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What We Know with Max Foster

Guthrie Family Offers $1M For Tip Leading To Mother's Return; This Hour: Rubio Holds Briefing On Iran With Top Lawmakers; Trump To Deliver State Of The Union Address In Hours; Zelenskyy Pushes For "Clear Date" For Ukraine To Join E.U.; Sheinbaum: "No Risk" For World Cup In Mexico; France Bans U.S. Ambassador From Meeting Ministers. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired February 24, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:29]

MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: A devastating new video in the search for Nancy Guthrie.

This is WHAT WE KNOW.

The family of Nancy Guthrie is now offering up to $1 million for information leading to her recovery. Nancy's daughter, NBC "Today Show"

host Savannah Guthrie, shared the message in an emotional new video on Instagram. It comes after her 84-year-old mother disappeared during the

early hours of February 1st from her home in Arizona.

Meanwhile, a source tells CNN it's believed the suspect seen on Nancy Guthrie's doorbell video visited her doorstep on two different days. That's

because the person is not wearing a backpack. In one of the images released earlier by the FBI.

In Savannah Guthrie's new video message, she says her family is still holding out hope of being reunited with Nancy Guthrie. But she acknowledged

publicly for the first time that her mother may not be alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, NBC "TODAY SHOW" ANCHOR: We still believe. We still believe in a miracle. We still believe that she can come home hope against

hope. As my sister says, we are blowing on the embers of hope.

We also know that she may be lost. She may already be gone. She may have already gone home to the Lord that she loves and is dancing in heaven with

her mom and her dad, and with her beloved brother Pierce, and with our daddy.

And if this is what is to be, then we will accept it. But we need to know where she is. We need her to come home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Ed Lavandera is live in Tucson, Arizona.

I mean, it's heartbreaking that she has to go through that process, isn't it? But she's reaching out directly to, you know, someone that must know

something, even if they're not implicated.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it's -- Max, it's excruciating to watch. And just a nightmare to think about what has

unfolded for this family over more than three weeks now and this is interesting because we have not heard from Savannah Guthrie in more than a

week, and many of the videos they've posted, some of them were, if you remember, early on in this investigation, directed at a potential

kidnapper, we have not heard anything like that in weeks now.

And this is the first acknowledgment where the family is talking about coming to terms with the very real possibility that they may never see

their mother alive again, and that this is an effort, a desperate effort to try to get her, bring her back home so that they can either celebrate her

life properly or the miracle of all miracles to be able to hold her once again and see her in person. So that is the anguish that the family is

enduring.

All of this as this investigation continues. And the big headline of this video also is this million dollar reward that the family is now offering

not just for information leading to the arrest of somebody, but this is for information leading to -- locating where Nancy Guthrie might be. They just

want her back in whatever -- whatever situation arises from that. They just want this ordeal to end. So that is rather significant.

It also comes just a few days ago. We were in the 911 call center here in in Pima County where many of the calls have been coming in and they saw a

flood of calls tens of thousands in the early weeks of this investigation, especially after the video of that suspect was released that showed the

suspect at Nancy Guthrie's front doorstep. But we were told that a lot of that has really started to trickle down and slow down rather significantly.

So perhaps this is an effort to get those tips coming back in.

But there's also a real concerted effort here that they believe that there's a person or a few people who know exactly what unfolded here, who

know exactly where Nancy Guthrie might be. And this is an effort to get one of those people to call in the most crucial tip of all -- Max.

FOSTER: Have we heard anything from these alleged kidnappers? I mean, are we getting anything from the other side?

LAVANDERA: If there are conversations going on, it has been kept quiet for some time. There has been no real indication that that has continued.

[15:05:02]

We have not been told one way or the other. So, obviously, that is significant because there are a lot of people trying to make sense of what

we've seen on that -- on the video of from of that front door, was this someone who was acting alone? Is this someone who had help in making this

happen? Clearly, investigators believe that this was targeted, that this was an abduction specifically coming into this neighborhood for Nancy

Guthrie.

But the motive behind all of that just simply remains a mystery. And the biggest mystery of all is who was behind it.

FOSTER: Yeah. Okay, Ed, appreciate your reporting on this. It's been much longer than you expected, I know. Thank you.

Now this hour, the White House, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to hold a pivotal briefing on Iran with a bipartisan group of

lawmakers known as the Gang of Eight. The meeting comes as the U.S. considers possible military action against the Iranian regime over its

nuclear weapons program, and days before another round of diplomatic talks between the two countries.

CNN's Jennifer Hansler is at the State Department.

Is this the White House trying to line things up ahead of any action, Jennifer?

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Well, that's a key question here, Max, because we are seeing, of course, this key briefing not

only with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, but now we are learning that CIA Director John Ratcliffe will also be involved in this briefing of these key

lawmakers. Now, this is coming, of course just hours before President Trump addresses the nation in his State of the Union Address. And days before

this key diplomatic meeting that is expected to happen in Geneva.

Now, we've heard from both Trump and others that his priority is still a diplomatic deal. He said as much in a post on Truth Social last night but

of course, we have also seen this massive, massive military buildup as he continues to keep that option on the table.

Now, Trump himself last night warned that if a deal is not reached, he would unleash this sort of dramatic attack on Iran. He said that it would

be regrettable if there was not a deal reached. However, we do know that the Iranians are publicly saying that they do think diplomacy here is

possible. We saw a post from the Iranian foreign minister just a little while ago today who said, quote, "a deal is within reach, but only if

diplomacy is given a priority." A source familiar told our colleagues earlier today that the Iranian response to the U.S. was expected to propose

some limits on nuclear enrichment, which may be an attempt to bridge the gap between the U.S. and Iran on this one key sticking point, which is that

enrichment question.

We have heard from the U.S. publicly that they do not want to see Iran enrich any uranium whatsoever. None. Iran continues to say that it is their

right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes. They say they are not trying to create a nuclear weapon here, but they say they reserve the right to

enrich to a certain extent.

So, questions still remain here, max, if they can bridge that key gap, something that has given interlocutors and sources within the region, some

hope is that they have been able to isolate this to just the nuclear file. Initially, the U.S. had been pushing for a number of other issues to be on

the table in these diplomatic talks. Some things like proxy support, for example. For now, they have been able to keep this to the nuclear issue.

But the question, of course, here is whether they can bridge that gap and stave off military action and if Trump does take military action, will that

be a large attack or a limited one? Max?

FOSTER: Okay, Jennifer, thank you so much for bringing us that from the State Department.

Well, the looming conflict with Iran is sure to be one of the big topics for Donald Trump tonight as he delivers the first State of the Union

Address of his second term.

Mrs. Trump says it'll be a long speech because he has a lot to talk about. And amongst other items expected to be on the agenda are tariffs,

affordability and his immigration crackdown. A brand new CNN poll finds the president is deeply unpopular coming into this speech, his approval numbers

have tumbled 12 points in the past year.

Let's go to the White House and CNN's Kevin Liptak.

I mean, he's certainly got things triumphs that as he would see them to point to. But I guess it's how the public feels about his presidency right

now.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, that's sort of the conundrum that the president faces, not only in this speech tonight, but

sort of generally, you know you do have all of these economic indicators that seem to be pointing in the right direction, whether its growth or the

stock market. But the problem is that many Americans don't feel it, and they suggest that the presidents priorities are somewhere else. And so

that's sort of the bridge. I think that he'll try and gap when he comes out and speaks at the State of the Union tonight.

You're right. He did say it was going to be a long speech. Last year's clocked in at around 99 minutes, which was the longest on record. So, we'll

see just how long the president wants to go this evening. He has been practicing. You know, this has been in the works for quite some time.

And I think his message on the economy will be twofold. One, he wants to talk about steps that he's already taken to lower prices, things like

bringing down the cost of prescription drugs or cutting taxes.

[15:10:00]

But I think he'll also want to talk about steps that are still in the works, sort of to indicate to Americans that he does recognize that there's

more work to be done you know, that's sort of the step that the White House advisers and the Republican strategists have been wanting him to take for

quite some time is to sort of relay to the public that he understands that they don't necessarily feel the economy is as great as he likes to talk

about.

The issue I think, is that doesn't necessarily come naturally to this president. He's much more of a boaster. He wants to talk about the stock

market and tax cuts that he's already put in place and so I think it is something of a step for him to come out and try and acknowledge that there

is still more work to be done on that front.

I think what makes it slightly more difficult as well is that Supreme Court decision on tariffs, because those tariffs had formed so much of the

scaffolding of the president's economic policies. Now that they have been undercut by the court, the president, I think will be doubly tasked with

trying to explain to the American public what exactly his economic policy is. And so that will sort of be the objective.

He will also, I think, talk about Iran, at least in some capacity. It's certainly not going to be the center of the speech. States of the Union are

never really about foreign policy, but just given that very tense backdrop and given that the president is openly considering essentially going to war

with Iran, it's obviously something that he will not be able to avoid.

The speech, in theory, could have been a good opportunity for the president to lay out in a way that he really hasn't so far. What is strategic

objective might be in attacking Iran, but there's no indication, at least for now that that is actually what he's planning to do.

FOSTER: Kevin Liptak at the White House -- okay, we look forward to seeing what he comes up with there.

Now across the Atlantic, a fight for survival. Earlier, E.U. leaders joined Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a show of solidarity on his

four-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion. Zelenskyy called on the E.U. to give his country a clear date for membership.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: It's vital that we have started working on the details of a key geopolitical security guarantee for Ukraine

and for all of Europe -- a clear date for Ukraine's accession to the E.U. The year 2027 is very important for us, and I hope, doable. I hope, so that

Putin cannot block our membership for decades.

(END VIDEO CLKI)

FOSTER: Well, ahead of today's somber milestone, our chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, sat down with Zelensky, the Ukrainian

president tells CNN he does not have -- well, he does rather have some regrets over how the last four years have actually played out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: 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 done?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Very difficult. It's very understandable and painful that -- we want to end this war 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.

WARD: As the war enters its fifth year, do you have any regrets?

Do you have anything that you think, God, if I could just go back, I would do it differently?

ZELENSKYY: Yes, some elements, of course, I'm a life person. Yes, of course, there are some moments, yes but I will not tell it.

WARD: Fair enough.

ZELENSKYY: Not now, not now. I mean this. I don't want Putin to know some my weak moments.

WARD: But you've had them.

ZELENSKYY: Yes, of course. Of course.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: And in a sign of solidarity, live pictures tonight from the Eiffel Tower in the colors of the Ukrainian flag.

Well, let's go to Mexico now and President Claudia Sheinbaum says there's no risk to hosting the 2026 World Cup in her country.

[15:15:05]

Her comments come after chaos erupted following Sundays killing of the most, the country's most wanted drug lord, El Mencho. Jalisco state was

rocked by violence. This as its capital city, Guadalajara, is set to host four World Cup matches this summer.

Mexico's president insists the worst is over, though

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM, MEXICAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Yesterday, I spoke personally with the governor of Jalisco and with the governor of

Michoacan. Today, there are still no classes, but tomorrow, they are hoping that activities will return to normal at the Guadalajara airport. Almost

all flights have already resumed, and things are also gradually returning to normal in Puerto Vallarta. And the most important thing about this is

that our objective, as I said yesterday, is security and peace, and that is what we are working on in the strategy we have set for ourselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: For more on this, CNN correspondent Valeria Leon is joining us from Mexico City. You can see why the president is concerned that people

think the states in chaos, but it's going to take a long time to resolve, isn't it? Surely, if the top man has gone and there's a battle beneath him

for power, I mean, it's going to -- it's going to drag on for a while.

VALERIA LEON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Totally, Max. And we're already seeing part of this impact, economically speaking. We're talking about one of the

most visited destinations in Mexico.

And, Max, we have a new update from the U.S. embassy in Mexico and the security situation in Jalisco. Just minutes ago, a new security alert said

conditions are improving after targeted operations in the state of Jalisco. And according to the statement, airline operations are returning to normal.

Also, international airlines are resuming flights today. And Puerto Vallarta international airport has reopened just to domestic traffic.

The U.S. embassy says some local security measures remain in place, and all of this comes after days of unrest, following this operation against one of

Mexico's most powerful cartel leaders, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, better known as El Mencho, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

And as you said this morning, President Claudia Sheinbaum insisted the situation is under control but, Max, even as flights resume and roads

reopened, the images of burning vehicles, stranded tourists and that have traveled far beyond Mexico's border. And the next challenge is restoring

confidence ahead of a critical tourism season and also a global event now fast approaching, the World Cup is just months away and Jalisco is

preparing to host four matches and welcome nearly three million visitors.

The president says the tournament will go on free, but we need to see what happens because when a cartel leader as powerful as Nemesio Oseguera

Cervantes is taken down, it often sparks a power struggle inside the organization. An internal fight for control, with different factions trying

to step in and take his place. So, Mexican authorities are now on alert for possible -- in case there is more retaliation in the state of Jalisco.

FOSTER: Okay, Valeria, really appreciate it. Thank you.

Well, Mexico's embassy in the U.S. says the country's security situation has now stabilized with travel returning to normal. This follows unrest

across the country triggered by the killing of El Mencho. It was a time of uncertainty and fear for tourists desperate to get home, of course.

CNN's David Culver traveled to Guadalajara to find out more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL 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 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.

How confident are you, you'll be flying out tonight?

MUSKAN DAVE, STRANDED TOURIST: Hopefully, it's a 50/50 for me.

CULVER: You don't feel internally at ease.

DAVE: It feels like eerily quiet right now and then like you read online that okay maybe the cartels are regrouping and maybe it's going to get

worse now.

CULVER: And you just want out of here.

DAVE: At this point, 100 percent. Yeah.

CULVER: You just want to go home.

DAVE: Yeah.

ANITA EGSDAL LUTTA, STRANDED TOURIST: Yeah. I'm five months pregnant.

CULVER: You're five months.

ANITA EGSDAL LUTTA: Yeah.

MARTIN EGSDAL LUTTA, STRANDED TOURIST: We cannot run if anything actually happens. 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?

ANITA EGSDAL LUTTA: We don't know yet. We just take it. Yeah, take it as - - by the minute and see what happens.

CULVER: Is it possible you'll end up sleeping here tonight?

ANITA EGSDAL LUTTA: Possibly. Yeah.

CULVER: You've got army national guard, and then let's see. They're searching some of the vehicles it looks like there, too.

I mean, in the middle of the highway, the car burnt out.

I mean, another very obvious sign of the narco-terrorism targeting a popular convenience store. This Oxxo (ph), look at it, torched.

CULVER (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.

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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CULVER: 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 their 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.

FOSTER: Coming up, a deepening spat. Why the French government has banned the U.S. ambassador from speaking to its ministers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:26:06]

FOSTER: A spat between the French government and the U.S. ambassador has deepened. France has now banned Charles Kushner from meeting with French

ministers. This after he failed to show up after being summoned by the French foreign minister. France is demanding an explanation over social

media posts shared by the U.S. embassy about the death of a far right activist, Quentin Deranque was beaten to death in Lyon earlier this month,

and far right groups held rallies on the weekend in his memory.

So what we want to know is how much has the damaged relationship between France and the United States really affected things?

Joining me now is Sophie Pedder, the chief -- Paris bureau chief for -- the Paris bureau chief for "The Economist".

Thank you so much for joining us.

Just explain why, you know this spat, first of all, based on these social media posts and what the U.S. side has said about this, Sophie.

SOPHIE PEDDER, PARIS BUREAU CHIEF, THE ECONOMIST: Well, it's very unusual for the French foreign ministry to summon an ambassador, least of all the

American ambassador. It took it. The foreign ministry did this because of a reposting in French of a state department post which criticized the rise of

radical violent leftism, in France and said that the -- we expect the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

Now that was considered by the French foreign minister as a direct interference in the domestic affairs of a state, which is not what

diplomats are supposed to do. And that is why they summoned the ambassador. It was unusual also because the ambassador didn't turn up. So that was the

-- that's the second time this has happened. And the ambassador in question, of course, is Charles Kushner, who is Donald Trump's son in law's

father.

So I think that this is a -- you know, clearly, the French are very cross about this I think there will be moves to try and resolve it, but right now

there is a feeling of bitterness, I suspect, probably on both sides.

FOSTER: But what are you hearing from the Americans? Is this something, you know a point of principle for them or, you know, they need to have

those relationships?

PEDDER: Yes. I mean, what happened actually today is that the American ambassador called the French foreign minister in an attempt to try and

patch over those differences because there is an important relationship between France and the U.S. and both sides realize that the anniversary

celebrations and July 4th this year are going to be very important to France as well.

And that is a relationship that neither side wants to see damaged. But I think that the French felt it was a point of principle that they couldn't

let this go, marked and unresponded to. And that's why they did what they did but, you know, it's not the only case in Europe at the moment where

you've had, instances of U.S. ambassadors recently appointed under the current administration who have been interfering in domestic affairs, and

that I think all European countries find that unacceptable

FOSTER: Just explain how the death of this far right activist has really seemed to tap into some sort of zeitgeist in France right now.

PEDDER: Well, I mean, one former prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, called it France's Charlie Kirk moment. I think what he's trying to get at

is the idea that the far right is being turned into the victim of a sort of far left violent movement. And that is the case in this particular instance

in Lyon with this young man who was 23-year-old -- 23 years old, and seven suspects are now under formal investigation, six of them for voluntary

homicide.

So there is a sense, I think, that the U.S. embassy in Paris at the moment sees this as part of a sort of victimization of the far right, and that is

where that's why they've started to get involved. I mean it fits very much the pattern of wanting to support any of the movements that are on the

populist right, on the far right, in France, in Germany and in the U.K., for that matter.

FOSTER: Yeah. Okay. Sophie Pedder, really interesting. And we're watching it closely. Thank you for joining us.

Well, elsewhere in Paris, the head of the Louvre Museum has handed in her resignation after that astonishing jewelry heist last year. French

President Emmanuel Macron has accepted the resignation, saying the Louvre needs stability and a new impetus. The director had already offered to

resign after the heist back in October but it was rejected by the French culture minister at the time.

The family of missing woman Nancy Guthrie are pleading for help and pledging help for the families of other missing people. We'll hear from

Savannah Guthrie about the donation her family is making and why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Let's get back to those new developments in and Nancy Guthrie disappearance. Her family is now offering a reward of $1 million for

information leading to her return. That's in addition to the FBI's $100,000 reward. This comes more than three weeks after she vanished in the middle

of the night from her home in Arizona.

In a new video posted online, Nancy's daughter, NBC host Savannah Guthrie, begged with anyone with information to come forward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUTHRIE: You can call the 1-800 tip line.

[15:35:00]

You can be anonymous if you want. Someone out there knows something that can bring her home. Somebody knows and we are begging you to please come

forward now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, the Guthrie family is doing everything they can to get the word out there, and their story is just one of thousands in the United

States each year.

According to Justice Department figures up to 100,000 people may be reported missing in the United States at any given time. As many as 600,000

might be reported missing in any given year. Extraordinary numbers.

Now, the Guthrie family says they're making a donation to help other families also searching for loved ones.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUTHRIE: We also know that we are not alone in our loss. We know there are millions of families that have suffered with this kind of uncertainty, and

for that reason, today, we also are donating $500,000 to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for their work and helping

families who are coping with loss and actively looking for those who are lost. We are hoping that the attention that has been given to our mom and

our family will extend to all the families like ours who are in need.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: CNN law enforcement contributor Steve Moore joins us now.

Obviously, Steve, we're not going to talk about this family being in a fortunate position, but fortunate, perhaps they can get their message out

there, can't they? They can afford this reward as well.

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah. And this reward will is the size of things that will dislodge loyalties. It's the size of a

reward that will cause people to -- to change their views about protecting somebody when they know the person has -- might be involved. So this, I

believe, is the right time and the right amount for the reward.

FOSTER: What do you think about this as a kidnapping case? Of course, the police aren't telling us everything. But it does appear that the, you know,

the appeals for ransoms, for example, have dried up.

MOORE: Yeah, I think what they're -- what you're seeing, Max, is that, after three weeks, four weeks and the reward does not -- I'm sorry, the

ransom does not seem to have been planned out meticulously or followed up on aggressively. In the legitimate -- in kidnappings, where the kidnappers

are serious about getting the money, I think they are much more aggressive in providing things like proof of life, and even threatening strongly and

giving information that would indicate that the person is still communicating with the victim, is still communicating with the kidnappers

and they didn't do this.

And so, what that leads you to question and again, we don't know. And I don't know what the FBI knows now, but it leads you and probably them to

question the validity of kidnapping as the primary reason for the abduction. It may be an opportunistic thing. It may never have been

intended to be a kidnapping. It just -- the father this goes out, the more you -- the FBI is going to have to widen their scope in their theory of the

crime.

FOSTER: Could it have started off as kidnapping? I mean, it's -- Savannah that's floated this idea that her mother may no longer be here which

perhaps would fit this narrative, right?

MOORE: Right. I mean, it still could be a kidnapping. It could be just a very incompetent kidnapping. Or it could have been something else

altogether.

And I think Savannah is showing a lot of strength here in going forward and being realistic about the situation and understanding now that we don't

know necessarily the real reason that her mother disappeared.

But we want to right now, the best thing we can do is number one hope that she's alive and she can be recovered.

[15:40:01]

But secondarily, make sure that nobody thinks that down the road, they'll get away with this.

FOSTER: Absolutely. Our heart goes out to everyone involved on this one. Steve, thank you so much.

The final moments of trade currently on Wall Street stock staging, a bit of a rebound. The Dow is up almost 1 percent after Monday's losses.

This is our Business Breakout.

Donald Trump's new global tariffs are now in effect, although at a lower rate than the president had promised. The new tariffs have been set at 10

percent despite Mrs. Trump saying they would be 15 percent. Mr. Trump would need to sign a new official proclamation to increase the rate, and there's

no timeline for when that might happen.

Paramount Skydance has officially upped its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN. The Warner Bros. board is reviewing that offer,

although it continues to prefer the deal already agreed with Netflix, at least for the time being. Analysts say Netflix is likely to match the new

bid from Paramount.

Meta has announced a major chip deal with AMD. The owner of Facebook will use AMD chips to power artificial intelligence projects. CEO Mark

Zuckerberg says he expects AMD to be an important partner for years to come. AMD shares were up more than 9 percent today.

The A.I. assistant known as Claude sent the market spinning when it first released. That the details about it earlier this month. Now there's a new,

improved version as well to deal with. Anthropic has released a new set of Claude tools that can help users with everything from HR to managing your

money. The fear for some other software companies is that they're -- they'll be rendered completely obsolete.

Our A.I. correspondent Hadas Gold joins us from New York.

Obviously, Anthropic less known to the -- to the masses who might know ChatGPT better, but Anthropic actually is the one really changing things

behind the scenes.

HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Anthropic has a huge presence when it comes to enterprise, and a lot of companies use Anthropic's Claude

A.I. tool. And so, what happened was last month, I mean, Anthropic has a -- has a tool called Claude cowork. And essentially, it's an autonomous agent.

I've actually played around with this, and I can tell Claude, hey, go look at my Gmail inbox, find any emails that are older than three months old

that I haven't opened, delete them for me and it will do that for you. It's like watching somebody take over your computer and do work for you.

But last month, Claude -- Anthropic, they rolled out these new plugins that essentially do what I did with my email inbox. But for things like legal

documents or financial analysis, very specified for all these different industries. And when they rolled this out last month, it caused some

enterprise software stocks to really shutter, things like Reuters and IBM have gone down and some of them have not recovered since that.

And so then this morning, anthropic rolled out some new features for new industries and also making them more customizable for different companies

to use. Now, we haven't seen the markets react today in the same way as they did last month, but this is really weighing heavy on the minds of

these enterprise software companies because there's a fear if an A.I. can just do this for me, and it just takes me a little bit of time with my tech

team to amp this up, why do I need to pay for some of this other software when I can just make this work internally for myself?

FOSTER: Yeah, I mean, it is fascinating. And I gather the head of Anthropic has had a meeting at the Pentagon. Tell us about that.

GOLD: Yeah. So, the Pentagon wanted to meet with Anthropic because there's a bit of a dispute over a contract that Anthropic has with the Pentagon.

The Pentagon has a $200 million with Anthropic, their Claude tool. That same A.I. tool was one of the first A.I. models that was approved to work

on classified military systems.

But the Pentagon has some issues with A.I.'s safety guardrails. Anthropic is known as being a very safety first company, and the Pentagon wants

Anthropic to drop some of the guardrails on its Claude model to make it permissible to use for all lawful activity.

But Anthropic has a problem with this, because they're worried about two specific things. The first is they're worried about A.I. being used in

autonomous weapons, where an A.I. would get to decide when, where, and how a weapon is fired. And they're also worried about A.I. being used in

domestic surveillance. And so those are their two red lines.

And this negotiations have been going back and forth now for several months. And it came to a head this morning with a meeting at the Pentagon

between Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Anthropic CEO, Dario Amodei. And we're told that the Pentagon gave Anthropic until Friday to drop these

guardrails. And they will not only potentially lose their contract with the Pentagon, but almost more importantly, the Pentagon could invoke some

things against them that could essentially make Anthropic like on a government blacklist. One of these is designating anthropic as a supply

chain risk.

Now, this is usually reserved for companies that have connections to adversaries like Russia and China. And what would that -- what that would

mean, would that any company that works with the military or works with the U.S. government would have to make sure that anything, any work they do

with the government is not connected to Anthropic tools. And a huge part of Anthropic business is just what we talked about before, about all of those

enterprise software tools.

[15:45:03]

So, you can imagine that while losing a $200 million contract would be something to worry about for Anthropic potentially losing all of their

enterprise clients because they don't want to deal with them risking their government contracts because they work with Anthropic, that's the real

issue here. But I'm told by a source familiar that Anthropic has no plans to budge on their red lines, so it'll be interesting to see what happens on

Friday if they lose this contract. And if the Pentagon follows through with these with these threats -- Max

FOSTER: Interesting. Hadas, thank you so much.

Still to come, survivors of Jeffrey Epstein are speaking ahead of Donald Trump's State of the Union Address.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:48:44]

FOSTER: At this hour, survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are holding a news conference ahead of Donald Trump's State of the Union

Address. The survivors have repeatedly criticized the White House and the Department of Justice for how they handled the release of Epstein files.

They've been invited to attend the president's address tonight as guests of Democratic members.

The family of Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein victim who died by suicide last year, says this issue just isn't going away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMANDA ROBERTS, VIRGINIA GUIFFRE'S SISTER-IN-LAW: Today, the president will speak about his agenda. He may say it's time to move on from this

Epstein thing. Mr. President, today, we are saying we will not move on and the world is not moving on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: MJ Lee is with me. It's important to keep the survivors, the victims front and center whenever were talking about Epstein. They feel

that Trump doesn't talk about it enough. Is that part of the thought process here that they're right in front of him as he gives his main

speech?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL ENTEPRISE CORRESPONDSENT: Yeah, I think -- I think that is absolutely the deliberate strategy that's coming from some of

these Democratic lawmakers who have invited a number of Jeffrey Epstein survivors to join them at the State of the Union tonight.

[15:50:02]

You know as you know very well, when the president makes this annual nationally broadcast speech, you know, it's a big deal to pay attention to

some of the guests that the president and the lawmakers in the room decide to invite to attend as their guests. So, it is really noteworthy that this

evening here in the U.S., we are going to see a number of some of those survivors we're seeing on the screen actually sitting in the room as

President Trump is delivering his remarks.

And you know, I was listening to this press conference right up until the moment we were on air. And the message from some of the Democratic

lawmakers were starkly clear. They're trying to send a message to the president. You may want to move on from the Epstein files, but we are not

ready to do that.

This is what Democratic lawmaker Garcia, who is the most senior Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said. He said when the president makes a

speech tonight, he is going to know that looking back at him will be numerous survivors of Epstein's abuse and that he is facilitating the

single largest coverup in modern American history.

I wanted to dig in a little bit on the cover up piece of this, because that's obviously a loaded language, but this is where these Democratic

lawmakers and the survivors are coming from when they talk about a cover up, they do not feel like they have received justice. They do not feel like

they have seen anything resembling transparency from the Justice Department, not just this year, not just over the last year, but going back

decades, going back to the many years when Jeffrey Epstein was accused of abusing women and girls.

And they are saying, you know, the last couple of months, yes, the Justice Department has finally, because it was compelled by law, released some

millions of files. But there are still an additional couple millions of files that the DOJ has not released. And there has been a lot of anger

about how the redactions process has unfolded. Essentially, the DOJ has botched that process in many ways by either over redacting some information

that clearly shouldn't have been redacted and in some cases not redacting, failing to redact important information that would give away who some of

the survivors and victims are.

So I think this is just a clear display of sort of the momentum that I think Democratic lawmakers and Epstein survivors are trying to ride here.

They understand the spotlight is currently on Jeffrey Epstein and Epstein files, and they want to use this as a moment and a stage to send a clear

message that they are not going to turn their backs on this issue.

FOSTER: Yeah. We'll see how he reacts tonight.

MJ Lee, I really appreciate it.

And we'll be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:55:27]

FOSTER: Finally, tonight, the city of New York dealing with some icy fallout. It's all around this snowball fight during Monday's blizzard. You

can see two police officers being pelted with snowballs walking through the Washington square park. The police commissioner said the behavior is

disgraceful, even criminal.

Mayor Mamdani said he's seen the video and the officers should be treated with respect. Later he said those officers may have lacerations on their

faces. However, he didn't think the perpetrators should be charged with assault.

I'm Max Foster. That's WHAT WE KNOW. Do stay with CNN.

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