The Megyn Kelly Show - Israel Blocks Cardinal From Palm Sunday Mass, Thousands of U.S. Troops Near Iran： AM Update 3⧸30

00:00:00.000 Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's Monday, March 30th, 2026, and this is your AM

00:00:08.240 Update. This Palm Sunday afternoon, we gather without a procession, without palms, through the

00:00:14.600 streets, waving through the streets. A Palm Sunday controversy in Israel as police block the top

00:00:21.540 Catholic leader in Jerusalem from leaving Palm Sunday Mass. Obviously, you're seeing troop

00:00:26.900 movement. And we've got a number of bases in that region, too, that have been there for a long time.

00:00:31.760 So until that day comes, I'm not going to speculate. American boots on the ground in Iran

00:00:36.820 appear more likely than ever as thousands of troops make their way to the region amid a serious

00:00:42.280 new attack that left an American aircraft destroyed and at least 15 service members injured.

00:00:48.640 President Trump's first Surgeon General leading the charge to stop his pick for the next Surgeon

00:00:54.760 general. This is an effort to knock out the person who's been in the lead. And are we about to learn

00:01:00.620 a whole lot more about Congressman Eric Swalwell and Fang Fang? Do we want to? All that and more

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00:02:17.980 Controversy on Palm Sunday in Israel as police stop Cardinal Pierre Batista Pizzaballa and

00:02:24.780 another top church official from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem to

00:02:30.380 deliver Mass. The celebration traditionally features tens of thousands of Catholics coming

00:02:35.340 for the full Palm Sunday procession in the Old City. This week, that was canceled due to safety

00:02:41.520 concerns amid the war with Iran. But Cardinal Pizzaballa was planning to hold a private Mass

00:02:47.420 to be broadcast for everyone to watch. That plan, however, blocked by police. The groups that

00:02:53.960 oversee this church and the holy site issuing a joint statement, quote, this incident is a grave

00:02:59.780 precedent and disregards the sensibilities of billions of people around the world who, during

00:03:05.180 this week, look to Jerusalem. They say it was, quote, the first time in centuries the heads of

00:03:10.380 the church were prevented from celebrating the Palm Sunday Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

00:03:16.560 This, as Israel has closed the holy sites in the city, like the Western Wall, to public access for fear of attacks by Iran.

00:03:24.420 Instead, worship ceremonies are limited to fewer than 50 worshipers, which the church says they will comply with.

00:03:31.480 Pete Zabala ultimately moving to celebrate Mass at the nearby St. Savior's Monastery, alluding to the earlier moment in his message.

00:03:38.820 This Palm Sunday afternoon, we gather without a procession, without palms, through the streets.

00:03:45.200 waving through the streets.

00:03:48.040 This absence is not merely a matter of form or weather.

00:03:52.320 It is the war that has interrupted our festive journey,

00:03:56.560 making even the simple joy of following our King difficult.

00:04:00.900 Our brothers and sisters of the Holy Land today

00:04:03.280 cannot fill the streets,

00:04:05.680 nor join their voices to the festive procession.

00:04:08.640 Today Jesus weeps once more over Jerusalem.

00:04:13.040 He weeps over this city, which remains a sign of both hope and sorrow, of grace and suffering.

00:04:22.540 War will not erase the resurrection. Grief will not extinguish hope.

00:04:28.240 Today, we do not carry palms in procession. Instead, we carry the cross,

00:04:34.240 a cross that is not a useless burden, but a source of true peace.

00:04:38.920 The office of the Israeli prime minister addressing the incident yesterday afternoon

00:04:43.480 by pointing to missile fragments from an Iranian strike hitting just meters from the church

00:04:48.640 recently, posting to X, quote, there was no malicious intent whatsoever, only concern

00:04:54.080 for his safety and that of his party, while promising, quote, given the holiness of the

00:04:58.660 week leading up to Easter for the world's Christians, Israel's security arms are putting

00:05:03.360 together a plan to enable church leaders to worship at the holy site in the coming days.

00:05:08.920 U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee writing on X that police denying access to the church

00:05:14.760 was, quote, an unfortunate overreach, already having major repercussions around the world

00:05:20.240 and saying it was, quote, difficult to understand or justify.

00:05:24.180 French President Emmanuel Macron's message, much more plain and direct,

00:05:28.460 among the world leaders speaking out against the action, writing on X, quote,

00:05:32.200 I condemn the decision of the Israeli police, which joins a disturbing sequence of violations

00:05:36.880 of the status quo of the holy places in Jerusalem.

00:05:40.200 Freedom of worship in Jerusalem

00:05:41.820 must be ensured for all religions.

00:05:45.060 Jerusalem police blaming the army's regulations

00:05:47.800 for the interference,

00:05:49.400 but listen to reporter Noga Tarnopolski

00:05:52.200 from French Public TV explain the situation here.

00:05:55.880 The police have laid the blame

00:05:57.580 absolutely at the feet of the army,

00:06:00.080 saying that they were just following

00:06:01.580 the military's rules and regulations for wartime.

00:06:05.040 But even if, I mean, it's just not true because the regulations do permit small gatherings.

00:06:12.340 And one should add, no rabbi has been prevented from holding a service at any synagogue during this time, even synagogues that don't have bomb shelters.

00:06:21.840 In an interview with Italian media outlet TV 2000 after the Palm Sunday service, Pizzaballa sounding conciliatory, saying, quote,

00:06:30.200 We had not asked for anything public, just a brief and small private ceremony to preserve

00:06:35.420 the idea of the celebration in the Holy Sepulchre. There were no clashes. Everything was done in a

00:06:41.080 very polite manner. I do not want to force the issue. We want to use this situation to try to

00:06:46.240 clarify better in the coming days what to do, in respect for everyone's safety, but also in

00:06:51.160 respect for the right to prayer. Last night, Prime Minister Netanyahu, with international

00:06:56.100 outrage growing, reversing course, granting, quote, full and immediate access to the church

00:07:01.540 and posting to X, quote, as soon as I learned about the incident with Cardinal Pizzaballa,

00:07:06.800 I instructed the authorities to enable the patriarch to hold services as he wishes.

00:07:13.560 Multiple media outlets signaling the Trump administration is preparing for a ground

00:07:17.980 operation in Iran that could last several weeks at least. The Washington Post reporting the

00:07:24.080 operation would, quote, involve raids by a mixture of special ops forces and conventional infantry

00:07:30.160 troops and would, quote, fall short of a full-scale invasion, whatever that means.

00:07:35.880 Press Secretary Caroline Levitt telling the outlet it's not a done deal, quote, it's the job of the

00:07:40.140 Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the commander-in-chief maximum optionality. It does

00:07:45.400 not mean the president has made a decision. Thousands of troops are arriving in the Middle

00:07:50.160 East as the war escalates. The New York Times reports there are now more than 50,000 troops

00:07:55.860 in the entire region, at least 10,000 more than the usual number. We know at least 5,000 of those

00:08:02.680 arrived this past Friday. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Republican from Louisiana,

00:08:08.420 pressed on ABC News yesterday over whether Republicans would support a boots-on-the-ground

00:08:13.780 operation, something many of the war's chief press advocates had scoffed at as an impossibility

00:08:19.880 in the beginning of this war, but which President Trump has refused to rule out

00:08:24.300 from the start. Here's Scalise. Are Republicans in Congress going to support

00:08:30.140 an effort to put boots on the ground? If Donald Trump, he sent the Marines in,

00:08:35.820 you got the 82nd Airborne's on the way. If President Trump decides to put American soldiers,

00:08:40.600 American airmen, American Marines on the ground in Iran, is there going to be widespread support

00:08:46.940 from Republicans for that? Well, John, we're not at that point yet. Obviously, you're seeing

00:08:51.080 troop movement, and we've got a number of bases in that region, too, that have been there for a

00:08:55.060 long time. So until that day comes, I'm not going to speculate, and you're not going to see the

00:09:00.160 president go negotiate this in public. He's having negotiations, and you just reported on some of

00:09:05.980 those negotiations, and I think they're hopefully going to be fruitful. Remember, Iran declared war

00:09:12.180 in America going back to 1979. They've been killing Americans for decades. So some president

00:09:18.460 was going to do something about it. Many thought about it. President Trump's finally taking the

00:09:22.960 action that, frankly, all of the free world and the civilized world is applauding right now.

00:09:28.760 Details about the scope of Iran's attacks on American bases in the region coming to light

00:09:33.060 over the weekend, including a particularly destructive one in Saudi Arabia Friday.

00:09:38.280 At least 15 U.S. service members reportedly injured in the attack,

00:09:41.720 according to the Associated Press, including five seriously,

00:09:45.640 the attack consisting of a combination of missiles and drones.

00:09:49.240 A target of the attack also appearing to be a particular aircraft, an E-3 Sentry,

00:09:54.380 that aircraft helping to track and manage drones, missiles, and other aircrafts from

00:09:59.080 hundreds of miles away, aiding in intercepting threats, according to the Wall Street Journal.

00:10:04.760 Images circulating on X showing extensive damage.

00:10:07.640 The cost to replace the aircraft could be more than $700 million, per the journal.

00:10:13.360 Exactly how Iran was able to strike this high-value target, the subject of an interview

00:10:18.380 given by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to NBC News on Saturday.

00:10:24.100 Mr. Zelensky telling the outlet he is, quote,

00:10:26.360 100% certain this is the result of his own enemy, Russia, sharing intelligence with the Iranians.

00:10:34.580 Zelensky pointing to a report from Ukraine's spy agencies that Russian satellites had taken

00:10:39.580 images of the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia on March 20th, March 23rd,

00:10:45.160 and March 25th ahead of the attack. Zelensky telling NBC, quote,

00:10:49.640 We know that if they make images once, they are preparing. If they make images a second time,

00:10:54.460 it's like a simulation. The third time, it means that in one or two days, they will attack.

00:11:00.620 New polling showing increasing trouble for President Trump among the coalition he built

00:11:05.060 to win in 2024 as the focus on Iran grows. In a new Qantas Insights poll of approximately

00:11:11.880 1,500 likely voters conducted last week, support from young voters, 18 to 29-year-olds,

00:11:18.760 dropping enormously in recent months. Just 23 now approve of the job President Trump is doing,

00:11:25.020 with 76% disapproving. That net approval of negative 53 was just negative 23 in December

00:11:34.280 and only negative one in February 2025, soon after Mr. Trump was inaugurated.

00:11:41.560 CNN's Harry Enten, who also highlighted the collapse of the president's support from men

00:11:46.200 under the age of 45 last week in the wake of this war, focusing on another key constituency

00:11:52.120 for Mr. Trump in 2024, speaking to the massive drop in working class support for the president.

00:11:58.720 The working class, those making 50K or less, those making under 50K,

00:12:02.540 were a big swing vote, were a big swing vote in the 2024 election. Trump was able to win them.

00:12:09.320 That was a very important part of his coalition. But look at this now. Look at the net approval

00:12:14.760 rating that he has with those making under 50K. Down it goes. Look at that. That's a 26 point

00:12:21.240 switcheroo in the latest average of polls. Look at that minus 24 points. The working class voters

00:12:27.500 are abandoning Donald Trump. Pakistan's foreign minister yesterday saying his country will host

00:12:33.300 talks between the U.S. and Iran. As of last night, no confirmation of that from either side.

00:12:40.820 Coming up, President Trump's former Surgeon General waging a campaign to

00:12:45.160 torpedo the current Surgeon General nominee. And are we about to learn a lot more about

00:12:50.840 Congressman Eric Swalwell and his past fang-fang relationship.

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00:13:52.460 Again, text MK to 989898 today. It's now been more than a month since Dr. Casey Means testified

00:14:00.880 before the Senate, part of her long path to becoming Surgeon General, nearly 11 months

00:14:05.980 since she was first nominated in May of last year. Her nomination apparently now on hold,

00:14:11.400 while GOP senators expressed concern over Dr. Means, a close ally of HHS Secretary RFKJ.

00:14:18.960 And now we're learning more about one of the forces fighting against her,

00:14:22.980 President Trump's first Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome Adams. In what appears to be a coordinated

00:14:29.000 media campaign, Adams speaking to The Washington Post in a piece published yesterday morning,

00:14:34.520 and joining CBS News' Face the Nation yesterday as well, trying his best to torpedo the nomination.

00:14:41.400 I don't want to underplay this. Every physician, every nurse, every pharmacist in the Public Health

00:14:46.760 Service Corps has to maintain an active license. I had to fire people for not having an active

00:14:52.040 medical license. So this is not about disruption. Casey Means can be a part of this administration.

00:14:58.600 She can advise the White House. She can advise Secretary Kennedy, as her brother does. But that

00:15:04.200 does not mean she's qualified to be Surgeon General of the United States after dropping

00:15:08.440 out of a residency and not having an active license. That reference to not having an active

00:15:13.340 medical license, a talking point at Dr. Means' hearing last month as well when Means addressed

00:15:18.720 it head on. I'm a medical doctor. I graduated from Stanford University School of Medicine.

00:15:24.280 I have a medical license. My professional history is a feature. It's not a bug. I have had a unique

00:15:30.280 history that has merged entrepreneurship, public health advocacy, faculty, course direction at

00:15:36.400 Stanford University, as well as being an editor of a medical journal and a biomedical researcher.

00:15:41.280 And in these complex times for American healthcare, that type of multidisciplinary history is going

00:15:45.660 to be extremely valuable for the American people. Dr. Means had an active license until 2024 when

00:15:50.640 she voluntarily placed it into inactive status because she was not seeing patients. The question

00:15:56.780 of whether the license is current versus active came up in an X exchange between Adams and Casey

00:16:03.860 Means' brother, RFK advisor Callie, in February. In addition to calling Adams a, quote, Democrat

00:16:09.860 activist and lightweight Surgeon General, who is not, quote, in the same stratosphere as Casey

00:16:15.280 in terms of intelligence, Callie Means, pointing out the medical license is current, it's just not

00:16:21.220 currently active. Separately, HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Brian Christine, writing

00:16:27.140 to senators last year, quote, Dr. Means fulfills the statutory requirements to be the next Surgeon

00:16:32.320 General of the U.S., and I look forward to serving with her. In the Washington Post, Jerome Adams

00:16:37.940 telling reporter Dan Diamond, quote, the role of Surgeon General has centuries of precedent and

00:16:42.500 requirements, and she does not meet them. Casey Means responding in that article, quote, my

00:16:47.620 professional history has prepared me to meet these very complex times as an innovative, unifying,

00:16:52.640 and practical leader focused on reversing chronic disease and highlighting her unique experience as

00:16:58.380 a strength, not a weakness. Quote, under the tenures of our recent past Surgeon Generals,

00:17:03.940 America's health and lifespans have worsened. Adams has been a thorn in the side of the Trump

00:17:09.220 administration for years, calling for RFKJ's firing and even praising Dr. Fauci. So maybe

00:17:16.060 take his thoughts with a grain of salt. President Trump's first Surgeon General nominee of his

00:17:21.260 second term, Jeanette Neshawatt, withdrawn just before her hearing over her enthusiastic past

00:17:27.080 support, well into the COVID pandemic, for vaccinating young children and making them

00:17:32.780 wear masks in schools. Means then nominated shortly thereafter. Her initial hearing scheduled

00:17:38.380 for October of 2025, but she went into labor with her first child, delaying it further.

00:17:44.780 Currently, there is no vote scheduled to advance her nomination. Representative Eric Swalwell

00:17:51.060 locked in a very tight primary race to become the next governor of California,

00:17:55.560 Not likely to help his chances, the potential release of FBI documents related to his alleged

00:18:02.140 relationship with a Chinese spy. The Washington Post reporting FBI Director Cash Patel is

00:18:07.980 preparing to potentially release documents related to the congressman's past and a previous

00:18:13.360 investigation that ultimately did not lead to charges. The Post reporting Director Patel has

00:18:18.580 agents in the FBI's San Francisco Bureau working to, quote, quickly redact the files while also

00:18:24.120 pursuing new criminal charges. The focus stemming from Swalwell's relationship with Christine

00:18:29.540 Fang, also known as Fang Fang, who is alleged to have courted Swalwell and other politicians

00:18:35.380 from 2011 to 2015. She was pictured with Swalwell in 2012 and helped with his 2014

00:18:42.400 re-election campaign. In 2020, Axios breaking the news that Fang was a suspected Chinese

00:18:48.180 intelligence operative who had worked her way into several American politicians' lives.

00:18:52.960 That included, quote, sexual or romantic relationships with at least two mayors of

00:18:58.140 Midwestern cities over a period of about three years, according to one U.S. intelligence official

00:19:04.160 and one former elected official. In that original report, there was no indication of a sexual

00:19:09.580 relationship between Swalwell and Fang, although rumors have persisted for years. It's a topic that

00:19:15.420 has led to drama in Congress like these moments with GOP members of Congress and Swalwell during

00:19:20.800 hearings in 2023 and 2024. I find it incredibly rich Mr. Swalwell is going to come to this

00:19:28.680 committee and lecture us about how China penetrates our government. I think that's something he

00:19:34.320 may know a thing or two about. That was quite entertaining from someone that had a sexual

00:19:39.760 relationship with a Chinese spy and everyone knows it. Mr. Swalwell is down there. Obviously

00:19:45.960 everybody knows he's made some comments. He's got a checkered past. He's alleged.

00:19:51.060 I'm sorry, a checkered past. I would ask. It's my turn. Alleged affairs relationships.

00:19:57.360 No, no, no, no, no. You don't get to say that.

00:20:00.680 Swalwell was pressed about the relationship on CNN by Dana Bash in January 2023,

00:20:06.460 after he was denied a seat by the GOP on the Intel Committee.

00:20:10.020 You were also removed by Republicans from the Intelligence Committee. What the speaker said

00:20:14.920 about you is that beginning in 2012, a suspected Chinese spy developed ties to you and to your

00:20:21.400 office, even put an intern there, raised campaign funds for you. You say very clearly you cut off

00:20:27.900 ties with this person back in 2015 when you found out you cooperated with the FBI. But the bottom

00:20:33.720 line question is this. Did you put yourself in a vulnerable position in any way so that this

00:20:40.880 alleged Chinese spy could have benefited or even learn American secrets.

00:20:46.260 Absolutely not. But Dana, don't take my word for it. Take the FBI's word for it. They never

00:20:52.140 talk about ongoing investigations. Three different times they came out and said two things. All I did

00:20:58.600 was help them. And also I was never under any suspicion of wrongdoing. Axios reporting Swalwell

00:21:04.400 was informed of the FBI's concerns about Fang in 2015 and cut off contact with her at that time.

00:21:10.880 She's believed to have left the country shortly thereafter.

00:21:14.620 In 2023, a House ethics committee led by the GOP

00:21:17.480 closed a two-year investigation into Swalwell,

00:21:20.540 saying it would, quote, take no further action.

00:21:23.700 Now the American public might soon get a look

00:21:25.840 at what the FBI saw.

00:21:27.780 The FBI pushing back on the notion

00:21:29.220 that this has anything to do with politics,

00:21:31.660 telling the Post, quote,

00:21:32.620 this FBI being the most transparent in history

00:21:35.160 prepares documents for numerous different reasons,

00:21:38.560 including for release to different agencies

00:21:40.320 and departments to further review investigations that may have been opened under previous

00:21:45.600 administrations. CNN asking Swalwell about the Post report yesterday. I suspect it's politically

00:21:51.480 motivated, Jim. I have the only lawsuit that has survived this presidency. It's me and the January

00:21:57.240 6th officers. I was an impeachment manager. I worked with Adam Schiff on the Russia investigation,

00:22:03.140 And I'm a candidate for governor in California to start voting in about 35 days.

00:22:09.060 So these are dangerous individuals who have gone after over 500 political opponents and organizations, Donald Trump and the FBI.

00:22:16.960 And we know that they want a Western White House.

00:22:20.540 There's a threat right now that two Republicans will get through in the top two primary in California.

00:22:25.140 This is an effort to knock out the person who's been in the lead.

00:22:28.800 And Kash Patel, by the way, in his own book called Government Gangsters, has a list of government gangsters.

00:22:35.500 I'm not on the list. I'm above the list.

00:22:38.360 Adam Schiff and I are in the prelude to that list.

00:22:41.440 But Californians know better.

00:22:43.640 They are going to pick the next governor, not Donald Trump.

00:22:46.820 The California open primary election is June 2nd, where the top two vote getters, irrespective of which party they come from, will move on to the general election in November.

00:22:57.100 According to the RCP polling average, any of the candidates could take those spots.

00:23:01.560 Currently, there are about five hovering near the top, with our pal Steve Hilton on the GOP

00:23:07.120 side in first with 15 percent, Swalwell currently in second with 14, another GOP candidate Chad

00:23:14.580 Bianco in third with 13, and two more Dems, Representative Katie Porter and billionaire

00:23:20.420 Tom Steyer rounding out the top five with 11 and 10 percent, respectively.

00:23:25.540 We'll report back if and when the docs are made public.

00:23:31.040 And that'll do it for your AM update.

00:23:33.060 I'm Megan Kelly.

00:23:33.980 Join me back here for the MK Show,

00:23:35.840 live on SiriusXM's The Megan Kelly Channel,

00:23:37.820 111 at noon east,

00:23:39.280 on youtube.com slash megankelly,

00:23:41.240 and on all podcast platforms.

The Megyn Kelly Show - March 30, 2026

Israel Blocks Cardinal From Palm Sunday Mass, Thousands of U.S. Troops Near Iran： AM Update 3⧸30

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