The Megyn Kelly Show - September 15, 2026


McConnell Makes Senate Return, Hayden Panettiere Death Probe, China's AI Response： AM Update 9⧸15

Hosted by
Megyn Kelly
Mentioned
Mitch McConnell Trump Charlie Kirk Megan Kelly Hayden Panettiere Brian Hickerson Dario Amadei Lukyanov Armra Cholestrum Greg Lukianoff Matthew Byrne Jensen Huang Mac Miller Sam Altman Chen Yixing JD Vance Xi Jinping Luke Yanov Elon Musk Vanderbilt and 2 more
AI Regulation Debate Explodes, Congressman Survives Lake Landing, U.S. Open Champs： AM Update 9⧸14 Black Male Clancy Juror Lone Holdout is Allegedly REPUBLICAN, and Charlie Kirk Family May SUE Over UVU Security, with Geragos, Murphy, Aronberg, and Frei ｜ Ep. 1399

Episode Stats


Length

18 minutes

Words per minute

156.05

Word count

2,905

Sentence count

154


Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
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00:00:30.000 good morning everyone i'm megan kelly it's tuesday september 15th 2026 and this is your am update
00:00:39.020 after three months out of the public view and mounting speculation about his condition
00:00:44.020 senator mitch mcconnell returning to capitol hill yesterday in a wheelchair a possible fentanyl
00:00:50.080 laced pill the suspected cause of actress hayden penitier's death we have to do it prudently
00:00:55.620 but that doesn't mean we're going to stop an industry.
00:00:58.860 The great AI debate going global,
00:01:01.000 China pushing back against calls to slow development
00:01:03.580 as President Trump warns,
00:01:05.620 America cannot afford to fall behind.
00:01:08.220 There's like a sense that sort of like woke one was over,
00:01:11.080 but that's just not true.
00:01:12.720 And I do think that we continue to expand
00:01:14.980 the number of things that people can't talk about.
00:01:19.020 And a failing grade for free speech
00:01:20.920 on America's college campuses
00:01:22.180 as nearly half the schools
00:01:24.040 in a new nationwide ranking, earn an F.
00:01:27.300 All that and more coming up in just a moment
00:01:29.160 on your AM update.
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00:02:33.120 Megan. After more than three months away from Washington, Senator Mitch McConnell,
00:02:39.920 Republican from Kentucky, returning to the Capitol yesterday, putting an end to weeks
00:02:44.500 of questions about whether he would come back at all. The 84-year-old former Senate leader seen
00:02:49.800 leaving his Washington home in a wheelchair, flashing a thumbs up before being quickly
00:02:54.520 helped into an SUV and driven to the Senate. Ahead of the vote, Senator McConnell telling
00:02:59.880 reporters it was, quote, time to get back to work and to, quote, finish the job for this Congress,
00:03:05.660 identifying the farm bill and continued support for NATO allies fighting Russia
00:03:10.220 among his priorities. The senator arriving on the Senate floor just minutes before the Monday vote,
00:03:16.140 casting the deciding yes vote to advance the nomination of President Trump's pick
00:03:20.920 Matthew Byrne to serve as a federal judge in Southern Ohio. The 47 to 46 vote in favor of
00:03:27.740 cloture or allowing a substantive vote on the nominee, clearing the way for a separate
00:03:33.160 confirmation vote in the coming days. Senator McConnell's return coming after he acknowledged
00:03:38.220 in a statement that he is still not fully recovered, describing the past three months
00:03:42.660 as a, quote, long and often frustrating process. Mr. McConnell adding that he will continue physical
00:03:48.620 therapy while promising Majority Leader Thune that he will do his best to return for close
00:03:53.500 votes whenever Republicans need him. Senator McConnell hospitalized June 14th after his
00:03:59.540 team says he fell inside his Washington home and briefly lost consciousness, later revealing that
00:04:05.940 doctors also treated him for a mild case of pneumonia. EMT dispatches from the scene reported
00:04:11.960 a cardiac arrest, and that CPR was administered, the senator later denying that he had a heart
00:04:18.300 attack.
00:04:19.360 Senator McConnell eventually transferred to a rehab facility, returning home in early
00:04:23.680 August to continue his recovery.
00:04:26.240 The lack of public information surrounding his condition fueling intense speculation
00:04:30.600 during his absence, as Mr. McConnell gave no interviews and his office released only
00:04:35.600 two photographs during his recovery.
00:04:38.680 His return coming at a critical moment for Senate Republicans,
00:04:42.160 ahead of a major vote today on cryptocurrency legislation.
00:04:46.540 Senator McConnell's vote expected to prove essential Wednesday as well,
00:04:50.040 when Republicans make another attempt to advance their stalled farm bill out of committee.
00:04:55.760 The previous committee vote falling one vote short during McConnell's absence,
00:05:00.180 forcing party leaders to postpone another attempt until his return.
00:05:04.800 Senator McConnell now entering the final months of a Senate career spanning more than four decades.
00:05:10.860 His term expires in January after a record 18 years leading Senate Republicans.
00:05:18.460 New details emerging in the investigation into the death of actress Hayden Panettiere
00:05:23.740 as authorities reportedly focus on a suspected fentanyl-laced pill and the dealer who may have supplied it.
00:05:31.480 TMZ reporting multiple law enforcement sources believe Panettiere took an oxycodone pill
00:05:36.860 containing fentanyl on the morning of her death. The outlet's sources saying the 36-year-old
00:05:42.200 actress reportedly obtained oxycodone and other black market prescription drugs
00:05:47.000 from a longtime dealer in L.A., taking several of those drugs while flying to South Carolina
00:05:52.700 the previous day. However, this is reportedly only the working theory, not yet an official
00:05:58.560 cause of death. The Greenville County Coroner's Office saying Panettiere's cause and manner of
00:06:03.980 death remain undetermined as investigators await the results of toxicology tests. TMZ's law
00:06:10.440 enforcement sources similarly acknowledging those results will determine whether their theory is
00:06:15.580 correct. DEA agents in LA and South Carolina reportedly working alongside local authorities
00:06:22.400 to trace the suspected pill, including examining Panettiere's alleged relationship with the dealer.
00:06:28.560 Her boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, reportedly speaking with the DEA as part of that investigation.
00:06:35.260 Hickerson giving first responders a bag containing Panettiere's medications after she was found
00:06:40.720 unresponsive inside their South Carolina rental.
00:06:44.320 He reportedly administered Narcan before paramedics arrived.
00:06:48.420 The case drawing comparisons to the death of rapper Mac Miller in 2018 at the age of 26.
00:06:53.700 multiple individuals convicted of supplying him with counterfeit oxycodone pills containing
00:06:59.920 fentanyl. A representative for Panettiere telling Page Six the investigation remains ongoing
00:07:05.400 and describing the case as complex, adding that they hope to have more answers soon.
00:07:12.340 Coming up, China rejecting calls to slow the pace of artificial intelligence advancement
00:07:18.040 as President Trump dismisses fears of a technological takeover and vows the U.S.
00:07:23.460 will remain in the lead. And a new poll reveals nearly one in three college students
00:07:29.020 still says violence can be an acceptable response to speech.
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00:08:32.120 China now weighing in on the great AI debate, rejecting calls from American tech leaders to
00:08:37.800 slow development and accusing them of using safety concerns to undermine Beijing's growing
00:08:42.720 AI industry. The dispute erupting after Anthropic CEO Dario Amadei proposed new government oversight
00:08:50.480 and greater coordination among leading AI companies to prevent the technology from
00:08:55.660 advancing faster than researchers can safely control it. Amadei also calling for tighter
00:09:01.080 restrictions on advanced AI chips reaching China, arguing the U.S. must preserve its technological
00:09:07.180 advantage while pursuing broader international safety agreements. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and
00:09:14.160 ex-AI founder Elon Musk broadly agreeing that the industry needs to move more slowly and
00:09:20.100 cautiously, while critics argue the largest companies could use new regulations to box out
00:09:25.560 smaller competitors. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman responding yesterday by accusing
00:09:30.400 American AI companies of spreading what he called, quote, threat narratives and engaging in
00:09:35.620 confrontation and malicious competition. The spokesman telling reporters China favors
00:09:40.940 open and inclusive AI development, warning that a slowdown would disrupt international cooperation
00:09:46.640 and benefit no one, according to the Chinese state-run China Daily.
00:09:51.200 The Communist Party aligned Global Times going further, portraying Amadei's proposal as part of
00:09:56.140 a, quote, Cold War playbook intended to preserve American technological dominance and to hold back
00:10:02.900 Chinese competitors. Beijing nonetheless acknowledging serious risks from the tech
00:10:07.820 itself. The Financial Times reporting China's Ministry of State Security on Sunday,
00:10:13.800 issuing its first public statement focused on AI, warning that foreign adversaries could use
00:10:19.480 deepfakes, fabricated content, and automated troll networks to spread political rumors and
00:10:25.800 inflamed divisions inside China. State Security Minister Chen Yixin also reportedly raising
00:10:32.260 concerns about AI-powered cyber attacks, military vulnerabilities, and Chinese companies exposing
00:10:38.500 sensitive information by using foreign AI tools. The Chinese warnings focus on specific national
00:10:44.720 security threats rather than the possibility of AI, you know, wiping out humanity, offering no
00:10:51.240 support for slowing the country's own development of the technology. Here at home, Vice President
00:10:56.360 J.D. Vance yesterday expressing similar skepticism toward the American executives asking Washington
00:11:02.100 to intervene. You know, it's something that we're concerned by, but we want to make sure that we
00:11:06.340 actually regulate smartly and we're thoughtful about the risk here. So there are obviously
00:11:12.300 risks to AI. There are some benefits to AI. I have to say just personally, I feel a little bit
00:11:19.180 weird about the fact that you have so many frontier AI tech companies kind of coming to
00:11:25.400 the government and begging the government to regulate them. It feels a little bit to me like
00:11:29.400 a bit of a Trojan horse. So I think we just have to be careful about this.
00:11:33.740 Throughout the day, President Trump also firing off a series of truth social posts,
00:11:38.380 arguing the government already has sufficient authority to punish AI companies that cross the
00:11:43.160 line. The president accusing critics of trying to cripple a transformative American industry
00:11:48.440 and hand China an advantage while dismissing the most catastrophic predictions and insisting the
00:11:54.720 U.S. must remain in the lead. Mr. Trump also calling into the All In podcast summit yesterday
00:12:00.820 as NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang appeared on stage. Well, I know about AI. I know I also
00:12:08.000 have common sense about AI. The robots will not be taken over. The AI will not be taken over the
00:12:14.940 rest of the world. The whole thing is a hoax. Now, with that, we have to be a little bit careful.
00:12:20.560 We have to very be, you know, we have to do things and we have to do them prudently.
00:12:25.500 But that doesn't mean we're going to stop an industry because, you know, as we work on the next 10 years about how to destroy it.
00:12:31.680 So I'm with you all the way.
00:12:32.880 I didn't even know how you felt about it.
00:12:34.540 I assumed you felt the same way as me.
00:12:36.540 Yes, sir.
00:12:36.900 And we're going to lead.
00:12:38.640 And I have an expression.
00:12:39.880 It's whoever wins, AI wins.
00:12:42.040 That's how big it is.
00:12:42.860 It's bigger than the Internet.
00:12:44.640 And whoever wins, AI wins.
00:12:46.940 President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping
00:12:49.060 scheduled to meet at the White House September 24th.
00:12:52.220 AI safety expected to be among the issues on the agenda.
00:12:56.480 Sounds like it could be a short discussion.
00:13:00.460 Nearly half of the college is included in a new nationwide survey
00:13:04.140 receiving a failing grade for their campus speech climate.
00:13:07.420 The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE,
00:13:11.260 finding 121 of the 261 schools in its annual college free speech rankings earn an F, while
00:13:19.840 30% of students say violence can be acceptable, at least in rare circumstances, to stop someone
00:13:25.840 from speaking on campus, a four-point decline from last year. The report arriving one year
00:13:31.800 after Charlie Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University while engaging students in
00:13:37.320 political debate. UVU falling from 71st place last year to 210th this year as students there
00:13:44.960 report growing self-censorship and declining comfort expressing controversial views. That'll
00:13:50.700 happen when someone's killed for speaking on your campus. At Utah Valley, Charlie Kirk now ranking
00:13:56.100 as the single most difficult subject for students to discuss, while nationwide he ranks third behind
00:14:02.160 the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and President Trump. We spoke with FIRE president and CEO
00:14:08.100 Greg Lukianoff, asking how Charlie Kirk's assassination continues to shape campus
00:14:13.440 speech one year later. I visited Utah Valley about a month after Charlie was murdered,
00:14:20.680 and it was clear that both students had come together trying to recover from witnessing
00:14:27.460 something so terrible. But it was also clear that students were still afraid to talk about it. And
00:14:34.000 we've seen this trend nationally, is that students all over the country, you know, are afraid to even
00:14:40.080 discuss the murder of Charlie Kirk. It's been added to the list of radioactive topics on campus.
00:14:46.820 Researchers examining not only which subjects students avoid, but how often they censor
00:14:51.820 themselves, whether they tolerate controversial speakers, and whether they trust administrators
00:14:56.440 to defend free expression when controversy erupts.
00:15:00.200 The findings complicate a growing perception
00:15:02.440 that campus culture wars of the past decade had begun to fade.
00:15:06.800 I think there's like a sense that sort of like woke one was over,
00:15:10.200 but that's just not true.
00:15:11.860 And I do think that we continue to expand the number of things
00:15:15.460 that people can't talk about.
00:15:18.060 Meanwhile, you know, it's turning off a lot of people from higher ed,
00:15:21.720 particularly young men.
00:15:23.020 So I think it's going to higher ed, which could potentially decrease our polarization, is turning it up to 11.
00:15:32.040 Some universities showing how dramatically a campus can improve, while most of the others continue losing the trust of their own students.
00:15:39.860 Lukyanov, pointing to the factor he believes most clearly separates the two.
00:15:45.460 Overwhelmingly, what distinguishes a good school from a bad school is leadership.
00:15:50.160 that's been made very clear by schools like Dartmouth and Vanderbilt that are both in the
00:15:57.280 top 10 now. They weren't always great on free speech. They got excellent leadership and they
00:16:03.320 rocketed up the charts and they really mean it. Chicago has a combination of great leadership,
00:16:08.800 but also a reputation for being a place where people can actually talk and more serious-minded
00:16:14.300 students tend to go. So it's hard to beat a place that has that long-standing reputation where they
00:16:20.100 get the kind of students already mature enough to talk across lines of difference. NYU, though,
00:16:26.380 I mean, you know, a lot of the schools in New York, also Columbia, I mean, they just don't
00:16:30.640 seem to know what they're doing at all. And their students appropriately don't trust them.
00:16:35.460 The University of Chicago taking the top spot for the third time in seven years,
00:16:40.140 while New York University finishes dead last. The overall picture remaining bleak,
00:16:45.420 though FIRE says this year's findings provide some reasons for very cautious optimism.
00:16:52.580 The number of schools receiving failing grades falling from 166 last year to 121 this year,
00:17:00.440 though just 24 schools receive a C or better, the average campus score reaching its highest level
00:17:06.780 since the rankings began seven years ago, though that average corresponds to a D- on the report's
00:17:13.420 grading scale. We asked Lukyanov what the University of Chicago, the highest scoring school in the
00:17:19.340 rankings, would need to do to earn an A. I think some of the easiest stuff that they could do is
00:17:25.020 decrease the number of students who think violence is okay in response to free speech. They already
00:17:30.900 have a relatively low number of those students, but I still think it covers around 20%, which is
00:17:36.740 nuts. A lot of students are coming in believing that they have a right to decide for everyone
00:17:43.000 else who they can hear. And that's something that schools should be actively screening against.
00:17:48.600 Luke Yanov, arguing that the message should begin before students ever arrive on a college campus.
00:17:55.000 If it came down from Yale and Harvard and all these schools to the big K-12 theater schools
00:18:01.500 to say, listen, if it indicated to us that you're the kind of person who believes that they have a
00:18:08.540 right not to hear things that offend them and nobody else may either that we don't want you
00:18:13.040 that would change attitudes quick and they could work it into the essays they could talk about
00:18:17.780 tolerance and curiosity there's a million ways higher ed could fix this
00:18:21.940 and that'll do it for your am update i'm megan kelly join me back here for the mk show
00:18:29.140 live on sirius xm's the megan kelly channel 111 at noon east on youtube.com
00:18:34.140 slash Megan Kelly and on all podcast platforms.