Bill Gates' Shocking Climate Change Shift, Autopen Report Drops, Trump Files Appeal： AM Update 10⧸29
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Summary
Bill Gates reverses his stance on climate change in an apparent reversal of his prior stance. The House Oversight Committee drops a report on the Biden White House s use of the auto-pen, an early 2028 Democratic contender has emerged, and President Trump appeals his felony conviction in New York.
Transcript
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Every child deserves to splash, to laugh, to share adventures with friends, to feel like they belong.
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But for some, that joy comes with a price tag that's beyond their reach.
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Help the YMCA bring its transformative programs to those who can't afford them.
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Because connections, cannonballs, and confidence should never be out of reach.
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Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's Wednesday, October 29th, 2025, and this is your AM Update.
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We have to frame it in terms of overall human welfare, not just everything should be solely for climate.
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Leading climate activist Bill Gates changing his tune about the dire nature of climate change.
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I have the advice of counsel. I must be expected to invite the answer.
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The House Oversight Committee drops its report on the Biden White House's use of the auto pen.
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An early 2028 Democratic frontrunner has emerged.
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And President Trump appeals his felony conviction in New York.
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All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update.
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As President Trump is settling into his new administration, one of the top Democrats in Congress
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aiming to undermine the Trump agenda is Democrat Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois.
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And according to our sponsor, the Electronic Payments Coalition, Senator Durbin has a new plan,
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your senators to stop Dick Durbin's government takeover of your credit card before it's too late.
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Bill Gates, the billionaire founder of Microsoft, in a stunning memo dropping what he calls tough
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truths about climate change in an obvious reversal of his prior stance. The letter beginning, quote,
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there's a doomsday view of climate change that goes like this. In a few decades, cataclysmic climate
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change will decimate civilization. The evidence is all around us. Just look at all the heat waves and
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storms caused by rising global temperatures. Nothing matters more than limiting the rise in
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temperature. Yes, Bill, wherever did people get those doomsday views from? Oh, wait, it was from
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you. You and people like former Vice President Al Gore, Greta Thunberg, and President Obama, to name
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just a few. So certainly by the end of the century, you'll have permanent die-offs of all these
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coral ecosystems. No beach you ever went to will be around. We're still putting 162 million tons into
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it every single day. And the accumulated amount is now trapping as much extra heat as would be released
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by 600,000 Hiroshima-class atomic bombs exploding every single day on the earth. People are suffering.
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People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction.
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The future seems somewhat bleak. There are times where I am doubtful that humanity can get its act
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together before it's too late. And images of dystopia start creeping into my dreams.
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It's an all-out effort, you know, like a world war, but it's us against greenhouse gases.
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Gates' Tuesday letter admitting, quote, fortunately for all of us, this view is wrong. Although climate
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change will have serious consequences, particularly for people in the poorest countries, it will not
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lead to humanity's demise. Someone check on AOC immediately. Ahead of the upcoming climate summit
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next month in Brazil, Gates attempting to completely shift the global conversation around the left's pet
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issue. More from the letter, quote, although climate change will hurt poor people more than anyone else,
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for the vast majority of them, it will not be the only or even the biggest threat to their lives and
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welfare. The biggest problems are poverty and disease, just as they always have been. Reminder,
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Bill Gates once backed a venture to spray dust into the atmosphere in order to block the sun to cool
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the planet. Tuesday morning on CNBC, Gates explaining the key goal of the Paris Climate Accord,
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limiting global rise in temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius, is not realistic, nor should it be a priority.
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Climate is a super important problem. There's enough innovation here to avoid super bad outcomes.
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We have to frame it in terms of overall human welfare, not just everything should be solely
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for climate. The one thing about that accord that, you know, turned out not to be realistic was the
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ambitious goal of staying to 1.5 degrees. We won't be able to do that. Even if you took all the money
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away from health, you wouldn't be able to do that. Wasn't the goal here to improve human lives? And
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shouldn't we, in our awareness of how little generosity there is to help measure, you know,
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should we get them a measles vaccine or should we do some climate-related activity? And if we stop
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putting all vaccines and that, you know, saved you 0.1 degree, would that be a smart trade-off?
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Gates even admitting wind and solar energy options are not ready for primetime. Quote,
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We don't yet have all the tools we need to meet the growing demand for energy without increasing
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carbon emissions, calling for the world to focus on innovation and adaptation to improve people's
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ability to live on a warming planet. Did he borrow this from Project 2025? Climate change scientist
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Frankly, Bill Gates doesn't have any expertise in climate science, and he's failing to listen to
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what the experts actually have to say. So when Bill Gates says, we'll just sort of try to engineer
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our way out of it or innovate our way out of it, it's really tone deaf to the fact that there are
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a very large number of people who will suffer catastrophic consequences if we continue to allow
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the planet to warm up. Some on the left pointing to the change in administration as a reason for the
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change in messaging. Gates among the tech CEOs who was at the White House with President Trump last month.
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The House Oversight Committee late Monday night releasing its 100-page report into the Biden
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White House's use of the auto pen, a mechanical device that replicates the president's signature.
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Over the course of 47 hours of testimony from 14 former aides, investigators examining who
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controlled access to the president's signature authority and how decisions were made involving the
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auto pen. The report finding, quote, his staff abused the auto pen and a lax chain of command
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policy to affect executive actions that lack any documentation of whether they were in fact
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authorized. It goes on, quote, there is no record demonstrating President Biden himself made all of
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the executive decisions that were attributed to him. Therefore, quote, the committee deems void
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all executive actions signed by the auto pen without proper corresponding contemporaneous written
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approval traceable to the president's own consent. What exactly the import of that declaration is
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remains unclear, though Chairman James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, did call on the DOJ to
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conduct a review of the executive actions in question and investigate the Biden aides who pleaded the fifth
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rather than testify. Those individuals include Mr. Biden's personal physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor,
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former deputy chief of staff for operations, Annie Tomasini, and former chief of staff to First Lady
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Jill Biden, Anthony Bernal, a man who figured prominently in the Jake Tapper, Alex Thompson book.
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The oversight committee's report calling Dr. O'Connor, quote, central to the scheme to, quote, obfuscate the
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truth about the president's true cognitive state. The report concluding Dr. O'Connor, quote, recklessly
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never conducted a cognitive exam of the president. When asked by the committee if he was told to lie
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about President Biden's health and fitness to be president, Dr. O'Connor responding as follows.
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On the advice of counsel, I must respectfully decline to answer based upon the physician-patient
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privilege and in reliance on my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution. I am not a lawyer.
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I must follow my lawyer's advice in this matter. Longtime political operative and Biden aide
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Anita Dunn telling the committee, senior Biden advisors reached a consensus that the president
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should not take a cognitive exam. The report delving into Dr. O'Connor's, quote, strong financial
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and personal incentives to not break rank from the president's inner circle in the cover-up.
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The report noting how Dr. O'Connor previously described his close relationship to the Bidens over
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the years and how he, quote, ended up being involved in a lot of important family things.
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O'Connor's financial ties to the Biden family, dating back to as early as 2017,
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when, quote, Dr. O'Connor introduced Joe Biden's brother, James Biden, to medical leaders and
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executives to support James Biden's business relationship with AmeriCorps Health, LLC.
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The hookup was a bit odd because James Biden had no experience in hospital administration.
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That company just months later, transferring $600,000 in loans to James Biden, $200,000 of
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which was sent to his personal account. Later that same day, James Biden sent $200,000 to his
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brother, Joe Biden, according to the Oversight Committee report. James Biden's attorney once
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told the New York Times the doctor received no compensation for the connection provided to
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James, but the doctor could not be asked about it at all, given that he pled the fifth.
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This investigation into baseless claims has confirmed what has been clear from the start.
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President Biden made the decisions of his presidency. There was no conspiracy,
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no cover-up, and no wrongdoing. Congressional Republicans should stop focusing on political
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retribution and instead work to end the government shutdown.
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In July, former President Joe Biden telling the New York Times he made all auto-pen decisions on
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his own. Coming up, looking ahead to 2028, an early Democrat frontrunner emerges. We'll tell you
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who it is. And President Trump appeals the felony convictions resulting from the DA Alvin Bragg's
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When customers are walking through the aisles of their local Walmart, they're not just picking up
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groceries or supplies. They are supporting American businesses and their communities. The real story
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is what's behind the label. With over two-thirds of the products Walmart buys made, grown, or assembled
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right here in the U.S., buying local is not just stocking shelves, it's about strengthening communities.
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Because of that commitment, Walmart invested $350 billion in U.S. manufacturing, helping American
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companies like Fisher & Weezer Specialty Foods, a local Texas business, expand their operations in
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Fredericksburg, Texas, hire more people as well, and bring their Texas-grown peach jam to a national
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market. Their story is just one example of how Walmart's U.S. manufacturing investment is supporting
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over 750,000 American jobs. Businesses across the country are empowered to sell more, hire more,
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and help their communities grow. From farms, to factories, to final shopping carts, learn how
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Walmart is fueling the future of U.S. manufacturing at walmart.com slash America at work.
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A new poll out of New Hampshire showing former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg emerging
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as a presidential frontrunner for the Democrats in 2028. Mayor Pete leading the pack at 19 percent,
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trailed by California Governor Gavin Newsom at 15 percent, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at 14 percent,
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former VP Kamala Harris at 11 percent, Senator Bernie Sanders at eight, and Illinois Governor J.B.
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Pritzker at six percent, according to the Granite State Poll. For a little extra context, don't know
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slash undecided coming in at 10 percent. The survey of around 600 Democrats planning to vote in the
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2028 primary, also finding Buttigieg with the highest favorability among the pack at 81 percent favorable
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to six percent unfavorable for a plus 75 net favorability rating. Senator Sanders with the second
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highest favorability at plus 59, AOC in third at plus 56. Kamala Harris, who with each passing
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interview gets closer and closer to saying she does plan to run again, notching just plus 38
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favorability. Buttigieg becoming a national figure in the 2020 Democrat primary, running as an openly gay
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former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, ultimately dropping out of the race just before Super Tuesday
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and endorsing Joe Biden. Buttigieg later rewarded with the role of Transportation Secretary.
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During the supply chain crisis of 2020, Buttigieg was missing for about two months, later citing
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paternity leave as the excuse for his prolonged absence. Current Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy
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in August slamming his predecessor, accusing him of putting career ambitions ahead of the job.
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A lot of people, when they have a job, they use that job to run for a different office. And I think
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that's a huge mistake. And I think Mayor Pete was Secretary, Buttigieg was running for president while
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he was the secretary of DOT and didn't pay attention to the basics. And so he had a focus truly on DEI
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and climate and the cost of that to the American people. And again, when you're focused on, you know,
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changing the names of cockpit to flight deck or airman to aero, not because you're concerned you
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could offend someone. All the while you have 84 near misses in the Washington, D.C. airspace between
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helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. And you don't look at that. I don't know how you're going to run
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for president on that record. You didn't do your job. And had he done his job, we wouldn't have
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inherited all of the problems that we have right now that are going to take years to fix.
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President Trump on Monday appealing his criminal conviction in the Alvin Bragg Manhattan business
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records case, arguing the verdict should be overturned entirely. In a 100 plus page brief,
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Mr. Trump's legal team writing, quote, this case should never have seen the inside of a courtroom,
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let alone resulted in a conviction. The appeal challenging the 34 count felony conviction for
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falsifying business records relating to payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors
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allege the payments made to keep Daniels story of an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump out of
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the press during the 2016 campaign were falsely filed as legal expenses, even though they were paid
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out to Mr. Trump's lawyer. Prosecutors arguing Mr. Trump's desire to not record the words hush money
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payments amounted to election interference. Mr. Trump's legal team accusing D.A. Alvin Bragg of
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concocting a purported felony out of internal bookkeeping records by, quote, stacking time-barred
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bookkeeping misdemeanors under a convoluted legal theory. The president's lawyers arguing, quote,
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these charges against President Trump were as unprecedented as their political context.
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They argued the convictions should be thrown out on multiple grounds, including the Supreme Court's
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ruling on presidential immunity last year. From the brief, quote, the jury improperly heard extensive
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testimony about at least four different kinds of official acts by President Trump, including
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official presidential statements made on social media. Mr. Trump's team also saying Judge Juan
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Mershon, who oversaw the case, should have recused himself due to conflicts of interest. The brief
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citing three small yet improper payments by the judge to Biden for president and to two Democrat
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PACs, including one called the Stop Republicans PAC. In addition, the brief citing Judge Mershon's
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daughter's work at a political advertising company, quote, that was paid millions by the Kamala Harris
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campaign and by other Democrats, including for running advertisements specifically invoking the district
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attorney of New York's prosecution of President Trump in her father's courtroom. President Trump's
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conviction handed down in May of 2024. In January of 2025, Judge Mershon delivering an unconditional
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discharge, meaning after all that, a no penalty sentence was handed down just over one week before
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Mr. Trump returned to the White House. But the conviction stands for now.
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And that'll do it for your AM update. I'm Megan Kelly. Join me back here for The Megan Kelly Show,
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live on SiriusXM Triumph Channel 111 at noon east, on youtube.com slash megankelly, and on all podcast
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