Hegseth Blasts Media, Diddy Closing Arguments Begin, Deep Dive on Zohran Mamdani: AM Update 6⧸27
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Summary
It s Friday, June 27th, 2025, and Megyn Kelly is here with your morning update. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is slamming the media in a press conference designed to dispel any notion that the U.S. strikes on Iran s nuclear facilities were anything other than a stunning success, the prosecution makes its closing argument in the Sean Diddy case, and a deep dive into how a 33-year-old Muslim Democratic Socialist won the primary for New York City mayor. All that and more coming up in just a moment on Your AM Update.
Transcript
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Good morning, everyone. I'm Megyn Kelly. It's Friday, June 27th, 2025, and this is your AM
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update. It's in your DNA and in your blood to cheer against Trump because you want him
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not to be successful so bad. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth slamming the media in a press
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conference designed to dispel any notion that the U.S. strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities
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or anything other than a stunning success. The prosecution makes its closing argument
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in the Sean Diddy Combs criminal case. His policies were Mad Libs for the insane asylum.
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And a deep dive into how a 33-year-old Muslim Democratic Socialist won the Democrat nomination
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for New York City mayor. All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM update.
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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Raisin Cain
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holding an extraordinary Thursday morning press conference, with Mr. Hegseth forcefully combating
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media reports claiming the Trump administration overstated the success of the strikes on three
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key Iranian nuclear facilities. The reporting, originating with CNN and then the New York Times,
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based on anonymous sources familiar with an early low-confidence intel assessment, and not the
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assessment itself, suggesting the facilities were merely damaged rather than permanently disabled,
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downplaying the extent of said damage. In response to the leaks, the Trump administration planning to
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limit the sharing of classified information now with Congress. Axios reporting the initial assessment
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was uploaded late Monday to CapNet, a resource used to share classified information with Congress.
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The CNN and New York Times reporting on the assessment following the next day. The FBI is
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currently investigating the source of the leaks. Secretary Hegseth slamming the media for relying on
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what he says is selective and biased information in order to satisfy their anti-Trump agenda.
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There was a great deal of irresponsible reporting based on leaks, preliminary information in low
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confidence. Again, when someone leaks something, they do it with an agenda. And when you leak a
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portion of an intelligence assessment, but just a little portion, just a little portion that makes
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it seem like maybe the strike wasn't effective, then you start a news cycle. You, the press corps,
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it's like in your DNA and in your blood to cheer against Trump because you want him not to be
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successful so bad. So let's take half truths, spun information, leaked information, and then spin
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it, spin it in every way we can to try to cause doubt and manipulate the mind, the public mind over
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whether or not our brave pilots were successful. There are so many aspects of what our brave men and
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women did that because of the hatred of this press corps are undermined. Press Secretary Caroline
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Levitt in a later Thursday briefing pointing to additional intelligence collected since the strike
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supporting the mission's success. It was a total obliteration, as the president said, and not only
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does our own intelligence say that, but also the Iranian foreign minister has said that. We saw Israel
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conclude the same thing based on their own intelligence. We also had the United Nations say that as well.
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So I think the only other time the United Nations, Israel, Iran, and the United States has agreed on
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something is that it's that the sky is blue, but they all agree that Iran's nuclear facilities were
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completely demolished. General Cain, Thursday morning, reiterating the military's high confidence of
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success, describing how bunker buster bombs, which were developed specifically to take out Fordow, work.
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Unlike a normal surface bomb, you won't see an impact crater because they're designed to deeply bury
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and then function. I know there's been a lot of questions about that. All six weapons at each
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vent at Fordow went exactly where they were intended to go. A bomb has three effects that causes damage,
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blast, fragmentation, and overpressure. In this case, the primary kill mechanism in the mission space was a
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mix of overpressure and blast ripping through the open tunnels and destroying critical hardware.
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On Thursday, the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, from an undisclosed location looking very
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fragile, making his first appearance since last week, congratulating Iranians on their so-called
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victory over the U.S. The Iranians launching a retaliation effort on Monday, firing 14 missiles toward
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Al-Yudid Air Base in Qatar. Every missile was intercepted by U.S. troops stationed at Al-Yudid,
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with the exception of one that was heading in a non-threatening direction. General Kaine describing
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the mission of the 44 soldiers responsible for defending U.S. interests there.
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Most folks had moved off the base except for a very few army soldiers at Al-Yudid. Two Patriot batteries
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remained on base. Roughly 44 American soldiers. The oldest soldier was a 28-year-old captain.
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The youngest was a 21-year-old private. It's hot, you're getting nervous, and you expect an attack.
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You know that you're going to have approximately two minutes, 120 seconds to either succeed
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or fail. As the sun sets in the west, Iran attacks. As the targets were detected, round after round of
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Patriot missiles are ejected from their canisters, and round after round goes out and guides against
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those missiles coming inbound. We believe that this is the largest single Patriot engagement in U.S.
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military history. These awesome humans, along with their Qatari brothers and sisters-in-arms,
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stood between a salvo of Iranian missiles and the safety of Al-Yudid.
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Coming up, prosecutors deliver closing arguments in the Sean Diddy Combs criminal trial,
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and a deep dive into the 33-year-old Muslim Democratic Socialist poised to win the race
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Closing arguments in the Sean Diddy Combs criminal trial beginning on Thursday.
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Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik addressing the jury, quote,
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Over the last several weeks, you've learned a lot about Sean Combs. He's the leader of a criminal
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enterprise. The defendant was a very powerful man, but he became more powerful and more dangerous
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because of the support of his inner circle and his businesses, the enterprise. To secure a
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racketeering conviction, the government must prove Combs was the head of a criminal enterprise,
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engaging in a pattern of two or more predicate crimes. Slavik summing up multiple examples of potential
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predicate acts, the prosecution says Combs carried out with the help of his staff.
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The prosecutor pointing to distribution of drugs as one act. Allege victims of Combs,
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star witness Cassie Ventura and Jane, testifying under a pseudonym describing heavy drug use
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provided by Combs throughout the freak-offs and hotel nights, the prolonged sexual escapades
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involving male escorts they say the mogul effectively forced them to participate in. Slavik also pointing to
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arson, alleging Combs was responsible for the Molotov cocktail attack on musician Kid Cudi's car
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after Combs discovered Kid Cudi's relationship with Ventura. Slavik saying, quote,
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Of course, the defendant was behind this. We're not suggesting the defendant personally cut the
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hole in Kid Cudi's Porsche. The defendant didn't even buy his own soup. The prosecutor reminding the
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jury of Ventura's testimony, saying Combs told her he was going to have Kid Cudi's car blown up.
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Slavik questioning, quote, What are the odds that the car the defendant just said he was going to
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blow up got blown up? The defense set to present closing arguments later today. Depending on how
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long the defense takes, jury deliberations could start today. If the defense needs more time,
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the jury will begin deliberations on Monday. On Tuesday, a 33-year-old Democratic Socialist Muslim
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born in Uganda who wants to defund the police, open the prisons, and ban all guns, Zoran Mamdani,
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winning the Democrat primary for New York City mayor in an upset over disgraced former New York
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Governor Andrew Cuomo. We spoke to Republican consultant and host of the A Numbers Game podcast,
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Ryan Gerdusky, a New Yorker, about who Mamdani is and how this relatively unknown candidate was able
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to pull off a win. Mandani was born in Uganda and lived until he was seven years old. He bounced
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between a lot of major cities as the father was a prominent academic and the mother was a prominent
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film producer and director. So yeah, he came from an immense privileged background his entire life,
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which is why in his mid-20s you saw Zoran trying to create a rap career for himself before he
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entered the world of politics in 2018. He didn't become a citizen until 2018, which it's seven years
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ago. He worked as a counselor for low-income non-white homeowners trying to stop evictions.
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He won a seat in the New York State Assembly in 2020, and he was not in any leadership position.
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Despite a limited professional resume, Gerdusky explains how Mamdani was able to capture support.
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His policies were Mad Libs for the insane asylum. His main things were he wanted to make every
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public building in New York City green energy, which would cost taxpayers $3.21 billion over a
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four-year period. He wanted to defund the police. He wanted to increase taxes on the wealthy. He
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want rent freezes across the board. He wanted government-controlled grocery stores was a big
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part of his initiative because that was his way of fighting inflation was have the government run
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everything. He mostly ventured, and we need to have economic liberation theory in order to make
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life more affordable for working-class New Yorkers. But ironically, he didn't get the vote of working-class
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New Yorkers. Gerdusky describing the key group driving Mamdani's success. Zoran maxed out in these
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high-college-educated white progressive areas. They were his base. It was the transient white vote,
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who are progressive, who have 36 genders, who don't know what sex they are, who don't believe
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biological sex exists. Those were Zoran's votes. Mamdani made so-called gender-affirming care,
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meaning trans-medical procedures, a crux of his campaign, promising $65 million of taxpayer money
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for it. To fund all of these proposals, he promised to tax the rich, seemingly unconcerned about them
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leaving New York altogether. Mamdani generating recognition throughout the campaign with slick
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social media videos and stunts, including this moment in March when he confronted border czar
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How many border czars will you get to him? How many border czars will you get to him? Do you believe
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in the First Amendment? Do you believe in the First Amendment, Tom Homan?
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Gerdusky describing that moment as a calculated move meant to raise Mamdani's profile.
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Zoran sat there behind armed guards and screamed at Tom Homan when he was really nowhere near him
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and was never even close to it. And that absolutely made him look to the resistance group within New
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York City left-wing politics as the man who would go farther and further than anybody else would.
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Many Jewish voters raising concerns about Mamdani's candidacy, citing his inability to condemn Hamas
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following the October 7th attack, and his refusal to denounce the phrase globalize the Intifada
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as evidence of anti-Semitism. New York City is home to the world's second largest population of
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Jewish people behind only Israel. Gerdusky says Mamdani's views are not born of his beliefs as a
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Muslim, but of his beliefs as a cultural Marxist.
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Zoran is part of the global Infada. The far lapses there and says this is not about anti-Semitism,
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this is anti-Zionism. At this point, there's really no difference. I think it's important
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that conservative audiences do not believe he is a jihadist because he is not a jihadist.
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He is a cultural Marxist. He is a neoliberal. He's talking about queer pride and defunding the
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police as part of queer liberation. That's not something that would be very positive in Gaza.
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So it's not that he's an orthodox Muslim, Sunni Muslim, and he's not that he is a
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jihadist necessarily, but he views anything as a resistance of Western civilization,
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of the state of Israel, of Christianity and Judaism as part of the same global effort to
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kind of fight against neocolonialism, Westernism, patriarchy, and whiteness. That's kind of the
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Momdami will be running against Republican Curtis Sliwa, incumbent Democrat Eric Adams,
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who is running as an independent, and potentially Andrew Cuomo on a third-party ballot in the
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general election. Some Republicans calling on Sliwa to drop out and endorse Mayor Adams.
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Gerdusky says the odds of anyone beating Momdami are not good.
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He is absolutely the favorite to win, but as of right now, I've not seen a single poll where he
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polls over 35% of New Yorkers, and he only got 9% of registered voters in the primary.
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It's possible to beat him. There's very much a possibility, but people need to sober up
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and let egos go. And I don't know, politics has never been known as a game where people can let
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Good luck, New York. You were fun while you lasted.
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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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where my pal Maureen Callahan will swing by for the show, live on SiriusXM Triumph Channel 111 at
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noon east, on youtube.com slash Megan Kelly, and on all podcast platforms.