NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, February 4, 2026

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

President Trump talks Minneapolis, Joe Rogan, the Fed, AI and 2028 in a wide-ranging interview; Search for Nancy Guthrie enters fourth day. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tonight, my exclusive sit down with President Trump at this extremely pivotal moment in his second term. The president making headlines on everything from the immigration crackdown to the economy to who could top the next Republican presidential ticket. The Oval Office sit down and the major change to immigration enforcement today. A massive drawdown of federal officers in Minneapolis. 700 officers leaving Minneapolis. Did that come from you? What President Trump said he learned from Minneapolis after federal agents fatally shot to Americans,

and his response when asked if mistakes were made. Plus, the president on the growing tensions with Iran as a U.S. Armada stands ready in the region. Should the Supreme Leader in Iran be worried right now? I would say he should be very worried. And we pressed him on what those FBI agents were looking for when they raided an election office in Georgia. Plus, who could top the next Republican presidential ticket? What he said about the possibility of a Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio Run and his response when asked about if he could still be in office even after his term is over.

Plus, Trump's surprising thoughts on former President Bill Clinton. Also breaking tonight new audio released in the search for Today's show anchor Savannah Guthrie's mother. What dispatch told officers when they realized Nancy Guthrie went missing and the search for a suspect. intensifying what police are now combing through. Plus, why getting key information from security cameras at her home is a challenge. And Snoop Dogg, the Olympic torchbearer, how the rapper is making his mark in Italy ahead of the winter games. Nightly News starts right now. This is NBC Nightly News with Tom Yamas. And good evening. We want to get right to my exclusive sit down with President Trump inside the Oval Office today with the president making major head.

headlines on a series of topics from his immigration crackdown to Iran to who he thinks should succeed him. On immigration, a major change today from his administration announcing that 700 officers are pulling out from immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis. The president tells me that order came directly from him and suggested it may be the beginning of a new softer approach to his immigration crackdown. On Iran, the president with his clearest statements yet that he believes that country is looking to restart its nuclear program, and he issued a new warning to Iran's supreme leader tonight. He also answered for the first time what the FBI was looking for when they waited election offices in Fulton County, Georgia. He also weighed in

on the next presidential election, and whether he thinks Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio should be on the same ticket with the big question, who should be at the top of that ticket. We covered that in so much more, but we begin with that drawdown in Minneapolis. Okay, let's drill down into the news today. That big change on immigration, 700 officers leaving Minneapolis. Did that come from you? Yes, it did. But it didn't come from me because I just wanted to do it. We are waiting for them to release prisoners, give us the murderers that they're holding, and all of the bad people, drug dealers, all of the bad people. We, a lot of, in our country, I say 25 million people with an open border policy for four years under Biden

and that group, the Oudopenn group, I call them. We allowed to come into our country, people, the likes of which no country would accept, and we're getting them out, but we've gotten a lot of them out. So crime now in Minnesota, crime now in Minneapolis is down. Crime in all cities is down. And you know why it's down? It's down because of us. It's down in Chicago by 25% despite the fact that we are always dealing with these people, and they happen to be Democrats, that don't know anything about crime prevention. Mr. President, speaking of Minneapolis, what did you learn?

I learned that maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch, but you still have to be tough. These are criminals. We're dealing with really hard criminals. But, look, I've called the people. I've called the governor. I've called the mayor, spoke to them. had great conversations with them, and then I see them ranting and raving out there,

literally as though a call wasn't made. We've done a great job everywhere. After the shooting of René Good, you said ICE made some mistakes. What were the mistakes? Well, look, I'm not happy with the two incidents. It's not, you know, it's both of them. Not one or the other. He was not an angel, and she was not an angel.

You know, you look at some tapes from back, but still, I'm not happy with what happened. And nobody could be happy, and ICE wasn't happy either. But I'm going to always be with our great people of law enforcement. ICE, police, we have to back them. If we don't back them, we don't have a country. You mentioned Renee Good and Alex Pretti's not being angels. Do you think any of that justified what happened to them, though? No, it should have not happened.

It was a very sad, to me, it was a very sad incident, two incidents. And, you know, they mentioned the one now. They don't mention the other. Well, I think they were both said. And, you know, who feels worse about it than anybody? The people of ICE, they're strong, tough people. And they have to be tough because we're dealing with hardened criminals. We're dealing with people.

You know, jails have been emptied into our country from all over the world. From Venezuela, where we had great success, you will admit. But from Venezuela, from the Congo and Africa, from all over the world. jails, the jail population was emptied into our country. If we don't have strong people, you're not getting them out. We're getting them out. Remember this again. I say it again and again.

We have record low crime in the United States. Nobody's been able to say that for 125 years. So I want to be clear because it sounds like there is a shift in immigration enforcement here that there's going to be a shift after Minneapolis. What should Americans expect going forward? Well, one thing I say to my people, you know, we do a good job, we don't get credit for it. I say they have to ask and they have to say please. When a city is going to the mayor or the governor, I don't want to go and force ourselves into a city, even if their numbers are terrible.

Joe Rogan was one of your biggest endorsers in 2024. He said he understood the president's sort of plan to deport people here who are here illegally. But he also understands why critics compare ICE officers to the Gestapo asking people for their papers. What's your response to him? Look, first of all, he's a great guy. We had a tremendous success before the election. I think it was his biggest interview ever, and over 300 million people. It was very good.

She didn't want to do it, you know? She decided not to do it because she's not capable. But I spoke to him three days ago. We had a great conversation. And all I'm doing, I have to keep the country. Did he mention this to you? Did you guys talk about this? The ICE enforcement?

Just had a good conversation. I think he's a great guy. I think he likes me, too. And, you know, liking me isn't important. What happens is that I think we do a phenomenal job, but I don't think we're good at public relations. What does that mean? You've said that a couple times now. What do you mean by that?

We don't sell the great job that we're doing. Okay. Let's talk about the midterms. You've recently suggested nationalizing elections. What do you mean by that? And I didn't say nationalized. I said there are some areas in our country that are extremely corrupt. They have very corrupt elections.

Take a look at Detroit. Take a look at Philadelphia. Take a look at Atlanta. There are some areas that are unbelievably corrupt. I could give you plenty of more, too. I say that we cannot have corrupt elections. If we have to, if they don't straighten it out. As an example, voter ID.

Why don't the Democrats want voter ID? You know who does want voter ID? Democrat voters want it, but Democrat politicians don't. Why don't they want it? Because they want to cheat on election. Can you imagine, if I were a politician and they asked me, do you want voter identification? And I said, no, there's no way you could win that debate. But even the Democrats don't want voter ID.

If they don't want voter ID, that means they want to cheat. We can't allow cheating in elections. Now, if we need to put in federal controls as opposed to state controls, remember this, they're really an agent. They're really accumulating the votes for who wins an election. election. If they can't do it honestly and it can't be done properly and timely, then something else has to happen. Will you trust the results of the midterms if Republicans lose control of Congress? I will, but if the elections are honest. Look, I want, the last one that wants to complain,

I just had a great election. They say one of the greatest elections, you will agree ever, won all seven swing states, won 84% of the counties in America. That's why the map is all red. we just had a great election. I believe there was cheating. I think it was cheating. Well, speaking of county, what are you doing in Folk County? It was too big to rig. Speaking of counties, what is happening in?

I'm not doing anything, but the FBI went in because it's been under, under, I guess, review for years, the cheating that took place in Fulton County and in that particular. Nobody knows what's in the war. What are they looking for? Look, why would anybody be upset that they went in? And they got the ballots, I guess, right? Again, they did this. That's been under review and under investigation for four years.

And now they got a court order. You know, they got a court order signed by a respected but liberal judge signed a court order, allowing them to go and pick them up. Well, you're going to know what the ballot say, because they're right now inspecting the ballot. I'm not involved in it, but they are inspecting and checking the ballot. Why is Tulsi Gabbard there? I don't know. but, you know, a lot of the cheating comes from, it's international cheating.

You have people, they say, from China, trying to, you put this on true social. Do you think China tries to influence our election? We know that foreign governments try to influence a lot of things in this country. Well, therefore, she's foreign governments. But you've tweeted out some theories about Italians and satellites. I mean, do you believe that stuff? No, no, I didn't cheat. I sometimes will retreat.

I will retreat. I will retreateth. But let me ask you this. If China or any of these countries are involved in our elections, that would bring her into it. And everybody knows that Russia, they talked about Russia, turned out to be a hoax. It was Hunter Biden. It wasn't Russia. Look, we have to have honest elections.

There should be nothing wrong with the fact that they went in, got ballots from a while ago, and they're going to look at it. And now they're going to find out the true winner of that state. And you know what? if there was cheating, which there was, but if there was cheating, it should be found because we can't let it happen again. Will you endorse in the 2028 presidential primary? I hadn't even thought of it, but probably, yeah, I mean, I'd be inclined to. I have great people. We have a great bench. We have a lot of people, but yeah, I think so. You've suggested that J.D. Vance, Vice President J.D. Vance, and Secretary of State, Marco Rubio would be a tough ticket to beat.

Who should be at the top of that ticket? Well, I don't want to get into this. We have three years to go. I don't want to, you know, I have two people that are doing a great job. I don't want to have an argument with, or I don't want to use the word fight. It wouldn't be a fight. But look, J.D. is fantastic and Marco is fantastic. How are they different? And I do think this, it's a great question. I think that's your most interesting question.

I would say one is slightly more diplomatic than the other. I think they're both of very high intelligence. I mean, they will do shows. They will do Joe Rogan as opposed to. the opponent not doing it because they couldn't handle it, they will be able to do whatever they have to do. I think there's a difference in style. You know, you can see the style yourself, but they're both very capable. I do think this, the combination of JD and Marco would be very hard to be beaten, I think, but you never know in politics, right? They say, in the age of Trump,

you never know. On January 21st, 2029, do you see any of the United? Do you see any of politics? scenario where you were still president? I don't know. It would be interesting. But wouldn't it be terrible if I agreed with, you know, if I gave you the answer that you're looking for, it would make life so much less exciting, right? It would be so much less exciting.

But I only do this for one reason. Make America great again. And that's what we're doing. We're making America great again, greater than ever before. Our country is greater than ever before. And during a tour of the Oval Office, we asked about tensions with Iran. Should the Supreme Leader in Iran be worried right now? I would say he should be very worried, yeah.

He should be. As you know, they're negotiating with us. I know they are, but the protesters have said, you know, where are the Americans? You promised them we would have their back. Do we still have the back? Well, we've had their back. And look, that country's a mess right now because of us. We went in, we wiped out their nuclear.

If I didn't take out, you know, we have peace in the Middle East. If I didn't take out their nuclear, think of it. If we didn't take out that nuclear, we wouldn't have peace in the Middle East because the Arab countries could have never done that. They were very, very afraid of Iran. They're not afraid of Iran anymore. Are they trying to restart the nuclear program? Well, I heard that they are. And if they do, and I let them know, if they do, we're going to send them right back and do their job again.

And we also asked about the Clinton's anticipated testimony to Congress over Jeffrey Epstein. NBC News broke the story today. I don't know if you saw it that the Democrats are already saying if you bring President Bill Clinton and he has to testify, we're bringing President Trump. What do you say to that? Well, I think they might say that, you know, but they've already brought me. See, I've been brought. They had me indicted many, many, many times, many, many times. And the president had some surprising thoughts about former President Bill Clinton.

It bothers me that somebody's going after Bill Clinton. See, I like Bill Clinton. I still like Bill Clinton. What do you like about him? I liked well I liked his behavior toward me I thought he got me he understood me

you know he was the one that said very famously that you don't want to run against Trump when there were 18 people it was 18 people including me total and he kept telling them you don't want to run against Trump run against anyone don't run against Trump and Hillary sort of left at him

he said Hillary you know it and I know don't run against Trump. And they ran against Trump, it didn't work out too well, did it? Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. President. We thank you for your time. Thank you. When we continue the new details in the search for Savannah Guthrie's mother, the new dispatch audio just out, and what the president said today when we return in 60 seconds. Welcome back. When my interview with the president concluded today, off camera, he asked to speak with Savannah Guthrie, stepping out of the Oval Office and calling her to talk about the disappearance of

her mother. He let her know that he supports the family and is thinking about them and assured her every resource was available as needed. Savannah said the family is devastated, praying and asking others for prayers as well. There were new developments today in that search. For the latest on the search, Liz Kreutz is in Tucson once again for us tonight. Tonight, Savannah Guthrie flanked by her siblings posting an emotional video about her mother. Our mom is our heart and our home. She is 84 years old. Her health, her heart is fragile. She lives in constant pain.

She is without any medicine. She needs it to survive. Savannah referencing reports of ransom notes and pleading for her return. We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her. We want to hear from you. and we are ready to listen. We're also now hearing the 911 dispatch audio from the day Nancy Guthrie was reported missing.

A white female, 84 years of each 15 million bills, high blood pressure, pacemaker and cardiac issues. On day four of the search, senior officials briefed on the investigation, tell NBC news that investigators are looking into what appears to be blood found outside Nancy's home. They also say her pacemaker appears to have disconnected from its monitoring app in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Today, the Sheriff's Department knocking down a report about a potential suspect, saying the sharing of unverified accusations or false information is irresponsible and does not assist the investigation. No suspect or person of interest has been identified at this time. NBC News is also aware of two reports of ransom notes sent to news organizations. NBC News has not seen those notes and no law enforcement agency has substantiated them. Authorities are still trying to find any evidence, including that potential surveillance video from Nancy's home and the overnight hours. The sheriff told me it's unclear if that footage still exists. It only goes back so far, two, three, four hours, and then it starts taping over itself.

We don't give up just because we're up, it's gone. We get with that camera maker, in this case, Google, I think it is, or Nest or whoever, and we say, can you help us with this? Google, which owns Ness telling NBC News the company is assisting with the investigation. In Tucson tonight, Sally Shamrell, a close friend of Savannah's who describes Nancy as a second mom, is helping organize a candlelight prayer service. What's the message you hope is sent tonight? On a personal level, I hope that Savannah and our siblings see that they are not alone, that we're all there riding this horrible storm with them.

And Tom, we're outside Nancy Guthrie's home right now. It's a pretty active scene here. We've seen investigators here throughout the night. We've seen sheriff's deputies, border patrol canines also. They even put crime scene tape up. up around the home. It's just been taken down. That's the first time they've done that. And clearly it seems they're looking for something. What that is, we don't know. But the timing is interesting since yesterday the sheriff said they had turned the home back over to the family.

But tonight, it's a very different scene from what we've seen over the past few days here. Tom. Liz, Croyd's for us tonight. Liz, we thank you. We are back in a moment. You survived that assassination attempt that we all covered. It was terrible. Two of them. Do you worry about your safety? I mean, I think about the ball. You do? I worry about it. But, But you have to put it out of your mind. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to do your job. That was President Trump from our exclusive interview discussing the impact of those assassination attempts.

Today, Ryan Ruth was sentenced to life in prison in federal court after he was convicted last year of attempting to assassinate then candidate Trump. It happened during the 2024 campaign at the Trump International Golf Club in South Florida. Ruth was also sentenced to another seven years for a firearm offense. And we're just days out from the opening ceremony. but we saw a special guest in the Olympic torch relay. Take a look there. Snoop Dog carried the Olympic flame on the streets of northern Italy.

You see him there. He'll be working as a special correspondent for NBC's Olympics coverage. He's also making history as the first honorary coach for Team USA. And we'll have much more nightly news from Washington when we come back. Stay with us. It's been a newsy day here in Washington. In my conversation with the president, we covered everything from the affordability crisis. Americans are feeling to the 2028 race.

to the future of Venezuela and Cuba. Tomorrow we're going to have much more right here on Nightly News. And tonight, you can see the extended interview on Top Story on our streaming channel, NBC News Now, and more on Super Bowl Sunday. That's Nightly News for this Wednesday. I'm Tom Gamas. Thank you so much for watching.

Tonight and always, we're here for you. Good night.