The Megyn Kelly Show - Hegseth Goes On Offense, SCOTUS Arguments on LGBT Curriculum, FDA Fights Food Dyes： AM Update 4⧸23

00:00:00.000 Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's Wednesday, April 23rd, 2025. And this

00:00:08.040 is your AM update. They've come after me from day one, just like they've come after President

00:00:13.140 Trump. It's not hard for me to do this job. I know exactly why I'm here. Secretary Pete

00:00:18.140 Hegseth goes on offense against leakers with the Pentagon and a media looking for a win

00:00:23.440 against the Trump administration. I guess I'm not understanding why Montgomery County

00:00:27.900 school board stands alone, I think, in the country. The U.S. Supreme Court hearing arguments over

00:00:33.100 mandated LGBT curriculum for young children. And RFKJ announces the FDA will phase out artificial

00:00:40.580 food dyes. All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM update.

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00:01:42.840 use code MK to save 15% off your order. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth going on offense against the

00:01:51.120 drip, drip, drip media narrative suggesting under his leadership the Pentagon is in chaos.

00:01:57.840 Mr. Hegseth telling Fox News the attacks against him will not prevent the administration from

00:02:02.860 accomplishing badly needed reforms within the Pentagon. They've come after me from day one,

00:02:07.760 just like they've come after President Trump. I mean, I've gotten a fraction of what President

00:02:12.720 Trump got in that first term. What he's endured is superhuman. It's not hard for me to do this job.

00:02:18.500 I know exactly why I'm here, to bring warfighting and the warfighting ethos back to the Pentagon,

00:02:24.060 to rip out the insidious ideologies and not compromise and not back down, to bring in new press

00:02:30.880 voices into the Pentagon, which we've done, to reestablish standards and accountability,

00:02:35.460 to not tolerate leakers, to 100% operational control of our border, to get rid of trans lunacy 1.00

00:02:42.780 in the military. We haven't backed down. So here's the thing. A lot of people come to Washington

00:02:47.680 and they just play the game and it's, you punch their ticket and get along to go along and, you

00:02:53.900 know, start doing meet the press and, and go into the council on foreign relations and spending time

00:02:58.240 with all the new cocktail sipping crowd. That's not why I'm here. I'm here because President Trump

00:03:03.380 asked me to bring warfighting back to the Pentagon every single day. That is our focus.

00:03:09.460 The Pentagon currently conducting an investigation into a series of leaks, including military plans

00:03:15.080 relating to the Panama Canal and a planned briefing for Elon Musk, allegedly regarding China and Ukraine.

00:03:22.520 Amid preliminary results of the Pentagon's investigation, three of Secretary Hegseth's

00:03:27.200 top aides fired and escorted out of the building on Friday. One aide, senior advisor Dan Caldwell,

00:03:34.020 a longtime friend of Secretary Hegseth's, going back to Mr. Hegseth's work at Concerned Veterans

00:03:39.260 for America. Mr. Caldwell telling Tucker Carlson on Monday, he believes he was fired, not for leaking,

00:03:45.860 but because he opposes military intervention with Iran.

00:03:49.580 There are obviously specifics I can't get into, but I think it is fair to say that a war with Iran 0.84

00:03:57.060 risks being incredibly costly in terms of lives and dollars and instability in the Middle East.

00:04:04.960 Lives and dollars, American lives, American dollars.

00:04:07.580 The lives of Americans, the lives of Iraqis, of Saudis, of Bahrainians, of- 0.97

00:04:13.760 Israelis.

00:04:14.080 Emiratis, yes, of Israelis. And of course, Iranians. It could be an incredibly costly war.

00:04:22.920 And I think that that is very obvious to anybody who's been watching the region for a while.

00:04:30.120 The Trump administration is currently negotiating a new Iran deal,

00:04:33.780 with the president repeatedly threatening if diplomacy fails, all options are on the table.

00:04:38.340 I think that Iran has a chance to have a great country and to live happily without death.

00:04:45.880 And I'd like to see that. That's my first option. If there's a second option,

00:04:50.140 I think it would be very bad for Iran.

00:04:53.140 We can confirm, as Mr. Caldwell told Tucker Carlson, that his phone was not searched,

00:04:58.320 nor was he subjected to a polygraph before termination. However, there are other methods

00:05:03.660 of ascertaining leaks, checking who printed which documents, for example. The Pentagon's

00:05:09.200 investigation is still ongoing. No sooner had these three been fired from the Pentagon than

00:05:14.420 the hit pieces on Pete Hegseth began. For example, the New York Times attempting to revive the

00:05:20.460 signal gate controversy with reporting based on anonymous sources of a second signal chat in which

00:05:27.260 the secretary allegedly shared sensitive information with his brother and his lawyer,

00:05:32.100 both of whom work at the Pentagon, and with his wife, who does not. The White House making clear

00:05:37.860 they think these hits are payback against the secretary. They were Pentagon employees who leaked

00:05:43.620 against their boss to news agencies in this room. And it's been clear since day one from this

00:05:49.520 administration that we are not going to tolerate individuals who leak to the mainstream media,

00:05:53.760 particularly when it comes to sensitive information. And the secretary of defense is doing a

00:06:00.100 tremendous job. And he is bringing monumental change to the Pentagon. And there's a lot of

00:06:04.160 people in this city who reject monumental change. And I think, frankly, that's why we've seen a smear

00:06:09.280 campaign against the secretary of defense since the moment that President Trump announced his

00:06:13.320 nomination before the United States Senate. Secretary Hegseth addressing head on his longstanding

00:06:18.340 ties to Mr. Caldwell and the other recently fired aides. If one or two of these guys is exonerated

00:06:24.700 after an investigation, great. That's what investigations are for. But we took it seriously.

00:06:30.160 It led to some unfortunate places, people I have known for quite some time. But it's not my job to

00:06:35.420 protect them. It's my job to protect national security, the president of the United States,

00:06:40.040 and let the investigation go where it is. So when that evidence is gathered sufficiently,

00:06:44.220 and this has all happened very quickly, it will be handed over to DOJ. And those people will be

00:06:49.200 prosecuted if necessary. Steve Bannon, longtime Trump advisor and senior counselor to the president

00:06:54.700 Trump 1.0, telling The Megyn Kelly Show, while Secretary Hegseth's focus on rooting out leakers

00:07:00.280 is understandable, it risks pulling attention away from key Trump 2.0 priorities.

00:07:05.660 We have to have a sense of urgency. Right now, we are burning daylight. We're 18 months away or

00:07:11.020 however long away from the midterm elections where if they raise $2 billion and flip a couple of seats

00:07:16.400 in New York and California, Hakeem Jeffries is going to speak at the House. They're going to impeach

00:07:20.480 Trump in the first weeks. And people are not at DOJ, at FBI and others are not moving quickly enough

00:07:27.080 and fast enough for the sense of urgency and even CIA and DNI of taking down the deep state. These

00:07:33.140 people are at war with President Trump. What's happening to Pete Hegseth is part of that war.

00:07:37.700 They're dug in now more than ever and understand they need to get rid of Trump and they need to get

00:07:42.200 rid of Trumpism. Folks, you have to understand this deep state. This just didn't occur overnight.

00:07:46.960 This has been 40 or 50 years. All those generals and field officers and civilians have been around

00:07:52.720 forever as part of the deep state of the Pentagon. They're just not going to have Pete Hegseth come

00:07:57.000 in with President Trump's ideas and a handful of people and say, oh, this is terrific. Why didn't

00:08:01.240 we think of this? Because they're going to bury President Trump in that way. And that's why I

00:08:04.760 think we have to be even more aggressive. Coming up, could the Supreme Court be ready to side with

00:08:10.900 parents suing over mandated LGBT curriculum for young children? And RFKJ announces the FDA will

00:08:18.660 phase out artificial food dyes. As President Trump is settling into his new administration,

00:08:27.160 one of the top Democrats in Congress aiming to undermine the Trump agenda is Democrat Senator

00:08:31.900 Dick Durbin of Illinois. And according to our sponsor, the Electronic Payments Coalition,

00:08:36.900 Senator Durbin has a new plan, a government takeover of your credit card. Today, Americans have

00:08:43.160 thousands of choices in credit cards, but they say Senator Durbin's plan will result in less

00:08:47.880 competition and less security, which means more risk for your credit and your identity. You can learn

00:08:54.040 more for yourself at guardyourcard.org. And you could consider telling your senators to stop Dick

00:09:00.960 Durbin's government takeover of your credit card before it's too late.

00:09:06.900 The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday hearing arguments from a group of Maryland parents

00:09:12.600 seeking to exempt their children from public school lessons involving LGBTQ-themed books.

00:09:19.620 The parents, who are Muslim, Christian, and Jewish, from one of the most Democrat-leaning counties in the

00:09:24.900 U.S., suing Montgomery County Superintendent Thomas Taylor. The dispute beginning in November 2022,

00:09:31.100 when the school district introduced a set of LGBTQ-inclusive books into the English language

00:09:37.660 arts curriculum for pre-K through fifth grade students. Some of the books in question,

00:09:43.260 Pride Puppy, a story about a dog lost at a pride parade. Love, Violet, about a young girl

00:09:49.980 overwhelmed by her crush on a female classmate. Jacob's Room to Choose, about transgender students

00:09:56.860 who lead a campaign to make their school's bathrooms gender neutral. Each of these texts

00:10:02.020 accompanied by bright and colorful pictures appealing to small children. Initially, parents

00:10:07.560 were given the choice to opt their students out of lessons involving this curriculum. But in March of

00:10:13.420 2023, the school board reversing course, announcing families could not opt out and parents would no

00:10:19.280 longer be informed even of when their children were exposed to these materials. Lawyers for the school

00:10:25.340 board arguing an opt-out policy, quote, gave rise to three related concerns, high student

00:10:31.020 absenteeism, the infeasibility of administering opt-outs across classrooms and schools, and the

00:10:37.160 risk of exposing students who believe the storybooks represent them and their families to social stigma

00:10:43.020 and isolation. The conservative justices on the high court pressing the lawyer for the Montgomery

00:10:48.260 County School District on why opt-out programs are not feasible, from Justices Brett Kavanaugh and

00:10:54.540 Samuel Alito. I guess I'm not understanding why Montgomery County School Board stands alone.

00:11:00.220 I think in the country, you can tell me if there's another school board that's done something like

00:11:05.400 this. The kind of books that are being used and prohibiting opt-outs, and I guess I'm just not

00:11:12.160 understanding. They're not asking you to change what's taught in the classroom. They're only seeking

00:11:16.640 to be able to walk out so that the parents don't have their children exposed to these things that

00:11:21.840 are contrary to their own beliefs. What is the big deal about allowing them to opt out of this?

00:11:27.600 Attorney for Montgomery County Schools, Alan Schoenfeld, telling the court the school board

00:11:31.880 tried to implement an opt-out program but found it increasingly complicated.

00:11:36.560 Let's say the school, an exquisitely competent and well-resourced school, is able to say,

00:11:41.640 on Tuesday at nine o'clock, we're going to read Uncle Bobby's wedding, we're going to make

00:11:44.800 arrangements for alternative space, we're going to give suitable supervision for our six-year-olds,

00:11:49.960 and we're going to give them an alternative assignment that accomplishes the same ELA

00:11:53.420 goals. Let's say that happens, right? That they were able to pull off. The next week,

00:11:59.380 someone says, that was my favorite book ever. I'm going to pull it off the shelf and I'm going

00:12:02.880 to ask Alan to sit down and read it with me. What happens then? The teacher can't simply summon

00:12:07.500 a librarian to come to the school, say those were the kids who opted out of that lesson.

00:12:11.620 Well, I don't think you're really answering my question.

00:12:14.480 Justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson, a progressive appointed by Joe Biden, appearing to side with the

00:12:19.700 school board.

00:12:20.160 It wasn't as though the books were being introduced for the purpose of enhancing the gender and

00:12:26.260 sexuality component, and therefore people can opt out of that whole thing. It was that we're talking

00:12:31.860 about English here. And in addition to the other kinds of picture books we have on the shelf and

00:12:37.400 we talk about in class, we're going to introduce these books as well. I think that seems pretty

00:12:42.260 infeasible in English when you're talking about reading instruction, that every time this particular

00:12:48.040 kind of book comes out, we have to start letting people leave the classroom.

00:12:52.740 Mr. Baxter, for the parents, arguing that under existing Supreme Court precedent,

00:12:57.180 the inability to opt out of the lessons places an unconstitutional burden on parents seeking to

00:13:03.020 adhere to their religious beliefs. I think there's three main ways this court has reviewed that.

00:13:08.220 Under Yoder, it would be, is there substantial interference with the parents' ability to direct

00:13:13.380 the religious upbringing of their children? We think we've shown that here. Under cases like

00:13:18.180 Sherbert that have continued through to Fulton, it's, are the parents being pressured to abandon

00:13:23.900 or modify their religious beliefs in order to access a public benefit, like public education?

00:13:31.480 And then I think we also have what I think Justice Gorsuch may have been suggesting, just if there's

00:13:35.760 straight up discrimination where some religious students are opted out and others aren't, then that

00:13:41.340 itself would also be a burden. And I think we satisfy any one of those tests.

00:13:45.920 Press Secretary Caroline Levitt addressing the case from the White House briefing room on Tuesday.

00:13:50.360 We hope the Supreme Court will do the right thing. And the president has been very clear. He stands

00:13:54.220 on the side of parental rights, and he believes strongly that parents should have a greater say

00:13:59.000 in their children's education.

00:14:00.540 Restoring parental control in education, a cornerstone of the Trump administration,

00:14:05.640 following years of DEI-driven curriculum that the administration argues is antithetical to

00:14:10.880 traditional American values. The Supreme Court's decision expected in June.

00:14:17.640 HHS Secretary RFKJ and FDA Commissioner Marty McCary on Tuesday announcing plans to phase out

00:14:24.620 FDA-approved artificial food dyes from America's food supply within two years.

00:14:30.100 Today, the FDA is taking action to remove petroleum-based food dyes from the U.S. food supply and from

00:14:37.020 medications. For the last 50 years, American children have increasingly been living in a toxic

00:14:43.500 soup of synthetic chemicals. The scientific community has conducted a number of studies

00:14:49.920 raising concerns about the correlation between petroleum-based synthetic dyes and several health

00:14:56.720 conditions, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance,

00:15:04.280 cancer, genomic disruption, GI issues, as I've seen in the hospital, and allergic reactions.

00:15:12.000 They want to eat petroleum. They ought to add it themselves at home.

00:15:16.080 They shouldn't be feeding it to the rest of us.

00:15:19.000 In the last days of the Biden administration, the FDA begrudgingly moving to ban the use of

00:15:23.860 red dye number three. The FDA citing a statute known as the Delaney Clause prohibiting FDA

00:15:30.420 authorization of a food or color additive if it has been shown to cause cancer in humans

00:15:35.540 or animals. Two studies show red dye number three causes cancer in male rats exposed to high rates.

00:15:42.760 The FDA at the time saying, quote, the way that red number three causes cancer in male rats does not

00:15:48.140 occur in humans. Under the leadership of Secretary Kennedy and Commissioner Marty McCary, the FDA now

00:15:54.400 taking a different approach. Dr. McCary describing the administration's philosophy in an exclusive

00:15:59.660 interview last week with the Megan Kelly show. What I don't understand is if there's enough

00:16:04.340 preliminary data to suggest that there may be carcinogenic effects or genomic disruption or

00:16:10.020 associations with attention deficit disorder or a whole plethora of families that are saying,

00:16:16.280 hey, once we started eliminating these petrochemical food colorings from the food of my child,

00:16:24.240 their behavior improved. When you have enough of that, it's not, look, they're not

00:16:29.540 giant randomized control studies over 10 years for each food dye. We're not going to get that.

00:16:34.000 But when you have enough preliminary data to suggest these petrochemical food dyes are concerning,

00:16:40.380 who then would conclude, you know what, let's just risk it. It's fine. We'll wing it. We'll be,

00:16:46.400 you know, the kids will probably be fine. Why do that? Right. When we have all of these chronic

00:16:52.520 diseases increasing right in front of our eyes that were rare a generation ago. These artificial dyes are

00:16:58.560 found in many desserts and products marketed to children, sugary cereals and fruit snacks,

00:17:03.380 but they also show up in places you might not expect, like pickles, farm-raised salmon and granola

00:17:09.100 bars. Multiple studies linking some of these dyes to behavioral issues in children, including

00:17:14.720 hyperactivity and attention problems, raising serious concerns about their widespread presence in

00:17:20.060 so many foods, especially those targeted at children. The latest move, part of a broader campaign to

00:17:26.120 clean up the U.S. food supply and identify root causes of chronic diseases and neurological disorders

00:17:32.080 affecting Americans at unprecedented rates. Earlier this month, Secretary Kennedy bucking the

00:17:37.800 establishment narrative, calling autism an epidemic. Mr. Kennedy acknowledging that genetics may play a

00:17:43.980 role, but genetics alone cannot account for the sharp rise in autism diagnoses, now one in 31

00:17:49.900 children. The secretary promising answers by September on what else may be driving the surge.

00:17:55.720 And that'll do it for your AM update. I'm Megan Kelly. Join me back here for The Megan Kelly Show,

00:18:00.680 live on SiriusXM Triumph Channel 111 at noon east, on youtube.com slash megankelly, and on all podcast

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The Megyn Kelly Show - April 23, 2025

Hegseth Goes On Offense, SCOTUS Arguments on LGBT Curriculum, FDA Fights Food Dyes： AM Update 4⧸23

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