite scrolling, could also be restricted.

Hanna Ziady joins us from CNN Business.

I mean, it's clearly a loophole because they're completely unregulated. These chatbots at the moment.

HANNA ZIADY, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: That's exactly right. And I think that for me has been what's so interesting about this development.

The U.K.'s Online Safety Act only came into effect last year. It was passed 2023. But that's again only three years ago.

But in A.I. terms, that's kind of ancient history because of the speed at which these platforms are developing and the speed at which regulators then

need to respond to it. So that's what we've seen today, a push by the U.K. government to try and bring these A.I. chatbots under this online safety

act. Of course, this comes just weeks after there was this major global backlash against Grok, which is xAI chatbot for generating nonconsensual,

sexualized images of women and children on the request of users.

Now, it has since all existence, restricted Grok ability to do that, but it is still facing investigations by the U.K.'s communications regulator Ofcom

by other regulators. So this will just add to that pressure on these chatbots to police illegal content.

FOSTER: And that move was one of the few that the governments been praised on in recent times, so perhaps empowering them to broaden out to all chat

bots.

ZIADY: Exactly. That's the idea here. So not just Grok, but ChatGPT, Google's Gemini. Arguably, you know, Keir Starmer was among the leading

voices in that backlash against Grok.

But again, I think just, you know, pointing to the speed at which these things change. And Keir Starmer said that today in comments that, you know,

legislators are really struggling to keep up because this is so fast paced this, this -- the development of this is so fast paced. And what we are

seeing is a real push globally towards online safety and particularly for children because this is, you know, these are major harms potentially

against teenagers.

FOSTER: Hanna, thank you as ever. Thank you.

Now, still to come, the surprising team at the top of the standings as the figure skating pairs competition wraps up at the Olympics.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:45:36]

FOSTER: The final of the pairs figure skating competition is happening right now at the Winter Olympics in Milan. The German team of Hase and

Volodin have a huge five point lead heading into the free skate. To understand how big that is and how close the rest of the field is, their

lead over the second place team from Georgia is as big as the difference between second and eighth place in the field.

Pretty extraordinary, Don.

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Absolutely, Max. No question it is Germanys to lose. But there is a lot of skating still to come. We're roughly halfway

through the free skate program right now. The German pair will be the last to go. The world champions Japan have yet to go also, and they have a lot

of work to do after making a pretty big mistake in the short program.

Meanwhile, the Swiss men's ski team is dominating at these Olympics. Another gold medal today as Loic Meillard won the slalom, adding an Olympic

title to the world title, he won in the same event last year. Meillard's teammate Franjo von Allmen had already won three golds at these games,

meaning the Swiss men have won four of the five golds on offer and eight of the 15 medals up for grabs.

Norway continue to dominate the medal table, but they're not all winners. Atle Lie McGrath was on course to win that slalom event, but a disastrous

second run cost him dearly and he left the course empty handed. McGrath is a five-time world cup champion in slalom. Afterwards he simply walked into

the woods to escape it all. McGrath has also been processing the death of his grandfather who he learned had passed away on the night of the opening

ceremony.

You know, there are certain events at the winter Olympics where you just know who's going to come out on top. The Dutch are all over the

speedskating these days. On Monday, Xandra Velzeboer won the women's short track 1,000-meter race, her second individual gold medal of these games.

Xandra also won the 500 meters last Thursday.

And the U.S. women's ice hockey team loves the Olympics. They have stormed into a fifth consecutive final. The two-time champions thrashed Sweden 5-0,

setting up a possible final against Canada. The defending champions are playing Switzerland as we speak and, of course, the U.S. and Canada are

fierce rivals on the ice and that rivalry, I'd say has only been compounded by the geopolitics of the region recently. And they've already played each

other in six gold medal matches at the Olympics.

As we speak, Canada and Switzerland are in action, but its currently goalless after the first period, Max.

FOSTER: Good stuff, Don. Thank you so much, Don, from World Sport there.

Now, it's not just records being broken at the Winter Olympics this year, glass ceilings are also being shattered. Kirsty Coventry, a former five-

time Olympian is the first ever female chair of the International Olympic Committee.

CNN's Coy Wire caught up with her in Cortina.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Your first Olympics as IOC president and as a girl dad times two. Thank you for being the first female Olympic president.

What's this been like for you?

KIRSTY COVENTRY, IOC PRESIDENT: It's been amazing. I mean, it's been absolutely incredible. You know, we've worked really hard to get here and

the Milano Cortina team and the government and all of the regions, just everyone has pulled together and it's been amazing. It really has been

incredible.

WIRE: Yeah. And we're seeing -- we're seeing some serious girl power at these games. Historic, right?

COVENTRY: Yeah, of course. Would you expect anything else?

WIRE: No. Girls rule the world.

COVENTRY: No. I mean, it's been amazing. You know, I think a little sad as well, because we were all had fingers crossed for Lindsay and. Yeah, but

she's incredible. She's in hospital and she's sending out all good vibes to everybody. So how inspirational is that?

But again, on the Italian team, getting to see athletes like Federica again win today. And you're just sitting there going, wow, nine months ago you

were in hospital with a knee injury and it's just amazing.

WIRE: At 35 years old.

COVENTRY: At 35, I know, it's amazing. Two golds, how incredible.

WIRE: She truly is a la tigre. I've learned to say in Italian.

COVENTRY: Yeah.

WIRE: On the helmet, she is an animal on those slopes and its awesome to see.

COVENTRY: Yeah.

WIRE: You've competed in five Olympics and now you're leading the Olympic movement.

As a former NFL player when I'm out here watching these athletes, I find myself getting on my toes and like, like how do you feel as the athlete in

you when you're watching the games?

COVENTRY: No, I -- I was standing somewhere. We were watching the ski jumping and I kept going like that, like as they go, I kept moving.

[15:50:03]

And I'm standing next to the most wonderful head of state, the president of Slovenia, whose athlete won yesterday. And she was literally like looking

at me. I'm like, I'm sorry. It's my -- it's the athlete in me. Like, I keep wanting to jump as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Breaking news out of the United States. We are receiving reports that multiple people have been shot at a high school, at a hockey game in

Pawtucket. That's Rhode Island.

According to CNN affiliate WJAR, at least one person has died. Four others have been injured. They report the shooter is also dead. Agents from the

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are responding to that incident there.

A message from one of the schools involved in the game said information is still developing and the school is working with authorities, so early

developments.

We also have new developments. Two years after a foiled plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert, Austrian prosecutors filing terrorism related charges

against a 21-year-old suspect. They say the man planned to carry out an Islamist militant attack in Vienna. This resulted in three concerts being

canceled at short notice. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

Still to come, tributes to the legendary actor Robert Duvall who's died at the age of 95.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Robert Duvall, the Oscar-winning actor who starred in some of the greatest films of the 20th century, has died at the age of 95.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tom, Tom, you're the consiglieri now you can talk to the don. You can explain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just a minute. Don is semi-retired and Mike is in charge of the family business. Now, if you have anything to say, say it to

Michael.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: He's best known for his portrayal of Tom Hagen in the "Godfather" trilogy and performances in "Apocalypse Now" and "The Apostle". He won an

Academy Award for best actor in 1984 for the film "Tender Mercies". Duvall told CNN back in 2015, he felt honored to have starred in some of the most

critically acclaimed productions of all time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT DUVALL, OSCAR-WINNING ACTOR: I was in the two greatest things in the last 20th century, "Lonesome Dove" and "Godfather I" and "II". They

both hit big. "Lonesome Dove" was my favorite, my favorite part of all time. But the overall arc of the "Godfather", it was much better directed

than the overall arc of "Lonesome Dove".

I would have had another career, maybe but -- I mean, it helped all our careers with "Godfather I". It was -- it was a jumping off thing, and I

knew that my time would come, maybe naturally, with my guidance, maybe ten years after those guys, even though I was older than they are. Jimmy Caan,

Pacino, de Niro and I had things going, but then I'm going off into the sunset in kind of a rich way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: What a legend. Robert Duvall dying on Sunday. I'm Max Foster. That's what we. Do stay with CNN.

END

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