The Megyn Kelly Show - July 31, 2025


Fed Holds Rates Steady Despite Trump's Wishes and GDP Rebound, Khalil Legal Showdown： AM Update 7⧸31


Episode Stats


Length

20 minutes

Words per minute

151.07556

Word count

3,034

Sentence count

193

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged

Hate speech

6

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Heavy pushback on his decision to keep interest rates steady as the latest GDP numbers surpass expectations. New York City mayoral candidate Zoran Mamdani calls for more gun control in the wake of the Midtown Manhattan mass shooting. Is that the answer? All that and more coming up in just a moment on Your AM Update.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
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00:00:33.100 Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly.
00:00:35.560 It's Thursday, July 31st, 2025, and this is your AM Update.
00:00:39.840 We should be the lowest interest rate, and we're not.
00:00:43.200 Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell meeting heavy pushback
00:00:46.340 on his decision to keep interest rates steady
00:00:48.900 as the latest GDP numbers surpass expectations.
00:00:52.340 I really can't even express how bonkers it is.
00:00:56.120 You've got the immigration stuff, and then you've got a normal case, 0.97
00:00:59.980 but the normal case is messing with the immigration case.
00:01:03.200 Why can't the Trump administration boot Columbia student agitator
00:01:06.580 Mahmoud Khalil out of the country?
00:01:08.880 We'll have a full report.
00:01:10.740 And New York City mayoral candidate Zoran Mamdani
00:01:13.220 calls for more gun control in the wake of the Midtown Manhattan mass shooting.
00:01:17.500 Is that the answer?
00:01:18.320 All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update.
00:01:21.620 A lot of people worry about the online platforms
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00:02:29.920 On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell
00:02:32.740 bucking the president's intense public pressure campaign,
00:02:36.100 opting not to reduce federal interest rates.
00:02:38.280 In support of our goals, today the Federal Open Market Committee
00:02:41.140 decided to leave our policy interest rate unchanged.
00:02:44.480 We believe that the current stance of monetary policy
00:02:46.700 leaves us well-positioned to respond in a timely way
00:02:49.940 to potential economic developments.
00:02:52.540 That decision facing backlash, not just from the Trump administration,
00:02:55.880 which argues the positive economic trends justify lowering rates,
00:02:59.980 but also from fellow members of the Fed's Board of Governors.
00:03:03.280 CNN reporting on the internal split.
00:03:05.400 Not one, but two members of the Fed's powerful Board of Governors,
00:03:11.200 they voted in favor of an interest rate cut.
00:03:14.780 Sometimes we do see one governor dissent,
00:03:17.640 but this is the first time we're seeing two governors dissent since 1993.
00:03:23.040 And it does show how Fed Chair Powell,
00:03:25.920 he's not just facing pressure from the White House to cut interest rates,
00:03:29.820 he's also facing pressure from some of his colleagues inside this building.
00:03:33.760 President Trump, Wednesday from the Oval, slamming Powell's decision.
00:03:37.460 We should be lowering the rates.
00:03:38.860 You know, each point that this gentleman keeps up
00:03:43.240 costs us $365 billion a year.
00:03:48.300 Think of that.
00:03:48.920 One point.
00:03:50.500 $365 billion.
00:03:51.880 We should be the lowest interest rate.
00:03:54.560 And we're not.
00:03:55.400 We're 38.
00:03:56.340 Number 38 because of the Fed.
00:03:58.280 It's all because of the Fed.
00:03:59.800 He's done a bad job.
00:04:01.900 Now, he's got a meeting today, but I hear they're going to do it in September.
00:04:05.620 Not today.
00:04:06.640 For what reason?
00:04:07.700 Nobody knows.
00:04:08.520 But Europe, as you know, cut their rates 11 times in the last short period of time.
00:04:14.980 But the good news is we're doing better than anybody anywhere in the world.
00:04:18.500 Nobody's doing anything even close to us, even with the higher rates.
00:04:22.080 The higher rates do affect housing, though,
00:04:23.760 because people can't go out and get a loan or refinance their house.
00:04:26.320 The announcement coming just hours after the release of new data showing GDP grew 3% in
00:04:32.140 the second quarter, beating expectations and marking a rebound from the first quarter
00:04:36.660 when economic activity slightly shrank.
00:04:39.580 Director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, over the moon about the latest numbers.
00:04:44.060 It's really one of the best GDP announcements or releases that you could imagine because
00:04:51.060 there's blockbuster growth way above expectation.
00:04:54.300 And there's also a real, real almost collapse in inflation.
00:04:58.120 It went down by about a percent and a half all the way down to 2.1%, which is the Fed's target.
00:05:03.500 And so to have high growth with low inflation and also high income growth, personal income
00:05:08.180 growth was 3%.
00:05:09.220 That's just like about a sweet spot for a GDP release.
00:05:12.640 And I will add that all of this happened while $127 billion in tariffs was raised,
00:05:19.060 which is clearly not harming the American consumer.
00:05:22.660 And we've been downsizing government in order to be more fiscally responsible.
00:05:27.100 70,000 federal jobs have been reduced at 5%.
00:05:31.100 There was a 5% reduction in federal government spending while all this was going on.
00:05:36.260 Coming up, Columbia University student agitator Mahmoud Khalil has become a media darling,
00:05:42.220 but what is he still doing here?
00:05:45.040 And far-left socialist candidate for New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani uses the Midtown Manhattan
00:05:50.520 shooting to call for more gun control.
00:05:57.300 Let's be honest.
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00:07:10.420 Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student agitator and Algerian citizen,
00:07:15.460 at the center of a high-profile deportation fight with the Trump administration,
00:07:20.280 hitting the media circuit, enjoying the spotlight since his release from ICE custody in June.
00:07:26.700 Wasn't this guy deported?
00:07:28.460 ICE officials arresting Khalil, who has a student visa and a green card, in March,
00:07:34.240 the Trump administration seeking to remove him under a law that states, quote,
00:07:37.880 An alien whose presence or activities in the U.S., the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe
00:07:43.880 would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States, is deportable.
00:07:50.360 Secretary of State Marco Rubio making that determination about Khalil,
00:07:54.120 given his role in the Columbia University apartheid divest group.
00:07:58.380 Khalil worked as a student negotiator for that organization,
00:08:01.220 which reportedly sympathizes with terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah,
00:08:05.320 calling for the end of Western civilization.
00:08:08.580 This as it occupied Colombia's campus, setting up an encampment and seizing academic buildings,
00:08:14.480 demanding the university cut ties with Israel or else.
00:08:18.140 The State Department also arguing Khalil was dishonest on his visa application,
00:08:22.660 accusing him of omitting past work with the Hamas-linked UN Relief and Works Agency
00:08:27.940 in order to secure his green card in the first place.
00:08:31.440 Khalil's ICE arrest, kicking off a multi-front legal battle as the government
00:08:35.220 tries to deport this guy, and his team of lawyers pretend he has a legal right to stay here.
00:08:42.040 Following his arrest, the DOJ transferring Khalil to an ICE detention center in Louisiana to await deportation.
00:08:49.040 Khalil's legal team filing a separate case, called a habeas corpus petition,
00:08:54.020 in a federal district court in New Jersey.
00:08:56.040 That case was assigned to the Biden-appointed Michael Farbiage.
00:09:00.660 A habeas proceeding challenges one's detention.
00:09:04.220 This federal judge then ordering Khalil's release as his habeas case plays out.
00:09:09.640 In addition, Judge Farbiage attempting to rule that the immigration judge cannot deport Khalil,
00:09:16.160 based on Secretary Rubio's finding that Khalil is hurting U.S. foreign policy,
00:09:20.480 which is an extraordinary ruling in that Khalil's deportation is up to the immigration courts.
00:09:27.240 The federal district court should only be considering whether he's being properly detained in the meantime.
00:09:33.540 Investigative journalist at The Federalist, Margot Cleveland, who has been closely tracking this story,
00:09:38.200 walks us through this legal morass.
00:09:40.120 So you have the New Jersey judge whose lawsuit only involved a claim called habeas corpus,
00:09:48.500 which dealt with whether he's detained or not.
00:09:51.840 And you have that New Jersey judge now telling an immigration judge how to do his job.
00:09:58.560 I really can't even express how bonkers it is.
00:10:02.820 And kind of the simple way to think of it is they're two totally separate cases.
00:10:08.440 There is a normal process by which immigration cases are decided.
00:10:13.280 It starts with the case going to an immigration judge.
00:10:17.280 From there, it goes to the Board of Immigration Appeals.
00:10:21.440 And from there, it goes to a circuit court, not a district court.
00:10:26.560 His attorney spent one running back to the district judge in New Jersey,
00:10:31.740 who has no power over immigration cases,
00:10:35.980 and asked the judge to enter a revised preliminary injunction.
00:10:42.880 And what the judge did is ordered the Trump administration to go to the immigration judge and say,
00:10:50.820 you have to change your ruling.
00:10:52.820 So as you can see, there are a lot of different machinations going on
00:10:57.580 with the court in New Jersey and the immigration proceedings in Louisiana.
00:11:03.880 But the bottom line is that the judge in New Jersey is acting completely beyond his jurisdiction
00:11:11.360 and entering orders dictating what another judge, the immigration judge, can and cannot do.
00:11:18.740 Congress has prohibited that.
00:11:21.640 In response, the Trump administration filing an appeal with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals,
00:11:26.320 arguing this New Jersey district judge is way out of bounds.
00:11:30.200 There is no way that this New Jersey judge will be allowed to micromanage the immigration proceedings
00:11:38.280 that are ongoing in Louisiana.
00:11:41.060 That is so far beyond his authority, an authority that Congress expressly limited.
00:11:48.080 So I think the Trump administration is very likely to win because they're right,
00:11:54.420 just for the same reason that the Supreme Court has stayed and given Trump a victory in,
00:12:00.480 I think, 12 of the 13 cases.
00:12:02.860 But even if the Third Circuit sides with the Trump administration,
00:12:06.300 Cleveland says Khalil's deportation is still a long way off.
00:12:09.760 So right now, it's at the immigration stage, at the IG stage,
00:12:15.620 then it goes to a Board of Immigration Appeals, and then it goes to the Fifth Circuit.
00:12:20.160 And from the Fifth Circuit, he could seek to go to the Supreme Court.
00:12:24.980 So this case and his deportation is very far off in the future.
00:12:30.780 Now, the reason that his attorneys are fighting so hard is because they don't think they're going to win
00:12:36.400 for the immigration case because immigration courts have discretion that is very hard to challenge on appeal.
00:12:45.900 Cleveland's saying this case is likely to have major ramifications on immigration proceedings besides Khalil's.
00:12:52.000 So this case is actually just one of many involving immigration proceedings
00:12:59.480 that are wrongly being brought in federal district courts.
00:13:03.760 We are seeing virtually every immigration case that would typically go through the process Congress set up,
00:13:12.440 which is immigration judge, Board of Immigration Appeals, circuit case,
00:13:17.860 instead being brought in district courts.
00:13:20.460 That is a huge problem.
00:13:22.500 And in fact, that's why Congress said that district court judges do not have jurisdiction
00:13:27.940 because it slows down this process.
00:13:30.820 This case provides an opportunity for the federal appellate courts to make clear
00:13:38.620 when and when the district courts do not have the power to wade into immigration issues.
00:13:47.360 As all of that drama plays out, Khalil now filing a claim seeking $20 million in damages
00:13:54.060 against the Trump administration, which means the federal taxpayers,
00:13:57.940 which could potentially lead to another lawsuit claiming he was falsely imprisoned
00:14:02.400 and smeared as an anti-Semite.
00:14:05.380 In recent weeks, Khalil launching a full-blown media blitz,
00:14:08.820 appearing across several friendly outlets fielding questions from a typically fawning media.
00:14:14.340 However, in mid-July, one CNN interview going slightly off the rails
00:14:18.240 when Khalil was asked a very simple question.
00:14:21.580 Just to be clear here, though, do you specifically condemn Hamas,
00:14:25.340 a designated terrorist organization in the United States,
00:14:28.840 not just for their actions on October 7th?
00:14:31.540 I condemn the killing of all civilians, full stop.
00:14:39.380 But what I don't want to get into is...
00:14:43.000 No, I am very clear with condemning all civilians. 1.00
00:14:47.640 I'm very straight in my position in that part.
00:14:53.140 But it's disingenuous to ask about condemning Hamas
00:14:56.420 while Palestinians are the ones being starved now by Israel.
00:14:59.520 But it is fair to ask you about whether you condemn Hamas 0.90
00:15:02.240 because the Trump administration has claimed that you are Hamas' sympathizer.
00:15:07.100 So it's very important to actually ask that question in this broad conversation.
00:15:12.260 Yeah, I simply asked and protested the war in Palestine.
00:15:18.440 Doesn't seem like a hard question.
00:15:21.260 Guess it was.
00:15:22.480 The State Department says that answer should be disqualifying
00:15:25.640 for a green card in and of itself.
00:15:27.880 Professor Cleveland agrees.
00:15:29.620 I think that's pretty telling.
00:15:31.820 And America should not be admitting people into the United States 1.00
00:15:36.020 who will refuse to acknowledge a terrorist organization
00:15:41.420 is a terrorist organization.
00:15:43.040 That, to me, should be a very standard way to screen out individuals
00:15:48.900 who will harm the foreign policy interests of the United States.
00:15:55.260 Democrat nominee for New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani
00:15:58.280 speaking publicly for the first time following the Monday mass shooting
00:16:01.640 in a midtown Manhattan skyscraper.
00:16:04.340 One NYPD officer and three civilians killed in the rampage.
00:16:07.980 One civilian critically injured.
00:16:09.480 On Tuesday, Mamdani posting in memory of the slain NYPD officer,
00:16:14.720 Dideril Islam, drawing fierce backlash and accusations of hypocrisy
00:16:19.180 since he really clearly wants to defund the police.
00:16:22.860 He's said it many times.
00:16:25.020 Critics referencing those previous calls and resurfacing an old tweet
00:16:28.740 in which he replied, quote,
00:16:30.520 nature is healing to a post about a police officer seen crying in his car.
00:16:36.420 Mamdani, fresh off a plane from his native Uganda,
00:16:38.900 for his extravagant wedding flanked by tons of security,
00:16:43.440 addressing those comments.
00:16:45.040 Do you wish you hadn't said some of those things a few years back?
00:16:49.280 My statements in 2020
00:16:50.860 were ones made amidst 0.85
00:16:54.100 a frustration that many New Yorkers held
00:16:57.300 at the murder of George Floyd
00:16:59.180 and the inability to deliver on what Eric Adams, of all people, described
00:17:04.420 as the right for all of us to be able to enjoy safety and justice
00:17:10.380 that we need not choose between the two.
00:17:13.100 That's not a disavowal.
00:17:15.120 Mamdani also using the tragedy as an opportunity to call for more gun laws.
00:17:19.460 And as New Yorkers across the five boroughs and Americans across the country
00:17:23.280 mourn this mass shooting,
00:17:25.920 we are reminded that no matter how strong
00:17:29.800 our gun laws are in this state,
00:17:33.020 we are only as safe
00:17:34.640 as the weakest laws in this nation.
00:17:37.420 And so in this moment,
00:17:39.300 the onus is on all of us
00:17:40.900 to follow the words
00:17:42.580 of Alain's brother
00:17:44.000 and to put forward a vision
00:17:45.800 of stronger gun laws.
00:17:48.060 And I echo
00:17:49.000 the call from Governor Hochul
00:17:51.320 for a nationwide ban on assault rifles.
00:17:54.660 Many quick to note that New York City
00:17:56.460 already has some of the toughest gun laws
00:17:58.840 in the nation,
00:17:59.660 including an existing ban on rifles
00:18:01.780 like the one used in this attack.
00:18:03.580 To be clear,
00:18:04.680 it appears Mamdani wants to both take away the cops
00:18:07.560 and the guns.
00:18:09.180 Okay.
00:18:10.220 The shooting marking the first major test
00:18:12.080 of Mamdani's campaign
00:18:13.220 as a new poll from Zenith Research
00:18:15.200 shows the candidate with a commanding lead.
00:18:17.720 This poll,
00:18:18.720 which was completed before the shooting event on Monday,
00:18:22.080 shows that of likely New York City voters,
00:18:24.360 Mamdani is leading with 50% support.
00:18:27.180 Disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo
00:18:28.760 running as an independent
00:18:29.900 follows at 22%.
00:18:31.720 Republican candidate Curtis Lewa at 13
00:18:34.260 and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams
00:18:36.520 also running as an independent
00:18:37.960 in the basement with just 7%.
00:18:40.440 The poll conducted
00:18:41.880 by a longtime political pollster
00:18:43.560 who says he worked
00:18:44.300 on Governor Cuomo's 2014 re-election campaign
00:18:46.900 surveying 1,000 likely voters,
00:18:49.500 crosstabs revealing Mamdani's intense popularity
00:18:52.060 among younger voters,
00:18:54.320 garnering 82% of those age 18 to 34.
00:18:57.920 Despite ongoing accusations of anti-Semitism,
00:19:00.520 Mamdani also polling at 67%
00:19:03.400 among Jewish voters aged 18 to 44.
00:19:07.160 Good luck.
00:19:08.300 Enjoy.
00:19:09.240 The election set for November 4th,
00:19:11.000 how voters will weigh the fallout
00:19:12.500 from this week's violence,
00:19:13.880 and Mamdani's response remains to be seen.
00:19:16.740 And that'll do it for your AM update.
00:19:21.020 I'm Megan Kelly.
00:19:21.880 Join me back here for The Megan Kelly Show.
00:19:23.840 We'll be live with Glenn Greenwald today,
00:19:26.080 live on SiriusXM Triumph Channel 111 at noon east,
00:19:28.660 on youtube.com slash Megan Kelly,
00:19:30.680 and on all podcast platforms.
00:19:35.280 Is the technology such that it's going to go up?
00:19:37.920 Is it going to come down?
00:19:39.240 Do you think it's going to be
00:19:40.140 just sort of an extrapolation
00:19:41.640 of where it is right now?
00:19:42.460 Well, I think there's a lot of smart people
00:19:44.760 wrestling with that right now.
00:19:46.140 Today, I'm speaking with Michelle Herodice.
00:19:48.400 She's the executive vice president of Enbridge Inc.
00:19:51.520 and president of Enbridge Gas.
00:19:53.680 She's a leader helping us reshape
00:19:55.700 how millions of us experience energy at home.
00:19:59.680 Join me, Chris Hadfield,
00:20:01.220 on the On Energy podcast.
00:20:03.260 Listen wherever you get your podcasts.