The Megyn Kelly Show - Dems' Socialism Infighting, Three Firefighters Killed, Gracie the Giraffe Found Safe： AM Update 6⧸29

00:00:00.000 Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's Monday, June 29th, 2026, and this is your AM

00:00:08.400 Update. From coast to coast this weekend, Democrats battling over socialism and the

00:00:13.560 direction of their party. They saw that loud and clear over the last few nights where we'll

00:00:19.640 continue to militarily, if needed, take down their infrastructure. The U.S. and Iran stepping back 0.66

00:00:25.900 from further fighting, for now, after a weekend exchange of fire amid disagreements over control

00:00:31.300 of the Strait of Hormuz. Three firefighters killed, two more injured in a devastating wildfire

00:00:37.300 along the Colorado-Utah border. You don't just load a giraffe into your car and drive her home.

00:00:43.600 And Texas's tallest fugitive finally found safe. But getting the 1,200-pound giraffe home

00:00:49.800 proving to be an entirely different challenge. All that and more coming up in just a moment

00:00:54.620 on your AM update.

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00:02:19.240 The Democrat Party's identity crisis on full display this weekend as socialist candidates

00:02:26.920 and progressive activists flexed their growing influence from coast to coast and a group of

00:02:32.620 centrists attempted to push back. The party's leftward shift, most apparent in last week's

00:02:38.380 New York primaries, where all three congressional candidates endorsed by Democratic Socialist

00:02:43.280 New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani defeated candidates backed by more establishment party

00:02:48.460 leaders. The victory is demonstrating that Mayor Mamdani's brand of democratic socialism is not

00:02:53.600 only radical, but increasingly popular, at least in New York City, as the mayor last week successfully

00:02:59.420 pushed through a two-year rent freeze covering nearly one million rent-stabilized apartments.

00:03:05.300 Some centrist Democrats responding to Mamdani's growing influence by attempting to draw a line

00:03:10.580 in the sand, defining what it is for which the Democratic Party stands. Ten sitting members of

00:03:16.800 Congress and five Democratic congressional candidates signing on to the so-called Promise

00:03:21.580 to America, a manifesto declaring, quote, we are capitalists, not socialists. The pledge also

00:03:28.560 embraces secure borders, free speech, public safety, and what its organizers call confident

00:03:34.360 patriotism. So basically, they're becoming Republicans. ABC's Jonathan Karl asking Mom

00:03:40.200 Donnie yesterday about the effort to formally separate the party from socialism.

00:03:44.620 We are capitalists, not socialists.

00:03:46.580 We believe in a growing, fair, and competitive economy, entrepreneurship, ownership.

00:03:51.000 I mean, this is a direct response, they've made it clear, to what you did here on Tuesday.

00:03:55.800 Well, I mean, you know, that's great, but what's a party if not its voters?

00:03:58.920 And I'm proud to sit in front of you as the mayor of our city, having received more than

00:04:02.580 a million votes a little over, a little less than a year ago.

00:04:06.540 And when we're talking about these incredible congressional candidates, they won their races

00:04:11.340 and they won their races with a vision of what politics should be

00:04:14.480 and one that actually speaks to working people.

00:04:16.700 I'm not interested in writing a manifesto or, frankly, in reading one.

00:04:19.880 I'm interested in delivering, and that's exactly what we've been showing.

00:04:22.740 But they're saying that if you're a socialist, you're not a Democrat.

00:04:26.060 I mean, is there room in the party for both of these views?

00:04:31.180 Yes, here I am.

00:04:32.680 And here are so many more.

00:04:34.600 In Maryland, former President Joe Biden appearing Saturday night

00:04:38.000 headlining the state Democratic Party's boxing-themed

00:04:41.040 fight-back-and-win gala.

00:04:43.440 Mr. Biden coughing and slurring through portions of his roughly 10-minute speech,

00:04:48.060 attacking the current administration and warning Democrats

00:04:50.780 that the country is facing dark days.

00:04:53.720 A pro-Gaza protester then interrupting from the crowd.

00:04:57.100 It's a battle that's never truly over.

00:05:04.440 It won't look.

00:05:08.000 The Washington Post reporting a handful of demonstrators outside the event carrying signs 0.86

00:05:28.460 reading, quote, Biden at Dems Gala, WTF, end quote, go home, genocide, Joe. Gaza remaining

00:05:35.720 a political litmus test for some of the party's most vocal activists. In San Francisco, gay, 1.00

00:05:41.420 progressive, Democratic state Senator Scott Weiner forced out of an event connected to Friday's

00:05:46.660 Trans March by pro-Palestinian protesters. Weiner authoring some of California's most

00:05:52.400 radical LGBTQ policies, including helping create non-binary state IDs and establishing the state

00:06:00.100 as a sanctuary for minors seeking, quote, transgender medical procedures.

00:06:06.060 The Jewish lawmaker nevertheless drawing backlash earlier this year after initially

00:06:10.360 declining to call Israel's conduct in Gaza a genocide.

00:06:14.620 Wiener reversing himself days later, though apparently earning little forgiveness.

00:06:19.620 The candidate running for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's seat

00:06:22.520 confronted while attempting to attend a trans-led Pride Shabbat service.

00:06:27.080 I think your policy on the genocide in Gaza is terrible. I think you do not belong here. 0.99

00:06:34.000 I think you do not belong here. You do not belong here, Scott, anymore. It sucks because you've been wonderful.

00:06:42.400 You've been wonderful for trans people and you've been terrible and you've been terrible. 1.00

00:06:48.580 You've been terrible. You've been terrible on Gaza. 1.00

00:06:52.220 You do not belong here anymore, Scott, and it breaks my fucking heart. It breaks my heart. It breaks my heart that someone who wrote good legislation for queers is so fucking terrible on Gaza. 1.00

00:07:09.360 Down in Texas, Democrats hoping to win a statewide election for the first time since 1994, betting on another candidate firmly rooted in the party's progressive wing. 1.00

00:07:19.960 State Representative James Tallarico running against Republican State Attorney General

00:07:23.980 Ken Paxton for a seat in the U.S. Senate. Tallarico, a former public school teacher

00:07:28.920 and Presbyterian seminarian in training, who has proudly declared, quote,

00:07:33.380 God is non-binary and says he loves trans kids. The Texas Democratic Party reinforcing that

00:07:40.020 leftward turn at its convention in Corpus Christi over the weekend,

00:07:43.900 choosing Democratic Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders to headline the gathering.

00:07:47.560 Other speakers making the party's cultural message even more explicit.

00:07:52.220 Here, Democratic nominee for Texas Land Commissioner Benjamin Flores

00:07:56.220 attempting to defend Tallarico against Republican attacks.

00:08:00.240 Next time they say that James is trans, we're all trans. 0.91

00:08:05.660 when they say james is a gay tofu eating vegan we're all gay tofu eating vegans 0.99

00:08:22.460 and when they say james is going to hell 0.99

00:08:31.480 we'll say we're all going to hell

00:08:33.500 RealClearPolitics polling average currently showing Paxton with a slight advantage over

00:08:39.620 Tallarico, 44.8 percent compared to 44 percent. The U.S. and Iran agree to stop attacking each

00:08:49.280 other for now after a weekend of back-and-forth strikes risks collapsing the fragile ceasefire.

00:08:56.160 Axios reporting representatives from both countries expected to meet Tuesday,

00:08:59.960 though the talks have now been moved from Switzerland to Doha, Qatar,

00:09:04.460 and are expected to focus on the escalating dispute over the Strait of Hormuz.

00:09:08.660 A senior U.S. official telling Axios, quote,

00:09:11.280 we decided to stop all the kinetic activity, referring to the military term for direct

00:09:16.440 combat operations, including missile strikes, drone attacks, and other uses of force.

00:09:21.640 Another official saying commercial vessels will be allowed to move

00:09:24.600 freely through the critical shipping corridor.

00:09:26.700 The latest confrontation reportedly rooted in conflicting interpretations of the Memorandum

00:09:32.080 of Understanding, or MOU, reached earlier this month, in particular whether Iran retains

00:09:37.760 authority over ships traveling through the strait.

00:09:40.760 The fresh round of violence beginning Thursday when a Singapore-flagged container ship was

00:09:45.500 struck, Iran never formally claiming responsibility, though American officials blamed the Islamic

00:09:51.300 Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.

00:09:54.780 U.S. forces responding on Friday with strikes against Iranian targets.

00:09:59.260 On Saturday, another shipping vessel struck, it's believed by Iran,

00:10:03.400 prompting a larger U.S. retaliation against 10 Iranian targets.

00:10:08.140 Iran then launching drones and missiles toward American military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait.

00:10:13.320 A U.S. official telling the Times the Iranian weapons failed to strike their intended targets.

00:10:19.460 President Trump weighing in on Saturday evening via Truth Social, warning Iran,

00:10:23.420 quote, there may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable and will be forced

00:10:28.500 to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started. U.S. Ambassador to the

00:10:33.820 U.N. Mike Walsh yesterday on Fox News doubling down on President Trump's threat. Well, Shannon,

00:10:39.780 if the Iranian regime thinks for a second that President Trump is going to sit by, stand by, 0.71

00:10:47.200 while Iran continues to attack international shipping without a response or our bases

00:10:52.860 without a response. They're sadly mistaken. And they saw that loud and clear over the

00:10:59.200 last few nights where we'll continue to militarily, if needed, take down their

00:11:04.380 infrastructure that they're trying to use to illegally control an international waterway.

00:11:10.020 Iran warning any additional American strikes would bring an even stronger response.

00:11:15.580 The weekend hostilities pulling attention away from the larger task of negotiating a new nuclear agreement,

00:11:21.620 with the clock already ticking on the 60-day window set aside to reach one.

00:11:25.980 Vice President J.D. Vance Friday on HBO positing,

00:11:29.540 the U.S. remains in a strong position no matter what happens when the window for the deal closes.

00:11:34.880 Whether we make the final deal, because you have to remember this, MOU is fundamentally,

00:11:39.500 it says the straits are going to be open, the oil is going to flow, we're seeing that happen already. 0.99

00:11:44.320 It's also a ceasefire, which, as you pointed out, is always going to be a little messy when you're dealing with the Iranians. 0.97

00:11:49.200 But if we make the final deal, then great. 0.99

00:11:52.460 If we don't make the final deal, their nuclear program is still destroyed.

00:11:56.020 They're still much weaker as a country.

00:11:57.700 So my attitude is America wins either way.

00:12:01.600 Coming up, three firefighters killed, two others injured in a dangerous weekend blaze along the Colorado-Utah border.

00:12:10.000 And Gracie the giraffe finally found after two weeks in the wild,

00:12:14.040 but getting her back home is proving to be a tall order.

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00:13:27.420 Three firefighters killed, two others injured on Saturday while battling a fast-moving wildfire

00:13:33.200 along the Colorado-Utah border.

00:13:35.780 The federal firefighter is part of an interagency crew

00:13:38.620 responding to two smaller fires in western Colorado,

00:13:42.420 the Knolls and Gore fires,

00:13:44.440 which later merged with other nearby blazes

00:13:46.940 into what officials are now calling the Snyder fire.

00:13:50.820 The Interior Department confirming the five crew members

00:13:53.420 were caught in a burnover,

00:13:55.640 a terrifying emergency in which flames overtake firefighters

00:13:59.120 before they can reach an escape route or designated safety zone.

00:14:04.080 The crew deploying their emergency fire shelters as the flames swept over their position.

00:14:09.280 The two surviving firefighters, suffering burn injuries, later transported to a hospital for

00:14:14.020 treatment. The New York Times reporting on the solemn return of the three firefighters' bodies

00:14:19.320 Sunday morning. A medevac helicopter landing at Grand Junction Regional Airport around 9.30 a.m.

00:14:25.920 in a stiff wind that kept nearby flags fully outstretched. More than a dozen state and local

00:14:32.300 firefighters waiting on the tarmac with three gurneys. They stood at attention as the flag-draped

00:14:38.680 bodies were removed from the helicopter and loaded into vans from the coroner's office.

00:14:44.360 Democrat Governor of Colorado Jared Polis releasing a statement, quote,

00:14:48.280 I'm devastated about the loss of three heroic firefighters who died in the line of duty in

00:14:52.880 western Colorado. To the loved ones of those lost and to their fellow crew members, some who are

00:14:58.660 still battling the flames, know that the state of Colorado mourns alongside you. On Saturday,

00:15:05.000 the governor declaring a disaster emergency, activating the National Guard and authorizing

00:15:09.860 additional state and interagency resources to assist in the firefight. The deaths coming as

00:15:15.480 fires intensify across Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and other parts of the West, where prolonged drought,

00:15:22.180 dangerously dry vegetation, extreme heat, and powerful winds have transformed wide stretches

00:15:27.440 of land. The Snyder Fire alone spreading across more than 28,000 acres by Sunday,

00:15:34.120 with evacuation warnings expanding through parts of Mesa County. In neighboring Utah,

00:15:39.240 Governor Spencer Cox, a Republican, declaring his own state of emergency last Thursday

00:15:44.360 as multiple major wildfires strain crews and firefighting resources across the state.

00:15:49.920 The largest, the Cottonwood Fire in southern Utah, tearing through rugged terrain near the

00:15:55.560 city of Beaver, destroying homes and other structures, burning over 92,000 acres with

00:16:02.040 zero percent containment. A spokesperson assigned to the fire telling NPR that crews faced

00:16:07.880 single-digit humidity, wind gusts of roughly 45 miles per hour, and vegetation containing

00:16:14.160 almost no moisture. Those conditions grounding helicopters and other firefighting aircraft at

00:16:19.780 points Friday and Saturday. In a statement early Saturday morning, Governor Cox, writing

00:16:24.680 Utah, quote, experienced some of the worst fire conditions in our state's history, describing the

00:16:30.860 situation as, quote, as bleak as it's ever been. Despite the widespread destruction, Utah officials

00:16:37.580 have so far reported no deaths or injuries from the Cottonwood fire. An update now on Texas's

00:16:45.340 biggest fugitive, Gracie the giraffe, found alive and well Friday morning after two weeks on the

00:16:51.460 lamb, roaming the rugged Texas hill country. The roughly four-year-old, 1,200-pound giraffe

00:16:57.900 wandering away from Cedar Hollow Ranch in Lakey, Texas, on June 12, just weeks after arriving at

00:17:05.160 the exotic animal facility. The breakthrough coming after ranch manager Vic Jones received

00:17:10.860 permission to search additional private properties from the air, reports the New York Times. Jones

00:17:16.720 climbing into a helicopter early Friday morning with the pilot spotting Gracie roughly 45 minutes

00:17:21.820 into the flight. The giraffe located in an uninhabited area about four miles south of the

00:17:27.180 ranch, near a pond, a creek, and enough vegetation to apparently keep her very well fed. Jones

00:17:33.400 reporting Gracie looked healthy, with Rial County Sheriff Nathan Johnson declaring her, quote,

00:17:38.340 fat and happy. Fat? You know, spots can add 10 pounds. Aerial photographs of the runaway giraffe

00:17:45.380 helping to explain how a 10-foot-tall animal managed to disappear for so long. Gracie's

00:17:51.120 brown and yellow patterned coat blending remarkably well into the patchwork of rocks,

00:17:55.860 trees, and heavy brush below. But locating Gracie was only the first challenge. Sheriff Johnson

00:18:01.420 explaining to News Nation on Saturday why finding the fugitive did not immediately mean bringing

00:18:06.900 her home you don't just load a giraffe into your car and drive her home so uh and and the ranch

00:18:13.780 even though she's only about four or five miles from her home by the way the eagle flies uh there's

00:18:20.700 a whole lot of uh rough terrain between here and there so they're going to have to get her down to

00:18:26.780 an area where that they can then sedate her and then load her up and they have to have everything 0.90

00:18:32.280 in place to do that. In addition to the rough topography, you know, we have 100 degree Texas

00:18:38.740 heat right now and you don't want to stress the animal any more than possible. So they've got to

00:18:43.500 put a little logistics plan together, get our veterinarians able to be Johnny on the spot should

00:18:50.640 anything go wrong. A representative from the Rial County Sheriff's Office confirming to AM Update

00:18:55.860 yesterday afternoon that Gracie had not yet been returned to the ranch. ABC News reporting

00:19:01.720 veterinarians will sedate Gracie and cover her eyes before crews load her into a specially 0.57

00:19:07.120 designed giraffe trailer for the trip back to the ranch. Jones telling the outlet he plans to install

00:19:13.200 a new fence, with Gracie remaining in the ranch's giraffe enclosure until it is complete.

00:19:19.380 Facilities like the Cedar Hollow Ranch exotic animal breeding operations are not accredited

00:19:24.740 zoos or sanctuaries and vary considerably in their treatment of animals. This ranch expended

00:19:30.540 considerable resources to find Gracie, whom they say did not intentionally flee in the first place.

00:19:36.420 She just wandered a little too far and found a boundary with no fence. However, some breeding

00:19:42.340 ranches sell their animals to hunting ranches. We don't have reason to believe that will be

00:19:47.720 Gracie's fate, since we cannot find evidence Cedar Hollow has sold giraffes for hunting,

00:19:53.860 and because, let's face it, now we're all watching.

00:19:57.420 and that'll do it for your am update i'm megan kelly join me back here for the mk show live on

00:20:04.740 sirius xm's the megan kelly channel 111 at noon east on youtube.com slash megan kelly and on all

00:20:10.820 podcast platforms

The Megyn Kelly Show - June 29, 2026

Dems' Socialism Infighting, Three Firefighters Killed, Gracie the Giraffe Found Safe： AM Update 6⧸29

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