DC Grand Juries Go Political Against Trump, MAGA and AOC Unite, New Space Race Begins： AM Update 9⧸5
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Summary
If you trespass into the Capitol, you go to prison. But if you assault a federal law enforcement officer, you don t get charged. A possible resistance effort exposed by a streak of rejected indictments by D.C. grand jury s. Attorney Mike Davis breaks it down.
Transcript
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Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's Friday, September 5th, 2025, and this is your
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AM update. If you trespass into the Capitol, you go to prisons. But if you assault a federal
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law enforcement officer, you don't even get charged. A possible resistance effort exposed
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by a streak of rejected indictments by D.C. grand juries. Attorney Mike Davis breaks it down.
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If Cortez told me the sun was coming up tomorrow, I'd probably, I'd go out and, I'd go out and check
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it out. Cortez, as in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, teaming up with MAGA? We'll tell you what they're
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working on. And the second race to the moon is on, as one former NASA official sounds a warning.
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All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM update.
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A grand jury will indict even a ham sandwich. So said New York State's famous chief judge Saul
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Walkler years ago, but not if it's Trump's DOJ after the ham. Over the last week, a series of giddy
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headlines celebrating federal prosecutors' failures to secure grand jury indictments in Washington,
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D.C. as the Trump administration takes control of local policing. The Atlantic, quote,
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Trump's crime crackdown isn't holding up in court. Reuters, quote, U.S. prosecutors fail three times
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to secure indictment in FBI assault case. CBS, quote, D.C. grand jurors reject latest wave of Justice
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Department indictment requests. In recent weeks, prosecutors have failed to get indictments at least
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seven times across five cases. A grand jury even declining to indict the now-fired DOJ employee
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who threw a submarine sandwich at a CBP officer, which we all saw happen on video. Such failures
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exceedingly rare. Federal grand juries almost always hand prosecutors the indictments they seek.
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We spoke to attorney and founder of the Article 3 project, Mike Davis, about what's going on with
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the D.C. grand jury pool. I mean, it's extremely rare for grand jury proceedings to fail in normal
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jurisdictions, but we're dealing with the District of Columbia that voted 95 percent against President
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Trump. The District of Columbia that's full of criminals and bureaucrats and people who hate Trump.
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They have Trump derangement syndrome. And so they would rather let their city go to hell,
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our nation's capital go to hell, than be seen as supporting President Trump's law enforcement
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crackdown that's making D.C. safe for all Americans, particularly for black D.C. residents in southeast
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and northeast, for examples, who are the victims of this crime.
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U.S. District Attorney for D.C. Janine Pirro instructing prosecutors to seek the maximum
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penalties where allowed to clean up the streets and to deter future criminals. Critics calling
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these failed indictments the result of the justice system going too far, a silent protest by D.C.
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residents opposed to what some see as federal overreach. Davis noting the D.C. jury pool had
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no problem indicting more than 1,500 people in connection to January 6th. Even those who simply
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walked into the Capitol, took a look around, and then peacefully left were slapped with felony charges
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so overreaching the U.S. Supreme Court eventually intervened to rein them in.
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The Biden Justice Department politicized, contorted a post-Enron obstruction of justice statute dealing
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with corporate fraud to go after their political enemies after January 6th. They persecuted Trump
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supporters. They threw them in jail with pretrial detention before their trials. They threw the book
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at these people. They ruined people's lives. They bankrupted them. People lost their families. They lost
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their freedom. They lost their jobs. They lost everything after January 6th. Well, how the Biden
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Justice Department and these D.C. judges persecuted these people is unacceptable. And they gave amnesty
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to the much more deadly and destructive BLM and Antifa writers, right? So it's very clear that our
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system in D.C. is so politicized. If you trespass into the Capitol and take selfies, you go to prison for
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a long time after January 6th. But if you assault a federal law enforcement officer, you don't even
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get charged. In order for the feds to bring criminal charges, a grand jury must agree there is enough
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evidence to move forward. If prosecutors cannot secure an indictment, options are limited, though forcing
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a defendant to navigate the legal system can be some form of punishment, Davis says. You have to indict
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criminals in the district where the crime occurred unless the defendant waives that. That's part of
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our Constitution. And so it makes it very difficult when the grand jury is not indicting criminals. You
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can still bring misdemeanors against these people who are attacking officers. If the grand jury doesn't
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want to return felony indictments, then charge these criminals with misdemeanors and make them go
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through the process. And I would say that even if at the end of the day, these deranged juries are
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going to find these criminals guilty, make these criminals still go through the process, make the
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process the punishment. Team Trump is trying to make the nation's Capitol safe and secure. The D.C.
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mayor, wary of looking soft on crime, just issued an executive order that will pave the way for federal
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troops to remain there through at least December, leading to praise from the White House and to critics
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calling her misguided. On Tuesday, D.C.'s Attorney General Brian Schwab breaking with the mayor,
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suing the Trump administration in federal court, challenging the deployment of National Guard
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troops. Schwab releasing a statement, quote, no American city should have the U.S. military,
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particularly out-of-state military, who are not accountable to the residents and untrained in local
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law enforcement, policing its streets. We filed this action to put an end to this illegal federal
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overreach. Of course, the D.C. police union has already said they welcome the National Guard and
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their help. According to Davis, the D.C. Attorney General is unlikely to succeed.
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The D.C. Attorney General is suing President Trump because President Trump is deploying the National
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Guard to help assist with crime in D.C. That is the president's absolute statutory and constitutional
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power and duty to protect our nation's capital. When the corrupt local Democrat politicians refuse to do
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their job and they allow crime to overtake our nation's capital, of course, the president,
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who is the head of the D.C. National Guard, can use the National Guard to assist law enforcement in
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putting down crime. I imagine that some local Democrat activist judge on the D.C. bench will rule
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against Trump and it will have to get appealed maybe all the way up to the Supreme Court of the United
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States. And the Supreme Court is going to side with President Trump on the use of the National Guard
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in D.C. I have no doubt about that. Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social this week that carjacking in D.C.
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is down 87 percent and that all other categories of crime are down, quote, massively. A poll from late
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August, two weeks ago, shows just 20 percent of D.C. residents favored the National Guard troops in D.C.
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One released yesterday, a national poll from The Economist slash YouGov, showed nationwide it's a
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closer call. Forty nine percent of Americans oppose the troops in D.C. Forty two percent support the
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effort. Coming up, strange bedfellows on Capitol Hill, AOC teaming up with some of the most MAGA
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friendly Republicans on an issue we can all get behind. And the second space race is officially
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underway. Does the U.S. have what it takes to win? Who's really on your side when it comes to your
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A rare crossover event on Capitol Hill. Fiscal hawks and MAGA stalwarts joining forces with
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socialist Democrats and progressive liberals to push a congressional stock trading ban.
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Among the bipartisan bunch, from the GOP, Chip Roy of Texas, Anna Paulina Luna of Florida,
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and Tim Burchett of Tennessee. Democrats include AOC and Pramila Jayapal, among others on Wednesday
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introducing the Restore Trust in Congress Act. Congressman Burchett, often a fierce critic of
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his socialist counterparts, on the unlikely alliance. And I'm proud of all these people up here. I don't
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agree with them. Some of these people on anything. If they told me, if Cortez told me the sun was coming
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up tomorrow, I'd probably, I'd go out and, I'd go out and check it out. The legislation seeks to ban
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members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children from owning, buying, or trading individual
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stocks and other assets while in office. Lawmakers would be required to sell stocks, options, futures,
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and commodities shortly after being sworn in. Uh-oh. What will newly investment-rich Ilhan Omar and her
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recently-a-millionaire investor husband do? And what about Nancy Pelosi, who raked in between $7.8 and
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$42.5 million in 2024 alone, meaning her net worth with venture capitalist husband Paul could top $413
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million this year, a $43 million jump from the year before, per the Boston Herald, thanks to very
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timely trades done in Paul Pelosi's name. For example, the Pelosi's dumped 5,000 shares of
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Microsoft, worth over $2 million last July, just months before the government announced an antitrust
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investigation against Microsoft. Gee, what a call. Pelosi denies any wrongdoing. According to CNBC,
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the penalty for violating the proposed ban would be a 10 percent fee equal to the value of the
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investment and forfeiture of the profits. Lawmakers have been working for months to combine various
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proposals into one piece of legislation, aiming to pressure leadership to advance the bill to a vote.
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Democratic Congresswoman Jayapal on the strategy.
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We know that sometimes what happens in this place is if there are multiple bills on a subject,
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leadership that may not want us to move forward says, we've got too many bills,
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we can't decide. So we did the work of negotiating with each other. We brought in experts to make
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sure, including experts that manage money and know what the loopholes are that we needed to make sure
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we're fixed. And I think we are doing the simplest thing that we can do in many ways. It is the simplest
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thing that the American people want, which is to know that their member of Congress represents them
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and not their own pocketbooks. Under the current law passed in 2012, lawmakers are prohibited from
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using private information learned in their official capacity for personal benefit in the stock market.
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Members of Congress must also regularly submit financial disclosure forms. Despite this,
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many members of Congress across the political spectrum have magically seen their net worths skyrocket
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after arriving in Washington. It doesn't seem like the system is working so well. The issue enjoys broad
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public support. A 2023 poll from the University of Maryland finding 88% of Dems, 87% of Republicans and 81% of
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independents in favor of a ban. Both President Trump and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have previously
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expressed support for a stock trading ban. House Speaker Mike Johnson with a more reserved reaction.
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See, there's a couple of different ideas on the table and we have to build consensus on that because
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you've got to do it responsibly. So some of the ideas that have been put forward, I'm not in love
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with the details of, but I mean, it's generally a policy of always favor, but we have lots of
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different opinions on that in the conference and in Congress. So we've got to work through it. So
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that's the intention. Congresswoman Luna telling reporters she is prepared to circumvent
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congressional leadership if necessary to bring the bill to a vote. I sometimes feel like an
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adjudicator in this job. So I guess I'll be the one to say that we've asked nicely for leadership
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to put this on the floor. If they don't, I'm saying timeline is end a month. There's a discharge
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petition prepared and ready to go. I think it's very clear where the White House stands on this. I
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don't speak for the White House, but the president has stated that he supports banning this because
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it is corrupt. Frankly, the fact that members are getting what plus 600% returns on their investments
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is wrong. But more importantly, how could you ever be expected to represent your constituents when
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you're clearly worried about your pocketbook? And so that's why we're here today. If the House
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measure advances, it would still need 60 votes in the Senate, meaning bipartisan support is essential.
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The second space race is officially underway, this time against China, to see who will reach the moon
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for the first time since the 1970s, with far more at stake than bragging rights. Transportation Secretary
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Sean Duffy saying Tuesday on Fox News that the administration's goal is to put astronauts back on
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the moon in 2027, following a mission in April 2026 that will send a crew to at least orbit the lunar orb.
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That is going to be a mission, a four-man crew that's going to go out and around the moon.
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Artemis 3 is going to be when we land back on the moon. We're going to stay for a longer period of time.
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Anywhere from 8 to 12 days on the moon. The longest time in the past was three days. And again,
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we're going to start sending payloads to the moon to start building our base camp. And then from there,
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again, we want to get in the early 30s to Mars. And this is critical. What we learn on the space
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station, what we learn on the mission to the moon is going to be critical to make sure we can sustain
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life. It's an eight-plus-month mission to Mars. And then you've got to stay there, and then you've got to
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come back. However, China has a head start. In the last five years, the Chinese making great
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strides in space, becoming the first country to land a rover on the far side of the moon
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and return samples. On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee,
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chaired by Senator Ted Cruz, holding a hearing on how America can win the race back to the moon.
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The panel of expert witnesses warning China could seize the lead. Former NASA head under Trump 1.0,
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Jim Bridenstine, putting it bluntly. It is highly unlikely that we will land on the moon before
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China. The message was clear. If the U.S. is serious about beating China, I mean, we already beat
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China, but I guess we're now racing for who can do it in the modern era? Anyway, it's going to require
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more than lofty goals. Here's more from Bridenstine, retired Space Force officer John Shaw and CEO of
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the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration, Alan Cutler. Here's what we don't have today. We don't
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have a landing system for the moon. Such a grand strategy, which would unify and synergize our
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national efforts, does not currently exist. The United States appears to trail China for the critical
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final leg in space to the moon's surface, the development of a lander. We are significantly
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smaller as a percentage of the federal government than we were back in the Apollo era. Both sides
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of the congressional aisle pushing the White House to maintain NASA's budget, even as the
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administration looks to cut spending across nearly every corner of government. Senator Cruz successfully
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lobbying for 10 billion in additional funding for what they're calling the Artemis moon mission in the
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one big, beautiful bill. Former associate NASA administrator Michael Gold says whoever gets there
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first will have all of the momentum and the international support. We've had tremendous
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success with the Artemis Accords. 56 countries have signed. The Chinese only have 13 for their
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International Lunar Space Research Station program. But if we're not first, trust me, those numbers
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will change. And the fear China will eventually outspend us in space. It's inevitable. We must out
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entrepreneur them. The race is on. And that'll do it for your AM update. I'm Megan Kelly. Join me back
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here for The Megan Kelly Show, live on SiriusXM Triumph Channel 111 at noon east, on youtube.com slash