Diddy Denied Bail, Kohberger Sentencing Ahead, and Deep Dive on Biden's Autopen： AM Update 7⧸3
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Summary
Sean Diddy Combs is found not guilty on the most serious charges he faced, but he remains behind bars for now. Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty? Yes. Brian Kohlberger pleads guilty on all counts in the vicious slaying of four University of Idaho students in exchange for not facing the death penalty. And a closer look at former President Joe Biden s frequent use of the auto pen.
Transcript
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Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's Thursday, July 3rd, 2025. And this is your
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AM update. I kid you not. People are pouring baby oil on one another outside this court
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house. A big win for Sean Diddy Combs as the mogul is found not guilty on the most serious
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charges he faced, but he remains behind bars for now. Are you pleading guilty because you
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are guilty? Yes. Brian Koberger pleads guilty on all counts in the vicious slaying of four
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University of Idaho students in exchange for not facing the death penalty. And a closer look at
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former President Biden's frequent use of the auto pen. Who was really in charge of running the
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country? All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM update. One in two adults have
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The judge in the Sean Diddy Combs criminal trial denying the defendant's request for bail Wednesday
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evening following his conviction on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
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Combs' mouth reportedly dropping at the no-bail announcement. Earlier in the day, the jury acquitting
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the mogul on the three more serious charges, one count of racketeering and two counts of sex
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trafficking. The jury returning the verdict shortly after beginning deliberations on Wednesday.
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In total, the deliberations lasting about 13 hours across three days. Upon hearing the verdict,
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Combs pumping his fist, mouthing, thank you, thank you to the jurors. Then, I'm going home
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to his family. The defense asking for $1 million bond with travel restrictions while Combs awaits
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sentencing. Lead prosecutor Maureen Comey requesting Combs remain in custody, saying, quote,
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there is a real risk that he will flagrantly disregard orders from this court. A lawyer for
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Cassie Ventura, one of Diddy's victims, submitting a letter to the judge requesting Combs not be
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released. Quote, Ms. Ventura believes that Mr. Combs is likely to pose a danger to the victims who
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testified in this case, including herself, as well as to the community. Deontay Nash, friend of
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Ventura, who previously testified, submitting a letter to the judge, reading in part, quote,
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If he is released now, I have no doubt he will see it as yet another license to continue
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intimidating, threatening, and harming people who challenge or expose him. The defense arguing
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the government failed to prove its most serious charge and pointing to Combs' young child and
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elderly mother needing him at home. The judge, citing Combs' past violent behavior, noting the
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defense attorney, quote, full-throatedly in your closing told the jury there was violence here,
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end quote, concluding, quote, prior to the trial, the court denied bail and sees no reason to
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reverse that now. Combs now faces up to 10 years for each count of transportation to engage in
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prostitution. As the prosecution and the defense debated sentencing terms, a newly emboldened Combs
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requesting to speak to the judge directly. No such exchange took place. A remote hearing is set for
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Tuesday next week to address the sentencing scheduling. Brian Kohlberger accepting a highly
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controversial plea deal on Wednesday, pleading guilty to all five counts against him, one count
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of burglary and four of first-degree murder. Kohlberger admitting to entering a rental home near the
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University of Idaho, stabbing 20-year-old Ethan Chapin, 20-year-old Zanna Kernodal, 21-year-old Madison
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Mogan and 21-year-old Kaylee Gonsalves to death. Throughout the pretrial process, Kohlberger refusing
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to speak, remaining silent even at his own arraignment. Wednesday in court, Kohlberger speaking
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publicly for the first time and in a tone better suited for a trivia contest. Are you pleading guilty
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because you are guilty? Yes. With respect to count one, burglary felony, how do you plead Mr.
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Kohlberger guilty or not guilty? Guilty. As to count two, murder in the first degree as it relates
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to the murder of Madison Mogan, how do you plead guilty or not guilty? Guilty. As to count three, as it
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relates to murder in the first degree for the murder of Kaylee Gonsalves, how do you plead guilty or not guilty?
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Guilty. As to count four, the first-degree murder of Zanna Kernodal, pardon me, a human being, how do you plead
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guilty or not guilty? Guilty. As to count five, the first-degree murder of Ethan Chapin, a human being,
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how do you plead guilty or not guilty? Guilty. Kohlberger avoiding the death penalty according to
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the terms of this deal, the outcome shocking and outraging many, including the father of Kaylee
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Gonsalves, who wanted a jury to decide Kohlberger's fate after a public trial and with the death penalty
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on the table. Mr. Gonsalves releasing a statement after the plea that reads in part as follows.
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The plea began with the defendant claiming responsibility for his actions with one-word
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responses. All were sufficient for the court and the prosecution team, because that is what this plea
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was about today, the court and the prosecution. A plea that makes everything go away for them and
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lets them get back to their normal routine. This plea did not represent the victim's families.
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It represented an easy way out and no answers. Former homicide prosecutor Matt Murphy Wednesday
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on The Megyn Kelly Show. I'm kind of frustrated, actually. I sat on our death penalty special
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circumstance committee for 15 years in Orange County. And essentially what you do in a special
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murder like this, special circumstances murder, is you go through the law piece by piece and you
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weigh the aggravating versus mitigating circumstances. And from that, we would make a recommendation to
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the elected DA, who then makes a very somber decision whether or not to seek the death penalty
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or life without possibility of parole. This case screams out for the death penalty. So my big question
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here is what changed? Because it's unethical to file a death enhancement or to seek the death penalty
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with the idea that you are extracting a plea. And when you hear the evidence, for me, listening to
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the fact that he got a K-bar on Amazon before he moved out, this is an overwhelming case. So again,
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what changed other than him deciding, other than Koberger asking to plead guilty, that changed the
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assessment that this was a death penalty case? The big winner today, I hate to say it, is Brian
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Koberger. And I am, I'm, I'm just, I was frustrated listening to that. Author Howard Bloom, who has
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diligently covered this case with many exclusives, also criticizing the prosecutors over the plea deal
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on the Megyn Kelly show. It is such a cynical decision on the part of the state to make this plea
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bargain. And during the course of the recitation by Thompson, he kept on saying things, so many things
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we don't know. He said, for whatever reason, we don't know exactly why he did this. The evidence
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suggests these are answers that we will never get, that the families, more importantly, will never
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get. The state, the town, the surviving families, they will never forget this. And I think they've
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been done a real injustice by the state. Many family members of the victims appearing in court today,
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visibly emotional in the presence of their loved one's murderer. NBC reporting Christy Gonsalves,
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mother of Kaylee, sobbing at the mention of her daughter. Ben Mogan, father of Madison Mogan,
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looking agitated, breathing heavily. The families split on the plea deal. Steve Gonsalves accusing
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prosecutor Bill Thompson of making a deal with the devil. The Mogan family releasing a statement saying
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they support the agreement 100 percent, believing it to be the best possible outcome. The Chapin family,
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too, supported the deal. Kohlberger, now a convicted murderer, will not be allowed to appear in
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civilian clothes for his sentencing hearing on July 23rd, as now he's lost the presumption of
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innocence. Families of the victims will be allowed to make impact statements on that day. Kohlberger
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will receive four consecutive life sentences for the murders, plus 10 years for the burglary charge.
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Somewhat incredibly, he was not given life without the possibility of parole.
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Coming up, who was really running the Biden White House? A look inside the investigation of who
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As America watched the clear cognitive decline of President Joe Biden throughout his presidency,
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many wondered who was actually running the White House. A bombshell report by the non-profit
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government watchdog The Oversight Project, finding the vast majority of White House documents with
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President Biden's signature, were signed by AutoPen. An AutoPen is a mechanical device used to replicate
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a signature. We spoke to the president of The Oversight Project, Mike Howell, about his investigation
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and what it reveals about who was actually running the Biden White House.
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We, like the rest of the country, were acutely aware of the fact that President Biden was
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malfunctioning and not running the White House. And we were trying to look into the ways that
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they could run a White House without a functioning president. And we basically centered on how are
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they signing things? How's the paper moving as one of the ways? And so we pulled the signatures
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and saw that, you know, a pattern emerged. And it was very clear that there was copy and paste
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signature, not a pen device. And so we began pulling the paper to study the usage of it over time.
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We basically have found that there are at least three. And there's a fourth one that we have
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found that we're working on now. Versions of the signature that were used for various types of
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documents to include executive orders, pardons, proclamations. And the usage of it picked up over time,
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particularly in like weird scenarios in which Biden was actually in D.C. and able to sign other things.
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Multiple investigations launching in the wake of these findings, including President Trump
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ordering the DOJ to launch a probe last month. The House Oversight Committee also starting its
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own investigation last week, summoning former Biden staff secretary Neera Tanden for more than
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five hours of closed door testimony. Chairman James Comer later revealing Tanden testified she had
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minimal interaction with President Biden. Howell describes the role of the staff secretary and just
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how unusual it is for someone in this role to have limited face time with the president.
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It is a very important job. It is the person who controls the paper flow from the president
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and keeps things at the White House legal and organized traditionally, you know, a very,
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very senior staffer. Neera Tanden famously was, you know, she's a Soros operative. It's her job
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to basically ensure that the paper moves in accordance with, you know, policy procedure and is
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legally sufficient. When you have White House senior staff that is basically not interacting with the
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president, but is in charge of deploying his signature and his binding authority on documents,
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it's a major, major break in past president and procedure. You shouldn't have someone in that
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position of seniority that doesn't even like speak with the president to know that he actually approves
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the things that you're putting his name to. She was taking orders via paper decision memos that went up to
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senior staffers and came back to her. And so that the chain of commands was was was broken in that
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regard. The signature was being applied without the person applying it, knowing that the president
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actually signed off on it. Howell says Tanden's testimony raises questions about whether President
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Biden knew what he was signing off on. She also spoke to a really irregular process in which written
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decision memos would go up the chain of command from her and then would come back with just an
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initial saying it's good to go. And that raises another major question. Is the decision memo the
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actual text of the executive order or is it something different? One fact pattern that we could be
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dealing with is a descriptive memo goes up to the president saying something to the effect of we're
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going to do a bunch of executive orders. They will undo Trump's inhumane policies and they will make
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everything sunshine and roses on the border. Everybody loves it. This is going to make you a
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hero. And then the executive orders that come out are these really prescriptive and destructive
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executive orders to undo every last aspect of border security. And so it could be something that is way
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out of line with the presidential intent and dissent as to, you know, what is in the decision memo versus
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what actually happens. And that's what I'm looking to see. Is there a mismatch there? That's one of the,
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I think the big themes we're, we're zeroing in on. Howell describes a number of possible crimes
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his group was investigating. We think there are crimes that are likely to have been committed.
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Those would include impersonation. You can't impersonate a federal official. You can't forge
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a signature. There could be forgery. I think there's a lot of bribery at play. I think the whole
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story of the Biden family pay to play scheme over decades is one of bribery and foreign pay to play
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and failure to register as foreign agents and doing work on behalf of foreign governments.
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Also secondary to that, like the people who were aware that this scheme was underway and that they
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were functioning the White House out of the constitutional order. And, you know, with all
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these other crimes that I've mentioned potentially happening, could be guilty of misprisonment of a
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felony, which is basically like a failure to report.
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In June, the Biden office releasing this statement attributable to President Biden,
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quote, let me be clear. I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about
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the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn't
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is ridiculous and false. But for now, the various investigations are ongoing.
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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 try-up channel 111 at noon east, on youtube.com slash megankelly, and on all podcast