MISSING: The mother of NBC “Today” show anchor Savannah Guthrie is missing and assumed to be the victim of a crime, according to local authorities in Arizona. They are using such words as “abduction” and “kidnapping.”

  The 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie was last seen around 9:30 Saturday night at her home in the foothills outside Tucson, where officials say they found a “very concerning” scene, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said at a press conference Monday.

  Savannah Guthrie, 54, is in Arizona and may pull out of NBC Olympic coverage starting in Italy at the end of the week. 

  Friends and family became concerned when the older Guthrie did not show up for church on Sunday. A welfare check found a suspicious scene that the police have not described.

  “She is very limited in her mobility,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said at a press conference. “We know she didn’t just walk out of there. She did not leave on her own.” 

  Police said the elder Guthrie was “of sound mind” and “as sharp as a tack” and they do not believe the disappearance is the result of dementia.

THE INTEL: Following the unusual FBI seizure of the Fulton County, Georgia ballots from the 2020 election, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard met the next day with the agents who carried out the operation, The NY Times reports.

   The Times reports that Gabbard, who had been present at the Fulton County elections center the day before, set up a telephone conversation between the President and the agents who conducted the seizure. The paper says that, according to three sources, Trump thanked the agents for their work and asked some questions. 

  The actions of the Justice Department and its investigators are supposed to be independent, but Trump has taken a personal interest in the Fulton County investigation as he presses his so far evidence-free claim that the 2020 election was rigged. 
 

THE EPSTEIN REVELATIONS: Under threat of a contempt citation, Bill and Hillary Clinton agreed to testify before the House Oversight Committee about their relations with the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

  The Clintons did a turnabout after even Democrats on the committee said they would vote for contempt if the Clintons didn’t testify.

  No former president has appeared before Congress since 1983, when President Gerald Ford talked about the celebration of the 1987 bicentennial of the Constitution.

  The outrage over the Epstein files continues after their release. Survivors of Epstein’s sex trafficking have noted that while some of their names have been released, as well as pictures of naked women, the identity of rich and powerful men who had sex with underage girls have been redacted.

  One big name released though is Steve Tisch, 76, co-owner of the New York Giants. The files show Epstein trying to connect Tisch with various women, in one instance Tisch asking whether the woman in question is “pro or civilian?”

  The NFL says they are investigating Tisch’s behavior. On previous occasions they have penalized owners for bad behavior.

  And in an embarrassment for CBS news, the Epstein files also mention anti-aging influencer Peter Attia, one of the opinion voices just hired by editorial boss Bari Weiss. In one message Attia joked that female genitals were “low carb.”

  CBS is weighing whether to fire him.

THE REGIME:

— President Trump said in a podcast interview with former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino that Republicans should nationalize elections in some states. During a long rant about immigration, Trump called for Republican officials to “take over” voting in 15 states that he did not name. 

  The Constitution gives control over elections to the states but, “The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over,’” Trump said. “We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many — 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”

— President Trump said yesterday that he will have the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts all but torn down in a two year renovation. “I’m not ripping it down,” Trump said. “I’ll be using the steel. So we’re using the structure. We’re using some of the marble, and some of the marble comes down. But when it’s open, it’ll be brand new and really beautiful.”

  Trump is leaving his architectural mark on Washington. He tore down the East Wing of the White House, paved over the Rose Garden, and put his name above President Kennedy’s on the Kennedy Center. Now he is talking about building a 250-foot high victory arch near Arlington. 

— A lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court seeks to block President Trump’s ban on visas for citizens of 75 countries. A group of American citizens, immigration nonprofits, and legal organizations charge that the visa ban is an attempt to “eviscerate decades of settled immigration law.”

  About 85 percent of the countries on the list are non-European and have significant nonwhite populations. The State Department said in a social media post last month that the policy is necessary to prevent migration of populations who “take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates.” 

  The lawsuit argues that’s an “unsupported and demonstrably false claim.” 

— The Trump administration has given newly-built nuclear reactors an exemption from environmental review.

THE SPIN RACK: During a frigid winter, Russia continues to pound Ukraine’s energy grid with missiles and drones, causing power outages in Kyiv and other major cities. The attacks today came just after President Donald Trump reiterated that the Kremlin had agreed to pause attacks on power facilities. — Nineteen Buddhist monks walking across the country in a call for peace were greeted with crowds in Richmond, Virginia yesterday. It was the 100^th day of their walk from Texas to Washington.

BELOW THE FOLD:  The groundhog Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania came out of his burrow yesterday, saw his shadow, and predicted three more years of Trump presidency. 

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