The Megyn Kelly Show - Elon's Email Results, White House Makes Major Media Changes, Town Hall Truth： AM Update for 2⧸26

00:00:00.000 Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's Wednesday, February 26th, 2025. And this is

00:00:09.040 your AM update. The president and Elon and his entire cabinet are working as one unified team

00:00:15.500 and they are implementing these very common sense solutions. Press Secretary Caroline

00:00:20.320 Levitt provides some clarity to the doge. What did you do last week? Email confusion

00:00:25.420 and announces a major change to the White House press access. Congressman McCormick was not

00:00:32.000 exactly welcomed home at a town hall meeting in Roswell, Georgia last night. Media reveling in

00:00:37.300 chaotic GOP town halls, using the scenes as proof of bipartisan backlash against doge.

00:00:43.780 But there's more to the story. And a Texas border rancher killed by an improvised explosive device

00:00:50.420 near the border, who authorities say is behind the deadly blast. All that and more coming up in

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00:02:14.920 Six words rocking the federal workforce. What did you do last week? The Saturday email initially came

00:02:27.300 with a deadline of 11.59 p.m. Monday and a warning from Elon Musk. Failure to respond will be taken as

00:02:34.780 a resignation. Some departments like the FBI, Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense

00:02:40.320 told employees not to respond. The DOGE guidance was subsequently loosened, deferring to cabinet heads

00:02:46.480 on how to best handle each department. Press Secretary Caroline Levitt with a further clarification

00:02:51.880 yesterday afternoon. Those responses should be directed to agency leadership, and the president

00:02:57.760 defers to his cabinet secretaries, who he's obviously entrusted, to pursue the guidance relative

00:03:03.560 to their specific workforce. And for some of the agencies that you've seen who have said,

00:03:07.860 please don't send these emails. It's in their best interest for that specific agency, and the

00:03:11.980 president supports that. And let me be very clear, the president and Elon, his entire cabinet are

00:03:17.880 working as one unified team, and they are implementing these very common sense solutions.

00:03:22.560 President Trump expressing support for the email, commenting on it from the Oval Office on Monday.

00:03:27.460 We have people that don't show up to work, and nobody even knows if they work for the government.

00:03:31.440 So by asking the question, tell us what you did this week, what he's doing is saying,

00:03:35.820 are you actually working? And then if you don't answer, like, you're sort of semi-fired or you're

00:03:42.060 fired, because a lot of people are not answering because they don't even exist. They're trying to

00:03:48.200 find, that's how badly various parts of our government were run by, and especially by this

00:03:53.040 last group. So what they're doing is they're trying to find out who's working for the government.

00:03:58.020 In her briefing, Ms. Levitt saying many workers have complied with the request so far.

00:04:02.560 I can announce that we've had more than one million workers who have chosen to participate

00:04:07.720 in this very simple task of, again, sending five bullet points to your direct supervisor or manager

00:04:13.980 CCing OPM. I actually participated in it myself. It took me about a minute and a half to think of

00:04:20.320 five things I did last week. I do five things in about 10 minutes. And all federal workers should

00:04:24.520 be working at the same pace that President Trump is working and moving. We have a country to save,

00:04:29.240 and we want this federal government to be responsive to the needs of the American people

00:04:33.140 who re-elected this president to have historic, massive reform. And that's what the intention

00:04:37.880 of this idea is. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal workforce is made

00:04:42.500 up of 2.3 million employees, so more than 43 percent have responded.

00:04:47.600 The Trump administration shaking up the press pool. The president is trailed around by a press pool of

00:04:57.280 reporters from varying legacy media outlets. The Associated Press, Reuters, NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox,

00:05:03.960 New York Times, Washington Post. They fly on Air Force One with him. They get to enter the Oval Office,

00:05:09.560 the smaller areas that not everyone can fit into. A separate, more exclusive group than what you see

00:05:15.060 gathered in the briefing room. From there, they send updates to the rest of the media.

00:05:19.940 The AP was recently banned from the pool because of its refusal to acknowledge the renaming of the

00:05:25.020 Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The AP was not banned from the briefing room or the White House

00:05:30.780 premises. It just lost its highly exclusive spot in the pool and promptly sued, alleging a First Amendment

00:05:37.320 violation. On Monday, a federal judge sided with the Trump administration, refusing to temporarily

00:05:43.180 restore the full AP access. A hearing is scheduled for March 20th. In the meantime, Caroline Leavitt

00:05:49.660 yesterday announcing sweeping changes to how the pool reporters will be chosen.

00:05:54.220 Asking the president of the United States questions in limited spaces such as the Oval Office in Air Force

00:06:00.700 One is a privilege that unfortunately has only been granted to a few. It is not a legal right for all.

00:06:08.440 As you all know, for decades, a group of D.C.-based journalists, the White House Correspondents

00:06:13.820 Association, has long dictated which journalists get to ask questions of the president of the United

00:06:19.440 States in these most intimate spaces. Not anymore. Moving forward, the White House press pool will be

00:06:27.060 determined by the White House press team. Legacy outlets who have participated in the press pool for

00:06:32.840 decades will still be allowed to join. Fear not. But we will also be offering the privilege to

00:06:38.660 well-deserving outlets who have never been allowed to share in this awesome responsibility.

00:06:45.120 Ms. Leavitt says the five major TV nets will continue coverage on a rotating basis.

00:06:50.660 But aside from the TV outlets, streamers will now be included, along with more local radio hosts

00:06:56.620 and others who have previously been denied access. The goal, according to the press secretary,

00:07:01.520 is to broaden out White House coverage, more closely aligning it with modern media consumption.

00:07:07.520 However, typically, it is the press, not the president, that decides who will handle pool coverage.

00:07:13.980 The legacy media was not happy. Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for The New York Times,

00:07:19.120 harshly criticized the move, posting to X, quote,

00:07:21.880 Having served as a Moscow correspondent in the early days of Putin's reign, this reminds me of how the Kremlin

00:07:28.080 took over its own press pool and made sure that only compliant journalists were given access.

00:07:34.220 Even Fox News White House correspondent Jackie Heinrich wrote, quote,

00:07:37.940 This move does not give the power back to the people. It gives power to the White House.

00:07:43.020 White House Correspondents Association President Eugene Daniels releasing a statement that reads,

00:07:47.520 This move tears at the independence of a free press in the U.S.

00:07:52.020 In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.

00:07:57.680 President Trump, flanked by Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnik and HHS Secretary RFKJ,

00:08:04.020 signing a new slate of executive orders in the White House last night,

00:08:08.240 one aimed at imposing price transparency on health care costs,

00:08:11.980 one looking at foreign versus domestic copper supply in America,

00:08:16.760 and an executive order to strip security clearances from law firms associated with the

00:08:21.900 Jack Smith cases against Donald Trump. Amid signing the orders, the president announcing a new

00:08:27.660 initiative his administration is looking at called the Gold Card.

00:08:31.980 It'll be very, very good. We're going to be selling a gold card. You have a green card. This is a gold card.

00:08:41.980 We're going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million. And that's going to give you

00:08:46.560 green card privileges. Plus, it's going to be a route to citizenship. And wealthy people will be

00:08:53.120 coming into our country by buying this card. They'll be wealthy. And they'll be successful. And

00:08:58.400 they'll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people.

00:09:02.640 And we think it's going to be extremely successful.

00:09:05.320 President Trump saying the card will not grant citizenship, which would need to involve Congress,

00:09:10.020 but it will be a path to citizenship, though how remains unclear. Later today,

00:09:15.980 the president will hold his first cabinet meeting of the second Trump administration.

00:09:19.980 Elon Musk will be in attendance.

00:09:27.600 Coming up, a contentious town hall in a deep red district captivated the media.

00:09:33.160 Evidence of bipartisan backlash against the Doge Boys or something else.

00:09:38.340 And a Texas border rancher killed by an improvised explosive device near the border,

00:09:44.300 who authorities say is behind the deadly blast. Coming up in just a moment.

00:09:49.240 The IRS is the largest collection agency in the world. And with April 15th fast approaching,

00:09:54.640 it's more aggressive than ever. If you owe back taxes or have unfiled returns,

00:09:59.220 waiting is not an option. April 15th could mark another tax year that has passed you by.

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00:10:41.800 Don't let the IRS control your future. Call 1-800-958-1000 or visit tnusa.com slash Megan.

00:10:49.140 That's tnusa.com slash Megan. April 15th is just around the corner. Act now before the IRS acts first. 0.80

00:10:58.000 A local Georgia town hall over the weekend garnering significant media coverage. Georgia

00:11:10.040 Republican Congressman Rich McCormick, who won about 65 percent of the vote in his district,

00:11:15.000 faced significant backlash from his constituents angry about doge cuts, a sample of what it sounded

00:11:21.700 like. The people would like to know what you congressmen and your fellow congressmen are going

00:11:28.960 to do to rein in the megalomaniac in the White House. When you talk about presidential power,

00:11:38.540 I remember having the same discussion with Republicans when Biden was elected.

00:11:42.120 Other GOP officials reportedly experienced similar confrontations. MSNBC went wild with the story,

00:11:55.040 running multiple segments. Congressman McCormick was not exactly welcomed home at a town hall meeting

00:12:00.780 in Roswell, Georgia last night. A room full of ordinary voters who gathered at a town hall in Georgia last

00:12:06.780 night to hear Republican Congressman Rich McCormick. And he's the one who got an earful from his

00:12:13.700 constituents. The problem? They haven't quite captured the whole story. The Washington Free

00:12:19.040 Beacon reporting, quote, George Soros-funded groups Indivisible and Move On were at the center

00:12:24.660 of the demonstrations. Both groups launched national mobilization efforts targeting the Trump-Musk

00:12:30.960 agenda and Trump-Musk coup. The organizations provide resources for members, directing them to

00:12:36.900 local town halls. One prominently cited operative the media mentioned in reporting on the Rich

00:12:42.680 McCormick town hall in Georgia, Maggie Goldman, a self-described Democrat and political activist,

00:12:49.400 reports the Free Beacon. On Facebook, Goldman shared write-ups of the town hall, writing,

00:12:53.880 we were on fire. Most of the reporting failing to mention the left-wing activists behind the town

00:13:00.060 hall outrage. A Harvard-Harris poll published Monday shows 72 percent of voters actually support

00:13:06.260 existence of a U.S. government agency focused on efficiency initiatives. That same poll says 60

00:13:12.840 percent of voters think Doge is helping make major cuts in government expenditures. President Trump's

00:13:19.120 overall approval rating is at 52 percent in that poll compared to 43 percent who disapprove. Democratic

00:13:25.300 party approval at 36 percent, a record low. The Washington Post reporting on conditions at the

00:13:35.480 migrant detention facility in Guantanamo Bay as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth spends the day

00:13:41.480 touring the area. The Post, citing three people held at the center, says detainees are subjected to

00:13:47.020 humiliating and invasive strip searches and prolonged periods in isolation. Asked about that reporting,

00:13:53.600 Press Secretary Caroline Levitt responded. If you invade our nation's borders, if you break our

00:13:58.720 country's laws, and if then you further commit heinous, brutal crimes in the interior of our country,

00:14:04.900 like raping and murdering innocent, law-abiding women and girls and committing heinous acts of

00:14:10.820 violence, then you are going to be deported from this country and you may be held at Guantanamo Bay. 0.99

00:14:16.600 These are criminals we are talking about. Don't forget that. Secretary Hegseth toured the facility

00:14:21.220 yesterday afternoon where he was once deployed while in the Army National Guard, receiving

00:14:26.460 briefings on base operations. In a post on X, Mr. Hegseth calls the naval station the front lines of

00:14:32.680 the war on America's southern border. Approximately 200 illegal immigrants were deported back to Venezuela

00:14:39.240 from Guantanamo Bay last week. Two killed, including a Texas rancher and one other injured in a blast

00:14:47.480 caused by a suspected cartel-planted IED on the Mexican side of the border near Brownsville,

00:14:53.940 Texas. A 74-year-old rancher killed along with a non-U.S. citizen. The explosion occurred earlier

00:15:00.740 this month as the rancher drove his car. The Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Sid Miller,

00:15:06.160 issuing a statement calling for extreme caution along the border. Miller urges those in the agricultural

00:15:11.980 industry to stay vigilant, remain aware of their surroundings, avoid dirt roads and remote areas,

00:15:18.320 and refrain from touching unfamiliar objects that could be explosive devices. Late last week,

00:15:24.120 the Trump administration designated eight cartels, including Tren de Aragua and MS-13,

00:15:30.180 as terrorist organizations. That allows the government to freeze cartel assets, penalize anyone

00:15:35.880 aiding the groups, and justify military action. A week ago, the New York Times reported the CIA

00:15:41.780 is increasing surveillance drone flights over Mexico to monitor cartel activity. The cartels

00:15:47.380 operate multi-billion-dollar industries, most notably drug trafficking. Human trafficking,

00:15:53.240 including sex trafficking and border smuggling, also a big moneymaker for these vicious gangs.

00:15:59.240 Yesterday, the administration reported a 15-year low in illegal border crossings,

00:16:04.400 no doubt a major financial blow to the cartel's bottom line.

00:16:07.480 That'll do it for your AM update. I'm Megyn Kelly. Join me back here later for The Megyn Kelly Show,

00:16:13.280 live on SiriusXM Triumph Channel 111 at noon east, on youtube.com slash Megyn Kelly,

00:16:19.080 and on all podcast platforms.

00:16:20.880 Now streaming on Paramount+.

00:16:32.520 Someone is trying to frame us.

00:16:35.480 Until our names are cleared.

00:16:38.020 We're fugitives from Interpol.

00:16:39.820 Like Bonnie and Clyde with better snacks.

00:16:43.280 Espionage?

00:16:43.900 You're still as good a shot as you used to be?

00:16:47.000 Better.

00:16:47.480 Is there love language?

00:16:49.200 We like to walk that fine line between techno thriller and romantic comedy.

00:16:54.500 We make up our own rules.

00:16:56.280 NCIS Tony and Ziva, now streaming on Paramount+.

The Megyn Kelly Show - February 26, 2025

Elon's Email Results, White House Makes Major Media Changes, Town Hall Truth： AM Update for 2⧸26

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