FBI Pleads For New Leads In Nancy Guthrie’s Disappearance

23:20They're imitating the process of an agreement, so as not to anger Trump. Nearby, Tatiana Kravchenko, displaced by war to Kyiv three years ago, watches her two children attempt their schoolwork in the dim red glow. Of course there was hope, she says, referring to the energy truce, but I understood what would happen when it got very cold. With trilateral talks set to restart in Abu Dhabi Wednesday, no one here has much faith in diplomacy. All their efforts focused on surviving the final weeks of winter. Claire Sebastian, CNN. And our thanks to Claire Sebastian for that report. Coming up next, a remark about a, quote, mediocre black man that has created an uproar within the Texas Democratic primary for U.S.

24:06Senate. Stay with us.

24:13Hey, it's Michael Smirconish. If you missed me on CNN, check out my podcast. What's reasonable in these particular circumstances? That's the standard by which we should all evaluate what we're watching on a loop from Minneapolis, not what we're being told we're seeing by a politician or a pundit, including me. Do you have an open or closed mind as to the guilt or innocence of the Minnesota ICE agent. Smirconish. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. In our politics lead, a high-profile Democratic Senate race in Texas is going low. State Representative James Tallarico, who is running against Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett for the Senate nomination, reportedly called his former opponent, Congressman Colin Allred, a quote, a mediocre black man, unquote.

25:06That's according to an online influencer. Here is what former Congressman Allred posted in response. James Tallarico had the temerity and the audacity to say to a black woman that he had signed up to run against a mediocre black man, meaning me, not a formidable, intelligent black woman, meaning Jasmine Crockett. Let me just give you some free advice, James. If you want to compliment black women, just do it. Just do it. don't do it while also tearing down a black man. Okay, with that being said, go vote for Jasmine Crockett. This man should not be our nominee for the United States Senate. State Senator Tallarico later said that his comments had been a mischaracterization, the report of his comments had been a mischaracterization of a private conversation.

25:49Here now is Democratic Texas State Representative Gina Hinojosa. As she's running for governor of Texas, we should disclose she's also the sister of CNN political commentator Sochi Hinojosa. So thank you so much for being here. You're not going to make an endorsement in the Democratic primary for the Senate race, right? Right. What's important to know is that both Jasmine Crockett and James Tallarico have endorsed me in my run for governor of Texas. Are you worried at all about the infighting going on here? And what do you make of the comments that Tallarico allegedly made? So I understand why people are upset by them.

26:27And what I hope is, look, we have 30 days left in this primary run. I hope that they come together, talk this through, find a way forward, because in the end, we need everybody to win in November. And what we're seeing in Texas, what we just saw in Tarrant County last weekend, is that we can win Texas. It is already happening. We are already starting to make incredible gains where we haven't won in 40 years in Texas. But it can only happen if we're all in this together. So let's talk about Tarrant County because Republicans are still trying to process what happened. There was a state Senate race and Democrats won by 14 points.

27:04And that state Senate district went for President Trump last time, 2024, by 17 points. I want you to take a listen to what Republican Texas Congressman Tony Gonzalez said about the results. This is Gonzalez on CNN earlier today. So on the surface, you know, we should be we should be concerned as Republicans. We have to unite behind the security message. We have to unite behind an economic message. But I'd also say things are going to change in Texas. Republican Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said that the results are a wake up call for Republicans across the state. But he also said, quote, I know the energy and strength the Republican grassroots in Texas possess.

27:46We will come out fighting with a new resolve and we will take this seat back in November. We will keep Texas red. You have to go all the way back to 1994. I was alive. I'm not sure if you were. But for the last time, a Democrat won statewide. Democrats have not held the governor's office since Ann Richards won in 1990. And I've seen a lot of, oh, this time Texas is going to go blue stories. I'm old enough to remember Ron Kirk was going to, the Dallas mayor was going to turn Texas blue. How are you going to change this long Democratic statewide losing streak? Well, Jake, my favorite Republican quote is Steve Bannon, who said, as goes Tarrant County, so goes Texas and so goes the world.

28:25And he said that in regards to this race in particular before it was decided on election night. What we are seeing in Texas, and it's just through grassroots organic movement, is that Democrats are winning where we haven't won in a long time. Tarrant County is just the latest and it's higher profile. It is a big, big deal. We saw it happen in Sci-Fair in school board races outside of Houston. We just saw it happen in Robstown with a mayor's race. We just saw it happen in Leander in a city council race. Democrats are winning just since November all over the state. I learned this because I show up and I hear the stories and I see what is happening.

29:01But it is happening. It is real. Something big is happening in Texas. It's not just me saying it. The data shows it. The polling reflects what we are seeing on the ground, and that's that people are desperate for change. And Greg Abbott and the Republican political class in Texas are just more of the same. We should know you're running against the incumbent governor, Greg Abbott, a Republican. And I just want to ask you about something. Explain the math to me, because a Democratic operative told me that if you match what Beto did and get 64 percent of the Latino vote, then the way that the population has changed since then, you can win.

29:40Is that right? Right. So Beto got 64 percent of the Latino vote in 2018. That was when he ran against Ted Cruz. So fast forward to 2026, when I get 64 % of the Latino vote, I win because there's more Latinos in the voting population at this point. So 2018 was proof of concept. 2026 is the win. We are speaking to Latino voters. We launched in the Rio Grande Valley where I'm from. That is a place that Trump won. When you go there now, and we've been there about seven times since we launched this campaign in October, People are desperate for change. They're very upset about the immigration raids, the attacks on Hispanic Texans.

30:21We are very proud of our country. We are a very patriotic people. So to be treated as if we are not American enough and not Texas enough is deeply offensive. And people are angry. And I think that these election results that are happening all over the state are demonstrating that people are desperate for change, ready for change. The Latino vote in Tarrant County in particular swung dramatically. State Representative Gina Hinojosa, thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it. Let's talk about this messy moment in the Texas primary and much more. The panel is standing by. We're going to slide over to that table next.

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32:04America, Congressman Allred has had to work twice as hard to get where he is. I understand how my critique of the congressman's campaign could be interpreted given this country's painful legacy of racism, and I care deeply about the impact my words have on others. Jim, do you think that has any effect on A, the Senate primary, and B, the Senate, the Democrats' hopes of winning the seat? Well, just to step back for a second, we last won a statewide race in Texas my senior year in college. I'm now a member of the AARP. So it's been a little bit of a while and we need to run kind of a perfect race.

32:36I don't think this is going to be a very big deal. I think primaries are by nature contentious. And if you do something that people think is wrong, you immediately apologize and move on to the next thing, go back to your vision. And I think that's what Tal Rico did very smartly. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, who's also in this race, of course, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, quote, I definitely don't think there's anything mediocre about Colin Mallard, it's kind of hard to become the Democratic nominee for Senate in the state of Texas. And he had a primary as well. And he went up against a sitting state senator.

33:03So he was put through the ringer. Ashley, you must love this. What do you think of it all? I do. But we have our own primary that's really bad. I mean, I was actually going to ask Jim, like, who would you rather run against, Paxton or Cornyn? Paxton 19 times, White 20 on Sunday. Yeah, please. Yeah. I mean, I mean, Cornyn's actually gets some of those moderate votes. And I actually was pulling my old Bush folks like, who are you for? and 100 % are for Cornyn. But it's going to be a tough race because Paxson's the MAGA candidate. Obviously, you saw the president this weekend say he may make an endorsement.

33:35And if he would endorse Cornyn, I think that would be a huge statement. He would win. But what are the odds that you think Trump would endorse Cornyn? I mean, like, he wants to win. He wants to win. But he also has a track record, Trump, of picking people who are that their greatest quality is how much they love Trump, not their chance of winning. Hershel Walker is a good example. And how many times they say they love Trump every day. And he tracks that kind of stuff. As you know, this thing in Texas, though, Jake, reminds me of this New Yorker diagram that I saw with Republican fingers all pointing at the Democrats and the Democratic fingers all pointing at themselves.

34:09And that has been the problem for the Democrats this year, I think, in Washington and in some of these campaigns. So, John, you have this book about the Democratic Party and Harry Reid. It's called The Game Changer, How Harry Reid Remade the Rules and Showed Democrats How to Fight. So we were talking about this before, but the moment that Senator Reid, who was a tough, tough guy, literally a fighter, grew up, I think his mom washed the laundry of the local brothel, right? Did you know that or did you read the book to learn that? I knew it before, but I enjoyed your book's version of it. But I have to say, like, once he passed away, you know, may his memory be a blessing.

34:51Like, I thought, oh, Democrats are going to have a tough time winning Nevada from now on. Why? Why was that? Why was he so good at his job and so ruthless? He said to a staffer once, vengeance is in my soul. He would let no holds be barred, Jake. And he loved to raise money. And he was the greatest fundraiser in Nevada history. He funded that Reed machine, as I called it. And they turned they didn't just turn out voters. They registered voters. It's not quite the same. But the Democrats still hold House seats. They hold both houses of the legislature in Nevada. I was surprised that Trump won Nevada in 2024.

35:31I thought they'd still hold it together. But it was a national trend. You know how important the Hispanic vote is in Nevada. Latino men turning against the Democrats that hurt him. So you've been in politics a while, although I do think I'm older than you, just in terms of your AARP membership. Do Democrats need a Harry Reid type? Do they need a tougher guy? Or do you think Schumer and Jeffries are in that mold just different stylistically? I think they're different stylistically. Harry Reid was this one. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are the two smartest political operatives I've ever met. When I ran the war room to pass Obamacare in the White House, we'd have all these ways to get votes.

36:10and in the end, Reid would pat me on the head and say, Jim, I'll get you the 60 votes, just shut up. And he knew how to do it. He was the best I'd ever seen at vote counting. You're not gonna replicate that, but you are gonna get a new generation of leaders, which I think is really good for the Democratic Party. And Hakeem Jeffries is clearly a part of that new generation. Do you think Republicans are on the ropes right now for the midterms? Do you think it's gonna be tough? Oh, yeah. I mean, just by history alone, but also like we keep messing up a little bit. And if we don't go back to talking about affordability, it's going to be a really big problem.

36:43And just is their life better than it was two years ago or whatever, you know, that everyone's going to be saying. But the difference between Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi is they're respected. And so is Mitch McConnell. Mitch McConnell was respected for his tactics, whether he was liked or not. And I think that there's, listen, I am shocked at what the speaker can get done right now. But is it the same respect as like a Nancy Pelosi? or fear. Yeah, nobody fears like they used to. Thanks to one and all, congratulations on the book. Wait to have you here, John. Just moments ago, President Trump baselessly called some state elections rigged and crooked.

37:18How this fits a theme and possibly an alarming plan to disrupt the upcoming midterm elections in 2026 and maybe beyond. We're going to lay it all out, coming up.

37:34In our health lead, Sanjay Gupta, paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta. We're paging Sanjay just in time for Sunday's Super Bowl. He's examining the difference between grass and turf fields and looking at how they make a difference in performance and safety. Here's Sanjay. There are 32 NFL teams and 30 stadiums around the country. Half of those stadiums play on grass and half play on turf. And this has become one of the most provocative issues in sports. 92 % of these players say they prefer grass. Yeah. So as chief medical officer of the NFL, what do you do with that? I think we have to understand why is that?

38:16Number one, it's performance. They want to be able to perform. So I've got to be able to execute the movements that I need to do to do my job and do it well. But secondly, how does my body feel after playing on that? One of the things we're learning from the testing is turf returns energy back to your body differently than natural grass does. The data is a bit mixed on this topic. Data from the 2021-2022 seasons did find grass to result in a lower number of lower extremity injuries. However, the NFL says data from every season since then does not show a significant difference in injuries on grass versus turf.

38:51But due to different factors like different climates, different stadium designs, and even different operational needs, alternative surfaces have become increasingly necessary. It all started back in 1966, where you had the Astro Dome and then Astro Turf, which at that point was basically just like carpet on top of concrete. It's changed a lot over the last several decades, but there's still a lot of concerns about injuries, about toxicity, about whether you can ever make this turf really behave like grass. It gives us that bounce back, that energy return to the body, so what they're feeling when they step underfoot.

39:28Nick Pappas is the NFL's field director, and his job is to quantify that grass feel that players want, and then try to level the playing field. So, how to do that? First step is to develop a series of standards that all fields will need to meet by 2028. And part of that testing is for things like surface hardness, player impact, and overall traction. We've added two studs, like a cleat on the bottom. It's about twice the weight, falls from the same height, but ultimately gives us a representation that is much like the athlete. We can test all of our stadiums with these devices and actually quantify the amount of traction available at any given time.

40:10Rotational traction, so twisting of the cleat, and translational traction, so a sliding of the cleat. Essentially putting a cleat into the ground and testing rotation and movement. And these tests are applied at 60 individual points all over the field. While no two fields will ever be exactly the same, the hope is they might at least start to feel that way to the players. Do you think that we're going to get to that point where you look at 30 NFL stadiums and they basically all have a uniform surface? I do. In the last 10 years, we've seen helmets change dramatically and that's really improved their safety.

40:42I think you're about to see the same thing happen in the surface industry. I should point out, Jake, Nick Pappas, who you just saw there in the piece, he was responsible for picking out the grass. That's going to be at Levi's Stadium for the Super Bowl. It's a Bermuda-style grass. They grew it for 18 months on the sod farm and they bring it into the stadium and lay it down. You see more of that in warm weather states, Jake. Colder weather states like Ann Arbor, Michigan. You and I have been to games there, that's turf. Jake. All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much. Hopefully we can go to a game there again soon.

41:14Sanjay is going to take your questions on this topic. Scan the QR code on your screen to weigh in. It's right there. Sanjay is coming back tomorrow to answer some of your viewer questions.

41:26Welcome to the lead. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour officials are pleading for the public's help to locate the mother of NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie. As the search stretches into a third day, authorities on the ground in Arizona revealing they have submitted DNA samples for testing, but they have not been able to identify any suspects yet. Two former FBI officials will join us live in moments for insight into what's likely happening behind the scenes right now. Plus, the White House today trying to clean up President Trump's comments where he said that Republicans should take over voting in at least 15 areas, presumably Democratic or battleground states or counties.

42:02Trump's remarks coming just days after the FBI searched an elections office in Georgia state Trump lost in 2020, but continues to insist he won. It's causing national concern that Trump is setting the stage for potentially unconstitutional measures in the midterm elections. A top Republican election lawyer is here in studio to react. And the brother of Renee Goode testifying on Capitol Hill today, weeks after his sister was killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal led that public forum. He joins us live to share what he heard ahead.

42:37For Lee tonight, it seems quite possible, if not probable, that Trump's seizure of ballots and other documents related to his loss in 2020 in Fulton County, Georgia, has more to do with the 2026 midterms and the 2028th presidential election than it does the 2020 election. How do I know this? Why do I think this? Well, Trump told us. Listen to what he told his former deputy FBI director, Dan Bongino, on a podcast yesterday. The Republicans should say, we want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least many, 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting. We have states that are so crooked and they're counting votes.

43:20We have states that I won that show I didn't win. Now, you're going to see something in Georgia where they were able to get with a court order, the ballots. You're going to see some interesting things come out. So Trump tying his call for Republicans to take over in 15 areas with the raid on Fulton County and also suggesting he knows what's going to come out. You're going to see some interesting things come out, he said. Now, you may be wondering exactly what the president means when he says take over the voting. We were, too. So CNN's Caitlin Collins asked the president to explain his remarks just minutes ago in the Oval Office.

43:57When you see some of these states about how horribly they run their elections, what a disgrace it is. I think the federal government, when you see crooked elections, and we had plenty of them, and by the way, we had them last time, but go to 2020, look at the facts that are coming out, rigged crooked elections. If we have areas, take a look at Detroit, take a look at Pennsylvania, take a look at Philadelphia, you go take a look at Atlanta, look at some of the places that horrible corruption on elections. And the federal government should not allow that. The federal government should get involved.

44:33These are agents of the federal government to count the votes. If they can't count the votes legally and honestly, then somebody else should take over. The Constitution says it should be states that administer elections, Mr. President. You know what? They can administer the election, but they have to do it honestly. So on the facts of the allegations the president just made about all this alleged election fraud in all these different places, hold that thought. But on the issue that he's just talking about, that's the president saying that we should scrap the way we do elections per the U.S. Constitution, specifically the elections clause in Article 1, which gives states control over House and Senate elections, take place.

45:13Article 2 gives states the power to decide how to hold their presidential elections. But Trump very clearly said in his comments on the podcast that he wants one party, his, the GOP, to take over the voting in multiple places, presumably, as we just heard, battleground states and cities and counties that he lost in 2020 because of his disproven lies that the election was stolen from him in 2020. Trump's words should be taken seriously. We all remember those who told us not to be concerned when Trump was pushing those baseless election conspiracy theories in 2020. We saw headlines that said there will be no Trump coup.

45:47His former acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled, If He Loses, Trump Will Concede Gracefully. How'd that turn out? A reminder, as I said, that many of Trump's own top officials in the Trump administration, in his first term, thought there was nothing to these 2020 election conspiracy theories. They looked into it, and they testified about it under oath. Here's just a teeny sampling. I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff, which I told the president was bullshit. He wanted to talk about that he thought the election had been stolen or was corrupt and that there was widespread fraud.

46:30And I had told him that our reviews had not shown that to be the case. And I said something to the effect of, sir, we've done dozens of investigations, hundreds of interviews. The major allegations are not supported by the evidence developed. But now, of course, we're in the second Trump administration, and he has a team of administration officials who seemingly will do anything he wants. The director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was there for the Fulton County raid. She put Trump on the phone to talk to the FBI agents, according to The New York Times, which experts say was certainly unusual, if not entirely inappropriate.

47:03Gabbard says the president did not ask any questions or issue any directives on the call, we should note. So now President Trump is connecting the dots. This is about establishing a justification, a predicate for his party to federalize elections in these areas that he talked about so that Republicans win. Another justification he offered in that podcast interview is the presence of undocumented immigrants in the United States. If Republicans don't get them out, you will never win another election. as a Republican. And it's crazy how you can get these people to vote. And if we don't get them out, Republicans will never win another election.

47:43Again, not that the president seems to care much about facts or evidence here, but there is no evidence that non-citizens have been voting in significant numbers. I'm not saying they don't vote at all. They do, but not in significant numbers. Georgia's secretary of state, a Republican, did an audit in 2024. He found of the 8.2 million Georgians registered to vote. 20 of them, not 20 ,000, 20, 20 were not citizens. Nine had voted. The governors and the secretaries of state and the election officials were the guardrails of democracy last time, Democrats and Republicans and independents alike. Will they be again this time?

48:18What were Republicans in Congress do? Anything? Let's discuss with former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, who sat on the January 6th Select Committee, and Ben Ginsberg, who was a top election lawyer in Republican politics and warned in 2020 that the GOP was destroying itself on the altar of Trump by parroting his false claims about election fraud. So Ben, as a legal matter, as a legal matter, you told me that you see President Trump's push to nationalize elections or whatever he's talking about through the lens of things that Trump has already said or pushed, specifically his March 25th executive order titled Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections and this Truth Social post in August where Trump wrote, quote, quote, voter ID must be part of every single vote.

48:59No exceptions. I will be doing an executive order to that end. Also, no mail-in voting except for those that are very ill and the far away military, where he also talked about how the states are vessels for the federal government. So tell me about his thinking and whether you think any of it is constitutional legal. It's certainly not constitutional legal. The Constitution does give the power to run elections to the states. Congress can put rules in for Senate and congressional elections. The president has zero authority under the Constitution to do what he's suggesting. So as a legal matter, it's wrong.

49:38Now, can the president as the president do things that we're not anticipating now? Well, he's got a track record of doing that. And his rhetoric has been pretty plain about this. He said he wished he had seized ballots, seized voting machines after the 2020 election. Yeah, he said that to the New York Times a few days ago. And I mean, that is consistent with the executive order you mentioned, saying how the states were a vessel for the federal government. That puts federalism principles and even the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, which provides powers to the states, on its head. What's most surprising about it, Jake, is that for years and years, it has been an article of faith of conservatives and Republicans that power should come from the states up to the federal government.

50:30Many of the members of the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House right now, advocated for that for all their careers. And all of a sudden, that's being turned upside down. And Adam, CNN's Manuraju asked Speaker Johnson about Trump's call to nationalize election or whatever he's proposing here. Take a listen. The president had called yesterday for a takeover of federal elections to nationalize in some states. Is that something that you think you should do, that Republicans should do, takeover elections? The president is expressing his frustration about the problems we have in some of these blue states where election integrity is not always guaranteed.

51:12So we have to figure out solutions to that problem. And that's what I think the Save America has to do. Take over. Thank you, guys. What's your read on that as a former member of Congress? What is he talking about? I mean, here's the thing, and this is where the politics come into play. It was an article of faith among the GOP. Yes, that state should have power. Well, that's gone. But it is an article of faith that all these elections that they lose are stolen. I mean, it started out with this, you know, what happened in Chicago in the 60s, and then it becomes every democratic city and every democratic election.

51:47So what he's setting up here, if he doesn't actually end up intending to try to nationalize any kinds of like he's setting up a political dichotomy where he says you should have a national voter ID. Right. The state, maybe some states make a determination. That's not what's going to happen. And then he's going to have the Democrats have to defend that. And that's what he's doing up is setting up the politics. I'm for safe and free elections. The Democrats aren't. The other weird thing is this whole like obsession about you have to vote in person on election day. I get it. It's not 1950 anymore.

52:20We need to make voting convenient for people as long as it's safe. So all he's doing right here, look, he would take over the elections if he could. I mean, he'd do it today. It's for that. But he is definitely trying to set up this, the political issue so he can stir up his base. They're going to steal the election again. And just like he did in 2020, he's setting up for him to claim the election was stolen when he gets absolutely crushed in the House and the Senate. So there are so many fears out there about how he is going to do this, what he is going to do. And I think we all agree that after January 6th, who knows what he would attempt.

52:55But I wonder, you know the Supreme Court and you know some of the justices even personally. Do you think that they are still the old school constitutionalist conservatives, the six on the bench, that would be against this? I think a takeover by the executive branch, which is really what he's talking about, of elections, would be a violation of everything that they have written and said as originalist, as textualist, as conservative, as federalist. So I think that probably the United States Supreme Court would not allow this to happen any more than in 2020. It allowed the suit by 26 Republican attorney generals to try and reverse the Pennsylvania results.

53:44The court recognized and just didn't hear the case. And Adam, Trump keeps saying that we're going to see something interesting come out of this FBI search of that Fulton County's election office. What do you think that means? i have no clue except that it's probably going to be some thing they make up i mean look the thing about georgia is this was a state run entirely by republicans fulton county not necessarily but georgia was they certified this election and donald trump is obsessed because he lost i mean he lost in 2020 he knows history is going to reflect that and he doesn't like being seen as a loser so that's why he has this obsession with it so i don't know what they're out with, look, if they showed up and they had proof that the election was stolen or whatever, we wouldn't be waiting to hear about that.

54:32I mean, he wouldn't be able to contain himself. I also want to point out just real quick, Jake, remember the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. The whole reason Republicans claimed to oppose the John Lewis Voting Rights Act is because they believed in the power of state and local government to run elections. And they're like, the federal government should have no role in that. That was their main argument. It is amazing to me, not amazing anymore, actually. I'm just saying that rhetorically, how quickly they turn their positions on everything. Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, Ben Ginsberg, thank you so much for being here.

55:04Investigators this afternoon revealed they have submitted DNA samples from the home of Nancy Guthrie. That's the mom of NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie. Do they have any leads on a suspect? We're going to discuss with two former FBI officials next.

55:24We're back with the developing sad story in our national lead, the search for Nancy Guthrie. That's the mom of NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie. Nancy Guthrie has now been missing for three days from her home in Arizona. She doesn't have her life-saving medication with her. President Trump this afternoon says he plans to call Savannah Guthrie about the search efforts. Would you commit to more federal agents like helping out on this? Sure, I would. I'm going to call her later on. I think it's a terrible thing. I always get along very good with Savannah. A very unusual situation, but we're going to find out.

55:56Joining us now, CNN's Josh Campbell and former FBI senior official Catherine Schweit. Josh, local officials alongside the FBI in the Tucson area gave an update today. We didn't learn much more from the Pima County Sheriff earlier. What can we glean from the answers he gave, do you think? Well, two things. First, I think it's clear that they don't know where she is. And that's something that the sheriff has said, that they're still trying to locate her. There's still a lot of questions that they have. And look, he was very exasperated in that press conference. You can tell. And I think what most people have to understand when it comes to these types of kidnapping investigations is that oftentimes it will take time until you find that viable lead, that one piece of information that can then send your investigation into the direction, hopefully the resolution that you hope.

56:42And that's for a safe recovery. But, you know, we're in this information age where people want instant answers. And it's not like law enforcement isn't doing something, but they're working behind the scenes, trying to process evidence, trying to get video from in and around that area. And so you can really feel the sense of the exasperation from this team that is conducting this investigation. And then the second thing I'll note is that there are clearly things that they know that they are not going to say, as we see in many different investigations. But there has been reporting. The sheriff's department said that they are aware of, quote, reports of ransom notes that are out there.

57:15They haven't accredited those or indicate that they believe that they are actually valid here. But I can tell you from these cases, if indeed there is a actual credible ransom note authorities receive, that is not something that they are going to rush out to try to publicize. There are sensitive aspects about how they handle those, which I won't get into. But just in the main, you know, if you open a line of communication with an abductor, that is something that they're going to treat very sensitively. Again, hoping for the positive outlook here. So, Catherine, you've worked missing persons cases with similarities to Nancy Guthrie's.

57:47What has people really concerned is this element of time here, because the Guthrie family told the sheriff that Nancy Guthrie has medication that she can't go 24 hours without. From your experience, how does that put the pressure on? Yeah, I actually worked a kidnapping 25 years ago of an 88-year-old woman. Same similar circumstances. She was abducted from her home in the middle of the night. So I guess I would send this message of hope out that five days after the kidnapping, she was recovered alive. And so that was encouraging. But what we definitely know is that every hour counts. And as Josh was saying, you know, they're going in one direction, waiting for answers or hoping to get a kidnapping letter.

58:29You're really going in two directions. Law enforcement. It's all all boots on the ground, federal, state and local. as many people as you need to work at, you work at dozens and dozens and dozens of FBI agents. I can guarantee you are working on this along with the locals. And you're working in one direction to find her and you're working in the other direction, hoping that they will reach out to you and make a kidnapping ransom note offer so that you can respond that way, hoping that one of those two avenues will give you the person back alive. Catherine, do you think more federal support would be helpful?

59:07We heard in the last hour folks talking about how the U.S. marshals can be really essential in tracking people down in situations like this. Yeah, I think that probably, as Josh said, no one actually knows what's going on, but having worked in a command post in one of these situations, there are no limits to the number of people. So I don't think it's a question of asking for more assistance from this agency or that agency. As much work as it can be done, including like I've combed fields before as any agent has, as the other agents have and officers that you're mentioning have. So I don't think it's necessarily a lack of resources in any way, whether it's federal or local.

59:48I think it's more like you can only have so many people do so many things and they're working as frantically as they can to get that done. Josh Campbell and Catherine Swy, thank you so much for your expertise. We appreciate it. And anyone out there who has any information related to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, including video or photos or anything. You can submit a tip by dialing 1-800-CALL-FBI. That's 1-800-CALL-FBI. You can also submit a tip online to local authorities at 88crime.org. That's 88crime.org. And once again, we here at The Lead are sending our love and our thoughts and prayers and best wishes to Savannah and her family.

1:00:24A growing number of Republicans pushing back against comments from Trump's hand-picked U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro after she suggested she would target gun owners who come to D.C. That's next.

1:00:42Cleanup on Isle Pirro and our law and justice lead U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro is attempting to clean up comments she made yesterday on Fox, which seemed to alarm Second Amendment advocates and gun rights enthusiasts. She released a video this morning attempting to clarify her stance on jailing legal gun owners. I am a proud supporter of the Second Amendment. I have guns myself. We're taking guns off the street, illegal guns in the hands of criminals who want to use those guns to victimize law-abiding citizens. There's a big difference here. You're responsible, you follow the laws, you're not going to have a problem with me.

1:01:24Yeah, so that's not what she said yesterday. So take a listen. You bring a gun into the district, you mark my words, you're going to jail. I don't care if you have a license in another district, and I don't care if you're a law-abiding gun owner somewhere else. You bring a gun into this district, count on going to jail, and hope you get the gun back. Let's discuss with Steve Gutowski, he's the founder of TheReload.com and a gun safety instructor. Stephen, thanks so much for joining us. We should note that D.C. law requires gun owners to register their firearms with the District of Columbia, and the D.C.

1:02:02government does not recognize concealed carry permits from other states. Is that what she meant, do you think? But what do you make of her comments? I mean, it does seem like a contradiction, what she said today and what she said yesterday. Yeah, well, whether that's what she meant, what she said was that if you bring a gun into the district and you're from out of state, you're going to go to jail. And the reality is that Washington, D.C. issues non-resident permits. I actually have one, which make it legal to carry in the district if you're not from Washington, D.C. So what she said is incorrect.

1:02:36And if she just meant that anyone without a D.C. non-resident permit will be arrested. That also poses problems for gun rights activists who strongly oppose the sort of laws that Washington, D.C. has and are strong allies of the president. So Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche responded this morning saying that the administration would always protect Second Amendment rights. But this is not the first time we've heard it because after the shooting by Custom and Border Patrol agents of Alex Preddy, and he had a gun on him, although he wasn't, he didn't read, he didn't have it in his hand or anything.

1:03:11There was all this hue and outcry from the FBI director and others like, don't bring a gun to a protest. Don't bring a gun, et cetera, et cetera. We've seen anger from several prominent Republicans on this issue. Maybe, you know, maybe it was a building up. Governor Ron DeSantis, Congressman Greg Stubbe. Are Republicans mistrustful of the administration here based on all these comments? It certainly seems that they are at the moment. I think Piro's comments are getting this amount of attention in part because it's kind of a snowball effect here. These weren't said in isolation. They were said after the comments that you just alluded to from the president, from Kash Patel, the FBI director, from almost all of the major Trump administration officials, Even the Treasury secretary and the Transportation secretary were saying that line in interviews about Freddie being, you know, a hidden carrying gun being nefarious.

1:04:08And that has bothered a lot of not just gun rights activists, but also, yeah, like you said, elected officials as well in the Republican Party. So I think one of the things that comes through is that it seems to be that they think, and this is just what I'm discerning from all these comments, is that Trump supporters have more of a Second Amendment right to carry guns than people who aren't necessarily Trump supporters. Because I've never heard any of these arguments being made about any of the Trump supporters who came here on January 6th or protested COVID restrictions, etc. Any of those people who were legally carrying guns to protest, I've never heard any of these arguments made by them.

1:04:53And I assume that people who are consistent on the Second Amendment, like you, find that problematic. Certainly. I mean, I do think there's something to the idea that the president was more willing to go after Alex Preddy for carrying a gun because he perceived him as somebody who's not on his team. Right. Preddy was there to to protest or record or yell at agents, immigration agents in Minneapolis. And so I think Trump views him as somebody who's not on his side and is more willing to make these sort of arguments. And additionally, I think it's also kind of the line that they perhaps thought was the best they had to defend the actions of these agents, which are really not justifiable based on everything we know at this point.

1:05:41Steve Mugutowski, as always, thanks for your expertise. Thanks for your intellectual consistency. We appreciate it. The brothers of Renee Good testified on Capitol Hill today, weeks after an ICE agent shot and killed their sister in Minneapolis. What they hope can possibly come out of this tragedy. That's next. In our National League today on Capitol Hill, powerful testimony from several U.S. citizens about their aggressive encounters with federal immigration agents under the Trump administration. Here's just some of them. And perhaps even worse, the mental scars will always be there as a reminder of the time my own government attempted to execute me.

1:06:20And when they fell, they chose to vilify me. I will never forget the fear and having to quickly duck my head as the shots were fired at the car. Any one of those bullets could have killed me or two people that I love. Then there's Aaliyah Rahman. You see her on the screen there. She says she's a disabled person with autism and has a traumatic brain injury. DHS said she was arrested for obstruction after ignoring commands to move her vehicle away from a protest in Minneapolis last month. I now cannot lift my arms normally. I was never asked for ID, never told I was under arrest, never read my rights, and never charged with a crime.

1:07:14This is how Rachman described her treatment inside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, where she was taken after those immigration agents pulled her from her car. I received no medical screening, phone call, or access to a lawyer. I was denied a communication navigator when my speech began to slur. Agents did not know if the facility had a wheelchair. When I was finally placed in one to be taken to interrogation, an agent taunted, you are driving, right? So your legs do work. The last sounds I remember before I blacked out on the cell floor were my cellmate banging on the door, pleading for a medic and a voice outside saying, we don't want to step on ICE's toes.

1:07:58All of this comes, of course, amidst the killings of Renee Good and Alex Preddy, two U.S. citizens killed by immigration agents in Minneapolis last month. Good's brothers also testified today. This is what one of the brothers said his daughter told him. She knows that her aunt died and that somebody caused it to happen. She told me that there are no bad people and that everyone makes mistakes. She has Ney's spirit. The deep distress our family feels because of Ney's loss is in such a violent and unnecessary way is complicated by feelings of disbelief. distress, and desperation for change. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut hosted today's public forum and joins us now.

1:09:03Senator, first of all, let me just ask you, you hosted a forum. This was not a bipartisan committee hearing, right? I mean, Republicans control the Senate right now. Did Republicans not want to hear from these American citizens? Unfortunately, tragically, Republicans are in denial. They don't want to hear these stories, and they don't want to do the kind of action that these witnesses very powerfully asked us to do. Jake, this experience was one of the most moving and powerful of any I have seen in my 15 years in the United States Senate. We use the mantra, speak truth to power, all too often.

1:09:45And these witnesses truly summon the courage and strength to speak truth to power. The Republicans have the power right now. They're in the majority in the Senate and in the House, and they have the White House. But they don't want to hear these stories from American citizens, every one of them, an American citizen, every one brutally harmed. Ms. Martinez, five bullets going through her body. She almost bled to death. And I think that Republicans need to hear them. So I can almost anticipate what Caroline Leavitt, or a Republican, would say watching this. And she would say, well, you don't want to hear from the American citizens who are victimized by illegal immigrants who are in this country.

1:10:31How would you respond to that? They should be heard as well. The Republicans should face facts here. As Ronald Reagan said, facts are stubborn things. But what we have in ICE and the Department of Homeland Security is an agency out of control, a paramilitary force. I have no words to describe what you saw on that video and that we have replayed in the course of our spotlight forums. And we are going to continue our investigation. Representative Garcia and I, in a very objective and factual based way, are giving a platform to these witnesses and other Americans have a right to be heard as well.

1:11:21This story is about more than just Minneapolis. It spans the nation. So Democratic and Republican lawmakers sounded skeptical today that the two parties could reach a deal on changes to ICE in order to arrive at some sort of government funding bill. I want to play a little bit what Congresswoman Melanie Stanbury of New Mexico said at today's public forum. We need to defund and dismantle this agency immediately. And a bill just passed a few moments ago before we walked into this hearing room to give another two weeks to think about a deal. No, it's time to defund this. This has to end. Do you agree and are you concerned that two weeks are not enough time to negotiate a Department of Homeland Security funding agreement?

1:12:10I will vote against another dime for the Department of Homeland Security unless Republicans meet our demands for completely rebuilding, overhauling, and in fact reimagining the Department of Homeland Security. I will not vote for another dime unless there is reform top to bottom and Kristi Noem goes from this agency. I believe very strongly we have a responsibility to make sure that this paramilitary force is stopped from violating the Constitution, exacting violence on our citizens. And I believe that we have two weeks is enough time. And here's the reason, Jay. All my Republican colleagues have to do is ask their local police chiefs, what do you tell your cops on the beat?

1:13:06is the right thing to do. Wearing badges, wearing body cameras, no masks, standards of accountability. And most important for me, and by the way, I was Attorney General of the State of Connecticut, and I helped to advise police on what they should do. They should be subject to lawsuits, to legal redress from everyday citizens like Ms. Martinez and the others on that panel when their rights are violated. That kind of recourse is a strong deterrent, but it also enables people to have real rights. There are no real rights unless there are remedies. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, thank you, sir, appreciate your time today.

1:13:57After President Trump just suggested the federal government, or Republicans rather, should take over elections in some states, in some areas, I'm going to get reaction from a former Republican senator who's going to join us live in studio next.

1:14:17In our politics lead, President Trump, who regularly talks about exerting more power over state elections, has managed to stun even Washington, D.C. as he calls on Republicans to take over voting in 15 places where he lost, presumably Democratic or battleground states and or counties. Joining us now to discuss, the former Republican governor of Arkansas, Lisa Hutchinson, and CNN political commentator Karen Finney. So, Governor, you ran Arkansas. I almost called you Congressman because that's how I first met you. You ran Arkansas for eight years. What do you think about this call from President Trump for Republicans to go into 15 places where Democrats win and run the elections?

1:14:56Well, first of all, I think our system of elections, where the states run the elections has been very effective through history. And the states are doing a good job. I believe in the Tenth Amendment that if it's not reserved to the federal government, the states have that authority. Now, obviously, whenever you're looking at voter integrity, we've passed voter ID in Arkansas. Some states have done that. Some haven't done that. And so whenever the president says that the states are an agent of the federal government, But I don't accept that as a governor. Obviously, we're not agents in our principle of federalism.

1:15:34We really have constitutional constraints, and that's true of the federal government. So Adam Kinzinger, former Republican congressman, pointed out earlier this hour that when Democrats during the Biden years were trying to pass voting reforms, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and things like that, Republicans were all about you can't impose on states voting laws. it's up for the states. And it is pretty true that the Congress, I mean, sorry, the Constitution is pretty clear about who gets to make the rules in the states. It's the states. It's very clear. Look, I think the most important thing that Democrats can do a couple, twofold.

1:16:10One, we're taking Donald Trump at his word, right? Our conservative friends keep saying like, Donald Trump will tell you what he's going to do. Well, he says we should control these 15 states. He also said he wished that in 2020. He wished she would have seized the voting machines. And look, he's been telling us what he wants to do. You've got Pam Bondi going after voter rolls in a number of states. So first of all, believe him. And so you're already seeing groups start to take the legal actions. You're seeing secretaries of state and attorneys general saying, you just saw recently in Minnesota, where they said, no, we're not going to hand over our voter data.

1:16:47And in some instances, you're actually also seeing individuals start to sue for their own, because it's your personal information that you're trying to get. So part one is the legal recourse, because that's been effective. But part two is we've got to make this an issue in the campaign, whether or not you support the Constitution and the idea that is very clear on a number of things about what our rights and freedoms are. Let's turn to the fact that the president just signed the House-backed sprawling of government funding package. It will end the partial government shutdown. I don't know if anybody out there noticed, but we're in a partial government shutdown.

1:17:21It will create a two-week extension of funding for the Department of Homeland Security. And this is the real issue right now, is that Democrats are saying there need to be some restraints on ICE and the Customs and Border Patrol agents. There need to be some rules, no masks, de-escalation tactics, and on and on. When you were at the Department of Homeland Security in the Bush administration, You helped form the immigration, I don't know if it was called ICE back then, was it? Yes, ICE was created whenever I was at Homeland Security, CBP, and then ICE, after we took over those agencies from the different departments of government.

1:17:59So ICE was started 20 years ago, and its mission then has been redefined today. Obviously, we were small compared to the FBI then. Now they have a budget larger than the FBI. But let me just say President Trump deserves some credit for making sure the government stays open. And while that's been a success, I think this increases leverage on the Democrats over the next two weeks as they negotiate about ICE. Because now it's narrowly focused on homeland security. There's less at risk for them. It increases their negotiating power for some of the reforms that they want. Do you think that there should be some reforms?

1:18:41I do. But I also would say that what I see in Minnesota is that while there's excessive force, there's also impediments being placed by citizens for ICE doing its job. Americans support the mission of immigration enforcement, but they don't support excessive and brutal tactics. And that's where I think there's got to be some oversight, some changes, some reforms that are made. I hope that the administration agrees to some of those and that we can get them funded. So let me just, so polls indicate that the American people are in a place where they support border enforcement. They support, they support, I'm just talking about polls now, the vast majority support undocumented immigrants who are violent, who are criminals out of this country, but they also support some sort of legalized status and path forward and such.

1:19:37and they find these tactics that we see in Minnesota too much. Are the Democrats there? Because, you know, we just played a clip of a congresswoman saying defund and destroy ICE. Yeah, look, I think there's a range of opinion at the same time where the public is and where I think we're going to be for most of this election, particularly because you're seeing independents move this way, which is there has to be more accountability. And yes, some people are for defund. I don't think that's realistic. I don't think that's going to happen. the more strategically and politically, the better position is to fight for the kinds of accountability measures that actually Democrats are negotiating for.

1:20:14But a couple of quick things. One, let's remember that members are hearing from their own constituents. So in terms of leverage, I think Democrats have quite a bit of leverage because even Republicans are hearing from people who are concerned about what they're seeing. And then lastly, this is going to play out, obviously in the election, because people are very broadly concerned about what we've seen and the sort of trampling on people's rights connected even to what we were just talking about on voting. So great to have you both here. Thank you so much. Don't be a stranger, Governor. Jill Biden's ex-husband is behind bars.

1:20:49He's accused of killing his current wife in December. What we're learning about the initial police call to their Delaware home and the charge he's now facing.

1:21:03Just into our health lead, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, the former Republican leader, has been hospitalized after experiencing what his team calls flu-like symptoms. A spokesman for the former Senate majority leader says his prognosis is positive and he looks forward to returning to work. McConnell's 83 years old. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. And our Law and Justice lead, the ex-husband, the first husband of former First Lady Jill Biden, has been indicted on a murder charge. 77-year-old William Stevenson was arrested in connection with the death of his wife Linda Stevenson, 64.

1:21:36Authorities say Linda Stevenson was found unresponsive in their Delaware home back in December after police got a call about a domestic dispute. William Stevenson was married to the future Mrs. Biden from 1970 until their divorce in 1975. In our Out of This World League, NASA is delaying the launch of Artemis II due to yesterday's hydrogen fuel leak, the launch window for the first manned mission around the moon in more than 50 years. has been pushed to March at the earliest. Originally, NASA was hoping for a launch this Sunday. You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, ThreadsX, Blue Sky, and on the TikTok at Jake Tapper.

1:22:11You can follow the show on X and Instagram at The Lead CNN. If you ever miss an episode of The Lead, you can watch the show on the CNN app. Download the CNN app, everybody. Aaron Burnett out front starts now. Take it away, Aaron.

1:22:30New cycle making your head spin? The Have I Got News For You crew is here to help with a comic take on the week's headlines. New episodes, Saturdays at 9 on CNN and next day on the CNN app.