← Here's the Scoop
Here's the Scoop
New Security Cam Footage in Nancy Guthrie Disappearance and DHS Under Fire on Capitol Hill
00:21:47
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- [00:03]
A
Hey, everyone. Welcome to here's the scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasim Dasugian. Today on the show, top Trump immigration officials testified before Congress just days ahead of the deadline to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Can members get a deal done before the weekend? Plus, why a record number of lawmakers are retiring instead of running for reelection. And the Olympic medal count is climbing for Team usa. We're going to have a report from Milan. Up first, the FBI has released photos and videos of a potential subject in the investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of TODAY co anchor Savannah Guthrie. This marks a very significant development as the search for the 84 year old enters its 10th day. So with that, I want to get right to NBC News Chief justice and national affairs correspondent Kelly o', Donnell, who's been reporting on this directly from Tucson, Arizona in Nancy Guthrie's neighborhood.
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B
Hey, Kelly, good to be with you.
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A
Great to have you. So this afternoon, FBI Director Kash Patel posted black and white photos and videos of the potential subject on X. They are chilling to say the least. If you would, Kelly, describe for listeners what we can see in some of these images.
- [01:17]
B
This is such an important development in this case because officials have been waiting for something that they could demonstrate to the public to elicit information from people who might know who this person is. So what you see is the doorway of Nancy Guthrie's home. Now, I am in her neighborhood. I've spent some time in front of the home, so I have a sense of recognizing it in the images. And she has an arched front doorway. There is a semicircle driveway and then there's a lot of vegetation. So what we can see is a person approaching and that person is wearing a ski mask. The person is wearing what appears to be khaki or light pants. There's a jacket and a backpack. There are gloves on his hands. His manner and bearing suggest this is a man and he is someone that looks prepared. And I say that because having gloves, a mask, an apparent weapon on his belt, all of that suggest someone who came to this home with an intention to do harm. We don't know who it is. If authorities knew or suspected who this person is, they would not do this kind of appeal because it could be they, they'd have other avenues to try to find this person. So I think it is a reasonable assumption that at this point they are looking for the public's help. Does someone recognize the movement of this person? There's a few seconds of video walking up to the front. Do what I Think stands out there is the head is down, obviously there's a ski mask on. It suggests an awareness that a camera is there. Now, is that specific awareness of the Guthrie home? I can't say that because so many homes have a door camera. Clearly the person quickly took steps to remove the camera. And we see that because the images produced today also show him going back and getting some scrubs, some desert brush to put in front of the lens while he's trying to dislocate the camera from the house.
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A
We talked about the timeline a little bit with regards to how long it's been, 10 days since Nancy Guthrie has been missing. This camera was in fact removed. So it's taken some time to get these images. But how did they eventually get a hold of them? The FBI?
- [03:44]
B
There's quite a story in that because this perpetrator removed the hardware and we believe there were recording devices associated with this equipment that were removed. What does that tell us? Well, that meant that the FBI and law enforcement had to go to the vendor, the private sector company that owns this system. They apparently had some ability to go back into their system and retrieve these images, limited as they are, and yet quite good in the sense that it was better than I had anticipated it being. I thought a broken camera might be bad images. These images are pretty good for the realm of door cameras. So that took time. That requires usually subpoenas to get a company to cooperate and law enforce. That's standard stuff, but it's timec consuming. There's a 24 hour command center here in Tucson that has been established. There is, of course, a field office in Tucson for the FBI and they've brought in resources from around the country, including agents, personnel and FBI employees who have specific kinds of expertise in this. And at least to this point, they have some very useful pieces of evidence. And now they are opening it up to the public to say, what do you see in this? Do you know someone who has that backpack, who walks that way, who has that bearing? It also allows them to go to any video sources that might exist in nearby businesses prior to the events of that Sunday night. And that could be another open door.
- [05:22]
A
I know that you have some new reporting about Cash Patel's whereabouts yesterday as well. You talked about this field office for the FBI. At one point, the Pima county sheriff's office was leading this investigation. Has the lead now shifted to the FBI with your new reporting out there that Cash Patel, in fact visited this field office yesterday.
- [05:40]
B
He was here in Tucson for unrelated planned travel on a Separate law enforcement visit. And we had reported that prior to that, they wanted it to be clear he was not coming out for the guthrie case. But once in the area, We've now learned that he went to the tucson command center to meet with the personnel who are working on this. It is also important to say that at this point, it is still the pima county sheriff's office that is in charge of this investigation with help from the FBI. Why is that? Because at this point, what is known to be the facts of this crime Are all still within the jurisdiction of pima county. If there were evidence that Nancy guthrie was taken across state lines, that automatically makes it a federal case. If there was a specific nexus to something that crosses state lines, and even potentially something more specific in the realm of kidnapping could make it a federal case. Right now, they're working together.
- [06:37]
A
Savannah guthrie posted the photos on her instagram account with the message, we believe she is still alive. Bring her home. Last night, savannah also posted a video to instagram Hours before the final deadline in the alleged ransom note. What is the latest guidance when it comes to the validity of these notes and any possible connection between these notes and the subject they're honing in on in these images released?
- [07:06]
B
It's a little bit of a difficult question at this point, because obviously, we know there are notes. The question is, is that a separate crime where someone is an opportunistic person looking at this national event that's affecting a prominent family in savann Family, her mother, and trying to take some kind of opportunity there to get money to extort? That's one possibility. It could be in the prank realm. There's already been an arrest along those lines in california of someone who had sent a message that would be in the prank category. Or this could, in fact, be a kidnap for ransom crime. We don't yet have anything from officials that tells us that that is a certainty. How would they know? It would be communication that provided some piece. Information that the family in particular would know is unique to Nancy guthrie's ability to either say something, do something, a piece of an article of her clothing, something like that. That would be a definitive proof that this perpetrator had Nancy guthrie. We don't have that yet. So there are different tracks happening here. I've talked to law enforcement. That feels like the kidnap for ransom approach to this is. Is certainly within the realm of what could be happening. And others are saying that is a separate, parallel investigation and that this is some other kind of crime. We just don't know. And that makes it complicated and difficult and certainly puts a lot of pressure on the family's emotions and certainly on investigators for trying to put their attention in the most useful place.
- [08:51]
A
Kelly o', Donnell, thank you.
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B
Good to talk with you. Hard under these circumstances, we all know, but we're trying to do our best to report this so people have the information they need.
- [09:01]
A
Yeah. Incredibly difficult. Obviously, our friend and our colleague Savannah Guthrie and her family affected by this. But we are appreciative of you being on the ground there for us. Kelly. Thank you.
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B
Thank you.
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A
By the way, anyone with any information, please contact 1-800- call FBI. That's 1-800-225-5324 or the Pima County Sheriff's Department. 520-351-4900. All right. We're going to take a very quick break. And when we are back, lawmakers on Capitol Hill grilling top Trump immigration officials about ICE operations in Minneapolis. Stay with us.
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A
And we are back with here's the scoop from NBC News. Funding for the Department of Homeland Security runs out on Friday. And key Senate Democrats just drew a line in the sand saying they will not pass a short term funding bill. They are demanding changes to immigration enforcement. Meanwhile, you have DHS officials who were on the hot seat at a House oversight hearing following last month's fatal shootings in Minneapolis where federal agents killed Renee Good and Alex Preddy. So what does all of this mean for a department that has become absolutely central to the Trump administration's immigration agenda? I want to bring in Capitol Hill correspondent Julie Cirkin. Hi, Julie.
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D
Hi, Yasmin. Thanks for having me.
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A
Great to have you. Let's start with this high profile DHS oversight hearing in the House today. You had Todd Lyons, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Rodney Scott, The Commissioner of U.S. customs and Border Protection, and Joseph Edlow, The Director of U.S. citizenship and Immigration Services. They all testified. What were some of the big moments, the key takeaways that you see?
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D
Well, in some ways, it was to be expected that Democrats were going to use this moment, Yasmin, to push the Trump administration's officials who are in charge of immigration enforcement in these various operations around the country, specifically the ones that we saw, of course, in Minneapolis that led to the tragic deaths of two American citizens. And Democrats use this moment to not only push back against the administration's policies, but also argue for why they are withholding their votes at this point to fund the Department of Homeland Security. We saw an interaction with Congressman Eric Swalwell of California and these ICE officials. We saw other Democrats from Rhode island and other members on the committee really pushing them to defend their policies, essentially calling them gestapo police when they step out into the streets, saying that these American cities do not want the Trump administration officials in them and pointing out one of the biggest things that Democrats have been shouting about, which is state and local officials in many ways have been iced out of these operations.
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A
So we know the funding runs out in four days. Key members, as I mentioned, to the Senate Democratic Caucus, they say they're not going to support another continuing resolution or CR to prevent a shutdown of DHS beginning this weekend unless ICE is reined in. That is what Senator Angus King said. They have a list of 10 demands. What are those? What do they want?
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D
Well, here's what's interesting and I'll start with this, Yasmin, before I answer your question, which is a lot of these negotiations are happening behind the scenes, and that's a good sign that progress could actually be being made behind the scenes because typically when lawmakers start trashing one another in the press, when they start revealing the specific points that they're talking about, it means that they're not making real progress. In this case, you had Democrats that released a set of 10 demands. The biggest issues that I it if I hear in my conversations with Republicans are Democrats demands to prohibit immigration officers from conducting warrantless arrests, meaning going into private property without obtaining a judicial warrant. Democrats are also asking immigration enforcement officers to unmask themselves. Believe it or not, that is one of the biggest sticking points for Republicans and the White House. And it's because they feel like this is a time of significant threat for police, for ICE officials, that if they were to pull down their masks and to ID themselves, that they would be subject even more harassment and potential violence. That's what Republicans are saying. The other big point for Democrats is that they want to make sure that these officers have body cameras that are actually turned on. We know Kristi Noem made a unilateral decision to make sure that all officers deployed in these operations are wearing them, but that's not enough for Democrats because they want those codified into law.
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A
In the big beautiful bill put forth by the President, $75 billion was allocated for ICE. So even if there is a shutdown when it comes to ice, that is they are not funded, they will still be able to carry out some of their immigration enforcement. So with that in mind, do Republicans even have to negotiate?
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D
That's what I asked a senior administration official earlier this week. I had that same question, because Republicans are not hiding behind the fact that they did allocate a significant amount of resources to, in their partisan legislation to not only fund ice, but fund ICE through the rest of the President's term. So if you're looking at a Department of Homeland Security that is defunded if the government is partially shut down on Friday night, Republicans are pointing to Democrats and are saying, we are still going to be able to conduct our immigration enforcement operations. The president teased to Tom Yamas they want to go into five additional American cities, but what will not be funded is potentially disaster response. Fema, the critical services the DHS provides that are outside of the scope of immigration enforcement. So that's why this moment is so important for Democrats. Are they going to win this fight politically? Of course their base wants them to fight because of the outrage that we've seen on the streets since the shooting deaths of those two American citizens. But it really is a gamble for Democrats.
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A
Well, there's something else that I wonder if Republicans are taken into account, and that is public sentiment. Right. You have a bunch of recent polls essentially saying around 60% of voters disapprove of ICE or believe it is, quote, unquote, gone too far. You couple that with some folks Republicans have had to rely on in, for instance, getting the government back open during the longest government shutdown in history, and that is Independent Senator Angus King, who I keep mentioning. Are these, in part, also some of the reasons in which Republicans feel as if there does need to be some negotiations when it comes to DHS funding?
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D
Absolutely. I talked to a very senior Trump administration official just yesterday who is at the tip of the spear in these negotiations, and I asked, what makes this moment different from the fight you were unwilling to engage in over the Affordable Care act just a couple of months ago? Republicans did not want to make any room toward Democrats in giving them what they wanted over healthcare. Why are they open to doing that? On immigration enforcement, one of the president's biggest issues that propelled him to the White House. And the answer was a combination of political and circumstantial scenarios. And I thought that was a really interesting omission. It speaks to the fact of what you were just talking about that there is overwhelming American public sentiment against these operations that have began with the goal of weeding out the most violent, hardened criminals and has turned into something much different. The images of Liam, the little boy who is snatched in one of these raids, the images of the people who are being killed and hurt in these raids, that is really resonating even with Republicans, and they're hearing it from people back home.
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A
So you mentioned this earlier, but I want to dig into it just a little bit, which is okay. Immigration enforcement could feasibly still be funded if in fact this. This lapses in DHS isn't formally funded by the government, but able to dip into the big, beautiful bill money. But there are other departments that are under DHS that isn't. That is fema, that is Coast Guard, that is Secret Service, that is tsa. Will those be affected if they're not able to get something across the finish line in the next few days.
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D
Absolutely. It would be a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. What Republicans and Democrats were able to pass a week and a half ago, Yasmin, was a temporary extension of funds, not new money, not a new plan for this year, just an extension of status quo while they negotiate. Now it is Tuesday. As we are taping this, they have three days which is a lifetime in congressional speak to get a deal together. There are some positive movements. As I mentioned. Republicans and White House officials that I spoke to say they are determined to make sure these services don't lapse, but they're also already prepared to play the blame game if they do. People that I spoke to in the last 24 hours, Yasmin, say we are prepared to blame the closure of those critical services from FEMA to the TSA to the coastline guard on Democrats. But for this moment, we are doing everything we can to reach a deal. That doesn't mean, though that they're going to accept all of Democrats demands.
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A
Julie Serkin, thank you.
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D
Thanks for having me.
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A
Meanwhile, in California, a federal judge has temporarily blocked the state from enforcing its ban on law enforcement officers wearing masks, saying the policy discriminates against federal agents because it does not apply to state or local officers. The judge did uphold a separate requirement that federal officers display a name or a badge number while operating in the state. All right, we are going to take a very quick break and when we are back, we'll tell you about the event where the USA just nabbed a bronze medal. Stay with us for the headlines. Not sure if you have the experience to start your dream job. Good news these days, it's the skills that count.
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And we're back with here's the scoop from NBC News. Let's get to some headlines. Members of Congress are retiring at a historically high rate ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Sixty lawmakers have decided not to run for a reelection this year, 51 House members and nine senators. That is the most retirements from both chambers combined this century. A recent high in the House was in 2018, when 52 lawmakers did not run for reelection. And as in 2018, which was a bruising election year for the GOP, more House Republicans are heading for the exits than Democrats. Meanwhile, in New Jersey, after an extremely tight 11th district special Democratic primary, former Representative Tom Malinowski has conceded to progressive activist Amalalia Mejia. NBC News has still not projected a winner from the February 5 primary for New Jersey Governor Mikey Sherrill's old seat. In the current count, Mejia has 29.1% of the vote to 27.7% for Malinowski. As we spoke about last week with NBC News chief data analyst Steve Kornacki, the race is being closely watched as a sign for how progressive Democrats could do in the November midterms. Target says it's eliminating about 500 roles, mostly in supply chain operations and restructuring parts of its organization. That is, according to an internal memo. This is one of the first major changes from Target's new CEO, Michael Fidelke, who took over the top job at a challenging moment. The retail giant is dealing with fallout from inflation and has ceded market share to rivals like Walmart and Amazon in recent years. And finally, our Olympic minute. There was action on the slopes and on the ice today as well. Here's NBC News correspondent Shaquille Brewster, who's in Milan.
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Yasmin. A big day for Team usa picking up multiple medals. We'll start on the slopes, where we saw Jackie Wiles, Paula Moulton picking up a bronze medal in that team combined skiing. We also saw some history being made. Ben Ogden winning the first cross country skiing medal for the United States States in more than 50 years as he picked up a silver medal there. And we'll end with the story of Max Naumoff, who lost his figure skating parents in the plane crash outside of Washington, D.C. just last year. While he made his Olympic debut today, he had a masterful performance, held a picture of him with his parents in his hands as he was read that score. He was very proud of his performance in what was a very emotional Olympic moment.
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A
Thank you, Shaq. All right, that is going to do it for us at here's the scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasmin Bisugin. We'll be back tomorrow with whatever the day may bring. And if you like what you heard, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll see you tomorrow.
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