The Megyn Kelly Show - March 13, 2025


Inflation Report Beats Expectations, Dems Face Shutdown Pressure, Trump Warns Russia： AM Update 3⧸13


Episode Stats


Length

16 minutes

Words per minute

167.97873

Word count

2,717

Sentence count

194

Harmful content

Hate speech

3

sentences flagged


Summary

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

The White House touts better than expected inflation numbers as markets shake in anticipation of further tariffs. President Trump signals he s ready to inflict economic pain on the Russians as Kremlin officials react coldly to calls for a ceasefire. All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's Thursday, March 13th, 2025, and this is your AM
00:00:08.580 Update. I think the markets are going to soar. There's tremendous optimism out there. The White 0.53
00:00:14.100 House touting better than expected inflation numbers as markets shake in anticipation of
00:00:19.180 further tariffs. And I think that's one of our core responsibilities in the Senate or in the
00:00:24.200 government here to ever allow the government to shut down. Despite earlier tough talk, some Democrats
00:00:31.040 balk at the prospect of a government shutdown. President Trump suggests he's ready to inflict
00:00:36.080 economic pain on the Russians as Kremlin officials react coldly to calls for a ceasefire. All that
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00:01:37.660 Some good economic news for President Trump. The inflation rate declined more than expected in
00:01:46.700 February, coming in at 2.8 percent, down from 3.0 in January. The core inflation rate, which excludes
00:01:54.080 more volatile items like food and energy, also cooled to 3.1 percent, down from 3.2. Both figures coming in
00:02:01.800 lower than analysts had predicted. The Federal Reserve's target rate for inflation is 2 percent.
00:02:08.040 GasBuddy reporting the average price of gas dropping for the third straight week, now at $3.03
00:02:14.060 per gallon. That's the lowest average price for gasoline in the month of March since 2021.
00:02:20.440 President Trump reacting positively to the news from the White House.
00:02:23.460 I think the markets are going to soar. There's tremendous optimism out there about our country
00:02:28.760 in terms of regulations being cut, in terms of taxes being cut. Oil is down to $65 a barrel,
00:02:37.140 and that's faster than I would have. We put on the gas, we stepped in the gas in order to get oil.
00:02:42.420 A key piece of the Trump administration's economic plan, unlocking oil production. On his first day in
00:02:48.000 office, Mr. Trump signing orders increasing oil and gas drilling on public lands and offshore areas,
00:02:54.040 reversing previous restrictions. Some additional context, putting the new economic numbers in
00:02:59.180 perspective. The only tariffs in place in February were the initial 10 percent duties on Chinese imports.
00:03:06.560 Wednesday markets swinging wildly. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ultimately rising as investors weigh a
00:03:12.440 solid inflation report with anticipation of more expected tariff increases.
00:03:17.220 President Trump, seated next to Irish Prime Minister Michal Martin in the Oval Office,
00:03:23.100 again signaling his trade war is just getting started.
00:03:26.600 The EU was set up in order to take advantage of the United States.
00:03:31.400 Including Ireland? Is Ireland taking advantage of the U.S.?
00:03:34.360 Of course they are. We had leaders that didn't have a clue. Or let's say they weren't business
00:03:38.560 people, but they didn't have a clue what was happening. And all of a sudden, Ireland has,
00:03:42.540 you know, our pharmaceutical companies. When the pharmaceutical companies started to go to
00:03:47.180 Ireland, I would have said, that's okay if you want to go to Ireland. I think it's great. But
00:03:51.740 if you want to sell anything into the United States, I'm going to put a 200 percent tariff on you.
00:03:58.020 So you're never going to be able to sell anything into the United States. You know what they would
00:04:01.780 have done? They would have stayed here. Next week, the Federal Reserve is set to announce a decision
00:04:06.540 on interest rates. While President Trump has repeatedly called for the rates to be lowered,
00:04:10.340 the Fed operates independently from the government. Last Friday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell saying they're
00:04:16.140 in no hurry to make any adjustments, suggesting interest rates are likely to stay in their current
00:04:20.880 range, 4.25 to 4.5 percent. A new CNN poll shows Americans may be souring on the tariff wars,
00:04:28.320 61 percent of Americans disapproving of the use of tariffs compared to 39 percent who approve.
00:04:33.840 Overall, on the economy, 56 percent say they disapprove versus 44 percent approving,
00:04:40.840 worse than at any point during President Trump's first term in office.
00:04:47.800 The government shutdown deadline ticking even closer now as the Senate weighs this six-month
00:04:53.040 funding extension. The bill requires 60 votes to pass in the Senate, meaning some Democrat support
00:04:58.740 is required. In the lead-up to the House vote on Tuesday, Senate Dems talking tough, calling the
00:05:04.580 bill horrible, and a power grab by President Trump and Elon Musk. Now, with the possibility of forcing
00:05:09.960 a shutdown in their hands, some Dems are balking. We don't agree with what's been sent to us,
00:05:16.740 but, you know, if we withhold our votes, that is going to shut the government down. And I think that's
00:05:23.240 one of our core responsibilities in the Senate or in the government here to ever allow the government
00:05:29.500 to shut down. We could wind up in a situation where maybe this administration decides to leave
00:05:34.680 parts of the government that provide valuable services to the American people closed permanently.
00:05:39.320 Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman telling reporters he will vote yes. The Hill reporting
00:05:44.260 one unnamed Senate Democrat saying, quote, I can't say we have a strategy. There are a lot of people
00:05:49.700 who haven't made a decision. Independent Senator from Maine, Angus King, who typically votes with
00:05:55.260 the Democrats, telling the Washington Post, quote, it's a choice between two terrible alternatives.
00:06:00.940 Some Dems are worried a shutdown will backfire on them, allowing the Doge team to permanently shutter
00:06:05.980 even more of the government. In a shutdown, non-essential employees are furloughed and essential
00:06:11.540 employees continue working. The Post reporting some Dems argue a shutdown could allow Doge to more
00:06:16.940 easily cut the employees deemed non-essential. Democrat Senator from Virginia, Tim Kaine,
00:06:22.100 leaving his options open, telling Politico he would like some amendments added to this bill.
00:06:28.520 However, any additional amendments would need to be approved by the House, which is not likely to
00:06:33.180 agree on anything that increases government spending. The deadline is 11.59 p.m. on Friday.
00:06:38.780 Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer saying his party is united, which is not true,
00:06:44.260 and that right now the GOP does not have the votes to avoid a shutdown.
00:06:49.640 Coming up, U.S. diplomats bringing an offer of peace to the Kremlin as President Trump suggests
00:06:55.080 a willingness to ratchet up pressure on the Russians and the Department of Education slashed
00:07:00.140 by a whopping 50 percent. Which programs stay and which ones go? All that and more in just a moment.
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00:08:04.140 Russia's military advances in Ukraine as the U.S. sends an envoy to the Kremlin to pursue
00:08:11.300 a ceasefire. The Russian army is close to surrounding 10,000 Ukrainian troops in the Kursk
00:08:17.820 region of Russia. Ukraine captured this bit of Russian territory last August, once floating the
00:08:23.840 idea of exchanging it back for captured Ukrainian territory. Most of it, however, has been regained
00:08:29.560 by Russia, but not all. In recent days, the Ukrainian hold on the area falling into serious jeopardy,
00:08:35.220 with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday telling his forces any captured Ukrainian soldiers
00:08:40.580 in Kursk will be treated as terrorists. As the battlefield erupts in chaos, peace negotiators
00:08:46.360 diligently strive to broker a ceasefire. President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance expressing
00:08:52.420 cautious optimism on the next stages of ending the war.
00:08:56.080 We've got some conversations that are happening on the phone and in person with some of our
00:09:01.040 representatives over the next couple of days. As the president said, we think that we're in a very
00:09:04.580 good place where the Ukrainians have agreed to a ceasefire, and we're now going to see whether we
00:09:08.360 can get the Russians to agree to a ceasefire too. We haven't spoken to him yet with substance because
00:09:18.580 we just found out and we just were able to get Ukraine to agree, so we're going to know very soon.
00:09:23.760 I've gotten some positive messages, but a positive message means nothing. This is a very serious
00:09:29.240 situation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio plainly laying out the stakes for both sides.
00:09:34.220 There is no military solution to this conflict. Neither side can militarily achieve their maximalist
00:09:40.360 gains, their maximalist goals. Neither side can achieve them through the military side.
00:09:45.040 The only way this conflict can end is through negotiation. That's the only way you're going
00:09:49.000 to have peace. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is traveling to Russia for in-person negotiations.
00:09:54.540 In advance of his arrival, Kremlin officials responding coldly to the Ukrainian acceptance of a
00:09:59.740 ceasefire. The Guardian reporting a Russian foreign ministry spokesperson as saying, quote,
00:10:04.740 Moscow will make its own decisions about the war and not follow the lead set by Washington and Kyiv.
00:10:11.620 Mr. Lavrov adding, quote, it is impossible to rely on the goodwill of opponents who have declared the
00:10:17.160 goal of inflicting strategic defeat on Russia. Despite earlier Western criticism that President Trump was
00:10:22.980 too lenient on Russia in negotiations, Mr. Trump now signaling a willingness to apply plenty of pressure,
00:10:28.880 just as he did with Ukraine.
00:10:30.880 There are things you could do that wouldn't be pleasant in a financial sense. I can do things
00:10:36.940 financially that would be very bad for Russia. I don't want to do that because I want to get peace.
00:10:40.820 But in a financial sense, yeah, we could do things very bad for Russia. It would be devastating for
00:10:45.760 Russia, but I don't want to do that. 1.00
00:10:47.360 President Trump taking the most dramatic action yet to put an end to the Department of Education,
00:10:57.160 slashing its workforce by 50 percent. The move marking a significant escalation in his longstanding
00:11:02.980 push to reduce the federal government's size and specifically its role in education. The department
00:11:09.980 enshrined in a law by Congress would require an act of Congress to be fully abolished. But with a divided
00:11:15.440 legislature, that battle could take years. In the meantime, Education Secretary Linda McMahon telling Fox
00:11:20.900 exactly what was cut and what stays, at least for now.
00:11:24.960 We wanted to make sure that we kept all of the right people, the good people, to make sure that the
00:11:29.580 outward-facing programs, the grants, the appropriations that come from Congress, all of that are being met.
00:11:36.000 And none of that's going to fall through the cracks.
00:11:37.720 Congress appropriates the money that is going through Title I, through IDEA programs.
00:11:42.420 What's that stand for?
00:11:43.840 Well, do you know what? I'm not sure I can tell you exactly what it stands for,
00:11:47.220 except that it's the programs for disabled and needs.
00:11:51.160 Individuals with Disabilities Act.
00:11:52.880 The administration insisting essential, congressionally mandated funding remains intact.
00:11:57.960 Heads of the teachers' unions arguing the cuts are an attack on public education.
00:12:02.320 It's a disaster symbolically as much as it's a disaster in reality.
00:12:07.100 Think about a country whose president basically says, as their first acts, I'm getting rid of education.
00:12:15.840 Let's be clear.
00:12:17.420 This administration is focused on destroying public education.
00:12:21.040 Since the inception of the Department of Education in 1979, spending on public education has skyrocketed.
00:12:27.300 U.S. public schools spend an average of more than $16,000 per student each year,
00:12:31.720 a 13% increase over the previous 10 years.
00:12:34.540 In that same time, overall, test scores have shown little to zero improvement.
00:12:39.980 President Trump telling reporters the education department is the easiest to make cuts from.
00:12:44.480 But now the Department of Education, maybe more so than any other place, has a lot of people that can be cut.
00:12:53.080 They're number one, not showing up to work.
00:12:54.880 Number two, they're not doing a good job.
00:12:56.560 And if you look at the charts, because they have numerous charts where they do the top 40,
00:13:01.800 we're at number 37, 38, 39, and 40.
00:13:05.340 And recently they hit, during Biden's last few days, they hit last.
00:13:09.920 So they were number 40, and yet we're number one in cost per pupil.
00:13:14.620 We're going to move the Department of Education, we're going to move education into the states,
00:13:19.740 so that the states, instead of bureaucrats working in Washington,
00:13:23.320 so that the states can run education.
00:13:25.280 The Trump administration aims to restructure education funding,
00:13:29.100 focusing on block grants that would allow states more freedom to choose how to educate their students.
00:13:38.960 Former Columbia University student agitator Mahmoud Khalil remains in a Louisiana ICE detention facility today.
00:13:46.860 Mr. Khalil did not attend Wednesday's packed courthouse hearing,
00:13:50.560 the first step in his court battle to prevent deportation.
00:13:54.060 Mr. Khalil born in Syria.
00:13:56.540 Khalil filed his challenge in the Southern District of New York.
00:14:00.680 Government officials requesting a change of venue,
00:14:03.480 arguing that the SDNY is not the appropriate jurisdiction.
00:14:07.580 It's also not the most conservative one.
00:14:10.320 Federal prosecutors urging the judge to move the trial to New Jersey,
00:14:13.400 where Mr. Khalil was first detained,
00:14:15.560 or to Louisiana, where he is currently being held.
00:14:18.740 Khalil was a prominent organizer of the Columbia University protests last year,
00:14:23.220 that led to clashes with police and more than 100 arrests.
00:14:26.740 Students established a Gaza solidarity encampment on campus,
00:14:31.760 often chanting anti-Israel, anti-Semitic slogans,
00:14:34.940 and blocking Jewish students' access to campus spaces.
00:14:39.040 The group Mr. Khalil represented as a master's degree candidate,
00:14:43.020 Columbia University Apartheid Divest,
00:14:46.000 reportedly sympathizes with terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah,
00:14:49.680 and seeks the, quote, end of Western civilization.
00:14:53.600 Mr. Khalil's attorney saying in a statement their client was, quote,
00:14:56.720 chosen as an example to stifle entirely lawful dissent in violation of the First Amendment.
00:15:03.120 Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who oversees green card allocation, responding on Wednesday.
00:15:08.160 No one has a right to a green card, by the way.
00:15:11.000 So when you apply for a student visa, or any visa to enter the United States,
00:15:15.240 we have a right to deny you for virtually any reason.
00:15:17.620 But I think being a supporter of Hamas, and coming into our universities, 1.00
00:15:21.420 and turning them upside down, and being complicit,
00:15:24.140 and what are clearly crimes of vandalization,
00:15:26.740 complicit in shutting down learning institutions.
00:15:29.140 There are kids at these schools that can't go to class.
00:15:31.120 You're afraid to go to class, because these lunatics are running around
00:15:33.940 with covers on their face, screaming terrifying things.
00:15:36.760 If you told us that's what you intended to do when you came to America,
00:15:39.260 we would have never let you in.
00:15:41.260 Mr. Khalil's lawyers are expected to file an updated version of their petition later today.
00:15:47.840 And that'll do it for your AM Update.
00:15:49.600 I'm Megan Kelly.
00:15:50.460 Join me back here all week for our special series,
00:15:53.080 Megan Kelly Investigates,
00:15:54.500 on the disappearance of baby Lisa Irwin,
00:15:57.640 a 10-month-old girl who disappeared from her crib in the dark of night.
00:16:01.340 It will air on SiriusXM Triumph Channel 111 at noon east,
00:16:05.160 on youtube.com slash megankelly,
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